My e30 Before I started!

[jimbom30cab]

great welding, proper old skool fabrication that. Best resto thread on here at the moment, keep the pics coming

[mani]

This is going to look nice mate !

[Jamie8GTi]

Here it is! Back again and hopefully ready to dive back into my now SECOND baby, The e30 has sadly become second to a very unexpected, yet welcome little man!!!


He;s my first son! Charlie Hempstead and born 11/11/13 as a Complete! suprise to me and my partner, Certainly shook things up but with a slight adjustment to the life plan the e30's managed to slip through the net!! (I love it to much to part with it!)

I'm getting him into the scene at a young age



haha!!!! with the explanation to my almost non-existing progress out the way, heres some pictures of the new tyres,

I'd been looking around for a while and after personally driving a slammed car for the last 8 months, the last thing I wanted to do with this e30 was lower it to the undrivable level just to crawl over speed bumps!!!

Instead, to some of my mates disgrace I decided to go with a smaller 15" wheel and a larger 55mm tyre in the end I had them stretched slightly to fit the 8.5's in the rear arches but just a very subtle tyre tuck that should allow me to give it the biggun without any major rubbing issues!!

Rears are 15x8.5 rocking a 205/55 and fronts are 15x7.5 with 185/55

heres a few pics from the test fit of a rear










Once a bit of welding in the inner arch is done I will be able to drop it back onto its wheels and fit all four! I'll upload a picture soon enough

cannot wait untill the christmas holidays! then i'll be able to slip out a bit to get it back on track again

[DanThe]

Those tyres look 'almost' sensible!
Nice to see you getting back on track and away from the matt black lifestyle

[jimbom30cab]

congrats

[Jamie8GTi]

a quick update!! fair bit done


got my m20 flywheel and got it skimmed thanks to dan the


got all my rear inner arches done.. cut the lip welded the holes and undersealed! all back together

and other side


fitted the pedals one night lol..




got some good fitment with the new trimmed arches


got about 70mm of travel before it rubs on that current position.. so Im happy with that

welded up the sills




loads more work done to the sills but the pictures won't upload”¦



dropped the engine in today to start to mock up the new mounts for everything so I can then spray the bay..









Also started on all the suspension and brake upgrades!! loads of works happening don't worry about that!

just don't get time to play about with image shacks mood swings

[jimbom30cab]

Nice work and many congrats on the new apprentice

[Jamie8GTi]

as I'm here.. also got a new shiny clutch reservoir to tart it up a bit! aston martin girling reservoir with good ridge hose
bound to add 5hp? right??




All four callipers are being fully stripped down painted new seals and bleed nipples..clips the lot!



she really does hang low!!! also need some engine mounts as the sumps rocking on the subframe at the moment!! This is what we do test fits for ;)

[Jamie8GTi]

cheers jimbob!! trying to pull my finger out!! will be a different story when he's crawling around haha!!

[Jamie8GTi]

Dug out my rear disc conversion id been storing up and got to work!



I tried burning the bushes out with no luck.. think it was to windy
So I somehow got a puller to rip them out lol





Then I had to get the rear hub nuts off which were a nightmare! not easy off a car



but with the help of the vice they came off!



then managed to rig up this evil contraption!!



Which surprisingly worked..


now the car I got them off had abs where mine doesn't, so I welded the holes up to stop crap from getting in.







and cut off the abs cable mount




spent ages with a sander/wirebrush cordless ends removing the rust..


coated twice with stonegaurd as a flexible chip resistant primer


Then hamerite!

[Jamie8GTi]

got 325i callipers later last year but fronts were a bit passed it! recently bought a flywheel from a local zoner and he nicely donated some spare front callipers to my charity haha!



got the rebuild seal kits front and rear

and started to strip sand down/prep them


also started mocking up a new clutch reservoir mount before the heavens opened

[timmzey]

Edited for privacy

[Jamie8GTi]

They are not easy what so ever!! The worst job I found was when I went and bought my rear disc upgrade.. had to remove the subframe from a ratty old cabby which had been sitting outside for years!! a huge tip is to support the trailing arms when lowering the subframe other wise the weight of the discs and calipers will stop it from sliding off square with the bolts/pins it locates on!!

[JF008]

Its looking good, I like the wheels!! What suspension will you be using?

[Jamie8GTi]

Its looking good, I like the wheels!! What suspension will you be using?

Thanks mate, Going with Bilstein B4 shocks and Eibach springs! will be around a 40mm drop all round, then might need to tweak to get it to look right!

[Jamie8GTi]

Been Mainly working on brakes and suspension recently..


Spent a good 3-4 hours sanding and wire brushing the main calliper bodies to get them nice and smooth/rust free





Then gave everything three coats of high temp brake paint! came out lovely!!





Currently putting seals and boots into them and got a lot of my brake parts ordered over the weekend so things should start shaping up (off the car)


Also got a picture of the actual colour the car will be! A88 Hot Chocolate Metallic!

[SLIMADI]

Looking good so far not a fan of the new color tbh keep @ thoa˜Š

[minimatan]

This is a great job mate! I love the cardboard inner arch fabrication!

[Jamie8GTi]

Looking good so far not a fan of the new color tbh keep @ tho

I promise if it doesn't look good I'll respray it an original colour!!

Cheers for all the support guys!

[Gok]

This is looking great I will be watching for more progress

[Jamie8GTi]

The sight that gets every car nut beaming!!



A few of my goodies arrived today! Discs, Pads, wheel bearings, rear seal kit and some handbrake shoe spings & clips


Was soo excited I had to run upstairs and get a sneak peak..


I went with EBC yellowstuff pads.. Heard only good things about them.




A bit of an improvement from them useless drums I had before

Engines coming out tonight so I can start the prep for painting!
Life is good

[Jamie8GTi]

Happy now that everything will fit it was time to have the m50 out again (plus I had to give the hoist back to my mates dad)



Originally I was going to mount the clutch reservoir right next to the washer bottle but now it will tuck back almost where it belongs..

Using the old mount just slightly flared out to fit the larger diameter, just cut it slightly and tacked it in place between the strut tower and the battery tray..







another job off the list!

[greg124]

Some great fabrication skills there Jamie. There was a time when I would have just painted underseal over the cardboard template! But that was before I bought a MIG.
Nice choice of colour. Looks similar to one I've seen on an E21, should suit the car really well

[Jamie8GTi]

Some great fabrication skills there Jamie. There was a time when I would have just painted underseal over the cardboard template! But that was before I bought a MIG.
Nice choice of colour. Looks similar to one I've seen on an E21, should suit the car really well

Cheers mate!
I was pretty pleased with the inner arch myself Originally I was going for this look, without the spoiler and kit on it..


Which I still think looks AWSOME! I was using the hot chocolate metallic as a base coat then going to use matting agent in the lacquer to look like this but it turned out too dark

Back in my dub days I saw a really nice brown colour on a mk1 which kinda stuck with me so Thats how I came around to going gloss!! + I already had 5 litres of the stuff

Just waiting for the good weather to do the body work now!
going to fully sheet out the shed, make my own booth! but thats for later on

Update! more goodies from this week





Gotta squash these in soon! I reckon a sash clamp should do the trick!!


My rear callipers all done! (a lot easier than fronts)

[mcbonio]

I wouldn't use a sash clamp, you're not going to get even pressure on all sides of the bearing. Use a bearing cup press.



Or if you have some threaded rod and big washers you can make your own.

[Jamie8GTi]

I wouldn't use a sash clamp, you're not going to get even pressure on all sides of the bearing. Use a bearing cup press.



Or if you have some threaded rod and big washers you can make your own.

I was going to use a sash clamp with a pre cut spacer I made that I used to knock the old ones out, but seeing how simple they are and considering I have four to do, Might give making one a go! cheers for the heads up!

[Gok]

Brakes are looking sweet as, keep up the good work. I am currently shopping around for some rear brake parts

[Jamie8GTi]

Brakes are looking sweet as, keep up the good work. I am currently shopping around for some rear brake parts

Thanks mate! I'm pretty happy the pads alone will make up for the extra weight the m50 imposes!

Are you going with the e30 rears? or something a bit more meaty?

[Jamie8GTi]

welded in a little strengthening plate on the maf mount. (there was a little recess in the arch lining here anyway which I wanted to smooth)





Also doing away with my pad wear sensors, All they ever did was fall out and flash at me and really don't see the point in them being there anymore.
(I'll just wrap the plugs up with the wiring and then take the bulb out the dash



Seeing as I have no abs and now no wear sensors it will make a much cleaner looking strut as there will be no more need for all the cable mounts..



I know there will be a few of you right now questioning my maf mount! as I agree it looks pretty shite on its own but Barely an inch is seen when its all together and it works like this”¦



a little tab slots in the square hole you can see on the maf, and its held in place tightly by the plastic sides, also the intake boot.

its very easy to take apart but when everything is tightened there is nowhere the maf can go!

It took a lot of head scratching and I can't really explain it on here, so forgive me if I still sound mad!

But the main thing is I've achieved the exact look I set out for! (always wanted a cone filter rather than air box)



also after rotating the maf I can hide the wiring for it underneath



And!!! proper work had begun the car is currently being stripped down on axle stands so I can finish off underneath and begin to fit the uprated suspension/brakes
(all after the bay is painted )


pics of the carnage to follow..

[Jamie8GTi]

Pretty much removed everything as I was paranoid over rust in the bulkhead! which turned out to be fine.




Getting smoother.. haha

got loads to do again now!

[Gok]

Brakes are looking sweet as, keep up the good work. I am currently shopping around for some rear brake parts

Thanks mate! I'm pretty happy the pads alone will make up for the extra weight the m50 imposes!

Are you going with the e30 rears? or something a bit more meaty?

I have been checking out what is available but I doubt I will be pushing the stock rears too hard to warrant a twin piston 300mm setup. Plus the price ( they are not cheap!)

I've sort of changed direction with mine as it won't be a DD I am wanting a more track focused look / feel inside for example nice buckets and a cage strip some weight make it abit of an animal

[Jamie8GTi]

I would have thought the rears would be plenty good enough with some attention!

Yes mate! always wanted a stripped out caged car! and with the brakes and coiley's you have you've got everything to make it that way inclined!

Who have you got to do the fabrication?? I've seen some very nice caged e30's where they brace off the beefed up rear strut towers! must make a very stiff car

[Gok]

Yeah most likely should be spot on. I'm still young enough to handle stuff suspension

I'll speak to my welder / fabricator see if he's up to job. So we'll see liking the look of a 6 point cage from custom cages.

[Jamie8GTi]

I almost bought a stripped out bucket seated e36 318is coupe before christmas!! (had withdrawals from rwd)

Luckily enough the sale fell through, as it would have replaced my daily and a month later I became a dad!!

Its quite a big chunk of work running rear coil overs on e30's, I shy'd off at the last minute, I'll try and find a picture of what I'm on about it was a beautiful piece of fabrication!

[Jamie8GTi]

Something along these lines!