Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
E30 Restoration
Options
-
24-08-2009 5:00pm#1Think this fits neatly into the classics section - albeit modern classics! Bought it last December from a lad on E30zone.
Its a January 83 323i in Henna red, with 49k on the clock. Was in storage for 12 years shortly before I got it.
I won't bore you with everything I've attempted with it - I did try a good deal of the bodywork myself but decided I wanted a car I wouldn't be embarassed to drive everywhere in, so its currently undergoing a full glass out respray - which I'll start my updates here with!! If you do want to bore yourself - theres 15 pages of the good stuff here - http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7103 :P
Its currently being worked on by a BMW specialist called AC Cars in Dublin (www.accarsales.com) - they've recently added a full bodyshop and have been a pleasure to deal with so far. Some of the bodyshop's who wanted to do the job wanted to do a quick respray, but AC actually said they wouldn't do it unless they could do a glass out job on it, which has been a lifesaver as the last pics will show. It was relatively rust free for the age - but any areas which needed attention have had new metal welded in, so the work should last long into the future.
And heres the reason I'm glad they insisted on taking the screens out...
The car is having the Mtec 1 kit fitted, and a dechrome. Have quite a few bits of trim pieces to source - some of it being no longer available makes life awkward. Once done, I'll be doing some suspension work, brakes etc, and then will follow that up with of bit of engine work.
Will try and keep you posted!20
Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
rabbit Stew wrote: »Ps It'll go like a stabbed rat.
Its actually fairly lethargic to be honest - the autobox doesn't help. Once the engine work is finished, that won't be the case though!
0 -
-
-
Heres some earlier work on the interior
The car had a clean cloth interior, but I managed to pick up a very tidy sports leather from a lad on e30zone a few weeks back for small money. There were no rips or tears, but the leather was cracking and in need of some work.
I bought a leather restoration kit from Dynamix Dyes (www.dynamixdyes.com) - they have a full selection of colours available, thankfully black is as straightforward as it gets. The kit arrived quickly - and contains a leather cleaner, a conditioner, the dye, an applicator sponge and a leather scented air freshener.
Heres a few pics of the seats before any work was done -
The interior needs to be cleaned thoroughly using the supplied cleaner, after which I gave it a wipe down with methylated spirits to remove any remnants of waxes or grease. I then gave the seats a sanding with 600 grit paper to remove major cracking. Probably could have done with sanding down a bit further, but I didn't fancy doing any significant damage.
I cut the supplied sponge into three sections and used it to apply very thin coats of the dye. Within about two coats the seats looked significantly better, the amount of dye supplied allowed me to do 6 coats on the full interior. I still need to apply the conditioner to the leather - the seats have to be left for two days before its done.
Heres the finished pictures -
Am delighted with the results - the interior looked worse to begin with than the pictures show, and it came up amazing. Its obviously not like a brand new interior - the cracking can still be seen, but its well worth spending the money on the kit if your interior is a bit tired looking.0 -
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
Advertisement