1990 325i Sport Restoration

[bss325i]

Cheers eko

Hopefully candyman Barry, although when i got the quote from him it was a smaller job! Do you know anybody?

Where i work Paul, it aint cheap but the quality is to a high standard.

[Alex]

thats gunna look awsome when its finnished

[d1mmy]

Keep up the good work.

I see one of my babies - tucked up in the corner @ A-Tech

[bmwe30mtech]

Thanks guys

Dimyy when you starting on my old car?

Well the top end re-build is finished, went for a drive arround the block this evening, need a few tweeks, but started very easily and idles dead steady.

Pics to show this weekends work. I also had the valve guides replaced by the machine shop, and the valves ground in and fitted.


















Going to get a steam clean now.

I did the rocker cover also (did it a few weeks back but not so well).

Its a tiny bit too tappy for me, so i need to re-do clearances.

The rubber seals are on wrong in the pics above, i changed them later

Taken 4 very long afternoons in all , and cost about 300 in lots of parts.

Cheers[/img]

[ricey46]

Looking good mate!! The head work is only too memorable for me, had to do mine at christmas!!

[d1mmy]

Looking good mate, 318i should be done by the end of Feb.

And the Sport end of Jan.

[bmwe30mtech]

Cheers guys

Car has overheated twice and im lost for ideas after checking for leaks, air locks and gasket/head failure so am dropping it off at A-tech tomorrow to let Ant work his magic. Hopefully nothing much.

A few pics, including cooling down at road side!





Barry - I probably cant afford the rate your garage will be, but cheers anyway.

[bmwe30mtech]

Totally fed up. Car still overheats, out of ideas. Ant cant even find anything wrong with it. I have spent houres going over the cooling system, and nothing seems wrong. No new mayo, no exhaust in water, who knows.

Pissed off is an understatement.

[MadE30mike]

check the thermostat mate

[bmwe30mtech]

What am i checking for and how?

Niel mentioned putting it into boiling water?

[MadE30mike]

take top of thermostat housing check if thermostat is operating freely, or replace thermostat anyway to be sure there not dear

[bmwe30mtech]

Cheers Mike, didnt need to do that though.

Found the proplem to be i hadent tightened the head bolts enough . Exhaust was getting into the water and overheating.

All tightened properly now and i have given it some abuse with heater on cold and fan off and doesnt even make it over the midway line on the temp guage .

Cheers to Ant for all your help and advice.

[Gun]

Looking good Paul I'm impressed.

I do miss this car now and then.

[bmwe30mtech]

Cheers Jeff, glad to see you have looked through this thread. As you can see your old sport is getting looked after. Lucky you gave me that spare head. How are you, and the VW's?

I just bought a bunch more new engine parts, and a complete sunroof tray from dealers.

[Gun]

Yep not bad ta. The e34 Sport is going well but it's not as much fun as the e30.

Yeah good job you kept that spare head. Did I not give you the paperwork to confirm it had been checked and pressure tested?

I'm down to two VW's now. The 68 bug running with the 2110 stroker motor and the 67 Split screen panel van. I should be putting the bug up for sale soon.

[bmwe30mtech]

Glad you still got the e34, they are better built than the E30 by a long way.

Yeah you gave the reciept to say it had the test, but not whether it passed and after all the work i didnt want to take any chance at all, althought totally trusted you it had passed.

After selling the bug are you buying another project VW?

[bmwe30mtech]

Some new work.

Both front jacking points have been replaced. The old rusted areas were cut out in neat squares and new metal cut to fit precisely. The welds were ground down so they were perfectly flush with the body then zink sprayed and undersealed. Same on the inside. A perfect job (thanks to Ant at a-tech). Cant tell they have been done except i opted not to have the square plates put back on.

Few pics after i took interior out. Also my new roof panel

Shampood the carpets also.

There are now just TWO of these panels left at BMW in germany!



The rust on the side of the floor below was also replaced with a new panel, flushed to the body.













Not a good pic but this shows where the new metal meets the old, its smooth

[cro320]

very nice sport!
question about rust on floors:
did you have problems with soaked carpets?

[dimebag_from_hell]

A mate of mine had a sport at 4 differnt garages to sort out an overheating problem, not one of them could fix the problem or find out what was causing it. He just got a new engine to save the hassle!


Good work mate, keep it up!

[bmwe30mtech]

Cheers guys!

cro320 - the origional carpet was soaked, so i swapped it for this immaculate one last summer, and put duck tape over the hole as a temporary bodge! This carpet it completely dry a year later.

dimebag - they can be so so annoying with overheating problems but i wasnt going to be beaten by this one!

[cro320]

you swapped it because was soaked once?
don't ge it, if my carpet is soaked is that means it's not good any more when I dry it?

[bmwe30mtech]

Yours will be fine when your dry it. I just happened to have another carpet which was dry and unmarked.

Drying it is totally fine

[cro320]

Yours will be fine when your dry it. I just happened to have another carpet which was dry and unmarked.

Drying it is totally fine

oh I get it.
Please make me some shots of those welded jack points, I got one to weld also, not critical now but can be...waiting the summer to done that. Some pics would be great. Besides that nice sport

[hubble]

What a project. Great to see a restoration on Sport.

keep up the good work

[bmwe30mtech]

Thanks guys .

I took the old wings off ready to fit new, and one thing sort of led to another and now im doing a lot more work.

This is what i found, so its all going in the bin. I will post pics of the new stuff when i have finished. Another long list of parts from the dealers was ordered!

Sorry for the phone pics as always..

Enjoy









Only on the very surface:



The rest is totally solid

















Lots more pics to come of the slam panel stripped back and lots of new parts.[/img]

[bmwe30mtech]

I been grinding away all traces of rust, however small. Takes ages, i wish i wasnt so fussy to be honest

Almost ready for priming. Then it will be a top coat, lacker and lots of waxoil. Im undersealing the lower metal also.

Bye bye rust









Im going over it all with a fine tooth comb so i dont leave ANY rust. I was going to wait till the rest is done in the summer, but seing as none of this can be seen (ie. needs a perfect finish on paint) i thought i would do it myself.[/img]

[cliffybabe]

looking good dude

[bmwe30mtech]

Cheers mate, tomorrow i will get rid of the last of the rust, clean it all, get the heaters out and prime it all. Im fed up with rust!

[cliffybabe]

rack's back on just got to reconnect the UJ now getting it track on sat so fingers crossed

[cro320]

good work fella!

i have question for you.
Having same problem as you at rear battery tray, it's badly rusted, so bad that even breaks out. I decided to take car to body shop to sort that out, but wanted to ask what kind a product is that on the bottom of your tray? looks like silicone or something? I took your picture and marked it.
I would do the same thing by myself, clean rusted surface inside and put that stuff on, and then take it to body shop to sort rust that comes out.


Also wanted to ask...these water leaks that most of us is dealing with...do they ruin the car floors at some time? I mean, they are dry now but water was sitting on them, maybe they start rust?
God I hate rust

[bmwe30mtech]

Thanks!

Its called seam sealer. Its like the body sealer they use in the factory to 'seam' the metal panels together. The brand i used is 'Grey Stripe', its cheap and effective. I didnt cover rust with it, I covered two holes drilled in the floor by some mug!

Do you mean water leaks in the cabin? The floor tends to just rust at the front jacking points, the rest is usually ok.

More pics to come

[cro320]

thanks man!

[bmwe30mtech]

I have replaced every nut bolt washer, clip, screw etc etc on the front of the car.

The car was primed, then sprayed delphin, then lackered, and then smothered in lots of waxoyl (but im still going to buy more).

'New' front valance sourced, wire drilled to shiney metal, and coated in body seal inside and out. The bit that shows is currently in primer.

There is no longer ANY rust on the cars front section!

The re-spray/all rear pannels of the car bodywork is being done at the begining of july, booked in with beardymatt.

Made a template for drilling the tech 2 holes (using old valance below)









Lots of waxoyl





More thick waxoyl



One rust free and weatherproofed front end



Pannels going back on soon, then the front kit with all new clips.

[bmwe30mtech]

All back together except arch liners, and all needs a good clean now.

The seam sealer under the kit doesnt look great, but the whole lot is certainly 'well sealed' from the elements. No rust anywhere













Immaculate rear blind with standard speaker holes

[Gun]

Nice one Paul. You'll make a decent one out of it yet.

Regarding my Bug the market is pretty small for a bug with a 2.1 engine so it will take time to find the right person for it.