Headlights and Interior In

I built my freshly powdercoated headlight buckets with H1/H4 hella light fixtures. I purchased them from Susquehanna Motorsports in Pennsylvania, a place I’ve purchased 3 sets of lights from (for all my E30’s) and I’m quite happy with them.  They seem to always have what I need, in stock, ready to go with little drama.  That’s what we go for here at HMS.

Of course, the headlights went in with new OE hardware including new body nuts and screws so that these things should be cake to adjust for the rest of their life.  One thing that I didn’t figure out is how to get the new headlight adjusters to fit into the small notch they are supposed to go into.  The only thing I didn’t try is heating up the plastic to see if that makes it more malleable.  But they work fine as is, and aren’t bouncing around at all.  Only time will tell if this shortcut comes back to bite me in the ass.

Once The headlights were installed, I put the European Grilles back on, and installed the fabled M-Technic Grille Badge that my buddy Chris had. This thing is apparently über-rare and completely NLA. So it’s cool to have one on my car. It’s the little things, right? I wish these things installed differently, but you just bend the tabs around the slats in the grille. Seems to work fine, but it’d be nice to have something with threads I think.

The next thing I worked on was lighting. I didn’t get the low beams working, I have to suss out a few more relays to get them their requisite 12 volts. But I did get the city lights working. Love em. Also, the Fog lights work as well. I want to re-wire the fog light connectors, as they are a little ratty and I want them to be money. I measured them and ordered some from BMW, we’ll see if they are the right ones.

I also go the rear lights working, in addition the reverse lights and stop lights.  The Blinkers work, but I didn’t have the right bulbs, which I now have.  The system does not like it when you install dual filament bulbs where you aren’t supposed to.  I ended up with a hazard flasher relay that was freaking out.  Good stuff.

I got all new hardware for the winshield wipers, which included some new rubber pieces to keep them all snug around the sheet metal. These pictures aren’t very exciting for you, I’m sure, but refreshing these things is very satisfying when building a car.

I also got new guides for the sunroof window deflector. These are the small pieces that attach to the deflector and the sheet metal, which force the deflector down as the sunroof comes forward. The old ones were all scuffed up, and these look a lot nicer. Not only that, since they are so smooth the sunroof is able to go forward much more smoothly. Function following form is nice too.

Here’s two shots of the BMW Evo seat belts installed, along with my rear seat from an M3. Yes I know the upholstery is a little tired, but the rear seat will be recovered to match the new Recaro’s I have coming.

It should be said, that seat belts should be replaced every 10-15 years in a street car. The belts do degrade over time, and you’ll want to go ahead and spend the money on new belts. Totally worth it. Now, spending the cash for the red belts was questionable, but in my opinion worth it. But don’t trust me, it was my opinion that got me into this whole mess.

I made a moisture barrier out of some heavy duty plastic from Home Depot. In this picture, I made it a little big, I had to trim it a little bit, so that it was completely hidden by the door pad, but you get the idea. I used Silicone to adhere it, because once dried the silicone can be cleaned up with no mess if I want it to.

I still have to install the the door pulls.  I thought that I lost them, but a few days ago I found them, so next time I’m working on the car, I’ll throw those on, as well as the mirror switch and door handle surrounds.

In the “not so exciting” department, I installed the new fuel pump and fuel pump hoses. I also installed the fuel level senders, which are also not very exciting. But of course the car wouldn’t go anywhere without these items, so they’re pretty important. Besides, I really wanted to close off these fuel doors so I could install the rear seat.

I will have to re-open it though, because I want to double and triple check that all the hoses are on correctly before I fill the system with fuel.

Continuing in the interior, I installed a new headlight switch plate and button, as the one in the car was pretty gnarly with no silk screening on the button. I also picked up the lighted shift knob with integrated shift boot from Turner Motorsport. This thing is totally awesome. They do a really nice job with the kit that they supply (I assume it’s their kit and not BMW’s). It comes with the right wiring to splice into the light for the cigarette lighter, providing a quick disconnect for the shift knob. Top notch. The feel on this thing is killer. I wish it wasn’t so expensive, otherwise I’d have it on my daily driver.