325 Touring Project

[Morat]

definitely a single man
Good effort!

[mike_sayer]

After yet another ridiculously long period of time, some more progress! Pictures say it all really...but several more weekends of sanding, filling, sanding, sanding, cleaning, sanding and cleaning, the car was ready for four coats of primer and two of white gloss - this is the result.

It's now competely rust-free and ready for the journey back to my house (once the cage is bolted in) so that we can start on the suspension. Hopefully having it at home will mean much more rapid progress - though her indoors might have something to say about that. Watch this space...

[punk_sy]

nice paint job mate what sort of paint did you use? and did you spray it on /

[Weir88]

Very nice paint work mate

[mike_sayer]

Lots of progress since the last post. The car now has the cage in, and we've transported it back to my new house in Whitchurch. Having the car at home means that progress is suddenly a lot faster! So, the M50 has been partially stripped and is almost rebuilt - new water pump and thermostat, all seals and gaskets, new plugs, etc etc, and a lot of cleaning! Today we've taken the front suspension off the car and taken it all apart, ready for sanding, paint and new bushes etc. Struts will be going to Gaz to be converted to coilovers, we've got adjustable camber top mounts for the front and adjustment tabs for the rear, the whole rear end will be polybushed and the fronts will have E30 M3 eccentric bushes. Also got an E36 rack to fit, and H&R ARBs to order. After all that's done, we'll be getting the engine in . Lots of pics below.

Given this is now much more than an engine swap, could I please ask a mod to move this thread to the Motorsport/Track Day section of the forum?

Roll cage in


Trailering the car home


M50 getting overhauled



Rebuild started


Front suspension off...


...and disassembled


The great garage that came with the house. Only here until August, need to crack on!



Cheers,

Mike

[mike_sayer]

Rear suspension now also off and disassembled. Trickiest part for us was getting the sodding handbrake cables separated! Got all the old bushes out yesterday, usual combination of fire, a large hammer, a chisel and a good deal of swearing. It took Chris Warburton's propane blow torch and a 900lbft air gun to get the rear hub nuts undone!


Ready for Gaz after i get the hubs off:


Front subframe sanded back and ready for welding:


Also just about finished putting the M50 back together after cleaning and mild overhaul:



Gaz coilovers have been ordered and we've got polybushes ready to go on, but not until everything's been derusted, had camber/toe tabs and ARB reinforcements welded on, and a couple of coats of hammerite. Progress is a lot quicker now the car's back home!

[Bark]

Wow, this project is phenomenal!

Probably the best thing I've ever seen, ever.

Good luck with it Mike.

[MrBenn]

Very nice indeed!

I take it you have a compressor for the spraying, looks too good to be from rattle cans??

What is being welded on the front subframe? Some sort of strengthening?

Alex

[E30ToRing]

An excellent project and write-up!

Are you keeping the tailgate as standard or going for something lightweight?

[mike_sayer]

Yeah the spraying was done in a proper booth with an extract fan and a compressor. Front subframe is just having from reinforcement on the ARB mounts - the uprated bars put a bit too much stress on them unmodified and they're known to fail.

Tailgate is staying standard for the moment - it was VERY rusty, but we've cut it all back and patched it up to a decent standard. I can't find anywhere online that sells an alternative (not surprisingly), but it would be nice to change it one day as it's pretty weighty!

[MrBenn]

Yeah the spraying was done in a proper booth with an extract fan and a compressor. Front subframe is just having from reinforcement on the ARB mounts - the uprated bars put a bit too much stress on them unmodified and they're known to fail.

Not heard of this before (not saying much), can you please post up pics of the reinforcements when they've been done.

Just bought a compressor and a 6 x 4m marquee.....gonna be learning to spray in the next few weeks

Alex

[miniblob]

Superb thread - keep it up mate!!! This touring is gonna be awesome!!

[mike_sayer]

Not heard of this before (not saying much), can you please post up pics of the reinforcements when they've been done.

Sure , hopefully will be after this weekend.

Just bought a compressor and a 6 x 4m marquee.....gonna be learning to spray in the next few weeks

Two tips. Don't release the trigger until after the spray has cleared the end of the part/area as otherwise you get uneven coverage, and don't go in with your next coat until the previous coat is COMPLETELY dry - or the paint will crack (yep, we know this from experience )

[mike_sayer]

Made some progress, mainly on the suspension modifications. First things first - apart from the fuel feed and return lines, and the engine mounts (just need cleaning), the engine is ready to go in:


Will probably chop and join the feed/return hoses that run to the airbox thermostat and then the throttle heater - gets rid of extra hoses and keeps the throttle cool (anyone done this before?).

Taken delivery of (or collected) some goodies in the last week. First we went over to Peterborough to collect our ex-Group A 3.25 M3 LSD, complete with race diff cover and solid aluminium mount. Awesome condition, and a bargain!:



When I got home I found a pair of new H&R ARBs waiting for me (thanks Andy!):


Also received a nice box of bits from Cotswold, and an assortment of Superflex and Powerflex bushes. We're polybushing everything (including ARB droplinks) except the front wishbone bushes, which are OEM E30 M3 offset pieces.

So, on to the subframe and trailing arm mods. Cut and welded some reinforcement plates for the trailing arm ARB mounts, as done by many others. Pleased with the result:


For the front, we've done something a bit different. Rather than building up the ARB mount to the level of the lug and using different clamps, we've opted just to reinforce the weak "ear" with extra plate, smooth down the lump on the top of the mount, and use new OEM shackles:




Attached a new H&R bush with the shackle to test, and it's 100% rock solid. I'm fairly confident this won't separate or crack, and it's cheaper and easier than the alternative mods. I'd welcome anyone's opinion on this though, good or bad!


Will post more on Monday following more sanding and hopefully the first paint...

[rix313]

Oh jesus, I bet the neighbours were impressed!

Looks fun.

What I was thinking lol!



Project is fantastic, very thorough.

[SteMarsden]

What a great write up Mike!

From personal experience I can vouch for how much effort has gone into yours by the looks of it....
Again, I have started building a race car which has a bit of a resto theme!

Keep the pictures and write-up coming!

[mike_sayer]

A brief update - now finished "de-rusting" the suspension, and most of it has now been painted in a coat of red oxide primer and two coats of black hammerite. Also sanded the driveshafts, LSD and rear beam, all of which are now waiting for paint. Welded the camber/toe adjustment tabs on to the rear beam yesterday, just need to slot the holes now and it's ready for paint and bushes.

So, still aiming to have everything ready for when the package from Gaz arrives, which will hopefully be in time for the weekend after next when we'll have some time to install it all!

Some pics...

[JimmyC]

Stunning build

Takes me back to when I did mine, think I enjoyed building it as much as racing it

[Leemc2009]

so cool!

[mike_sayer]

Stunning build

Takes me back to when I did mine, think I enjoyed building it as much as racing it

Yeah i'm kinda worried about what we're gonna do when there's nothing left to upgrade! That's a loooong way off though, especially if the S50 engine plan happens. Maybe when this one's finished will do a PBMWC racer...

These arrived in the post last Friday. VERY excited...hoping to get the front suspension rebuilt this week, and the rear next week.

[rix313]

How much is the GAZ set?

[mike_sayer]

£736 inc. VAT and delivery! Bargainous really, and includes billet rear top mounts.

[rix313]

That direct? Awsome price. Cany afford it atm

[mike_sayer]

Yeah, direct. Guys there are very helpful too, esp. in helping me to select spring rates.

[UweM3]

Yeah, direct. Guys there are very helpful too, esp. in helping me to select spring rates.

I do not understand why GAZ doesn't supply the kit with helper springs. Everytime you jack the car up you need to make sure the springs seat properly afterwards. Not a good solution IMHO

[SteMarsden]

Totally agree with you Uwe....

I'm sure that almost everyone would be happier to pay a few extra £ to make it safe. When I jacked mine up without the helper springs it was possible to remove the blue top cap completely and then under compression the spring rested against the car body. Not great

I'm sure they could sell it as an option too, it would be cheaper than the £100 I had to fork out from Faulkners to make it 'safe'.

Cant really argue about VFM though....

[JimmyC]

I'll mention it to Warren @ Gaz

[robzilla]

what are helper springs, sorry to be dumb

[mike_sayer]

Had a great weekend of making progress in the sunshine. Pics tell the story, but we've now got the subframe, ARB, control arms and struts on the front end, assembled the rear suspension, prepared the steering rack, and started preparing the back end of the body underside. After removing the rear suspension a few weeks ago, we found some more rust that wasn't accessible before. There are some small holes, and one of the lateral beams was full of rust - so we've cut part of it out and will weld in some new plate. Once this is done, some Grey Stripe and waxoyl and we'll have the rear suspension on and the car back on its wheels.

Chipping away at the final bits of rust. Almost there with rust treatment, finally.


All the suspension and drivetrain parts following restoration and paint. Gaz Gold coilovers, Uwe's adjustable camber top mounts, polybushes everywhere and new rubber boots all round, E30 M3 offset control arm bushes, reinforced ARB mounts on front frame and trailing arms, camber/toe adjustable rear beam, H&R ARBs, E30 M3 medium-case LSD and a Group A diff cover:


Front arches ready for some parts:


Some specialist cowboy techniques. First pic is our "innovative" method for pressing front control arm bushes on - weigh the engine hoist down with the M50, and use a trolley jack! Second pic is using a pillar drill frame and a 30 year old drill with a trigger lock to make a "pillar linisher" - worked a treat! Both products now available at www.yeehar-yipyippedy.com.



Front suspension half-assembled:


Rear suspension half-assembled (still needs driveshaft bolts and brake lines):


E36 steering rack before cleaning...


...and after!

[nickso]

nice, what did you get the crud off the e36 rack with? ive tried to clean mine up and it still looks like shit.

[mike_sayer]

A wire brush and white spirit to start with, then a sanding pad, some rag and a can of Prosolve.

[robzilla]

anymore updates??

[mike_sayer]

anymore updates??

A timely question! Spent yesterday and today on the car. Yesterday Mark finished the work on the rear underside, having cut out the rusty sections and had a mate weld in a new lateral beam and some other plate. This was then covered in red oxide primer, Grey Stripe and black hammerite. Meanwhile, the Golf Mk1 Gti brake booster was sanded back, painted and installed along with the E36 rack. I finished preparing the M50 with the refitting of the fuel system, engine arms and mounts, and some vac hosing. I also removed the hosing for the throttle heater.

So, today was the big day, and despite a couple of minor snags it's been fantastic! First thing was to attach the now complete rear-end assembly along with the Gaz rear springs/dampers. Once that was on, brake discs and wheels all round, and the car was back on the ground for the first time in several months!

Complete front end...


...and back end


Engine bay with new rack and booster in place


Back on its wheels and starting to look purposeful


Then we set about inching the M50 in to its new home. It went quite well - slight hitch in getting the E28 M5 engine mounts in the right way up (d'oh!) but otherwise it was fine. So, we now have a car that's back on the ground with an engine in place! Happy days.

Ready for the install


Easy does it


Success!




So, another milestone reached today. Next jobs are to reinstall the pedal box, heater/blower, tailgate and some other bits and pieces. Then i've got to move house, so the project will be on hold for a little while!

[zaust]

This makes mine look pant's..

Nice work, really comming along.

[robzilla]

looks great, can't wait to see it finished,a real track weapon