The Desert Rat's New Life. . .

tha_lick · Post by **tha_lick** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:42 pm

hello lads,

many of you may know the desert rat very well. a sand coloured slammed 316. i brought her because i wanted a project for my spare time, , , so i set to work. . .the pics with commentry. . .

saw this pic when it was up for sale:

Went to see it and took these:

Brought it home and had to change those orange indicators for more aggression:

set to work about changing the paint scheme. . . yellow not being my thing and all:

(my first project car i wanted to experiment with my new tools, fibre glass and filler)

Sorted the bonnet, the rust and dings and then primer:

its winter so its working under flood lights for us impatient types!:

i didnt get to see it properly and the next day was rain!:

more black:

. . .

and thats where she stands right now! the whole lower half is going to be gun metal grey, just because its easy to do. i doing want to spend top money on this one, just want to do the paint and manual conversion. iv picked myself up a nice 323i so more money and attention will go into that. this will be my daily and drift practice car (responsible drifting i might add).

hope you like the make over, i will keep it updated

cheers!

Sandeep

steinke · Post by **steinke** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:33 am

well, um looks like a fun Beater

M15KYY · Post by **M15KYY** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:42 pm

lol bet that bonnet took some sanding i put that paint on with a roller ha ha ha keep goin dude im sure it'll look cool once its done! well done for taking on the manual conversion. i think if it had been a manual i'd have never sold it

drjim · Post by **drjim** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:47 pm

Paint looks OK for a rattle can too, keep up the good work.

I thought Sammy had this car - why'd he sell it??

M15KYY · Post by **M15KYY** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:02 am

i sold it to sam dude, sam sold it because he's a nerd!! lol ay sammy?

tha_lick · Post by **tha_lick** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:28 am

you wouldnt believe how easily that paint comes off! lol, £12 sander from halFrauds and one sanding disc glue gun'ed on for safe keeping and its a charm.

yeah i needed and manual! iv had my e30 325i touring auto for nearly a year now its just not working for me, i need a manual!

ill get some pics up of my dial cluster too tonight

M15KYY · Post by **M15KYY** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 6:26 pm

good man im glad the car has gone to someone whose going to going to carry on with it

tha_lick · Post by **tha_lick** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:21 pm

it will look more or less the same in regards to shape, drop and such, will just be black, all red rear lights and maybe mk2 golf smoked crystal crosshair lights up front!

pics of dials coming soon!

tha_lick · Post by **tha_lick** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:32 am

no bodywork updates yet because of the weather! BUT, i done this because i got bored of searching for a set of dials witha rev counter for a four pot (i dont think its available?)

anyhow, i set about making my sporty yet not too chav dials. . . i noticed in racing cars they dont care about anything but Revs! soooo. . . i wanted mine to stand out a bit more than usual. . . here goes, with commentry:

my trusty tool bag

nice and cheap ebay jobbie,

the hole i was determind to get it into. . . and another hole in mind:

after a little bit of chopping:

fitted with a make shift brace. its fibre glassed in as well:

Fitted and ready to go in:

fitting in progress:

Fitted and working:

How subtle it actually is:

and job done:

not to everyones taste, im 100% aware of that, but im sure you can appriciate the work that went into it, if not the time at least

thanks!

Sandeep

arshad76 · Post by **arshad76** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:57 am

Hi Sandeep,

Yes you're right, not really my gig to be honest, but having said that fantastic the way you've gone about it and got it working.

Gives me some ideas about fitting E36 or later dials into the standard e21 cluster. Did you have to detach the plastic at the front at all?

tha_lick · Post by **tha_lick** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:02 pm

hi Arshad,

its so simple, you dont have to detach the plastic at all, all the work happens from the back so theres no chance of smashing or cracking the plastic.

drjim · Post by **drjim** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:13 pm

Arshad

I have a couple of spare clusters we can practice on

Jim

tha_lick · Post by **tha_lick** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:24 pm

you really wouldnt even need to practise! im sure as soon as you open it up you'll get the idea straight away. that was my first go and although theres some things i would change. . . (the dial i got) nothing really went wrong. good luck

arshad76 · Post by **arshad76** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:24 pm

Cool Sandeep will have to give it a try.

Jim that would be brilliant. Could start by making up some dials for your Baur, when you decide on which engine to plug in

murran · Post by **murran** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 7:22 pm

wow thats cool!
can you program that change up light to the right revs?