Leucadian

Relocating the battery to the trunk left the engine bay in a pretty sorry state in that area. So I did a little rattle can touch up Sad Color match was decent, and it's no concourse job, but it looks way better than it did before. Now I've gotta touch up the bolt on the passenger side of the bay...

Your basketweaves look better than my basketweaves...

I have E30 basketweaves on my 74. They look period on the car, and they work until I can get my hands on a set of the Kooglewerks wheels... As far as finding the wheels. If you see something you like, you could start with a WTB ad here. Especially with something like basketweaves or bottlecaps, you're bound to find a set on the boards.

We ended up using an AGM battery, not sure the exact brand, but I believe it's just a generic AGM mount, bolted to the floor

It was awesome seeing the CF shell and the quality of fabrication in person. You’re going to have an amazing car when it’s all wrapped up!

This week, my 02' got a new engine. I'd been experiencing a fair amount of blow-by and smoke on accel/decel for the last year, so a few weeks back I got in touch w/ Matt at Ronin Autowerks, and made the trip up to Fullerton. Matt suspected valve guides/seals, which would have been best case scenario. He ended up pulling the head, and did indeed discover that the guides and seals were the old variety, and were failing, relatively good news, easy to fix. He also performed a leakdown test, and found that leakdown was 18%-20%...not great. After he inspected the bottom end, found that one of the cylinder walls was out of round by .0025", which explained the blow-by and the crappy leakdown. So at that point, I had 2 options: 1. Rebuild the current motor, and keep the car numbers matching, but wait 4 months for new parts. 2. Swap motors with a fresh build that Matt already had in his shop. Spec was the same as my current motor (9.5:1 compression and 292 cam). I went with the latter and Matt installed the new motor, along with a bit of scope creep (battery to the trunk, and new 40's, instead of my 38/38) It might be the fact that I was essentially running on 3/4 cylinders for who knows how long, but it's a completely different car. It pulls, idles smooth, and my god, the sound! I don't plan on running open stacks for very long. Next step is to find a Tii booster and get a decent filter setup. I may get some foam filters in the meantime. I can't say enough good things about Matt and his team. He was responsive, kept me updated on the build, and got the car done in a matter of a couple of weeks. If you're anywhere in the socal area, I highly recommend checking out Ronin. If you get lucky, you could probably catch a glimpse of the latest S.O.C car.

At one point, I had a 2016' S4 that was stick, and that car was an absolute blast to drive. Fast forward a couple years, I had a 2019' S4 that was DSG, and the difference in driving experience between the two was night and day. Although slightly different engines (supercharged v6 vs turbo v6) the two cars were very similar, but rowing the gears in the 16' was just too much fun. At one point I had the 19' S4, and the 02' at the same time, and as far as driver engagement, and pure enjoyment, nothing comes close to the 02'. I'm going to teach my wife to drive stick, my kids will learn to drive stick, and their kids will learn to drive stick. Long live the manual transmission.

Here's my clutch spring, if it helps.

Where did your spring come from? It looks thicker than what I used in my pedal box kit:

By far the most satisfying refresh/repair job I've overtaken. Have fun!

I can completely understand wanting to customize a car and make it your own, but as others have mentioned, you have such a nice original example, it would be a shame to modify the car to the point where you lose that originality. That being said, speaking to the interior, the 'sporty seat' of choice is typically the e21 Recaros, which can be recovered to match your saddle interior: Or, if you have your heart set on a black interior, you can buy new black door panels and black Recaros. If you went this route, I would highly suggest holding on to your original seats and door cards, as opposed to dying them. That way, you could always return the interior to stock. The supplier for seat recovering I, and many others have used is Dave from Aardvark Racing. Shipping might be cost prohibitive though, as he's located in San Diego. You'll also have to find your own cores (original seats). Aardvarc Racing | Recaro Seats, Custom Wheels and BMW 2002 Parts WWW.2002PARTS.COM Wallotnesch also sells door cards, and they're in Germany. Set of door panels front and rear inner panels in black for left and right side not original BMW but in a very good quality complete with all mounting clips you need 1 for 1 car WWW.WALLOTHNESCH.COM Set of door panels front and rear inner panels in black for left and right side not original BMW but in a very good quality complete with all mounting clips you need 1 for 1 car Otherwise, If you want a turbo look car that's slammed on BBS' with flares, I suggest you find a 74-76 and get to work, and keep the body work on that beautiful car of yours pristine. My 02 cents.

Here's a painted version from the Jay Leno car.

Does the original SOC car have CF doors as well? I seem to remember seeing a photo of them.

I can almost always count on the e30 crew for a thumbs up or a wave, same w/ the e39 5 series and e36 3 series, anything beyond that model year wise, is pretty much a lost cause. Sometimes I can count on the VW Bus/Bug contingent for a wave or nod.

I had the pleasure of seeing the shell in person when I dropped off my car at Matt's shop. The attention to detail is next level, and the quality of weave is amazing. These guys are artisans, make no mistake.

Welcome to the FAQ, and congrats on the new acquisition! Now we have to see some pics, what color is it?

We saw this car at the BMW takes flight event, insane attention to detail, definitely some serious dollars spent.

Mounts are good, very little engine movement and a fair amount of clearance from the dizzy to the firewall. Plus, the cap was secured still when the rotor blew.

I have a 123 distributor. The first time this happened I ordered a new rotor direct from 123, because I know people have had issues running oem rotors on that particular dizzy.

I prefer the exploding variety, keeps things interesting.

My dizzy rotor disintegrated, again. 2nd time in about 2 years. What's odd is that the first time it happened, the cap flew off and took the rotor with it. This time, the cap was still secure, and the rotor had exploded inside of the cap. Loctite for the next rotor? I'm going to keep a spare in the car regardless.

It's a shame you have to hide those beautiful window regulators behind a door panel.

Took a Monday evening cruise with the wife and dog. Dog was very happy to be included.