e30 M3 minor rust repair.

[funcrew]

You are completely barking mad. Keep up the awesome work.

Agreed. When God formed Adam out of the clay and breathed life into him, I imagine that project going much like your rust repair job.

[monty23psk]

Speechles....coming out very nice.

[fannman]

incredible. When i clicked the thread saying "e30 m3 MINOR rust repair" i thought i was gonna see a bit of sanding, some bondo, then the car off to shop to patch up. Its awesome what one person can do.

you and me thought the exact same thing. keep up the work, I cant wait to see the end result! :D

I vote for a sticky or its own subforum.

Subscribed

[chadthestampede]

You are completely barking mad. Keep up the awesome work.

[Dermeister3]

wow! just.... WOW

incredible. When i clicked the thread saying "e30 m3 MINOR rust repair" i thought i was gonna see a bit of sanding, some bondo, then the car off to shop to patch up. Its awesome what one person can do.

[monkeytaco]

I just read this entire thread. I now feel like an inadequate hack.

However, your work is inspiring, and you are my hero.

And now that it's been a few weeks since your last update, I NEED MOAR!

[Nugget]

You're a fucking legend, get your Irish arse over to RR and show off (and join us on a convoy to a great gathering in England in August with LOTS of Retro cars and Bushmills/drunk brits.) and also have a 10 glass of Black Bush on my behalf seeing as I'm at home with my parents. :)

[Naplm00]

you have some serious time and attnetion to detail on your hands.

I applaud you

[xworks]

and then the large flat washer(2) is slid onto the strut followed by the mount......



which is then followed by the small washer(1) and nut(4)......



after the nut is tightened down the spring compressors can be removed
and the little dust cap popped back into the centre of the mount.....



after which the ABS sensors were refitted....



and the final bits to go back on the struts are the brakes, a fresh set of disc's......





and then the calipers bolt back on just like the rears, which leaves them
looking like so......



The other bits needed before the struts could be bolted back
into the car was wishbones and "lollipop" bushes.
These are M3 bushes the differences being over standard e30 bushes
the hole in the centre is off to one side and there more solidly packed
out with rubber......



theres a little arrow on them to help you press them into the lollipops
in the right place......





To go with them is a fresh set of Lemforder wishbones....



and anti roll bar drop links......



After which, everything is rebolted back onto the car and when I could
see which bolts were needed to reconnect everything I could order
them all in stainless steel to replace all the manky rusted old ones.....



Which leaves her looking like this......







One giant leap for man, one small leap forward for this project........



And that brings this update to a close which is perfect
timing as tomorrows Saint Patricks day and I'm
away to get very drunk.
Till next time........

[xworks]

one goes below the spring like so........



and one sits onto the top spring platform like so......







after that the strut top mounts go on. These are offset ones (p/n 31331139484)
which as you can see in the pic the hole in the centre is offset to one
side a little. And if fitted the right way around they will move the top
of the strut in towards the engine a little (half a degree) and give you
a little more camber at the front wheels, which should improve road holding.
In reality the change (half a degree) is so little any effect they have is
going to be small but if your changing the top mounts anyway they
aren't a great deal more expensive then the standard ones......



the new mounts don't come with the three little studs needed for fitment.....



So, nuts on to protect the threads.....



pop them up loosely in the vise.....



and batter the living shite out of them......



and now the reason I said they can help "if" fitted the right way. Theres
6 holes on the mounts and you've 3 studs to fit, so which holes to use?
On the underside of the mounts 3 of the holes are marked with a +
and 3 with a - . As we're trying to subtract camber (add negative camber)
the studs are fitted to the 3 minus holes......





with that sorted it's on to actually fitting the mounts to the strut.
5 items in total
Strut mount
1) small washer
2) large washer
3) bevelled washer
4) nut



on the underside of the mount you can see the strut top bearing which
comes pre greased......



the bevelled washer(3) is topped up with a little grease on the inside.....





and popped down on top of the bearing.....

[xworks]

When there back on, the nut is screwed up and torqued with a size
46mm socket.....



after which the little rim on top of the nut is clenched into the cut out
on the spindle (which is probably the most long winded way of saying,
bend this)............



and then the the front dust caps are fitted with a little smear of grease
on the inner rim to help keep them water tight......





Next up the shock absorber. Threads at the top of the strut tube get a
little clean....



and then the front insert is dropped in. The shocks by the way are
Bilstein gas shocks and I remember reading somewhere that unlike
the normal procedure of filling the gap between the shock and the
inside of the strut tube with oil, with gas shocks its recommended to
leave this space empty. So I just gave it a few squirts of the oil can
to keep it from rusting in there.......





This little dude screws down on top of the shock into the tube
and keeps it secure. I used to have the special tool for screwing these
in, but I lent it to a person(bastard) a long time ago,
and that person(bastard) forgot to bring it back and
I've forgotten who that person(bastard) is. But one day I'll remember
who the person(bastard) was and that Bastard is in for a surprise.





The little item arrowed below is for securing the shock dust boot and
it's very important to remember to fit it before screwing down
the shock collar....



F*****************************k...........





Next on is the springs which also paid a visit to the powder coater.....



Springs by the way are Eibach and are listed by them for the 318is
I think. They're practically the same poundage as the original M3 springs
but just sit lower and I was happy with the ride and handling before the
car came off the road so there didn't seem to be much point in changing them.
Before the springs can be fitted they need to be compressed with the
aid of spring compressors and a few bits of rubber tube so as not to
scratch the powder coating back off again.......





on either side of the springs go these rubber seats so they don't squeak
as your driving along......

[xworks]

The front spindle gets a rub of 1200 grit to polish it up.....



then the rear dust cap gets popped on.....





followed by the backing plate......





and next up is the wheel bearing. As is well documented around the
interweb by now the E28 wheel bearings and e30 M3 bearing are the one
and the same unit, only difference being different ABS rings and a big
difference in price. So, pair of E28 bearings.......



pull the Abs rings off.....



and then pull the rings off the old M3 bearings.......



These were seriously tight and I had to rely on the age old
3 stage method to remove them.
Step 1......



Step 2......



Step 3.....



bingo.....



Rings get a clean up and a little loctite on the inside lip for refitment....





and when securely back in place a lick of silver paint to protect the
bare metal.....



And then drop the whole lot back on to the spindle. Unlike the rear bearings
the front ones aren't usually tight going back on and don't require a press.
A few gentle tips with something soft and they should slide down into place.....

[xworks]

And then there was the front end.
One nasty front subframe.....



one freshly powder coated front subframe......



done one mod to the subframe back when I first got the car and this was
down to the fact it had started to crack across the red line in the pic below
(red circle is where the engine mount bolts down to and the reason why
this bit started to crack off).......



the subframe was given a fresh weld across the red line both sides and
plates fabricated up and welded on underneath to strengthen the whole
piece. Only thing to watch out for is to cut a hole in the plate so you
can still get a socket through it to tighten the engine mounting bolt.....



First thing to go back on the subframe is the front antiroll bar, which is
bolted on by these two little lads....



I've yet to remove one of these that wasn't caked in rust on the inside
so a little smear of grease should slow down the antiroll bar bushing
rubbing the powder coating off the inside so quickly......



And then the only polybushes to get fitted to this whole car. As you've
probably seen by now I've replaced more or less every bush with standard
rubber ones and the reason is I don't want to feel every pebble on the road.
I don't want to involuntarily brace myself every time I see a pothole coming.
I had cars when I was younger that the springs and shocks were probably
just ornaments on, there was that little movement in the suspension, and
although polybushes and stiffer this and that make for a faster car around a
track, this car was a bloody good drive on the road when it left the factory on standard
bushes according to any press releases from back in the day.
I'm probably just gettin old (I'll probably be fuckin geriatric by the time this thread gets
finished).
Anywho, bushes came with the car when I bought it and there perfectly
good to go again.....





A heavy smear of grease where the subframe mounts up to the chassis
legs should keep the moisture(rust) out.....





Rear antiroll bar was back from powder coating to so it got bolted
back to the floor pan.....





And then the front struts which made the most dramatic transformation
of all the powder coated bits.....

[xworks]

First up gotta assemble them. These "gigantic" bump stops slide on.....



followed by the dust boots......



and then a fresh set of top mounts.....



followed by a bevelled washer and nut......



The other little bits that were to be fitted was the little plates fitted to Z3
rear shocks, pictured number 9 below......



When the shock is refitted to the shell the top plate on the shock mount does
a nice job of spreading out the load when the body is pushing down on
them. However when the situation is reversed and the shock is pulling
down on the shell all thats spreading the load on top of the turret is
two little m8 nuts, which sometimes can lead to stress cracks around the
nuts. These 2 little steel plates which were used on the Z3 can be fitted
under the nuts to help spread out the load better.
Which is all marvellous but I'd forgot to order them from the dealer and
was now ready to refit everything and was in no mood to have to wait
another few days for them to arrive. So, the tight arse's guide to top
mount plates......















Unfortunately the only flat steel I had lying around was 5mm thick and
took forever to cut and file to shape, on the bright side should I ever
decide to drive off a cliff the rear shock mounts should be well up to it......



and then at long last fire it all back into the shell.....

[xworks]

The other thing that can be helpful is a reference point on the actual
beam, so with the aid of the dremel.....



a few little groves are etched and filled in with white paint......









all of which should make adjustment down the line a little easier, or,
I've just waisted a load of time for nothing, we'll see.
Before fitting up the wishbones to the rear beam the inner faces of
the bolts and washers are given a coating of grease to help them
rotate when adjusting......



a fresh set of beam bushes are fitted and the washers fitted on top
with grease everywhere as these bit love to seize....







some fresh anti roll bar links and handbrake cable brackets are fitted
to the wishbones......





The other little bits needed at this stage is the spring pads, the
two arrowed are for the bottom of the springs and the other two with
the bump stops in the middle of them are for the top.



The whole lot is built up on a sheet of ply wood so it can be slid under
the car when complete and jacked up into place.....





before that can happen however the beam mount bolts have got to be
refitted to the shell, before they are dropped in they're plastered with
anti-seize grease.....



and then they're dropped down into place in these holes at the edges
of the floorpan under where the rear seat goes.....





The other bits needing refitting before the axle can be lifted back up in to place
is the rear shocks......