2003 Alpine on Imola Build Thread

[Rokoz]

Some pretty minor updates this time around - finally had the car up on a lift and went through all of the suspension components. Found the passenger side FCAB was cracked which checked out with some of the sloppiness I was feeling up front. Replaced the FCAB - super easy DIY just make sure you have a 2 or 3 jaw puller to avoid headaches.

Replaced my nasty gas cap and pot filler gasket - this took about 10 minutes, it's super easy. Won't be long before every piece of rubber on the car has been turned over

Lastly, as part of a more fun update later (Bavsound) I stuffed a few tennis balls in the rear deck

[Loopyspec]

Love the build! I am also a fellow New Englander and hope to see/meet you at meets in the future.

[0-60motorsports]

Some pretty minor updates this time around - finally had the car up on a lift and went through all of the suspension components. Found the passenger side FCAB was cracked which checked out with some of the sloppiness I was feeling up front. Replaced the FCAB - super easy DIY just make sure you have a 2 or 3 jaw puller to avoid headaches.

Replaced my nasty gas cap and pot filler gasket - this took about 10 minutes, it's super easy. Won't be long before every piece of rubber on the car has been turned over

Lastly, as part of a more fun update later (Bavsound) I stuffed a few tennis balls in the rear deck

Nice updates.

[Rokoz]

Another big update - I can finally sleep peacefully! Shoutout to Gt4 for the help with the rod bearing job on my car.

Original bearings were replaced around 36k under the recall. They don't seem to be TOO bad

The motor mounts made all the difference. The car is so much smoother with the new ones - both of the original mounts were quite cracked and dry but the original passenger side mount is significantly shorter than the driver side.

[Rokoz]

A few updates from the fall before I get into the the fun over-winter stuff...

Nothing better than a fresh OEM windshield - The one on the car was not original and was brutally scratched by a wiper at some point.



Also took a few minutes to tackle the SMG pedal modification to get rid of the kick down button and add some new corner lights along with some chrome turn signal bulbs.

[Rokoz]

Added a set of OEM Euro Headers, a Supersprint Resonated X-pipe, Rogue Engineering Power Pulleys and SAP delete.


I did have the headers professionally cerakoted before installed them with some fresh copper nuts and a few studs that came out. Luckily, I only had 3 come out with the nuts.


Topped it off with a tune from HTE - the car properly rips now!

[Loopyspec]

Love the progress!

Which short shifter did you go with when you had the car converted to 6 spd?

[Rokoz]

Love the progress!

Which short shifter did you go with when you had the car converted to 6 spd?

I went with a Autosolutions SSK - I believe it's the autocross one. I got it for 200 bucks on FB Marketplace.

It's a bit much for my taste, the one of my F80 is much more my taste. I may eventually swap it out for a less intense AS kit

[DepthPatrol]

Some pretty minor updates this time around - finally had the car up on a lift and went through all of the suspension components. Found the passenger side FCAB was cracked which checked out with some of the sloppiness I was feeling up front. Replaced the FCAB - super easy DIY just make sure you have a 2 or 3 jaw puller to avoid headaches.

Replaced my nasty gas cap and pot filler gasket - this took about 10 minutes, it's super easy. Won't be long before every piece of rubber on the car has been turned over

Lastly, as part of a more fun update later (Bavsound) I stuffed a few tennis balls in the rear deck

Did nottt do this rattle prevention and now my nice upgraded bav sound system has rear deck rattles somewhere... Good call I'll look into this.

[Rokoz]

Did nottt do this rattle prevention and now my nice upgraded bav sound system has rear deck rattles somewhere... Good call I'll look into this.

I have kind of set the car aside until I had some time to work on things again - life changes and all!

I will find some time to upload my photos of the door cards so you can see where I placed sound deadening as well

[Arclitgold]

Very nice work!

[Rokoz]

It was been quite some time - I've been working on the car here and there, mostly enjoying it when I've had time. Lots of life changes since last summer including the birth of my son!

Worked on a few updates to the interior at the end of this winter - finally got after removing the Eonon radio from the previous owner. It worked pretty darn well but I couldn't live with the look of the unit. Luckily, Carphonics was able to repair the original unit for the car and help me sort things out.



I replaced and repaired a few items around the radio as well, I've had this used vent sitting for a while so I put that in and repaired a few plastic tabs that were broken by the previous owner. It's not super pretty but they are quite strong and should hold. I also took the time to replace some awful C pillars, I was lucky enough to buy them before the prices jumped AGAIN. I have a set of B pillars sitting in the garage as well, those will go in eventually.