Alpina B3 3.3

Author
Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
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.

dozydavenport

272 posts

141 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
Love these! Get pictures up ASAP you tease!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Monday 13th May 2013
quotequote all
Think I recognise the name from the Register forum? Best of luck with it smile

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 15th May 2013
quotequote all
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?

Edited by Polynesian on Wednesday 15th May 22:07

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
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

TurboBlue

672 posts

162 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Best of luck with the Alpina, these are lovely cars.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
B10 WAA - on the cover of a book about Alpinas!

Luca Brasi

885 posts

173 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
Nice car but what happened to that bolster? eek

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Thursday 16th May 2013
quotequote all
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 :-)

8potdave

2,280 posts

212 months

Sunday 19th May 2013
quotequote all
Great choice! Having spent many hours on bmwowner.com if the owner of that E34 is the same one as a few years ago your car will have been utterly cherished!

B3MX5

543 posts

204 months

Monday 20th May 2013
quotequote all
Lovely car! I'm jealous of your extended Nappa leather, I'm slumming it with Dakota leather in my touring.

Is it on the Register?

Kitey

5 posts

156 months

Monday 20th May 2013
quotequote all
Nice! I also have a B3 coupe. Similar age (mines late 1999) and identical mileage.
I used a repair kit on the seat bolster. Looks better but only really a tempory fix as narrow garage means tight squeeze getting in/out => more wear
Great car. Enjoy!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Tuesday 21st May 2013
quotequote all
Thanks for the positive messages. It's a lovely car. I want to have it in great condition, so there are a few jobs to do. The leather will be lovely when clean and repaired.

I don't think anyone slums in an Alpina ;-) loved your write up of the long distance trips, B3MX5.




anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 5th June 2013
quotequote all
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.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Friday 19th July 2013
quotequote all
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!

TAHodgson

875 posts

170 months

Friday 19th July 2013
quotequote all
Absolutely lovely things, make my 323ci look absolutely poverty spec wink
Are they all the switchtronic auto? I love the auto box in mine but I've always wondered what the buttons are like in these as they keep crossing my mind...

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Friday 19th July 2013
quotequote all
I think they were all switchtronic in the uk but available as manual 6sp in continental Europe, could be wrong

It's nice to have the option of holding verás but it's no comparison to the DSGs And whatnot i'm sure. Lovely cabin ambience though.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Friday 19th July 2013
quotequote all
Oops! Double post

Edited by Polynesian on Friday 19th July 16:29

TAHodgson

875 posts

170 months

Friday 19th July 2013
quotequote all
Is it the same as the default bmw auto?
EG: If I put mine into tiptronic 'manual' mode, say i'm in 2nd, if I rev it all the way, it'll still change up gears like in auto. Will the Alpina system hold the gears in manual until you touch the button?

B3MX5

543 posts

204 months

Friday 19th July 2013
quotequote all
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 smile 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.