E30 Touring Resto Project (Picture heavy)

jozi

I posted a few pics in the pics of your car thread and was asked/told I should start my own thread on the E30 I'm currently restoring. It's been ongoing for nearly 3 years now and so there are quite a lot of photo's (I like taking pics).

I'll try summarise my posts from E30owners which will take some time but give bit of an insight into what how it started to how it looks now (it's in paint nearly ready come home as of a few days ago)

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Couple years ago I was after a E30, a 318iS specifically, but due to a lack of funds I was having a hard time finding something I liked. A E30owners forum member and friend crashed his touring towards the end of 2008 and put it up for sale. Money was right for me, it needed a little bit of work to put right but everything else seemed sound, it also came with a m42 engine from a 318iS. Looking a bit sorry this is how she looked when I got her home (all pics from 2009):



And the mangled front slam panel


The bent bits were cut out



Some other typical E30 repairs:



Painted parts:


Other work was done that I can't remember before eventually going back on the road in Aug 2009




Fitted a few upgrades/additions



New wheels (Borbet B, 16x7.5)


That roughly sums up a year or so of when I owned this touring


A engine gasket went and she started leaking water, this is when I decided to take her of the road and start a bit of an overhaul. In hind sight, I should have fixed the engine and kept driving it!

jozi

For the overhaul I wanted to change the look of the car and sort out some rust issue's. Lots of googling for idea's! Collecting of parts etc! Eventually settled on doing something similar to this:



Some photoshopage later:


And some more:


This was the last time she was on 4 wheels (Jan 2010)


Storing the future new engine:


Change of plans in Jan 2101 I picked up a touring shell, less rust and 4yrs older, made up a spit and started stripping it down


Looks can be deceiving....

jozi

From here-on-in it gets a little to picture heavy as I have hundreds of pics of every little thing that was done to her. I'll post some random pics of work carried out, if you want to read/see the lot I have a build thread on e30owners.

The first bits of work were done not long after my brother showed me how to weld before he went of to Oz





Nearly all bushes are being replaced, wishbones and eccentric lollie-pop bushes are less than a year old, first of many batches of parts 8-)


More

The novely has nearly worn of I've had so much stuff delivered since starting :oops:

More welding, these were tricky






Outer wheel housing rot





Battery tray repair:

jozi

Refurbed callipers (again)



The discs also got a little loving, they were not even a year old but had some surface corrosion from being stood up


The whole lot bolted back up to the new coilovers

These were later stripped back again and sent for powder coating (excl the callipers)

Front panel chopped out because of rot:

Intention is to have the replacement panel removable or at least part of it a little easier to get the new engine in and any future engines i may swap into it.

More random welding



Seam welding






---edit---

Callipers have actually started rusting again while lying on shelf so they have been stripped down again and will be sand blasted this time, no messing about with a wirewheel this time!

jozi

One of those moments where you think "why did I start this"....



Doesn't look bad but it's rotting from the inside and not easy to clean the welds if you just chop out the drain so it was decided to replace the whole sunroof tray. Rot on the inside of the tray:



Donor panel from the old touring highlighted in red



Little bit of surface rust on it but otherwise very clean! Rust was treat on both the roof skin and tray, primered and painted before being bonded and welded back in place.

Christmas pressents

Not a fan of DTM style pipes so got new straight ones from Scorpion, the hoses are made to fit the E46 rack I'm fitting, and heated mirrors.

Small mod to the front valance to fit 2 grill vents, which will hardly be visible with the tec2 apron :roll:


De-locked doors (also did the wings):


Treating surface rust with deox-gel (love that stuff)

Zinc primed

Primered:

And finally visible progress, paint:


Paint isn't 100% a good match but good enough as it wont ever really be seen unless the carpet is lifted

jozi

Underside rust treated/chopped out/etc, primerd and sealed


And undersealed where needed and painted


Not 100% happy with the underseal, Marty will be re-applying it where needed while he has it.

I had painted the subframes, wishbones and drive/half-shafts with hammerite hmmered stone finish, not happy with the finish though and some parts were sent for powdercoating (and came back painted :evil: ). Paint didn't match so they were re-done but with the paint gun this time.


All the bits going to to get her rolling

8-)

And finally a week or so ago - July 2012




And I've not done anything sice

jozi

Pics of mods or improvements I made to various things

Rear ARB pickup point reinforcement


Reinforced rear ARB brackets:


Front ARB re-located to the strut, similar to the M3, with adjustable front links



Front ARB pick-up reinforcement


Also reinforced the engine mounts but can't find pics of this


Powdercoated, I mean painted parts.... :evil:



Rear beam with modified trailing arm mounts for camber and caster adjustment


M52 airbox bracket and relocated ABS bracket (ignore the bad welding and deox gel)


Wheels 8-)


Have taken a little brake from it since the shell was collected last week, intention is to get started on the engine and getting it ready to go into the shell along with everything else that needs moving over when I get it back from the paint shop.

jozi

9 Aug


Finally got the lend of a engine hoist this week and started by pulling the engine from the old shell



Nothing could just be straight forward with this build :mad: The oil filter cap refused to come of, after trying a few different things I eventually wrung the hex nut and proceeded to remove the cap with a little more violence :laughing:

If anyone has one spare, I'll take it of your hands

Engine is now back on the stand and I think I'll spend some time cleaning it now and just hope she runs when it all goes in the car.


23 Sept

Few hrs at it again today, got nearly all the plug plugged in and the ECU pulled in under the dash. Had to do a bit of a ghetto setup with the fuel tank, should work though. Just some wires to bolt up (not sure where they go yet), some fuel pipes, oil, alternator + belt and prob a few other things and I can try turn her over :dance:




Anyone know where these wires go?


Near the ECU side of the loom? Probably to the battery +/- terminals?


These are near the starter, do all 3 of them go on there or is one for the block or chassis?



Is this destined for the bin or am I meant to use it somewhere?



Which of these is the fuel feed and return?

jozi

29 Sept

Went to see Marty Lane today to see how he's getting on with the paint work and I was greeted with this:




The roof had been painted at some point and it crap hence why that was stripped back, the rear quarters were taken back to prevent reactions.

Front valance & skirts, bumper (and lower apron) ready for primer



Arch flares primered


Both front doors were prepped/being worked on



Some lead-loading they did on the plated up key holes:



The wings were also lead loaded but he didn't have them there. I can't remember what Marty told me he had done with the bonnet and boot lid. No corners being cut anyway, just how I like it

Forgot my camera, phone had to do, will bring the proper cam next time!

jozi

10 Oct

Slow progress, again, the last week or so, have slowly been getting everything ready to get the engine to turn over. Got a new battery for her yesterday, the fuel lines are all hooked up again as is all the wiring neatly tucked inside the wiring cover (which needed a little trimming, not 100% happy on the outcome of this though), just some nut needed on the bushes and a few small things. This is how she stands as of this evening:



Anyone know where this wire needs to go?

It's red and should be power but it won't fit with the other bundle of wires. I forget where it came from but I think it might be from the fuse box.


I also seem to have the whole lot sitting at a slight slant for what ever reason?

jozi

16 Oct

Went by the Marty earlier on today. Not a whole lot of progress due to him being sick and busy. Hopefully he'll have it in primer over the next week or two! Also visited a few car dealerships and come to the conclusion that BMW, Mini and audi are sound, Toyota were not friendly at all and Merc looked like a drug dealer.

jozi

19 Oct

Pretty much have the whole shell stripped down to the wiring loom



I need to figure out how to remove the back rest and the carpet area behind it, should have the part from the red shell to look at for this.

Few other pics of little mods I had to do related to the engine:






You can buy a proper intake silicone boot from a few places in the US but by the time you have it deliverd it ends up costing something like €130 :eek: I have been talking to a Samco distributor in the Uk who I think might also be able to sell me on but for a lot less. I used a 80mm to 74mm reducing elbow and some 20mm (I think) striaght pipe for the above. Lots of trimming until I was happy how it fitted and then made a hole for the AFM T-piece on the under side.

Little bit of trimming I had to do to the wiring harness cover so that it still fits:


There's a little trimming on the outer cover also but I can't find pics of it.

jozi

24/10/2012

Just a small update, got started on the wiring around the bay yesterday, going to tidy it all up and re-route some wires to make it a little neater in the bay.




Suggestions how to go about this welcome! Have some idea's but someone might have better ones!

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25/10/2012


Click image for video

Sounds much louder than expected with only the exhaust manifold, she's a little shaky, injectors are clicking away and idle is around 16-1800rpm (4cyl clocks). No idea if this is good/bad!

jozi

Small side-project I'm working on. No idea when I'll get round to refurbing and widening but at least 1 wheel is now split

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24/01/2013

It's been a little quiet in here so I thought I'd put these few pics up here.












Marty's sending a panel my way this weekend with a few colours on it for me to decide on what I want to go with.

jozi

31/01/2013

Dropped some clips down to Marty yesterday and collected a panel with 4 colours I was looking at painted on it.

Some pics of the panel next to a Mauritius blue wing:











I darkened the area with the brand/paint colour just to give them all a fair chance, colours may or may not be a bmw shade

jozi

04/05/2013

Small update... Over the last few weeks I've slowly been treating some of the heatshields and petrol tank for rust and getting them painted up. Apart from the big long heatshield and the tank everything is new.




The tank has 3x coats of paint under two coats of BMW stonechip which came out very matt looking so it got another quick coat of satin. The BMW stone chip is more of a heavy rubbery paint that stone chip though, it's not very thick but should help prevent stonechips.





I also gave these a coat of stonechip and sating paint since they are under the car and in the wheel well.

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22/07/2013

Small update, work has begun on the engine bay and it's got it's first coat of primers.




Stud for new earth, will have one on the other side also.



Battery tray trimmed back a little. Will have an M3 expansion tank fitted there along with the M3 plastic panel to hide any wires.


Front panel needs a little bit of work and one or two holes drilling around the bay.

jozi

31/07/2013

Another piece of the puzzle arrive yesterday from Holland:



I'll now be able to close the boot compartment when there's a battery in there, the difference is quite obvious (ignore the blurry cat).

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26/09/2013

Spent a couple hours everyday this week cleaning my interior. Pretty happy with how it all came out. There's some light staining on the boot carpet which hopefully won't be visible once I've it all dye'd, likewise with the floor mats.






Another pic for good measure, so comfy to sit in!


Carpet not cleaned yet, I just attacked some stains today, will do the rest tomorrow.

jozi

28/09/2013

This was my carpet today around lunch time, all nice and clean and stuff


And after about 90mins, quite a bit of sweat and nearly 1L of dye it all looks like this now:



The above were stitched together as a panorama and not quite in focus but you get the idea

For comparison:


I reckon it needs at least another coat maybe even 2 more. I'm out of dye though so it's going to have to wait till more arrives.

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30/10/2013

I was down with Marty today, things are starting to come together. The front panel is removable and the insides of the doors have been painted blue.


Couldn't resist doing a quick pano while I was there

Some random pics of 2 doors





Front end is removable and bay is also ready


It's all bolted down with welded on nuts


The box section capped off, same done to the upper part


I forgot to take a pic with the panel of so here's a crappy phone pic


Marty hopes to paint the rest this weekend or soon after

jozi

26/11/2013

I just got sent a few photo's, I'll let them do the talking:

jozi

Marty is aiming to have it back Friday, I'll prob be down with him for a look before then.

jozi

Got a few more pics from the painter earlier on:

jozi

28/11/2013

Forgot to mention I dyed the interior a second time last week.

Left dyed once, right twice


Not dyed vs dyed

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29/11/2013

jozi

Myself and Feens went for a look at the touring today. I can;t say anything other than that I'm very very happy with it! The colour is spot on and I really like it. The finish is also great, it's a little dusty in the pics and hasn't been flattened and polished yet in the pics but you get the idea:









Nearly time for it to come home :dance:

Tigger

brilliant

MetzgerMeister

This is exactly the kind of thing this forum has been desperately crying out for in the last while, thank you!

What a huge amount of work that has gone into this already! How long more do you think it'll be until you have her on the road?

jozi

Thanks guys! I'm just looking back at the dates and can't believe how lazy I am!

I've no idea when it will hit the road. Plan is to build it up as much as I can over the next month or two, I don't have everything I need just yet but enough to get brakes/fuel lines, engine, drive train all sorted out.

Karl Stein

Truly awesome. My new favourite thread.

*subscribes*

Ded_Zebra

really excellent work. Putting the time and attention to detail is nice to see!

More threads like this are needed!

MetzgerMeister

Hang on, I just realised this is in Classic Cars, not motors Motors needs it more than CC :P

b.c

Why not both?

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Hang on, I just realised this is in Classic Cars, not motors Motors needs it more than CC :P

Ded_Zebra

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Hang on, I just realised this is in Classic Cars, not motors Motors needs it more than CC :P

It's one and the same once you know where the thread is. What we really need is a sub forum for builds. On all brand/model specific forums there is a specific build section, why can't we have one here?

MetzgerMeister

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

It's one and the same once you know where the thread is. What we really need is a sub forum for builds. On all brand/model specific forums there is a specific build section, why can't we have one here?

Ded_Zebra

Why tumble weed??? I have a confusion now :P

Are you saying that the build section would be empty or is it something I said

MetzgerMeister

Well since Jozi's build is actually the first one I've seen since I joined boards, a build forum would be a graveyard.

Tigger

I build stuff ( bikes and cars) but I'm too lazy/shy to put them in the busy forums

A build forum would be nice
For cars tractors bikes etc

Ded_Zebra

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Well since Jozi's build is actually the first one I've seen since I joined boards, a build forum would be a graveyard.

Just because they aren't here doesn't mean they're not happening and the users here aren't doing them.
DGT has had some on other sites for his pug and his bravo van. I'm sure Paddy (whatever the rest of his user name is) has one for his 3 series. Gary and Drummerboy probably have some for race cars. Kev1.3 has one here for his Fulvia. Supergurrier could probably do one for his ST with all the stuff he bought recently.
That is just from the top of my head so there must be many more going on, I think it would be pretty busy:)

MetzgerMeister

I think the "Today I Did Something to my Car" thread has it all covered though.

Karl Stein

Tis grand where it is - I was expecting to see it in the main Motors forum if anything. No need to subdivide boards even more than it already is imho.

kev1.3s

Excellent project!! And extremely well documented, love the colour.

kev1.3s

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

Just because they aren't here doesn't mean they're not happening and the users here aren't doing them.
DGT has had some on other sites for his pug and his bravo van. I'm sure Paddy (whatever the rest of his user name is) has one for his 3 series. Gary and Drummerboy probably have some for race cars. Kev1.3 has one here for his Fulvia. Supergurrier could probably do one for his ST with all the stuff he bought recently.
That is just from the top of my head so there must be many more going on, I think it would be pretty busy:)

That reminds me to update that thread a little, I think a build section would encourage more people to showcase there projects.

Quazzie

First up. Excellent thread jozi. Some really good (and inspiring) pics.

Secondly. As someone, who is building a car themselves I can say that I would gladly post a thread if there was a Build forum, or somewhere where my thread wouldn't get swamped up other threads. I never considered the Classic Cars section as it's not really a classic, and I'm not restoring it, moreso rebuilding and modifying it, so I suspected it wouldn't be appreciated here. Any such build forum, might not be the biggest in terms of posts, but I could almost guarantee that it'd be the most appreciated forum on here when it starts to get a few more threads like this.

bear1

Now that is dedication! Too good to be even driven on the roads! Subscribed

jozi

Which mods would need to be asked for a build section? I put it in classics because it's pretty much considered as one. I'd be interested in following other build threads, bit of a change from the usually BMW's I look at.

There are a couple of other great threads on E30owners, one I would say are even better than mine if even in different ways. Kdevitt also has his E30 build thread on here.

Red Kev

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Hang on, I just realised this is in Classic Cars, not motors Motors needs it more than CC :P

E 30 Touring is the perfect youngtimer, so it belongs here too, post them in both. Love that colour on it BTW.

Keep the E30 in the one thread as it's easier to look back a few pages and get a feel for what was done to the car.

jozi

I defo won't be making another thread in motors, I already have more than enough threads going that need updating every time :P

I PM'ed Unkel who sent me to the appropriate section where I started a thread requesting a dedicated section: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=87891442#post87891442

garclo

best thread ever! absolutely brilliant. some amount of work and dedication but it will be sooo worth it in the end! i'd love to have the knowledge and the balls to take on a project like this. well done and can't wait to see it finished!

carlosfandango

@jozi
This is fantastic work man & having owned one in the past, they are a great car to give this level of attention to.
I love the colour & the detail.
Fair play to you for putting up the thread in this section, great to see it. I do think the classic section on here (the only part of boards I actually read) does have some good threads going but has dropped away over the last couple of years.

It's great that when I popped in this evening I found this.
Well done & keep up the good work.

CFD

kdevitt

Its looking great - plenty of effort still ahead of you though I'd imagine. I'm still collecting bits for mine at this stage!

jozi

Still! I guess their never really fully finished. I think I have about 90% of what I need to finish it, that 10% is all clips and little things I don't know I need yet. Be some craic anyway putting it together!

garclo wrote: »

best thread ever! absolutely brilliant. some amount of work and dedication but it will be sooo worth it in the end! i'd love to have the knowledge and the balls to take on a project like this. well done and can't wait to see it finished!

Thanks. I couldn't weld before I started, my brother showed me how to before he left for Oz and I learned from there. The rest I'm not sure I can do either but we'll figure it out

carlosfandango wrote: »

@jozi
This is fantastic work man & having owned one in the past, they are a great car to give this level of attention to.
I love the colour & the detail.
Fair play to you for putting up the thread in this section, great to see it. I do think the classic section on here (the only part of boards I actually read) does have some good threads going but has dropped away over the last couple of years.

It's great that when I popped in this evening I found this.
Well done & keep up the good work.

CFD

Thanks! They are a great car and hopefully so will this!

101sean

Excellent thread, we need more of this!

I had an E30 as a company car back in the late 80s, it's one of the very few cars that would I wouldn't mind owning if I ever get tired of Land Rovers!

jozi

Sean: I have a thread asking for a builds section in the admin requests forum section.

Their fun to drive but in a different way to your landrover would be. Slowly but surely getting harder to find good ones although they do popup from time to time!

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Another part finished and ready to go onto the car.

I cleaned up the brake master cylinder ages ago with a wire wheel and wire brush and then left it soaking in Deox-C poweder to de-rust it.

The original servo is massive and doesn't fit any longer with the m52, fouls in the intake manifold, so a Clio one was used. The rod inside needed to be removed and after figuring out it wasn't metric but actually 1/4" UNF I got a threaded rod and cut it down so it was just about level with the face of the serve (same as on the original servo).

Original


Clio


The Clevis pin hole also needed filing out a little to accommodate the E30 pin



Dificult to see but I used a threaded round bar/slieve on the rod to stop it moving and it's also nice and snug inside the end of the MS