The 5 Year Restoration - E30 M3 Reborn

[CurrusDei]

The turbos failed at 100K man that is some poor reliability. Like the color of your 335i though.

Early 335s had bad turbo designs. BMW has a standing recall on them - if they fail before 85k. Mine started rattling at 95k - never failed, but they sounded like crap.

[Split_S]

Nice work... Im about 60% the way thru a complete rebuild of a 91 318iS and I know what youre going through!!

Still cant believe you only paid 13500$.. Ive never seen one under 25000$.. Im going to see one, all stock, 1990,165000 on the odo for 23000$... I thought that was an amazing price....its not listed anywhere, just luck on my part...

13500$ would be ridiculously cheap... Id buy 2 for that price!!!

[CurrusDei]

Thanks. I felt like it was a good deal and am glad it wasn't too good to be true. The car is solid underneath. I'm stripping it down for paint now, underneath the carpet is bone dry and perfect paint. I'll post pics later


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[CurrusDei]

Alright guys, here's what I've been up to!

I decided that paint needs to happen first, so that I can start reinstalling things on a permanent basis. Why put I the new interior bits, etc if I just have to rip them back off for paint. To keep the cost down I'm doing the tear down myself.

First to clear out some space I put the dash ducts back in after cleaning them. These things get so dirty - explains the musty smell the car had













Going to need new visors probably





And a new antenna, this one's seen better days



Sunroof was a tough one to get off. There are good guides out there but I jumped in head first and figured it out. To do it better, follow a guide (I'll post later)

Seals surrounding the sunroof comes off by pushing down toward the cabin the shorter one is to the front, longer one is to the rear. Mine were dried out so they're being replaced



Next I removed the wind deflector. It's held on by several screws along the front edge of the sunroof and connects to two arms on the side, which are easily pried free of their plastic retaining clips









I then carefully peeled back the vinyl/leather front headliner off the leading edge of the sunroof. The rear of this piece is attached to the roof by two silver screws which go down into plastic retaining braces glued to the backside of the front headliner.



Take off your front visors if you haven't done so already, very self explanatory - 4 visible screws.

The front portion of the headliner should then drop free



I fixed my loose plastic clip with contact cement (not glued in place here yet, but you can see where it goes)



Looks like my leather shrunk at some point and has pulled away from the backing - will be recovered or replaced.


You can do this first or now, but before you remove the screws on the side of the sunroof, remove the upholstery under the roof. The side that faces toward the windshield is held on by 6 metal clips. Use a plastic pry tool to pop it free. The rear is held on by two arms that are riveted to the upholstery and clip into the bar that slides along the track at the rear. I was confused by these at first, but once you see it apart it's easy to understand...



One of my retaining clips was broken. Easy to replace I think




Note that I had already taken out the body colored panel in these shots, I would recommend doing the upholsterers side first

Then I removed the six screws holding down the sunroof panel. Looks like one had been missing for a while.



My guides and cables probably need to be replaced. After going through this I'm not surprised it moves slowly, one was completely cracked.





The. I slid the rail that holds the upholstered section forward off the tracks


And removed the side screws



At this point I removed the black plates and metal guides (DISCLAIMER: I still haven't figured out this part with the cables, will update when I do)





The long flat silver track bits don't want to come off. They are very thin so I don't want to force them. Anyone have experience with these?



I also removed the rear screws to free up the headliner from the back of the sunroof





The fabric backing on the headliner was pretty fragile. Most of it stayed on the surface, but all of the headliner's outer material came off easily.





I carefully detached the foam from in front of the sunroof






NOW - a moment I've been waiting for since last March









I used a $17 kit from Harbor Freight. Worked perfectly. I would have taped it off if I hadn't been planning on having the area overhauled and repainted, I scuffed it a couple times. I'll be taping off the rear window before removing.

That's how she sits now. Getting closer to paint!




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[markseven]

Nice! I can't wait to see the paint process / progress!

[jhaurimn]

Nice :) I got a new windshield for mine. Just need to find someone trust worthy to install it ! Good to see your cowl is solid

[CurrusDei]

I'm going to have the new one installed after paint where I can watch it being installed. Don't want the drain holes to get stopped up.


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[CurrusDei]

Working on the rear windshield. The little clip at the top just slides over and you can gently pry off the metal trim. It is secured by small gray clips on the windshield that are taped to the glass and have Arms that slide beneath the glass. I pried these off very carefully, only broke one.







The rubber gasket on the front of the trunk lid comes out by opening the trunk and pulling straight down



Both trim pieces and all clips off. I've since taped off the glass side with painters tape and will be doing the same for the paint side. Before I cut I'm going to add a layer of metallic tape to prevent the wire from cutting through the painters tape.



More to come


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[CurrusDei]

And the rear screen is out. It took a few more repositionings with the cutting wire than the front did, along with a lot more prep work since this screen is going to be reused. Overall I was more careful with this one and it came off in very nice shape












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[KIRIEIW]

Just read threw this whole thread, nice pick up! I for one think you got a steal of a deal. Not sure how much prices have went up since you purchased the car, but I would have bought it in a heartbeat for that price if I saw it posted today on Craigslist.

Side note, does anyone know why M3 "cowl's" are more prone to rust then coupes/ sedans? Or is it not only a M3 problem.

[CurrusDei]

New M3 Owner... The Build Thread

Thanks! The reason M3 cowls rust more is that the windshields are glued in, and if done improperly the epoxy will block the drain holes, causing water to pool and the metal to rust. Regular E30 windshields are only held in by a lock gasket, so no epoxy to block the hole. That said, they still rust, and the rust on my M3 has nothing to do with drain holes

I spent a bit of time with the car tonight. Removed the headliner finally.





A couple tips... I wasn't able to find a good description of how the back of the headliner fastens in. I figured it out and it's really simple, just carefully yank down on the back and it will snap down

Here are the tabs that lock together. Be careful to not break the plastic or bend the metal. That brown junk is cloth and glue, not rust.



For some reason one of the tensioner rods that keeps the fabric taught has one side that detaches. I think this is oem, but could be wrong





Also, my foam insert was glued in the back VERY well. I used this non-marring scraper from harbor freight to cut through the foam as close to the roof as possible. Kept it all in one piece




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[markseven]

You are a brave soul. I do not have the intestinal fortitude to take on a project to this level. Keep up the good work.

[jhaurimn]

You are a brave soul. I do not have the intestinal fortitude to take on a project to this level. Keep up the good work.

what he said

[CurrusDei]

Haha. Thanks. It helps that the car can sit in pieces for months on end. Gives me the time to figure things out....like why my sunroof didn't work sometimes, check out this ground!




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[bradnic]

That'll def do it lol.
Love your attention to detail and really appreciate the pics