The 5 Year Restoration - E30 M3 Reborn

[ZekeTheSneak]

Epic. Also love how much detail went into the front bumper pieces for airflow and what not. That's all from the Evo stuff?

[jhaurimn]

Seats look great.

[CurrusDei]

Epic. Also love how much detail went into the front bumper pieces for airflow and what not. That's all from the Evo stuff?

Yeh all the holes are for evo stuff. The duct that routes air to the oil cooler and the rear-most cover are standard M3 parts.

[CurrusDei]

Here you go BMG:

Could I ask a cheeky favour the next time you are out in the garage working on your car ?
I'm missing the parts that hold the front bumper indicators ( the ones above the spot lights ) and they are unavailable to buy. I also have my bumper away from home in long term storage during the restoration, so not able to try and mock anything up.
The ETK shows what I guess is a stud on a square plate which slots into the bumper and which the indicator in mounted on 2 rubber mounts.
Next time you are working on the bumper, is it possible you could take measurements of the part and post them here so I can fab something up ?

Sure. Happy to. I'm actually missing one (P.O. had it held in with a regular bolt and stack of washers. My plan was to check local pull-a-part yards on regular E30s as i believe some of them use this part as well. Funny enough - actually have a picture of the part on my desktop...

[MukeM3]

Interesting note, my old pedal was weighted, the new one is not. I put on the non-weighted one first, but may swap back to the weighted version.

What was PN for the new pedal? Looks like it 35411156488. Then you get non-weighted 70gr pedal. If you order PN 35412226345, you get 514gr pedal, which is weighted.

I really enjoy seeing this project. This is so astonishing.

[M-technik-3]

Who did the seats? They came out very nice, hope they are not to shiny. This was a serious update.

[CurrusDei]

The seats were done by Marietta Auto Trim - they are very far from glossy. Actually contrasts significantly with the door cards.

[BMG]

Here you go BMG:

Many thanks for taking the time to do a detailed drawing of this. :coolphoto:

[CurrusDei]

Many thanks for taking the time to do a detailed drawing of this. :coolphoto:

No problem! are you going to make them? Looks like it shouldnt be too hard - get the right weld stud, make the cut out, weld, shape, plate.

[BMG]

No problem! are you going to make them? Looks like it shouldnt be too hard - get the right weld stud, make the cut out, weld, shape, plate.

Will give it a go at some point. Have about 20 items in various states of repair awaiting bits etc at the moment.

[Court M3]

Seats came out nice, trimmers did a great job!

[CurrusDei]

Hey guys, I'm still here - things have just been CRAZY around the house lately. We had our third kid due in early December and he decided to show up the night of Halloween. He was tiny when he was born but has almost doubled his weight since then.

In keeping with the tradition of taking pictures of my boys in engine bays, here he is...



For those of you who dont remember, this is my two year old son (soon to be 3) almost 3 years ago...



I have made some progress over the past few months...

Cleaning up some electrics that were fouled


That probably doesn’t conduct well…


better


Brand new AC Blower, zinc plated the retaining clip, wires clean and carefully routed.


Goodbye for now…


Close contender for the price shock award. $35 piece of rubber drain…


More covers..




Time to fill in the front a bit


New radiator surround trim, on top of freshly painted/cleaned gas tank


New rubber feet for radiator and AC condensor


Upper trim (restored with Eastwood plastic restorer)


Christmas present from 3 years ago…I think


Freshly zinced hardware back on. Put new washers on the lower left bolt stoppers


Satisfying


AC Condensor from that same Christmas…


New gaskets for front signals. The old ones were hard, brittle, and rectangle. I was surprised that at one point they were soft, flexible, and circular.


And new covers installed


Cleaned up Mr. Jack. Elected not to repaint over the few scuffs on it. I’m obviously not going for patina on this build, but keeping the tools original seemed true to the story of the car, even if it has been completely overhauled otherwise. Plus I can always do it later.


What am I up to here….


Of course, what else would that be



Fits perfectly.


I liked this one. Super detailed. Replaced the push on screw thread protectors that are on the lip under the fender.



Trim to fit…


Some painty…



Covering the new fuel ventilation lines. New fasteners




Expansion tank cover on


Brrrake booster time! I thought about replacing the booster and the master cylinder, but decided to try restoring them first. The vacuum booster holds a good seal (tested with shop vac). The calipers, pads, and rotors were all in such poor shape before the teardown that I think the poor braking issue stemmed from somewhere downstream of the master cylinder. If I’m wrong, I’ll replace, but I don’t think I am.

Yucky dirty.


Hows the air filter looki..oh nevermind.


Pulled apart, overflow tank off, seals out


Replacing this seal as well. Piston compresses freely, pushes out fluid (very dirty, brown fluid)


Clean it up. New overflow tank seals


And new overflow tank. Much better.


Booster cleaned


Tried to scuff and paint, didn’t work. Tried again, didn’t work. Finally, it got serious…

Bare metal



Wurth primer


Sticker replication




Fabricated new foam filter


Got new rubber accordion boot. New old stock – on the shelf since ’85.


Before I can put it back in, have to handle the other side – pedal box.
Clutch return spring. Re-plated months ago


Took some patience and some very small tools to get this clip back on


All together



Clutch pedal (I re-painted all the pedals and the pedal box)


New rubber pads as well


Last we’ll see of these parts for a long time…


Spring in


Almost looks too pretty to hide and then step on repeatedly.


The shine at the top of the brake pedal is just some grease – cleaned up nicely.


Ok, now together with the new gaskets…


And new padding


In (sticker still coming)

[alistairolsen]

Lovely work as always!

If you havent obscured them with further work, could you post some pictures of any mounts on the shell for the AC condensor - imagine you had a non AC car and a new condensor, what would be missing inbetween?

Thanks

[CurrusDei]

Lovely work as always!

If you havent obscured them with further work, could you post some pictures of any mounts on the shell for the AC condensor - imagine you had a non AC car and a new condensor, what would be missing inbetween?

Thanks

You'd need the right trim pieces (mine are 5 and 6)




The condenser itself sits on these the rubber feet (8) held in by the rivets (9)




You can see both in this pic.




The top mounts for the AC condensor are above the radiator (the speed nuts go in the vertical slits and the bolts go through the circular holes).




Installed

[alistairolsen]

Thank you very much for that!

So either all shells came with the holes already, or they are simple enough to replicate. I was concerned that Aircon shells might have had different bracketry welded on which would be now almost impossible to source.