E30 Zone

How fooking devastated am I

This weekend was supposed to be spent doing my drivers rear arch,did the other side last week.
Well the weather put a stop to that so rather than have the car sat around all week doing nothing(MOT runs out tommorow) I thought id tackle fitting my Black headlining.
Removed the back seat/side windows and all the other bits of trim needed then just sliced the lining around the front and rear screens.
This is what i found -

Drivers side


Passenger side


I am devasteted.So much effort i have put into this car,total waste of fooking time.
Decieving because the rest of the car is really tidy and original,jacking points/scuttle/sills etc.Even the arches werent that bad,ive seen much worse

So know i dont know what to do.
I cant afford to go out and buy another car,not unless i break this one to pay for it and i dont hold my breath in finding another E30 shell thats worth doing for the money i can spare.
Right now im seriously thinking in just breaking it and using the money to buy something newer,possibly a E36!

GUTTED

That's a shame as it's a very nice car!

Good luck with whatever you do.

Ah mate, That's gutting!

ouch.....gutted for you mate

cant that be sorted out tony, or is it an expensive fix?

Damn...that's alot of rust

Sorry to see that mate, Things like this make me feel sick and i start to have terrible thoughts of what could be lurking under my trim and kit.

Hope you get sorted out with whatever you decide to do.

Fcuk Man - thats a mess..... the last i'd expect to hear from you after all the work gone into the motor... Im feeling your pain, ive had to spend serious money keeping my e30 going but theres always some unexpected sh!t waiting in some un seen place... hence ive been thinking about at e36 too... it all about the budget though!!!! - I hope theres another solution for you bruv...J

Stop panicking fella,it's not the end of the world,we're not talking structural devastation here.

I can see no reason here why a good wire brushing,a dose of rust cure followed by some careful fibre glassing shouldn't sort it out.

It's not going to effect the strength of the shell,for instance,if you were to roll the car,the roof would collapse,rust or no rust.

You've put a lot of work into your car,be a dreadful shame to frag it for the sake of a bit of rust in the roof.

Tony - it aint that bad fella, looks to be the sunroof panel casing that's rusted away and not the inner side of the roof. Should be an easy enough fix with a grinder to clean most of the rust back to metal and mig up what's left to fill - then treat every thing with some rust remedy before sealing it all up with some red oxide spray and top coat.

Neil.

That can be fixed.
Its not nice to find some thing like that

Speak to Bss325i. He's just stripped this panel out of his sport. He will know exactly whats involved, he's a nice guy and I'm sure he'd be willing to advise. I seem to remember him saying that its only bonded in. There maybe a couple of spot welds but if thats all, stick a new panel in there and it's good forever. Any damage to the paint on the outside of the roof (through heat grinding away the few welds) then while your having the rear arches painted, have the roof done at the same time.

Sounds to me like the car is well worth saving. I've done what you've just done loads of times. You've discovered a potentially huge issue and panicked. Stop, have a cup of tea, sleep on it and when the dusts settled, think about how much you love the old girl and whether it's enough to push that little bit further that you first thought you would need to.

Good luck mate. I hope it all works out for you.

P.S. I have both an e30 325 cab and a 99 e36 323 (2.5) cab and I'll let you into my little secret. The e36 is a great car but if I had to make the choice? I'd boot the e36 right into touch and keep the old e30!!! Just my thoughts mind. And speaking of rust, have you seen how many rusty e36's there are in the breakers now??????

That's real bad!!!
But as these people have said anything is repairable.

Just soooooo glad mine doesn't have a sunroof.

SC

Gutted for ya mate , Its repairable though surely ?? , Guy who had mine took the black roof lining out and put grey in to match the leather , I have the fun of putting the black roof lining back in mine

be glad you have found it now before its too late. A lot of people are finding this sort of thing with e30's now and understandably moving on to newer cars as a result but it is fixable. Good luck.

Gotta be worth doing bud, as previously said it aint structrual, and should be quite easy to sort.

The car is well worth the effort, so bite the bullet and do it!!

worst come to worst you can replace the roof skin for one without a sunroof

It can be sorted fella I know you can still buy the tray from dealers, it does have spot welds in it. The spot welding can be an issue, the roof can get some distaution (dont think thats spelt right). Worse worse situation a new roof these can also be bought from dealers i think about the £300 sort of mark. The most expensive bit will be the labour of a GOOD welder but from what ive been seeing recently here on the zone there are a few members that have the talent and im sure they will help where they can. An E36 is not the right option to go!! I REPEAT NOT THE RIGHT OPTION TO GO!! Dont do it they are built worse than an E30 and no doubt will have as many issues. If it owes you alot of time and money already and the rest of the car is good it has to be repaired.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

If you remove the roof lining on 80% of e30's there will be a certain degree of rust. Its not all bad , it can't be seen and isn't structual.

Remove the tin worm, treat it and fibreglass where necessary.

This panel is no longer availible.

You have pm.

Thanks everyone for the advice and comments!
Ive calmed down a bit now,felt like smashing the thing up an hour ago

Ive took on board what you have all said and will give it some thought before going any further.
Thing with the respray is the cost,looking at a grand minimum id say,i simply cannot afford to spend that.
The sides were being painted as part of a previous deal with OBs(Andy) and even that was still going to be costing me a good couple of hundred quid just for materials/hire a spray booth for weekend.
Thing is i have to draw the line somewhere.
The car as it stands right now owes me about £700.I have just done a rough calculation and i reckon with the parts on the car i can easily see £1500 breaking it and thats being lenient on prices to make sure they sell.
If the car was immaculate,after a full respray and all the rust work sorted,new MOT(due) and TAX(due this month) it is still only going to be worth between £2-3000 max.
Working with the above figures at the very best if i invest in having it all done,repaint inc i am only ever going to break even.

Going to think about it over the weekend but right now i am thinking to break or MAYBE reshell it!

Ill keep you informed and thanks again

if you get enjoyment from the car it's worth every penny

whipsey wrote:if you get enjoyment from the car it's worth every penny

Every penny of approx £1000 mnimum that i just dont have
Could maybe stretch to half that for a replacement E30 to put all my bits on but finding one for that which isnt rotten is going to be a ball ache!

Fook me side ways Tony, I would never of thought it could be like that underneith, I know drains are nortorious for blocking but your car has never seamed damp to me?

Right, as has already been said it is repairable.

But is it economical?

Mine and Chris's time can be arranged but thats the issue 'Time'

I am really shocked by that

OBs

Weren't there any tell-tale stains on the old headlining?

could the rust not just be cut away and the remaining metal treated then just seal up the sunroof? you wouldn't be the first E30 owner to have to seal the roof due to water damage.

good luck but if you have done so much work to the car i'd consider this way as an easy cheap fix?

reshell it or repair it, dont go for an e36!

I hear what your saying Ian and others that suggested it but i am just not the type to bodge it.
Ok a repair to a good standard i could accept but bodging with fibreglass etc is just not on.
Honestly would you buy it knowing the roof had been bodged with filler?I certainly wouldnt have if id have known.

Only tell tale sign was a small lump in that area of the roof lining-only today did i realise that was something like expanding foam that some tosser has squirted in in the past

Does the sunroof still work OK?

320iSE wrote:Does the sunroof still work OK?

Works fine yes.

a new roof skin is the way forward for this car but it is fixable.

a change of roof would take me a day on a ready stripped car for which i would charge £160. along with the £300 or so for the roof if its available and the paint, it all starts to look a little expensive but it would be a shame to break an otherwise solid car.

a second hand roof may be the way for this poor beast

Tony... the is doddy's breaking has a solid roof, rust free....

If its possible to just cut it out and replace with a good piece of metal you could probably come and take it away for nothing.

Gutted for you mate. But don't break it! You've put so much more than money into that car, to quantify it solely in numerical terms is just wrong. Yes you probably wont see a return, but you never do with cars, your return is knowing you have something you made for yourself, and enjoy using.

Matt,thanks for the advice mate

Joe.Again,thanks for the offer.To be honest not sure my heart is in it now aside from the financial side of things.
Problem is distorting the outer skin which as previously stated is going to result in it needing a full respray,not an option on my wallet
Term flogging a dead horse springs to mind

Surely you could just have the roof sprayed for now until you can afford a full spray?

Can see where you're coming from though... lot of work, and effort.. Seems a crying shame to give up on it though imo.

But its not me or my car.

munky30 wrote:Surely you could just have the roof sprayed for now until you can afford a full spray?

Can see where you're coming from though... lot of work, and effort.. Seems a crying shame to give up on it though imo.

But its not me or my car.

but was already going to have the sides repainted soon,just that most of that cost was being saved in the deal i had going with Andy.
To respray it fully and to do it properly is going to take time/money/and loads of stripping down,non of which i can really afford being as this is our only car!
Got the use of Bens car till he gets back in mid July so that takes the pressure off a little.
Only real spare cash i could raise(not inc touching this car) would be about £500 and that includes the money i saved for a laptop