E30 Zone

The plan is to have a mint rust free shell with a turbo m50, 5 stud conversion, 325 sport diff, z3 rack and short shift, a set of bilsteins and some nice 16s
I think 350 whp will be nice for a suday blast on a sunny day.
I'm still undecided on gearbox and management choice.

I bought my second e30 three and a half years ago, a 318is. It came lowered on apex suspension a blowing exhaust and pretty much everything else was standard.
The first and only mod i put on was a volvo splitter





I used it daily for a year untill i started poking the inner arches, which turned out to be rusted through and hidden by a lot of stonechip and a bit of fibrefill.
So i bought e30 number three, a 325 which had been parked in a garage for a few years with no interior. The shell was immaculate not a patch of rust to be seen. A set of mims, cheap interior, headgasket change and second hand rad and she was good to go.



A week later minding my own business some kind woman decided to drive straight into the side of it


Yes i did throw my toys out of the pram a bit

My Is had been living on the drive looking sorry for itself for just over a year due to lack of time and a place to work on it untill recently

stole the battery off my scooby and she fired straight up





sold the engine to a friend for his Is



then i decided to go to Australia for 9 months so very little happened.
Came back 3 months ago and made a bit of a start









bit of work on the daily



making some brackets for a spit












which brings me to were i am now, ready to start attacking all of that pesky rust

Getting stuck in there then! Shame about the 325i. Was it a write off?

Yeah unfortunately it was another e30 which will never see the road again. The insurance tried to pay out peanuts for it saying it was only worth £1000

started attacking the rust









and then my welder decided to play up and die

Very nice repair panel

progress has been fairly slow due to work, but ive managed to get a bit more sorted

i also have an engine, it is an m52 but i got the whole car for £300 so it will do
So i am on the hunt for a e34 sump etc if anyone has one kicking around

Oh the battle of rust. The war all e30 owners fight.

good luck with the project

P_VIDDY wrote:Oh the battle of rust. The war all e30 owners fight.

good luck with the project

It seems to be the common enemy
Thanks, i just can't wait to drive it

How did you get the car for £300? Bargain! I just got my second e30 320i just like your grey 325. It's had all the body rust sorted and re sprayed and everything's stock so far. First mission is to lower it. What suspension did that 325 have?

How did you get the car for £300? Bargain! I just got my second e30 320i just like your grey 325. It's had all the body rust sorted and re sprayed and everything's stock so far. First mission is to lower it. What suspension did that 325 have?

http://s914.photobucket.com/user/jasp90 ... 8.jpg.html

Another HRT plate. My "IS" is H5** HRT. Same dealer I guess

hillbilly30 wrote:http://s914.photobucket.com/user/jasp90 ... 8.jpg.html

Another HRT plate. My "IS" is H5** HRT. Same dealer I guess

That's cool, don't think I've ever seen another one on HRT, would be interesting to find out which dealer it was

Nice repairs

bit of an update

pulled the motor and box out of the e36 on my friends drive


rusty footwell


getting there







jacking point was rotten through all three skins





things are about to get serious




the point of no return








just have to finish welding it up, seems to have lined up well and no major warping
i hope the other side goes just as well

finished off the drivers arch
fully welded and ground down



inner arch


the bit where the filler neck sits was a right pig




rear battery tray



passenger arch





oh and this came in the post

hx35 with 12cm housing, just need to weld the wastgate closed so i can run external

Well done, plenty on here would have scrapped that

DanThe wrote:Well done, plenty on here would have scrapped that

thanks, out of all the cars ive owned this one has been my favourit. wouldnt dream of sending it to be bean cans

few spots on the rear panel



rear valance


wire brushed all of the loose stonechip and all the seams, then rust cured all seams


found a few more bits of rot which needed cutting out. it never ends

wire brushed\rust cured engine bay seams and front panel then given a quick blast with zinc primer


just need to weld up the fuel tank mounts and the shell is finally rust free

Great work, seams like a mission at the time but when you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel or rather when you can't see the light shining through the rust holes you get a sence of achievement knowing you can finally say it is "rust free"

Wow some seriously good work there, look forward to updates

cheers guys its getting there slowly

sorted tank mounts


seam sealered alll underneath and in the engine bay



outside for the first time in months and given a coat of upol gravitex


got my paws on some super thick industrial paint so gave the arches a quick brush


straightened up my old valance as it had a run in with a hare and did some modification to get a bit more airflow

think im going to either leave the plastic blank out or weld a plate in and drill some more holes



next job is to give underneath a coat of red and take it off the spit ready for primer

got out my shiny new spray gun and put some red on




made a trolly


took the shell off the spit and started filling the rear arches


filled a small dent in the roof and a few carparking dings on the rear quarters


arches done




rolled her outside and got a coat of high build primer in the engine bay

Nice work

_Dan_ wrote:Nice work

thanks mate.

I was planning on using vems ecu to run my turbo. What are the emerald ecu setups like? would you be able to do the mangment and mapping on my engine? would be quite handy seeing as your only down the road

been a bit slow these past few weeks but managed to primer the whole shell



fillered and rubbed down the doors, bootlid and bonnet



repaired my front valance



trial fitment


decided i didnt like the holes i drilled so it will have this one on instead, cut out blanking plate mount for the intercooler

nice project

magpie wrote:nice project

thanks, its coming along slowly

Good stuff, i can appreciate the work going into this!

splashed a bit of red at it


primered the doors, bootlid, valance, and bonnet



and finally today i sprayed the engine bay and boot




happy with the finish ive managed to get as im doing it outside and ive never really sprayed a car before

hopefully my front wings and sunroof panel will turn up soon and then its off to the paint shop for a full spray

progress has been slow lately
took my mirrors apart ready for painting


stonechipped around the sill's front and rear valance




rubbed down my bumpers and se sideskirts
dismantled my rear subframe, pressed out the wheel bearings and run the wire wheel over it all.


still no sign of my wings or sunroof panel 6weeks on starting to wonder if they will ever turn up. Anyone used 'bavarian retro' in scotland? keep getting told he "will post them this week" for the last 3 weeks

don't say he's called Boyed ?

magpie wrote:don't say he's called Boyed ?

thats the one. Have you had problems getting parts from him too?