Discussion
On a nice train journey to Stourbridge to pick up an Alpina B3 3.3 Coupe, for an even nicer journey home.
It's got extended champagne leather, xenons, electric memory seats, electric folding mirrors, sunroof (maybe they all do?), rain sensor, olde worlde sat nav, harman kardon, and enough miles to be properly run in (144,000).
Pictures to follow.
It's got extended champagne leather, xenons, electric memory seats, electric folding mirrors, sunroof (maybe they all do?), rain sensor, olde worlde sat nav, harman kardon, and enough miles to be properly run in (144,000).
Pictures to follow.
Bought a first present for my new, rather enjoyable, Alpina:
and here's a hint to what the second present might be:
Yes, that's extended champagne nappa leather, £3980 worth when new.
And one of the car, seeing as you've been patient! (This is Craig, the previous owner's pic, a proper Alpina nut with an E34 B10, that you can see peeking out in the background)
This also means my clio 172 cup is for sale in the classifieds, spent way too much on it, bit of a bargain for anyone looking for a good example of a really capable hot hatch. Are you allowed to post a link to a classified ad?
and here's a hint to what the second present might be:
Yes, that's extended champagne nappa leather, £3980 worth when new.
And one of the car, seeing as you've been patient! (This is Craig, the previous owner's pic, a proper Alpina nut with an E34 B10, that you can see peeking out in the background)
This also means my clio 172 cup is for sale in the classifieds, spent way too much on it, bit of a bargain for anyone looking for a good example of a really capable hot hatch. Are you allowed to post a link to a classified ad?
Edited by Polynesian on Wednesday 15th May 22:07
based on some screechy noises and definite pulleys on last legs noises, some belts, tensioners, pulleys on the cards soon i think. All part of making sure this car is ready to roll and roll for many more miles... and melting my credit card in the process :-)
Edited by Polynesian on Tuesday 21st May 23:20
Yeah, the bolster... just getting quotes to replace it and repair a few other panels. Shout if you can recommend someone near South London.
The car had a completely rebuilt gearbox and a lot of maintenance, I'm really looking forward to it being tip top again. it sounds lovely by the way :-)
The car had a completely rebuilt gearbox and a lot of maintenance, I'm really looking forward to it being tip top again. it sounds lovely by the way :-)
ended up at ETA motorsport for a bigger service than i had planned.
diff, transmission, coolant and brake fluids changed, all coolant system renewed, all the way to the radiator and both thermostats, all pulleys, belts, tensioners replaced.
Still have the leather to restore/ replace, and 2 new things to do now. ETA found that there was a bootfloor crack... have looked at the Redish mortorsport solution and also considering ETA to do it as they have been excellent so far. And they found that all 4 Contis, whilst having loads of tread, have loads of cracks on the inner sidewalls. Bummer.
Leather, part cleaned, and with 3 minutes of gliptone leather cleaner and nailbrush. Crummy phone pics but it really was shocking and is much better although not finished!
work in progress for sure, but loving it.
diff, transmission, coolant and brake fluids changed, all coolant system renewed, all the way to the radiator and both thermostats, all pulleys, belts, tensioners replaced.
Still have the leather to restore/ replace, and 2 new things to do now. ETA found that there was a bootfloor crack... have looked at the Redish mortorsport solution and also considering ETA to do it as they have been excellent so far. And they found that all 4 Contis, whilst having loads of tread, have loads of cracks on the inner sidewalls. Bummer.
Leather, part cleaned, and with 3 minutes of gliptone leather cleaner and nailbrush. Crummy phone pics but it really was shocking and is much better although not finished!
work in progress for sure, but loving it.
Just a mini update, air conditioning regassed and now pumping air at 7 degrees instead of 30 as it was on Tuesday!
Car is booked in for the rear subframe welding in a few weeks. Other than that juggling with alloy refurb/ leather/ refurb/ rust action to invest in. Frankly another year of rust on the wings won't make any difference to me, I'll still just replace them, so probably wheels or leather next. Oh, and the four new tyres... Soon it will be all fresh!
Car is booked in for the rear subframe welding in a few weeks. Other than that juggling with alloy refurb/ leather/ refurb/ rust action to invest in. Frankly another year of rust on the wings won't make any difference to me, I'll still just replace them, so probably wheels or leather next. Oh, and the four new tyres... Soon it will be all fresh!
Polynesian said:
loved your write up of the long distance trips, B3MX5.
Sorry, missed your reply! Thanks, long trips are one of the reasons for getting it. I can't think of many other cars that will do what these do for the money in the way they do. Not everyones taste but perfect for me.Leather's looking lovely BTW Good luck with the subframe work, hope it's not too painful! They're getting to the age where maintenance is needed but well worth it, hopefully they're at the bottom of the depreciation curve...
TAHodgson said:
Is it the same as the default bmw auto?
Someone with far more knowledge than me, and there are many with Alpina's, will correct me, but it's the standard box with some electronic tweaking and a Alpina spec diff. In semi-automatic it'll hold gears in manual as long as you want, and also locks up the torque-converter for quicker gear changes. I'm sure someone will correct this, but the end result is quicker changes than the standard BMW box.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff