E30's are never finished.

[bangn]

Had a decent progress weekend, for the first time in months it feels like i'm getting closer.

Cleaned up the engine and im resealing it. Its a trusty unit so im not going to rebuild it until it needs it.




engine bay is ready for the motor now. Had to get new clips for the clutch and brake lines


wiring all done in the back


fog lamps in


and finally the car has 4 belt molds. Just love how straight it looks. . Paints not pealy, its just dusty!


got a fair few "small things" that I had pushed aside to do later all done finally.. they piled up over time and was just overwhelmed with the work and never really had the time to finish them off.. finally got that chance

so next is to re-seal the engine, drop it in and start bolting up the driveline. Put the fuel tank back in and replace all the hoses. Pop a windscreen in and get some black plastic mesh for the front vallance.. Will look nicer against an intercooler than an open hole.

[Roadrunner]

Damn, dude, that's one painstakingly thorough project you're in the middle of. It's looking amazing! :up: Keeping all of the hardware and little bits and pieces organized while they're waiting to be put on the car must be challenging to say the least.

Did you ever end up doing the dashboard crack repair? That's one of the next things I want to try in my car, so I'm curious what method you used and how it turned out.

[bangn]

thankyou :) I bagged, labeled an crated everything off the car and put it into storage.. So what I do is pull a bag out and see if its something I can put back on the car. If not I keep looking for a bag that I can put back on the car. If I come close to needing it I put the bag in the spot on the car. Once the bag is empty I grab a new bag. So I just pick at it bit by bit until it turns into a car. The pile of crates is getting much smaller.


I did make a start on the dash and started on filling a crack. I came to an issue when I was sanding it down and found the vinyl pulls away from the sides filler when you push on the padding. This wont do and will just end up cracking. So It seems like I need to put filler over the top of the crack and blend it through the dash.

I need to re-address how to repair it basically. And my process is generally push it aside until I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea.

[Roadrunner]

So I just pick at it bit by bit until it turns into a car.

You make it sound like the car basically reassembles itself! Great system you have going; seeing the pile of crates shrinking as you go must be motivating too. I'll have to try something like that on a much smaller scale since I'm always losing something and finding bits of hardware in the grass weeks later.

As for the dashboard, most of the DIYs I've read for how to repair cracks don't sound like they would hold up over time and would look worse than leaving it cracked, so I was wondering what you came up with. I'm going to test out a couple of ideas on my dash and a used dash I picked up and see how it goes.

[bangn]

got the rocker cover finished off



also got the windscreen frame all sealed off and ready for glass. Roof loom is in plus an extra loom I made for the custom map light.

Only bad thing that happened today was putting the loom up for the roof and forgetting to put the loom up for the diagnostic control box.. pushed all the clips in the A pillar and found the loom later. The clips break off when you try to remove them.. Pain in the ass when I found those last clips cost me $25 and I snapped them in half half an hour after installing them. Oh well.

[Dalejandrino]

this is inspiring. great work

[bangn]

new screen in



motor all resealed and ready to go back in, also popped a new pressure sender in the block. Better not leak a drop now


picking up an engine hoist Friday, so motor will be in Saturday morning and will see if I can get the fuel tank and gearbox in as well.

[bangn]

its in! also finally washed the front of the car off


sitting pretty (just incase anyone is wondering that is water on the plenum chamber, not paint runs)

[bangn]

so I went to work and came home with another E30.. will be used as a parts car to finish off the other burgandy one..

[bangn]

got a fair bit done this weekend

- A/C pump all cleaned up (took three hours with a nylon brush and degreaser)
- Cleaned up the fuel tank and put cavity sealer over the top of it to prevent any chance it wants to rust..
- Fuel lines scrubbed down and replaced the fuel hoses
- Tail Shaft now in
- Exhaust shield and rear muffler now in
- Installed interior firewall insulation (modified it so its only there to cushion the dash. I don't want the whole firewall covered as you cant see when you have windscreen leaks.. So it terminates at the pedal box mount




illuminated M gearknob - Had to put it on.. I wanted to feel the car again.


Modded and Original



So not much to go now
Retrim the dash
Retrim the rear seats
Aircon to rig up and engine bay to finish
Rear bumper to source and paint
Rear spoiler to finish working on and paint

[bangn]

found out that bimmerfest is coming November.. so I'm going to try my best to have the car finished by then

got the Aircon pipes in with new RD and TX valve

[bangn]

still plugging along.. purchased a couple of E30's for spares and parts for this car. So spent a bit of time pulling those down.

Put the wiper linkage in.. holy fuck I wish I put that in before I put the HVAC in. One of the worst jobs ive done for a long long time. Took 5 hours, would of been much quicker if I didn't give a shit about chipping the paintwork. Has all new grommets, washers and seals, and has been re-greased. Should perform like new. I have the condensor ready to go in as well but I was short shipped one bloody clip on my last order.. so will have to wait

Got some new interior lamps and mounted cable ties for the engine bay.. Just been slowly chipping away at that.


The latest little retromod I've been doing is an alternative fuel filter re-located from the rear in that pain in the ass spot down to the front. Plan is to turbo later on and I didn't want the big filter down near the vapor canister.. PITA to change.

So this was my solution. I welded a point onto the power steering canister to mount a fuel filter retainer cable tie that's fitted on holden commodores here in Australia. Instead of the commodore filter I used an R32-34 skyline fuel filter which has the 8mm flared inlet and outlet. I picked the skyline filter because its proven to support high flow/pressure. I also had to snip off the terminated port on the side of the master tank and press fit a plastic fitting to stop it fouling on the filter.. Got me a bit nervous but thankfully it fits really well.

All that needs doing to replace it is disconnect the hose down at the chassis rail by lying under the car an pull the whole lot upwards with the hose.

[cncmastr]

Car looks great, how did you paint the brake ducts? Did you get your body shop to mix paint in a can for you?


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