E30 M3 minor rust repair (few finished pic's)

[gazm3]

Never seen so much love.
So impressed.

[MartC]

This thread is f$*king superb! I havent't touched my resto for a while as I got the hump with rust, but this may have fired me up again.

Again, top work mate. Must be nice to have so many fabrication tools, not that I'm trying to detract from your ability

[Aubs]

Fantastic work, this is true dedication!

[Jon_Bmw]

Awesome as always.

What happened to your Alfa e30 sir?

[x-works]

Thanks one and all for the kind replies
a long way to go yet but hopefully she should come out nice.

tomson
Are outer arch repair panels NLA from BMW for an M3 then, or did they never make them?

I've seen part numbers on realoem for them so I had assumed they were available at some stage, but from reading around some of the web I think they went NLA a good while ago. The truth is I never bothered trying the dealer for them though, the plan was to have a go at repairing them and if it went t*ts up buy a pair of second hand ones on e-bay and
graft them on instead.


nickso
out of interest what goes in the round hole in the pic?

As best as I can remember it was the vent pipe from the extra fuel tank in the boot.


MartC
Must be nice to have so many fabrication tools

It can certainly help allright, welder aside though the rest of the tools used so far didn't cost a great deal of money.


Jon_Bmw
What happened to your Alfa e30 sir?

The Alfa e30 is still with it's owner as far as I know, being used occasionally to baffle pit row spectators.

[harry_p]

some awesome work here.

i've done a fair bit of welding and fabrication, most of it basic and improvised, and usually pretty ugly but strong.

i wish i had the balls and skill (and undercover space to work in!) properly impressive stuff, i love threads like this, please don't get bored and giveup on the updates

[Alpina99]

Excellent thread & very informative,
Loved the "second" thread about the E30 competition 'prepping as well !!
As many others have said, I hope I can get my welding looking as good as that,

[beardymat]

having worked in the body trade for the last sixteen years i have noticed a drop off in skill level in general not helped by companies offering time saved bonuses, on that note its nice to see work being carried out properly and not just patched and filled, the give away to a good skill level is plenty of pics of the repairs in metal and not just a shot of a rusty hole and then a shot of no hole but loads of sealer

Proper work, much respect

[Jhonno]

having worked in the body trade for the last sixteen years i have noticed a drop off in skill level in general not helped by companies offering time saved bonuses, on that note its nice to see work being carried out properly and not just patched and filled, the give away to a good skill level is plenty of pics of the repairs in metal and not just a shot of a rusty hole and then a shot of no hole but loads of sealer

Proper work, much respect

Well.. Cant get much more of a glowing recommendation that praise from this bodywork hero!

[corkie]

love the tread ,super pics,well done mate top class work

[stevieallstars]

i take my hat off to you sir
excellent stuff

[SCOTT325SE]

As a restoration (wannabe) deviant, I have to say that you are my hero! The hours (and hours and hours) that I can imagine go into each piece is incredible!!!!!! The dedication so deep and love for doing this obvious... not to mention your now fairly apparent 'mild distaste' for sunroofs. That body restoration/dipping company... WOW! Maybe my Tech 1 Sport will see life again one day and with a company like that, it may actually get done this time to a level that I'm happy with!

You are inspirational! Just please keep up the amazing work and if you ever need an apprentice, please give me a shout!

[ChemicalAl]

Next update please.............I'm in utter awe of the skills involved in this project!!

[Theo]

Amazing work! What's happening to the car when you've finished it?

[Demlotcrew]

Amazing work! What's happening to the car when you've finished it?

[e30bmlover]

Amazing work! What's happening to the car when you've finished it?

i see you are from east anglia... where abouts??

[Nay]

Looks like quite a job. Suppose it'll put another stunning M3 (and generally E30) on the road which is what this world needs...

Keep up the good work!

[x-works]

Hope to get an update up by the weekend. We collected the car
from the dippers on Tuesday so need to get some pic's taken
and get them online.
As to what's happening to the car when it's done,
it's going into a carcoon humidified cover and carefully
parked up in the garage so it'll keep it's future value
as a collectors item hopefully. I may take it out for
some car shows, but only during the summer months
when the weather is sunny. Might drive it to the odd
show instead of trailering it all the time to keep things
from seizing up, but it would be heart breaking to get
any stone chips on it.
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BOLL*CKS TO THAT CARRY ON,
I plan on driving the door handles off it 7 days a week
till fossil fuels run out

[mattm]

Hope to get an update up by the weekend. We collected the car
from the dippers on Tuesday so need to get some pic's taken
and get them online.
As to what's happening to the car when it's done,
it's going into a carcoon humidified cover and carefully
parked up in the garage so it'll keep it's future value
as a collectors item hopefully. I may take it out for
some car shows, but only during the summer months
when the weather is sunny. Might drive it to the odd
show instead of trailering it all the time to keep things
from seizing up, but it would be heart breaking to get
any stone chips on it.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

BOLL*CKS TO THAT CARRY ON,
I plan on driving the door handles off it 7 days a week
till fossil fuels run out

I like your style!!!

Total respect for the work you're putting in. It's gonna look brilliant when it's finished. How about getting together with Theo and combining your shell with his Hartge bits. Now that would be!

[beardymat]

Hope to get an update up by the weekend. We collected the car
from the dippers on Tuesday so need to get some pic's taken
and get them online.
As to what's happening to the car when it's done,
it's going into a carcoon humidified cover and carefully
parked up in the garage so it'll keep it's future value
as a collectors item hopefully. I may take it out for
some car shows, but only during the summer months
when the weather is sunny. Might drive it to the odd
show instead of trailering it all the time to keep things
from seizing up, but it would be heart breaking to get
any stone chips on it.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

BOLL*CKS TO THAT CARRY ON,
I plan on driving the door handles off it 7 days a week
till fossil fuels run out

i saw the dots down the screen as i was reading this and dearly hoped you were playing with us, these cars were designed to be driven and thats what they deserve. good on ya!

[magpie]

i love this thread,it's top dog

[Jon_Bmw]

Hope to get an update up by the weekend. We collected the car
from the dippers on Tuesday so need to get some pic's taken
and get them online.
As to what's happening to the car when it's done,
it's going into a carcoon humidified cover and carefully
parked up in the garage so it'll keep it's future value
as a collectors item hopefully. I may take it out for
some car shows, but only during the summer months
when the weather is sunny. Might drive it to the odd
show instead of trailering it all the time to keep things
from seizing up, but it would be heart breaking to get
any stone chips on it.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

BOLL*CKS TO THAT CARRY ON,
I plan on driving the door handles off it 7 days a week
till fossil fuels run out

Good post.

[magpie]

jon sell me your boot spoiler

[iDreamBeemer]

What a hero, that is some serious work and love. I'd love to have the skills/talent/money/time/space/car/tools to do this but well, I don't! Looking forward to seeing this come together.

What are you planning for paint and finish? You trying to keep it as close to original as possible or are we going to see some different colours etc?

[stu_316i]

Just read through this from the start, incredibly impressed!

[x-works]

iDreamBeemer
You trying to keep it as close to original as possible or are we going to see some different colours etc?

Still haven't decided 100% on the colour yet, gotta make my
mind up soon though. Nothing outlandish though just a choice between
the 2 colours sport evo's were available in, black or red.

[x-works]

Evenin all,
Not a huge update tonight as the car's been away for most of the
time since the last post, however it is back now and it's 101% rust free!
But before we get to that I'll start where I finished off last update,
there was a few small rust repairs to finish before departure....

the rear tail light panel seems to be a week point on e30's for rust
and since mine had all the other common rust points present it
came as no surprise that I had the full matching set...

drivers side tail light section revealed...



magnified for those who frequent to many porn sites...



and some more underneath just to complicate things...



chop, measure, template, offer up, curse, bin, measure again, offer up...



magic wand...



arc eye...



grinder spark burns...



and on to underneath...









and then on to the passenger side...



and underneath of coarse...



and for whats hopefully the final time on this shell,
chop...



template...



and paste...



and clean...



and underneath...









although now we had to remove every grommet and plug from the
shell in preparation for dipping...



After this was done we loaded up the shell on the trailer and headed for
the boat, 9 hours later we were at the front doors of SPL in Dudley
Birmingham, where we left the shell and returned home. Well I say home,
but that wasn't untill after some twat overturned a concrete truck on the
A55 and forced us to wait 8 hours in Hollyhead for the next boat.
Beautiful place Hollyhead, loads to do. Moving on.

4 weeks later came the call from SPL to say the shell was ready for
collection. We rigged up van and trailer and headed off again like two
little kiddies off to visit father christmas. Below is the pictures of what
we brought home. The first 2 pictures are not of my shell, but a member
of another forum's car who has kindly let me use them to show what
the car looks like mid process, after stripping but before primer dipping...





and then the finished article, one 100% rust free shell and panels...


































Have to say I'm well happy with the outcome. The dipping process is
very good in so far as it reaches every little nook and cranny, no matter
what box section or bracket you look in or under it's clean and coated.
However there is some small downsides, this is underneath all an
industrial process and despite our best efforts to build a jig to keep the
shell safe while being moved around while in SPL's care there are some
"new" dents in the shell. They are few and small but unfortunately one
of them is smack bang in the middle of the new roof skin...



frustrating, but thats life I guess.

Since the shell's been home I've not had a chance to do much, but first
on the list was to give the underneath a very light sanding with 320grit
sandpaper to key the surface in preparation fro schultz and painting...





that last sentence took 10 seconds to write, the sanding took 2 days, it'll
be a while yet before this thing is getting speeding fines.

STAY TUNED

[beardymat]

did it have a new rear panel when it had the quarter panel section replaced? thats usually the cause of the rot above the rear lights as the process of brazing burns away all protection from the joint and is sadly seldom reinstated by the bodyshop.

lmfao at the comentary, "chop, measure, template, offer up, curse, bin, measure again, offer up... " so true!

[x-works]

Yes, your bang on, thats what we were guessing to.

[red05]

Wow. you sir are a god......... amazing work, will be watching this thread intently. Makes me wanna have a go myself , but not on my cabrio , maybe practice on an old mini from the scrappy first. Or maybe just take her to a pro

[beardymat]

oh yes, forgot to say,

just a little bit jealous

[iDreamBeemer]

In that case I say BLACK!!!!

With the nice red detailing lines (I'm no M3 expert but I'm sure there were some that looked like that).

Shame about the dents but still looks quality!

[Jon_Bmw]

Can the dents be pushed out as you must have reasonable access.

One thing I have always been keen to find out, is how do you chop the metal so neatly, especially curved sections? Also what thickness is the metal you are replacing?

BLACK!

[magpie]

great read love this thread,
black.

[Morat]

Wow, how much does it cost to have a shell dipped?

WHITE! (with M stripes)