E30 Zone

I am Planning a Restore on my 1990 325is - Have had the car since 1999 and have let it down badly - Sitting out in the rain for the past 10 years and off the road for the past few years cos I just couldnt look at it - Its now in my garage and have decided to do most of the bodywork myself as its gone in all the classic spots - how bad - I don't know yet.

I've been inspired by a few of the guys I've seen on here and the skill demonstrated with fabrication and welding. I have never welded in my life but am awaiting a MIG welder from ebay - so should be a steep learning curve.

Anyway here are some pics of the car back in 2000








And Here it is now .........Hmmmmm !




































































I Don't know what to start with - considering replacing the rear panel - Any advice welcome ??

Rear Inner Arches I thing Need Done - Have been rolled back and I'm not sure yet the extent of the rust.

One of my main concerns is the front 2 jacking point - they will need replacing - also they are distorting the top of the sills - see the two pictures above.

I'm going to wait to get the welder and then maybe get started

Holy $h!t best of luck with that!
You'll have your work cut out for you . If that were my car I'd , still its great to see someone willing to spend the time to fix one up.

yer dude that aint right, quality car otherwise though. Good luck!

Hi,

I would strongly recomend you replace those rear quarters, as they will need so much patching otherwise. I would also recomend new outer inner rear arches and rear panel. It is essential that this is done properly though, or they will rust out at the seams in a few years time. All joints between panels must be very well done to last in the long term!

Find some good used doors, they are cheap and its not worth welding rusted ones. Same goes for front wings and valance, either get good used ones or new ones but they cost about 160 per wing and 150? for the front valance. Same goes for the wing mirror - not worth grinding back.

Have you pulled down the headlining on the roof to check the sunroof tray? They can rust in here. Get the dash out and check the bulkhead also.

Great work by the way They always look so good with the kit on ay!

Here are a few pictures of my sport with the rear and front panels off last summer for some inspiration, your car is saveable but its going to be a huge ammount of work!
















Best of luck with it.

Holy sh1t...that does have a wee bit of the rusty stuff!! As Paul(bmwe30mtech) says make sure you check the bulk head incase there's some rust up there aswell, this is mine...




Also have you thought of a reshell?? I know It would mean your car wouldn't be a true Sport but it may be cheaper and easier?? Josh Hocking is selling a red two door at the mo not sure if it's worth a look? A bit ironic coming from me considering what I'm doing but just a thought.

Good luck which ever route you chose, it'll look ace when finished

Thanks for the advice Guys will get the carpets and headlining out as you suggested Ricey.

Wow - bmwe30mtech - what an undertaking - I like the approach though. It is quite appealing going down that road, knowing that the entire panel is solid. - I never knew until coming on here that these rear inner arches were replacable - Nice. How Much are the rear wings ? also I heard that you can buy battery boxes from BM does anyone know about this.

Its all going to come down to how skilled I am on the end of a welder - should be arriving tomorrow.

Not sure I'll get much done as Im probably going to be heading away soon as I work offshore. Gear myself up for when i get back.


Ricey - You mention a reshell. I take it you mean with a donor car (2nd hand).
Are there differences between sport and non sport shells ?
Excuse my ignorance
Thanks again for the advice guys !

Murd wrote:Thanks for the advice Guys will get the carpets and headlining out as you suggested Ricey.

Wow - bmwe30mtech - what an undertaking - I like the approach though. It is quite appealing going down that road, knowing that the entire panel is solid. - I never knew until coming on here that these rear inner arches were replacable - Nice. How Much are the rear wings ? also I heard that you can buy battery boxes from BM does anyone know about this.

Its all going to come down to how skilled I am on the end of a welder - should be arriving tomorrow.

Not sure I'll get much done as Im probably going to be heading away soon as I work offshore. Gear myself up for when i get back.


Ricey - You mention a reshell. I take it you mean with a donor car (2nd hand).
Are there differences between sport and non sport shells ?
Excuse my ignorance
Thanks again for the advice guys !

Battery boxes are available from BMW not that expensive I think,

As for the reshell, yeah using a second hand shell, it may not have as much wrong with it needing fixing so therefore an easier solution, but no there's no difference between Sport and non-Sport shells, just when you change shell the chassis number will change and won't be a Sport one, making it not genuine.

Any questions just ask, someone will know the answer on here!

The red looks surprisingly shiny considereing how much tin-worm you have!

Bodywork is something i steer clear of, admire you for undertaking this! - Good luck

I have a new scuttle from BMW Germany with my VIN stamped. I don't suppose its legal to have that fitted to another shell though ?

Keep that to yourself!! Do what is the most sensible/easiest/cheapest.
I would go for another shell if its a lot better but I think its only Legal if its a new shell.
Its not realy ringing as long as the good shell isnt stolen.
I have done this a few times but it seems to worry some,but as no one will know the difference when the car is built I wouldn't worry.

I have a very solid brilliant red shell if your interested You can have it for next to nothing if you collect it.

That is a good example of what E30 zone is about!! (legal issues aside )

Oakey saves the day, much better option!!

Oh and what have you done to the photos?? Best not to delete them once on Photobucket.

Where's the pics gone

Yeah - My pics were too big so just resizing them so that they load up quicker

Holy sh1t and i thought mine was bad good luck with it

Amazing how nice it looks in the first few pictures. Good old tech2 kit huh!

Most owners bury their heads about the underneath of the kit, so its good to see you haven't, well done.

Battery box is circa £40. Reshelling it would seem a good option, but spend ages viewing them as I doubt any car is 100% rust free at this age. Ringing the car, would seem a slightly dogey, but do-able IMO. Its not as if its a stolen car is it.

I'm surprised it as bad as it is... my tech1 i thought was needing a bit of welding but yours has defo got a bad case of rust.. i wish you luck on whatever route you take


where you located ?

Yeah - West Coast Highlands - The ol' Sea Air doesn't do me any favours nor the neglect of the past 5 years.

My MIG welder arrived - fek its not as easy as I thought - I was going to post a few pictures of my practice welds on here but I'm not going to further embarass myself. Need a little more fine tuning - Wire speed and technique - I was using pure CO2 but I've heard that Argon/CO2 mix produces a much nicer weld ?? My welds would maybe get me a job in a collander factory.

I'm now thinking of going down the reshell route - where less of the outcome will depend on my welding skills - Respect to the other guys on here Paul(bmwe30mtech) etc. Any free lessons in MIG welding ??

I'll persevere ...

Best of luck!!!
Not wanting to sounds smart (in fact, the opposite) but how do cars in th UK get so rusty? I have never seen an E30 with that sort of rust and am yet to find anything but slight surface discolouring under the boot rubber on my E30.
I had always assumed that BMW had good rust proofing but obviously it is to do with road conditions. Salt? I don't think cars that were exported to Australia were rust proofed any different.
A mate of mine has several E30s sitting in a paddock in various states of disrepair and despite being like that for years, in the weather, none have the rust that I see on this site.

Murd wrote:Yeah - West Coast Highlands - The ol' Sea Air doesn't do me any favours nor the neglect of the past 5 years.

...

was thinking that with the pics... my black tech1 spent its life up there it was just as bad as yours.. before you go any further with the welder take the dash out and look behind there

Thats a long way gone mate, I have a clean relativley rot free 320i that will make a great car to re-shell into. Its £150.

I don't think there is going to be much left of your shell by the time you chase the rust right back from the obvious holes.

Yeah its official - re-shells the way ahead - trying to source one at the mo....

Mind you - big improvement on the welding front today - had the co2 turned up fully must've been about 7 bar - this was my main problem when I reduced it to say 3 bar immediate improvement, nice neat welds not dis-similair to those pictured on http://www.mig-welding.co.uk - good site that.

poolnoodle wrote:Best of luck!!!
Not wanting to sounds smart (in fact, the opposite) but how do cars in th UK get so rusty? I have never seen an E30 with that sort of rust and am yet to find anything but slight surface discolouring under the boot rubber on my E30.
I had always assumed that BMW had good rust proofing but obviously it is to do with road conditions. Salt? I don't think cars that were exported to Australia were rust proofed any different.
A mate of mine has several E30s sitting in a paddock in various states of disrepair and despite being like that for years, in the weather, none have the rust that I see on this site.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that the climate in Australia is well... rather hot?

Conversly the weather in the UK is, for want of a better word, shite. It rains, and rains and rains. It's cold in the winter which means that the council salt our roads only adding to the corrosion misery.

Can you ship us over some tidy shells from Oz please?

BTW Murd, re-shell all the way with this one. That's a very big welding mountain for a novice welder. If ur in no rush though, what the hell? Good luck dude.

You have your work cut out,ive never seen a rust hole under the wing mirror before!

Best of luck with it

Got a new Shell !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Oakey ! - Great guy to deal with and a Bargain.

After a 1300 mile round trip NW Scotland >< Surrey Left Tue Morning back wednesday - Hired a car Transporter Trailer.

Shell is in much better nik than mine. Started stripping it wednesday.








Pretty impressed - Just a few bad bits :






Going to be replacing the scuttle !!




Parcel Shelf panel was cut out for speakers - badly !!! Sorry no before shot - was too quick with the angle grinder - tidied up ready to replace with patches and parts from my own car.




The worst bit is the rear end - was damaged in an accident badly repaired the whole D/S rear is pushed in by about 1/2" and chassis leg has been squashed - Rear panel is completely out of shape - so ordered new rear panel and will cut back chassis leg and part of floor panel and replace with chassis leg and patch floor from the original car, so that new rear panel will actually be in contact with something when I replace it.





I need some serious advice on the removal and refitting of rear panel.

Nice I'm glad you went with the reshell option, as you would have had one hell of a job on your hand other wise This shell seems much better, just the usuall places of rust, good luck with it, i'm still trying to find a body shop

ricey46 wrote:Nice I'm glad you went with the reshell option, as you would have had one hell of a job on your hand other wise This shell seems much better, just the usuall places of rust, good luck with it, i'm still trying to find a body shop

what welding you needing done to your car Paul

sorry for going off topic

Glad you got it back ok! I didn't realise all that crap on the boot floor was part of a repair I thought it was some crap that was spilt in the boot
I'm also surprised at how gone the "jacking points are" they looked good at a glance.
Good luck with it all dude

good luck with your project

Defo think you've chosen the easiest option there mate. I'm on a welding marathon and believe me it does get a bit tedious after a while. Especially if like most of us you don't have a workshop full of metal fabrication stuff.

Keep us up to date with pics, doing a very good job so far