Early ALPINA A4 Airbox

Top three images are of one of these boxes from a recent auction of an ALPINA A4 system that included one of these boxes, bottom two are from a restored ALPINA 2002tii / A4.  My friend Jeff has one of these in excellent condition, however I haven't had an opportunity to examine it (yet) first hand.  It appears to be constructed of 16 gauge (or so) sheet metal (which I had assumed, at least the sheet metal part), the the front snorkel portion either being riveted on or welded.  Quite a few process required to make this item as opposed to the cast aluminum (or fiberglass) air boxes with the "ALPINA" on the top lid - I am guessing that some one figured better advertising with the cast item that had the "ALPINA" on top and I am sure from a production standpoint many fewer processes than this sheet metal type.  I acutally had one of these boxes that was done in resin which was quite nice.  On the bottom images they appear to have stamped the "Purolator Filter" logo up near where the paper hose and snorkle meet.  I have to say I am a fan of this particular box and will be looking for one at some point to add to my collection.

Photo Of The Day (BBS E30 Race Wheel)

These look o-so-good on a BMW o2.  This one also appears to have the "right" color BBS gold paint on it.  Working on a few new posts, was gone over the weekend with my son to a sport/tournament so no work on the blog or the car.  Will have some new good stuff up over the next few days.

Schnitzer Gr. 2 2002 "Atomic Ski" Model

Auction for a model of the Schnitzer Gr. 2 2002 car driven by "Wolfgang May" - #52, sponsored by "Atomic Ski" and "STP".  More pictures with the link below.  This would be a good one to collect.

Link to Schnitzer Gr. 2 2002 "Atomic Ski" Model Auction

BMW 2oo2 TiK Gr. 5 (1969)

First, many thanks again to those of you who make donations to the site - I very much appreciate it.  

These turbocharged TiK's put out some serious power (290bhp or so as I recall with the boost turned up) - easy to tell from this image that this car is laying down some serious power - based on the "squat" in the back.  It almost appears as though he his slightly smoking the tires as well.

Auction Failures (My recent Activity)

ALpinA Radnabenkappen (AlpinA Wheel Caps)

Sold 2/26/2012, 12 Bids - EUR 61.00 (Approx. 81.71 USD)

 

ALpinA Radnabenkappen

Sold 1/18/2012, 12 Bids - EUR 101.00 (Approx. $135.29 USD)

AlpinA (Bilstein) "Upside Down" Rear Shocks

Sold 2/7/2012, 2 Bids, $260.99 USD (EUR 193,88)

0 for 3 (actually worse than that) - I have been getting my ass kicked lately on Ebay.  Been trying to replenish some of what I lost back on 2008 back into the stockpile and possibly for a new (exciting venture.....stay tuned).  The AlpinA wheel caps are brutal competition and quite honestly none of these incomplete sets really look good enough to go on my (someday to be) fully restored Grp. 2 car - still something is better than nothing.  The upside down shocks was really a half ass attempt, someone had contacted me about what I "thought" the value is/was - I suggested $250-$275 and that is pretty much what they went for.  Don't know if he ended up being the buyer or seller?   Tough going out there finding good stuff.

ALPINA 2oo2 Gr. 2 Rear Fender Fit-Up-"Perforations" (2-25-2012)

Top images are the "perforations" I put into the rear quarter panel.  The bottom image is period shot of the trunk (boot) area of the car (oil catch tank, fuel catch tank, 100L twin filler fuel tank with "Relumit" dry break fillers,  dry sump oil tank, batter, alternator and fire bottle.  Their were quite a few perforations on both sides - AlpinA probably used a 2" or 2.5" hole saw to do this work - judge for yourself (see above).  I used a Milwaukee 3" bi-metal hole saw.  I got about thirteen holes out of one blade before it was shot - german sheet metal - tough stuff.  I decided to go with a slightly larger diameter hole and fewer holes - at the end of the day I didn't want to weaken that are too much as I spent a whole pile of money to put that rear clip back on.  I thought this would be easy work - it wasn't.  I will spare the details, but I am glad to be done with it.  I have a total of eleven (11) perforations each side - I am going to guess they (AlpinA) had somewhere in the neighborhood of sixteen (16) or so.  AlpinA also removed the reinforcements/trunk lid attachments probably in a further weight saving effort, however when I put the rear clip back on I decided to leave these as they give the rear end a little more reinforcement and also give you the ability to raise the trunk "hands free" (without a prop).  I, unfortunately don't have the good fortune of an AlpinA "werks" crew to back me up at events so anything to make it a little easier helps.

ALPINA A4 Fuel Injections Lines

Bottom image is an AlpinA A4/3 (320 series) engine with "Tii" fuel injection lines.  They work and as long as they are new (or newish) its oK to use them - although they get bent in semi-unnatural ways which isn't always the best.  I ran a set like this on my tii/A4 for a while until I was able to source a correct set.  Next up is what a NOS set of correct AlpinA A4 lines look like.  Top two images are of a used set I snagged (so to speak) off of Ebay for about $100.  They came to me unbroken, however last weekend I mounted them up to one of my spare pumps, the pump fell over (on the bench) with the lines attached and voila - broken line.  Stupid me.  The line was probably cracked to begin with (maybe-I didn't examine it closely but am thinking that it probably wouldn't have snapped off cleanly unless it was already in a semi-fragile condition).  Oh well.  Since they are an OE AlpinA set and not a re-made set I can use them as a template to make replacement lines.  Maybe I was spared an engine fire on that future AlpinA A4 project?