1991 316 auto to 328

[Tedswagon]

Had a good poke about with the subframe out, looks alright

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Dropped the box . . . big bugger

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[Tedswagon]

Then the tank

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Looked good I thought . . . .

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Oh . . wait a second . . whats that black dot beside the filler


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2017-08-05_08-01-35

There is no way that hole will get smaller as I clean all that tin worm away . . new tank please!!

New tank arrived from Germany within a week.

[Tedswagon]

While that was going on - I had a look at the pedals

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Really tricky unbolting that - very uncomfortable position to contort yourself to get there. Not my favorite job so far thus all the extensions on my socket.

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A casualty - speaker was just lightly bumped with the pedal box - Fe ck

[Sanchez]

Good progress. Need somewhere to do mine.

[shedrool83]

Fair bit done there Ronan.
Swapping the pedal box ain't fun and can be sore on the body lol.
I've just done mines and it wasn't enjoyable .
Its a good time to change the heater valve o-rings with the engine out as with a bit of effort you can get the grommet out and a socket onto the top pipe nuts from the bay if you fancy rolling about the other footwell .

[Tedswagon]

Fair bit done there Ronan.
Swapping the pedal box ain't fun and can be sore on the body lol.
I've just done mines and it wasn't enjoyable .
Its a good time to change the heater valve o-rings with the engine out as with a bit of effort you can get the grommet out and a socket onto the top pipe nuts from the bay if you fancy rolling about the other footwell .

In short, I don't fancy it, but that's a good idea. I've the brake servo out so will have to get in there anyway.

[shedrool83]

Fair bit done there Ronan.
Swapping the pedal box ain't fun and can be sore on the body lol.
I've just done mines and it wasn't enjoyable .
Its a good time to change the heater valve o-rings with the engine out as with a bit of effort you can get the grommet out and a socket onto the top pipe nuts from the bay if you fancy rolling about the other footwell .

In short, I don't fancy it, but that's a good idea. I've the brake servo out so will have to get in there anyway.

I had just put my servo back in then thought i'll do them
Another thing i'm doing and would suggest is to check if you have the dim headlight resistor pack and remove it if you going down the hid route.

[Brianmoooore]

That tank could have been saved with a bit of brazing. The hole is right at the edge of the original brazing for the stub pipe, so 'widening' out the brazed area, and laying the brass on thick, would have fixed the problem.
Through the bulkhead, from the engine bay, is the correct way to get at the heater valve bolts - a 1/4" extension will push past the grommet while it's still in place.
While you've got all the pedal box area apart, take the time to make up an offset bracket for the bottom end of the steering column, and give yourself a few extra mm. for clearance on M52 exhaust manifolds and E46 racks.

[Tedswagon]

Thanks for the advice. I've still got the tank. I was told it could be cleaned up and patched but I thought the time it would take me was more than the price of a new tank. I'll have a look at that when I'm finished.
I'm not sure what you mean about the steering column. Do you have a photo, or explanation you could share?

I have a Dan, uj and a Dan manifold, but it's obviously better to have more clearance.

Jake, I hadn't thought about HID. Is that an oem, look mod? Apart from the light I mean!

[Brianmoooore]

The bottom end of the steering column is held in black by a black metal clamp that fixes to the floor with two bolts. Grind off the plate that bolts to the floor, make up a new, wider one, with the hole for the clamp moved slightly to the RH side of the car, towards the throttle linkage, and weld it to the clamp. The metal of the floorpan, where the RH fixing hole is, will need to be ground away, and a new hole provided for the RH fixing.
The top fixing of the steering column will accommodate the slight change in angle without modification, and the steering wheel will move slightly to the left.
Clearance on the clutch pedal is the limiting factor as to how far you can move it, but the arm is only steel bar, and can be 'adjusted' if necessary.
HID dipped beams are a massive improvement over standard, providing you have facelift lights. Could all be hidden away in front of the access panels behind the lights, if you insist on OE look, but the ballasts and rear of the burners are minor when considered along side the non OE engine you have in there.

[Tedswagon]

Thank for your advice. Much appreciated. I'd rather oem look but, rightly said, this is not 100% oem car. I'll look into the HID conversion. Thanks again.

[Tedswagon]

Its a good time to change the heater valve o-rings with the engine out as with a bit of effort you can get the grommet out and a socket onto the top pipe nuts from the bay if you fancy rolling about the other footwell .

Is this the o ring you mean or is there another?

2017-10-05_07-27-21

[shedrool83]

Yeah thats them.

[Tedswagon]

I have been working away over the cold months, just not had a chance to update this thread. With the petrol tank away, not much left on the underside - so i got to scrubbing the underside clean to see if there were any areas of concern. Found a few, but generally very happy with the state of the car.

I cleaned the underside, with a rub down with a stiff brush. Because my car is sitting in my garage on stands a pressure washer was not an option!! Using bike cleaner (muck off) got it pretty clean. I then used road traffic film remover. Spray on and leave for a wee bit then clean off with clean water. Once I dried the underside I could see the areas needing attention. Where there were signs of tin worm I give them attention with a knotted wire wheel and treated where I could. I used a combination of "Deox Gel" and krust.

https://www.bilthamber.com/deox-gel

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[Tedswagon]

This Deox Gel stuff is amazing - but I will show you results later.

Here is the underside of the car as I did it. - not the best photos but hopefully give an idea.

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Winter tyres for the daily sitting in background!!

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[Tedswagon]

Where I would find some rust, I would wire brush back to steel, then add Deox Gel (some of those photos you can see the gel kinda greeny colour) then clean and apply Krust then paint. Here are a could of photos of other rusty bits to show how it works. . . .

Before and after;
https://flic.kr/p/YvHKFq

After a wire wheel,

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On the second covering - see it fizzing up where its attacking the rust.

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[Tedswagon]

This was the extent of the rust on the underside. . . .

https://flic.kr/p/VvYw3Q

[/url]https://flic.kr/p/21kamwS

https://flic.kr/p/21kakgW

https://flic.kr/p/ZjZ845

[Tedswagon]

For the coating I went for Jotun Jotamastic 80 epoxy paint.

https://www.paints4trade.com/jotun-jota ... 4112-p.asp

Its used on all sorts of marine environment steel work.

After first coat . . .

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It feels almost rubbery to touch.

Cleaned out my paint pot a couple of days later - handle broke off the paint brush when I tried to pull it out.

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[Tedswagon]

Now the rusty bits!! My plan is to get this rolling again so I can get a couple of rotten bits sorted out.

Pesky battery tray,

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Rear valance - battery tray!

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There is a wee bit in the of the inner arch

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Ouch not nice . . .

[Tedswagon]

So I started by assembling the front . .

Reinforced subframe, powdercoated,
purple tag rack as I had one in the compact and loved it.
"Dan The" UJ kit
Eibach anti roll bar and polybushes
Refurbished control arms
New Lemforder joints
Ecentric lollypop bushes - polybushes - easy to replace if I dont like them, had OEM ones in my last two e30s and I liked the turn in.
Have a GCF strut brace to go on too!
Front struts as noted earlier - freshly powdercoated
Bilstein B12 suspension including spring seat pads and top mounts
New OEM dust plates
New wheel bearings.

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[Tedswagon]

I had a good look about this car when I bought it - was examining the car for best part of an hour before I drove it. Told the seller he could go back in the house - had my trolly jack with me!! Must have thought I was mental . . . ok those who know me can feck off before any comments are added!

I saw all the main rotten bits noted above . . . but i was surprised when I noticed this over the weekend (two years later) . . the front wings are great condition, a little surface at the edges but the drain holes on the drivers side were full - completely full . .






How was this not rotten through??

I still need to do a front wings off but due to the way the car is in the garage - only the drivers side is easily accessed so that job can wait till later.

[SeanOB]

Serious work! You are thorough, this will ride better than new

[Tedswagon]

Cheers Sean, that's the plan. Hope the poly is not too harsh on the road. Was happy with it in the compact but that was a different kind of drive to what I want now.

[SeanOB]

Guaranteed it will be responsive!

heck, if you don't like it, things will sure come off easier the second time to swap over to stock

[shedrool83]

Looks like some good progress being made now Ronan.
Nice work mate.

[Tedswagon]

Cheers Jake. Still have to sort out the heater o rings, pedal box and hids but need to get some parts for those jobs first.

[Sanchez]

stuff.

I've got similar rust issue sand just been quoted £70 for the rear battery tray area but doesn't come with as much metal as I need. Think over it.

[Yeti]

very nice dude

[martauto]

Another guy with a real attitude !!

Mart.

[TurtleDesignTech]

Looking forward to seeing it on the road.

[Tedswagon]

. . Its a good time to change the heater valve o-rings with the engine out as with a bit of effort you can get the grommet out and a socket onto the top pipe nuts from the bay if you fancy rolling about the other footwell .

Well, I didnt fancy it but thought it best to pull them out and have a look, so I pulled the glovebox out and all the trim panels round it until I could see this . . . .



Easy to get to the two bolts but the other torx head bolt holding the black pipe is impossible to get to as its behind the brake bracket. . . . . any ideas welcomed! I have no idea how to get it out with the tools i have!

[Tedswagon]

Following your advice I pulled the rubber grommet out into the engine bay and undid the other pipe from that side. TBH I pushed the rubber grommet into the car from the engine first - was a pain in the arse to get it back through thus the bit of rubber missing!!





Rubber grommet out - you can see the bolts



You have to twist it a bit to get it out without dropping the bolts back into the footwell. As you can see the lower one is a bit corroded, need to get the O ring changed for sure!



Thats it with the pipe removed.

Still need advise how to get the other pipe out. . .

[shedrool83]

From memory take out the 3 bolts , disconnect the wire from heater valve and it will come out.

[Tedswagon]

thats cool Jake, I just dont know how to get the bottom one out???What did you get it out with?

[shedrool83]

Can't mind lol must be old age.
I think there is space issue to get a socket on so i must of used a spanner . I kind of remember being in the footwell for awhile