My new car................

[tonybtonyb]

Good luck with the rear panel should be fine

[l16ydl]

Just a quick up date, i got the VIC done last week and got the logbook this morning, and to my shock it has 13 owners!!! Oh well. I decided to get a replacement rear quarter and inner arch as i wanted it to look straight and not be filled with bog. I spoke to Beardymat before and he says he can start it next week but i also have my other mate who can do it so its decision time. Going to strip it over the weekend and then decide what i should do.

[l16ydl]

Got the panels yesterday and decided to take them out:




With the way i want the car, i'm going to let Breadymat do the repairs as i havent really seem my mates work and he can sometimes be abit council. Matt doesnt know it yet but i'll give him a call and let him know tomorrow.

Going to start stripping the car tomorrow too, need to get a new passenger door as the red one is rotten on the inside!

[moza320i]

i love that colour, cant wait to see how this one comes along!

[Alex]

its going to be a good chariot when done this loyd

looking forward to the updates

[l16ydl]

i love that colour, cant wait to see how this one comes along!

Cheers, off for body repair next week.

its going to be a good chariot when done this loyd

looking forward to the updates

Cheers mate, hope yours isnt too far off. Spoke to Beardymat today and i'm going to take the car over next week. Managed to get the back end of the car stripped down, will try and get some pics up tomorrow.

[l16ydl]

A few pics of the car being stripped down:







Also found some nice little bits of rust......sure Matt can sort it lol

[MurphyE30]

Awsome stuff mate glad your keeping it

will be great to see the finished outcome!

mines just been dropped off for the 2.7 to be transplanted and also off to beardymat in april

[l16ydl]

Engine sounds good, hopefully will be worth while. Whats Matt doing for you?

[MurphyE30]

spraying and fitting my tech II kit and having a look over the cabby

[l16ydl]

spraying and fitting my tech II kit and having a look over the cabby

Started to strip the car about 2 weeks ago and this is as far as i got:





And then it stopped because i got a bit busy and had a bout of food poisoning!!

During that time i found some 17" Vintage wheels:



Then today, finally go the car completely stripped down. Spoke to Matt before and the car will be with him on monday night, so hopefully lots of pics to the work being done. I decided to give the car a hoover and clean the carpet while i was at it:





before hoover:



after:



Some Vanish:



Time for the wet vac:



before:




After:




Carpet was really dirty so will have another go before i put it in. When i took the carpet it, it weighed a ton, mainly due to the amount of water the sponges was holding!! Left some where to dry so should be right for when the car is ready.

Found some other little bits too...... :




I have bought a 325i auto thats had a front end, hoing that the engine is okay as my plan was to take the M40 out and replace it with the M20 lump, but need to do a little research on the engine change.

Well next update will hopefully come from Matt and should have some nice pics.

[l16ydl]

Well, here it is got collected at 6 last night:



Its now over to Matt for him to do some work.

[l16ydl]

Well, after just over a week at Beardymat's, several phone calls, a joke about his private's, £1500 lighter and a return trip from Sheffield, the car is back with me. Would like to give a big thank you to Matt who advised me and gave me options on the way. The plan initially was to get the passenger rear quarter replaced and have a few other bits and bats done. Turned out that i needed both sides doing and a little extra.

Now the car is back with me, i'm going to have to put it on hold for a while as i need to put money into restoring my house, if i have any money left over then i will get the respray done for summer.

I have bought a 325 Auto SE thats had a front end crash but the engine is fine so i'm going to put that into this, just need a few spare days to fit it in and possibly a ramp, but will come to that when i am ready. Any way, here are some pics:



































Will keep you posted as i go on.

[Jim78]

I must admit, I did laugh a little when I saw the first pics and questioned your sanity - It just kept reminding me of the car in Planes, Trains and Automobiles post the 'truck incident'! I take it all back though - I'm astounded at what you've achieved - I wouldn't have had the balls or motivation to have seen this through, that's for sure - bloody well done you!

[MurphyE30]

Awsome stuff Lloyd its all coming together nicely now

after the thoughts of maybe giving it up and then deciding to keep it you must be over the moon with the stage its at now

whats next in line on the to do list?

[beardymat]

Glad you got it back safe and sound Lloyd. Hope youre happy with the work done.

Just to explain the pics a little, the first few show what some previous "bodyshop" call a wheel arch replacement. They did cut out the outer arch but left the grotty inner alone alltogether not even bothering to clean it up a little. This meant it wasnt welded to the new outer but that would have been a waste of time anyhow as you might be able to see the pink body filler coming through the large gaps between the tack welds used to attatch the new outer. This is not how an arch should be done if you are trying to put the cars original strength back or if you want a lasting repair. Im pleased Lloyd took the slightly more expensive route and replaced the quarter panel and inner arch as he now has a completely solid car with long lasting repairs, Besides which it was only more expensive in regards to the parts as it worked out cheaper labour wise to replace than to repair the various damaged areas on that panel and the car now has a lovely straight quarter panel on it.

Keep up the good work.

[schnaarf]

good work!

[Duke137]

Good thread this, I am impressed with the transformation

[bss325i]

Good decision to go with new rear quarters. Look forward to see more progress.

[l16ydl]

I must admit, I did laugh a little when I saw the first pics and questioned your sanity - It just kept reminding me of the car in Planes, Trains and Automobiles post the 'truck incident'! I take it all back though - I'm astounded at what you've achieved - I wouldn't have had the balls or motivation to have seen this through, that's for sure - bloody well done you!

I can understand where people are coming from as i could have bought the one MurphyE30 has got for £1200 with a few more extras than what i got and it wouldnt have been a Cat C but i missed out on that. But the car was in a major state when i got it and it had crossed my mind to break it but i dont like breaking cars as i can see them being on the road again. I am looking forward to seeing the end product and thanks for the support.

Awsome stuff Lloyd its all coming together nicely now

after the thoughts of maybe giving it up and then deciding to keep it you must be over the moon with the stage its at now

whats next in line on the to do list?

Cheers mate, yeah coming along nicely, cant wait to finish it and meet up and take some photos.

It has crossed my mind to get rid but its abit too late for that!!! haha.

Not too sure, think im going to start prepping the car ready for painting so i can save myself some money in that department, will have to see.

Loving your car tho, gives me a really good indication of what my car will look like. Did you ask the body guy about the side sills?

Glad you got it back safe and sound Lloyd. Hope youre happy with the work done.

Just to explain the pics a little, the first few show what some previous "bodyshop" call a wheel arch replacement. They did cut out the outer arch but left the grotty inner alone alltogether not even bothering to clean it up a little. This meant it wasnt welded to the new outer but that would have been a waste of time anyhow as you might be able to see the pink body filler coming through the large gaps between the tack welds used to attatch the new outer. This is not how an arch should be done if you are trying to put the cars original strength back or if you want a lasting repair. Im pleased Lloyd took the slightly more expensive route and replaced the quarter panel and inner arch as he now has a completely solid car with long lasting repairs, Besides which it was only more expensive in regards to the parts as it worked out cheaper labour wise to replace than to repair the various damaged areas on that panel and the car now has a lovely straight quarter panel on it.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers mate, i see what you mean about the other panel. Really appreciate what you've done and owe you a pint or 2.

good work!

Cheers, but alot of credit is due to Matt for the last batch of work.

Good thread this, I am impressed with the transformation

Cheers mate

Good decision to go with new rear quarters. Look forward to see more progress.

Everytime i spoke to Matt there always seemed to be something new he found which was annoying but i'm glad he did spot them and give me his personal opinion which was spot on. New panels do make a difference!!

Hopefully wont be too long for the next update.

[Rav335uk]

Lloyd, you can't go wrong giving Matt the car, only thing is he'll find everything , even more than a list provided for him.
Good move though

[l16ydl]

Lloyd, you can't go wrong giving Matt the car, only thing is he'll find everything , even more than a list provided for him.
Good move though

I totally agree with you there Rav, when Aiden (the recovery guy) came back, his first words were " he's got a good collection of cars" and he also said a few things about Steve's car too so you know why people do go to Matt.

The list was made bigger but it was definitely worth it.

[l16ydl]

Took a trip down to Wolverhampton to see Percy2010 and see what bits he had and get the interior. When i got there, it wasnt in the state that i thought it was but Percy was understanding of that and done a deal. It does need tome work so i'm looking at some new material and see if i can match it all up. Both front seat bolsters need changing, the middle of the driver's seat is fooked, some material on the rear bench needs attention and i need to get a new rear speaker insert. Alot work but shouldnt be that hard to get it all done.:

[bmw-mad]

Great progress lloyd just seen the update.

As for the interior i think that is too far gone and not worth the hassle. I would rather sort your leather trim out which the car came with.

But either way keep up the good work

[RustyRuss]

Hat well and truly off to you for the graft gone into this one, its going to be quite a car once done Well done mate.

[l16ydl]

Great progress lloyd just seen the update.

As for the interior i think that is too far gone and not worth the hassle. I would rather sort your leather trim out which the car came with.

But either way keep up the good work

Cheers mate, you not found anymore cars have you?

I'm going to sort both out, i know it sounds silly but you cant get the Neon blue interior bits any where and its more of a rarity now. They both need work so will decide when they're both in front of me.

Hat well and truly off to you for the graft gone into this one, its going to be quite a car once done Well done mate.

Cheers mate, hopefully get it sorted by summer.

[Alex]

this has turned out to be an epic rebuild hats off to everyone involved

[e30topless]

I saw this in the bodyshop, looked quite good after the work was done,

Nice new Neon blue paint should make this awesome

[VeinAST]

Epic work

[l16ydl]

this has turned out to be an epic rebuild hats off to everyone involved

Cheers mate, hows yours getting on?

I saw this in the bodyshop, looked quite good after the work was done,

Nice new Neon blue paint should make this awesome

Cheers Steve, wouldn't mind going down and seeing your car and the work Matt is doing on it.

I was going to leave the paint till after my house was sorted but after the recent bit of sun we've had, i'm in the process of getting the car booked in for the respray.

Epic work

Cheers

[l16ydl]

Abit of an update, its been a while so i thought i would get back on it. After getting the keys to my house and having a break-up with the ex, i lost abit of interest in the cab and its been sat where it has been since i got it back off Matt.

Last week, i decided to get the car sorted as i wanted to the car for the last part of the summer. I called Matt but he couldnt take it as he had other plans. I've got a friend of a friend who repairs Merc's who's coming out to look at it and hopefully he can sort the paint out.

I picked up a load of stuff off Murphy on saturday morning from Newcastle, abit of drive but got a load of bits. The main thing was the wings which i got both but it looks like the driver's side has gone too rotten!

Will get some pics and keep you updated!

[l16ydl]

Okay guys, time to get back to the car. I put the car off as i was doing my house but its almost time to get the car to the bodyshop, but i need to make some decisions. I need to decide if to put the Mtech 2 kit on and put the 325 engine in or keep the car original as it came out of the factory. Thoughts please guys!!!

[Alex]

I was wondering what was happening to this, Dont tech II it, cabs are done to death with a tech II kit, 325i engine is a good idea though

ps: my touring is back on the road again.

[Rav335uk]

Tech 2 it, your car Lloyd

[l16ydl]

ps: my touring is back on the road again.

Cheers Alex, will see about the engine, really not too sure.

Seen your gallery, car is coming along nicely!