Henna Red M3 Restoration, almost done !

[spook]

I hope you have a rust drain fitted in your workshop dude

[e30topless]

this lot arrived from the stealers today, took 2 days to come from germany bloody fast delivery that !!
should keep the beardy chap busy for a while

[bss325i]

Thats some money there!

[beardymat]

that represents around 2k and its what a lot of M3s out there really need in all honesty. Not all of em but more than you think. This is how serious the cars owner is about getting this car back to former glory and there is still plenty for me to fab up as well plus the inner and outer sills we already have. Should be able to get ripping into this next week.

[Sanchez]

another epic repair thread. Gota love em'.

[Rav335uk]

Matt, you took those wings off carefully yet?

@ Steve, is that pic in the new place??

[RustyRuss]

this lot arrived from the stealers today, took 2 days to come from germany bloody fast delivery that !!
should keep the beardy chap busy for a while

We all knew this was a serious resto....but its not until you see this that you realise just how serious. Top job - one M3 that will be here for a VERY long time to come!!!

[e30topless]

that's the plan rustyruss, no point welding new metal to old panels only for the arches to get fruity in a few years..
the new panels came in at £2397 with my 10% discount

Matt, you took those wings off carefully yet?

@ Steve, is that pic in the new place??

keep your mits of my wings ! they will look daft tigersealed to the cab

I haven't moved into the new place yet Rav, almost ready though

[Rav335uk]

You know I want those wings

[mick_318is]

no 15 in this one Steve

http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E30/2 ... ide_frame/

Did you manage to get this bit??

I enquired about 2 weeks ago and was told NLA !

[mick_318is]

this lot arrived from the stealers today, took 2 days to come from germany bloody fast delivery that !!
should keep the beardy chap busy for a while

Also is this an 8 wheel drive M3??

[e30topless]

fuel pump bracket is NLA I need 2

fairly sure it could be relatively easy to replicate though ?

I hope so .....

[DanThe]

I heard a few rumours about boat anchors and M3 shells earlier, I hope it wasnt anything to do with this chariot!

[Rav335uk]

I heard a few rumours about boat anchors and M3 shells earlier, I hope it wasnt anything to do with this chariot!

No your hearing things

[e30topless]

I heard a few rumours about boat anchors and M3 shells earlier, I hope it wasnt anything to do with this chariot!

the S14 carbon intake bought for this won't fit an M30,

[mick_318is]

fuel pump bracket is NLA I need 2

fairly sure it could be relatively easy to replicate though ?

I hope so .....

That was my plan also, though I am considering just using a later intank pump, would be easier I think.

[e30topless]

not so sure how this would work ?
the later intank pump needs 2 inspection hatches below the rear seat for access to fitting/fixing, there's only one on a pre-face car..
plus with all the wiring/vents ect it will be a lot easier/better to stick with the early pump system?

I will be sticking with the original system and having a pump bracket made...

[DanThe]

You just have to pray the left hand level sender never packs up Steve, thats what I do!

[beardymat]

Bodywork update number 1. First decision was where to start but it makes sense to start at the front and work backwards so thats what ive done. There are 18 new panels for this car in total and it will need quite a lot of pieces fabricating but i wont know that figure till i get finished. The engine bay and bulkhead will form the biggest part of the work load for me as there are several localised areas of grot which will need tackling and since bulkhead/floor panels are not available and inner wings are expensive for what they are this is where the main fabrication work will take place. The rear will look more drastic but since it will be mostly new panels i expect this to come together quite quickly.

Pics

[RustyRuss]

looking great already, an epic restoration!

[bmwe30mtech]

Fantastic work Matt, I have been keeping an eye on this.

I bet the inner arches, rear quarters and rear panel will be reminding you of my Sport all over again!

Looking forward to seeing those seats in this Steve (!)

Paul

[e30topless]

Paul, the seats are re-connolised and ready to go in, they are lovely thanks again

Matt, looking good so far fella, I will pop down sometime this week for a visit

[scott180gtb]

Nice work as always Mat. Get some proper size pictures up though you slacker!

[beardymat]

Sorry Scotty boy, the forum re-sizes pics so i didnt think it made any difference, these should be bigger if you click on them.













oops! Too big



Hang on, now its too small.... Dont you just love optical illusions





There we go, one repair panel complete with brake pipe bracket, just need to weld it in now.







And there we have it. Thats patch number three on that inner wing. Just this bad boy to sort now



Im hoping ive tackled the worst side first, i dont usually and my soul usually drops when i realise i have it all to do again only bigger.

Stay tuned.

[Simon13]

Matt you are the f**king man, Skillz ya get me!

[Dezzy]

Just seen this. I am fooking great at missing the best threads.

Someone pm me the links PLEASE.

Steve and Matt you fooking heros. This is going to be proper once finished.

[e30topless]

bigger pics are much better Matt

is that a big tub of filler in the battery tray !

[Duke137]

This is just gay, I'm giving up on E30's because I will never be this good

[beardymat]

Thats the tin of coffee i need to keep me going

The filler comes in a tin double that size, ive ordered half a dozen for this bucket. Hope its enough

[e30topless]

The filler comes in a tin double that size, ive ordered half a dozen for this bucket. Hope its enough

want me to bring down a Cement mixer to mix it up ?

back on a serious note,
thats painstaking work right there, Matt your a very patient man, spending all day on beating up small pieces of steel to get them to fit/look right is real dedication...

I had better get stuck into the oily bits !

[The_Diddler]

Not bad for someone using an old toffee hammer and some Aldi's value baked bean tins......

[Jhonno]

Nice work..

[scott180gtb]

Fab tastic Yoda.

I will be over soon buddy to have a look at this.

[beardymat]

Time for the next thrilling installment. Got the last of the O/S inner wing all patched up and after looking at the N/S it looks like i did the worst one first for once but im not commiting to that theory till ive took the wire wheel to all the usual suspects. It will at least need a patch similar to the one im about to show in the following pics and it will get a new chassis leg closing panel and bumper hanger. Hope thats it so that i can get on with the footwells and bulkhead to really move this along.

Pics









Decided to cut the panel along a swage line so i could flatten it to make a template, too much curve to make the repair panel by bashing it alone so i chose to do it this way.











Starting to look something like.







So there we have it, One solid inner wing.

Need to get some close up pics of the bulkhead/ footwells which have not only been butchered for the RHD ”aconversion”a but since that was poorly excecuted it suffered badly with rust and has subsequently been butchered some more with a bad ”arepair”a. After discussions with Steve regarding the factory jacking pads and whether to rebuild them or delete them properly ( nature has already semi deleted them and the butcher finished em off) he took the executive decision to leave it completely up to me. So after a little think and a chat to the guy at the sheet metal workers next door to my new unit i got some of these sorted





That should keep me sorted for a while. They are the correct guage steel and spot on size. Seeing as we`re going this far with this car then it would be rude not to. Having these guys next door has given me a new shopping list of tools to buy starting with a fly press which i used to put the swage in the brake pipe hole patch and which he used to press the jacking pads with. I usually just beat these things into shape with my basic tools but stamping them out would certainly save me time as once you have the tooling perfected you know the repair panel will fit well and since they all go in more or less the same places and to a similar extent it wouldnt be too difficult to create a standard repair panel but to the Beardy standard.

[Cypriotgeeza]

Ive been looking for someone who i would actually trust to sort some rust issues with my E30's and i havent seen anything i like..untill now

Whereabouts are you based mate?