Skipunda's Tech 1 - update

[mccarthy]

Check Control only lists brake fault - probably the ABS sensor or something..

Brake light switch behind the brake pedal?

[BigBavarian]

Save it we've broken 3 over the years and regretting it now 1 was a definite breaker but the other 2 needed scuttles and arches and a t of floor here and there but well worth saving looking back on it. Once its done you'll know it sound and they are getting rare

[Simon13]

As said it was free, what a great starting point for fixing it up

[robbo86]

Got my save it vote. But if you do frag it, I could be persuaded to have the interior away!

[skipunda]

Hi all,

Cheers for the support and such...seems to be an overwelming idea of keeping it i.e. not selling it on for peanuts or pulling bits off it. I'm looking at both options though.




So i've been out this evening in the p$%% rain to get some photos, answer some questions from you guys and hopefully ask a few myself also.

Remove the glovebox and look behind it and above it on the bulkhead, this is a common place for them to go. Also move the fusebox to one side and look to see if its rotten behind there.

Nothing mate, dry as a bone. Whole engine bay has no rust whatsoever apart from here:

my deciding factor would be rust in the roofskin sun roof tray area. It's probably the most expensive and difficult fix to have done.

Well I took a look and, at first, I thought #%$£^. But actually, all it is is a little surface rust. The roof itself has absolutly no marks on it, nor does the sunroof except a little scratching here and there. This is just an example of condition of sunroof area.

Get the rear bumper off and look behind here. Remove the plastic splash guard which hides the petrol filler neck/breather sytem. Drivers inner arch.

Ok, mate, photo didn't come out well. The bumper area is in excellent condition with no rust near any bolts.

Of the two arches only driver side one needs welding attention but seems to me plenty of metal will have to be made up here.
It is by no means pretty....I think rear quarter is a more appropriate word.

Pull all the boot carpets out, plus the sides.

Boot



Below battery compartment



and from underneath...

- Carpet up front corners = None
- Inner sill corrosion. = None
- Below the screen washer bottle = None
- Front arch splash guards = None
- front inner wing drivers side is a fav = Excellent

This is drivers side rear where the tank nossle is. It's bad..but it doesn't appear to rust up much further than the rear bumper.

...That brake warning light is just a bulb warning...Don't worry about the ABS though, the warning light for that is on the dash

Thankyou for that. Ignition on, no more lights (except when you press check button of course). ABS light is on dash though. I've heard this isn't end of the world and didn't see any problem while driving back from test center.

If it were me and i could not weld then i would find a nice sound pre facelift car and transfer all the sport goodies into that as none of the sport bits are rusted - i.e the interior, the sport box, the LSD, the dechrome trim, the body kit it could all be done my a home mechanic in a day or two.

What do you mean by Sport 'Box'? Gearing?

Ok. so there you have it without it over a pit

I have found a fella who is very keen and will take this on as a hobby'ish. If I gave him the panels I might be able to get the bodywork done for £3-400. Less than double what I think it should cost.

£300 welding inc weld 2 new arches weld sills. No finishing i.e. no grinding the panels down and tidying up after.

I spend a couple of weeks doing said job.

How much is a complete respray - I'm not talking ovens etc, just a man and a shed. As long as you take your time and apply coats lightly can the back end inc panels be done by the average joe like me?


Mechanical, stress points and joints -
Had new ball joints.
Complete new exhaust system

No wining of Diff.
Moves through the gears no problem.
No tapping of engine
Starts first time
Needs only new fuel filter to go through emmisions
Power Steering topped up, serviced etc


Ok thats all I got. Phew. back to the beer

Comments please guys![/i]

[BMracing]

I think overall there was probably more rust on my tech 1, i had a fair bit around the bulkhead to deal with. Now i need to get the rear arches and the battery tray sorted (rust is actually on the n/s). The service history isn't totally complete and it has slightly more miles than yours.
I've decided to go all out on restoring mine now, but i love the car. If you're not into it then sell it on, but breaking it would be cruel! If you're going to keep it then i say bring it back to the former glory it deserves!

[ShepsEvo3]

Save it! Same as my old Tech1 and same colour too. Wish I kept that 'un.

[Morat]

Sports came with a closer ratio box, so you should have that as well as the LSD.
Shame about the ABS, but all the bits are readily available from traders on here including the ECU. I'm sure you can sort it - especially with a little diagnostic help from Mr Moooore.

It all looks doable, judging by other restoration threads. The nasty bits clearly being the rust by the front turret (MOT failure, surely) and the battery compartment which is just a box welded on the bottom afaik.

Go for it.
You won't get it looking perfect for £1200 unless your enthusiastic welder is really good and cheap, but you'll get a decent runner I'm sure. A full respray to do this car justice will be probably £1500 plus. I think you should PM beardymatt and see what he recommends!

[r4rick]

Save it, nice car and good history

[jbh]

dosent look bad mate fix it heres the rust on mine

drivers side jacking point


underside of front battery tray




under the fuse box


drivers rear arch


passengers rear arch





the car from the front..


mines cost me £150 with no interior and a knackered engine but i had everything from my last one that was completely rotten

[B7]

I vote save it. Not many of these left and as already said. Nice story attached. Give it a new lease of life

[town325i]

too me i would give you £300 tops for that car but you no how it is to someone else it maybe worth more thats just my opinion on what its worth to me as scrap

The diff is worth £300 on a good day on its own, this is a silly valuation. The car will break to around £1000 easily.

Me? if it's like you say fix it. Theres been alot worse welded up and mot'd.

Like you say nice little story and a tech 1 sport in the rarest of the 3 factory colours they came in. My own favourite

There really aren't many of these left now, someone will thankyou for saving it!

my point was to buy that as a whole car with out mot and tax i no the diff would be worth £300 on its own but not on that car as it is

[Farbbm]

I along with a lot of others on here vote to save it. I've got a tech1 sport and love it to bits. Because as the saying goes once there gone there gone

[Ollie_bwoii]

SAVE IT!

[zimmer-320i]

and ill say it again SAVE IT!!!!!!!!!

[scottidog]

Thats a damn shame, save it if you have time, energy, enthusiasm and big big balls.

[skipunda]

Hi people,

...the battery compartment which is just a box welded on the bottom afaik.

Yes, seems to be the case...though it appears to attach (for the love of a more technical word) to something more substantial. --> blue bit.

So, just to put my spin on things...there is talk of cutting the battery 'box' from the bottem by half with a new plate, thus raising battery up by a degree. Weld a new tray of course. Saves making a new box.
I reckon this section will be the trickiest to do. Bit soul destroying if it's a bit you'l never see.

see wizardry paintbrush work below

[Sanchez]

if you need help theres plenty of people doing resto work this time of year.

[Simon13]

Mate you can buy the battery tray section for about £40, it comes attached to the chassis leg and is on the exploded boot floor section on the etk. It took me and my dealer a long time to find it on the etk!

hth

[skipunda]

Just for all you to know, i've been busy on the spreadsheets the last couple of weeks - keeping the books up to scratch and all. A you know, you need to know exactly what is required for the best effect, else you'l be fixing and buying things that needn't be fixed!!

Have decided to do a full resto. The stats above speak from themselves, save it is...

With the combined knowledge of many zoners I've fixed most of the mechanicals now...a major problem for me as I will need to drive the '30 to a pit to cut and paste the underneath. Pics up soon. Many thanks for your support so far, both positive and negative...all helps keep feet on ground!

Ta

skip

[bmw1066]

WA HAY. Good on Ya. Well worth it M8,

I have welded up an old e23 and it's still onley worth 50p LOL but your will be better off.

[skipunda]

Ok, finally got to work on this project. Fully budgeted (ha, yeah right!) and a garage beginning to accumulate spare parts
Have decided to go with repairing bodywork first, aside from some niggly 5 minute jobs. Haven't had to weld anything for a while but am confident and more importantly, very patient!

cheers for taking a look at this thread and being supportive. As much as it is fun for you, this also adds as a nice little scrap book for me where I can post up my thoughts on the project.

Will very likely just post once a week as I can only work late at night (annoying thing about winter) and natural light works better with the camera!

Here's to a good job we hope!

First pics...

before took the kit off:

After:


Actually just been out and grinded this back, so hasn't penetrated far which is very good news.


Before:


After kit removal:

Note it got patched just incase I didn't get round to this for a few months.

Before:

After:

Someones already been welding up the sill it seems

Still, front off-side should be fine, it's only the drivers side I should worry about...

After:


Then proceeded to take the tank out...(cheers fuzzy and co for bit of forum help).

Note to do this I had to 1) unbolt both ends of prop shaft and remove the two bolts for center bearing + gently ease the prop down 2) unbolt Diff and pull back a few inches, 3) remove prop 4) remove part of fuel hose 5) drop tank. Phew!


There we go..next, while waiting for replacement panels to arrive will sort out some more basic mechanicals

[Sanchez]

with that number plate should put a 3.5 engine in it.

[hubble]

Great thread and resto! keep up the good work

[skipunda]

Just to tack on the end of the last post, today replaced a few parts, bodged one or two and visited my local BMW and GSF to take them for what their worth. Note - GSF parts not always good!

To fix the ABS light I checked it's main relay. Because this is a tech 1 car there aren't as many of these relays *correct me if wrong* so finding the problem in this case was quite simple.

Followed this thread...
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ener+diode

and soldered the wire very carefully back on.

The reason for this was that because this car's engine had only been turned over by jump leads for the last 7 years the first place any current surge goes is to this relay. A zoner pointed out that when jumping a car put on the rear de-misters - nice one!

Took hours to do the oil change owing to the oil filter being well and truly stuck on. Had to use a G-clamp in the end to squeeze down on it. No damage done, mind.
Also flushed part of the engine - not the stuff you put in the fuel, and got all service books from old owner. Bought a battery from GSF for more than I'm prepared to say.



Few other things done:
- Fuel filter
- Air filer
- Fix non working electric window switch
- Blue temp sensor
- Reconditioned thermostat
- Compression Test (admittedly I did this a while back)
in PSI

C1 - 149
C2 - 150
C3 - 150
C4 - 150
C5 - 147
C6 - 142

- All Belt's except timing
- PAS/Gear oil - bleed PAS
- Coolant
- Spark plugs

Had an air leak so replaced much of the rubber inr engine bay


Ok, will let you know how next week goes...

[greentouring]

Excellent that you've decided to save this Sport! Good luck and will enjoy watching your progress.

[B7]

Good work so far. Keep it up

[FreddieS]

Good work, look forward to seeing progress on this car!

Would love to have got that for free, love welding up cars!

[Rosc0PColtrane]

Great work. Heroic task to take on. It's coming on well!

[FEP]

Hey Skipunda,

If you've not seen this you may find it useful / interesting.

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

It's a tech 1 I bought off a zoner - this is the thread that he posted regards the restoration. Includes his DIY total respray which is good but not perfect, as he acknowledges.

Best of luck with yours.

FEP

[skipunda]

Hey Skipunda,

If you've not seen this you may find it useful / interesting.

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

It's a tech 1 I bought off a zoner - this is the thread that he posted regards the restoration. Includes his DIY total respray which is good but not perfect, as he acknowledges.

Best of luck with yours.

FEP

Thanks for that, looks like quite a performance on that thread - all turned out nice in the end it seems The last few days i've been out working in -1 with wind chill included. not fun! but we do what we do...

[FreddieS]

The last few days i've been out working in -1 with wind chill included. not fun! but we do what we do...

Oh how well I know that feeling Tis why I hated the BMW so much, then I drove it again and ive fallen in love.

[corkie]

Nice car, good find,good colour also looking forward to the restoration on this one,good luck with it

[E30Gheko]

Wow thoroughly enjoying this thread so far! If you get this right (and it looks like it's off to a flying start) that will be one hell of a nice car. I love it!! I'm so glad you decided to save it. Very admirable taking on that level of restoration and it will be all the more satisfying when it's finished.

It would have been a real shame to frag what could be a real stunner!

[magpie]

with that number plate should put a 3.5 engine in it.

my thoughts exactly