Inner arch panels & good berkshire bodyshop?

[German-Whips]

Here goes...

My e30 needs some bodywork doing and the inner arches are gone, especially the driver side arch around the pipe leading to the fuel tank.
I was wandering where I could get the panels from, and if BMW still do them, how much are they going for atm.

The rear panel around the towing eye is also abit rusty, and I would like that patched up, along with the front jacking points.
Is the rear valence which rusts around the tow-hook area removable?

Does anyone know of any good bodyshops in and around the berkshire area? My number 1 man at the moment in terms of getting work done is Pacerpete.

I'm looking to keep the car long term, so I need some advice.

Anyone have any inner arches they'd like to sell me?

[TPS]

Whereabouts in Berkshire?

[German-Whips]

I'm located in slough

[TPS]

I'll be speaking to Pete, I'm sure he could recommend someone.

[German-Whips]

Pete can do welding as well can't he?

Anyone know where to source inner arch panels from?

[Duke137]

Panels are BMW ONLY. Technically the "inner arches" are made up of 4 panels. I believe yours has gone on the tank breather pipe cover you need at least 3 of the 4 plus a tail panel plus labour plus paint....

It is NOT going to be cheap. I had the same issue last winter and decided to scrap the car. However, good E30's are few and far between they are well worth saving but such as times are most people cannot afford to take on a resto and who is going to buy a rotten E30 for any more than scrap value...

I bought 3 of 4 inner arch panels from BMW (the same 3 you need) last year and there wasn't much change from £350. Tail panel and outer arch repair panels can be bought relatively cheap from the likes of carz2 (http://www.carz2.co.uk/)

Hope that helps and hope you save it

[Duke137]

Oh and in addition, I found my current car lurking in a dealers forecourt spares and repairs and although it WAS a 320i Auto the body condition sealed the fate of my 'resto'. Especially seeing as I paid £530 for the car (the one in my avatar) I think I spent that on repair panels before the power tools were even switched on.

The new car was as near mint as you will find an E30 shell, even DanThe approved it was a good one. The are still out there you just have to find them.

[German-Whips]

lol, the more I hear about the rust issues the more and more depressed I'm getting as to why I bought an e30 in the first place.
I wish I could just rewind the clock...

I'm not looking for a mint car, or a showroom finish. Would a competent welder be able to shape the inners and fit fresh metal in place of the old metal?

I'm looking for a car that is solid, will pass its MOT, and will be structurally good, and as the repairs are underneath, cosmetics is really not an issue at all. It's my daily, a 318i auto 4 door so not exactly a garage queen sport which will need top notch standard finish with oem panels.

[sunnysr]

yes ,the repair panels are the best ,but a half decent welder will be able to patch up the rotten bits and replace the rusted bits , i have very similar rust issue as you do right now on my sport ,and iam just patching the holes as its not too bad and putting a full fresh plate in under the battery tray ,mine is just going to be used for drag racing and such so doesnt need to be mint but it will still be good ,you dont want to pour too much money into a 4door 1.8 auto as you wont get it back . Just find a local welder and see what he can do

[Funnybear]

There is a garage up in wallingford that is currently doing some wielding for me. He's ex Bmw and seems to be all knowing. Even knew about the Central Locking bridge, which is kinda encouraging. He's doing a shit load of stuff for me, so I'll let you know how that goes if your interested in travelling out to wallingford. It's not that far really. Not for a major job.