'The Old Hound' 1986 Tech 1

[bss325i]

This is from inside an E30 roof section with one of the seams cut off by drilling the spot welds.

As you can see there is some surface rust starting to develop between the panel joins and some bubbling in the in the cavity which was part of the roof frame.

No amount of blasting will remove this kind of corrosion.

[Simon13]

remember folks rust to a car is like cancer to us

[bab-91]

Bab you not got any mates with a truck or even a 4x4 and hire or borrow a trailor ?

Yea mate has a HGV licence and got reasonable quotes for hiring a flat bed lorry but everything adds up. 8 hour drive x 4 & 4 ferry crossings. Not to mention having to stay in Wales for the night

remember folks rust to a car is like cancer to us

At least private health insurance would cover chemotherapy!

[FatmanGolf]

Its a pity Polsta hasn't taken such a maticulous attitude to his own restoration.

I have seen and worked on the car. Its not a "tech 1 corpse", it surprisingly solid in all the right places. The floor has 2 small 50p size holes and it a little scrubby around the throttle pedal mount. The rear arch and the scuttle panel are definitely problem areas to be addressed but it definitely not as bad as everyone on here been making it out to be. Saying to the guy doing the bodywork, he says”¦ and I quote "I've MOTd worse!". Trust me”¦ he has more problems getting my lazy arse up to take the engine out”¦ before it goes to get dipped”¦ Summer 2015 is my estimate

[bab-91]

Shame on you Fatman, being nice about the Tech 1, I'll only get used to it



Well anyway....

There she blows, Captain!




One thing off the list-to-do!

[bab-91]

I have bad news coming out of ears so I thought I'd check in.

Creative Options

Spent 8 months playing email tennis with Creative options in the States. After long delays in emails he eventually told me he had what I wanted and he would send me a picture of the samples the next day. Weeks passed & nothing materialised. When I chased him about it and posted on several forums, inquiring about him. I received a email from him telling me he couldn't help me. So either he took issue with my impatience or being inquired about.

Global Upholstery

Sent me a list of bmw cloth they stock but nothing seems close.





Seriously getting fed up chasing this bolster cloth, spent my dinner break at work searching the web for bolster cloth, this is not the way man is supposed to live.

So someone please, either, find me this fabric or have me go the way of Old Yeller.

[polsta]

Have you not truce speaking to uk companies and sending off samples from a knackered bolster and asking if they can remake/copy it ? To me that sounds more viable than trying to find the same cloth from a "BMW" cloth type person

Google automotive cloth etc rather than BMW , maybe find a company that re makes cloth from other or older classic cars as they will no dbout have contacts in the Far East that make cloth, loads of people would want some

[bab-91]

I have dealt with more UK companies than I'd like to recall or check. I have sent samples to as many places as I could but always came back with samples that are no where close.

I don't want to go down the road of reproduction because of time scale. My seats are still sitting with Baron & I'm sure hes fooked off tripping over them.

[hennared323i]

Have you tried these?

http://www.worlduph.com/samples/bmw_body_cloth.htm

[bab-91]

Have you tried these?

http://www.worlduph.com/samples/bmw_body_cloth.htm

Yes.

To give you an idea of how long I've been searching. These are some of the companies I have contacted.


Worlduph (California, USA)
Creative Options (Georgia, USA)
Westtrading (Netherlands)
Martrim (UK)
Global Upholstery (California, USA)
Aldridge Trimming (UK)
Autostoff (Germany)
Doepper (Germany)
Arek (NI)
Bernard Newbury (UK)
Original Auto Interiors (Columbus, USA)
Maximilian (USA)

[pacerpete]

Have you tried these?

http://www.worlduph.com/samples/bmw_body_cloth.htm

Yes.

To give you an idea of how long I've been searching. These are some of the companies I have contacted.


Worlduph (California, USA)
Creative Options (Georgia, USA)
Westtrading (Netherlands)
Martrim (UK)
Global Upholstery (California, USA)
Aldridge Trimming (UK)
Autostoff (Germany)
Doepper (Germany)
Arek (NI)
Bernard Newbury (UK)
Original Auto Interiors (Columbus, USA)
Maximilian (USA)

What actually do you NEED to make your interior decent and servicable ? or are you on an epic peado mission of everything being new ?


PS any more rust pics ? please

[bab-91]

What actually do you NEED to make your interior decent and servicable ? or are you on an epic peado mission of everything being new ?


PS any more rust pics ? please

In short, yes.

For the seats anyway. New houndstooth & new bolsters have been sourced and old bolster cloth will look take away from its overall appearance.

You will get your rust pictures later in the year, if you behave.

[dimebag_from_hell]

This whole idea, IMO, is silly and an overkill. Once the work is done and the cash spunked, the rust will return - it's only a matter of time.

Depends how the vehicle is being stored but (a big but)it should give the car a new lease of life when done properly.

When fuel hits 2 quid a litre, bab will be on the look out for a kia daily!

[bab-91]

This whole idea, IMO, is silly and an overkill. Once the work is done and the cash spunked, the rust will return - it's only a matter of time.

Depends how the vehicle is being stored but (a big but)it should give the car a new lease of life when done properly.

When fuel hits 2 quid a litre, bab will be on the look out for a kia daily!

I have a rather shitty daily. So that box is ticked!

[polsta]

I don't get or see that all these auto fabric companies who make all sorts of cloth cant re make/order some of that plain grey cloth, surly it can't be that hard ?

[bab-91]

I don't get or see that all these auto fabric companies who make all sorts of cloth cant re make/order some of that plain grey cloth, surly it can't be that hard ?

No easy or effective way to gauge demand. Even on here, how much would actually be ordered? Very little when you consider many of these companies deal in bolts of cloth.

I've read threads where people have tried to get discontinued cloth reproduced and it is time consuming and expensive, its one thing emailing companies and asking them to match cloth to yours and send samples but trying to tell a Chinese company that i'm unhappy about the colour or thread pattern?

I have samples coming to me so fingers crossed.

[bab-91]

This is a bit of a non-update.

A bolt of cloth arrived from the Fatherland yesterday.

Old Bolster cloth compared to New bolster cloth. (Apologies for the shitty quality photo)

[bab-91]

Anyway, It's common knowledge I'm a weapon grade pervert for houndstooth.. & tracking down this bolster cloth.

The picture above was just a quick snap when I was on my way out the door. Came back and had another look at it & I think it looks shocking!!!!!

I have 7 meters of the feckin stuff ahaha


Any input appreciated!

[pacerpete]

Anyway, It's common knowledge I'm a weapon grade pervert for houndstooth.. & tracking down this bolster cloth.

The picture above was just a quick snap when I was on my way out the door. Came back and had another look at it & I think it looks shocking!!!!!

I have 7 meters of the feckin stuff ahaha


Any input appreciated!

The hero who matched that up must be the same hero who stamps the VIN numbers on replacement
E30 scuttle panels

[griff87]

I tried these lot a few years ago, they confirmed Pacific blue county check was in stock but I had to pull out after hearing the cost of getting the stuff back here. But if needs must...

http://lemansautofabrics.co.nz/fabric-bmw.html

[bab-91]

The hero who matched that up must be the same hero who stamps the VIN numbers on replacement
E30 scuttle panels

Yea the first picture shows the colour the bolster would have been. Dark charcoal rather than grey but yea.... not impressed by match.

[bab-91]

I tried these lot a few years ago, they confirmed Pacific blue county check was in stock but I had to pull out after hearing the cost of getting the stuff back here. But if needs must...

http://lemansautofabrics.co.nz/fabric-bmw.html

Some of them seem very close!!

B110
B102

maybe!

I'll give them a bell! Cheers chap!

[griff87]

I tried these lot a few years ago, they confirmed Pacific blue county check was in stock but I had to pull out after hearing the cost of getting the stuff back here. But if needs must...

http://lemansautofabrics.co.nz/fabric-bmw.html

Some of them seem very close!!

B110
B102

maybe!

I'll give them a bell! Cheers chap!

Good time to call, they've just started work (9.16AM)!

[polsta]

I tried these lot a few years ago, they confirmed Pacific blue county check was in stock but I had to pull out after hearing the cost of getting the stuff back here. But if needs must...

http://lemansautofabrics.co.nz/fabric-bmw.html

Some of them seem very close!!

B110
B102

maybe!

I'll give them a bell! Cheers chap!

Post what they say , I'd be interested

[bab-91]

I tried these lot a few years ago, they confirmed Pacific blue county check was in stock but I had to pull out after hearing the cost of getting the stuff back here. But if needs must...

http://lemansautofabrics.co.nz/fabric-bmw.html

Some of them seem very close!!

B110
B102

maybe!

I'll give them a bell! Cheers chap!

Post what they say , I'd be interested

Back to square one.

[Rav335uk]

no good.

[bab-91]

no good.

The upholsterer offered to buy the new bolster cloth from me but I'm tempted to use it.


Sick to the back teeth trying to find ********* cloth!


I have replacement LS covers but the bolsters are faded... would dyeing be an option?

[Rav335uk]

What colour you after??
I'm having my LS's recovered in Leather.

[bab-91]

What colour you after??
I'm having my LS's recovered in Leather.

It would have been handier to do that but I have 10 meters of new houndstooth that I WILL USE!!


I would like to have the bolsters returned to their original charcoal/anthrazit colour.


If you see the first picture above, it's the inside seem of the bolster, so is unaffected by sunlight. Would love to get it back to that colour, if I can't match the fabric.

[Rav335uk]

Mine are a brown colour.
No good to you.

[bab-91]

Mine are a brown colour.
No good to you.

I have two sets of covers, having bolster cloth isn't the issue other than it's faded.

I'm yet to see a set that aren't faded actually!

[gooner1]

Mine are a brown colour.
No good to you.

Resist, resist, I must resist.

[Rav335uk]

These are faded..

[bab-91]

Received 3 more samples over the week and all as bad if not worse than the replacement cloth above.



I've started talking to a German company about reproducing it



Watch this space, if all goes accordingly, I might be putting up a group buy.

[pony]

I respect any man who has got the patience, time, hell of a lot of money, balls to do a full on no holds bar restoration especially when everything is brand new

Wrt to acid dipping I would be very nervous about it too having heard stories of cars rotting for many years afterwards because it was not washed off properly. Difficult to know what to do without speaking to several well informed experts in this field and seeing what the consensus is