Sienna '74

I figure it’s time to log some progress. I have steadily been picking away at projects while trying to find time to drive and enjoy. This week I wrapped up a large looming project that now that it’s complete has completely changed the look of the car.

Suspension refresh:

Bilstein shocks and struts front and back.
CN lowering springs Front and back
Camber plates
Cleaned and re greased strut mounts. (These were in rough shape when I pulled them off. I'm wondering if they were ever serviced since new. Almost no grease left. After refurbishment they seem to operate almost like new.)
Complete rebuild of front end including new control arms and all other bushings, and subframe mounts
Cleaned up all wheel-wells and painted, also did a lot of other freshening up.
16" Coupeking staggered Alpina's

Up next, actually taking it for a ride! I'm sure their will be a few things needing attention but it was getting late last night as I wrapped up. I'll send a few pic when I get it outside. That said, I went from original 14" wheels, the original springs and shocks/ struts that were shot to this set up along with a fresh set of Coupe King staggered Alpina's. The front spacers were still installed in my car so to say visually the change was dramatic is an understatement! I was surprised how much the rear was sagging from the worn out suspension. Between fixing that and dropping the front the change in look is dramatic and exactly what I was looking for.

Some additional commentary about tackling this project for the first time. All in all it was considerably easier that what I had assumed I was getting myself in to. Like all projects, it’s a slippery slope, I went in wanting to remove the front strut spacers and next thing you know I ended up here. The hands down biggest issue I ran into were a few bolts that it seemed like they may never have been removed. These were mainly associated with swapping in control arms and new bushings. All in all I succeeded but it slowed my progress a few times.

It was also promising because this car is still very new to me and allowed me to dig deeper to understand the condition of the car. Thankfully I ran into no rust. I was amazed at how clean the rear shock towers were among other areas. The layers grime also seems to have preserved other aspects of the suspension and steering as everything was in good shape with original paint intact in many cases after a bunch of cleaning.


PICTURES FORTHCOMING I promise.

Lots of progress also made on refreshing most of the interior, getting the pleasure of putting in a new clutch master and slave, etc.

Thanks to many on the forum for the guidance and tips on this phase of the project especially Gary Knox who offered some great step by step instruction.
 
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Sam, I was going to post more pictures but I have come up with an idea that I think will benefit the e9 community- and that is to not post pictures unless I can conveniently place an accompanying picture of a "pin-up", and as an example I will post a recent picture from someone who obviously understands subliminal advertising :) and yes, I did visit this automobile last night-
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Took it for a ride and I have work to do... steering darts left and right. Didn’t have much time to diagnose but quickly jacked up front end and found some horizontal wiggle in the front wheels. I can see the center tie rod ends moving a little. Not sure if I ended up loosening those when doing other work. Didn’t have this issues prior to the upgrades and sway bar replacement.

Wondering if it’s only that or if the alignment is way out of wack after so many other changes.
 
We’re back in action. Refreshed all of the steering components. New tie rod ends, new center tie rod section and a at home toe in alignment and it drives great. Steering is tight and very responsive. Suspension is firm but not overly uncomfortable, exactly how I wanted it for a car like this. I felt a lot of roll in the rear with the old suspension and that seems to be almost gone now. A great road feel.
 
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Forced myself to pull over and snap a few pictures. The paint needs work but I can live with it for a while. I was able to source some recovered leather seats (thanks Rex). They look and feel great. I’ve purchased a leather dye kit from Leatherique which will be one of my next projects. I had most of the interior apart down to the floorboards and cleaned and refreshed as much as possible prior to putting back together.
 
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the sunroof should be a super easy fix
switch out the switch to check first the open the zipper and jump the wires on the motor
to check running and voltage then the only other thing would be a slipping transmission easily had on ebay from the 911
sites
there the same
also cables are there also
 
aearch said:
the sunroof should be a super easy fix
switch out the switch to check first the open the zipper and jump the wires on the motor
to check running and voltage then the only other thing would be a slipping transmission easily had on ebay from the 911
sites
there the same
also cables are there also
Click to expand...

Thanks Alan. I did end up fixing the sunroof too. Turned out it was related to an electrical issue that was also causing the windows not to work also. Swapping some relays fixed the issue. I went ahead and removed the sunroof anyway to install new weatherstrip along with cleaning up the channels. Was actually a very straightforward process. I had some issues with final adjustments but with some playing around, I got it pretty close.

I wish the windows moved as quickly as the sunroof does!
 
Update: I've been busy going the extra mile on the interior refresh. As you can see from the photos above, the leather on the seats did not match the rest of the interior so I was on a mission to fix that. They were newly recovered seats that I swapped a set I had for with member Rex. Off course, as all projects seem to go, after I pulled out the seats I started taking a closer look at the door panels. Although I always felt they looked good after my initial cleaning, upon closer inspection, a refresh wouldn't hurt so I took those apart as well. On the door panels I used SEM colorcoat vinyl in Palomino as it matched almost perfectly the factory color already on them. The panels were easy and allowed me to take everything apart, polish the stainless, polish the other chrome bits, etc. For the seats I used the leather dye kit from Leatherique in BMW Saddle. The seats on the other hand were a lot more work than I had planned, from taking them apart, to the sanding, to dealing with all of the seams. I started the seats with brushing all of the seams to make sure they had good coverage in the crevices, then sprayed them for the final few coats. For anyone thinking about doing this, please go into the project knowing it's a lot of work.

As long as everything was apart I went ahead and refreshed the wood a bit short of removing it. I am planning on final assembly this weekend and will take some more photos then and share. Here are a few before and after type pictures to give you an idea how it worked out.

When all was done I was very happy with the way everything turned out.
 
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