Project: My AC Schnitzer E34 Touring

Good lord . . . hotness.

yes shes coming along. the only exterior visual things to do now:

1/ lower suspension - not sure if i want to go the bag, coilover or static routes. All have thier pros and cons, and are each worth the money for different reasons. that said i dont want to regret my decision, im just mulling it over. I can always get money back from a better static setupup, but the coils and bags have a very limited resale here, being E34 which arent commonly modified from what ive seen.
2/ I am thinking about getting some of the three peice 18" schnitzer for it with a bit of dish. this would be the last thing i do, as big money for little gain. Also have another set of wheels id like to part with cash for, but not sure on those either.
3/ Prehaps the only definate further exterior mod: I need to order a right inner tailight as the inner ones on at the moment, while uncracked, are spidered. have the left one...
4/ Not too sure on if i should go for the wider facelift/v8 grills or stick with the standard narrow ones as fitted now.

interior and engine bay will be were most of the remaining spending is going.

coilovers and "static" are the same thing. static just means you have no way of adjusting the cars height while driving. bags/hydraulics are non-static setups.

That thing is sexy

I'm gonna be sad to see my touring go

Originally Posted by fcsteve

coilovers and "static" are the same thing. static just means you have no way of adjusting the cars height while driving. bags/hydraulics are non-static setups.

i see. i knew static ment being non adjustable, i just thought it was extended to not being adjustable at all... thanks for clearing that ha

Narrow kidneys. Dinan S2 suspension.

hmm not long now....

Need window tint and cushy mats for the toes

a bit on the fence about tinting the windows. i want the anti-UV benifits but i dont want the darkness.

ooooh SO close to having the engine conversion finished!!!

The new engine started for the first time on monday, and was booked in for certification on tuesday just gone. failed on one minor issue with the brakes so thats an excellent result for the first sit of certification! will be done this weekend and ill have my first drive! its been 8 months since i last drove my pride and joy now!

I dont like to claim, but im quite sure all of you will be impressed with what has been done! welcome to put in your guesses for whats under the hood now!

Originally Posted by Ethrty

a bit on the fence about tinting the windows. i want the anti-UV benifits but i dont want the darkness.

I believe you can purchase clear UV film. I will look it up when I have a chance.

Originally Posted by ethrty

ooooh so close to having the engine conversion finished!!!

The new engine started for the first time on monday, and was booked in for certification on tuesday just gone. Failed on one minor issue with the brakes so thats an excellent result for the first sit of certification! Will be done this weekend and ill have my first drive! Its been 8 months since i last drove my pride and joy now!

I dont like to claim, but im quite sure all of you will be impressed with what has been done! Welcome to put in your guesses for whats under the hood now!

s62?

Darn how did i miss this thread , very nice touring Andy

It's been a while since anyone posted here! Any news/pics on the engine conversion Ethrty? Also I love your wheel setup, what width and offset are those? They look fantastic!

Originally Posted by damengoodsman

It's been a while since anyone posted here! Any news/pics on the engine conversion Ethrty? Also I love your wheel setup, what width and offset are those? They look fantastic!

The wheels in the photos above are genuine AC Schnitzer Type 2 wheels which are 17x8.5 and have Bridgestone Potzenza RE001s on there. I have since put 25mm spacers on the back and 15mm spacers on the front which bring the offsets a lot lower to near zero (i cant remember the number exactly) on the back and a bit higher on the front so turning isnt affected too much. Also am putting together a set of race wheels too but i havent found a suitable set of lightweight alloy rims that still look respectable. they will have Yokoham advan semislicks which ive already purchased

So its all booked in for certification for the third time next week Wednesday the 4th. will be the 4th or 5th time its been booked iirc, but its only sat it once prior. kept haveing hiccups showing themselves a day before the booking so had to be canceled.

wish the car luck it all holds together and can get through!

Hopefully the third time is a charm! I am very curious what engine is hiding under the bonnet! I look forward to the pictures. What did you end up doing to lower it? Did you get rid of the SLS?

Originally Posted by damengoodsman

Hopefully the third time is a charm! I am very curious what engine is hiding under the bonnet! I look forward to the pictures. What did you end up doing to lower it? Did you get rid of the SLS?

Because the car is (was ) a 520i, it came standard with fixed shocks in the back. nonetheless, a 540i rear end has been transplanted in so that it can fit a large case diff, obviously an LSD is compulsory. The 520i has a medium case from the factory.

Gah, certification is hard to get right!

passed cert for the engine and driveline etc part so thats great news! however now they want beefier suspension in the front as the spring rates are too low. It is currently on 525i Vogtland springs. So looking at either 540i springs which have a higher spring rate, or just go to coilovers, and once fitted it will pass!

Man, that's strict. I thought we had it bad here in the states.

its not the 6 monthly warrent that they have here as well. certification basically means that the car has to be up to brand new car standards (except traction control/ and frontal impact restrictions etc) before it can be put on the road. its as though the car is registered for the first time. I wont have to ever do this again

This cert process was what cracked me on my M52 E30, it just needed to much work in places other than the engine that it failed

Originally Posted by _Ethrty-Andy_

its not the 6 monthly warrent that they have here as well. certification basically means that the car has to be up to brand new car standards (except traction control/ and frontal impact restrictions etc) before it can be put on the road. its as though the car is registered for the first time. I wont have to ever do this again

This cert process was what cracked me on my M52 E30, it just needed to much work in places other than the engine that it failed

I took the time to look through your M52 E30 build thread a few days ago, all of it. VERY impressive

Originally Posted by BMR_LVR

I took the time to look through your M52 E30 build thread a few days ago, all of it. VERY impressive

cheers mate. that car may be gone but it wont be forgotten. was a lot of fun over the years rebuilding and rebuilding again. iirc that thread only starts at the engine conversion too, was 100% poverty pack 320i auto when i got her!

Did you get you hands on some coil overs for the car? How is that coming along, what is your estimated completion date? I look forward to the update, lots of pics please! Are you giving out any hints about what kind of a swap you did, is it a BMW motor or is that a secret until the unveil?

ohhh anyone that knows the way i carry on on the forum already knows its a BMW engine, or at least based on one

Re coilovers, between my house, my part time business and the pub, spare change can be hard to find for unexcpected larger expences and obviously i want the car finished ASAP now as its only the coilovers holding it up, so I sold my MercedesBenz that i brought as a do-up project earlier than i wanted to and ihadnt finished fixing her up, and as such didnt get a good price for it, made money yes, but around $1000-1500 less than ii could have if id had a month to finish and sell rather than a week.

Long story short however... I brought coilovers three days ago, they are on thier way from the USA as we speak, and should be here on monday. They then need to go to the Auto Engineering outfit along with my current struts to be welded on, and then the car can go back for cert and pass finally!

I went with XYZ Coilovers. I researched BC Golds which had mixed reviews, whereas the XYZs had nothing but praise, and werent too much more. I assume you guys know already they are far better than what thier unimpressive name suggests. I was going to go with Ground Controls, but as they are pretty much unheard of in NZ, so chancing getting them through certification was a risk i wasnt prepared to take.