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Thor's totally uninformed build thread! (TUBT)

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    Thor's totally uninformed build thread! (TUBT)

    Hey guys, I figured I would post up here and outline what I have planned for the beautiful pair of E30's I just bought!

    I've been searching for a platform for a project car for 2-3 years and for an E30 for a solid year. Iv'e been a car enthusiast for almost a decade but I've never actually done something crazy. It all started when my son was born about a year ago. I never really had my father around while I was growing up. I had no one to teach me how to be a man, or do manly things. I've taught myself everything over the years (thank you internet) but I don't want my son to have to learn the hard way. I want him to have mechanical work and house work to be second nature, if he's mechanically inclined like I am... he shall be a force to be reckoned with. These cars will teach me more than I could ever imagine about how to do and work with almost everything car related.

    Anyways enough with the ramble. I bought a 86 325e and a 87 325 sedans both. 86 runs great but has rust. 87 has the most immaculate body I've ever seen (looking through builds for a year.) But no engine, used to be an M20. So for now the plan is use 86' as a fun car and complete 87'. Then switch project cars. My wife will probably end up driving the 86, I constantly talk about cars and she usually glazes over. I told her I wasn't feeling well and she should drive the runner home. She gets out and says some of the most amazing things to me " Wouldn't it be awesome if we had matching E30's?" and "I really like this car! It feels so good and handles better than SiSi!" (2009 civic si) So this may have just turned my wife into a car girl *prays* Anyways, there's a 95 540i on CL for $350 no title. I would buy the 540, strip it in a weekend. Throw the motor where ever I could, junk chassis, and begin selling off parts to recoupe my costs. I think I could make money on it!

    Now what I'm worried about is cost because it most defiantly is a factor. I bought one of these cars to be cheap and most bang for my buck. My Integra was too cheap feeling and this seemed like the best option for me. I would honestly be happy with 200 RWHP, as it would be more than anything I've owned. I'm not trying to break the internet, or impress anyone. But the only thing that has me skeptical is the MPG. I'm building this car simply to enjoy driving. Maybe attempt to slide it at a drift event once a year, and do another autox. But I'm mostly building it to be a cruiser and canyon carver.


    Good lord I talk a lot, if you've made it this far thank you for your patience. I'm looking at the 540 tomorrow, should have it towed and then begins the tear down and inventory of pieces. I'm going to outline costs pretty much to a T in this build, simply because I'm constantly hearing "that's going to be way more money than you expect!" If it is, you'll learn through this thread.


    Mjolnir: This thing has such a good finish, the paint has rock chip damage, but there's almost no rust anywhere on the car. The blue interior is hideous though, and it has been neglected as well (Intense UV in Colorado). I can't wait to buy her donor car!!!



    Eve: I should have washed her and taken pictures before attacking the plastidip. But I did not want to wait around for the rust to get worse, or become complacent with her finish even though horrors could be underneath. She's on some lowering springs, but everything about her has been severely neglected. Luckily she came with a bunch of replacement parts (motor) in a box in the trunk.






    Thank you all, Thor
    Last edited by thorhack; 05-26-2016, 07:47 AM. Reason: Add pics
    Eve- 86' Black E325 Sedan
    Mjolnir- 87' White 325 Sedan
    Rusty- 85' White 325 Coupe

    #2
    Beginnings

    So yesterday I actually had time to do a more thorough look over on the cars. The Runner (EVE) is plast-dipped, incredibly poorly. What I uncovered yesterday horrified me. They did a ton of body work, luckily but unfortunately they did not paint over it. They simply dipped, thinly over the top. So not only does it not peel well because of lack of layers, it gets caught in the rough surface. It took me two hours to remove the bottom trim, rear trim, and half the roof. Buying mineral spirits to dissolve tomorrow. I discovered she has two rust holes, passenger floorboard, and left side of trunk. There's also some pretty bad stuff going on where the license plate illumination is. Screws rusted body rusted around it. I got rid of what I could yesterday with a wire brush and sprayed rust reformer on it. I have to drill out the screws tomorrow and do the other side.

    Plastidip horrors!!!







    It's like they "exploratory sanded" the entire car, all the edges were bare metal. Here's what I was talking about with the dip not wanting to come off. This took me around 4 hours of peeling >.< However I was able to get some cool shots of the front grille and emblem :D

    Can I just remove flaky rust and wire brush to clean metal then use rust reformer? I think it will work out but let me know.

    Also I broke the door sill panels on Mjolnir(no motor), after attempting to replace Eve's I can't seem to find new pieces for this online. Not OEM, I want new not 30 year old expensive and brittle plastic. If I can't come up with something, I think I'll glass some new ones and ditch the plastic tabs.

    Pictures tomorrow of all the fun and exciting work, haha.

    Thanks for reading Thor.
    Last edited by thorhack; 05-26-2016, 07:50 AM.
    Eve- 86' Black E325 Sedan
    Mjolnir- 87' White 325 Sedan
    Rusty- 85' White 325 Coupe

    Comment


      #3
      You can prolong the life of a car by wire brushing and using rust reformer, but the rust will come back eventually.

      Since this is more of a runner, I think your plan of attack is very practical.

      Welcome, and please post pictures!

      Originally posted by whysimon
      WTF is hello Kitty (I'm 28 with no kids and I don't have cable)

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by FredK View Post
        You can prolong the life of a car by wire brushing and using rust reformer, but the rust will come back eventually.

        Since this is more of a runner, I think your plan of attack is very practical.

        Welcome, and please post pictures!
        Thanks man, what would be a better method? obviously chop and re-weld new metal in. But is there any middle of the road approach?

        I'll only ever trade this for a reasonably priced ix...which will never happen. So I want this car to last!

        And jesus those pictures are massive. I'll have to fix that...
        Last edited by thorhack; 03-24-2016, 08:47 PM.
        Eve- 86' Black E325 Sedan
        Mjolnir- 87' White 325 Sedan
        Rusty- 85' White 325 Coupe

        Comment


          #5
          Whew, *wipes sweat from brow* It has been awhile R3V! I took a break due to other projects (Found my wife's first vehicle and bought it), shitty weather (tons of snow in spring) and general lack of knowledge about working on cars.

          Last week something amazing happened. I got a notifier about a new posting to Craigslist tagged E30. An older guy was selling a coupe with motor, tranny and diff for $600. I had just spent all my money on buying my wife's first car so I was dead broke. Oh well favorite and move on...but wait! He said he would take a trade for a 8.8 posi rear end. So I did some mad google sorcery and figured out what I needed and how to get it. Mind you, I have never done more than an oil change or brake pad install before this day. Something about this deal got me motivated to make it happen. I had a breakthrough. All my hesitations about mechanics were thrown out the window I was getting this damn deal TODAY! So, off to Upullnpay I went, I successfully extracted the entire rear end, sway bars included out of a 99 eddie bower edition exploder. With the help of some country boys we loaded it into the back of my civic kid hauler. Time to look at the E30!

          Drove out with the guy to his hangar at the airport. Inside was my dream, WW2 era medic plane, hovercraft, two E30's, a 2002 resto mod, 69 charger, studebaker (hot rod he wanted the rear end for), 52 ford coupe, and a Lotus Esprit. This guy is a boss! We shook hands and parted ways for now. We still talk bmw's when we get a chance and have exchanged a couple of parts in the last week. Some pics of his hanger.

          So all in all for $150 I got the motor, tranny, manual swap components, ECU, and Diff I want. I posted the part out on facebook and three people want to buy the whole thing already HELL YEAH!









          Last edited by thorhack; 05-26-2016, 08:12 AM.
          Eve- 86' Black E325 Sedan
          Mjolnir- 87' White 325 Sedan
          Rusty- 85' White 325 Coupe

          Comment


            #6
            Digging into the new Coupe (Rusty) I've discovered some great, and not so great things. Motor looks like it was taken care of pretty well, new shiny bits! However the valve cover is off and I found a head gasket kit in the trunk, uh oh. Tranny shifts like butter and feels great. However the thing is insanely plagued with rust.







            Had my buddy drop off a motor hoist yesterday, and took Eve out for a spin and mini shoot on the gorgeous day. I noticed a weird idle/throttle issue that I'll have to address but other than that she runs like a dream and I had so much fun! I can tell I'll have at least one E30 till I die, love these cars.





            I've decided that I'll get the runner to top price condition while teaching myself how to work on it, then sell and wait for a 91' coupe, 5 spd, in red...If I'm going to have a money pit I want it to be exactly what I want when I think of my perfect E30 (non-M3 of course) Mjolnir, wht sedan, will get Rusty's engine and Eve's upgrades. I'll take the coil overs (Raceland :down:), the turner chip, and the sound system (Kicker speakers, Kenwood usb deck) off Eve and get it in tip top shape. This will be my car until I find my dream, then I'll hand it over to my wife. Stock + slight performance probably poly bushings, sway bars, 19lb injectors, apparently this helps the chip out. Haven't done enough research yet. Please chime in!

            How Rusty sits today:
            Last edited by thorhack; 05-26-2016, 08:59 AM.
            Eve- 86' Black E325 Sedan
            Mjolnir- 87' White 325 Sedan
            Rusty- 85' White 325 Coupe

            Comment


              #7
              Hey man, looks like you've got the e30 bug too! If you end up parting out the white early model, I need the left rear tail light area for my turbo iX and yours looks to be in pretty good shape. If you decide to part it/ crush it, let me know so I can cut the section I need out before you do!
              318iS Track Rat :nice: www.drive4corners.com
              '86 325iX 3.1 Stroker Turbo '86 S38B36 325

              No one makes this car anymore. The government won't allow them, normal people won't buy them. So it's up to us: the freaks, the weirdos, the informed. To buy them, to appreciate them, and most importantly, to drive them.

              Comment


                #8
                Everything has changed xD



                Eve- 86' Black E325 Sedan
                Mjolnir- 87' White 325 Sedan
                Rusty- 85' White 325 Coupe

                Comment

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