How much rust is too much?

[CR325IS]

I have an 88 325is that I have owned for 17 yrs its from IL and I drove it in winter roads. It is my first car and I'd like to restore it but I dint know if it's worth keeping and swapping parts over. Everything I see looks overpriced and I don't know if my car is too rusty for body work and paint. I'd like to keep it but it needs a rear valence, 4 floor pans, rear inner wheel wells and has a small amount of rust on the frame. I have put thousands into this car and numerous repairs have been made. The motor and trans are good. Saveable or try finding a new shell?

[CR325IS]

I don't know why this won't let me upload pictures

[CR325IS]

[CR325IS]

[AWDBOB]

yeesh. I would get a new shell, if it were me. You can fix all of that, but once you start grinding, there is going to be way more once you peel it back.

[rturbo 930]

Your photos don't really tell the whole story, or even half of it. How much effort are you willing to put into it? What is scrap to one person might be fixable to another, particularly if there's sentimental value.

Unless you get into some tricky structural repairs, it's really just a matter of putting the time in. Patching floors and other sheet metal is pretty straight forward.

[Panici]

The car can definitely be fixed.
If you are doing the work yourself it's just a matter of how much time/effort you want to put into it.
Valcas garage makes patch panels which will speed up the process compared to fabricating everything by hand.


Sometimes it's an emotional decision and that's okay too. My E36 should have been scrapped before I even got it, but for some reason I keep putting time and money into it. 🤷♂️


If you're paying someone to do the repairs, then I'd be looking for a new shell instead.

[KI4UJO]

The car can definitely be fixed.
If you are doing the work yourself it's just a matter of how much time/effort you want to put into it.
Valcas garage makes patch panels which will speed up the process compared to fabricating everything by hand.


Sometimes it's an emotional decision and that's okay too. My E36 should have been scrapped before I even got it, but for some reason I keep putting time and money into it. 🤷♂️


If you're paying someone to do the repairs, then I'd be looking for a new shell instead.

This, x100. If you are paying someone to do these repairs, it is most likely not financially viable. At this point in the average e30's lifestyle, one has to be willing to spend entirely more money than the car is valued at to get anywhere close to day zero status.

[CR325IS]

I've looked for shells but everyone wants a crazy amount for a coupe that looks like shit too. I don't know how to weld but I have sourced a lot of the sheet metal to get the job done. I've already put a boat load of $$ into this thing and at this point if I got a shell and would have to swap everything over Idk if the time/money to do that even would be worth it. I'll probably just keep it and ride it out. Yeah I got all the gas lines/ gas tank repaired and when on the lift at the shop I saw how crusty it was underneath. Sorry about the shitty pictures. I was just asking you guys because I'm sure you have ran into the same problems along the way.

[CR325IS]

I've never done any sort of body work or welding before.

[varg]

The question "is it worth it to fix this shell" has a rapidly changing answer. What was not worth saving 5 years ago can be easily worth it today. You're on the west coast so it should not be too difficult to find a car that isn't rusty, but cheap? No. I don't think you can find a nice complete E30 for under $10k now regardless of the model, and how often does someone strip down a rust free car anymore? Floor pans are the best place to learn body work, and welding is a great skill to develop if you have the space, but that car is going to need to be up in the air and completely stripped down inside to fix all of that. There's no shortcut. A good paint job alone is $5k these days, I've been doing the restoration math on my car lately and it's definitely worth it for me to fix the floor and battery box myself, but the roof needs to be done by a pro.

[Northern]

Versus a northern car, this doesn't look bad.

The two floor "drain plug" locations and the front cabin floor jack points should be straightforward with the carpet out.

Those are hidden under the car so it's not crucial how it looks and you could get away with some flat sheet steel and a hammer for most of it. If you're more discerning, a few places (E30garageNorway, Valcas, E30rescue, others?) make nice replacement floor sections and jack point patches.

A cheap or used MIG with 0.025" wire and a hobbyist tank of C25 is a weapon against rust with a few youtube videos worth of training, otherwise there should be someone willing to patch the underside stuff well enough to pass any sort of safety inspection you have.

I'd go at that diff mount and see how much rust there is once you wire wheel it. It might not be that bad.

The trunk pocket is the big ticket repair from the pictures, Not sure if anyone makes the late model trunk pockets yet, but I'm pretty sure some of the inners exist now.
Worst case, you do a hideous job and can hide it with a rear skirt. If you tackle this yourself, I'd save this until last.


EDIT: My trunk pocket back in 2011 - it's a photobucket picture so you might need a browser plugin for it to show up. Forgive the watermark.

[CR325IS]

I found the trunk area for 500 from a friend. I guess I was just concerned with my inner rear wheel wells and that front frame area.