E30 Restoration

kdevitt

Some more flattening and polishing going on! Put through yet another order for parts today as well - trim pieces, clips etc and the template to drill for the skirts.

carchaeologist

Lovely motor.Well wear..

Pdfile

lovely machine lad... really lovely, pitty about the alpina's, original wheels are the best ( namelyif you cnag et a set 1-2 inch bigger )

kdevitt

Pdfile wrote: »

lovely machine lad... really lovely, pitty about the alpina's, original wheels are the best ( namelyif you cnag et a set 1-2 inch bigger )

Theres still a chance I'll eventually swap in E30 M3 suspension, in which case I'd move up to the 5 stud 16 inch BBS wheel.

74merc

I was under the impression that the M3 shell was slightly different (strut towers etc) therefore not a direct swap between it and the ordinary models. I've had 3 E30s, a 318i, a 318iS and an M3 Evo II. I wish I never sold the M3, it's now worth twice what I sold it for!

kdevitt

74merc wrote: »

I was under the impression that the M3 shell was slightly different (strut towers etc) therefore not a direct swap between it and the ordinary models. I've had 3 E30s, a 318i, a 318iS and an M3 Evo II. I wish I never sold the M3, it's now worth twice what I sold it for!

It all bolts in and is straightforward enough. Unfortunately, its also extremely expensive!

There may be differences in geometry between a standard E30 and M3, am not sure - but nothing that can't be rectified. Its a common enough swap in the US.

74merc

The suspension from the M3 is also quite hard so you might find it uncomfortable if you are using the car on a daily basis.

kdevitt

74merc wrote: »

The suspension from the M3 is also quite hard so you might find it uncomfortable if you are using the car on a daily basis.

Theres no reason why it should be any different? The swap only consists of the rear trailing arms, hubs and the front struts etc. The shocks and springs would all be new bilstein / eibach and with OEM bushes it should drive exactly as it would on the current 4 stud setup - it definitely won't be having poly bushes put into it!

Ferris

kdevitt wrote: »

Theres still a chance I'll eventually swap in E30 M3 suspension, in which case I'd move up to the 5 stud 16 inch BBS wheel.

I think you can use 3 series compact hubs and rear suspension to change over to 5 stud. Rear suspension on the e36 compact was from the e30.

Pdfile

74merc wrote: »

I wish I never sold the M3

atleast you didn't put yours into a pole like my oul lad did.


ill never forgive him :mad:

74merc

Pdfile wrote: »

atleast you didn't put yours into a pole like my oul lad did.


ill never forgive him :mad:

I sold it before I did something like that!
It was such a mental car that you couldn't drive it slowly. Everytime I took it out for a drive, I'd come back with sweaty palms!

kdevitt

Another quick update -

Had to order a few clips etc, and some of them broke - so theres been a delay with getting the skirts on. Being used, they also had a slightly twist in them, so they've been bonded as well - hence required some minor scaffolding! Apologies for the poor quality photos!

kdevitt

Collected it yesterday - still lots to do though

Pdfile

Looks the dogs Dangelies, Congrats... money well spent.

sogood

Well done and looking good. Serious smile factor going on there.Long may it last.:)

kdevitt

sogood wrote: »

Well done and looking good. Serious smile factor going on there.Long may it last.:)

I was actually smiling because they'd broken my rear view mirror and I was trying to hold it in place!

kdevitt

So after a nice relaxing weekend, it was time to get stuck in...

First step was to try and tidy up this mess slightly







Some of the parts were junk - and went in the bin. Everything else got thrown in the garden so I could sort it out - don't think my arch liner should have been sitting in there though



So first things first - the rubber door seals hadn't been put back on so I tackled them first.

They basically just clip into place, small mallet came in handy too. Well lump hammer more like.





Next up was the doors. They weren't aligned correctly at all - you can see the gap narrowing towards the bottom of the door. Fixing this involved rehanging the door, and aligned the lock catch. Its fair to say this took quite a while, and wouldn't have been finished without the help of my mate.



This is the lock catch - thankfully I had the other E30 there to compare with. As an FYI - I accidentally changed the camera setting, so some of these are in arty B&W!



And voila - one perfectly aligned door

kdevitt

Next up was the passenger side door - only slightly off







Once again there was quite a bit of playing around involved, still needs some work as it stands as its not perfect.

Managed to collect a few bits from the dealer yesterday too -



Good bit of this was trim for the fuel lid -

Put in the new rubber trunk section, and a new fuel lid - didn;t like the old chrome one!



Added the trim piece for around the locking pin as well -



Managed to improve the gap on the front wing / bonnet too. None of the bolts on the wing were tightened at all - could remove them all by hand. You can see the gap widening as it approaches the headlight area. My mate held the wing in while I tightened the nuts, and its much improved!



And last up for the day - some stickers!



This is for the rear bumper -

Before



After



Thats all for today - was baltic out, and I'm down with a bad cold

Lisnagry

Lovely car

kdevitt

Managed to do some of the interior today -

So heres the blank canvas -



One trim panel in



And then in with the seats. Serious pain to get in.





While I had the bench out I changed the fuel level sender (again). The new one I'd bought just wouldn't sit right, and petrol had started seeping out. I used the working one from my 320i and all is good.

In slightly more annoying news - the rear headliner wasn't stretched correctly when the glass went back in, so it'll need to be fixed up. Not a great photo, but you can just about see where its loose.

jozi

Looking good Ken! Is aligning the doors and bonnet not part of the job of respraying and putting it all back on?

Looking forward o seeing at some of the meets

ianobrien

jozi wrote: »

Is aligning the doors and bonnet not part of the job of respraying and putting it all back on?

That's what I'd be thinking as well.....

kdevitt

ianobrien wrote: »

That's what I'd be thinking as well.....

Its what I would have thought too!

Didn't want the car sitting there for another 6 months, they obviously decided they had other priorities, and my car wasn't one of them.

jozi

I hear Feens' car is keeping them busy, Dicko anyway.:)

So long they aren't things you can't do yourself it's not really a biggie though.

kdevitt

jozi wrote: »

I hear Feens' car is keeping them busy, Dicko anyway.:)

So long they aren't things you can't do yourself it's not really a biggie though.

Well to be honest, it is a biggie - they were paid to do it. The doors were hanging off, and not a single nut was tightened on the wings. I could go on...

jozi

I was more thinking of the doors needing a bit more aligning, forgot the wings. I can see where your coming from though and prob not happy about it.

quarryman

Sounds like AC messed you around with the car sitting around in their workshop and theN not even aligning the panels. Taking a week off work to receive the car and them doing nothing is bullsh1t.

I don't know where the praise for AC cars comes from. I've used them a few times over the years. Never again.

On the plus side, the car looks great!

kdevitt

Managed to make some more headway today - no photos though. The central locking wasn't working, so removed the whole lock assembly from the drivers though. There was some overspray on it which seems to have stuck the mechanism, so with the WD40 and vigorous back and forth action I got it working again.

At least the whole locking system now makes sense to me!

There was a lot of vibration coming from the drivers mirror too - had a look at only one of the bolts was in place. The wiring was also fed under the weatherproofing rather than through it, so took it all off and fixed it up.

And got a rear view mirror in place! Beginning to come together now.

lisao80

Its looking MINT, didnt see this thread on here before and im living in boards lately. bad form on them for not finishing off the little things for you, feck sake you gave them enough money to do the job it should have been 100% spot on being handed back to you.

wish to god i could get my hands on a new tech 1 bumper, mines still looking crap

kdevitt

The postman was kind today - so it meant I could stick the centre console back in.

Picked up this centre armrest on eBay - it was unused, and hence in excellent condition.









Thankfully - I also picked up an unused centre console on eBay a long time ago





I didn't take any photos of the install - its a case of bolt, screw, drill, bolt , curse, drill again etc.

Its actually quite handy - it slides on its mount, so can clear the handbrake.





Also got the door cards back on - had gotten vinyl doorcards, but they had different fittings in them, and I wasn't in the mood of stripping the door and all doorcards down. So I put the original ones back in - will probably have the retrimmed in the motorsport style (leather inserts) at some stage.



Have a few trim covers that need to go back in under the bonnet. Opened it up and my rad was just sitting loose -



Not sure there is clearance for the bonnet to shut if I just use a bolt and nut, so left it as is until I find out what exactly to use.

Anyway - took a photo before I packed up for the night. It was late and dark - and it was probably the first time I've ever taken my camera off fully auto