1990 325i Sport Restoration

[Theo]

Lovely

Good old student loan eh?

[bmwe30mtech]

Cheers Theo.

No none of it actually! Just good old hard work in spare time.

[bss325i]

Excelent work there guys, i guess your glad to get it home now so the fitting up can commence! Look forward to seeing it mate.

Do you still want that boot trim mate?

[Speedtouch]

Great work! Care to divulge how much it costs to have one's Sport properly restored like that?

[beardymat]

pauls car hasnt had what i would call a restoration in the fullest sense, more a facelift and butt cheek implants

it started out as replacing the rear quarters inner arches and rear panel but we decided to tidy up the paint on the rest of the car as its had some pretty poor paint at some stage and it would stand out against the fresh stuff, we didnt go to the extreme that simon 13 has gone but havnt gone anywhere near his cost either.

[bmwe30mtech]

Barry - see you saturday mate.

speedtouch - thanks, i couldnt say really as it will vary so much from car to car depending on the job, you would have to ask Matt for a specific job quote

Matt - Thanks buddy, i consider it a restoration! By the way if your wondering why i turned left out of your yard not right (just after you explained it!) its because i went to get petrol. It was quite breezy on the way back to say the least, but only took about 3 hours 20 this time.

[lemonayd]

i think the cars looking great so far , are you keeping the car standard in terms of spec. morepics pls
mat i've sent you a pm reguarding some work

[ricey46]

Nice work guys, looks immaculate now!! Look forward to seeing it at Gaydon if you're gonna be there??

[Niiick]

That looks superb Paul. It must be great knowing there's nothing lurking, unknown, anywhere and that a quality job has been done by Mat. Priceless peace of mind.

I can't wait to see the pics showing the car in all its glory after the protective dust layer has been removed, using the filtered breath of angels of course.

[bmwe30mtech]

lemonayd - thanks, more pics here. Yes standard except springs, security and subtle sound system.

ricey46 - thanks, i might go to gaydon but cant say for sure!

Nick - thanks also, its great to finally know all the rust is gone. Here are some pics... the boot, back seats and headlining are all finished.

Due to another leak (not found yet, but not rust this time) i have had to take the carpet out again. At least i can shampoo it properly again to get rid of the mess from the bodyshop.

Lots of waxoyl













Unopened first aid kit, mint warning triangle, bbs wheel spanner, full tool kit, battery storage tray, wheel chock etc







Not very interesting i know!

[Speedtouch]

You know what mate, that's...














































...Bootiful!

[cliffybabe]

Paul it looks great mate congrats

[bmwe30mtech]

lol @ speedtouch

Thanks guys

The car is basically finished now, just got a few small bits to go on still. Its great to be driving again! The sunroof assembley was a real pain, but i got there in the end and packed lots of new grease in.

Thanks to Ian for the particualr sealant for the sunroof runners.

Few odd pics

Sunroof runners out



New sealant



Fitted and greased up



Headlining with no wrinkles or tears! Taken before i cleaned it though.



As it stands - nearly done. After washing with just water..





Sorry for rubbish phone pics of nothing much! They show just a fraction of the work thats gone in. Everything has been put back carefully. I sorted the loom out in the dash also, it was a mess.

Used up another can of wayoyl also

[bmwe30mtech]

New boot seal, door seals and filler neck seal fitted - all well worth doing and so much better than the old rubber
Components fitted in the front using origional tweaters.

Finshed project (for now, being an e30..) and i will put up some proper pics in the gallery when i get arround to polishing it.

Insides of wheel arches after 2 cans of stone guard and a can of lacker - should last a few years

Most boring pics on the zone? (just to document it all )









Oh, check the 'elephant trunk' drains from your scuttles, mine was blocked and flooded my passenger footwell a few weeks back .

Dwarfed by some other cars...



Paul

[bss325i]

Hastings?

[bmwe30mtech]

Well done mate lol. Pic is taken with me standing on the beach. Went down with the girlfriend for the day when i finished it.

[Simon13]

Paul where did you get that sealnt from? i'm at this stage and need some!

Tis looking pretty good now. you going to pod?

[baboon5151]

just read through your thread great job well done bud.had mine done a couple of years ago,also delphin grey.well done again.

[bmwe30mtech]

Si - Cheers, no wont be at the pod, i dont really go to meets. I got it from Ian on here, left over from his. I think he said it was from 3M.

baboon - thanks mate, comments always make you feel good about the work you done Got any pics of yours?

[goosiegander]

Amazing work!

[bobgil67]

awsome work well done

[oakey]

This is a loverly sport. Super clean

[bmwe30mtech]

Thanks for the comments guys

I keep meaning to clean and polish it and put up some proper photos, will do soon.

Fitted a few more new bits including this:

[Speedtouch]

Looking great, way nicer than my Tech 2's offside rear arch! How much was that cable bracket thingy? (Mine's a crumbly mess.)

Cheers,

[bmwe30mtech]

Thanks mate. It was about 25-30 quid, a lot I thought for what it is but its worth it i recon to stop the rust speading to the arch.

[Speedtouch]

Looks sweet, now get some waxoyl on it all quick before winter sets in!

[Gun]

Nice one Paul. Good to see the Sport back together. Fantastic effort and dedication.

[bmwe30mtech]

Cheers guys, has been hard work!

Done a few more things.

Replaced the rear bench with the correct armrest type. Then the armrest part turned out to be broken so I got hold of another and swapped the leather over.

Bought some new headlight wiper arms also.

Fitted facelift heated seat switches + loom.

Re-laid carpet after checking the leak had stopped!

Gave it a full service, including gearbox and diff oil, engine oil/filter, plugs, coolant, air filter, PAS fluid, fuel filter brake and clutch fluid.

Here are some pics

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=120945

Cheers

[bmwsport]

Insides of wheel arches after 2 cans of stone guard and a can of lacker - should last a few years

Can you tell me what specific stuff you used to re-seal the arches? Manufacturer, product names and some links would be great too!

[bmwe30mtech]

I used a stone chip paint from halfords. I think it was made by hammerite, but will check the can if i have any left. Then I sprayed a few coats of clear lacker over the top. Build the stone chip up in layers untill its really thick, its tough stuff.

[bmwsport]

Nice one, did you then paint it grey or did it already come in that colour? Also do you know if it is neccessary to paint over stone chip, my E30 is white so if i can get hold of some of this stuff in white it would be ideal to protect the underside whilst attaining the factory body-coloured underseal without using an additional white topcoat on top if you catch my drift? Cheers

[bmwe30mtech]

Mine came grey, but it can be painted over fine. Your in luck, it also comes in white

[bmwsport]

Just had a look on the hammerite website, you can get it in schutz or aerosol form, which one did you use? It also says overpaintable with most topcoats, i don't suppose you know if that means you can paint over it 'if you want' or 'you have to' paint over it!? The last thing i'd want to do it spray the entire underneath and find out its porous like primer or something

Cheers

[bmwe30mtech]

Hi,

Right, a little update. Over the last couple of months I have done a few things here and there, so thought I would post it up.

When I had a lot of the body work done last summer, I never removed the dash to fully check the bulkhead, so I stripped out the inside (again!). Luckily there is no rust in sight whatsoever, not even under the sound deadening. I stuck my head inside the scuttle and again not a spec ”“ result.









While the dash was out it was a good excuse to load the car with some more extras, so I fitted an air-con heater box, cruise control set up, and a 13 button OBC. I re-did all of the loom tape using proper cloth based car loom tape ”“ this takes ages (!) and routed all the wires in the factory harnesses. I then fitted a nice crack-free dash in place. Fitting a new heater box seal sorted out my ongoing nightmare leak, which I won’t miss.





I took lots of pictures along the way while I fitted the air-con, with the intention of writing a fitting guide for the zone, but most of the pictures got deleted on my old laptop annoyingly. I basically bought every bolt, nut, washer, and any small part for it new ”“ about 50 little bags of bits! I also bought a new air-con radiator and condenser from euro car parts, and would recommend them to anybody ”“ great quality. I also bought the R12-R134a conversion kit from BMW, and re-did the wiring to suit, again using cloth loom tape.

This is the only picture I have of the air con! Wiring the loom into the fuse box:



To finish off the air-con I bought a fairly new air-con front valance (cheers Barry) and had it prepped for tech 2 kit and sprayed (Candy Automotive ”“ I would recommend them). Also fitted a nearly new kidney grill.







I gave the carpet another clean, and re-fitted the interior.

Next I re-built my headlamp units (not the actual glass, but the frames/setup). I then re-built the wiper motor units for the headlamps, and fitted new valves etc to the cleaning system. Headlight washers and wipers now work perfectly. Also re-vamped the main cleaning system, and bought a new washer bottle and valves.



I bought this E30 ski bag, something my car came with from new, but must have been lost at some point. This black panel folds up when you push a ”˜button’, and magnetically sticks to the boot roof.



In the car, unfolded.



All tucks away behind the armrest leather flap.



Got some leather grab handles. I’m convinced they are OEM, although it’s the only set I have seen.



Next onto mechanics. The front of the car needed a bit of an overhaul. So, I replaced:
- Complete steering arms
- Control arms and bushes
- Drop links front and rear
- Rear disks (again, warped one)
- Front shocks for new m-tech ones
- Some very good, not much rust, front struts ”“ cheers Ant
- Fitted a set of the correct original m-tech springs ”“ almost new ”“ still with BMW stickers!
- Also bought new bits of plastic trim in the arches.









Note the new locking rings, with lots of copper grease around the top this time (its not rust!). New bump stops etc also.



Getting the old shocks out was impossible thanks to this locking ring (yeah, it’s fooked)



Hence getting replacement struts and locking rings for the new shocks.

Next job is to use a Schultz gun to spray this BMW original underseal over the underside of the rear half of my car ”“ it’s not rusting, im just not happy with the thinner stuff I used last year.

Probably lots of I have forgotten, all fun.


Paul

[bmwe30mtech]

Just had a look on the hammerite website, you can get it in schutz or aerosol form, which one did you use? It also says overpaintable with most topcoats, i don't suppose you know if that means you can paint over it 'if you want' or 'you have to' paint over it!? The last thing i'd want to do it spray the entire underneath and find out its porous like primer or something

Cheers

Sorry I never replied! It's probably too late now, but I used the aerosol stuff, but I don't recomend it - its not thick and tough enough, hence im about to re-do mine with the schutz/bmw stuff. You need a schutz gun and compressor to apply this.

It does not need to be overpainted, and is not at all porus. Painting it just makes it look better.

Thanks