325i Convertible Project

[Qasimahmed]

Brake lines look solid but the fuel line is rusted and does need to be changed.

[Brianmoooore]

Oil filter is a known problem, and there's a kit of modified parts available for a permanent cure.
Camshaft area leak could be seal or plate behind seal, but is more likely to be one of the D shape rubber blocks, held in by the rocker cover, that block the cutouts where the rocker shafts are slid in.
Fuel filter is most likely a hose clip that needs tightening or has stripped.

[Qasimahmed]

Got around to the front suspension this week. I've got the workshop clean enough and organised. Enough space to work on the E30 comfortably.

I bought a sandblaster for the suspension parts and I have all the new ball joints, top mounts, shocks, springs and rubbers to go back onto the car.

I need to clean the arches and undercoat them, I'm planning on painting the control arms and shock arms in black hammerite, I was thinking of thinning it and spraying it through an old gun to get a better finish.

[Qasimahmed]

Does anyone know what this bracket is on the driver side arch

[brutus]

its probably from a mudflap,,

[Qasimahmed]

I stripped down both front struts, one wheel bearing nut was a pain in the arse really. Went well without any real issues.

It had original struts inside and I found a BMW order sticker with an order date of 1992 so these could be the original possibly.

I also tried out the sandblaster, it works well for about 10 seconds and then it seems as if the feed is blocked and no media is being blasted. So I'm planning on doing a gravity feed supply for the gun hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

I still need to order the front wheel bearings, anti roll bar links, tie rods and brake components to have everything ready on the front. But I have the parts to get the control arms and struts back together.

[Qasimahmed]

Hi all.

Got a bit done on the E30, all the front suspension bits are blasted and ready to be sprayed with epoxy primer and then black hammerite. Hopefully done next weekend so I can get the front suspension back together.

I've got my Z3 rack and the spacers, however I'm not sure I want to get into fitting it right now, possibly buy a set of custom lines so it's a straight fit.

Both front arches have been cleaned with my steam cleaner, still need a final rinse to get the remaining dirt off. I'll possibly use a jet wash as the pressure washer was good in loosening the dirt but not too good at shifting it.

I did break a few of the threaded studs holding the arch liner in. How do I go about replacing those. Should I weld a bolt with the same thread or is there a replacement from BMW.

Some new wheels have been sourced and I'll get some pics when the suspension is back on the car.

[steve_k]

Nice update

Loving the azev's, my own personal rim of choice, they look like a staggered set?

[Qasimahmed]

Nice update

Loving the azev's, my own personal rim of choice, they look like a staggered set?

Yeah 10j rears. Once I've got the rear suspension on, I'm going to have to test fit. Will possibly need a gentle roll

[Qasimahmed]

Got the arches cleaned a bit more and the suspension parts sprayed up. I'm hoping to get it back together this weekend and the car back on the ground.

After this, I only have the braking system to refresh on the front and the Z3 rack to install in the future sometime.

[Qasimahmed]

Everything went back onto the front end. Not too eventful really. Now just brakes left on the front end. I'm going to move onto the rear next weekend. Starting by jet washing the arches outside as the fronts were caked in dried mud and dirt.

Still a bit high on the front. I'm hoping it settles but we'll see how it goes

The car is still running rich so I thought I would check for air leaks again, I found a oily/water mixture in the intake pipe and similar sort of thing in the air box. I haven't started it for 2 weeks before this and this was after it was running for about 30 minutes.

I'm not really too sure what's going on with it. I still need to change the valve cover gasket and the blind plugs as there is still oil leaking down the front of the engine. Possibly an air leak around those areas.

Does anyone know of any E30 specialists in Yorkshire?

[Brianmoooore]

An air leak into the inlet side, after the AFM, will make the fuel mixture weak, not rich.
Traces of oil/emulsion in the big hose are normal, although yours looks a bit excessive. Burning petrol produces lots of water, and some of that water will end up in the oil, where it will stay until oil temperature reaches 90 degrees or so. If you've been running this engine for short periods only for some time, there'll be a lot of water in the oil, which in turn, might be leading to the excessive amounts in the hose. I wouldn't worry too much about it until the car is on the road and getting fully warmed up.
If you have the valve cover off, try to clean out the area on the underside of the cover, where the vent pipe is. There's a labyrinth oil separator there, and if this is gunged up and holding oil, more will end up flowing out the vent.

[Qasimahmed]

I cleaned the arches out yesterday and there was a huge amount of dust and dirt from the car sitting in a body shop. I did try to clean as much of the undercarriage as possible as well.

I got the majority of the rear suspension off today. I wasn't planning on dropping the rear subframe but it seems a lot easier than trying to undo the control arm bolts in place. So next week I have the exhaust and then the subframe to drop.

I'm trying to get some more pictures uploaded but it seems they're too big. I'll have to find a way around it

[Qasimahmed]

\[insta\][/insta\]

So I tried to get the pictures uploaded a few different ways but was unable to. I've got a new phone and the pictures are about 15 to 20mb each so they won't upload as an attachment. If anyone has any better ways. Please let me know.

Anyway, one of the hubs took me about an hour to get out, a proper nightmare. Got it out with a lot of heat, slide hammer and using the wheel bolts on some metal plates.
Next weekend, the exhaust needs to be dropped, subframe out and then sandblasting it all, paint and then reassemble.

[Blanca]

Picture wise I use the old Paintshop Pro 5, simple to use and without all the gizmos no one really needs. Just resize so the picture is about 8" wide and I find it works, I use VGY.me for storing (drag and drop) and uploading, very easy and free too.

Been reading your thread from the start and very interesting to hear how a novice has become proficient in a couple of years. well done.

I had the same problem with my auto box loosing all drive after changing fluid Decron IID but it seems to have sorted its self out now.

[Qasimahmed]

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go.

If I'm honest, I've been around cars since I was about 5. My uncles have garages and work on cars and commercial vehicles. I've always been interested on working on cars and restoring older cars but never really had a chance and didn't want to take that risk with working on customers cars. It's only when I got my E39 525d Sport from my uncle in 2017 that I really began.

I always framed it by saying I knew the theory behind all the jobs I wanted to do but had no practical experience and thankfully every job I have done has gone well or near enough. And it's not caused any disruption to anyone if it has gone wrong.

[Blanca]

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go.

If I'm honest, I've been around cars since I was about 5. My uncles have garages and work on cars and commercial vehicles. I've always been interested on working on cars and restoring older cars but never really had a chance and didn't want to take that risk with working on customers cars. It's only when I got my E39 525d Sport from my uncle in 2017 that I really began.

I always framed it by saying I knew the theory behind all the jobs I wanted to do but had no practical experience and thankfully every job I have done has gone well or near enough. And it's not caused any disruption to anyone if it has gone wrong.

It has been great reading your progress. Fortunately something we in the South of Spain don't have to worry about is rust and salt corrosion, there isn't any on mine after 33 years here. just dirt from 'roads in the 'compo', (country lanes). Al that should be good for another 40 years at least.

[Qasimahmed]

Rear subframe is out and majority has been blasted. The rear subframe is gonna need to be cleaned up by a wire wheel and take it from there.

Here are some before and after jetwashing and some 50\50 blasting. I never got any pictures after finishing the control Arms and heat shields.

[Qasimahmed]

A before and after, not much progress, I'm hoping to get the rest of the parts blasted this weekend. One control arm, one bracket and the large heat shield left to do.

[Qasimahmed]

The E30 hasn't had much progress for the last month, I've been busy with work and bought another project so hopefully I'm going to be back on the E30 pretty soon.

[Qasimahmed]

I've got back to work on the E30, I have a week off to get it back on the ground.

The rear is currently stripped, I bought a brake and fuel line kit made out of kunifer from eBay to replace all the lines whilst I'm there. I started bending the rear control arm lines and it seems they're slightly shorter or my bends aren't so accurate.

Anyway I'll wait to get it back ok the car before adjusting the bends.

It is stripped bare underneath, the areas that have some surface rust have been ground down and treated with some deox rust gel. I'll be spraying some epoxy primer and then hammerite. Finally going over it all with wurth underseal as I did with the front. The control arms are almost done, one needs touching up with the hammerite. The bushes are in and once the underside has been coated, I'll start putting everything in place.

I discovered some rust on the rear panel, it's along where the seams are between the rear panel and the quarter. It is more on the passenger side. I was wondering if this is a common place for these to rust and how should I go about replacing it.

Anyway I've been reading up on the other builds on here and I'm determined to get mine back together this winter.

[rix313]

Ready for drives in 2022

Rust bits don't look too bad on the back. Might be able to get chassis cuts for those to save having to form pieces.

[Qasimahmed]

Ready for drives in 2022

Rust bits don't look too bad on the back. Might be able to get chassis cuts for those to save having to form pieces.

I definitely hope so, fingers crossed

[Qasimahmed]

So the week is nearly over. I've got the small bits of rust on the underside wire brushed, treated with Bilt Hamber deox gel, then epoxy primer and black hammerite sprayed on top. The next step will be to undercoat with some wurth stoneguard which will finish it off.

I got around to getting the last of the bits and pieces sprayed in epoxy and then hammerite but I missed the rear subframe plates that go on the bottom and the plates that are mounted on the outer surface of the sill. So I need to get them sprayed over this weekend, I'm having to order the spacer that goes ontop of the subframe mount as I can't remember where I've put them.

I can't believe i missed one, I only found it when I finished everything else.

So hopefully I can start rebuilding the rear suspension next weekend. The brake line running to the front, I'm going to keep the original for now as it's a bit difficult to get it out with the angle the car is at and would be much easier on a ramp. So I'll do that when I drop the fuel tank, hopefully with the car on a lift.

[Tzantushka]

Great progress.
The reward is when all these time intensive jobs come Together during assembly.

Keep the updates coming.

[Qasimahmed]

I started putting the rear subframe back together. I bolted the control arms to the subframe and am now waiting on the spacers from BMW and I need to spray the brackets that hold it before I can continue.

I changed the propshaft centre bearing and the vibration damper. I didn't realize they had a circlip on the inside but once that was off, it went fairly smoothly. That seemed to go well. Another job down.

I have a pile of brake parts to get on once the subframe is on the car.

I'll hopefully get around to spraying the last few bits and back on for the following week.

[martauto]

You really are going for it mate, nice one !!!!

Mart.

[Qasimahmed]

Hi all

I'm in the process of refitting the back end, I've got the subframe back on, I've fitted the backing plates ,abs sensors. I'm hoping to get the hub and driveshafts in this weekend along with the handbrake shoes, discs , pads and callipers. I need to fit all the suspension and springs also.

There is a rubber piece that is in the screw on part of the propshaft which has deteriorated and broke into a few pieces so that's another thing I have to order before putting that back together.

The diff I haven't painted yet so I'm thinking of cleaning it up and giving it a coat of hammerite, I love the sprayed finish but I'm not sure how I'm going do the diff. I have a crane in the unit so I could probably hang it from the input shaft or rubber mounting point, not sure if that'll cause any issues or damage to the internals as it is quite heavy.

The underside has been undercoated now, I don't have many pictures as I keep on forgetting to take them as the job progresses.

[Qasimahmed]

The car is finally back on the floor and had a taste of snow for the first time in 11 years.

I started cleaning the underside in the middle section ready for new underseal. I broke out the steam cleaner and got to work, I removed all the old underseal that would come off and wire brushed any rust back. Covered it in Bilt Hamber and parked it back.
I'm going to etch prime and then underseal next week hopefully. I still need to change the center brake pipe running from the front to the back and fuel lines also.

I'm a bit hesitant to drop the tank As I don't want it to be stuck for another month or so.

This was how it was before. 50/50

I've got a mix of M tech 1 bits. I have a genuine spoiler, genuine skirts for a saloon/touring and a genuine rear bumper.

I tried fitting the front bumper, however it does not fit very well, the plastic trim pieces struggle to get back in place as it stick out at the ends a little.

I'm thinking of selling the genuine parts and going for an aftermarket kit, I've been in touch with these guys and they seem to make decent parts close to a factory fit with little need for any trimming etc.

https://www.classiqueautowerks.fr/produ ... rrency=GBP

Has anyone got information about a genuine front mtech 1 bumper or a close enough aftermarket product and m tech skirts for a convertible.

[twenty]

The car is finally back on the floor and had a taste of snow for the first time in 11 years.
20211113_192930.jpg
20211128_150118.jpg

I started cleaning the underside in the middle section ready for new underseal. I broke out the steam cleaner and got to work, I removed all the old underseal that would come off and wire brushed any rust back. Covered it in Bilt Hamber and parked it back.
I'm going to etch prime and then underseal next week hopefully. I still need to change the center brake pipe running from the front to the back and fuel lines also.

I'm a bit hesitant to drop the tank As I don't want it to be stuck for another month or so.

20211128_154959.jpg

This was how it was before. 50/50

20211128_155006.jpg

I've got a mix of M tech 1 bits. I have a genuine spoiler, genuine skirts for a saloon/touring and a genuine rear bumper.

I tried fitting the front bumper, however it does not fit very well, the plastic trim pieces struggle to get back in place as it stick out at the ends a little.
20211121_191443.jpg

I'm thinking of selling the genuine parts and going for an aftermarket kit, I've been in touch with these guys and they seem to make decent parts close to a factory fit with little need for any trimming etc.

https://www.classiqueautowerks.fr/produ ... rrency=GBP

Has anyone got information about a genuine front mtech 1 bumper or a close enough aftermarket product and m tech skirts for a convertible.

AFAIK, these are the best in the market https://mrbodykits.com.au/collections/b ... 1475859534. Ask the French supplier if they're selling the same kit or not.

[Qasimahmed]

So they do 3 versions of the kit. They offer fiberglass, Plastiflex or PP plastic versions.

They explained the difference between them

Fiberglass is the least expensive but least well fitting of the 3, mainly used for motorsports or drift etc.

2. Plastiflex is a mix of kevlar and resin so much more flexible and a better fit than fiberglass

3. PP is fully plastic injection and is fully flexible and very close to the original parts, however being the most expensive.
- I will double check if we can offer the correct side skirts in this material first.

They offer the full kit bar the side skirts in PP.

The full kit in PP with only skirts in plastiflex is £1675.00 Including shipping to the UK. They do warn that there may be a customs charge and a 2 week shipping time. I am considering going for the PP kit.

The cost of the plastiflex full kit is: £1167.85 + shipping at £62.97 = TOTAL £1230.82 shipped to the UK

[twenty]

Cool. So PP sounds like the kit Mr Bodykits sell. The have side skirts too.

So they do 3 versions of the kit. They offer fiberglass, Plastiflex or PP plastic versions.

They explained the difference between them

Fiberglass is the least expensive but least well fitting of the 3, mainly used for motorsports or drift etc.

2. Plastiflex is a mix of kevlar and resin so much more flexible and a better fit than fiberglass

3. PP is fully plastic injection and is fully flexible and very close to the original parts, however being the most expensive.
- I will double check if we can offer the correct side skirts in this material first.

They offer the full kit bar the side skirts in PP.

The full kit in PP with only skirts in plastiflex is £1675.00 Including shipping to the UK. They do warn that there may be a customs charge and a 2 week shipping time. I am considering going for the PP kit.

The cost of the plastiflex full kit is: £1167.85 + shipping at £62.97 = TOTAL £1230.82 shipped to the UK

[Qasimahmed]

Cool. So PP sounds like the kit Mr Bodykits sell. The have side skirts too.

I did have a look at their website, it seems they do not have MT1 skirts for a convertible. And I think the postage would be higher compared to shipping from Europe.

I have been cleaning the centre section, here are some before and afters. There is minor surface rust, I have found a hole about the size of a 5 pence piece in the rear floor where there is a join, I'm going to etch primer all these areas and patch the hole when I've got access to a welder. I was thinking of fiberglass but I'd rather do it once and do it properly.

Still have the centre brake line to replace. I have fuel lines included in the kit also, but I would prefer changing them when it's on a ramp.

There is some rust on the front of the sills where the wing sits. I've seen they do commonly rust from inside the wing also. I've been thinking of removing the wings and treating it from the inside. I've got about 4 weekends left before I want to give it for paint. So shortly after the new year and it'll be 2 weeks for the kit to arrive from France.

I need to remove the rest of the interior which consists of carpets and door cards as well.

[Qasimahmed]

I've put the side skirts up for sale if anyone is interested

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E30-M-Te ... 35-2958-0

Genuine M Tech 1 skirts for sale for a coupe/saloon. Wasn't sure of what these go for as I haven't seen a genuine pair for sale for quite some time.

[Qasimahmed]

There has been some work done over the last few months, the front wings were removed and the sills were stripped of their paint which showed some areas of rust. I have used Bilt Hamber deox gel on them repeatedly. I am still waiting to paint them in etch as my compressor was playing up.







The driver's side was by far the worst, both sides were blocked with dirt and debris stopping water flowing out. The driver's side had some small holes but the majority of it was solid, I will be getting the body worker to patch these also.





My washer bottle bracket also was rusted completely, i will need to cut this out and create a new one to weld in.



I got my Mtech 1 rear bumper off the shelf, it was crudely screwed into a metal bumper with self tapping screws. It is in one piece and should be okay after a repaint.



My front wings are also fairly intact, they will need some repair which my body worker is happy to undertake.




This is where we are currently, the car is on a lift where it can stay during the week as i only have weekends to work on it. The centre brake line has been changed and now I just have the fuel pipes remaining. Then etch and underseal the undercarriage. Once it is back together, I want to remove the carpet and check the floor for any rust and get it to the body shop.






And the pipe bends are not as nice as the factory ones but it was difficult due to having the rear subframe already in place. There was a point I did think to leave the centre pipe as it had no visible rust or damage but as soon as I undid the front joint it cracked in the middle without much movement, it was still in the plastic brackets.