Go on then, have a laugh....

[HJG-E30]

Yes, beneath the Mtech kit. Car is mechanically sound so will be becoming an organ donor. This is a very sad day. My E30 is my best friend : (

[suchy]

That's not terminal!! Get it chopped out and weld in fresh metal!!

[HJG-E30]

Is that possible? I'm not entirely clued up on what's terminal and what's not to be honest!

[ross_jsy]

Some newspaper and p40 and you are good to go

[Grrrmachine]

Lightweight! That's an afternoon repair

Seriously, an entire outer sill is about 25 quid. Someone clued up would cut out any rot on the inner and put in some flat square repair patches, then you just spot-weld a whole new sill on over the top. The only real cost is the paint, but even that's simple since almost all the joints are hidden.

Don't frag the car just yet.

[suchy]

Is that possible? I'm not entirely clued up on what's terminal and what's not to be honest!

Anything is possible!! Whether the financial outlay is worth it to you is a different matter? Not a £100 job done I'm afraid, but fairly straightforward for someone who's profession it is. Can't really see the extent from those two small pics but looks to be inner and out sill and most probably some work on the arches- more pics would help.
I certainly wouldn't be fragging mine for that and I wouldn't do the work myself either.

[suchy]

Not a £100 job done I'm afraid

If done properly I should add

[Grrrmachine]

Better pics:





and a comparison of how I fixed it on my own rusty turd:

[HJG-E30]

Thanks, this makes me feel a bit better!

So the rotten panel onto which the side body kit mounts, I'd have to cut all that away and get it patched up? And then a new sill.... what about that nasty section by the rear arch?

[Grrrmachine]

Hmm, how to explain it....

Your sill is two skins of metal - an inner and an outer. The inner one is relatively flat, and that's the manky parts you can see at the rear arch. The outer can be bought as a whole panel, and that's what the body kit mounts to.

You'd use an angle grinder to slice off the entire outer sill. Then you have easy access to the inner, where you cut out any rotten sections and replace them with flat steel. Then you weld on the outer sill, and finally you weld up the end with another flat piece to seal the sills together.

This pic (although left-hand-side) is taken from within the rear wheel arch, looking at where the rear end of the outer and inner sill meet:



The two holes on my photo correspond to the two bolts you should still have at the end of your sill, holding the rear subframe plate. That should explain how simple the repairs are.

[suchy]

Cut away the outer sill (the bit the kit attaches too) where needed- it may be all or most of it. Maybe easier to cut all of it away if as bad as the rear pic. Clean up the inner sill and see what's gone on there- may get away with patching it up. I would imagine the inner and maybe outer arches will need some work also whilst you're there. And then replace the outer sill, paint, kit back on

[HJG-E30]

Many thanks for the advice so far guys.

What is this section here, marked with the yellow circle? It doesn't run all the way along the length of the car. It starts by the rear arch, and then ends before the door (2dr car).

[pacerpete]

It never ceases to amaze me that people to this day are still just discovering that their cars are teabags

That sort of rust has been festering for many years and easily visible for several. Do you never clean out your arches or wire brush and waxoil your sills / brake pipes / fuel pipes regularly ?


As stated abouve, this is not an impossible repair and definately not a reason to scrap an otherwise sound car BUT looking at that tells me that there will be plenty more issues around the car when you start digging

My advice would be to get ALL of the kit off, remove the boot carpets , remove the glove box and have a good poke around the bulkhead area, pull the carpet up in the front foot wells, remove the front wing splash guards and pay particular attention to the bottom of the A posts and front floor area .
You WILL find more rust.

A list and pics of all the common nasty areas is well documented here

[steve_k]

what woul the average cost be to replace the sills & front jacking pads be? (& yes i know price varies from garage/bodyshop to bodyshop).

reason being is mine are going to need doind sooner or later.

[handpaper]

I have a perfect RHS sill here, bought from BMW a few years ago, still bears the part # 41 35 1 936 506.
Yours for the above-mentioned £25....

[Grrrmachine]

front jacking pads

Front jacking pads are part of the sills. If you're talking about the square boxes at the front of the floorpan, they are NOT jacking pads and if you've been using them as such, then you'll have to cut out a section of the floor and replace it with sheet metal.

[steve_k]

front jacking pads

Front jacking pads are part of the sills. If you're talking about the square boxes at the front of the floorpan, they are NOT jacking pads and if you've been using them as such, then you'll have to cut out a section of the floor and replace it with sheet metal.

yeah it's those sqaure boxes that are starting to get a bit frilly, & it's those that i'm trying to find what the average cost is to cut them out & replace them.

[Grrrmachine]

You don't want replacements, you just want them plated over. Best thing to do is to take it to a local place where they can see for themselves and give you their own opinion and quote.

But pacerpete's advice is the best; get the car stripped as much as possible and find ALL the rust - there will be more:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Rust

[steve_k]

OWell i've already had a good dig around in all the usual place's & found none just those front "pads" are getting a little frilly.

might go have a word with the local body shop like you say & see what sort of price they reckon.

[Grrrmachine]

Many thanks for the advice so far guys.

What is this section here, marked with the yellow circle? It doesn't run all the way along the length of the car. It starts by the rear arch, and then ends before the door (2dr car).

It looks like the inner strengthening panel that runs from the rear arch to the B-pillar, inside the sill. You can see it in the bottom-left of this pic:

[Gert_8]

Some newspaper and p40 and you are good to go

Pfft! What's all the fuss about? Bit of wd40 and T-cut and your laughing..

[Alex]

Lash the kit back on and flog it

[polsta]

It never ceases to amaze me that people to this day are still just discovering that their cars are teabags

That sort of rust has been festering for many years and easily visible for several. Do you never clean out your arches or wire brush and waxoil your sills / brake pipes / fuel pipes regularly ?

look at it, you have to agree- for it to be like that, surely for a long time it would of been very visable from evenjust looking/feeling at the sill lip surely

even the sill drainage holes could not of been touched for a long time

quite shocking , imagine what the rest of the car must be like in the hidden areas

[G-Bear]

This is the sort of thread I like to see. An E30 getting saved. Go on with the cutting and welding.

[The_Diddler]

OWell i've already had a good dig around in all the usual place's & found none just those front "pads" are getting a little frilly.

might go have a word with the local body shop like you say & see what sort of price they reckon.

Those front square pads are used to convey the body around in the factory on the assembly line, they have no other use whatsoever. You can safely remove them.
By doing so, you are removing one of the bits that causes rust to fester underneath.. doing yourself and your e30 a favour!

exactly what i did with my turd........................

opps!!!!











erm..... much better





oh yeah when i said "I", i meant of course somebody else, namely Beardymatt

[steve_k]

@the diddler, if you don't mind me asking, how much did beardymatt charge you for that repair??

[The_Diddler]

@the diddler, if you don't mind me asking, how much did beardymatt charge you for that repair??

It was part of alot of bodywork he did when the car was rebuilt.

He's on the zone pm him, hes knows his way around E30 turds very well and is up for doing repair work like yours.

Good luck, and keep the updates coming

[bss325i]

Thing is when the square pads are removed, the wheel arch liner has nothing to screw to at the bottom as the vertical part of the square pad has a hole which locates a plastic insert that a self tapping 8mm bolt screws into holding the arch liner in place.

Unless you fabricate a small bracket like x-works did, the arch liner will be loose.

Also, when an E30 has the square pad delete it looks molested and shit imo. If you have mint original ones (very rare!) or replacement ones put one, periodic cleaning and waxoiling will prevent them from going rusty.

If your E30 doesn't see wet weather then you have nothing to worry about.

Also, since beardymatt did the diddlers car he has restored another E30 and made exact replicas of the square pads and fitted them.

Page 8 of this thread DID show this repair done well but it seems all the pics have been deleted!:?

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... sc&start=0

[HJG-E30]

Ok so this is looking from the rear wheel arch towards the front of the car. How would a new sill (or rocker panel in the U.S) join to the lower part of the rear quarter panel that can be seen in the photos?? Does it join on that seam where the Mtech kit brackets are?

[Grrrmachine]

This is a new sill:



So you can see that, rear of the door, you get a bit of extra metal above the "lip" you're talking about.

The issue that we can't see is your wheel arch. The rust is spreading upwards to where the inner arch meets the outer, and if that seam has rotted all the way up then it's going to be a lengthy repair. Take some photos both inside and outside of the wheel arch.

[HJG-E30]

This doesn't look too good....

[HJG-E30]

& is this supposed to be what i presume to be filler ?!?!

[Grrrmachine]

You really need to take a wire brush on an angle grinder to that entire arch, both inside and out, before doing anything else. You might have filler on that panel, but you've definitely got something cracking and rusting just below the bump strip.

What's the rest of the car like?

[pacerpete]

& is this supposed to be what i presume to be filler ?!?!

That is an epic plopfest ! A 'craftsmen' has obviously been there beforehand !


Your next step is to remove the inner trim panel next to the back seat, I fear it might not be too pretty in there ! Get the other side inner panel off as well while you are at it.


You really do need to check over the WHOLE car before contemplating a repair in this area as this nastiness will not be the only issue your car has

The only thing worse than rust, is rust that somebody lacking in skilllz and morals has previously 'repaired'