325i Touring restoration "the wrong way around"

[old_skool]

and bbs LMS with nogaro centres with some big red calieprs

What do they look like?

Topaz or estoril blue is nice, greys and silvers always look good aswell, wouldnt have black, you after a tech 2 kit then or not going to bother?

Need a tech II kit desperately, can't find one though. I anyone knows of one PLLLLEEEAAASSSSEE let me know!

[maxfield]

What do they look like?

Need i say any more?

[WillG]

what would you give me for mine, its mint.. you can buy they for about £350 full 3door kit on here which is what i payed for a fucked 3 door kit but there is alot of prep work, the paint allways bubbles

[old_skool]

Will, you have PM

[318Touring]

All i can say is WOW! looks good m8, i wish my workshop was half as well kitted out!!

cheers Lennie

[e30_Turbo]

not to be out done...
This is mycar lift



16 ton Kalmar

Sorry couldn't resit this one, this is one of the Kalmars I used to work with, 38ton lift, awesome fun to drive but so damn dangerous!!

Here's the BOSS 36.5's, 38ton 5 container high, watched one of these do a 360 spin on the ice and another lift a container with the unit and trailer still attaached!


Excellent project by the way

[Morat]

Tractors anyone?

[suzie650]

what would you give me for mine, its mint.. you can buy they for about £350 full 3door kit on here which is what i payed for a ****** 3 door kit but there is alot of prep work, the paint allways bubbles

Is yours a 3 door?
I didn't know a coupe kit would fit on a 4 door/touring. I can imagine that at least the sideskirts would need a bit of modifying to fit... Am I wrong?

[bigdek]

bumpers and sideskirts for a 4 dr are the same as a 3 dr . The pods on the doors and rear arches are different

[WillG]

no that was just an example of a kit I bought for the prices. I was offering him a full 4 door kit but im going to try and sell it on my shell first

[suzie650]

no that was just an example of a kit I bought for the prices. I was offering him a full 4 door kit but im going to try and sell it on my shell first

Sorry!

[325bhpbruiser]

still loving this write up..........

[gareth]

fozzy, those look FUN!

[Royalratch]

Big respect on this project dude.

As far as respraying:

Laser Blue
Gunmetal Grey
Malachite Green (classic deep metallic green).

Got to go metallic.

All with light grey leather (almost white, 80's Ferrari/Aston style) or cream / beige leather.

Please don't put all that smoked stuff on there, no offence maxfield. For sure clear side repeaters/front indicators.

Maybe just suggest the madness under the hood with an iS front lip?

16" Alpinas or maybe some BBS splits. Always thought 17" up looked too big on E30's but maybe you'll need to go there.

Keep it factory. I wouldn't even do M badges but...

Can't wait to see the finished thing!

[old_skool]

A bit of a monster post tonight! I've got a lot done since in the two days since my last post. Firstly as were all friends I though I'd better introduce myself - this is me >





Well, a lot to report. I have had to press on a bit and get as much done as possible because I need to get back to work next week and earn some money. The Wife has been asking what this E30 zone business is all about when she used my PC yesterday (i'd left the forum open in my browser) Ermmm, well, umm, It's a bunch of guys who um.... share um.. info and the love of E30's and ummm. Although she knew about my work on the touring she wouldn't know that I'd been posting up and having fun on here now I'm out of the closet, trouble is, she's on here as well now

First of all, the colour has been decided, I love carbon black but to be honest I don't want another black car and this one was already diamondschwartz before so... I went to the local dealer this morning and went through the car park and showroom looking at colours of BMW's that I could 'visualise' on the touring. I ended up at a Z4 m coupe that was Interlagos blue. Well, it did it all for me, so that's it. The paint has been ordered No matter what colour I go for, some will like it, some wont, I'll wish I had gone for grey, then black and blah blah. So that's it, my minds made up

Progress:

In the rear O/S arch below the breather cover panel there was a blister in the bodysealer, upon closer inspection there was a hole the size of a a 10p piece, so it was cut out completely:



The difference between MOT repair work and restoration is a vast, if I was getting an old nail through an MOT then a rough patch over the top with a bit of birdsh*t welding and some schultz would have done the trick. My standards are higher than that

Didn't have any sheet metal around so used the old sunroof panel which is being replaced. Got to use my lovely Plasma cutter:





Then I ended up with a perfectly sized repair plate which would sit flush to the chassis material:



A little welding, here the Plasma, sat on top of the MIG welder:



Here's the result after a little grinding, filling and 3M brush on seam sealer:



That 3M seam sealer is awesome, it is the closest thing to the original BMW sealant used to blind the body joins. It builds up lovely and is waterproof, flexible and overpaintable (it also smells great). Anyone who has had to work on the bodywork on a E30 knows how tough this stuff is. I guess it's why there are so many E30's still around


The last bit of welding was the O/S innerwing leading edge. The lugs that hang down had rotten away so I had to plasma cut, grind, weld and fill in a new section so that the innerwing plastics would still fix in to place:



The only other welding I did was to remove the grommet in the rear roof and plate it from underside with some metal and weld it in. I'm not sure if all tourings have a hole in the rear but this one did and it had to go! A quick skim of filler and it was done.

Most of the dirty making good was done except for grinding out any other blemishes under the arches and in the floor. I used an air die grinder with a domed TCT bit to break through that tough sealer and get rid of all the last traces of rust. Also used some more of that lovely brush on sealer to reseal the shell, this took a lot of time, making sure not to miss anything. I used blue stickers to mark any bits that I ground out as some were really small. That way I didn't miss any touching up. The inside edges of the arches also took a lot of time to make sure they were spotlessly clean and resealed:





Note my jig to hold the shell to the dolly frame

All that was left tonight was to remove all the underbonnet brakets for the airbox and ABS that weren't required:





All being well, without the ABS and all this lot I will stand a fair chance of getting the E36 M3 airbox in. The new airbox and expansion tank will require new brackets which I will make out of stainless or aluminium and bolt in with hex head stainless bolts. Don't want to ruin the new paint by welding

Also, my gearbox turned up this afternoon, I hope it's the right one?

[schuey]

Good effort that man! I love attention to detail like that

[gareth]

dudu, are you related to the stig? i can see a slight family resemblance!!!!

looking very good! other than the plasma cutter bit and nifty shell jig, that is exactly how i repair any cars that i like! leave no visible evidence of repair and seal it up for another 20 years at least. i agree that sealer does smell good though

my wife keep saying that i should spend less time on here with "my imaginary friends"!!!!!!

[buster]

looking good,just hope you dont need any of those brakets
Also,i think id have kept the ABS,maybe mount it in the battery tray

[TouringMatt]

Class thread, just keeps getting better

[old_skool]

dudu, are you related to the stig? i can see a slight family resemblance!!!!

Dude, no relation, I can't drive anywhere near as well and I'm a good bit taller and a few stone heavier
This is the only way to do the job, done right. The best restoration is one which is done for fun, not financial gain. I've seen loads of "professional, concourse restorations" and they are mostly crap. Mostly because the customer can't quantify spending the amount of money really required to make them like new again. Hence corners need to be cut!

TouringMatt, thanks bud, hope your touring is well, how is the beautiful north?

Buster, cheers, I haven't ruled out the ABS altogether, the brackets are still available on the ETK if I do need them so hopefully I should be ok. Any bracketry for the airbox and associated stuff will have to be custom made and bolted in. P.s. I need to pester you for more details later by PM, be warned!

This bodywork has taken a lot of time. I knew it would becuase I knew full well that I would be damn fussy about it.

Other stuff:

Have just bought in to the group buy that Ste is organising for the S50 full system and manifolds that BTB are doing. Hopefully the whole system should be here more than in time for when the engine goes in.

I have got to get my arse into gear and go and get the E30 M3 5 stud setup, just haven't had time with more pressing issues to contend with. Needs to be done soon so I can get it stripped and rebuilt ready "on the shelf" for refitting.

I've tried to track down a 7" Mk II Golf servo this week. I tried GSF, ECP, all the usual suspects, the local breakers, all drew a blank. So, tried main dealer, VW, they said it was to old for them! Guess I need to troll through the scrappers. Also ordered a new Audi m/c but that was the wrong one. One good thing was the new fuel tank arrived, made in Taiwan! Not bad for £85 though! I shall get it powdercoated before it goes in as the silver panit it is finished in is tat.

Other stuff happening; I've got a new fuel breather cover panel (the long convex panel in the rear OS arch) and am going to powedcoat that as it's a real rust trap. Also sending the engine subframe off to be powdercoated.

Picked up a new oil pump and chain for the S50 from BMW yesterday, £Â£Ã‚£ (where's the jaw dropping emoticon?)
so need to get round to doing that too

Anyways, it's Saturday night, my fingers are worn to the bone from rubbing down, my back is aching, the Budweiser is just kicking in and I'm on here talking to my imaginary friends

Sweet!

[Jhonno]

Anyways, it's Saturday night, my fingers are worn to the bone from rubbing down, my back is aching, the Budweiser is just kicking in and I'm on here talking to my imaginary friends

Best way to do it!

[gareth]

[beardymat]

its nice to see im not on my own when it comes to how patches should be done. an example of my own work for you








must be something they put in budweiser that makes you want to do things properly

i know where youre coming from with the proffesional restoration thing, if you quote someone to do the work properly they turn green and usually say something about a bloke down the road who can do it for a fiver.he usually plonks a piece of tin foil over the rust and gets the gas torch out for a spot of pigeon sh@t welding.if you want a repair to last it has to be done as you (and me) do it or whats the point.

keep up the good work and the updates

[Brianmoooore]

That's the way I do it as well. Thing about E30s is you very rarely need a patch more than about four square inches, and that's after cutting away every trace of rust and "squaring" the hole up.
On a Ford or similar, the rust would extend to the whole arch.
I've got a scrap E34 bonnet that's been supplying me with patches for ages.

[gareth]

I've got a scrap E34 bonnet that's been supplying me with patches for ages.

that's the spirit! keep it all german!

[kam-325i]

Its easier to do it properly than to bodge it.....

[beardymat]

On a Ford or similar, the rust would extend to the whole arch.

surely you mean car not arch.lol

gonna get a bashing from the ex passionford boys for that one

[old_skool]

Nice to see I'm not the only one doing things right - bare metal too BeardyMat!

[fuzzy]

On a Ford or similar, the rust would extend to the whole arch.

surely you mean car not arch.lol

gonna get a bashing from the ex passionford boys for that one

im still a fully paid up member of passionford and i heartilly agree with you

[old_skool]

Well the hard part is over, the beast is now in primer! Just one coat to stop any rusting to the bare metal, I used Lesonal 2k etch primer.

I now have bare fingers, backache, hangover, headache from paint fumes, - and I'm still on here talking to my imaginary friends! N E E D B E E R

Here goes:










Couldn't resist this one, indulge me:





The manifolds are off the S50 and boxed to send to BTB as well - busy day!

[buster]

that body is awesome

[gareth]

there are soooo many screw holes on the front of a E30!!!!

it's all looking rather good though

[adamS]

Your imaginary Decipels. I've been working with Primer all day and not once did I just say beautiful. Just did though

[JOGA]

That looks very nice

One question if I may. How do you take off the trim around the rear side windows. Have to take mine of to fix rust

[vinni]

Awesome