'91 318iS minor resto.. ;-)

[Split_S]

I suspect you are up there with the top 5 in restos Mr S

Nothing at all boring about your updates, they are part of this sites invaluable resource. And I really enjoy them.

Simon13 - get your arse in gear fella

That's about the best compliment I can think of getting. Thank-you!

You know, all this work and I have a grand total of 20 minutes E30 driving experience!! And that with my #2 car with a blown headgasket... So slow and no power... Still, I have very high expectations for my 318iS let me tell you...

[faissalo]

Epic Awesome Sick

[Split_S]

Epic Awesome Sick

..Thanks dude...

Well, no rest for the stupid...so back to at it..

A little while before tackling the shadowline trim removal I
started working on the front suspension. I figure Id take them
apart, clean them up and put all the new bits on.. Easy right?
Bloody hell no!

At the end of last summer, like a million years ago, I'd managed
to remove both front strut assemblies..



After setting them aside and fretting over removing the
springs and the hub for the last 5 months I finally decided
it was time to tackle the job.

So out with the impact gun to loosen the big collar nut...



And then with the puller to pull off the bearing.

Now, anyone who's reading this thread and is familiar with my "skills" (or lack thereof) will have no trouble believing that
I've never done this before. And everywhere Id read about
removing e30 bearings it seemed getting the bearing cleanly
off was near impossible...



I put the gun on it and that bearing/hub popped off as easily
as a prom queen's nickers on grad night...



I was stunned to say the least....

Feeling lucky I tried my hand at the second one..



And guess what?

Just as bloody easy...

I was starting to wonder when things were going to get
tougher.. I didnt have too wait long...

As you can see in this pic the PO had put on some adjustable
springs...



Oh, look! Aluminium on steel!! How nice...

I got the spring off easily enough. Compress the spring (could
only do it on one side due to the shorter spring), use the gun
to loosen the top nut and that's pretty much it...

Problem was to get the aluminium sleeve off... That g*dd#mn
thing would not budge..

So a little head scratching and I came up with this..



Is there no end to the usefulness of this rotiserrie????



Its all about leverage my friends...



Sometimes leverage just isnt enough...How much torque do you think was required to do this??



I was in a dark space emotionally at this point...

[Split_S]

Well I had pretty much given up on leverage. It works so good on
on my kids but it wasn't doing anything for me with this aluminium sleeve.

So I got this bright idea... Get the dremel out and cut a couple of
slots.. That should do it...



Oh it worked...





Unfortunately despite my best efforts it worked a little too good...



Cut thru to the inside..


Its amazing how you can go from Hero to Zero in seconds... There was NO way I was going to put that on my car... Aaarrggg....

So what to do?

One word:



4 days and 100 USD later...



You guys know Ive only bought new parts for the rebuild but
these things retail for almost 600 USD. No point in spending
that cash for something I was originally going to restore anyways...

So, onto the operating table...



Apply zee spring Kompressors...



kompress..


Remove top nut...



and take stuff apart...




Fumble for half and hour trying to remove zee d*mn spring kompressors..



Remove the OEM sleeve...



Then reintroduce this guy...



Make some noise...



Hope the damper comes out..





And done. The RH housing with the aluminium sleeve oddly was no problem to remove.

[Split_S]

Then it was outside where it was -20C to do some grinding...

Oh I love grinding...



I had to keep going inside because my hands would get too numb.. Bad news with a grinder...

Once done, inside for a quick sanding and paint...






Also cleaned up the front axle support which was COVERED in grease and grime... Good times, good times...



And the front ARB...



Not sure but do you guys think I need new bushings??


And painted..


I think that bloody well does it for grinding and cleaning dirty parts. Amen.


Next up... Let the sanding begin!!!

[hennared323i]

Those cuts on the front shock housing - a quick tig run then a die run over would have worked methinks.

Excellent update Mr S

[hennared323i]

Then it was outside where it was -20C

Pffffffff!

We had 30 seconds of slush today

[Split_S]

Those cuts on the front shock housing - a quick tig run then a die run over would have worked methinks.

Excellent update Mr S

Trust me I thought of it but I figured the weld would burn thru to the threads. For the cost of a replacement unit it didn't seem worth the bother.. Worst part was I was being very careful NOT to cut thru to the housing tubing..I guess I wasn't careful enough...

[Split_S]

Just noticed Im no longer a "zone newbie" but a "POR15 junkie".. I laughed my a$$ off... that's not a standard zone level methinks!!!

[hennared323i]

What news?

[hennared323i]

What news?

[Split_S]

Im on vacation!! - off to sunny Florida tomorrow for some R&R for the next 2 weeks...

I hope to get an update in by early March...

Its been soooo cold here since December, just looking forward to some warmth....

[hennared323i]

Git!



Enjoy

[Andyboy]

Some great work going on there. Which part of Canada? My Mum lives out near Halifax and you see a few E30's out there, nearly all of them Euro imports. E28's as well as E36's, E46's such as the 330iX. They all seem to have Nova Scotia rear plates and German front plates.

[Split_S]

Git!



Enjoy

Im trying!!...its a nightmare to organize this trip!! Rather be working on the car honestly but the wife will kill me if we dont go...

Andyboy

Im in Montreal but get to Halifax often..too often...haha
Havent seen an e30 there yet....

[Split_S]

Might as well squeeze in a quick update before I get going to sun and bikinis...oh so many bikinis....



Mental Note: Don't let the wife see this post....


Despite the unrelenting hell that is a typical Canadian winter I have been busy on the car. I managed to shovel out number two (an epic adventure worthy of its own thread but...) and coax her into the garage...



Main reason for doing that was I was itching to start stealing the good bits off of her and use her for reference as work on number one turns to the reconstruction phase... That and Id forgotten what an e30 looks like....

So I gathered up the sanding goodies Id gotten:



You guys have all seen these before. Adjustable foam sanding block and a smaller palm version. Sanding paper (320 and 400) is stick on. Total cost was around 150 usd... But trust me, well worth it...

Not having done this since my late teens (20+ years ago) I was a wee bit nervous but it all came back to me...

I decided to do a general light sanding and started on the rear panels..



Tight quarters to say the least...


Trouble spots...




Sanding with a rotisserie is pretty much awesome...



Oh look a sunroof...



Ah f*$K.. Im gonna have to take this thing out aren't I...



Ok..one more post tomorrow before I go.. "Oops! Forgot There's a Sunroof on this thing I have to Remove " post..

Standby....

[jonesy318]

Top work Norm, love reading this thread and seeing the progress

[Split_S]

Thanks Ian - things will be a bit slow till spring..once the paint is on, early May I hope, things should move along nicely...

[Split_S]

Now there was no avoiding the fact I needed to remove the sunroof. Luckily mine was in tip top shape, no rust, no dents.
So on with it then...

First things first..

Crack her open like so:



Inside the car, gently pry the front of the sunroof headliner



The sunroof headliner is held in place with six or so clips. All you want to do is gently pull down so they pop out. Starting in the middle is the easiest...



You can clearly see the clips here:



Once you've popped those little buggers out, leave the headliner be for a moment and adjust your sunroof so its open like so:



Gently push down on the rear part.. no clips here..



What you want to do now is push the newly unclipped sunroof headliner towards the back of the car, where the sunroof retracts. The aim is to simply get it out of the way...

Here it is shown halfway pushed back..


All the way back (for the simple folk among us...)


With that done grab one of these..



Use Torx 25 and a short extension and use it to get three bolts out of the rack..
They are a little hard to see in the pic below but there is one on either end and one just beside the lifting arm.



Do the same on the other side and thats it amigos...
Gently lift it out.. you can see where the bolts go from the framing...



I chose, for now, not to remove the rack. On my car there is not a spot of rust and the paint is pristine oddly enough.....
no really...



Here you can see where two of the bolts go..



The top removed..pristine...



Weather stripping to be binned... EXPENSIVE to replace...



Wee bit of sanding...



Primer...



Going to get down to the real sanding once Im back from vacation and can open some doors to ventilate...

man I hate winter...

[Andyboy]

That's had a new sunroof panel - these are always body colour on the inside.

[e30topless]

Did the US version of the 318IS get a white headlining ?

[appletree]

I have a mint black version IS headliner for sale if interested, happy to ship!

[Split_S]

That's had a new sunroof panel - these are always body colour on the inside.

Wonder what happened to the original then? There is no rust anywhere so I doubt only the panel rusted out... Still, the important thing is the panel is like new...

e30topless:
I have two of these 318iS and both have white headliner. Ive seen two others and again both had white headliner so maybe they were all white on this side...Black headliner would be nicer... My white one is pretty clean but Im wondering if these can be sprayed a different color?? Anyone know?

[Split_S]

Well, vacation over! Finally!

This is a fairly short update, no apologies, Ive only been back 24hrs!!

With the never-ending cold keeping all doors closed Ive been tackling little jobs..

This one, the wiper assembly, has been begging for attention for some time now...It was removed some time ago... Looked a little rough...

[Split_S]

I started by removing the wiper motor, which seemed it good condition...



I cleaned out all the old grease and regreased (used Vaseline oddly enough...) then thought I would clean her up a bit..



Painted the motor too...







I strapped the assembly into the vice and had at her with the grinder...



Yup, Por-15d it all and resprayed the arms just so they'd look pretty...



I then cleaned all the pivot points with penetrating oil and regreased them all... She now pivoted easily!

Done..


Just a million more little jobs to go....

[e30Passion]

Well, vacation over! Finally!

LOL. Could not wait to get back to work could you?

[Split_S]

You have no idea....

[hennared323i]

What news Sir?

[Split_S]

Waiting for winter to end to continue on with the sanding!! It is supposed to be warming up but its not...

I have added number #3 to the fleet...details on that later.....

[Split_S]

Bloody winter!!

Newly arrived #3 needs a wee bit of work too... I need two of me to get things done....

[Split_S]

Apologies for the lack of updates but things have taken an interesting turn with the purchase of number 3...

Pictures say it all...





















So, I think Im officially obsessed now...

Oh btw..

All the hype you've ever read about the e30M3: it's true..

[bss325i]

Pictures say it all...All the hype you've ever read about the e30M3: it's true..

I took a zoner out in mine the other day and he said the same thing!

Nice purchase btw! Any more info

[Jesus325iTouring]

Quite agree, only been in one once and was allowed to take the helm as well, (thanks to Mr Oatley), quite the machine.