FRIGGIN THANKSGIVING

Actually, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I love to eat. Anyhoo... I promise I will take photos of the car this weekend... I don't have the time/inclination to do a mega detailing clay bar caranuba session but I will rinse the car off and take some pictures. I've been working hard and I think it's ready for some preliminary shots.

So, what's up next? Well, next up I have to sell a shitload of parts on ebay or the various E30 boards. Here's a rough sample of ITEMS FOR SALE:

• OBC equipped turn signal stalk for ABS. I bagged on the install because I had like, zero inclination to take the steering column apart. I may reconsider this, however;
• Alarm horn and CODE control box for OBC. The last thing I want to do is have some friggin thing attached to my car that I can inadvertently lock myself out and freeze to death;
• Spare 13 button OBC with busted screw ears -- I gotta remember to save the light bar;
• That Pioneer KZE-83 radio... works great, didn't pan out for me;
• Perfectly good Motometer instrument panel, with 7000 rpm tach trim piece and good ears;
• Couple of good Instrument Panel SI boards; coding plug too!
• Set of condition US-DOT Ellipsoidal Projector Headlamps with GE HIR halogen bulbs... more on this later;
• Various and sundry Taillamps ...more on this later;
• US License plate filler panel.

So, what do I have in the next round of car projects? Well... here's goes:

• MHW smoked taillamps; they are on their way...

I really struggled with this one... I actually liked the idea of the all red taillamps, because a lot of people have the smoked ones, but in the end, I chose to go with the flow.

Diamantschwarz E30s need a monochromatic look to really look good. Have you ever seen a Diamond black E30 M3? They have like, half the various trim doodles the regular E30 cars have, and they look fantastic. Just nice smooth crisp planes of diamond black paint and clearcoat.

I think with E30s, it's a battle between the monochromatic colors (black, diamondblack) and the high contrast cars (white, red) ...I think that's why bronzit isn't so popular, kind of in between. I like bronzit, more or less. The silver cars can go either way: look great with chrome accents, look great with shadowline.

• Euro plate filler.

It accentuates the horizontal flow of the back of the car, which is, in my opinion the greatest 'ass'-et of european car designs. Europeans know how to make a car look wide.

• Euro Ellipsoidal Smiley Headlights, with city lights

I upgraded from sealed beams to US ellipsoids and HIR lamps... I'm not loving it, and at my advanced age (and sorry ass night vision) it's becoming an issue. So, I went balls out and paid (too much) for a set on ebay.de. I'm going to pull the front sidemarker wires and run them to the city lights. Yay!

And, to top it off:

• 5000k Xenon HID lamps, ballasts and ignitors. Oddly enough, these will be installed in a warehouse full of, you guessed it, HID lamps, ballasts and ignitors (my old job where I sold lightbulbs);

What else is coming around? Well... let's see... I still need to take the seats out, clean and paint the rails, try to fix the bolsters and that fix flap that's loose on the passenger side, and install the new seat belt holders I picked up. And, lest we not forget:

• Bilstein HD shocks, H&R OE springs, trailing arm bushings, and various strut mounts, doodles etc.

I bought these from a guy in New York who posted on Mwerks.com -- all new in box stuff. Looking back, I should have bargained with him because the shit is heavy and he would have had to ship them to anyone else who bought them. Who else in manhattan would buy them. Anyway, it was a decent deal, although he didn't have rear shock mounts as part of his kit (it included everything else). Why? Why? Why? It would have been a great deal with the rear shock mounts. Ugh. So, I had to lug them home and up 5 flights of stairs... friggin heavy!

So, I also ordered jack stands, a better (but still wimpy) hydraulic jack, a pickle fork, and some other crap to change out the shocks and springs. I will also do the trailing arm bushings I guess. The package included rear subframe bushings, but it looks like the biggest ass pain in the entire world to do. I dunno. I need to get under the car and check them out. If I need to do them, so be it. I think I'm going to opt for the sawzall/blowtorch removal method.

So, why OE springs? Well, I really struggled with this one too. First off, I'm a fuddy duddy (you may have guessed already, haha). I don't really love a lowered car. I love lowriders... but like, I don't really dig a lowered street car. I've driven race cars; I've driven go-karts; I used to skateboard. I dunno, it's an aesthetic thing. Like I said, fuddy duddy.

Plus, I live in the pothole capital of the universe... I didn't see war of the worlds, but I can imagine some alien visitor flying over the Cross Bronx Expressway, seeing some giant pothole and saying, "wow, that must have been some asteroid." I've already driven my IS lip off the front valence pulling into a ghetto gas station. So, to make a long story short, OE springs fit the bill.

From a technical driving perspective, obviously a lower car means a lower center of gravity and better handling... but kids, here's a tip: The real trick to getting your car to turn better is to use the accelerator to 'set' the car, meaning, to get the car off the control arms and onto the springs... a lowered car still won't do that alone (the springs are shorter, but yer still not always set on them in the turns).

I actually think that's why the 318is feels like it's handling better: we have to accelerate harder through the turn outs to catch up!

Anyway... I'm psyched to do shocks and springs.

On the horizon? Ronal LS wheels, pirelli, goodyear, or BF Goodrich tires. The skip barber plug worked I guess.