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They told me E30s were played out

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  • #31
    Awesome chassis work dude! Loving the attention to detail can't wait to see it with the wheels mounted and on the ground

    @fackinsteve ; fackin build thread :
    http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ill-build-E36s

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    • #32
      oh lord have mercy
      Ruining cars since 2006 yo

      Comment


      • #33
        Looks great man, that lip doe!

        I've had several E30's and they're always a blast. I'll most likely build another some time in the near future.
        www.rubberandiron.com <---------------

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        • #34
          Човечееее ти си изрооод! Поклон , поклон и пак поклон! 30-ката е тотална лудница! От София ли си ? Много ще се радвам да се видим и да обменим идеи Пиши на лично ако имаш желание да си спретнем среща. Аз карам това:

          Comment


          • #35
            Почнаха да изплуват качествените български коли тука :d

            Comment


            • #36
              Благодаря, пичове!

              Originally posted by fackinsteve View Post
              Awesome chassis work dude! Loving the attention to detail can't wait to see it with the wheels mounted and on the ground
              yeah, me neither. Unfortunately there is still a lot to be done and I don't really have that much time recently.

              Originally posted by Rubber&Iron View Post
              Looks great man, that lip doe!

              I've had several E30's and they're always a blast. I'll most likely build another some time in the near future.
              Thanks! Build one ASAP and enjoy it


              So, as promised, I will all let you in on what happened with my daily. Back in January I got bored of monster truck stock suspension and looked around the workshop. I had all the suspension parts I removed from the white e30 laying around - almost new ATE power discs, vented brake calipers, rear trailing arms with new-ish discs and brake pads .. all four billies as well. Found an old crate with lowering springs and got to work. I bought a polyurethane set for the rear beam, trailing arms and the diff bushing. I figured I might as well swap in the type 188 LSD unit I had as a spare.

              We got cracking, I had already replaced the struts and rear shocks, before these pictures were taken. We figured we would swap the rear subframe and brake calipers in a day (previously done on other e30s with success), that's why the car was left halfway out of the garage:






              Here's where I stopped taking pictures, because:

              1. Rear beam came off with a part of the inner rocker and left a huge gaping hole
              2. Part of the left rear beam bushing broke off and remained stuck in the hole for the fresh one
              3. I found a hideous amount of rust underneath, which had evolved over the last 10 months.

              When I first put together my daily, I left it at a body repair shop in my home town to patch the huge rust holes in the trunk, change the rockers, etc. Turned out they just welded the new metal OVER the rust, without cutting it. As a result of that genius move, the car ate itself from inside out... I was genuinly sad about that .

              That day I stayed up until 2 AM in the freezing winter cold (door wouldn't shut, car with no rear axle halfway through it), beating the shit out of the freaking part of the bushing that got stuck and trying to install the other rear beam I had prepared and he trailing arms. It was a tough fight, I had a friend come over at about 10 pm and help me out. Without his help, I would probably have stayed up all damn night.

              Anyway, after I put the freaking thing together and had gotten a pretty good picture of the car's actual condition I decided I would just have fun with it until it dies. So I bought some steelies in an attempt to make banded steelies and slam it to the ground:





              Those are 16x6.5 et49 wheels off of some Renault soccer mom van. After the temporary banding it was 16x10 et0 and fits pretty decent IMO. For the front I was going to do 8.5 et20, but unfortunately I never got to finish that little project of mine, because:

              1. The exhaust fell off
              2. A halfshaft exploded
              3. The engine crapped out

              So with heavy heart I decided to part myself with that car about a month ago and put it up for sale with these pics:






              Literally 5 minutes after I put up the ad, a guy from our e30 community called me up and said he'd buy it. I was like, dude, at least have a look first and drive it around. Nope, he wanted to buy it.

              So I swapped all the rare parts with regular ones (LSD, M3 interior mirror, star tec tail lights) and made the deal on the next day, got exactly what I asked for

              And there I was... miserable and daily-less. What do?
              Remember that e28, that belonged to my buddy earlier in the thread?












































              That's right, I bought it
              He was selling all car related stuff in order to fund a proprrty deal he was willing to do and called me up to tell me all his cars were up for sale. There was a guy, who wanted to buy it, but since that guy was a douche, my friend offered the car to me for almost half the price he was asking "because it needs to have a good owner"
              That's how I got it:



              Exterior is pretty bad, peeling clear coat because of a half assed spray job in the past, dented right fender, crooked hood because of same accident, that dented the right fender, dented rear left door, some rust on the rear valance and around the tail lights, but not rotted through. Interior is pretty good, apart from the cracked dash, AC works but needs a refill, all gauges work correctly.
              The most important part is, that the underbody and structural parts are completely, absolutely RUST FREE. I swear, that e28 is the best I've encountered in terms of rust.

              At first when I drove it around like that I was horrified of it and parked it for almost two weeks. Then I read on the internet that front e30 springs would work on an e28. Coincidence? I think NOT!
              The same friend that saved me from the freezing cold whilst working on the black e30 was parting out his e34 and hooked me up with a set of rear lowering springs for it.

              So one friday after work I loaded the e28 up with the front H&Rs from my first attempt to lower the white e30 and the e34 rear springs and headed for the workshop. While on my way I called another of our local e30 guys, who I knew was selling his BBS RCs with tires in the correct dimensions, 205/40/17 in the front and 215/40/17 in the back. We made a quick deal and he stopped by while I was already swapping the front springs. Perfect timing. Needless to say I had to stay up again until 2 am in the workshop, because I had never worked on an e28 before and it was unexplored teritory for me. But I managed to put it back together and drove off home happy. That's how it sat the next day, when I took it for a spin:





              At the shop, with a friend's clean e12 in the background:



              Another of our e30 guys spotted me while sitting in traffic and took a spy foto:



              Since then I had bought new tires for the front, so I can lower it some more. When I get to it, I will show it off.
              Hope you enjoyed the post as much as I did.

              In my next post, I will tell you about the engine plans for the main charachter in this thread.
              "You could roll an E30 in a BMW showroom today and people would think:
              Well, they finally got the 1 series right!"

              3.0 L e30 ground up build

              Comment


              • #37
                Hello again!
                It's been almost 2 months since my last update, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on the car.

                I wanted to tell you about the plans for the engine, but that will have to wait. I have been dealing with various issues on that front and met some great challenges along the way. SO the post about the engine will have to wait until I sort all the stuff out.

                Instead I will share with you the progress until now.
                First, I had been unfortunate enough to find out, that the fuel tank was no good. The sheet metal itself was in good condition, but the hose fittings were all rotten. Not a single one was good enough. Especially the pair, where the small S-shaped pipe bolts on. The S-pipe itself was so gone, I knew I had to replace it too. So I made the decision called "everything new" and pulled the trigger on some goodies. I got a sweet deal on a pre-face lift fuel tank, brand new in the box, a buddy of mine works for a big parts importer and sorted that out for me. The tank came without said pipe, so I picked up the pieces of what was left from mine and headed to a popular brake line/hard line/hose shop and had 4 diferent versions of the S-pipe made with different angles and such. Once they were done, I picked the one closest to the fitting and made it fir perfectly in just 2 hours of measuring, careful bending and cursing. End result:



                Next was the inner fuel pump. For those of you who don't know, some of the early euro spec cars were fitted with 2 fuel pumps - one in the fuel tank, sharing the same hole ( ) with the level sensor and another one underneath the rear left passanger's ass. My pumps were working OK, no noises no nothing, but I had a brand new pair sitting from another sweet deal I couldn't pass up, both BOSCH. So on with the new stuff:



                Before I could put in the fuel tank, the fuel lines and hoses plus the breather hoses for the tank needed to be installed. So I bought some new stuff and got to work. The fuel hard lines were bought from an official BMW dealer, came with the factory seal etc. and STILL didn't fit. Had to made an awkward bend... but it'll do.





                I don't have a picture of the breather hoses for some reason. Then I had some help from a friend and installed the fuel tank:



                The installed fuel pump, sender unit and various hoses:



                Next was ofcourse the rear crossmember:



                Then came the sway bar and the LSD unit:



                Slapped some trailing arms while I was at it:



                The external fuel pump had to go in before I do anything more, so I unwrapped the OEM brackets, bushings and began the assembly after I gave the brackets a few coats of paint. The factory finish was peeling easily.



                Finished assembly:




                Then I decided to turn my attention to the steering column and pedal box. The steering column has a plastic bushing, which starts squeaking when it gets old. So on with a new one:



                Installed the column, using the same bolts, which snap off their own heads when torqued down to the needed Nm. Then slapped on the pedal box with a new master clutch pump:



                Installing the brake servo and master cylinder was a walk in the park, when there was no motor in the bay



                All brake lines are new, it was a PITA to bend the one from the ABS unit to the front right wheel, it has like 10 bends with 5 different angles. But it turned out good. Then I wanted to install the ABS pump, but noticed it was badly rotten on the underside and had a huge crack in it! It had never leaked whatsoever, but I wanted to put a better one in. Made a call, a friend sent me his spare and I got it yesterday from the delivery office in the neighborhood. So that's pretty much where I stand now, picked up some more parts from the dealer yesterday, si I think I might be able to install the front cross member and suspension soon enough.

                Thanks for reading, I am off to the shop to put in some more work!
                Last edited by gnmzl; 07-20-2018, 08:10 AM.
                "You could roll an E30 in a BMW showroom today and people would think:
                Well, they finally got the 1 series right!"

                3.0 L e30 ground up build

                Comment


                • #38
                  Страшно е bmw-то ! Браво на теб ! Абе българите тука показвайте си колите. :d :d :d

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Originally posted by G&G View Post
                    Страшно е bmw-то ! Браво на теб ! Абе българите тука показвайте си колите. :d :d :d
                    Благодаря!

                    So, I promised somewhere in the posts, that I will tell you about the new plan for the 5x120 swap in the front. Since I had the previous struts assembled and ready to be used and abused, it didn't make sense to me to disassemble them just to get the hubs. So I sold them on to an e30 buddy, who wants to go down the same route in the future and bought another set of hubs. I then realized I actually had to fulfill my plan .

                    The idea is to keep the original offset as close to original as possible, so I had a sleeve with threads both inside and outside, so it can be screwed onto the spindle, receive the hub and have the stock e36/e46 nut screwed onto it. This is the part that got machined:





                    And this is how it screws down onto the stock e30 spindle. Notice there is an additional colar made around the surface where the e30 dust cap sits. It is not there only for the e36 dust cap, but so that the bearing race can have the intended surface to rest on. The e36 dust cap however is a bit taller than the e30 one, so once in place, it needs a bit of trimming with the dremmel, nothing frustrating.



                    Then line all the gear up and measure what's what before welding.



                    A buddy who actually knows how to weld and owns a TIG welder was kind enough to do the job:



                    We noticed the coilover sleeve had a little play when snug onto the chopped spindle, so we borrowed an idea from the drifters' forum. We made some holes and plug welded them.






                    After that the struts were off for powdercoating, I've trimmed the dust caps, put the hubs on, beat the crap out of the protective shields to make them fit after the brake disc has been installed, because the new adaptor sleeve brings the disc 5mm closer to the strut and kind of is in the same place the dust shield wants to be.
                    The struts are assembled and actually ready to go, but somehow both my camera and phone decided to have an empty battery at the same time. So I'll have to snap some picture for you guys later.
                    I hope to have the car on wheels by the end of the weekend. Cheers!
                    Last edited by gnmzl; 07-20-2018, 07:27 AM.
                    "You could roll an E30 in a BMW showroom today and people would think:
                    Well, they finally got the 1 series right!"

                    3.0 L e30 ground up build

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      I'm back with a small update from the past few days.
                      Got some motivation while looking at some friends' rides and decided to actually put some work into my car.
                      Had to massage the dust caps before putting in the hubs, they were protruding slightly and prevented the hub bearing from sitting properly:



                      Put the hubs on:



                      Screwed down the nuts:



                      Shiny and ready to be assembled!



                      Put the front crossmember in, as well as the sway bar:



                      Prepped the lollipops with some powerflex goodness and unpacked the control arms:



                      After those were installed, cleaned the steering rack really good (about 4 hours total) and slapped it on:



                      Then the struts were installed, pretty happy with them actually:




                      Plan is to leave it high, until paint and exhaust are sorted.
                      Then there was some spare time to put in the wiring loom:




                      Unfortunately dumbass me never thought I'd make it this far during this weekend and didn't bring the laptop with the photos from the disassembly. So I had no idea which goes where and just left it like that. I'll try and make sense of that cable mess in the next few days.
                      I am still waiting on my adaptor plates for the front brakes, as well on brake fluid.Once those arrive, I can bleed the brakes and put the e30 on the ground.

                      Until next time.
                      Last edited by gnmzl; 07-20-2018, 07:41 AM.
                      "You could roll an E30 in a BMW showroom today and people would think:
                      Well, they finally got the 1 series right!"

                      3.0 L e30 ground up build

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        hey, stanceworkers, it's me again.
                        I've been slacking around not updating this thread, I admit. But hey, there is not much to tell, so this should be a quick read.

                        So, after the fron suspension was nearly done, I moved to the back and assembled the rear. Put in the springs and shocks and slapped in the fuel tube, which was powdercoated for extra bling.





                        Since I redid the front 5x120 setup, the adapt-o-plates for the front calipers would no longer work, new ones were required. Had those babies machined and zinc-coated in 2 days total!



                        Once that was done, we were ready to bleed the brakes and clutch slave pump. If you need to bleed the pump when there is no trans/motor, here is my Top Gear Top Tip: use a connecting rod foot with long bolts+nuts. Woks like a charm.
                        Also, an enthusiastic friend is required to help you out bleed the brakes:



                        That could only lead to one thing - settling on her own wheels for the first time in about 6 months!




                        Time to stop jerking around and sort out the wire loom

                        Left side, slowly progressing and getting there:



                        And done:



                        Right side was eaisier:



                        After that I put in the battery cable going to the trunk, but forgot to take pictures for some reason.

                        A few days ago, I called up the same buddy, who took her to the bodywork dude and we made a plan to take her to her garage to stay over the winter, because we need to use the workshop now, since it's cold outside and we need to work on other cars as well.
                        There she is, rolling out on her own for the first time after the assembly had started:



                        I don't have a picture of her on the trailer, it was too dark. When we arrived, we uploaded her and I stepped inside. The guys pushed me to the slope, where the entrance to the inderground garage is and I used the inertia to make the U turn at the entrance. It was awesome, I almost drifted

                        Here she is, all cramped up in the small garage:



                        So that's where she is at now, checked an hour ago. She will stay there over winter, while I work on other stuff like the heater core, sliding roof and engine.

                        Ooooh right riiiight, I was going to tell you about the engine.... well, I will, but in the next post

                        Let me tell you about the other cars in my life first.
                        I was not planning on doind anything major to the e28. So I kept myself busy with simple suff. Like finding a replacement taillight, mine was broken badly. The steering wheel was seriously pissing me off, so I remembered there was this steering wheel from my old Lada. Found it in a box at my parent's summer house and was surprised to find out it was a genuine Astrali wheel with PCD 6x100. Not gonna bother explaining what an Astrali is, found a genuine hub on the UK ebay for 20 pounds and snagged it:



                        I love how it feels. Some say it's ugly and inappropriate, I say f*** em.
                        Gaining confidence with the e28 I went to he annual e30 meet with it like a boss



                        Unfortunately, winter is coming, so I braced myself and drove to my parent's summer house (420 km away) for the second time. Swapped the stock wheels back on not to mess up the new tires, while the e28 sits in hybernation over the winter in the warm garage:




                        She looks so sad
                        Anyway, once I made sure she will be safe during winter (3 mouse traps around her plus a device, which uses magic to repel mice) I locked both garage doors and hopped into my top secret car, which I had done some maintenance in total secrecy over my summer paid leave. Seriously, it's top secret, some of my friends didn't even know I own a ****.
                        But it has proven itself reliable and cheap to maintain/travel, so I've kept it over the years, although it was not used for many years.
                        Wanna know what it is? Naaah, maybe in the next post.

                        Let me tell you another story.
                        When I realized I will not drive a BMW (decided the e28 is worth saving and not being driven during the horrible winters here), a hunt after a cheap BMW on it's last legs begun. I was looking and looking, drove several times to remote locations only to be staring at a pile of junk, that wouldn't even make the trip home. So, like usual, life happened.
                        A friend of mine from my home town had to go into surgery and stay in the city I currently live in for about 5 days. I was happy to have him and we had a good time considering he was just out of surgery. So on the 5th day he left and I was still at work, when he texted once he got home, saying that his brother has an offer I can't refuse.
                        We exchanged a million texts, but you will be bored, so the short version:
                        My buddy's brother will let me have his car for the winter, because he is not driving it anyway and will not have the time for it in the next 6 months. Because he is building some new BMW, which I hardly find interesting. Who cares about a convertible e46 m3 with a turbo. Pfffshhhh
                        The catch is I have to drive BACK to my home town to get it, also perform minor stuff on it while in my possession. Like change front control arms, swap the LSD unit into a non-screaming and screeching dif and complete overhaul of the engine.
                        Needless to say I was excited. I drove back in my secret **** car with my parents, who would stay over the weekend anyway and left it with them. I drove back on the next day in the early morning in this:




                        It's a 318i with a K-jetronic fuel injection, 323i front end swap, e34 525i front brakes, LSD dif and coilovers
                        Motor runs like crap, spits, shakes and whatnot. But I made it home and surprised people on the highway


                        I promise, I'll tell you about the engine stuff in my next post. I promise.
                        Last edited by gnmzl; 07-20-2018, 08:49 AM.
                        "You could roll an E30 in a BMW showroom today and people would think:
                        Well, they finally got the 1 series right!"

                        3.0 L e30 ground up build

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          OK, today I am off work, so no more postponing. Engine time!

                          Most of the people reading this would probably think I am doing an engine swap, S50, S38 or a V8 from the BMW range. Or that I would go back to the original idea of turboing the m20b27. And they wouldn't be off completely.
                          However, several events lead to my final decision. There had been far too many issues with the law lately. It is illegal to have a different engine in your car in our country. When a car is registered for the first time in Bulgaria, the engine serial number is written on the slip. If you get caught with a different engine, you can face a fine ranging from ~1200 to ~4000 USD. In case your engine brakes, you need to find the exact same motor, buy it with documentation stating that you bought it, not stole it, and then reregister the car. If you put a different type of motor in (i.e. you have a 1.8 car, put a 2.0 engine in it), you HAVE to go to technical inspection, they decide if you did it properly and issue a piece of paper. That of course costs money and there is a big chance that you don't pass.
                          Turbocharged cars do not pass, so it's completely illegal to have turbocharged car, that was not produced with a turbocharger from factory.
                          So a V8 conversion, and a legal one, would be possible, but really pricey.

                          Then one day I got wind from a friend, that there is this guy, who had bought a rotten e28 with an e30 323 engine in it. The interesting part is the gearbox, coupled to that engine. Yes, it was a Getrag 245 Dogleg gearbox.
                          We negotiated for months, he wanted to put it up on ebay and make serious cash, I wanted to have it for cheap, or at least cheap for a dogleg. Eventually he agreed to sell it to me for a really good price.

                          So that decided it for me, I will stick with the mechanical marvel, called a BMW m20 engine (fun fact: used to be called m60, that's why some early gearboxes have m60 stamped on them), because I now have a dogleg gearbox to couple to it

                          OK, doglegs are seriously awesome, but no good in a weak ass stock m20b27. So I need to do something, and not just your average 2.8 stroke. No sir.


                          Bottom end

                          When I was earlier deciding what type of engine I want in the car I am buying, I had made a very good choice, not knowing I was going to make things easier for myself in the future.
                          So thanks, past me!
                          m20b27 engines are notoriuos for running forever, when taken good care of. I feared mine was not really taken care of, so only one way to make sure. Disassemble everything!

                          First head off, pistons have a good amount of gunk on them:



                          Then I realize it's way easier for a single person to use the engine hoist and be able to position the shortblock on the stand.



                          A good few hours later, all is off:



                          Now we get to the good part, is a complete m54b30 rotating assembly going to fit in an ETA block?

                          We can clearly see, the crank fits and rotates freely:



                          Time to put the rods and pistons in. They stick about 2mm above ...



                          Nothing that cannot be handled by any respectable machine shop.
                          There was a small issue with the block casting though. When the crank is rotated, there is one spot, where the connecting rod meets the lowest part of the cylinder wall.
                          I took the naked block to a trusted guy, who solely does engine blocks and dropped it off for measuring along with the rotating assembly and massaging of the lower cylinder walls, so that the conrods can move freely.
                          The guy did that really well and congratulated me on parts in perfect condition. He really thought I was bullshiting him about the block being 30 years old.

                          So, now I am at a point figuring out what exactly needs to be done to the pistons to achieve a compression ratio of 12:1
                          As soon as I figure it out, I am sending them to the machine shop.

                          The conrods will be weighed and trimmed down to match, there is also a lightweight flywheel from an early m20 e21 ready to go in and make the rotating assembly even lighter.

                          On to more good stuff!

                          The Head

                          As we all know, the head of the engine is where the horsepower is summoned from another dimension.
                          Needless to say, a 885 unit is going to be used on my engine. I had been wanting to drive with a 292 camshaft, which Shrick did not produce at the time I was looking for parts. Also, the DBilas one had better charachteristics in my opinion, but they had also stopped producing it. I was going on ebay day after day, week after week, month after month... and still no 292 camshaft. Then one day a tuning shop announced they are selling the 292 DBilas camshaft (DBilas decided to produce it again for some reason). There were also shrick vavle springs available at a discount if you buy a camshaft from them. No brainer - the order was placed within minutes and in a week a camshaft and valve springs popped up:




                          Happy as I was, the IE rocker arms were still too expensive for me, since there is tax on imported goods and also tax on shipping of imported goods, so I would have to pay double to get them.
                          Then the endless browsing of adds pays off again - a guy in the UK had some m20 stroker parts he was no longer willing to use due to S50 swap, IE rocker arms among them. I emailed the guy and asked him if he wants to ship. the answer was YES and a deal was struck once again. The rocker arms arrived in their original pack, never opened.

                          That got me thinking, more new stuff is required, so this happened:



                          All new parts, everything needed for the head to be assembled. The valve spring retaining collars are VAC motorsport. Also, although no turbo will be slapped on this engine, ARP head studs were acquired:



                          So far so good, but such a big increase in the displacement would require some better air flow. The last thing I am is a head porting guy, I have absolutely no idea how it should be done, so I hired someone to fiddle with the head. There were some things we disagreed about, but the final result is satisfactory to me:






                          The intake ports were very mildly increased, the exhaust ports were made to match the seal and the exhaust manifolds, which are being manifactured as we speak.

                          Stock m20b25 exhaust port:



                          Mine:



                          This leads us to valves. The stock ones are obviously not going to cut it. And not dimensionwise, diameters are OK in my honest opinion. They are heavy and break easily when you rev up to 8k. So, custom ones were milled down and adonized. They are lighter and stronger.

                          Stock m20b25 intake, custom intake, custom exhaust, stock m20b25 exhaust:



                          That's where I am at right now. Started assembling the head yesterday evening and am proceeding very slowly, so I don't f*c* anything up.

                          Cheers, till next time!
                          Last edited by gnmzl; 07-23-2018, 03:55 AM.
                          "You could roll an E30 in a BMW showroom today and people would think:
                          Well, they finally got the 1 series right!"

                          3.0 L e30 ground up build

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Евала , продължавай брат! Ако решиш да продаваш окачването свиркай

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Awesome car, and good job doing things the correct way.

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Man! what an amazing build thread! narrated and illustrated excellently..
                                Your attention to detail on this car is top notch, and I have no doubt the end result will be awesome.

                                I echo your opening verses about e30s being so intoxicating to drive, they really are one of the all time great cars.

                                It is annoying to hear about the retarded new rules in your country, fuck governments!
                                You would think there are more important things to sort out in the world by some government office faggot, like famine and refugees, instead of 'lets make a whole massive system that makes normal people messing with 25 year old cars have the exact same engine number if they ever want or have to change the engine on they're own property'.
                                On the other hand it has led you to building this awesome engine so you can still 'rebel against the machine'

                                I am suprised though that you did not paint under the car and inside the arches after all the fabbing was done before you started assembly..

                                Looking forward to following this build to the finish

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