E30 1986 2-door from ESTONIA - restoration project.

[The_Glory]

Yes, in Ukraine, two-axle trailers and carriages for transporting cars also require a special category of driver's license. But I found out about it already after I took the car on a carriage and picked it up from the bodywork and painting works - lucky )) That's why I ordered a tow truck the last time, so as not to risk with the police. )
In the future, it will probably be necessary to get that category just in case.

[D.Martijn]

Great progress on the body! Good idea to remove some of the brackets as there can be still rust present between the shell and bracket!
It does take some time but it'll be worth it.

Yeah, sometimes it's better to spend the money and find new panels then trying to save what you currently have.!

[MarkoEST]

Thanks!

If i could, i would buy everything from the dealership, but unfortunately i need to eat too. So i have to compromise and find a bit better solution. In this brackets case there is no alternative than get new ones because trying make them look beautiful again takes more time and effort. :)

[MarkoEST]

I had some free time on the weekend and decided to build a home made bodycart out of wood. Bought 360 degrees turnable wheels and wood i bought from my summerhouse. Little bit of measuring and cutting and that was it. Now its basically ready for transportation. Few spots i found what i need to clean before take it to bodyshop.

Finally it on its "wheels" :D

[MarkoEST]

Today i got an email that my parts have arrived. Its like christmas for me, all year around when getting new shiny parts for my project.
New original exhaust brackets and few blind plugs.

[MarkoEST]

Showed some sunlight after two years of inside the garage. This self made bodycart works just perfect. Job well done!

[MarkoEST]

Good morning!

Last thing what bothered me was the inside of the boot. This was the only place which was untouched by the wirebursh. Because yesterday was a great weather and i thought why sit at home when you can be productive and do something ? So i grabbed my stuff and head to the garage. There is not much to talk about, because pictures says a whole lot more.

[MarkoEST]

I ran in to a trouble. When removing the brackets, i had to remove also the seatbelt subframe. But it was so rusted and i had no choice but to break it to get it off from the chassis. I was pretty sure that i will find new one without any problems. Or at least used one, but hell no! I could find only one place in Europe who produces it https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/produ...=E30GN-0105SCM
I made the order and they told me that producing time with the delivery is about 4-5 weeks. Luckily i can send it later to the bodyshop. He has lot of else to do before hea will start welding that. :)

[D.Martijn]

I ran in to a trouble. When removing the brackets, i had to remove also the seatbelt subframe. But it was so rusted and i had no choice but to break it to get it off from the chassis. I was pretty sure that i will find new one without any problems. Or at least used one, but hell no! I could find only one place in Europe who produces it https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/produ...=E30GN-0105SCM
I made the order and they told me that producing time with the delivery is about 4-5 weeks. Luckily i can send it later to the bodyshop. He has lot of else to do before hea will start welding that. :)

I'm pretty sure it's a panel from E30Norway, although delivery times will probably be the same..

https://e30garage.no/

edit, it's even cheaper and he has 4 in stock..

https://e30garage.no/product/rear-subframe/

[MarkoEST]

I'm pretty sure it's a panel from E30Norway, although delivery times will probably be the same..

https://e30garage.no/

edit, it's even cheaper and he has 4 in stock..

https://e30garage.no/product/rear-subframe/

Yeah, i'm pretty sure that is the same part. But the day i purchase it, it was -10% discount and as i bought it to a company i also got the price without VAT. Final price was less than 200 euros with shipping. I consider it as a quite good deal. :)

[MarkoEST]

From chassis chat to a sound. I know it's a long long journey, when starting to assemble the car i like to have everything that i need for that. Because i'm gonna upgrade a sound system a little bit i needed a new headunit for that. I know that there are endless possibilities to install whatever brand you want, but for me it has to fit perfectly. I don't like all fancy bling-bling colorful screens. I needed something that doesn't disturb my eye and at the same time internal components would be contemporary so i could use bluetooth and other stuff that comes with the headunit. Only what was good enough for me (maybe there are more) was this. It has everything i could need and the looks of it is just perfect for that timeless E30's interior.

[MarkoEST]

Bodyshop guy called me and asked if i could bring him the car 17th of June. I was like, yeah sure, but just first let me figure out who will tow the trailer. Made few calls and found myself a driver. My friend who does own a towing company. Luckily he was very happy to help. So the plan was sure. I bought the ferry tickets. Yeah, i live in the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. And my friend who's gonna do the welding lives on an island called Saaremaa. Not very long trip but exhausting. Back and forth around 550-600km.

Yesterday evening i went to the garage and started packing. Because the ferry departures 9 in the morning and i had almost 2 hour drive so we had to leave early. I don't like to rush because otherwise I will mess up or forget something. I like to take time and think everything through. I packed everything my friend asked. Hopefully i did not forget anything.
Bumper, hood, doors, trunk lid, fenders and etc.



Next mission was to get that chassis on the trailer. It was bit of a fight, because the bodycart was not as wide as it should have been. But after 15 minutes of struggeling we managed to get that on the trailer and tied it properly. Trust me i don't want to find myself on the side of a road and looking for my car from the woods. We are proffesionals, we dont use blutetooth straps.



I know it looks like towing skyscraper behind your back but it wasn't as scary as it looks.



Ready to go!



And new home for few months. You are probably asking when it will be ready ? I don't know actually. He will begin cutting it open after midsummer. And in my head i have thought at least 3-4 months. I want it to be not good, but very good. I wanted to say perfect, but i think with my budget its impossible. But we will see! :) Im quite sure that my friend is up to the task and he will do really good job because after that project he still want to be friends with me. :D

[The_Glory]

I remember how I drove my car in the same way - it was not easy to pull and remove it from the trailer on the cart. Then, when she was already on her wheels, I tried to tow her on a hard hitch. It was a horror when she broke away in a turn on the Kyiv district road! After that, I ride it only on a carriage or a tow truck)

[MarkoEST]

I remember how I drove my car in the same way - it was not easy to pull and remove it from the trailer on the cart. Then, when she was already on her wheels, I tried to tow her on a hard hitch. It was a horror when she broke away in a turn on the Kyiv district road! After that, I ride it only on a carriage or a tow truck)

When shes ready, i might just take the axels with me and install them. So it would be much easier to transport it. And installing axels is a pretty easy and fast job.

[MarkoEST]

Holy moses, it has been a while. The car in in the body shop and to be straight with you, i have no idea how she's doing. I better not bother the welder or otherwise he will be pissed off and won't do anything at all. I just let him do he's job and i will mind my own business. I have lot of other stuff to do in the garage. At first era of doing your own maintenance on the garage floor has ended. Decided to purchase a 2-post lift. But before installation i checked the thickness of the concrete floor. It's an old cowfarm and some of the floor is old and thats the exact place where i needed to install the lift. So i did the drilling and found out that maximum thickness was only 10cm. And thats not enough at all. Perfect would be 20-30cm. So i gave a call to a garage owner, talked to him and decided that we need to support somehow the weight of the lifts. For me there was only one solution. Cut the 1x1m and 30cm deep holes to the floor, installed metal rebar in and poured concrete in. From the factory the suggested that i should wait at least 2-3 weeks before installing the lift. By the book its should dry at least 28 days. And im gonna do it by the book. :)

For 2-post lift we are using EAE Lifts.

And now few pictures of that job.