Oldblue

[SeanOB]

Oh, also just put in some HIDs, hot damn, what a difference. Went for a night drive last night on the tiny, twisty roads on Anglesey, and it was actually FUN not terrifying now that I can see the road.
IMG_4424 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

Highly advised, if any of you haven't as yet.

It really is an excellent safety upgrade, but unfortunately, it's also now a MOT test failure in the UK, so try to keep it easily convertible back to halogen bulbs for the test.

Ahhh dang, I did wonder about that. Easy enough to swap back for MOT, but thanks for the heads up.

[SeanOB]

Decided to quit stalling & had the e30 sent in to a local shop (Star Autocare on Anglesey) for some welding. I wanted to do it all myself, but by the time I build a garage, buy a welder and learn how to use it this might have developed into a bigger job than I could handle anyway.

IMG_4732 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

I pointed out all the trouble spots to them and they did a very thorough job for me. I of course visited every week at random times to see how it was progressing
IMG_4729 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

IMG_4730 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

all sorted
IMG_4849 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

re-freshed
IMG_4845 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

both corners below the scuttle needed sorting. glad it hadn't spread to the windshield seal area
IMG_4847 by 5EAN11, on Flickr


2aa0adae-2db3-44b2-9f4a-ebe272893def by 5EAN11, on Flickr

[SeanOB]

We also opted to have both front wings smoothed over and resprayed. the left side was really ugly, so I was happy to finally have it presentable. The painter was conscientious enough to extend the spray past the new wings to blend into the doors. Unfortunately his masking off was quite obvious:

DSC01732 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

DSC01722 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

It was driving me nuts, and now that the car was less of a rust bucket I figured it was time to do some paint correction as there were many obvious swirls and scuffs all over.

I used a rotary polisher and some Menzerna medium cutting compound. Spent a solid 8 hours on this thing and am still to do the roof!
Version 2 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

DSC01735 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

Version 2 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

Next thing on the list is to refresh all the plastic trim, it is really letting the car down at the moment!

[tha881]

Well done mate those are really worthwhile jobs to get done, and often the ones that many people put off because they are time/labour intensive. It's looking great after the polish too.

[Foe]

Totally agree, hit that rust, before it hurts. Nice to see your on top of it.

[SeanOB]

Thanks guys! It does feel good knowing its less likely to rot away before my eyes.

[Moz]

Got to show the 4 doors love! Paint correction has made a real difference, looks great!

[SeanOB]

test

[Brianmoooore]

test

Receiving you loud and clear. How's progress?

[SeanOB]

test

Receiving you loud and clear. How's progress?

Trying to post a little update at the moment but getting some weird error, then not able to access the site at all for a time. Will keep at it !

[Lemon98]

Lovely colour it looks great!!! Big up the 4 doors

[SeanOB]

Thanks! Yours looks tidy, and gives me side skirt envy

[SeanOB]

Time for OldBlue to exit a winter slumber....
Version 3 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

will try a few smaller posts as I am still getting weird errors.

[SeanOB]

Winter slumber wasn't imposed as much by winter, as by a faulty alternator. Swapped in a fresh refurb Bosch unit last weekend. The old one had a seized up adjuster and was long over due a change, so when it stopped charging all together I took advantage of a big Euro Car Farts sale.

Got around to doing a few other odd jobs on the old blue brick as the sun came out. Changed out the thermostat but still getting a bit hot on the highway after accelerating on the slip road. Hoping that doesn't mean I need to change the water pump again. Might just try a new radiator first.

IMG_7293 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

Blue manifold looks so horrid. Its taking ages to clean up my spare, but I will get to the stage where I just throw it on anyway so I don't have to look at that mess any longer.

[SeanOB]

Oh, and I did treat the trim to a refresh last year.

Looked like it had been through a blender:
DSC01941 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

[SeanOB]

but I couldn't face the cost of fresh trim so I hit it with filler, primer and plastic paint
DSC01964 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

of course now this just shows up the fact that the bumpers are very nearly 30years old!

[SeanOB]

How about bumper less then?
DSC01967 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

[Cloggy Saint]

My rear bumper trim looks much the same as yours did but I think I'll go the 'buy new' route as filling/painting really isn't my thing. £120 odd for 3 bits of plastic ......

[tha881]

Sean it would be worth looking for a fan shroud, mine was missing when I bought the car and they really do help to keep the temperatures in the correct range

[SeanOB]

My rear bumper trim looks much the same as yours did but I think I'll go the 'buy new' route as filling/painting really isn't my thing. £120 odd for 3 bits of plastic ......

I know, its a bit of a bill. When this 'refreshed' trim fades out again I will likely get new parts too. Especially as the clips on the back of this stuff cracks off easily when being removed from the bumper.

[SeanOB]

Sean it would be worth looking for a fan shroud, mine was missing when I bought the car and they really do help to keep the temperatures in the correct range

Well spotted! I do have the shroud actually, just removed it when swapping the alternator out. Will check that it is the right one though.

[Brianmoooore]

Especially as the clips on the back of this stuff cracks off easily when being removed from the bumper.

Remove bumper, take indoors, and crank the heating up to the max. before attempting this.

[Brianmoooore]

Well spotted! I do have the shroud actually, just removed it when swapping the alternator out. Will check that it is the right one though.

You wouldn't get a four cylinder shroud to fit on a six pot. It's MUCH deeper.
Shroud plays an important part in activating the viscous fan coupling, as well as aiding airflow for cooling.

[HenryM3]

On the trim front, I’ve tried everything and don’t find any of them really worth a shit. So I have a cloth sprayed with WD40 which I run round the inserts, it takes less than a minute and lasts just as long. Hope nobody is going to tell me that one morning I m going to find my car disintegrated in a puddle of oil

[HenryM3]

Should have mentioned that your doing a great job on the four door, especially on the rusty bits which we all generally ignore for to long or till it’s to late. For a nearly 30 year old that paint is in great shape. I hope you enjoy the car

[SeanOB]

Should have mentioned that your doing a great job on the four door, especially on the rusty bits which we all generally ignore for to long or till it’s to late. For a nearly 30 year old that paint is in great shape. I hope you enjoy the car

Thanks! Need a decent excuse to use it at the moment, so a trip to the vet for pups medicine was in order!
Version 2 by 5EAN11, on Flickr

[SeanOB]

Especially as the clips on the back of this stuff cracks off easily when being removed from the bumper.

Remove bumper, take indoors, and crank the heating up to the max. before attempting this.

Ah ha, now that is clever. I had the bumpers off when I did mine but had not thought to heat them up!

I didn't break many clips, but there were already some broken off by who ever was back there last.

On the trim front, I’ve tried everything and don’t find any of them really worth a shit. So I have a cloth sprayed with WD40 which I run round the inserts, it takes less than a minute and lasts just as long. Hope nobody is going to tell me that one morning I m going to find my car disintegrated in a puddle of oil

It took a while, sanding down, filler, sand, primer, sand, primer, sand etc etc. but mine was way beyond trim treatment so it was the only cheap option really. I like the WD40 fix though, I will try it on some other bits that the over priced trim restorer stuff hasn't helped much

[TurtleDesignTech]

Oldblue is looking good. Great thread. Thoroughly enjoyed.

[Moz]

Lovely job there my friend. Mine wasn't an SE so had black bumpers had them colour coded and had the black trims done in gloss black.

Forever black worked well on headlight grills and some of the engine plastics but makes a mess of the bumpers

Is it a 91 plate?

[SeanOB]

Hi everyone! After many years of procrastination and distractions, I'm finally sorting this car out.

Safe to say I haven't made life any easier for myself... I bought this Jeep 2.5Td XJ while a bit bored during the Lockdown.

This is the worst vehicle in existence. I didn't appreciate how easy the e30 was to work on until getting my hands on a Jeep. It's practically impossible to remove most parts without dismantling half the engine or pulling it all out entirely. It really knocked my confidence actually, and I just didn't want to work on cars for a while after so many failed attempts with this Jeep.

However, I snapped out of it and decided to get back to a vehicle worth my effort.

Back left jacking point was pretty rusty by this point , and sure enough the inner cill was starting to rot too.

Did some driveway surgery:

(having to split over multiple posts due to some photo uploading issues)

[flybynite]

I didn't appreciate how easy the e30 was to work on until getting my hands on a Jeep.

Well done, change is as good as a rest, it will get there.

You don't realise how good the E30 is to work on until you try other cars, it is one of the reasons I got mine in the 80s. It came apart quite easy and more importantly went back the same way. We had a lot of Japanese stuff at the time too and they were amazing, 3 sockets and a screwdriver would take the car to bits, compare that to anything British made at the time.

Spent a few years driving 6x6 dumpers in my youth, Volvo in my case, what flavour is that one? doesn't look like a Volvo.

[SeanOB]

I didn't appreciate how easy the e30 was to work on until getting my hands on a Jeep.

Well done, change is as good as a rest, it will get there.

You don't realise how good the E30 is to work on until you try other cars, it is one of the reasons I got mine in the 80s. It came apart quite easy and more importantly went back the same way. We had a lot of Japanese stuff at the time too and they were amazing, 3 sockets and a screwdriver would take the car to bits, compare that to anything British made at the time.

Spent a few years driving 6x6 dumpers in my youth, Volvo in my case, what flavour is that one? doesn't look like a Volvo.

Thanks! These really are great cars to work on, simple tool set really is all you need. The Jeep however, I had to have custom tools made for a few of the simpler tasks! I'll probably sort the rust out on that then sell it, to fund e30 engine parts
Not sure which model that big truck was, but I think it was an articulated volvo 6x6. I'm just the enviro consultant guy, testing what they tip

I've got a good bit more to post, but been having constant problems with DNS errors for this forum lately. Anyone else got this?
viewtopic.php?t=284869#p2999619