what to do w/ the bed of my e30 truck

[Streetspec_iS]

gonna be dope man. i got love for the e30 utes!



sorry bout the size. this one is near my house. i prefer your b pillar though. shes gonna look tough when u get it all together.

[jgentile]

streetspec_iS, do you have any pictures of the bed of that truck? every picture i can get helps me think of ideas, and also i agree that b pillar is kinda steep sloped, did he make that all with custom work or did he take it from another car like i did?

[Ben Carufel]

Jeremy,

I'm very interested in taking a close look at the truck. My job description (I'm a photographers assistant) just changed a bit and I now need a pickup truck -- but I thought it would be cool to convert my daily driver 325e 4 door into a truck. Then I saw pics of your project on Bimmerforums.

Wow. Awesome.

Would it be possible to take a peek at yours? I agree with all of your ideas, except I'm leaning towards a sheetmetal bed (thin steel) with a rhino lining and drain holes. I'm a real perfectionist, so I want the clean look.

I live in the UTC area so I'm right down the street from you. I'm not sure where Marco Polo is though -- is it in PB?

Definitely drop me a line via email or in this thread and lets figure something out. Email is bencarufel(a.t)san.rr.com.

[jgentile]

I'm very interested in taking a close look at the truck

ya sure, ill be open any time now that schools out. when do you have free time?
just so youre not surprised when you see me im only 14(its not unusual to alreayd have your bmw in my family at this age ) do you know either of my brothers, bryson or giorgio?
also im not sure about doing it to a 4 door, might be kinda hard, and hopefully its in rough shape seeing that youre going to definitlly skratch the paint and get a few dings all over along the way when youre fitting the rabbit piece in.
another thing, maybe if you want to wait to actually start making the car (not saying you cant look at it now)till im done, that way you can see how everything we did came out and if you should make changes?

[Streetspec_iS]

im pretty sure that everything was done custom on that ute. i dont have any pictures of it myself. it belongs to my mechanics cousin, so if i see it at the workshop soon il snap a few flics for ya.

i like the way they did the diamond plate in that other one, but it would look better in plain sheetmetal instead.

[jgentile]

thanks a lot for that pic and that would be cool if you could take some more if you see it like you said, and i also agree that it would look better in plain sheetmetal, its too...chromelike :?

[Bryson]

I don't get it. If you want a truck, buy a truck.


If you want a car, buy a car.



I guess this is why I don't like El Camino's, and like Subaru Brat's and Baja's even less.


But that's just my . Good luck with your project, and use CFP for the bed.

Kris you're a party pooper. We had a spare e30 with fucked up c-pillars, an extra m20, and we need something to tow the e30 trailer with. What better way to tow it than with another custom e30?

[Bryson]

but not a hideous car like this gay chevy.

that's what I like to see!
He learns quickly 8)
my lazy ass had almost nothing to do with this truck project, so direct all questions to the other brothers

[shahe]

i want to do the same thing now. its soooo pimp. looks like your gonna have to do a lot of custom welding in that trunk area, however. thats why the germands usually put dimond plating in theres, that way, they just cover up all that extra crap, instead of fixing it.

[Ben Carufel]

I'm very interested in taking a close look at the truck

ya sure, ill be open any time now that schools out. when do you have free time?
just so youre not surprised when you see me im only 14(its not unusual to alreayd have your bmw in my family at this age ) do you know either of my brothers, bryson or giorgio?
also im not sure about doing it to a 4 door, might be kinda hard, and hopefully its in rough shape seeing that youre going to definitlly skratch the paint and get a few dings all over along the way when youre fitting the rabbit piece in.
another thing, maybe if you want to wait to actually start making the car (not saying you cant look at it now)till im done, that way you can see how everything we did came out and if you should make changes?

I'm pretty busy tomorrow all day (running errands in the morning and working most of the afternoon). Friday I'm planning to swap the oil pan on my E30 with a new one (and gasket, too) over at a friend's house. Should be interesting. I've never done anything quite that mechanical before, so it'll be a learning experience. Any tips/tricks you can give on that? Hopefully it won't be too too tough laying on my back on the floor of the garage.

I'm only 19 and bought my first e30 when I was 17, so you being 14 doesn't surprise me at all...
I know Bryson -- I used to have a white '89 325i 2 door/5 speed that I autocrossed with. I sold it last summer to buy my M Coupe. I bought my current e30 a week later as a beater...

...so yeah, it's a beater, and it's in pretty rough shape. A good cleaning would help lots, but fukkit, why not chop it to hell! ...

I agree that a 4 door will be a little more challenging from a structural rigidity standpoint, but I have a few interesting ideas -- like welding a full cage in the cab while it's under construction. A friend of mine used to work at Autopower and does great cage work. Also, I'd probably end up cutting out most of the existing trunkfloor and welding metal crosspieces in, then welding a somewhat-thin sheetmetal floor over top of those. That should give me pretty decent structural rigidity while still maximizing hauling capacity.

I'd also like to add a rear gate. I know this will greatly comprimise the body's rigidity and might not even be an option due to that, but I'm sure an early 90's Toyota tailgate would fit well with minor modifications. The taillights would need to be retrofitted, too.

Or perhaps the stock rear end can be cut (making a nice cut through the brakelights and resealing them with some plastic perhaps?) to make an authentic-looking tailgate.

Either way it looks like quite a bit of work, but should be tons of fun and, obviously, very unique.

Is your guys shop open on Saturday?

[e30Matt]

You're 19 and you drive an M-Coupe?
























Fuuuuuuuck you. How'd you afford that?

[Ben Carufel]

a) Live at home with dad.

b) Have decent job.

I've been making good money since I started this job about a year and a half ago (I'm a photographers assistant), but it wasn't till about 6 months after I got the job that I thought "hey, I can afford something nice now!"...well, sure enough that led to me looking at Coupes, since I had always liked them...

...sold the E30 for a profit about 3 weeks later (I had originally bought it from Jim Powell of Demon Eyes fame), kept searching high and low for 2 more monts, and brought my Coupe home from the Bay Area on Sept. 5, 2003.

It's not too bad. Just a hair over $400/month for my car payment, and insurance for both cars is about $130 a month.

[Ben Carufel]

By the way, I pay my dad $500 a month rent and pay $45 a month for our cable internet...so it's not a "totally" free ride. The $500 is enough to buy me a room in a house with a couple buddies around this neighborhood, but none of my friends are in the position to be able to afford it yet (read: they're doing the college thing) so I have to wait out a few more years...

Food is free, but I'm only home 6 or 7 months of the year, total, because of all the traveling we do for photography. So my dad gets a break there, and even when I'm in town (like now) I eat at restaurants pretty much every lunch and most dinners. It's all paid for by work, thankfully.

[Streetspec_iS]

thanks a lot for that pic and that would be cool if you could take some more if you see it like you said, and i also agree that it would look better in plain sheetmetal, its too...chromelike :?

what about diamond plate with a blast of black paint. although, if u use the bed it will get scratched to hell.

can you get black diamond plate or sumthn???

[Ben Carufel]

thanks a lot for that pic and that would be cool if you could take some more if you see it like you said, and i also agree that it would look better in plain sheetmetal, its too...chromelike :?

what about diamond plate with a blast of black paint. although, if u use the bed it will get scratched to hell.

can you get black diamond plate or sumthn???

I think you can get black steel pressed into diamondplate, but I'd guess it's pretty pricey since blackened steel alone is pricey.

Besides, by nature diamondplate surfaces need to be thick -- and that's just going to increase weight. I think a somewhat thin sheetmetal bed made of steel covered with a Rhino Liner (spray-in rubberized bed coat) would be the best bet.