Hi
Please excuse the long update..
It’s been a while since I last uploaded any pictures and work that has been done. I have now stripped both sides of the car and the interior, and hope that the majority of the rust has been found that needs to be repaired. There are some parts that I need to remove the underseal / stonechip from just to check that the condition of the metal underneath, but the worst I hope has now been found.
A few people have sent me a few e-mails asking a few questions including if they can buy parts as the car looks like scrap, and also a few asking about the history of the car. The answer about the scrap is no!, the car will be finished; by trade I am an engineer and I work at the local university running the engine testing facility which means I have access to a lot of fabrication and workshop facilities that help a lot in this type of work.
The history of the car and why it is getting repaired and restored to the level it is (an acid dip is not yet ruled out).
The car as mentioned in a previous post was bought from one of my best friends, prior to his ownership it was owned by his father Roy (the registration plate that is on the car and will stay on the car A10RST was his, the RST were his initials). Very sadly Roy died in 2009 very suddenly leaving a massive gap (why this always happens to the truly nice and amazing people I will never know and it is very un-fair), the car however was very much a father and son project and both liked the car a lot and spent a lot of time and money. Roy was also a very close friend of mine and growing up without my father was someone who I was also very close to, this included the car. There was a covenant in place that if the car was ever sold outside the family it was mine for first refusal. Last summer after the car had sat a lot since Roy’s death the rear subframe was removed and all the bushes replaced and reconditioned, new brakes and any part that was still available from BMW was fitted. The same was done at the front at the same time. The head was removed from the engine as the oil was weeping from the front corner and work carried out to bring it back to standard. At this point we decided on a road trip to Le Mans classic and then down through France and Spain as a holiday which we completed with no major dramas, when we returned the car sat on my drive and I used it every now and then, my friend didn’t use the car again and the question on December was raised about me buying the car. Trying to agree a price on a car between friends is always hard one not wanting to rip the other off etc, so I agreed and made an offer of £3k, with full test, hardtop and a lot of work done including me knowing the car very well I bought the car and knowing that I would be keeping it for a long time decided to restore the car as a few bits began to look a little bit tired”¦
So here we are now and I am sorry if I have bored you but a little history is always good and knowing the drive behind the project. My plan for the car is to rebuild to factory using as many factory parts as I can, the car has a Spax adjustable setup 60/40 lowering that will remain and I intend to put a set of 15”a BBS wheels on the car when a set become available. Engine wise I am on the look out for a 2.5 lump, intake and ECU, I will rebuild the engine when it arrives to standard spec. I would stick with the 2.0 but it is slightly underpowered and it also needs some work doing on it.
Anyway the car is now stripped out bar the engine and drive train that I will complete on Monday, so some pictures below show the work that has to be done, the rust is in some of the usual places and will need to be sorted, but the bulkhead, sills and floorpan is perfect, I have a pit and have looked under the car and there are a few scabs I have flap disked back and the car is solid. The final thing I did was to borrow a really high quality borescope from work and I have looked inside all of the sills and chassis plates and it all looks really good”¦..
Rear drivers side arch has been taken back to metal and I have yet to decide weather to remove the entire inner panel or to fix it accordingly”¦
I cut the eye piece out as it was badly corroded and left it like this..
Now that the passenger seat and door were removed the next was the carpet and insulation from the bulkhead which revealed a near perfect section, with the exception of a small area which is in the pics below.
Bulkhead wiring gromit..
I have now removed the sound deadening and it is perfect underneath as well..
This is the bit for concern, although when flap disked back it is near perfect..
The rear floor pan, again when sound deadening was removed it is all good, I will get the pictures up in the next few days..
A few more when parts have been removed..
Inner front wing, this needs looking at and at least a patch under the coolant header..
Sills are good, need to flap back the stonechip..
Rear arch will need some attention, need to flap back to see what extent..
Front wings are both good, bar a clean up..
As it stands now, excuse my washing bag on the engine..
If you have read this far I hope you are not too bored, will update this next week when I have the passenger inner arch taken back and the sills flapped back to metal, hopefully should be all good, then out comes the welder..
Thanks
Chris
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