E30 Zone

Hi all posted not so long ago on the introduction page of my 325i sport thought i would start a thread to show you all how my resto is going etc I picked this car up two years ago for the princely sum of .... Nothing it was free !! but not complete with all the kit she's missing a few bits of the interior door cards etc has been sat in a yard in machester for 13 years & the body work is showing its age any way I will let the pictures do zee talking

The night we picked her up





Started to strip her down


& treat the " surface rust "


This turned into



This


Which eventually turned into


& how it ended today



Hopeing to get down there tommrow & start welding in the new pieces if not it will be next Friday before I can get back onto it

Wow thats some bad rust... is this car from marple stockport by any chance?

Two five cab ye it's from marple , rust is pretty bad trying to source new panels for it , have got the outer sills

Lucky you, getting a free Tech 2 Sport. My 1989 one also had similar rust, along with gaping holes in the outer sills below the A-posts and even holes behind the rear number plate.

cheers , hopefully this is the worst of the rust famous last words i know but ive not come across any more serious rust . it needs new inner rear wheel arches as this is the current state on the drivers rear inner arch



a friend has told me of a company to get in touch with regarding the panels i need so fingers crossed they will stock the inner rear arches & possibly the rear quarters

twofivecab wrote:Wow thats some bad rust... is this car from marple stockport by any chance?

have you had work done at the garage before two five cab ?

I knoe the owner abraham, he was telling me to take it lol i was tempted but one rusty e30 is enough lol.... its been sat there for a longgg while. Good project tho!

Good work get stuck in and don't let the burnt orange patches/holes deter you..

Some more progress on this got a few more plates made up ready to weld in , BUT no gas left for welding so can't weld them in : /

Inner rear arches are BMW only mate, and inner outer is about £100 a side

Some progress managed to finish work early today & get one of the panels tacked into place , going to have to have a flick through some of the resto threads on here & get some idea of how you boys have repaired the floor Areas , might invest in a sheet metal bender to try get a similar line of the orginal floor panel , as there isn't much left of the passengers footwell to sill area , bought a load more dremel cutting discs so working in the tighter areas of the car should be a little easier now that I don't have to struggle with the angle grinder in there , got a load more 10mm sanding belts coming as well to dress the welds up , also using 3m weld through primer

First repair of many to come !

Idol wrote:Inner rear arches are BMW only mate, and inner outer is about £100 a side

Thought they might be ! Will have to do one side at time a time got qouted £300 a quarter & £170 for the passengers side inner arch , & £190 for drivers side

Alas more progress ! Had my brother come over & give me a lift with the welding between us we managed to get the floor welded & the wheel well patched up as well grabbed a couple pictures of the work

Most people would look at that amount of rust and think breakerrrr! Especially when the didnt cost you anything so it would be 100% profit!

So i respect you for saving it! good luck!

Great work there, proper resto thread, love it

good work on saving this.

Cheers for the kind words guys gives you a lot of support in getting on with doing it there have been a few times when I've been sat there with the grinder thinking " this is foooooooked "

Anyway not much of a update but I went down today & did a couple more bits on it

Got the U pol etching primer out to cover up the new steel & welds , this will all be getting seam sealer on it & then stone chip , going to strip the full floor pan & re apply seam sealer & fresh stone chip





The infection has spread doctor time to operate this week



How have some of you guys gone about repairing the jackin points ?







Sanded a bit of the paint off the outer sill so it's easier to see where the spot welds are / were so my thinking is to take the outer sill off between the door & quarter panel , then clean up as much steel as I can , redo the jackin points & maybe weld some 20 gauge thin angle iron on the floor pan so that it re creates the lip for the outer sill to join to ?

More progress well not so much progress but I found a LOT more rust yeee haaarr !

Lobbed the outer sill off for a closer inspection & clean up




Then gave it a quick lick with the wire brush to remove the flakey rust





Have ordered a SHIIIIT load of 20 gauge steel sheet & angle section should arrive in the morning will be easier to work with being using 18 gauge steel for the last lot of work was like trying to weld a gurder to tissue paper

Will need to eat some more corn flakes as well as I'm running out of template material

Cheers Steve

Fairly heroic ventilation you have! Kudos for the save