Rust issues need advice/direction

[NeedaE30]

Okay so, i need to know if this car is worth saving. the car is driving and idling great it may need a clutch or just new tranny mounts soon and needs some other stuff that i plan on doing.. but if this rust is too bad and not worth me trying to fix then i see no point in going any further with the car and will just off it on craigslist and start over again... which would suck... balls.... big ... WAFFLE BALLS!! but please be honest. i need opinions and suggestions..

I tried to take the best quality pictures i could possibly take with my terrible cell phone..

passenger side directly behind the door above the rocker panel


Passenger side bottom corner of the door frame


Drivers front fender, its covered in electrical tape at the moment lol i figured it looks
better than rust and its letting less water in we'll see if the fender is repairable or
must be replaced. this fender has the vin sticker but was showing body filler/bondo between the original rusty metal and the paint




Passenger front fender. this fender is missing the vin sticker i assume its been replaced due to rust


Hood



Trunk lid


Passenger side rear fender



Drivers side rear fender


BOttom corner of drivers side door frame



Under the drivers side door sill(passenger side is very clean with no rust that i can see)


of course the ends of the bumper that someone tried to glue together instead of buying brackets.
now its being held on by tape until i can afford the proper ebay brackets it will then be sanded and painted cause it looks like shit.



Sunroof








Rear trunk latch



passenger side plate light




drivers side plate light




Under the brand new trunk seal above the license plate(someone neglected the trunk seal for a LONG time, the tail light gaskets are also leaking :-\)
i was extremely depressed when i pulled of the old trunk seal :(



i would have taken more pictures of the rust under the seal but i really am afraid to take the trunk seal off.. the rust was so swelled on the seam weld where the seal attaches to that i could barely fit the trunk seal on it in a couple spots, took a lot of force...

[dannyyisntt]

If it doesn't have sentimental value... Then why bother

[SlamedIAm]

Learn to weld.

[NeedaE30]

well i know how to weld exhaust pipes but thats about it i just dont have the equipment

[SlamedIAm]

To buy yourself time you could grind the existing rust away and coat with something like POR15 to stop it from spreading. Then when time/money/availability of equipment allows see about repairing it properly yourself or paying a professional to do so.

[audiquattrot]

looks salvageable to me. Typical rust spots. The front fenders i wouldn't bother repairing. Just get good used ones on the cheap.

[NeedaE30]

I was thinking about POR15 which i've recently been informed about, I'm wondering about how i would do the process and how it would look after

if i need body filler to fix certain spots would i put that on before or after the por15? i really feel like the rest over the rear license plate is bad and can't be salvaged i don't see how there could be any good/shiny metal underneath the rust which pretty much worries me.. what are some approximate costs of having someone replace that entire section under the trunk seal and plate light/trunk latch area?

I feel like the only fender i need to replace is the drivers fender, but its seems to be impossible to find decent schwarz panels in my area infact i haven't been able to find any schwarz panels or parts cars... kind of bothersome

[goldenbb]

I'm new to this, but I've been treating some rust on a '90 325iS and it is nowhere near the state yours is in. It looks like you're facing an uphill battle there, but probably still do-able. Before I bought mine, I found several pretty much rust-free cars and I'm in MN! I think it depends on geography, but I've seen at least a dozen good E30s here on Craigslist since May timeframe. The worst iS I looked at was still not as bad as the photos you are showing. Did your car get immersed in water at some point? The trunk latch...omg...just get a new one.

If you must go forwards, notice that places like ECS Tuning sell body panels and start scouring junk yards and this forum for the pieces you are going to need to weld in. For example, I found they sell the entire rear trunk panel as a single piece and it's not ungodly expensive, which more or less answers what I will do with my main rust problem long-term.

If you get downtrodden, take a look here for inspiration:

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/70135

Those Brits are repairing rust way worse than yours because they have no other choice since all the donor cars are basically gone.

I bought my car because I wanted an excuse to learn to weld and fix things that I don't dare do on a car I need to get to work every day, so understand that.

[SlamedIAm]

I feel like the only fender i need to replace is the drivers fender, but its seems to be impossible to find decent schwarz panels in my area infact i haven't been able to find any schwarz panels or parts cars... kind of bothersome

Get in touch with this guy

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=293244

[NeedaE30]

Get in touch with this guy

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=293244

THANKS!! i got to him a little to late though unfortunately :( wow schwarz body panels go fast