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e30 M3 minor rust repair.

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    WOW I cannot believe my eyes, sir you are one sick being! You give me hope for my M3 thank you.
    www.CASTROMOTORSPORT.com

    Castro Motorsport
    12600 Sherman Way, Unit C
    North Hollywood, CA 91605
    818-765-3606

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    Comment


      Episode 453, Interior design.

      With the wiring and carpet refitted to the inside it was now time to sort out
      the internal furniture. A while back I'd managed to pick up a second hand set of
      Recaro Sr's and although the material was a bit grubby the actual seats were in
      perfect condition otherwise.............



      So these along with all the rest of the interior shown below were sent
      to a local retrim merchant to give them a new lease of life..........



      Decided to go with half cow's arse and half material, like so..........





      Next up was to get some brackets knocked up to mount the Recaro's
      on the standard e30 slider rails.



      With the brackets trimmed and drilled it was time to bolt them up to the
      seat base so I could mark them up for bending. There are few things more certain
      in this life to send you into a rage then spending ages carefully making brackets
      only to bend them the wrong way. I've the hammer marks on the garage
      roof to prove it..........



      bendy, bendy, painty, painty.......



      before giving the original sliders a clean up............



      making sure to apply a little fresh grease to the runners afterwards........



      needed a few spacers before the brackets could mount to the runners,
      so, chopped two 15mm length pieces(or 13mm, can't remember, and it's pissin rain out
      there so I can't be arsed going out to measure them) off some round bar and drilled
      them 8mm in the centre............



      which sit into the runners like so............





      and with them in place I could start bolting thing up. The mounts on the
      front of the runners sit a little more inboard compared to the rears (5mm),
      so to keep everything straight and true 3 little washers are added between
      the bracket and runner, like so...........



      The only thing to watch out for is that the bolt used on the side with the
      adjuster arm isn't to long, as if it is, it'll get in the way of the arm
      moving up and down to unlock the seat rail...........




      Front bolts taken care of, it was on to the rear. The bar arrowed below
      passes through the runners both sides at the back..........



      and sticks out through the seat brackets like so.........


      Comment




        and as you can see in the pics the ends of the bar are square
        sectioned, which is helpful, as this allows the seat belt buckle
        to be bolted up and held in the correct position..........





        The other side gets a few washers to take up the gap before being
        bolted up aswell. The last little bit to remember is this little link bar that
        fits from one rail to the other. Its function is to link the catch on one side
        to the catch on the other, so when you pull the lever to adjust the seat
        back or forward it opens the catch on the side of the lever and this little link bar unlocks
        the catch on the other side, allowing the seat to slide..........



        and that was the front seats ready to go in. But, the rears needed to
        go in first and before the rears could go in, the rear door cards had to
        be fitted and before they could be fitted the front seat belts had to be fitted.
        And if I knew all that before having to find it out the hard way my nextdoor
        neighbours visiting grandchildren would know a lot less foul language.

        So, front seat belts were needed first and this presented me with a small
        problem, after 20 years the retraction reels had gone so limp on them I reckon
        you'd be a good foot or two through the windscreen before the original belts
        decided to halt your progress. Alas, some new belts would be required.
        And if I was going to renew them might as well go for the red variety fitted
        to the sport evolutions. Unfortunately I couldn't come up with the one million
        dollars in untraceable bonds that the main dealer wanted for a pair of seat belts
        so ebay turned up these instead...........



        They are seat belts made by a crowd called Securon and as the tag below shows
        they're fully certified and "E" marked........



        They can be ordered with 2 different length buckles, 15cm or 30cm.
        Seat belts, harnesses and safety restraints manufacturer Securon provide information about a seat belt, harness and safety restraint for all types of vehicle.

        I ordered the 15cm ones (p/n: 500/15) and of coarse when I went to fit them realised
        that the 30cm length (p/n: 500/30) would have been more suitable. Gobshite.
        Thankfully the buckle could be stripped and the original e30 strap fitted
        to replace the short Securon one...............



        Next little mod was to the buckle at the end of the belt. As you can see
        below it's an eye bolt type and the e30 has the bar type, so......



        chop, chop..........



        with that done it could be fitted. The reel part bolts in just like the original one..........



        little plastic thingy refitted to keep the belt run neat.........



        up to the top buckle supplied with the belts that bolts into the B pillar
        to replace the original one.........



        and then finally down to the bar at the floor now that the eye bolt type
        buckle was cut off...........




        the only downside to the belts is that when fully retracted in the rest position
        they still don't pull taut. The belts still have about 2 inches slack in them as
        you can see below. However given that these cost less than a quarter of
        the ransom Bmw wanted for the genuine one's, it's something I'll not loose
        any sleep over...........



        once the belts were in, rear door cards and seats could also go in...........



        to be followed by the fronts..........







        and thats all for now. Should have the next part up tomorrow.
        Till then.

        Comment


          With the interior fitted next up was to sling the doors back on.
          Never a bad idea to run a piece of masking tape on the edge of the
          door and back edge of the wing to avoid marking the paint work when
          rehanging a door. They have to get fairly close to each other to engage
          the hinges........



          If you ever need to remove the doors from an e30 theres two ways
          to go about it. The first is to remove the two m8 nuts seen below on
          the leaf of the hinge left attached to the door. This leaves the whole
          hinge attached to the car and has the big downside that you have to go
          through the whole hassle of re-aligning the door upon refitting before
          you tighten them nuts again to keep it in the right position.
          The less stressful way of doing it is to let go of the two
          little m6 bolts in the centre of the hinges, which leaves half of
          each hinge attached to the door and the other half attached to the
          car. This makes reassembly far easier, as all you have to do is drop
          the door back down into place, refit the m6 bolts and bingo, it's
          done.......





          with the door refitted all this crap needs to be nailed back into each one.......



          first up being the check strap who's job it is to stop the door from opening too
          wide. After a quick clean up and some fresh grease............



          it bolts up inside the door with the strap part sticking out like below
          and then the pin and circlip are refitted (arrowed) to lock the strap to
          the door frame..........



          next up, the locking mechanism. The main door lock on the lower left and
          the release pin linkage above it (arrowed)............



          the lock mechanism bolts up inside the door by 3 philips head bolts
          fitted from the outside...........



          and after its in the door handle mechanism can follow it...........



          first bit to go in, is the little plate with 2 threaded studs fitted to it, shown
          above. It slots down into the recess arrowed below..............





          then with that in place the main bit can be bolted onto those studs, making
          sure that the bits that push against each other line up like below..........



          which when all in place leaves you with the two little bits protruding
          through the door skin to screw the handle on to............





          after thats in the bits below can be fitted. The key barrel, the
          bracket for holding the central locking microswitch and the clip
          that keeps it all in place...........



          before fitting it's a good idea to give the key barrel a clean up and
          apply a little oil into the tumblers to keep them freed up......


          Comment


            The body of the key barrel is shaped so that it'll only fit in the hole in the
            door one way without the use of a sledgehammer.........



            and, as the barrel passes through the door skin that little "leg" that sticks out
            the side of it needs to engage with the lever on the main locking unit arrowed
            below...........



            Easy right? Is it f*ck! As the barrel passes through the door it's also
            got to pass through the bracket for the central locking switch which
            has to be in the right position so that the barrel triggers the
            switch as it is turned............



            and then, with all that held in place by your fourteen f*cking Smurf size
            hands you've got to slide in this clip to keep it all held tight to the door skin...........





            and after much swearing and consumption of alcohol it's in and this is how it should
            work. When you rotate the key barrel the back end of the barrel (coloured
            green below) either pushes the lever on the main locking unit up or down
            to lock or unlock the door, while a little wedge on the other side of the barrel
            pushes against the central locking switch to send a signal back to the central
            locking unit to open or close the other doors............



            next up the inner door release lever.............



            on the back of it theres a little lever with a hole in it............



            the long steel rod sticking out of the main door locking unit fits into this
            hole like so.................



            and then the lever can be screwed into place on the door............



            And then finally the last piece of the jigsaw, the central locking actuator,
            the little motor that locks and unlocks your door..............



            it hangs from the little link bar from the main locking unit shown below.......





            and bolts up to the inner doorskin with two little bolts shown below........


            Comment


              Locking system done, it was on to the window mechanism. Before the
              electric motor and rail is refitted the rail and the cable that runs in it are cleaned
              and new grease applied. The two parts that the window connect to are arrowed
              red below, and when you hook up the two wires that go to the motor to a
              battery they will either rise or fall depending on which way around you
              connect the two wires.............



              and these are raised and lowered a few times to work the new grease into
              the rails to keep things working smoothly.............



              With that done the rail and motor is refitted and bolted up to the inside of
              the door skin. There's a very precise method for slotting the rail back into the
              door skin, basically you f*ck around with it for 30 minutes trying it every
              conceivable way before all of a sudden it's in and you've no idea how you done it.
              Four bolts hold the rail in place (red arrows) and 3 nuts hold the motor in (green).........



              before the glass can go in the rubber liner needs to be refitted to the
              window frame............





              Glass gets a clean, which turns out to be completely pointless as your going to cover
              it with greasy paw prints anyway while getting it back in.........



              theres two brackets on the bottom of the glass, this one on the front
              which the roller on the rail will slide into............



              and this one at the rear which the other rail bracket bolts up to.............



              If, like me, your doing this task before the electrics are reconnected,
              you can remove this little rubber grommet from the centre of the motor............



              and stick an allen key into it to wind the window up and down manually.......



              The motor is wound up or down to bring the two points the window connects
              to into line with the gaps on the inner door skin, so you can see what your at
              as the window in slid down into place. The front window bracket is slid onto the
              roller on the rail first.........



              and then the rear is lined up with its bracket so the two retaining
              bolts can be refitted...........



              as you can see the slots in the bracket are elongated to allow a little
              scope for adjustment and getting the window perfectly straight within
              the frame. To do this you tighten up the two bolts, wind up the window
              to within 1 inch of the top frame and then get the gap completely
              parallel by loosening off the two bolts again and raising or lowering
              the rear of the window............



              That done, door loom went in next...........



              it's all fed in through this hole...........



              and then plug into the female plug on the door pillar, making sure
              that the rubber boot is properly fitted over the the holes on either side
              as this can be a common source of water getting into the car.
              Another thing thats not a bad idea can be to rub a little smear of
              grease on the sealing face of the rubber boots just to give a little
              more resistance to water ingress.........


              Comment


                With all the wiring ran to wherever it needs to go and then secured to
                the door skin with the little clips, it's worth running the window fully up
                and down just to check that it doesn't snag on any of the electrics.
                With all that done the final thing to do is seal the inside of the door
                to stop condensation getting in. You can buy proper sticky plastic
                stuff from the dealer to do this job, or, just use double sided trim tape
                and normal polythene like so..........





                with that on, the little trim strip that sits up against the window on the inside
                can clip back into place............



                making sure that the little clips face inwards as the door card is going to
                sit down into these next..........



                but before the doorcard drops on these little bits go on first........



                The 3 white ones are for the the armrest screws to screw into..........



                and the black one goes on the side of the door as it's the diddy that the
                door light switch presses up against.........



                then the doorcard can drop on. It's fitted by sliding down onto them clips
                shown earlier on the window strip and once down in place the clips shown
                below are thumped into their corresponding holes on the door...........



                and with the doorcard in place this little bit of trim can go back in place
                around the open lever.........



                it's pushed in slightly behind the lever and then slid forward to lock it
                in place..........



                which leaves it looking like so...........



                finally these 3 screws are used to refit the door handle..........




                Comment


                  Moving up the door a little the final bit of trim to get refitted is this cover that
                  goes on the inside of the door pillar. 3 little dowels on the inside of the trim
                  and 3 little holes on the door pillar..........



                  thump, thump, thump, job done..........



                  and then finally on to the outside of the door. All the shadow trim on the outside
                  of the car was sanded down with 320 grit wet & dry paper and then sprayed
                  with Plasti-kote Satin black..........





                  Although it's touch dry after a few hours it's best to try and leave it a few days
                  to fully harden before trying to refit it, as when it's fully hardened and settled
                  it's a lot more resistant to scratching. First bit to go on is the door pillar cover.......



                  as you can see the edges of the cover curls around on the inside........



                  and it's this curl that "clips" around the door pillar to hold it in place,



                  however this isn't enough to hold it for ever and ever on it's own, so
                  a few fat blobs of this stuff is placed between the two.......



                  It's Upol Tiger Seal and you'll pull the door off the car before you'll pull
                  that trim off once it set's.
                  Next bit of trim's a bit more involved, it's the little bit that goes around the
                  window frame...........



                  There's a clatter of clips that fit to the door first before the trim goes
                  on, I've no idea how many it originally had coming off as most of mine
                  decided to commit suicide during disassembly. I've managed to turn up
                  16 of them from spares, so each doors gettin eight............



                  the non-compliant clips...........



                  before Hari Kari.........



                  they slide onto the frame like so............





                  and trim, just like the pillar trim is curved over at the edges and this is
                  how it fixes onto the door. The top half sits over the frame and then
                  the bottom half clicks on over the clips............



                  Last bit of door trim is the straight bit below..........



                  They sit at the bottom of the window...........


                  Comment


                    and just like the similar ones on the inside of the window, these also
                    have a rubber weather strip on the inside of them. The rubber strips
                    on mine had succumbed to the ravages of twenty odd years of weather
                    unfortunately, and any attempt to lower the window to clear off the condensation
                    on a winters morning would simply result in a fancy streaky pattern on the
                    glass. The answer, new rubber strips. Their still available and don't cost
                    a lot from the dealer.........





                    Rubber strips attach to the trim with a few clips..........





                    but you gotta measure where exactly it's to clip on..........



                    as the rubber strip is shorter than the trim because it only needs to
                    sit in against the glass..........



                    That done, next thing to go back on is the mirrors...........



                    which are held on by two little bolts on the inside.........



                    Final bit to go on is the rubber seal at the top of the door........



                    The rubber seal has a groove in it and a hole at either end.......



                    and at the top of the door there is a ridge sticking out (red arrows)
                    that sits into the groove on the rubber seal to hold it on, and a hole at each
                    end that a plastic rivet sits through the seal and into the door to secure it.........







                    and thats about where it's at right now. We've progressed to the stage
                    where I can now sit in it and make brum brum noises while twirling the
                    steering wheel. Marvellous entertainment.









                    Till next time.

                    Comment


                      WOW... A very well described thread, that is some major miracle work right there
                      Originally posted by audiquattrot
                      bimmers b4 b*tches....remember that.
                      1990 Alpinweiss 325i - secret 500whp build
                      2000 Audi S4 B5 Laser Red
                      1990 Nissan 240sx - Drift Missile
                      2006 CBR600RR

                      Comment


                        seriously, every update is like God's own manual on how to build an e30. I salute you good sir.

                        Comment


                          seriously, ive used this thread to fix countless little things on my car that i couldnt find anywhere else. thank you for such attention to detail in you write ups
                          "In God we trust. All others must bring data." -W. E. Deming

                          /// 1987 325is /// Project Thread
                          Past: 87 is, 88ix, 88 i, 87 ic, 89 ix, 17 others.

                          Comment


                            Enough already. Christ.
                            :bow:

                            This is clearly in the wrong section. Please put these gems in a FAQ.
                            89 325is track project / 05 x5 / 99 M3
                            E30 stuff for sale | Parts I'm looking for

                            Comment


                              I couldn't help but thinking if a young punk crashed into this beauty and totaled it how many death threats would he get?
                              sigpic
                              My first car. Bought July 1st/10
                              Working on fixing a bunch of little problems with the car right now.

                              Comment


                                they'd need to be sent to his next of kin for a start.

                                Comment

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