E30 Restoration

carchaeologist

Nice,the leather is the job!

kdevitt

carchaeologist wrote: »

Nice,the leather is the job!

Needs a clean!!

jozi

Nice one on the arm rest and centre console. Is the cassette bit period for the car or from a more recent E30? Reason I ask is because it's much more modern looking than the one in my car

There's a thread on the zone about under bonnet foam, would be a nice finishing touch to have new installed (if you haven't already thought of doing it).

kdevitt

Looks more or less identical to the one my dad had in his 85 316, so not sure what one you have?

Will get around to doing the bonnet foam at some stage!

jozi

Mine's black with white buttons and not as rounded of as yours. No idea where it came from tbh, was in the car but I want it gone and have a little tray there for phone or what ever.

The foam will finish her of nicely.

kdevitt

Opened the boot today and it was full of water (and ice!). I was imagining having to spend quite a while tracking down the source of the leak - but thankfully it was straightforward enough.

For some reason, the rear lights hadn't been bolted back in:



That was the worst nut - but they were all loose. Managed to get all the water out of the boot and dry out the lights, so hopefully it'll be the last of the leaks.

Also managed to clean and condition the interior. Really looks great now - but you'll have to take my word for it, have no photos, will wash the car and grab some tomorrow.

alpina

Wonder if anyone from AC browses through here...definetely not getting a very professional picture painted of their restoration side of the business. The likes of your restoration to me would be their bread & butter business & dicking you around like this is bloody ridiculous. All the initial work looks well but obviously losing interest in tyding all up! Did you have to pay all in advance, installments like 50% on start with balance on completion? Seems like you need to play the game with these guys...quite silly as they lose future work due to your experiences. Anyhow, nice work & hope you are enjoying the car...

kdevitt

I know the lads in AC years to be honest - I'd imagine the car was left sitting a good while between work being done on it, and stuff that looked finished wasn't checked again.

Wasn't exactly what I expected - I know I could have given the car back and gotten it sorted, but I've been without the car long enough that I didn't want it disappearing again for even more time.

Paintwork is excellent though

quarryman

I think you're being generous to them kdevitt.

They didn't align the door/panels. They didn't screw the lamp housings in and it soundS like they messed you around in general with getting the work done.

I have first hand experience and found them shoddy and lazy in diagnosis and repair. And they are well able to charge for it too.

That is just my experience though I have heard murmurs of similar stories.

Enjoy the car but if I was getting that treatment (for the hefty price I'm guessing you are paying) I would not be going back in a hurry.

kdevitt

Got the car washed today - not that it was overly dirty. A piece of the sunroof hadn't been put back in though, so the water just pissed right through into the cabin. Will need to get that sorted.

Anyhoo - am happy with how its looking:

andr3w103

that is one of the best lookin e30s ive seen... sum yoke

quarryman

Agreed, looks stunning.

Apologies for my off topic posts, just venting a little.

Looking forward to more pics.

kdevitt

Have been away with business for a while, so didn't get much done.

Had a mechanic out - had a goo and took it for a quick spin. He's going to look after a timing belt swap, new water pump, and replacement of the other belts - its a bit squeeky when its damp out, so it'll hopefully put an end to that.

Managed to get new trim pieces for the top of the door cards - they've actually changed the design for any of you who may be buying them. Instead of a rubber piece which sits flush against the glass, and a chrome or shadowline finisher to go on top of it, its just one single rubber piece now. Quite neat - doors look better anyway.

I also replaced the sound deadening under the bonnet - the old stuff was falling off. Looks nice and fresh now!







Need to get some of the panels aligned still - so will get that done soon enough. The bonnet is sitting way too high, and the passenger door is still off. Its quite annoying to look at.

As an FYI - am running BMW specialists awards at the moment, so people can vote for good and bad service they've receive. Will hopefully give people an idea of who they can and can't trust to use!

The Good: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R2RNK9F
The Bad: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RCKTV8P

DF1

What sort of money would it cost to get job like this done from start to finish ?

kdevitt

DF1 wrote: »

What sort of money would it cost to get job like this done from start to finish ?

Carcraft quoted me around €1800 to do the spray job.

unkel

kdevitt wrote: »

Carcraft quoted me around €1800 to do the spray job.

But Carcraft didn't do the job, did they? How much did AC charge you for it?

kdevitt

unkel wrote: »

But Carcraft didn't do the job, did they?

Nope you're right they didn't, but I'd recommend them, they've done work on my M3 and my brothers E30, and that was their quoted price.

Don't know what AC would charge someone to be honest - it was apparently done on the cheap for me.

Original quote was 2k, then became 3k - which I hadn't agreed to, and we settled on 2.5k. They told me it would have cost 3.5 to 4k. So am honestly not sure what price they'd quote someone.

kdevitt

The wheels I had on the car needed a refurb, and a new tyre. In order to save a few quid, I bought a set of wheels which were in perfect condition and had good Michelin's on them.

Problem being, they weren't in perfect condition and the Michelins were barely legal, so a refurb was needed.

So here are the wheels as I got them. The tyres were all on the markers, or beyond. Managed to get some tyres sourced from Richie in Pro-Parts so he was able to remove the old tyres before I dropped them into Carcraft for the refurb.



Fairly certain the wheels were sprayed before - there were some points which had bubbled, and I sanded them down myself - you can see primer there as well though!





Should be collecting them tomorrow! Ordered new centre caps from C3BMW.co.uk to go on them, and will be having the new tyres fitted by Pro-Parts on Saturday. Will post up some pics after the refurb is complete.

kdevitt

Got a few bits done today! First up were the centre caps for the newly refubed BBS wheels. Was happy with the refurb - one wheel isn't great though, so will be dropping it back to be redone.

Anyway - the old caps had seen better days!



There were one or two roundels stuck onto each one - they'd been replaced before. Used a blade to try and get them off, but they didn't budge. Stuck them in boiling water and the glue softened up very quickly.



Cleaned up all the gunk and stuck on the fresh badges -



Popped them onto the new wheels - they just clip in -



Also finally straightened up the reg surrounds that were on it - they were crooked for ages. And threw on the German plates of course! Quite like them - might change my mind at some stage.





Managed to get the car washed too - not that it was too dirty, but wanted to try out the Dodo Juice Orange crush.

carchaeologist

Gorgeous,a fantastic restoration!

quarryman

That. Is. Brill.

Gary ITR

Awesome

unkel

Amazing to see it finished like that!

I'm normally not that fussy about plates, but those German ones do look great. Love the headlight wipers too. I've always had a fetish for them

kdevitt

unkel wrote: »

Amazing to see it finished like that!

I'm normally not that fussy about plates, but those German ones do look great. Love the headlight wipers too. I've always had a fetish for them

Still alot of work to be done being honest! But at least its getting there, and looks the part.

jozi

Looks great kdevitt! Can't beat some good 15" bbs' (except maybe for some 3pc bbs') have you plans to drop her a little? Even just m-tec springs or a little more?

EDIT: German plates look great btw! Strange seeing an '83 but thats more to do with the rarity of cars from that year than the plate

kdevitt

Don't like the split rim BBS's in smaller sizes at all - only the one piece! Think they need to be at least 19's to look ok, otherwise it makes the wheel look tiny.

It'll be getting all new suspension - billys and eibachs.

Gary ITR

Don't mean to rush you but when are you taking us for a spin?

kdevitt

Onkle wrote: »

Don't mean to rush you but when are you taking us for a spin?

Haha - I'm not sure you'd really want to. Its slightly barge like in the handling department, and isn't exactly quick! Doesn't set the pulse racing anyway -

Thats where the daily driver comes in

quenching

I have to agree thats a beautiful job! Where did you get those german plates made, I've been meaning to get a set for my '84 Mercedes 190E and your ones look the best I've seem yet.

Bren T

Saw this E30 yesterday going through Leixlip, looked great and really stands out against the modern stuff.