E30 Zone

After buying two 325i E30's off a farmer at the start of 2021 for £1500 I decided to keep the touring and sell the saloon to help fund it's restoration. The car is in pretty good condition with loads of service history and the engine runs without fault after using it to run from Lincoln to Legoland with the kids for a weekend. The bodywork is the main problem with it needing new front wings/sills/ rear O/S arch repair and a new tailgate needed due to severe corrosion around the lower glass.
I will also be restoring the front struts and replacing most associated components where possible without it costing the earth! Hopefully.
Most simple mechanics I can handle but bodywork is not my thing so this will have to paid for!
I'll also be changing the wheels for something else.

Mark at Grimsby Auto body repair isn't too far away. Great work at sensible prices, check out his Facebook page. He's a proper e30 fan, there's 3 on his page including my cab.

Nice! I've got a silver Touring I lightly restored (underneath), yours is in much nicer nick and looks to have some nice goodies.

So after looking at what bodywork costs these days I was about ready to set too with a grinder and a couple of rattle cans when the Mrs says one of her friends brothers is a bodywork guy and she'd chase this up for me. Turns out he lives 5 mins from us and is happy to do the work for a fair price, Happy days and the car is already in his workshop!

New wheels have arrived direct from Compomotive who did me a great deal. Not sure which tyres to wrap them in yet but have plenty of time to choose.

On to the front struts! I thought about getting these blasted and powder coated but I have loads of wire wheels for my drill and plenty of sand paper and also have a rattle can of black Hammerite, so to keep costs down I decided to go down this route. Holding the strut in a vice seemed the way forward and it didn't take long before they were ready for paint. I had to buy another can of Satin Hammerite for £12 but after a few coats I'm pretty pleased with the result. Only time will tell how long the paint lasts but I've heard some good reports from others who have gone down this route.
I then rebuilt the bare struts with new everything, Sachs dampers were fitted with H&R lowering springs along with new hubs and back plates. The hardest part was getting the new sprigs on, I have a pair of compressor's but you really want a more professional piece of kit for this as it would save a lot of swearing!

MattTouring325i wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:50 pm

On to the front struts!

Nice job - they came up a treat!

Nice job - they came up a treat!
[/quote]

Thanks, it was quite a bit of work cleaning all that rust & years of dirt from them before spraying and my face was black at the end of it. They did turn out much better than expected though so worth the effort.
Also happy I wore my safety glasses (sun glasses) when using the wire wheel as I actually got a piece of wire stuck in my face. Very happy it wasn't an eye!
Safety first people!

Have used the Hammerite a good bit and its pretty good - if there was any rust remaining prior to painting though, it doesn't do a great job of inhibiting it and it pops back up quickly enough.

MattTouring325i wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:19 pm

Nice job - they came up a treat!
Very happy it wasn't an eye!
Safety first people!

Very cool indeed, a lot of very hard work has gone into this !!
Eye transplants are a bit rare these days so well done and lets hope OTHER PEOPLE DO THE SAME.

Mart.

MattTouring325i wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:01 pm

So after looking at what bodywork costs these days I was about ready to set too with a grinder and a couple of rattle cans when the Mrs says one of her friends brothers is a bodywork guy and she'd chase this up for me. Turns out he lives 5 mins from us and is happy to do the work for a fair price, Happy days and the car is already in his workshop!

Do I spot a dirt bike in the background ?

kdevitt wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:40 am

Have used the Hammerite a good bit and its pretty good - if there was any rust remaining prior to painting though, it doesn't do a great job of inhibiting it and it pops back up quickly enough.

Frosts do a good range of rust prevention coatings Por 15 is rated pretty well.
https://www.frost.co.uk/rust-corrosion-treatments/

Thanks for the replies guys and the link, if the rust on the struts comes back again I'll strip them down and have them powder coated but I did remove all of it so hopefully they will last a decent amount of time.

TAILGATE TIME!
It turned out the rust around the glass was pretty bad so a replacement was in order and after A LOT of searching I spotted a full car on eBay which was pretty much stripped out but failed to sell. As the car was fairly local I asked if he'd sell me the tailgate and he agreed! It still has a bit of rust but not nearly as bad as mine so I jumped in the motor to get it before he changed his mind, I also managed to blag the retractable boot cover while I was at it for free!
I told my bodywork guy I'd strip the tailgate for him at home and pop it over, sounds simple right? After unbolting the wiper motor etc I though I'll just pop the glass out and be done! Many hours later and lots & lots of swearing plus many broken Stanley blades I had the glass out. If you've never removed the rear glass on one of these I can tell you it is a pig of a job, the sealant is tough as and the blades just kept snapping but at last I had it out. Then I had to clean off all the remaining sealant which I did with a razor blade and some Autosol metal polish which worked well. I also used the Autosol to remove all the grime off the glass as the scrap car I'd gotten it off had been stood for many years but this worked a treat and soon had the glass nice and shiny!

What size are the Compomotives? I just bought a set for refurb after wanting them for aaaages. Is it not possible to use ‘cheese wire’ on the rear window?

Apologies for the late reply! Been very busy and not been on I a while.
Compomotives are 17s, I tried the wire on the rear window first and it was no use at all, whatever that bond is it's gone pretty solid over the years!

More progress on the arches.

It's been a long time coming but finally she's wearing some primer!
Happy days!

Shiny!

Found this signature? Behind the boot trim. Any ideas?
I'm guesing it's from one of the factory assemblers?

Now sitting on the refurbed struts with new arms H&R front & Rear ARBs and Lowering springs.

I have never been a big fan of smoked indicators but they work really well
Big credit to you mate

Mart.

What a lovely car, looks brand new. Could we see the e30 and e34 tourings become more desirable now that BMW have released an m3 touring. I'm not saying they're not popular already, but having more M touring models leaving the factory can't hurt their popularity.

Thanks for the comments guys, you wouldn't believe how many images of E30 tourings I looked at (& videos) to find what I thought would best suit the car.
I too am not a fan of smoked indicators at all in fact I generally hate them, but in one image I found with these particular indicators fitted I thought it looked pretty smart so gave them a try & I like the result. I've still got a way to go before it's actually finished, head lining is sagging, rear load cover needs restoring or replacing and I'm after some new or refurbished trailing arms & a shiny back-box!
The cars in for MOT this Wednesday so will hopefully get some more pictures up soon!

Not a fan of the wheels but the rest looks great!

I guess it's all subjective to personal choice, I like the wheels a lot more than the original 15s that it came with & the wheels I really wanted turned out to be pretty rare and very very expensive, I may swap them out for some 17" BBS one day.

It is making me want a wagon but I have too many already!

What tyres did you go for in the end? How are you finding the ride on the 17"s ?

I have been reluctant to go over 16" given I drove my chromie for years on 16" but I have some 17" BBS I have always wanted to try but never risked it,