E30 Zone

Well, lets start a topic here. Got a lot of information from the wiki. Now it's time to show what I have done so far.

First of all: my name is Casper, live in Holland near Amsterdam. Got my car back in 2014 when it was a rustbucket (what people said). I bought the car with no interior except front seats, dashboard and some aluminium doorplates.

Not one of the best out there, but as a student, it was affordable and technical in good order.


It had rust on the common places.


First job was to get rid of the rusty places. Couldn't weld back then, mean reason was to made it look nice.


Below the right rear windows was some rust to:


Both 'jacking points' were rotten away:


So at first, there were patched up by some one who could weld.

Next up were both sills. They looked fine, but after some grinding on the left side there was a huge hole that was filled up with body-filler. Some new pieces were made and put in:


Also in the left wheelarch there was some rust:


And in the left rear:


With some badrepairs over time:


So all the bad stuff had to go:

In August 2014 I went to the E30 Summermeet here in Holland:
Met some great people who gave me a lot of inspiration. Even a previous owner of the car came running to me and couldn't believe the state it was in. He had leather seats, complete interior and a mint BBS spoiler package. Non of it was on/with the car when I bough it.


Well now over to the bit I still regret until today. On my way back ,to the shed were I had my car stored, the back end slipped when leaving a roundabout. Result: Hit a lamppost with the front...



After some grinding and disassembly, the last bit of the chassis leg was bend. And that was it. :


After some thinking what to do it decided to strip the car and get a donor car to get the nose redone:


As I searched the usual selling pages, I came across this '88 touring, which was used as a driftcar.


But it was beyond repair. Rear arch was completely shot.

I then started to disassemble the touring with my mom and dad and after 2 months the car was completely stript and I had an extra 325i engine for free:


O and it was far worse than I thought it was:


I got a new spot from my uncle in the shed to get enough workspace:


As my first idea was to get the car prepared for rallying, I started to get the front strut towers clean and ready for strengthening:


And cleaned up all the parts I had from the touring and my own car:

Just a small project then Casper?

Allright, Some time forwards: March 2015.


I started taking of the anti-gravel. I used an oscillating tool to get all the stuff from the car.

Those pallets were useful to transport everything, but it took alot of floor space, which didn't come handy to work on the car. So I bought this:


Finally, back in January this year, the damaged chassis-leg was drilled out (some 50+ drills made )and the donor part welded in (after 6 hours of measuring, spotwelding, remeasuring, etc.).

Out with the old:


In with the 'new':

Captain_Birdseye wrote:Just a small project then Casper?

Well the thing is, It was supposed to be a 10-year project. That's at least the thing I told everybody . But after all the effort and hours and hours of work that has gone in to the rebuild, I decided that the car would become a 'normal' road car again for shows and some puzzle tours (don't know the English word).

Being a student, the money is a little issue too. But one step at the time and the car is coming together. Target at this moment is to have the car running and drive-able at the end of next year. So I will be able to take it to my graduation July 2018. Well... That's the plan haha. We will see.

Ye, too right man. Best of luck with it, you know your onions.

Well after the body was restored, it was time to get the trailingarms en subframe clean and free of the old bushings.

Burned them out with a flame torch (roof burner called here in the Netherlands).


Subframes:


Also started cleaning the engine out of the donor car. My own engine will undergo a rebuild, before going back in the car. 1,5/2 hours later:


After the engine, I started home with the wiring harness. Got it retaped and repaired some bad connections ( thermoplastic connectors removed, alot.....) Still I need to address some other bad spots. But need a old loom to cut it out and solder it in:
- Cable to the reverse selector light.
- One headlamp connector. Bought the plastic connector new, but the metal connectors inside aren't available anymore at the dealership...
- Checkcontrol cable end. This was cut off by one of the previous owners

Meanwhile I bought a rotation spit, so it would be a lot easier to work on the bottom of the car. After the front was restored, it took us about an evening to get in the frame, but okee. Around 00:30 at night it hang above the ground on its side:


In the weeks that followed, I used the tool to get the bottom clean and completely clean to bare steal. In the picture below, you can clearly see where the anti-gravel is removed.


When the complete underside got rid of the anti-gravel (3 days work in total) I could examine how bad the rust was... and well, it was bad .
Spare wheel:


Cut out:


And welded in a new piece from the donor car:


All of the welding from this point was done myself. One afternoon, I cleaned up my place and got some time left. I thought that it couldn't be that hard to weld, especially if it ain't structural supporting points of the car.

Some more rust removal underneath the fuse box:


From the inside of the car:


Went to this after some time:




Also got some new inner sills for the back:


Because of this problem:


Next up was the rear of the car:

After some grinding and welding we end-up with this beauty:

Very proud of what I used to manage in such a sort period of time. First I had to plan with the person who helped me welding, now I could do it all by my self. I know some will say it isn't the best welding ever, but it stays where it needs to be .

Next were the wheel arches at the back of the car. Those were both complete rotten away (as the rest of the car ).


Some measuring and cutting followed so we ended up with this:


Because I was grinding away all the bad stuff, I cut a little of the sill as well. Before cutting it, I made a wooden support. Not sure if the body would flex to much:


And after grinding the welds down:


All the bad stuff:


And all nice back with primer at the end of the day:

Next up were the inner sills. It got me headaches when thinking about it, but at some point you just have to do it. So I did:

Cut it out:


Placed the old on top of the new piece, measured it, masked it, cut it:


In the end it wasn't so bad as I thought it would be.

Now the rightside was done, I moved on to the left, which was even worse than the right side.


I stopt that day with the rear, lack of motivation. Next week I started and finished it:

Remember the right side not completely finished? Well last summer I did:


Around 3 o'clock:


Next day I started with stripping the bottom of the car from its protection coat:


At lunch time the grinding wheel thought it was done:


Got a new one and at the end of the day, almost the whole bottom was clean:

Captain_Birdseye wrote:Ye, too right man. Best of luck with it, you know your onions.

Thanks, I will do my best. I want to keep this car as long as possible. One day there will come an extra for drifting or rallying. Not sure what it will be. I prefer an E30, but don't know if I will be to get one for a reasonable price, since the prices of the E30 are tripled compared to almost 3 years ago when I bought this one.

Top work!

Subscribed. Excellent work Casper.

KW355 wrote:Top work!

Gert_8 wrote:Subscribed. Excellent work Casper.

Thanks I will do my best to get the best result within my limited budget. Keep this up-to-date. Got a few updates from the past. Got to translate everything, so my text won't be that long.

Wheel arches were next to be cleaned.
Before:


After:


On the right side, there were more then enough repairs done in the past haha.

Meanwhile this happend:
On a Sunday, when I was scraping wallpaper in my girlfriends room, I saw this interior coming by on Facebook. Called the guy and the same evening I went with my girlfriend to see it in person. After 10 minutes it was clear. Bought it and got the carpets for the trunk, door cards and the a-pillar lining for free and a set of seat belts for a small extra.





My brother also helped with cleaning the last bits of the underside. Then got the first layer of RX5 on the body.


All shiny. RX5 is based on linseed oil so thats why it does so:

Wow!!!!

Next was the RX10 layer. This white coating made it all worth. First layer needs to be mixed with the RX5 to get a solid bond between the layers. That's why it is has an incomplete coverage.

Half-way trough the evening:


Done at 21:30 and allready dark outside.. (hate falls):


After a few weeks drying the next coating could go on:

When going through my timeline on Facebook, I saw this rear bench with headrests with the same vfl 6-cylinder pattern. Got to have it. The seat it self comes out of a 4 door and will serve as a donor to repair the front seats. It arrived in style by another forum member of the dutch e30 forum:





After a day at school, I went to another forum member who got a few parts for my interior: Headlining, Lights, centerconsol, handbrake console (with cassettedeck), glovebox and handles:


Next were the front struts. Nuts that hold the dampers in place were also rotten. But a hammer and chisels did the trick.
Before:


And after:


Got my self a (sand) blasting machine. So within a few weeks I hope to got some time and clean them up. Hopefully they aren't to bad. We will see. Otherwise I got a spare set from the touring .

Last update for now. This was a couple of weeks ago. Together with my girlfriend filled all the seams with Seam filler from 3m.
Used one 1kg for the car. Next is the anti-gravel. Going to use Motip anti-gravel for this job. Anyone experience or a better brand that I could use for it?


Meanwhile the shed is getting isolated for the winter period and central heating is being installed at the moment. So it will always be frost free. The whole storage rack has been dismantled and everything is stored temporarily underneath and next to my car. Can't do a lot at this moment. Tips or tricks are welcome!

I've been down the road you're travelling Casper and I loved every minute of it!

Keep up the good work and dont give up. At some point you are going to realize all that effort is going to reward you with a beautiful car!

My 3 year project finally finished:

Classic look..


Badass look...




Btw,
I used 3M for gravel guard.. I posted a pic of it on my rebuild thread...
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... &start=150
You can see a pic of the actual can on the Nov 9 post far down the page...

Wow. Used the last 2 days to read your topic. Just mind blowing the way you discribed it. Lots of humor and détails. Could really sense your struggles and anger of having to do things twice haha.

Translating everything in my own topic would cost a lot of time. Don't speak English very often. So I hope it understandable .

3m underseal looks great. Is it doable to spray it with the standard nozzle? Heard people say to get a spraygun to put it on with a compressor.

I heard that the shed is getting woodenpanels tomorrow at my working area. Hoping to move everything back the week after coming one. Busy week with a whole week of internship.

Thanks for your link. It gave me allot of confidence to get this project to a good end!

Wow. Used the last 2 days to read your topic. Just mind blowing the way you discribed it. Lots of humor and détails. Could really sense your struggles and anger of having to do things twice haha.

Translating everything in my own topic would cost a lot of time. Don't speak English very often. So I hope it understandable .

3m underseal looks great. Is it doable to spray it with the standard nozzle? Heard people say to get a spraygun to put it on with a compressor.

I heard that the shed is getting woodenpanels tomorrow at my working area. Hoping to move everything back the week after coming one. Busy week with a whole week of internship.

Thanks for your link. It gave me allot of confidence to get this project to a good end!

Wow to YOU my friend!

Now this is what you call a restoration!

I'm looking forward to seeing more updates and seeing the end product being driven and enjoyed by yourself!

Don't lose motivation!!

Small updates:
Got the carpet that goes underneath the rear seat. This one was still missing. Need to make it black as my carpet is black.


Next-up is something that came by from a local hardware store. Got a nice deal on it.


Yesterday this package came home. 5 cans of Motip anti-gravel ,2 cans of wax to prevent rust in all of the hollow areas and a spraygun to get it all on and in the car.


From a good friend I bought 2 'new' trailingarms, as the original were rusted away. Also got the 2 cables to the lights of the headliner. The wheelbearings are shot, so ordered 2 new ones with 2 new wishbones.


There are a lot of parts to go on the car. Hopefully it's warm enough to get the anti-gravel sprayed on.

Christmasbreak will be the first moment to do something on the car.

Can you post up the supplier's details for the gravel and wax stuff please.

Gert_8 wrote:Can you post up the supplier's details for the gravel and wax stuff please.

Ordered it from http://www.nonpaints.com/nl/. Nearly 100 euros in total. Cheapest I could find in Holland. Their prices are listed without tax, just to keep in mind.

Cheers. I forgot you were in Holland.

Happy new year everyone! One month further, so it's time for an update!

Everything is build up again and most of the parts are back in the storage racks last Wednesday. Not all the parts are sorted out, but we're getting there.
I've also bought a jet blasting cabin.


We are having a cold weather here in Holland, so it's to cold to glue the inside of the wheel arches. So I picked some stuff that needed cleaning. All layed out:


Meanwhile I choped the remainings of the Touring. It had become a major obstacle. I cut out the middle section. My car has some rust on that spot. The rest has been cut to pieces.

Paravan cut out:


The remainings:


After that, I finished the blasting and it isn't hard to see the difference:

And a few months went by, so it's time for a little update.

After the last update, there was a lot of blasting to be done.

I got the 'new' set of dampers out of the old and rotten struts and the new ones are slightly bigger...


Difference is really visible in these pictures about the blasted bits:

Old and rusty:


Ready for some paint:


Also all of the edges around the strutttowers and the rear-wheel arches are glued.


All bits blasted clean:


And the first layer of Hammerite Black is on!


I hope to get the car back on it's wheels within a couple of weeks!

Nice!

loving this..