E30 Touring restomod

[TeddyK]

Hey!

So I took the plunge on Saturday and bought my first E30 - a blue 316i Touring. The car is looking a little tatty as it sits, the paintwork needs some serious attention, the sills and drivers front wing have some surface rust, the dash is cracked, the passenger rear light is smashed, the steering wheel is badly worn, the headlining is sagging terribly and the front seats are threadbare and falling apart!

But the car is one owner from new, it runs and drives fantastically well, it has FSH and the chassis is super solid... No rust or repairs in the boot, spare wheel well or front suspension mounts and I drove the car back from where I picked it up (an 80 mile trip) and it never missed a beat.

I've already ordered a replacement rear light and the car is booked in for the bodywork to be sorted over the next couple of weeks. The restoration will be in fits and starts as it's all budget dependent, but I'll be keeping my eye out for a non-cracked dash and a replacement steering wheel.

Does anyone know a cure for the sagging headliner?

I'm so happy with the car - it puts a smile on my face every time I see it. Here's some photos from Saturday:







I'm on holiday for a couple of weeks now but hopefully when I'm home some progress will have been made

Cheers,

Ted

[E30touringbegins]

Just took exactly the same plunge and will
Also be doing it when budget can afford ! Look forward to the progress and good luck !

[TeddyK]

Just took exactly the same plunge and will
Also be doing it when budget can afford ! Look forward to the progress and good luck !

Thanks mate, that's exactly the same with me! Hopefully things will move at a decent pace but I want to make sure it's all mechanically perfect then I'll concentrate on the bodywork / interior and go from there!

Modifications are the last on the list at the moment, I just want a smart little daily!

Good luck with your build also, I'm sure you will smash it. What's the spec of yours?

[martauto]

Hi mate, no pics are showing ?

Mart.

[Foe]

Looking forward to seeing progress.

[TeddyK]

Hi mate, no pics are showing ?

Mart.

Hey Mart,

I seem to be struggling to get the images to show!! Hahaha

Cheers,

Ted

[E30touringbegins]

Mine is a 318i , also going to get it mechanically sound first and deal with any rust before even considering mods and bodywork . I’ll also be using it as a daily throwing my tools and the dogs in . After 12 months of ownership I may then consider giving it a full
Overhaul

[TeddyK]

So I got back from holiday this week and decided to do some bits on the car. I'd ordered a replacement rear drivers side lens as the one that came with the car was smashed and cracked which I fitted yesterday, as well as using contact adhesive to temporarily fix my seriously sagging headlining. It's so good to look out of the rear view mirror and not to see a saggy grey mess!!

Finally, I completely replaced the windscreen washer fluid pipe from pump to jets as it had corroded and split.

Some pictures below. I'm terrible with taking pics as I go or using my phone in general so I must make an effort to get better at that!



^ that's the old lens



^ the new (to me) lens fitted



^the sagging headlining fixed. I took the rear boot light out of the headlining and pulled the grey cloth down around it as far as it would go before very generously spraying the adhesive in the hole, covering as much as possible. Unfortunately the foam is pretty dented but it is so much better than the sag!

Finally, last night I dusted off my wallet and ordered some parts, as follows:

- a replacement drivers seat back, two replacement headrests and a replacement steering wheel (thanks to brutus here on the forum for the excellent service and really helpful telephone calls!)

- 40mm front and 30mm rear lowering springs along with 15mm spacers all round for the BMW 15" BBS wheels

- I'm bidding on two replacement seatbelt receivers, a replacement heater fascia as mine is smashed and two replacement scuttle grilles

The car is also booked in for a major service next week to sort out everything mechanical and check the car over completely.

Hopefully things will move along relatively swiftly now - I'm aiming to get all the mechanical work done and dusted along with the interior of the car (as it's a little bit cheaper to sort) before getting the car completely resprayed.

Pretty happy with this weekends progress and the parts I have on order.

The next big job on the list is to pull the dash from the car and begin the crack repairs, which are MAJOR. The plan is to use a combination of fibreglass mesh, dashboard filler and either a replacement vinyl wrap or some sort of textured paint to repair the dash. A replacement dash isn't an option for me as I can't guarantee the replacement won't crack as well and they're getting to be seriously expensive now!

Cheers,

Ted

[TeddyK]

I forgot to mention that as I'll have the old headrests left over from the replacement, I'll be looking to do the rear headrest conversion. Because of this I'm in the market for the following:

- Cover (x 4) BMW part no. B52.10.8.191.245
- Washer (x4) BMW part no. B52.10.8.838.969
- Guide (x4) BMW part no. B52.20.8.132.020

I'm going to post this on the WANTED section and I also might contact Cotswolds BMW to see if I can order new parts from BMW themselves.

Cheers,

Ted

[TeddyK]

So today I didn't have too much time on my hands but I got a toothbrush and cleaned out the roof gutters, plus the gutters in the engine bay. Years of dirt came out! The car needs a proper mop at some point which I will do when I have the time.

I also managed to spray the rear spoiler stuck to the window in a gloss black, but its super pitted so I'm going to try and get it off at some point and really restore it.

More successfully were the front grilles. I took them off and gave them a light sanding, before masking off the chrome from the Kidney grille and spraying them with gloss black paint



They actually came out really well! So much better than the horrible faded colour they were before. I fitted them back on and that's it for this weekend, but big things are coming next week!

[martauto]

Looking good mate
It`s surprising what a little bit of time and a rattle can do

Mart.

[TeddyK]

So today I had the car on the ramp for it's first proper service in my ownership. There's been a few things in the engine bay which have been niggling at me since I bought the car but I've not had the time to remedy (a terribly bodged induction pipe being the main one) namely:

- The top induction pipe had been bodged with gaffer tape which was causing the engine to run weird. Ordered a new one which is going on tomorrow (see image below list for bodged old one)
- The timing belt sticker has no date on it so I've ordered the kit and that's being changed tomorrow
- The rocker cover was leaking so I've got a new gasket to go on



The car is also having all new discs and pads all round as they were shot as well as all new Kumho tyres all round, which should improve things somewhat! Also to go on is the suspension with new dampers and the lowering springs as mentioned in my previous post. Annoyingly, the b**tard suppliers have delayed some deliveries so I'm having to wait

Unfortunately I'm back to work tomorrow so I won't be completing the bits but leaving it to my mechanic friend.

Unfortunately whilst the car was up on the ramp today we did do a proper chassis inspection and found some of the dreaded rust... I knew the car had some surface rust but it's just as bad underneath it seems...



There's a hole in the passenger foot well which is pretty serious and needs cutting out and a replacement panel welded in ASAP and there's also some serious rot on the rear lower panel of the car. We're going to chop out both rusted bits and patch them up next week so I won't have the car back for a few more days annoyingly.

I'm really hoping that it doesn't extend much further once we start stripping back the paint etc. but we will have to see

It shows that at some point I'm going to have to completely strip the car and do a full resto job, but for now as funds aren't quite there yet I want to patch the car and enjoy it for the summer. Resto's are a winter job anyway!

It will give me a chance to improve my awful welding and metalworking skills, which I can't wait to do.

[TeddyK]

Looking good mate
It`s surprising what a little bit of time and a rattle can do

Mart.

Cheers Mart! It's getting there. The discovery of the rust underneath has put a bit of a downer on things today, but once it's all patched up it will be great!

Just gotta start saving those pennies once it's on it's toes again for the 'proper' work to begin next year...

[Steve]

The joys of E30 ownership but it's all part of the fun.

Great project btw.

[TeddyK]

Thanks for your kind words Steve, very encouraging!

Unfortunately I've had a call from the tyre supplier this morning saying the Kumho's are delayed until tomorrow ... I'm not naming any names, so we'll call them clackbircles and they have been f***ing usless. Ordered the tyres for next day delivery on Saturday, expecting them to turn up Monday. Called them Monday evening... they hadn't bothered to process the order. Order duly processed on Tuesday morning for delivery today - I receive an email this morning saying delivery won't be until tomorrow as they've had further delays!!

They've provided some compensation but it's annoying as I was hoping to have these things ticked off the list ASAP.

Will keep you all posted...

[TeddyK]

Here's a small update from yesterday.

My mechanic friend whipped off the rocker cover to investigate the tappet sound coming from the engine. I'd done some research on here and had a fairly decent idea that he would find that the oil spray bar feeding the camshaft would be gunked up and not working correctly - and he did.

Here's the oil spray bar if anyone is wondering:



The bolt being pointed at was completely loose too which wasn't helping and unfortunately the very front lobe is pretty scored due to the lack of oil getting to it. The oil bar was duly taken off and cleaned thoroughly and then replaced, resulting in an even spread of oil across all the lobes. (see picture of scored lobe below)



The car has always revved strong and well so I don't think the cam needs replacing, and besides with a planned engine swap down the line I'm sure it will be okay. Thanks to the E30 Wiki for the info!

After that he cleaned out the throttle pot which was also filthy. The result of today's work is a nice smooth idle and a completely cured tappet noise!





Hopefully the tyres will finally be delivered today - I'm working from home so I'll run them down and lend a hand with getting the car back on the road.

[boiliebasher]

Nice project. Keep up the good work

[TeddyK]

Well it's definitely been a while! I've had a holiday and been super busy with other stuff at home so could only sporadically work on the car. The jobs were the rust and the diff, as we split the old one and that was shot to bits, there were teeth missing!

So the first job was the rust. We got the cutters out and went for it... and here's the result. The rear bumper:



Here's the finished article:

[TeddyK]

Next was the passenger footwell. Cut out the rust and then patched it!

Before:



After:

[TeddyK]

And here's the new diff that went in! It came all the way from Latvia, top service on eBay, it was there on time and everything!



And last but not least I fitted a new lower sump as it seemed that the oil leak was coming from there, but unfortunately it didn't sure the leak!



I ran out of time so the car was booked in for a cambelt change and at the same time the mechanic sorted the upper sump.

Lastly I took some time the weekend before last and put a new seat back and headrests into the car, along with a new steering wheel and some dashboard goodies!

I didn't get any pics of the interior stuff so I need to take some at some point - but I'm planning on taking the headlining out as the next big job and recovering it, at which point I'll get some pics!




Onto the bad news though... the engine seems to have died this weekend. I was trying to get to our local cinema on an A road and the engine lost all power, it wouldn't rev at all and then died on the hard shoulder. I got towed back to my house and can't seem to work out what the issue is... The exhaust has been making a funny noise for a while (like a rattling) and the cam was slightly scored when I took the spray rail off a couple of months ago but I can't see that completely being the problem?

Anyway... I'm now looking for an M42 engine and all the ancillaries for a swap if anyone wants to sell me one!

[boiliebasher]

M42 engines are quite rare these days. I would suggest just dropping in another M40 engine just to get you out of trouble for the time being.

Great project by the way!

[Brianmoooore]

M42 engines are quite rare these days. I would suggest just dropping in another M40 engine just to get you out of trouble for the time being.

Great project by the way!

First thing to do is to work out what's wrong with the engine you already have. Chances are it's something minor.

[boiliebasher]

[quote=Brianmoooore post_id=2961785 time=1571132770 user_id=318]
[quote=boiliebasher post_id=2961782 time=1571116443 user_id=57450]
M42 engines are quite rare these days. I would suggest just dropping in another M40 engine just to get you out of trouble for the time being.

Great project by the way!
[/quote]

First thing to do is to work out what's wrong with the engine you already have. Chances are it's something minor.
[/quote]


Agreed. If however it's more serious, then I personally would just find an M40b18 to drop in its place. M42's a very thin on the ground these days in comparison to their SOHC 8v counterparts