E30 from Ukraine - "Shadow of Intelligence"

[hasa]

I think this is reality for any non-restored E30 in Europe no matter of the country. Roads are salted during winters and it shows. I really respect the amount of work you've done in challenging conditions!

[The_Glory]

So much work, most here would have scrapped that chassis. Good job bringing it back so far, excited to see more.

Thank you.

Regarding the condition of the chassis - in our reality, it is not a very bad condition - it is a typical condition of most local E30 :)
This is due to the fact that these cars arrived in Ukraine back in the 90s, when there was no qualified service for them here, as well as due to bad roads and winter operation on roads sprinkled with salt. They were often broken in road accidents, then manually repaired. That's why they are all rusty.
E30 with live bodies, which are brought to us now from Europe - only for spare parts. Because legally it is no longer possible to clear them through customs and issue documents for them. Whole bodies are cut into parts in order to extend the life of rusty ones with their help... That's what I did - above were photos of car body parts from Europe that I bought at a local junkyard.
There are cars in much worse condition, but they still drive. Among them there is another category, which we call - "collective farm" - these are machines that have been repaired for a long time using cheap spare parts from the Soviet VAZ (Lada), GAZ (Volga) or simply improvised means and materials. This is a real horror that can cause psychological trauma to the American owner of a classic BMW! ))

But don't think that we only have junk :) There are also preserved original (although not many) or restored cars. Now there will be another ;)

[E30SPDFRK]

So much work, most here would have scrapped that chassis. Good job bringing it back so far, excited to see more.

[The_Glory]

Body repair_21. Body primer.

Immediately after sandblasting, on the same evening, or almost night, the body was primed with acid primer, and then with acrylic, or polymer or polyurethane, I don’t remember exactly. By the way, I completely trust the painter in the choice of materials. He painted this car in 99 or 2000 in this "interesting" color, and until 2012 there was no rust on the paintwork - I think this is a very worthy guarantee for painting.
Well, actually, how it looks - it already looks like a whole and beautiful body! ;)



But still not quite whole - I wrote in the previous entry about the holes that were opened by sandblasting.
There is a small hole near the right support on the edge of the battery platform.



On the bottom everything is fine.











But the next problematic place is the holes in the brackets of the rear seat belts and in the transverse beam on which they are welded, and a suspicious place near the left spring plate. As well as small holes at the top of the right rear arch:



Everything in the back is fine.



But on the left on the motor shield there are holes along the welds, although they are not particularly visible:



All is well under the hood around the supports.





With the timing of welding, I somehow didn’t work out initially) ... therefore, all this has not yet been completed ... And the welder still has one door and a hatch cover ... This welding is already finishing me off ....
For that, with the rest of the hinged body parts there is progress - small scratches are puttied, and all this is being prepared.





The roof and part of the rear are already prepared as a first approximation.
On this, while a pause - the painter goes on vacation for two weeks.
During this time, it is necessary to prepare for processing the bottom with a sealant, as well as buy the missing and prepare the one that is, fasteners for attachments of the body.

Far be.

P.S.
When I was on vacation in Odessa in the summer, a friend gave me such a small gift - a cigarette lighter with an unworn "cigarette". Thanks, Tolyan! ;)
Well, you need to buy options, despite all these repairs! And then "break" begins! ))) I bought an original heated mirror just in case. In the winter I will no longer ride, but let it be for the collection! )

[The_Glory]

Body repair_20. Bottom cleaning. (part 4)

So, after a short rest, we will continue from the beginning! ))

I decided to get rid of the self-tapping screws for attaching the body kit, although in the original BBS it is attached in this way. I put riveting nuts in a circle, they are also threaded rivets - M4 stainless steel. Now the body kit will be screwed with M4 screws, also made of stainless steel - I hope there will be no "bugs" around such fasteners, like around self-tapping screws.



Then I decided to change the concept - and put in a very evil crumpled drift suspension! Super stiff, no springs or shocks, 360 degree turn front and rear, very hard rubber with a minimal profile. Then it turned out that with the clearance too much and the car does not pass the height of the garage door! )) I had to drop it, according to the classics) The front track was further expanded, the rear track was shifted back for better handling. Here's what happened:





But seriously, today was, I hope, the final part of cleaning the bottom - sandblasting. But it was necessary to get there somehow, and there is no more suspension on the car. Fortunately, a colleague in the E30 body repair just got these carts free, which he kindly provided me. Igor - thanks!
It’s not very convenient to drag and remove onto a trailer, but it’s better than carrying a body on your hands! ) We loaded in the evening and left early in the morning.







First, to the painter - they removed all external hinged parts, they will be prepared by hand, so as not to spoil the front planes with sandblasting. Then sandblast. They put it on tippers. They removed the "drift" suspension, and the process began!









The result of the process impressed me very much!













... and in some places upset ... (

Put the "suspension" in place, dragged to the trailer, and back to the painter. Today he will cover everything with acidic soil, then with some other soil. And then, do you think there will be painting?... you didn't guess!! )) Then there will be WELDING again!!!! ))) This is fucked up... you can't just take it like that and finish it! )) In addition to those holes that I found myself, after sandblasting, there were more of them! ... The hand does not rise to leave them ...

[The_Glory]

Body repair_19. Bottom cleaning. (part 3)

Yesterday there was welding again ....)
As I wrote in previous entries, after the bottom was completely cleaned of bitumen and factory sealant, "jambs" and imperfections were discovered that were not visible before. I agreed with a familiar welder, brought welding to my garage and began to eliminate it all. It seems that everything is trifles, but such trifles turned out to be quite a few - they killed for it all day.
So what has been done:
1) Welded holes in the bracket of the right front seat and closed it completely tightly. (collective farm, but less dirt will be collected there)
2) Welded a hole in the floor on the right
3) Welded holes in the rear arch near the filler bracket
4) We moved the lower ear for attaching the rear right arch shield, so it was welded in the wrong place.
5) Instead of a homemade upper ear for the tank, we welded a factory upper bracket in the rear right arch
6) Turned over and welded the muffler bracket correctly
7) Welded in the right place the front studs of the brake pipes, as they were on the wrong side of the spar
8) Welded the rear studs of the brake pipes, which were not
9) Welded a homemade bracket for the tee of the rear brake pipes, which was not
10) Welded the thermal protection studs of the spar and motor shield, which were not
11) Welded a crack on the gearbox tunnel
12) Welded to the bottom with plates tubes of handbrake cables
13) Welded the lower studs of the front fender liner, which were not there, and drilled holes for their front fastening
14) Welded a stud for attaching the battery tray in the rear right niche
15) Welded all the holes from the screws in all the arches
16) We went through all the "suspicious" seams and cleaned them
17) They knocked out the factory plugs for draining condensate from the air conditioner (one, and the other two will need to be drilled after the fact, since there are no plugs in the body, although there are thermal protection), for repeaters in the wings, for wiring the front ABS sensors (and for rear, it is necessary to drill - there are also no plugs)











It seems that everything .... I really don’t want to forget something ... and then drill / weld after painting ...
By the way, I also gave the welder my two rusty hatches in different places - he promised that he would try to make one normal out of them)





The bottom was checked and searched for holes in the light in the twilight)) - like this



In some places, the seams were like constellations in the starry sky))) But now only factory holes are visible - there are no more unauthorized holes in the bottom! )
Although ... after sandblasting they may reappear ... we'll see ...

In the meantime, a week and a half time out - I'm tired even ... I'll go to the sea)

[The_Glory]

Body repair_18. Bottom cleaning. (part 2)

After cleaning the bottom, inaccessible places remained intact - above the rear beam, front supports, and left arches, since the car was on its left side. To get to all these places, you need to remove the beams, and somehow turn the car over. To do this, I took tippers for Lada from a friend and adapted them for the E30. I made such harsh "bumpers"))









Or maybe well, that BBS! ? With such bumpers it will be stronger and more reliable!)))

I screwed these adapters to the tipper instead of the brackets for the Lada, and installed it on the car.





Used the mounting holes of stock bumpers. I made adapters according to my measurements and drawings, but I had to adjust a little more in place. By the way, I'll post the drawings later - maybe someone will come in handy.
The front beam was removed easily and simply, since it was recently removed, but the rear one, at least for the last 11 years, has not been removed ... I had to tinker a little, after which it was removed like this:



The remaining silent blocks had to be drilled out. They simply crumbled into pieces, the lower support of the silent block rotted, and some kind of rubber gaskets were already there. I don’t understand how it didn’t come off on the road and drove without any knocks .... For that, the bolts are like new! )



And now she is completely naked and can be viewed from all sides! )))





The floor in my garage has been "temporary" for many years, and not very even and hard)) Therefore, for insurance, I had to expand the support points on the sides of the tippers, just in case,





and also support the body on the reverse side., since the axis of rotation turned out to be lower than the center of gravity and the roof clearly outweighs the bottom. It was necessary to make the axis of rotation higher by 10-15cm. But not critical - it is reliable, although at first it was scary))





What can I say - a very sensible thing - it is much easier and more convenient to work. Well, this is the result:













I can't believe it, but I did it! ) It remains to clean the front fenders, but there is no sealant, but only bitumen - after cleaning the bottom, it's already like dust for sailors! )))

Now about the sad thing ... on this side, too, there were jambs for welding - little things for fasteners. We welded a hole for the front shield in the arch, the brake pipe studs were welded on the wrong side of the side member, the studs under the rear seat were cut out, patches were put in, and the new studs were not welded, the same with the brackets for the rear brake pipe tee and handbrake cables. In the rear arch there are many holes from the screws on which the fender liner was attached. Luckily no holes or rot were found.
It seems like trifles, but in total there were quite a few of them .... well, we will "finish it" .... More on that next time.

[The_Glory]

Body repair_17. Bottom cleaning. (part 1)

After fitting and installing the body kit, everything was dismantled back and the car was put on the left side to clean the bottom from bitumen, since sandblasting to remove such a layer of it would hardly work, well, or it would be very difficult and not cheap, as I was told. .. Therefore, since the work does not require special qualifications)) I decided to do it myself - especially since I myself smeared it with a very thick layer 9 years ago! )))
This is what it looked like before work began.











In principle, the bitumen was removed not so hard, just in many places it is not very convenient. Therefore, it took a lot of time, since I worked for several hours in the evenings. And no matter what anyone says, but the effect of this anticorrosive is still there - under it the bottom has been preserved quite normally. At the same time, I decided to check the safety of the metal floor with the remaining factory anticorrosive - there is surface rust at the joints of the parts and in some places on the planes. Therefore, I decided to remove it completely already. This is much more difficult than bitumen .... The metal brushes for the drill and the disks for the grinder were immediately clogged with bitumen, it all melted, burned, smoked and stank, so I removed everything manually, with a wide screwdriver, a chisel and a spatula (the photo shows the tool and " results" in two plastic jars :) ) Then I washed off the rest with white spirit. As they say - perseverance and work - everyone will be fucked! )))
And tonight, the bottom looks like this.













Access above the rear beam and inside the front supports is very poor, so I haven’t cleaned it there yet. I will remove both beams. To do this, I took turntables from a friend, I will make adapters for them under the E30, and then I will already finish the left arches and a part above the rear beam.



In general, the state of the bottom is quite normal, but there were some "surprises" in welding.
1) holes on the seat mounting bracket - I don’t know how they weren’t noticed when the threshold was welded ...



2) a small hole in the floor in front



3) two holes in the rear arch near the tank filler neck bracket



4) instead of a stud, they welded an ear for the shield - but oh well, they forgot to weld the upper ear for the shield



5) muffler bracket welded upside down

... maybe something else will come out on the left side ....

All this will need to be corrected, and then the same for sandblasting.

P.S.
When I was picking up the car, on the way the rear bumper fang fell off on the right side. It turned out that the bracket and bumper there just rotted through and through. Therefore, on the occasion, not far away and for symbolic money, I bought both bumpers in reserve. The middle parts, of course, are rubbish, for that the sidewalls are all intact.

[The_Glory]

I'd tend to claim that the hitch needs one additional pivot point to the bumper line. But I might be wrong if my understanding about force vectors does not apply.

As practice has shown, the main thing here is that the angles of the front wheels are correct... And in my case, it was a horror... I didn't use it anymore.

[The_Glory]

I've never seen a rigid hitch like that before. Looks interesting.

Rust repair looks good!

Yes, but there are nuances) I will write about them later.

Thanks.

[hasa]

I'd tend to claim that the hitch needs one additional pivot point to the bumper line. But I might be wrong if my understanding about force vectors does not apply.

[Northern]

I've never seen a rigid hitch like that before. Looks interesting.

Rust repair looks good!

[The_Glory]

Body repair_16. Installing body kit BBS.

It hasn't even been 6 years since I got to installing a full BBS kit... :))

According to the work plan, I drilled holes for the body kit and installed it - there is one inconspicuous jamb on the right threshold, but in general - like norms. But I don’t know what to do with fasteners - in the original BBS is attached severely - with self-tapping screws to the body. That's how it was fixed for me. After painting, there was an idea to switch to plastic clips .... but even I doubted that it would stand evenly and rigidly on the clips .... In addition, holes for clips are needed at least 6mm - not everywhere on the body kit and body it is possible to drill such holes ... I’ll probably leave them on self-tapping screws .... But here again the question of body protection arises .... Maybe on stainless steel riveting nuts? ... but again, they won’t fit everywhere ... I don’t know what to do with this fastener ... But in general, the body kit has become good, and even better than it was before. Although, aprons still need to be glued, but this will be a separate entry.
For now, here it is:





















In the photo, the bumpers are not fixed on the sides, but when fitting, everything was attached and checked. This time I approached the installation of the body kit more carefully, and accordingly, the result was better than before;)
Although, the overlays hung generally purely symbolically on adhesive tape



The expansion along the arches is not small





Fasteners for self-tapping screws





Thresholds are attached through a special bar



The lower threshold mount is similar to the M-Technic mount - you will need to buy clamps - logically, they should fit ...

P.S.
We will go to sandblasting and painting on a rigid hitch - it's even easier and cheaper than a trailer. Got it from a friend ;)

[The_Glory]

Body repair_15. The result of welding.

Welding lasted a long time, but a lot of work was done - they welded and changed absolutely everything that they found and that aroused suspicion - an even front frame was welded in, the hood torsion bars and hood were replaced, the front apron was slightly straightened and sanded, repair inserts were welded into the bottom of the front of the wings, the left support with a spar was leveled and replaced, the engine shield and the battery platform were welded on, the old holes were cleaned and new holes were welded in the bottom, a new gas pedal bracket was made, the hatch drainage was brought out, the "trough" of the hatch and the roof were restored, the corners of the roof pillars were reinforced with overlays , the holes for the speakers in the rear shelf were restored, the thresholds with amplifiers and jacks were replaced, the rear external arches were replaced and the internal ones were welded, the rear right side member was restored above the spring and its upper plate was replaced, the spare tire niche was replaced, niches in the rear fenders were welded, a new rear panel was installed , the trunk lid is welded on, the left rear fender is extended in the area of the antenna, the whole is welded in the rear right fender th hatch of the tank, all the doors were replaced and welded on the little things, the hinges of the driver's door were restored, the brackets of the handbrake cables, the filler neck, the backstage support, the shield and the tank in the rear right arch, the ground terminals were restored, a lot of missing mounting studs were welded and maybe more I forgot some things...
The control body dimensions are brought to the factory ones, the main external elements are installed - headlights, grilles, nostrils, door seals and locks, taillights and bumpers, after which all gaps are set.
After all this, the car looks like this, in which I took it:









































Now I am installing a body kit, so that after painting nothing would have to be drilled. More on that in the next post.

[The_Glory]

Body repair_14. Finally picked up from welding!

Less than a year later, the welding work was completed! )) They lasted 11 months .... what can I say ... I didn’t seem to be in a hurry anywhere, but not to such an extent )) To be honest, I counted on a shorter time ... and on a smaller budget)) Well, okay - the main thing is that the most difficult stage of body work is completed! ...I hope ))
I went to pick up with a painter who will paint, so that he would immediately evaluate the work and point out the shortcomings. And it was the right decision - it was not possible to pick it up the first time - the car was not fully assembled and there were comments on some gaps and planes. A few days later, the car was assembled, seals, locks, headlights, grilles, lights, bumpers were installed, all gaps were set - and we again came with a painter. The quality of the work suited him, according to the gaps everything was OK, and he gave the go-ahead! )
By the way, I went to pick up on an "X" with a trailer - this is 4 times cheaper than a tow truck.
Last summer I installed the original towbar, but it was not possible to test it. And the day before yesterday, finally, I tried for the first time to drive with a trailer. I rented a trailer, and here is such a "road train" turned out:



Loaded







Stop to check fastening



And here we are at home!
We are unloading, again, like almost a year ago when loading, under the curious and surprised looks of the neighbors))) Apparently, they no longer expected to see my "thirty" again! )



On the way, for some reason, the rear bumper on the right unscrewed.



Several not very confident attempts to maneuver with a trailer and "thirty" again in his garage!





The plan for further action is as follows:
1. Fitting and installing body kit, drilling mounting holes, and then disassembly.
2. Removing from the bottom of all those mastics that were smeared there before me and me)
3. Sandblast the bottom and optionally the body.
4. After sandblasting, immediately to the painter, and primer.
5. Processing seams and bottoms
6. Painting
7. Assembly.

Here's a simple plan ;)
I won’t guess at the expense of timing)) but I hope it will go faster than welding)

A little later I will post a photo of the result of welding work.