The 5 Year Restoration - E30 M3 Reborn

[mwagner10702]

interested in how you obtained the headlamps

See post #687

[CurrusDei]

Its taking forever, but it'll be worth the wait. They just cleared customs in Miami.

[MyE30]

Its taking forever, but it'll be worth the wait. They just cleared customs in Miami.

definitely worth it for an e30m3. will be nice to see actual photos once you receive them.

[CurrusDei]

Brief update, but more to come shortly. I'm going to finish this thing in short order. Motor start looks like this month, want it done by May beacuse 5 years is long enough

Headlights arrived. Very much worth the wait.
















manual adjustment knob




wires are inbound. have to re-wire to eurospec.











New coolant cap





Final hose - power steering pump to rack. The new versions are slimmer than the old







Fitting shape is also different. I think this will still work, but we'll see




I connected it up first, then had to undo it to fit in the steering u-joint. so, do the u-joint first, then the final line







u-joint. top was easy to get on. the bottom wasnt. had to remove the bottom bolt (of course, wont go on with it on), line it up, and have my wife hammer on a bunch of socket extensions that were connected together and rested on the top of the lower section of the u-joint. it gradually went on, but was definitely a 2 man job to keep it aligned while hammering from the top.







Got the throttle cables on




Also, I had some degraded wiring connections. Found a good permanent fix...

Coolant level sensor: Original wires in my hand, BMW replacements hooked onto the sensor




Thermostat sensor connector: This one was a real beauty. Nice fix by the PO soldering rusted wires.




Here's my fix. Of course you can just connect up the BMW replacement wires, but then you're left with just green wires and no way to tell which is which. My solution was to order the colored tabs in the picture below, along with clear heat shrink wrap.




I cut sections of the color labels corresponding to the OEM wire color, wrapped them around the end of the wire, then used the clear heat shrink to encase it, so that whenever I need to know which wire is which, its right there




Also, I switched to these instead of soldering or using crimp connectors. These things are awesome.




Also, critically, Raychem DR-25 heat shrink wrapping is far and away the best I've found. It stays flexible after shrinking where many get stiff and brittle



Coolant level sensor repair:














Thermostat connector repair










Other sensor




T-stat in





Also, I decided against the DSSR. Went with the factory one.




First fitting had a lot of slack.




Used more to close the gap per recommendations from other owners





Brakes

Disassembled the calipers. Messy job. had to use a grease gun to push the old pistons out.










I tried cleaning them up a bit, but it wasnt happening. Sent them off to be zinc coated. I can not wait to get these back and on.

[0-60Motorsports]

Another awesome update

[Broken88]

Almost there! Love the picture-full updates!

[iliad]

Incredible work!
Just read through the whole thread.
Hope to see this beauty at The Vintage this year!

[CurrusDei]

Incredible work!
Just read through the whole thread.
Hope to see this beauty at The Vintage this year!

;D




I'm running full speed to finish her up. Been getting a lot of boxes lately. I spent my free time this weekend with degreaser and a pressure washer cleaning off the underside. Very dirty job, but i decided i couldnt leave the underside dirty when the rest of the car was so clean. I'm using an engine degreaser gel, and just got a short handle for my pressure washer. Thankfully temps this weekend will be warm so i can finish that part up and start the driveshaft/heat shielding work

Remaining to be installed

• Headlights (have)
• Brakes (in mail this week)
• Gauge restoration (going to Bavrest right after the motor starts up - hopefully this weekend if the brakes come in)
• Drive shaft (have)
• Front/Rear Glass (have)
• Heat shielding/underbody trim (have)
• Rear bumper trim behind wheels (in paint)
• Midsection (in mail)
• Evo 3 muffler (in mail)
• AC system (last parts arriving today)
• Bumper (complete, just need to mount)
• Evo Bumper and Hood seals (have)
• A few remaining factory decals (have)
• Spare wheel/tire (need)
• Dash/wiring (have, testing electrics before installing)
• M3 door seals (still off because of electrical testing)
• Door film (in mail - off for electrical testing)
• New Switches (in mail)
• E36 hand brake cover (in mail)
• Steering fluid (trans fluid, diff fluid, coolant are in)
• Badges
• A few other things im sure I'm forgetting

Will post update soon

[AC_Schnitzel]

You’re a mad man... I’m so impressed by everything in this thread.

Have you ever restored a vehicle before? How are you confident that you’re not missing a step or doing something incorrectly?

I love the work you’re doing!

[CurrusDei]

You’re a mad man... I’m so impressed by everything in this thread.

Have you ever restored a vehicle before? How are you confident that you’re not missing a step or doing something incorrectly?

I love the work you’re doing!

Maybe
Thanks!
No, first time
Go slow, research what others have done, think through details, take 10,000 pics, know my limits, ask for input, fix something if I break it (no big issues yet - worst thing was stripping a thread for the rear ABS and having to re-tap)
Thanks!

Seriously it’s a function of time, thought, and teamwork. The guys at Korman have been invaluable, as was my body shop, as was my interior guy, as has R3V/S14/RealOEM/FCP/Bentley/old factory manuals and on and on

[jhaurimn]

I'm not on much anymore...but had to check in here to see how things were going.

Vintage eh? Maybe I'll see ya there. :)

[CurrusDei]

Lot going on. Working on the car whenever i have a free minute so no time to post updates. Pics will follow once i have the car off to the glass, exhaust, ac, other guys, but quickly:

Car is registered for the Vintage. It starts on my birthday this year, so that had to be my finish line.

All AC hardware installed (specialty shop will have to charge and make the connections at the compressor work, may require some hose customization). Everything is new except one line that was NLA, and I had it cleaned by a specialty AC shop

Dash in
Radio/controls in
All electricals work - everything. no shorts or other gremlins to chase
New signal stalk, refreshed cruise control and wiper stalk
New sunroof motor in (works)
Gauges restored by BavRest and installed
center console in
Shifter cover in
Door vapor barrier in
Door cards in
///M Door sill covers in
B pillar covers in
engine wiring covers in
New fuse box cover in
Euro elipsoid smileys in with new euro connectors(4 bulb high beams function, city lights wired)
Front grilles (all 3) in
Front sway bar in
New Bosch battery with OEM vent in
New drive shaft center support bearing installed
New drive shaft guide bushing installed (this was a pain)



To do

Rear reflectors: should arrive tonight, putting in this evening hopefully

Rear sway bar: in this evening hopefully

Drive shaft: rear half is in. I bought the wrong size guibo, new one gets here tomorrow. Drive shaft should be done tomorrow night, then bolt up the front control arm lollipops and it should spend its first night on its own tires in about half a decade.

Glass: Have all the glass and found an expert shop to do it (they have done several E30 M3 restorations). The big glass guys all didn't want to touch it, and most hemmed and hawed about how the glass doesnt need to be glued in, they've done 5,000 of them so they know...blah blah. My only response was that there arent even 5k of these in the U.S. Anyways I'm hoping to get it to the glass shop late this week - open header, no windshield drive should be interesting

Underbody shields: I did some work with degreaser and a pressure sprayer to clean up the underside. Looking better. Will install heat shields tomorrow probably.

Hubs: Torque to spec when on ground, install lock nuts, center caps

Exhaust: Evo III muffler and VSR center in hand - going to have a really great welder put them on. I'll post some of his work once he confirms his availability, its weldporn level work. Contrast that to my old exhaust's welds, one of which has about a 1cm long stick weld section standing up out of it. Good metaphor for this whole process

Spare: Extra spare wheel should be here by tomorrow, getting it refurbished and putting on a new tire

Sunroof: waiting on two little rivets from Germany, then it will all go together. the rivets my upholstery shop used were too tall and wouldn't fit in the track. Putting the rivets in myself by hand, then it should all go together

Bumper: put it on

Body: Fine tune adjustment of hood/trunk/rear window to get even gaps. Install Evo hood gaskets

Ceramic/Film: Still considering here. There are some seriously talented ceramic coating and paint protection film guys in the area that I'm thinking about having do their "armored car" package on the car to protect it. Still undecided

My fingernails are pretty much always dirty these days. Also, fewer boxes of parts on the shelves. On the home stretch.

[bradnic]

Car is registered for the Vintage. It starts on my birthday this year, so that had to be my finish line..

That settles it. Picking up my airhead in Greenville and heading to Hot Springs!

[AirDoc]

Awesome build...looking forward to seeing it at the Vintage!!

[CurrusDei]

Dropped her off to get glass (front/rear) today. Then its exhaust, then AC, then maybe ceramic/film