E30 M3 nut & bolt rebuild

[crossie]

Are you restoring the car to keep or to sell??

or to do show and shine?

keep up the good work!

[DreiZwanzig]

Wow. Amazing resto. Mint. Can't wait for more.

[BMG]

Thanks. The car is a keeper and will just go out and about when in the mood for a drive. It's not being done for show and shine and don't really have any interest in such events. The restoration is more like hitting a reset button in time and being like buying an M3 brand new from a dealer and the excitement there must have been in getting a shiny new car.

[Stefan on probation]

Amazing.

Where in the SE are you as I'd love to have a look at the resto, PM me if you are okay with that and do keep the location hidden as there has been far too much thievery going on in the last view months.

[MIKEGNJ]

Awesome rebuild, incredible attention to detail, well done (I should know).

[aimlessrock]

when complete its almost going to be a shame to get this car dirty...

[BMG]

Awesome rebuild, incredible attention to detail, well done (I should know).

Thanks Mike. I remember the pics of your car, but sadly it seems both our threads have fallen victim to Photobucket.
Your car and restoration is on a different and much higher level than mine. I can appreciate the extra work to take it to that level, as just doing mine to proving more than enough work !

[Sprungcasper]

Wow. I thought that I did it thoroughly, but this is on a whole other level. Can't wait to see the final result of this!

[BMG]

Been far too long since an update for various reasons, so here goes.

The driveshafts have been built up and finished.

The outer CV has an O-ring fitted.

20171106_105259 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Slide the boot on with the tin cover.

20171106_105503 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Cage on and circlip in place.

20171106_105615 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Had my hands full to snap any pics of fitting the ball bearings into the cage and was covered in CV grease. End result is with the tin cover slid into place with smear of sealant inside.


20171106_113947 by e30 m3, on Flickr

This is a new inner CV that slides on the other end with a snap . Again no pics, but grease the CV joint and slide the tin covers on with a bit of sealant.

20171106_114014 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Here you can just about see the tin cover on the outer CV has had the lip tapped down into the flange on the CV joint to hold it in place. The outer tin covers fitted but yet to squished down into position fully.

20171113_095111 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Finished parts .

20171113_095103 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The new Bilstein rear dampers were a bit bright in their trademark yellow, so painteded to look like the original BMW parts.

20170812_165125 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The paint is a 2 pack paint in a spray can and sprays out really nice, as well as being much tougher than regular spray can paints. Here with the damper covers cleaned.

20170812_165053 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The new genuine oil cooler lines I bought just came in a zinc finish, where as I think originally they were coated or painted in a grey covering from what I could see.

20160907_125219 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Some hi-temp grey paint should help keep them protected.

20171104_110600 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Talking of cooling, sent BMW a lot of money and they sent me back a new Behr radiator.

20180107_112319 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180107_112343 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Next up is the AFM. Seemed to be working fine ten years ago, but thought I'd open it up and see what's inside and generally clean it .


20170819_122239 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20170819_122250 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20170819_122315 by e30 m3, on Flickr

If you cut the silicone around the plastic cover and remove, this is what's inside.

Note that someone has either removed the plug housing before, or the two fine wires have be broken somehow. They seem to be a backup to the two metal tabs from the plug housing which also contact the board.

20171110_143300 by e30 m3, on Flickr


The track on the board looks pretty worn and the arm needs moving to run on fresh material.

20171110_143308 by e30 m3, on Flickr

There is slight movement in the board, and by bending the pickup a little it can be made to run on fresh material .

With the cover sealed with some sensor safe silicone, the outside can be cleaned up a little. Here with the mounting bolts and a plug that fits into the mixture adjustment hole.

20180107_104123 by e30 m3, on Flickr


20180107_104158 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180107_104104 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Mounted back on the airbox.

20180113_133523 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180113_121129 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The crank sensors get a clean and replated cover and hardware.

20180211_120608 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The ECU is a bit of a mystery. Being a 1990 Euro car, it should have the later 091 ECU for the 215bhp cars. The numbers on the cover means someone has been fiddling with it...

ecu_numbers by e30 m3, on Flickr

Opening it up and you can see someone has fitted different chip.

ecu1 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Also signs of some water ingress.
ecu2 by e30 m3, on Flickr


The board cleaned up easily with just a spray of contact cleaner. While awaiting a replacement stock chip, I used the zinc plating kit I bought to plate the ECU cover and put on a replacement sticker from Pukar Designs

20180107_103906 by e30 m3, on Flickr


The instrument cluster was something that was again working fine all those years ago.
Being a German import car to the UK, it should have speedo reading in KMs. I changed the face when I purchased to the car.

20171123_141450 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The cover is pretty clean with just light swirl marks to remove.

20171126_191516 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Cover removed.

20171123_141840 by e30 m3, on Flickr

One the reverse I just checked all the bulbs.

20171123_141510 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Inside is the service indicator board.

20171123_141904 by e30 m3, on Flickr

With original leak-free batteries, thankfully.

20171125_113324 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171125_113337 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Replacements purchased and fitted.

20171201_125339 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Little bit of Megs Plast-RX removed most of the swirls and light scratches.

20171126_191553 by e30 m3, on Flickr


The indicators were looking rather tired. God knows how, but someone managed to bend the reflector ...

20170830_122540 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20170830_122619 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Original lens rather stone chipped.

20170830_122638 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Original mounting missing and been substituted with rusty bolt...

20170830_122656 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Lens flatted back with a bit of wet and dry and polished. 50- 50 shot here.


20171028_153108 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Finished part with 95% of the stone chips gone and looking much better.

20171030_094853 by e30 m3, on Flickr


The cleaned parts. The screws had a fraction of some fiber type washed left. Now replaced with some rubber parts.
Still need to find or fabricate the NLA mounting screws, unless anyone has a pair ? p/n 51111932758

20171030_094819 by e30 m3, on Flickr

These sunroof drains were showing some signs of previous paint repairs.

20171007_151653 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171007_151137 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Cleaned and used the DIY zinc plating kit to redo the clips.

20171007_183911 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The holding clip for the drain tube was de-rusted, plated and then painted.

20171113_095323 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Screen washer system next up for some love.


20171222_114513 by e30 m3, on Flickr


20171222_114529 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Level sensor

20171222_122327 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The optional ( I think ) heated washer jets.

20171222_122808 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171222_123308 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The hose that lives in the bonnet.

20171218_120055 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Wiring loom somehow had lost a plug. Was going to buy a new plug , but the cost of a new loom wasn't too bad next to what BMW ask for just a plug.

20171218_120023 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Everything cleaned up and new hose elbows purchased along with non return valve. Motor bench tested to check its working along with testing the level sensor.

20180107_103759 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Bulkhead cover being painted.

20171216_144940 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Other side cleaned and replated screws and washers.

20171215_161350 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180107_104841 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Can of Wurth paint used and made up a new gasket.

20180107_104834 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Rear seat fuel tank access covers painted.

20180107_120508 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Also painted to charcoal filter.

20180211_120402 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Fuel tank painted. One of the mounting brackets still needs to be found.

20171113_103338 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171113_121530 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171113_103415 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Years ago I bought a Sport Evo lightweight flywheel that never got fitted. On closer inspection and after seeking opinions here, went for a light skim.

20171021_170831 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171021_170900 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Looking better...

20171116_120834 by e30 m3, on Flickr


20171116_120845 by e30 m3, on Flickr

New Sachs clutch kit and ARP flywheel bolts purchased.

20171116_120736(0) by e30 m3, on Flickr

Those shiny new parts deserve some place clean to live, so this is going to need some work....

20171021_161908 by e30 m3, on Flickr


20171021_161846 by e30 m3, on Flickr

After a trip to the vapour blaster, I get back this back.

20171116_121158 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171116_121122 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171116_121220 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Re-plated hardware.

20171116_130815 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171116_131322 by e30 m3, on Flickr


20171116_131737 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171116_131803 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180107_104601 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180107_104620 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Some of the tools and accessories have been getting a clean and repairs.

Tool tray removed.


20170728_142319 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20170812_192054 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Cleaned with a little of that Megs Plast-RX, tools get a degrease with WD40.

20180113_121422 by e30 m3, on Flickr


I have the original spark plug tool some place, but with a hundred plus boxes of parts, its some place after I used it to remove some plugs from a spare cylinder head.

The original jack has clearly seen some action over the years and now rusting in places and looking kinda sorry for itself.

20170909_172109 by e30 m3, on Flickr


20170909_172136 by e30 m3, on Flickr


20170909_172143 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20170909_172149 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Drilled out the head of the central pin to get it apart.

20170909_175223 by e30 m3, on Flickr

With that done its down to component form, minus the foot.

20170909_180251 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Painted the parts

20180107_110333 by e30 m3, on Flickr

I cut the handle from the threaded rod to remove the (nylon ? ) female threaded part from the rod for plating. New decal from Pukar Designs .

20180107_110257 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Later I had a metal blacking kit, so did the rod again and had a new bit of round bar welded on for a handle.

20180307_101111 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Reassembled.

20180307_110133 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180307_110305 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Wheel chock was powder coated.

20180107_110026 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Jack handle and

20171203_132037 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171203_132127 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20171203_132156 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Replated handle and finished jack.

20180311_104509 by e30 m3, on Flickr


Glove box torch looks like it just needs a clean.

20170425_112421 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20170425_112433 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Opening it up reveals the battery has gone bad.

20170425_113140 by e30 m3, on Flickr

New battery and LED bulb.

20171201_125441 by e30 m3, on Flickr


Finished item.

20171201_140754 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Never did have the wheel cap release tool, so new part purchased.

20180311_123312 by e30 m3, on Flickr


The car came with what looks to be an optional BMW fire extinguisher that is bolted to the drivers seat.

20180210_161005 by e30 m3, on Flickr


That's still holding pressure....

20180210_161058 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180210_161222 by e30 m3, on Flickr

For some reason they missed powder coating the whole thing. Light surface rust after 27 years....

20180210_161048 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180210_161157 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Replated the clip and cleaned the strap.

20180311_104840 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Painted the mounting plate and polished the extinguisher to try and remove as many of the marks as possible. Plated the hardware.

20180311_104805 by e30 m3, on Flickr

All mounted up again and ready for storage.

20180311_105527 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Found the original first aid kit in a box. Don't remember even looking in this during ownership. Inside looks all complete and untouched.

20180307_110431 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180307_110625 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Next up to lighten my bank account is the Getrag 265/5 dogleg gearbox.

20180217_144746 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180217_144639 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180217_144622 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180217_144850 by e30 m3, on Flickr

20180217_145155 by e30 m3, on Flickr

This will have to go off to a specialist to be rebuilt.
Have been collecting various parts for this over the past year as they come up on eBay and the like.

This is most of whats needed, including syncro, and all the bearings, seals, o-rings, various snap rings and bolts etc.

20180311_110131 by e30 m3, on Flickr

Meet one of BMW's most overpriced parts, the £230 bearing and sleeve.


20180311_110217 by e30 m3, on Flickr

The case bolts have been removed and blackened ,along with the the shifter linkage and fill and drain plugs.

20180308_104621 by e30 m3, on Flickr

That's pretty much how things are at the moment. The exhaust is away being welded , but other than that most of what I wanted to get done before moving onto the body is done.
The engine might get stripped down and various bit vapour blasted and plated, but think the major engine work will wait until there is a painted rolling shell for it to be fitted to.

[shedrool83]

Love this build .Keep the pics coming

[Gert]

Great rebuild. What an eye for detail. This work isn't done in a few hours. Keep going on!

[TurtleDesignTech]

Work is exceptional. Can tell a lot of time and effort is being put into absolutely everything.

Provided a good few hours of entertainment, just scrolling through.

What brand of paint do you use when you don't send things off for powder coating (such as the brake booster)? The finish is exceptional for anything I have seen painted at home.

How much prep-work and what kind, goes into these parts before painting? Do you just de-grease and beadblast before painting, or is there a whole process you like to perform?

Any information would be much appreciated. I would like to be able to re-paint/protect parts on my E30 from rusting, without them looking like a complete amateur painted them and ruining the general aesthetic of the car.

[BMG]

Things like the rear dampers and booster were painted with a 2 pack paint from a custom spray can. It was all flatted back to around 800 grit , primed and then a light mist coat of colour, followed by 2-3 coats of paint. Using a proper de-grease is a must for any paint work.
The rear damper sprayed out really well considering out little effort I actually did in prep. I wasn't that bothered on this part, as it is after all a damper on the underside of the car, but the paint just sprays out really nicely and wasn't touched after drying, so what you see is direct from the can.

Custom 2K paints are dangerous stuff and requires a respirator. They also seem to generate a lot of over spray and I painted an area of the garage floor black just from this and it really sticks and doesn't just fall as a dust like regular 1K spray cans. Don't spray next to your car or anything which you don't mind having paint stick to !

The engine bay bulkhead thingy that covers the blower motor/wiper area was just done with a Wurth satin black trim paint spray can.
Anything like dampers and the booster will need the added hardness and chemical resistance of a 2K paint, where as this cover doesn't and is really just cosmetic.
It sprayed out really horrible looking immediately, glossy and some blobby I thought it was paint reacting, but dries out nicely.

I did buy a can of Eastwood satin black 1K paint, then vowed never to do so again. It reacted with every primer I had and even some old paint and was a complete pain in the arse. Which is a shame because the shade is just about a perfect match for factory finish.

My advice would be that there is never a shortcut with paint. Bad prep will always show and you need to pick the right paint for the part. You could 1K rattle can paint a diff case and make it look very pretty with before and after pictures when its on a bench, but when fitted it won't last.
So consider the implications of using 2K paint and if not practical, try to prep and clean as many parts as you can in one go and have a small bodyshop or someone paint them in one batch.

[TurtleDesignTech]

Thanks you very much for your in-depth response.

Will be keeping an eye on this thread.

[TurtleDesignTech]

Thanks you very much for your in-depth response.

Will be keeping an eye on this thread.

[redcar]

Looks amazing.

May i ask; What kit are you using to plate the nuts/bolts?

How are you protecting the aluminium afer it is fresh from vapour blasting?

Apologies if it has already been mentioned.

[Steve]

Great thread, waiting eagerly for next update already

[BMG]

Looks amazing.

May i ask; What kit are you using to plate the nuts/bolts?

How are you protecting the aluminium afer it is fresh from vapour blasting?

Apologies if it has already been mentioned.

Thanks. Most of the plating was done by a company in south London.
When I started the project, I tried to get as many parts as possible together to be plated in one go.
That was unrealistic as I would have hundreds of parts fully disassembled, but did get quite a bit done in two batches.
I also bought loads of nuts and bolts in all different sizes to be done, so have supply on hand.


I recently bought a cheap eBay zinc plating kit to do the odd nut and bolt, as with the bulk of bits done , its now often just a single small part that needs plating to finish the item I'm working on and not practical to get one item plated.

What I really wanted to get right was the zinc and passivate( the gold finish ) but that has proved impossible so far.
I've zinc plated bits like the ECU cover and all kinds of brackets and screws etc, but the passivate just doesn't stick. When it does take, its easy to remove and doesn't have the same sexy finish as when done professionally.
Others have made it work OK, I'm just not sure what I'm doing wrong. Had I done every part myself, I would have gone mad by now and the project even slower.

The vapour blasted parts are unprotected at the moment. About the only thing I know of to protect them would be an ACF50 wipe over when being fitted.
I don't really like powder coated throttle bodies and silver painted gearboxes etc. It would stay cleaner for longer and simply be jet wash easy to bring back to a shine, but just not for me. They will corrode a little possibly, but I'm OK with that.

[redcar]

Thanks for the reply. Shame about the plating kit, I was looking at it but will reconsider now.
I have similar thoughts about painted gearboxes etc, I'll have a look at that acf50.

[BMG]

The zinc part works fine, I think its more a case of me failing to get the yellow passivate stage right.
I've seen others use the Caswell Plating kit and getting fantastic results, but given the price of it, its more than I will spend having it done professionally, plus the time saved.
Small nuts and bolts etc which can be barrel plated is cheap, typically £20-30 for a small bucket. Anything larger needs to be individually wired in the tank and the price goes up.

[bmwe30mtech]

Looking great. I love the attention to detail and the minimal use of new parts, I.e. keeping as much of the original car as possible.

Thanks for posting it all up

[Gavla]

This is epic... can't wait to see the final result...

[DreiZwanzig]

Unbelivable and amazing attention to detail man! I must say, you're appearing to be the hero of my E30 career as an enthusiast and an amateur restomodder of my thirty which is NOTHING next to this unicorn you're building.
Such an inspiration so thank you for sharing. Maybe this has been covered earlier but is there any chance all the broken images are being fixed? And what is the timeframe for this project? When is it finished you think?

[BMG]

Unbelivable and amazing attention to detail man! I must say, you're appearing to be the hero of my E30 career as an enthusiast and an amateur restomodder of my thirty which is NOTHING next to this unicorn you're building.
Such an inspiration so thank you for sharing. Maybe this has been covered earlier but is there any chance all the broken images are being fixed? And what is the timeframe for this project? When is it finished you think?

Many thanks for the kind words. I'm trying to do as much myself, but this will change shortly as I'm unable to rebuild a gearbox, engine , can't weld and can't do the bodywork stage.
I wish there was someone I knew to at least be around and be guided in doing the engine and the box, mainly because I'm reluctant to hand it all over and just receive back finished items.

As for a prediction when it will all be done, I wouldn't like to say. I've slowed down a little on money grounds so what I'm spending is spare cash and not burning up savings for the car, but must be another year or so yet.

The pics are missing on the first half due to Photobucket screwing every forum over and wanting silly money now for hosting.
If you Google something liker ' photobucket fix' you can download something that will fix the problem and allow you to see all the pics. I've just checked and they are all working if you have the fix.
Well worth doing as it works on other forums with missing pics etc.

[Sanchez]

Speak to Dan Harrborrow(DanThe) or Spencer Latham( or Barry Sheward(bss325i) about engine rebuilding.

[DreiZwanzig]

The pics are missing on the first half due to Photobucket screwing every forum over and wanting silly money now for hosting.
If you Google something liker ' photobucket fix' you can download something that will fix the problem and allow you to see all the pics. I've just checked and they are all working if you have the fix.
Well worth doing as it works on other forums with missing pics etc.

It worked. Fantastic. Now I'm able to go back in time and look at hundreds of build threads across the web. Thank you so much for the photobucket tip!!

I'm still in awe of what you are doing. I guess you'll be keeping this car forever, but if you decide to sell, well, the new owner will get an incredible car.

[jmpwr]

Hi BMG
Great to see the attention to detail. With regard to the "BMW's most expensive part" the gearbox centre bearing. I tried to find an alternative as all of the other bearings are available at reasonable cost.

The outer part of that bearing is available from skf for around £20. It is readily available after market. The inner ring that sits on the shaft is a custom made part not available anywhere. If they are not damaged then it could be re used. If yours is ok do not trow it out.(I would buy it) When I asked an engineering place about making a replacement he suggested that the £230 was a cheaper option. He said that getting it hardened would be expensive alone not to mind the work.

With regards the home plating I found that the yellow passivate can come of easily and you are limited to the size of items you can plate. Much easier and far quicker to get them plated professionally.

Keep at it the end result will give you enormous pleasure.

[BMG]

Hi, I did some Google work re the bearing and did see the actual bearing looks to be generic and cheaply available. I could maybe have waited for the gearbox man to dismantle and pass judgement on the condition of the sleeve.
While ordering a batch of parts, I just added it and thought what the hell given the huge cost already, might as well have new everything.
I've asked the gearbox man to keep the sleeve and will see if it's usable.
Thanks