The 5 Year Restoration - E30 M3 Reborn

[CurrusDei]

Have you considered an oetiker clamp for the parking brake handle ?

I have, but i'd have to take it apart to get it in place (wouldnt fit over the brake handle and im not about to take that thing off the brake lever). worth a try when i get the car back in a couple weeks

[LJ851]

Have you considered an oetiker clamp for the parking brake handle ?

[CurrusDei]

boot clean




Cleaning up the top of the airbox. I removed the clips that fasten the two halves together because i found freshly zinc'd gold ones




Not sure if the film on here was just due to age or if it was cosmoline of what, but my steam cleaner was able to blast it off (see the beninnings of this around the BOSCH logo)




more blasting and cleaning. this felt like trying to detail a waffle




old vibration dampening mounts removed (they came off easily with a strap wrench)




New ones on.




Airbox on. I'll post pics of the gold closing clamps later




Other end of the car, i was missing some fittings




filled



fitted

[CurrusDei]

More interior







This is a cool piece of the car. Prior owners left their names on the back of a door panel. We all wrote our names on the other side of the panel as well (not pictured)




New cigarette lighter element and plug










Radio trim and climate controls. While i liked the flush mount panel I made earlier, the modifications warped the top line of the face plate so that it didnt sit flush against the dash. I opted to get a new face plate and just have the radio stick out a bit, which the original ones did anyways.




Whoa that looks like a car...







So i really dont like the plastic handle that comes on the M3's hand brake. I dont like it enough that i ordered an e36 hand brake, and used a torch to heat it up until i could pull off the leather handle, put it on my e30 hand brake, and junk the rest of the now warped e36 handbrake








a zip tie wasnt enough to hold on the brake handle boot, so i tightened a clamp down very hard to compress the leather and plastic to make a groove for the cable tie to hold onto



Took off a couple days later. Looks good. Still didnt work



Right now its on there with a metal clamp under the leather boot. Thinking about alternatives. The stitch pattern between the leather boot and handle do match exactly.

[CurrusDei]

Stalks being re-wired







My old turn signal stalk was faded and worn out. The non-airbag turn signal stalks are twice as expensive as the airbag car turn signal stalks. Since my car was made late enough to have airbag provision wiring but no airbag, i tried the airbag car switch. Works perfectly. Wouldnt be surprised if it worked for older build dates as well but try at your own risk. I had to re-wrap the wires on it, even new from BMW the wires were sticky so it go the same treatment as the rest of the wiring - cleaned and re-tesa taped.






Top half of steering column cover on




Bottom half




Driver side foot well buttoned up

[CurrusDei]

Recall I upgraded to a parallel flow condensor, but the line placement remains the same upper port on the Condensor receives the line from the compressor













Lower condensor port receives the line that goes to the drier









passenger side wired



driver side wired






Glove box roof was a little scuffed for my taste and replacements are cheap. Transferred the insulation



I'll have to get some pics of this, guess i forgot to snap one, but i put the glove box in and found yet another NLA part (the glovebox light switch) that i had to buy on ebay from someone who still had one

[pictures to come]

[CurrusDei]

AC Lines Going in. As of this writing the AC still isnt done because im finding that the new style bracket, while it fits on the engine, doesnt position the larger fitting on the compressor (which receives the larger, low side line from the expansion valve) high enough for the line to clear the frame rail so that it wont rub on the body. Also the new style bracket only mounts the top of the compressor with a single bracket, which is not strong enough to keep the compressor pulley square with the drive pulley when tensioned. As a result, the compressor pulley angles slightly and freys the edges of the drive belt.

TLDR: I'm going back to the old style bracket and having my factory compressor rebuilt.

Anyway, the lines:

This set runs under the passenger side of the dash and is the only set of lines that werent replaced with new (theyre NLA). I foundthe nicest used set i could and had them professionally cleaned out by an AC shop



and re-insulated the low side line







All new o-rings from BMW




I used PAG 100 oil to soak the o-rings and used mineral oil from an AC shop to lube the threads so they dont seize up. everything went together smoothly, but some of the lines are in tight spaces so wrench clearance is minimal. Just takes patience




New expansion valve I've had waiting for years




This is a tight fit





Oh yeah and dont forget to put the cover on the lines before you install them, so you dont have to undo the whole thing and slide the cover over. This wasnt my favorite part of the project







New R134a low side line





in place. sits higher than the old low side line, which follows the lower edge of the shock tower



new high side line (connects drier to expansion valve). Its the gold line running just under the hood seal.

[CurrusDei]

my replacement dash cracked in storage (store these things on their faces, or upside down, not sitting uprright. it puts pressurte on the thin edge that faces the windshield and will crack it). so heres dash number 3 getting the insulation transfer, clean ac vents, and wiring looms.






















replacing old, deteriorated foam tape

[CurrusDei]

Cutting new moisture barriers. i kept the old ones to trace and ordered new material from BMW














Front stripes






door sills

[CurrusDei]

test 2

[CurrusDei]

test

[CurrusDei]

Thanks guys.
Carl was the guy looking for mine, must have recently run out. The hub nuts are staked

The car is way ahead of the thread. I took it to the Vintage and the motor now has over 800 miles on it.
Unfortunately someone backed into the right front fender in a parking lot (2 weeks before the vintage) and damaged the fender and chipped the paint on the hood, so it’s in the shop getting a new fender, genuine BMW from Germany (thankfully no damage to the engine bay or other areas). The guys that did the original paint work are doing the repair.
I just had shoulder surgery so I’m laid up for a couple days. I’ll try to update the thread but you’ll have to excuse mistakes from my one hand typing

[Todd Black 88]

Awesome.

The rear pistons are available also if your looking.

Let me check where I got mine.

Edit:
Got mine from Carl at Korman

[LJ851]

Beautiful.

Don't forget to stake your axle nuts.

[jhaurimn]

yesyesyesyesyesyesyes.

How close are we to seeing and hearing this baby run? :)