The complete repair, rebuild, repaint, and v8 swap of my early model sedan

[bmwmech1]

... I think I may try thinner wire for the next piece, hopefully things go a little better.

What wire diameter are you using? I found a big difference in going from a .035" wire down to a .030" wire for the thinner sheet metal areas I did. My other suggestion is to "tack" weld the thinner material. Work slowly, and weld one tack at a time, going in between each successive pair of tacks, until you have one continuous bead. It takes a lot longer, but the heat is less and you won't burn through like you do when trying to do one continuous bead. Go to Eastwood's website and see if they have a sheet metal/metal working DVD, I think they do... If it's not too expensive, it might be a good investment... lots of tips and tricks in those DVD's... Good luck and if you need any ???'s answered, shoot me a PM...

Garey

[JGood]

What wire diameter are you using? I found a big difference in going from a .035" wire down to a .030" wire for the thinner sheet metal areas I did. My other suggestion is to "tack" weld the thinner material. Work slowly, and weld one tack at a time, going in between each successive pair of tacks, until you have one continuous bead. It takes a lot longer, but the heat is less and you won't burn through like you do when trying to do one continuous bead. Go to Eastwood's website and see if they have a sheet metal/metal working DVD, I think they do... If it's not too expensive, it might be a good investment... lots of tips and tricks in those DVD's... Good luck and if you need any ???'s answered, shoot me a PM...

Garey

I'm actually using .025 currently. Was considering going down to .023. But if you're using .030 I guess that's not the problem.

I'm not really good with tacking, I don't think it penetrates well when I do. I'll practice some more.

Thanks for the tip on the DVD, I'll check it out. I work across the street from Eastwood, so I go in there a lot to pick their brains and get metal prep/finish supplies.

[Asrial Dune]

Wow, you're taking on a lot more project than I'd ever try. I definitely wanna see how this turns out. Good luck and awesome job keeping the car alive.

[JGood]

Look what just arrived. So much for a month wait... it was 10 business days!

If you want one, act fast. Only 7 left in the world now :)

[JrCamacho]

Wow, they still have these pieces? Thats amazing! its great to see the work and effort that your putting into your e30! this is definitely something that is one-of at least in the sense that this car will have some sentimental value... more than just ownership, your actually rebuilding this car structurally.

I applaud you sir! And keep it up!

[E30 Wagen]

Commendable, but no amount of sentimental value would compel me repair that if it were mine! My eta chassis is in a similar state of disrepair, along with a dying engine. I'm driving it until the timing belt breaks and then it's off the scrapper.

Nevertheless, I hope you get the desired result, and it's nice to see another e30 saved.

[JGood]

Lined up the new strut tower on the car to make sure I'm on track with the firewall rebuild. It needs to come out about 1/4" to meet the wheel housing flange, which shouldn't be a big deal. But I'll probably do that before doing any more welding.

The new part is NICE. All of the brackets except for the cruise control bracket are already attached, so I don't have to worry about getting the hood latch mounts in the right place or anything like that. It wasn't damaged at all in shipping, so it's nice and straight. I'm very happy with it for $300.

[JGood]

In other news, someone rear ended me in my X5 two days ago, and this morning the check engine light came on. So I'm going to have my hands full dealing with that crap. I haven't had a day off work for 2 weeks and won't for another week, so I am struggling to find time to deal with this stuff. Not to mention I can't exactly pull this car out of the garage in order to pull in the X5 to work on it... and it's pretty damn cold to be working out in the driveway!

[JGood]

Update...

A local kid rolled his e30, so I took the opportunity to cut out pieces of the floor and firewall that I needed, before his insurance company took the car. My gas pedal mount was very rusty, and the odd-shaped hole that the wire harness goes through was rusted... so I took both of these pieces. And tonight I finished up welding them in place.


Donor:











Pedal joint replacement:














Firewall hole replacement:










I know the firewall looks pretty crazy as far as the welds. I've still got a lot of grinding and more welding to do. The bends in that area are all over the place, it's hard to weld 20g without warping it to begin with, but to conform to the bends in that area are damn near impossible for me. So I'm welding in small pieces at a time, and shaping it as I go. It will most definitely look like shit when I'm done, but it will be hidden under seam sealer and undercoating, so, oh well.



One interesting thing I came across on the upper part of the firewall, under the cowl (normally hidden by sound deadening). Runs in the factory paint.

[Simon S]

yep..
you are bat shit crazy..

there is no turning back now..

[Jean]

Mad props man!

[Pantless Spency]

yep..
you are bat shit crazy..

there is no turning back now..

[JGood]

Patched up the huge hole where the jack square used to be. This area, like most others, will be covered in Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator, then seam sealer, then painted... So I didn't put much effort into making it look pretty.

I also began patching the area of the floorboard near the frame rail, which I should be able to finish tonight... just one little hole to cover. Then I'll be done with the drivers front area, and can move on to reinstalling the strut housing, and then work on the passenger side.

I'm really happy with the progress so far. And I've learned a LOT about metal working and welding in the past few weeks.

[bmwmech1]

Looks like you're making good progress! Never guess who I ran into today... Jason Hower, lol! Talked with him many times on the forums, never met, until today. He said all you guys were friends long before you all got into BMW's... pretty cool. Nice to finally met him, too... Keep up the good work, it'll be done in no time!

Garey

[MR 325]

Excellent work, you are a true psycho. :)