it's getting there

[320iAN]

slowly .... bought my E30 back in sept 07, in need of much TLC
how it looked (looked worse than in the picture)



money has been tight, specialy to spend on a project but after many hour's of work today it now look's like this ..



going in to get a new rear arch fitted tomorrow than all going well it'll be MOT'd next week and lowered next weekend

more pic's of my project here: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2908604

[shedrool83]

Looking good Ian.
Liking the wheels and it will look even better when you lower it.

[320iAN]

thank's Jake, i'll take some better pic's tomorrow and post them.

[alex-e30]

Agreed, cant wait to see her lowered

[320iAN]

Agreed, cant wait to see her lowered

thank's, i'm quite proud of how it's coming together
doing a project on a tight budget is never easy .. specialy when your other car is a big thirsty E39 that said, i'm probably not alone in this world of car ownership

[capri_rob]

Good work

[320iAN]

it's lookin a little sad now, new arch section is fitted, my mate done a top job
before


Marked out area that was to be cut away .. more than 1st thought


new section all welded in, awaiting filler


for now it's been covered in a lurvley purple-blue paint as it was all we had lying about, might just hang of and save some cash and get a full respray done to it?, a painter checked out the body work and said there is hardly any prep work as the car has no rust

[cliffybabe]

looking good though dude

[320iAN]

thank's Cliffy .. it is coming along
these are some pic's i took 5 min's before the arch was sorted





this week it will be lowered (depending on the weather) .. a bit more smoothing out on the arch and a bit of paint to cover it for now from the weather.
i was plaanning to mot it this week but i'd rather wait till i'm more happy with it's look's

[cliffybabe]

it doesn look really seet mate, mines in pieces again at the moment, busted the steering rack while its up in the air im re-sealing the underside etc, and then tomorrow or tue's night ill re-fi the rack which i have just painted

[320iAN]

i'm happy with how it's going ... so far including buying the car ive only spent about £850 once taxed & mot's i'll break the £1K

if i go ahead with a full respray then i'll see about a new rear panel to, ive had to do a couple of repair's to the panel for now, apart from that it is in well above average condition, not a trace of rust on the chassis or floor

[hammoj28]

Looking better ian. Not sure on the alloys but they are different and actually quite subtle.

You had better slam it though to pull off the wheels. 60 at least.

[320iAN]

it's going down -35 at the rear and -40 at the front, but ive a feeling it'll drop more than that .. well against the height it sit's just now i'd say at the moment it sit's +40mm all round

[320iAN]

new spring's are now fitted, i'll post up a pic once it has settled down

[e36boy]

new spring's are now fitted, i'll post up a pic once it has settled down

I hope its 60/40 drop..............Nice car btw.

[320iAN]

new spring's are now fitted, i'll post up a pic once it has settled down

I hope its 60/40 drop..............Nice car btw.

ive fitted -35 on the rear and -40 on the front, but ive a feeling it will look a lot lower than 35/40 compared to the height it was
here is the difference in the new V old spring's
rear


front

[e36boy]

cool Cant wait to see the pics with them on the car,

[Sanchez]

i'm happy with how it's going ... so far including buying the car ive only spent about £850 once taxed & mot's i'll break the £1K

Thats a very good figure for cabby. Well done. Do you have a mate whos does respraying or just some garage.

Im looking into getting mine done.

[hammoj28]

Looking forward to seeing it.

[cliffybabe]

ian get some more pic's up buddy

[320iAN]

updated pic's hopefully later today, it's absolutly "chucking it down" at the moment
yeah Sanchez, i have a freind who is a 1st class spray painter, he work's with the biggest coach-builders in my area and he does hommer's in his own time he priced me £200 for labour and said i'd be about £80-£100 for material's? and that was only for painting both side's ... once he gave it my car a look over he then said that due to being not a bit of rust and only one "pin sized" dent on the whole exterior that he'd paint the complete car for the same price
he recomended that once the solid colour is on that he would rather finish it off with a few coat's of clear, rather than just flatten and polish .... he like's a shiney finish to his work the paint work on my car is good, nice and level but it has had a new wing and the opposit side has had the door painted and now with the new wheel arch section completed it's looking slightly like a Crown Plus paint chart!
i'd like it painted all one shade, just gotta save up again!

some of my mate's thought i was off my head when i bought my Cabby back in Sept last year but i could see what was under all the year's of crap, as soon as they'd heard i only payed £500 for it straight away all i heard was " £500 .. you don't get much BMW Convertible for that money"

egg's in there faces

[320iAN]

these are the only 2 pic's ive taken (for now)
the first pic is of my car without being moved since i fitted the front spring's last night

the 2nd pic look's like it has came down slightly since the first pic? .. also, do you like the "beading" pattern



ive only covered about 1 mile since fitting the lower spring's so i'm hope'n it'll come down some more

[Jhonno]

if they are new it still has to settle..

[josh-hocking]

looking good. are you shaw thats -35/-40 drop? it looks less in my oppinion but post more pics please!!

[320iAN]

looking good. are you shaw thats -35/-40 drop? it looks less in my oppinion but post more pics please!!

there just fitted so it'll have to settle

[320iAN]

rubbed down the new arch today

if you look closely .. you can see some of the horrable purple colour we used to cover it

[320iAN]

check the difference in height now! .. it's slowly settling down
this pic was from a while ago sat next to my cousin's eunos roadster (which sit's very low)


now with the new suspension on my E30


before


after, lowered

[cliffybabe]

in about 6months ur go out ad say to urself bloody hell that looks low

[320iAN]

in about 6months ur go out ad say to urself bloody hell that looks low

make a change from looking at it for the past 5 mth's and think "christ it's high!"

[PETROLHEADS]

hi 320iAN i'm new in here hope you dont mind me posting a message, just wanted to say the car looks great and cant wait to see it after the re-spray.

[hammoj28]

Definately looks better. Some improvement from what it started like.

[320iAN]

thank's for the com's guy's

gave the new arch another smoothing down last night then added a better shade of blue ... look's better in the pic's


it'll do for now, it need's either a fine putty or etching primer to fill the hair line scratche's

after i took they pic's, i undersealed the arch and repainted the cill ... then i polished the rest of the car

[cliffybabe]

looks really good dude

[320iAN]

nerves are kicking in now .. it's booked in for it's first mot in 4 yr's on friday, ive done so much work on this car that if it fail's on something big i will be very very annoyed

finger's crossed (and toe's, eye's, leg's etc)

[fuzzy]

itll sail through or fail on something rediculously simple. when i finished my first project after 8 years and £28000 spent it failed its first mot on a blown rear bulb. he let me change it there and put it through. great feeling to return it to the road.