New project M3 -Some Paint!

[goosiegander]

I seriously think im going to go the non sunroof 2 door chromie route and graft on the pannels... less hassle all the way round,

[E30BeemerLad]

just congratulate yourself on doing the HPI check now. Imagine not doing that and then 2-3 years down the line having a car that could never be registered for road use or insured.

I admire your enthusiasm to take on such a project in the first place though dude

[goosiegander]

I've edited a couple of posts

SO...

In the year or so since the first pictures went up i can confirm that i walked away from the shell.
A few weeks pass and BBB inform me that in fact the shell is solid, relatively rust free and invite me to look at it on the ramp/buy, so many thanks to them i purchased the shell, complete with kit, glass, and LHD bits as you would expect.






I promptly decided that LHD in the uk just wasnt for me so dash loom and a fair few other bits later i got down to this...







Ok the 1st pictures looked like a horror story but on stripping the car it turned out that the shell was both solid and very save-able...

So off to the media blasters and then to bodywork,


S50B30 sitting beside the car as we speak, Full M3 suspension/5 stud sourced, necessary interior parts sourced,

Many thanks to BBB for this invaluable support, supply of parts and generally nice guys...

RHD conversion completed (whats that? the sound of torches being lit?)

Yes it could have been left under that fu**ing thorn bush to rot to nothing,

WASTE
OF
TIME


Seriously. Media blasting won't cover it. It NEEDS to be dipped. And whoever quoted you £6K has clearly never done this sort of thing before. To get that shell back to anywhere near mint you'll be looking at 15-20K

BALLS OF STEEL!!

As said earlier if you've got the time and more importantly the money then go for it!
The sense of achievement when you finish will far out way the cost. Good luck

But where would the fun be in that?

Let the flaming begin...

[Alex]

Well Done

[MrBenn]

Good luck with it Goosey! I've got your wiring loom!

RHD would be my choice too in hindsight

[staley_turbo]

Nice little project, hope it goes well, this could turn out realy nice. What colour will it be going? black or white?

[goosiegander]

Cheers guys, alpine white 3

[Baz666]

Looks like you got your work cut out for you there buddy.

[Alex]

Cheers guys, alpine white 3

Couldnt of chose a better colour

i broke a touring in alpine white III, ive not seen another

[ImysE30]

Can't beat the look of a white M3

Good luck with it

[Steve]

Subscribed

Good luck with the project

[Tommek]

It`s not that bad, and if you`ll restore it in a proper way in the end it will put a smile on your face . Best luck with it

[daimlerman]

If it's not too late regarding your swap to RHD,door looms are specific to DRIVER'S door and PASSENGER door,not LHD/RHD,so any driver's door loom will suit.
I would re-wire with a complete RHD loom,this will sort all the issues I had getting the door looms to work properly!

Other issue I found difficult was mounting the glove box,the bulkhead is differently shaped on LHD...

[srmalek]

cool project, would love to see the finish product

[goosiegander]

If it's not too late regarding your swap to RHD,door looms are specific to DRIVER'S door and PASSENGER door,not LHD/RHD,so any driver's door loom will suit.
I would re-wire with a complete RHD loom,this will sort all the issues I had getting the door looms to work properly!

Other issue I found difficult was mounting the glove box,the bulkhead is differently shaped on LHD...

Both doors will be stripped and re-loomed,

Interesting regarding the glovebox problem, i'll take a good look before the interior is painted and hopefully anyhting thats going to foul it can be reshaped/adjusted

[DanThe]

Good choice of donk, would be a shame to do all the work and be sat behind a measly S14

[Rich_W]

Well have fun doing it. But come on RHD? Surely you know better than that!

[daimlerman]

If it's not too late regarding your swap to RHD,door looms are specific to DRIVER'S door and PASSENGER door,not LHD/RHD,so any driver's door loom will suit.
I would re-wire with a complete RHD loom,this will sort all the issues I had getting the door looms to work properly!

Other issue I found difficult was mounting the glove box,the bulkhead is differently shaped on LHD...

Both doors will be stripped and re-loomed,

Interesting regarding the glovebox problem, i'll take a good look before the interior is painted and hopefully anyhting thats going to foul it can be reshaped/adjusted

This is your problem....
My solution was to leave out the glovebox liner and cut the back of the 'box to fit,not ideal,but almost two years on I have still to find a better answer!
Glovebox hinge mount(RHD only,BMW's solution)is packed out from the toe board by a quarter inch to achieve this 'fit'...
I thought that the plastic mount for the dash loom plug and accessories socket was a different shape for RHD,but sadly it is'nt.
Good news is that you have to open the glovebox to see the problem.
I would love to learn how Bird's overcame this issue.
My other problem was the wiper motor mount,work from dimensions from a RHD car for all three mounting studs,the single LHD one is in the wrong place for any of the RHD items!
The steady bracket at the driver's side is simple fabrication.
Remember that E30 started as LHD,and the factory converted the design to RHD.
Steering column is almost marked by the plastic paint drain plug in the R/H footwell,but it's not the centre....
RHD pedal box includes the pivots for the throttle pedal and there should be two 'dimples' in the R/H corner of the battery tray to give you a guide to locate it.
If I were daft enough to take on another LHD/RHD conversion I would use a RHD loom instead of modifying the dash part/door socket part of a LHD loom.
Best of luck,please keep the photo's coming!

[goosiegander]

Well have fun doing it. But come on RHD? Surely you know better than that!

Strangely enough i was laughed at for molesting this turd in the manner described without ever driving an m3!

Good spirited though it was I am mindful of the fact that this car is a total departure from the factory floor, alough to be fair after the lotec turbo went on purists would argue the car was ruined anyway.

Im going to look into weight saving in an effort to try and return the cog/balance as close to neutral as possible, what are the weight differences s14 vs s50 plus trimmings?

Cheers guys

[DanThe]

Id probably just keep the wipers LHD spec, fit a bigger blade to the right hand arm

[daimlerman]

Id probably just keep the wipers LHD spec, fit a bigger blade to the right hand arm

Still leaves a huge unswept area in the driver's view,and makes it very clear to all that you have a poor attempt at a RHD conversion.

Whole point of doing the work is to make it look right,you need to poke around under the bonnet on my touring and into the n/s footwell to see that the thing started life as LHD.

Main problem is that BMW appear to have re-designed the bulkhead for their conversion,this is of course NLA,but would you trust someone to weld in a replacement bulkhead?

I proved that DIY conversion is do-able,with certain compromises,I hope that Goosie can come up with solutions that I can copy!

[scottidog]

You go dude!!! Its YOUR M3 mate. Do what you please with it!
Best of luck, will be watching your progress.
As long as you have the space and time, anything is possible!

Scotty

[riklusby]

Another E30 being saved, goosie your a hero mate and whilst listening to advice can help you enormously don't lose sight of your goal, ive heard all the haters with my modifications, and theres a hell of a difference in building something for yourself as opposed to what most youngsters do in building something to show off to others, the most important thing at the end of the day is that you like what your doing !!!

[DanThe]

Well have fun doing it. But come on RHD? Surely you know better than that!

Strangely enough i was laughed at for molesting this turd in the manner described without ever driving an m3!

Good spirited though it was I am mindful of the fact that this car is a total departure from the factory floor, alough to be fair after the lotec turbo went on purists would argue the car was ruined anyway.

Im going to look into weight saving in an effort to try and return the cog/balance as close to neutral as possible, what are the weight differences s14 vs s50 plus trimmings?

Cheers guys

If you want to get the balance better moving the engine backwards will be more effective than stripping sound deadening etc, only thing is you will have to carve the bulkhead up.
There is an S50 project near me thats had part of the E36 bulkhead/trans tunnel welded in so the engine can sit on the E36 crossmember and everything else fits round it as its meant to in the E36, including exhaust manifolds

[town325i]

If i was you i would leave it lhd as it will make life easier when coming to make up the exhaust manifolds for the s50 and also its a hell of alot of work to convert from lhd to rhd properly

[Rich_W]

There is an S50 project near me thats had part of the E36 bulkhead/trans tunnel welded in so the engine can sit on the E36 crossmember and everything else fits round it as its meant to in the E36, including exhaust manifolds

To me. That's the best way to do it. Not easy. But defiently the best.

If i was you i would leave it lhd as it will make life easier when coming to make up the exhaust manifolds for the s50 and also its a hell of alot of work to convert from lhd to rhd properly

Good point.

I just think it's a shame to spend all this money and time on restoring it, then convert to RHD. Limits the market for future sales an awful lot IMO

[DanThe]

For how often you will use it, does it 'really' need to be RHD?

[e30topless]

keep it LHD ,

I have seen a quite a few lhd -rhd conversions, and it always looks a bodge,

[Falkster]

too right steve

[spic]

Would make a nice track car, wouldnt change to rhd though ...

[Dezzy]

I don't care what these lhd losers say, I would do exactly what you are doing!
We live in the uk and we drive on the left do rhd ftw.

I am jealous as fook. Right shell, right engine, rhd conversion all check.

My dream E30. I hope you get it finished.

In the past when the E30 rack was used in changing to rhd, that did ruin the feel and handling. Z3 or E46 cs rack and your golden.

If I were doing it I would defos use E36 bulkhead and tunnel for clearance and weight distribution.

Dan can you use the 36 heaterbox and matrix too then? Aircon?

I will be watching through gritted teeth, while hating you for building my dream car the same way I would. Fook the purists

[e21Jason]

Any issues with the rhd ask as my m3 is RHD and also do you have the orginial lhd rack

Jason

[djk]

TBH, I'm not sure why so many people are getting uptight about the lhd/rhd thing - if you're building it up from basically a bare shell and not aiming for a factory replica, what difference does it make? I'd go LHD just to avoid the whole exhaust/steering column interface issues, but any 'originality' based argument is just fatuous - it won't be original, whichever way you slice it. If the OP wants it RHD, let him get on with it, it can hardly be a mistake if the object is to create the car he wants.

[Greeny]

good luck with the resto, looking forward to seeing plenty of pics.
If i was to build an e30 m3 i'd fit a proper six pot motor and convert it to RHD so i could drive it properly on uk roads don't let anyone tell you how to build YOUR car.

[johnnysaph]

good luck to ya mate we need pics