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E30 Touring Resto Project (Picture heavy)
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07-12-2013 12:37am#1I posted a few pics in the pics of your car thread and was asked/told I should start my own thread on the E30 I'm currently restoring. It's been ongoing for nearly 3 years now and so there are quite a lot of photo's (I like taking pics).
I'll try summarise my posts from E30owners which will take some time but give bit of an insight into what how it started to how it looks now (it's in paint nearly ready come home as of a few days ago)
Couple years ago I was after a E30, a 318iS specifically, but due to a lack of funds I was having a hard time finding something I liked. A E30owners forum member and friend crashed his touring towards the end of 2008 and put it up for sale. Money was right for me, it needed a little bit of work to put right but everything else seemed sound, it also came with a m42 engine from a 318iS. Looking a bit sorry this is how she looked when I got her home (all pics from 2009):
And the mangled front slam panel
The bent bits were cut out
Some other typical E30 repairs:
Painted parts:
Other work was done that I can't remember before eventually going back on the road in Aug 2009
Fitted a few upgrades/additions
New wheels (Borbet B, 16x7.5)
That roughly sums up a year or so of when I owned this touring
A engine gasket went and she started leaking water, this is when I decided to take her of the road and start a bit of an overhaul. In hind sight, I should have fixed the engine and kept driving it!6
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For the overhaul I wanted to change the look of the car and sort out some rust issue's. Lots of googling for idea's! Collecting of parts etc! Eventually settled on doing something similar to this:
Some photoshopage later:
And some more:
This was the last time she was on 4 wheels (Jan 2010)
Storing the future new engine:
Change of plans in Jan 2101 I picked up a touring shell, less rust and 4yrs older, made up a spit and started stripping it down
Looks can be deceiving....
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From here-on-in it gets a little to picture heavy as I have hundreds of pics of every little thing that was done to her. I'll post some random pics of work carried out, if you want to read/see the lot I have a build thread on e30owners.
The first bits of work were done not long after my brother showed me how to weld before he went of to Oz
Nearly all bushes are being replaced, wishbones and eccentric lollie-pop bushes are less than a year old, first of many batches of parts 8-)
More
The novely has nearly worn of I've had so much stuff delivered since starting :oops:
More welding, these were tricky
Outer wheel housing rot
Battery tray repair:
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Refurbed callipers (again)
The discs also got a little loving, they were not even a year old but had some surface corrosion from being stood up
The whole lot bolted back up to the new coilovers
These were later stripped back again and sent for powder coating (excl the callipers)
Front panel chopped out because of rot:
Intention is to have the replacement panel removable or at least part of it a little easier to get the new engine in and any future engines i may swap into it.
More random welding
Seam welding
---edit---
Callipers have actually started rusting again while lying on shelf so they have been stripped down again and will be sand blasted this time, no messing about with a wirewheel this time!0 -
One of those moments where you think "why did I start this"....
Doesn't look bad but it's rotting from the inside and not easy to clean the welds if you just chop out the drain so it was decided to replace the whole sunroof tray. Rot on the inside of the tray:
Donor panel from the old touring highlighted in red
Little bit of surface rust on it but otherwise very clean! Rust was treat on both the roof skin and tray, primered and painted before being bonded and welded back in place.
Christmas pressents
Not a fan of DTM style pipes so got new straight ones from Scorpion, the hoses are made to fit the E46 rack I'm fitting, and heated mirrors.
Small mod to the front valance to fit 2 grill vents, which will hardly be visible with the tec2 apron :roll:
De-locked doors (also did the wings):
Treating surface rust with deox-gel (love that stuff)
Zinc primed
Primered:
And finally visible progress, paint:
Paint isn't 100% a good match but good enough as it wont ever really be seen unless the carpet is lifted0 -
Underside rust treated/chopped out/etc, primerd and sealed
And undersealed where needed and painted
Not 100% happy with the underseal, Marty will be re-applying it where needed while he has it.
I had painted the subframes, wishbones and drive/half-shafts with hammerite hmmered stone finish, not happy with the finish though and some parts were sent for powdercoating (and came back painted :evil: ). Paint didn't match so they were re-done but with the paint gun this time.
All the bits going to to get her rolling
8-)
And finally a week or so ago - July 2012
And I've not done anything sice
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Pics of mods or improvements I made to various things
Rear ARB pickup point reinforcement
Reinforced rear ARB brackets:
Front ARB re-located to the strut, similar to the M3, with adjustable front links
Front ARB pick-up reinforcement
Also reinforced the engine mounts but can't find pics of this
Powdercoated, I mean painted parts.... :evil:
Rear beam with modified trailing arm mounts for camber and caster adjustment
M52 airbox bracket and relocated ABS bracket (ignore the bad welding and deox gel)
Wheels 8-)
Have taken a little brake from it since the shell was collected last week, intention is to get started on the engine and getting it ready to go into the shell along with everything else that needs moving over when I get it back from the paint shop.0 -
9 Aug
Finally got the lend of a engine hoist this week and started by pulling the engine from the old shell
Nothing could just be straight forward with this build :mad: The oil filter cap refused to come of, after trying a few different things I eventually wrung the hex nut and proceeded to remove the cap with a little more violence :laughing:
If anyone has one spare, I'll take it of your hands
Engine is now back on the stand and I think I'll spend some time cleaning it now and just hope she runs when it all goes in the car.
23 Sept
Few hrs at it again today, got nearly all the plug plugged in and the ECU pulled in under the dash. Had to do a bit of a ghetto setup with the fuel tank, should work though. Just some wires to bolt up (not sure where they go yet), some fuel pipes, oil, alternator + belt and prob a few other things and I can try turn her over :dance:
Anyone know where these wires go?
Near the ECU side of the loom? Probably to the battery +/- terminals?
These are near the starter, do all 3 of them go on there or is one for the block or chassis?
Is this destined for the bin or am I meant to use it somewhere?
Which of these is the fuel feed and return?0 -
29 Sept
Went to see Marty Lane today to see how he's getting on with the paint work and I was greeted with this:
The roof had been painted at some point and it crap hence why that was stripped back, the rear quarters were taken back to prevent reactions.
Front valance & skirts, bumper (and lower apron) ready for primer
Arch flares primered
Both front doors were prepped/being worked on
Some lead-loading they did on the plated up key holes:
The wings were also lead loaded but he didn't have them there. I can't remember what Marty told me he had done with the bonnet and boot lid. No corners being cut anyway, just how I like it
Forgot my camera, phone had to do, will bring the proper cam next time!0 -
10 Oct
Slow progress, again, the last week or so, have slowly been getting everything ready to get the engine to turn over. Got a new battery for her yesterday, the fuel lines are all hooked up again as is all the wiring neatly tucked inside the wiring cover (which needed a little trimming, not 100% happy on the outcome of this though), just some nut needed on the bushes and a few small things. This is how she stands as of this evening:
Anyone know where this wire needs to go?
It's red and should be power but it won't fit with the other bundle of wires. I forget where it came from but I think it might be from the fuse box.
I also seem to have the whole lot sitting at a slight slant for what ever reason?
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16 Oct
Went by the Marty earlier on today. Not a whole lot of progress due to him being sick and busy. Hopefully he'll have it in primer over the next week or two! Also visited a few car dealerships and come to the conclusion that BMW, Mini and audi are sound, Toyota were not friendly at all and Merc looked like a drug dealer.
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19 Oct
Pretty much have the whole shell stripped down to the wiring loom
I need to figure out how to remove the back rest and the carpet area behind it, should have the part from the red shell to look at for this.
Few other pics of little mods I had to do related to the engine:
You can buy a proper intake silicone boot from a few places in the US but by the time you have it deliverd it ends up costing something like €130 :eek: I have been talking to a Samco distributor in the Uk who I think might also be able to sell me on but for a lot less. I used a 80mm to 74mm reducing elbow and some 20mm (I think) striaght pipe for the above. Lots of trimming until I was happy how it fitted and then made a hole for the AFM T-piece on the under side.
Little bit of trimming I had to do to the wiring harness cover so that it still fits:
There's a little trimming on the outer cover also but I can't find pics of it.0 -
24/10/2012
Just a small update, got started on the wiring around the bay yesterday, going to tidy it all up and re-route some wires to make it a little neater in the bay.
Suggestions how to go about this welcome! Have some idea's but someone might have better ones!
25/10/2012
Click image for video
Sounds much louder than expected with only the exhaust manifold, she's a little shaky, injectors are clicking away and idle is around 16-1800rpm (4cyl clocks). No idea if this is good/bad!0 -
Small side-project I'm working on. No idea when I'll get round to refurbing and widening but at least 1 wheel is now split
24/01/2013
It's been a little quiet in here so I thought I'd put these few pics up here.
Marty's sending a panel my way this weekend with a few colours on it for me to decide on what I want to go with.0 -
31/01/2013
Dropped some clips down to Marty yesterday and collected a panel with 4 colours I was looking at painted on it.
Some pics of the panel next to a Mauritius blue wing:
I darkened the area with the brand/paint colour just to give them all a fair chance, colours may or may not be a bmw shade 0 -
04/05/2013
Small update... Over the last few weeks I've slowly been treating some of the heatshields and petrol tank for rust and getting them painted up. Apart from the big long heatshield and the tank everything is new.
The tank has 3x coats of paint under two coats of BMW stonechip which came out very matt looking so it got another quick coat of satin. The BMW stone chip is more of a heavy rubbery paint that stone chip though, it's not very thick but should help prevent stonechips.
I also gave these a coat of stonechip and sating paint since they are under the car and in the wheel well.
22/07/2013
Small update, work has begun on the engine bay and it's got it's first coat of primers.
Stud for new earth, will have one on the other side also.
Battery tray trimmed back a little. Will have an M3 expansion tank fitted there along with the M3 plastic panel to hide any wires.
Front panel needs a little bit of work and one or two holes drilling around the bay.0 -
31/07/2013
Another piece of the puzzle arrive yesterday from Holland:
I'll now be able to close the boot compartment when there's a battery in there, the difference is quite obvious (ignore the blurry cat).
26/09/2013
Spent a couple hours everyday this week cleaning my interior. Pretty happy with how it all came out. There's some light staining on the boot carpet which hopefully won't be visible once I've it all dye'd, likewise with the floor mats.
Another pic for good measure, so comfy to sit in!
Carpet not cleaned yet, I just attacked some stains today, will do the rest tomorrow.
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28/09/2013
This was my carpet today around lunch time, all nice and clean and stuff
And after about 90mins, quite a bit of sweat and nearly 1L of dye it all looks like this now:
The above were stitched together as a panorama and not quite in focus but you get the idea
For comparison:
I reckon it needs at least another coat maybe even 2 more. I'm out of dye though so it's going to have to wait till more arrives.
30/10/2013
I was down with Marty today, things are starting to come together. The front panel is removable and the insides of the doors have been painted blue.
Couldn't resist doing a quick pano while I was there
Some random pics of 2 doors
Front end is removable and bay is also ready
It's all bolted down with welded on nuts
The box section capped off, same done to the upper part
I forgot to take a pic with the panel of so here's a crappy phone pic
Marty hopes to paint the rest this weekend or soon after 0 -
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Myself and Feens went for a look at the touring today. I can;t say anything other than that I'm very very happy with it! The colour is spot on and I really like it. The finish is also great, it's a little dusty in the pics and hasn't been flattened and polished yet in the pics but you get the idea:
Nearly time for it to come home :dance: 0 -
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Why not both?MetzgerMeister wrote: »Hang on, I just realised this is in Classic Cars, not motors
Motors needs it more than CC :P0 -
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MetzgerMeister wrote: »Hang on, I just realised this is in Classic Cars, not motors Motors needs it more than CC :P
It's one and the same once you know where the thread is. What we really need is a sub forum for builds. On all brand/model specific forums there is a specific build section, why can't we have one here?0
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