2800CSA Restomod in Oz

Put the car on the rotissorie which is great to get to the underside!

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Now to protect that bare metal, deoxidine and then immediately coated with a good epoxy primer.

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Man what I would do for a hoist today! Plan was to test fit the engine so I could see what I need to do for brakes and steering as it's a RHD car just to make it more interesting!
First thing I needed to do was fit the modified subframe, at this point I what to say a massive thankyou to Brendan (bdigel) who has been doing amazing work getting this set up to work and has spend numerous hours troubleshooting and reengineering things to get everything to work as it should:cool:

As Brendan has documented in his posts, the mounts need to come back for starters.

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Next I dropped in the S54 to see how it sits. I want to use the S54 viscous fan so depending on the radiator clearance I may still move the subframe mounts back a little further (just tack welded in for now)

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Do you think I have room for a booster? Yer right:rolleyes: Next I'll try to fix up the steering and figure a solution for the brake master!
 
Spent some time fixing up the issues with the front subframe, Brendan (bdigel) has been a great help, it was great to have someone on the forum who understood the issues and recommended some solutions. I have some unique compliance issues in Oz to deal with so things were never going to be simple, but the fundamental problem was the same, I opted to completely redesign and build a new subframe, re position and slim down the mounting pedestals and use the stock e36 M3 lower control arms.
It all lines up well, clearances work and the car sits nicely on the wheels with the motor in.

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Haven't posted any progress pics for some time but work has been continuing. There was something weird with my pedal box, perhaps the early RHD conversions were a bit of a hack, but mine look pretty nasty!
I got hold of the correct RHD pedal box and modified the firewall to look stock.
 

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With all the tweaking done, it was time to get it down to the paint shop, I'm using Andy's Restorations in Kurnell, Sydney. Very detailed, they do a lot of the MotorEx top flight cars and only do restorations so really get stuck into the work. She just needs blocking, hi-build, more blocking then colour (which has been subject to change!)
 

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I didn't go for an original e9 colour, but it is off the BMW palate! Totally love this colour, it changes with every angle, shade and sunlight, black in the shade and midnight blue in the sun. Final buff and she will be ready for reassembling. Very impressed with the attention to detail at Andy's Restorations these guys are perfectionists 20170921_040348494_iOS.jpg 20170921_040404063_iOS.jpg 20170921_040635491_iOS.jpg 20170921_040707115_iOS.jpg 20170921_041253241_iOS.jpg 20170921_041338055_iOS.jpg 20170921_041454030_iOS.jpg
 
Most of the upholstery work completed, everything was in a horrible state, the front seats were completely shot so I found some replacements which were pretty average as well, between both sets I managed to get all the parts to make some decent ones. The front pads were replaced with modified Merc ones, the rear pads were made from scratch.
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Spectacular. That'll be one hell of a 2800 Automatic...

For the ultimate sleeper look you should leave those badges on the trunk...
 
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Ultimately, I want this car to be a pleasurable drive so things like servo assisted brakes are high on the list. The brake servo was always going to be a challenge for us RHDers. The original remote dual booster set up commands too much real estate so that was out. My first course was the hydroboost system, I already had the set up which I purchased with the 535i rear subframe but it wasn't going to fit without some major surgery, same with the electric versions, the masters are just too bulky, so I opted for something I found whilst in the UK.20171028_001227644_iOS.jpg0024882_compact-dual-circuit-remote-brake-servo.jpeg

It's a compact dual circuit remote unit and fits nicely underneath the large S54 airbox.
 
Finally got the gauges back from North Hollywood Speedometer, very nice work by Ralph and his team. Custom designed oil pressure and temp gauge replacing the clock, GPS speedo in KMH and higher redlining tach that will pick up off the S54 ECU
 

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Working on the wheels, as these are not standard Alpina offsets it was always going to be something custom. Centres were sourced from Germany, the rims will be done locally so I can test fit before I get the final rims turned. I was going 16inch but my calipers are from the E36 M3 so would be tight, going 17 inch, also better choice of tyres.
 

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Made up some speaker covers and had them chrome plated, I like the old school look. Rear glass installed, took many attempts and 3 pairs of hands (nearly saw a grown man cry!). Can't wait to do the fronto_O.
I installed angel eye headlights in another build and liked the look. The headlights and buckets where modified, also didn't like the large gap between the grill and headlight trim so used an old set of grills to fix that.
 

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nice project , congrats !

i envy you guys at Australia and the US ? ... here we have a annual tech inspection which does NOT allow engine swaps , sure not subframes/steering mods .... yes , once 25 years old cars got one final tech inspection and can be "oldtimer" ... so we could do some things..... but they are changing that , car must now be 30 years old and again also tech inspection every 2 years. So i think many will have problems.... and have to go back OEM.... in the rally car i had a M S38 engine , i already went back to a M30.... those fantasies will be over in the next years.
 
Belgiumbarry said:
nice project , congrats !

i envy you guys at Australia and the US ? ... here we have a annual tech inspection which does NOT allow engine swaps , sure not subframes/steering mods .... yes , once 25 years old cars got one final tech inspection and can be "oldtimer" ... so we could do some things..... but they are changing that , car must now be 30 years old and again also tech inspection every 2 years. So i think many will have problems.... and have to go back OEM.... in the rally car i had a M S38 engine , i already went back to a M30.... those fantasies will be over in the next years.
Click to expand...

That is tough! I thought we had it pretty bad with all the engineering rules, compliance inspections etc, shouldn't complain really:rolleyes:
 
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