E30 Resto

[325ftmfw]

Had this for a little while now, 89 325i euro spec 4 door.
Drove it as a daily for 12 months, has been off the road for a couple of years for a restoration.

Couple of pics of how it looked




now im out there nightly or as often as I can chipping at it little by little.




I'm spraying down ppg 2K epoxy and prima and getting it sprayed in Audi's Brilliant Red at work.


why does the green look good?

hand rolled fender


and finally got a coat of primer on


started on some rust, a spot had rusted through the rear vallance on the RHR, so I cut it out and found behind it there was more rust.. So I cut a larger section out to repair the box section where the battery sits. BMW Brainfart.




cut a section from a spare fender to get the ridge line and bent to shape.


sprayed down epoxy and epoxy in the cut out cavity to prevent future corrosion, also sprayed both sides of the patch panel prior to welding.


I have to cut out the LHR vallace corner next and replace it. Found it all caved in and leveled with bog.. YUCK.

[325ftmfw]

Yep, spraying inside the boot as well. I have some rust repair work on the firewall which is going to be tricky.
The big square hole for the main wiring harness has been eaten away around the edges.. So needs cutting out and remaking a new one..

Yeh I cant wait to finish the car so I can paint my floor again!

[325ftmfw]

yeh part of that hole rusted to the seam so need to remove all that seam sealer, plus the deadener on the other side where the wheel arch is, as I have a feeling Its gone to the other side.

another spot is the bracket that holds the fuse box. The drain was full of dirt and crap so it was letting water sit there.

I took all the heater stuff out, found discoloration around the two brackets either side that mounts the
fan box.. so will need to remove those brackets to ensure nothing is underneath.

The battery tray appears to be perfect as the battery is mounted in the boot. Unless there is a certain spot I should dig at. But nothing visual at inspection eating through.

[325ftmfw]

been a bit slow lately, had a rest from sanding.. and after seeing what was ahead I wanted to start with a clean head.

Found a repair that had been done by a panel shop at some stage in the cars life.
must of been a cheap repair! car should of had a sidepanel done but I suspect the repair was done about
10 years ago and doing a side panel would of been an economical write off for the insurer.

This was leveled off and shaped with bog.. YUCK. And the ledge had been sqwashed down somewhat.


So I cut it out and spent an afternoon shaping a new corner for it, but after cutting it out I managed to raise the ledge up to its original height.



still have lots of cleaning up to do and some more beating, but its WAY better than it was.
Also need re-edge the lower step down, as it goes uphill for some reason. Shouldnt be too hard to do.

[325ftmfw]

Been a while since an update, finished up that corner, and sprayed the back end of the car. + Laying down the stone guard for lower section.




cant even see the patch job on the other side. Happy as a pig.

[bigbird76]

Looking good there

What brand stone guard you using?

Leigh

[325ftmfw]

Upol Gravitex HS - set at 60PSI

Looks near on identical to the OE finish at that pressure, 80psi was too flat. however OE seems to have some sort of rubberised undercoating, This is more of a bitumen base. Either way very happy with the outcome of it.

[matt86]

Good effort, like the colour of the car and the wheels too.

[325ftmfw]

and here we go for adventure number 3

[jasso]

Keep up the good work

[325ftmfw]

some more cutting




pain in the ass

[325ftmfw]

heres a preview so far.. still some fine tuning

new wiring harness hole

[Lurch320i]

Subscribed

Some great work here and a few ideas I'll pinch for mine keep it up

[bigbird76]

Looking down on your last picture the top cover for the chassis which is about 250mm long,
Your looks a bit rusted or it just might be the picture. Anyway you can get that part from the dealers for not much money and also the panels under the scuttle panel can be had for not much too. Saving you a bit of fab work hopefully.

Leigh

[325ftmfw]

haha yeh it looks rusty, but its actually garnet piled up from blasting bits inside the car to see how bad the penetration of rust was.

yeh I have seen you can get replacement panels, the one in the centre I cut out is like 30 bucks. but NLA by the looks now, other sections are avail by the looks, however im trying to avoid unpicking areas that arnt an issue so it doesnt open up sealing issues later on. To unpick that area on the LHS of the plenum and remove it is a lot of butchering haha.

fab works orite.. more fun!

[Andeep]

Very good work mate. I'm glad you are using epoxy !

[325ftmfw]

cheers

Well I pulled the motor on the weekend , pressure washed the bay and got the front skirt to epoxy stage. This way the overlapping joint where the cut out section is will be sealed prior to welding. Ive also placed my new patch in the firewall for the harness gromet, applied liberal amounts of seam sealer and clamped it shut. Just letting it cure before I start welding it in.

so it shouldn't rust again there.

[325ftmfw]

finally got the firewall patched up with a new harness hole.

The first panel I welded in I wasn't happy with, so I cut it out and made a new replacement.

So here we are


I forgot to take some pictures inside the interior of the back edge, you cant even tell its been patched in.


Not sure what to do with the rubber insulation thats normally over the firewall. I could Buy a new one but because im going turbo, im concerned about the dump pipe getting close to it and causing a fire.. dumps get bloody hot.

my other option was to lace the firewall with the same stone guard used on the rear tub and keep it black to appear factory.