My 1988 e30 325ix - Garage'd

[mike.bmw]

You must be happy the interior is going back in! Anything left to do or will you start driving it again?

[mjweimer]

Coming together well and looking good. This kind of repair work is tedious (and unfortunately mostly hidden) but satisfying in its own way. Are you painting the patches/seam sealer in body color?


MJ

[jeenyus]

I sealed up the outside of the car and I'm happy with how it turned out! After a coat of rubberized paint this will look great! Glad it's done. Now I can lay dynamat and put the interior back together.

[jeenyus]

The weather is cold in UT. Makes it not ideal for painting, but I still managed to get the interior finished. I setup a heater inside and let it get warm, then painted and seam sealed it all. Happy it's done. All my beautiful welds covered up and not visible.

[formyhealth]

You gotta splurge for the fancy cardboard. Honestly makes a world of difference. Haha

bahahah! I've got those cheap 2x2 interlocking foam pads from Harbor Freight but there is so much metal shavings embedded that it's really uncomfortable to lay on. I should buy a 2 post lift..

[jeenyus]

I feel you, I've been the same way it's cold out there. I need to get under mine to install the drive shaft but that concrete..

You gotta splurge for the fancy cardboard. Honestly makes a world of difference. Haha

[formyhealth]

Hahahaha! I can relate. Haha! Basically done though, so just need some heat in the garage and I can finish.

I feel you, I've been the same way it's cold out there. I need to get under mine to install the drive shaft but that concrete..

[jeenyus]

jeenyus I totally feel your pain, I hated welding up the firewall, the sheet metal on these cars seem to be made of a mixture of paper towels and tin foil, they either burn through or the undercoating 6 feet away spontaneously catches fire.

Hahahaha! I can relate. Haha! Basically done though, so just need some heat in the garage and I can finish.

[formyhealth]

jeenyus I totally feel your pain, I hated welding up the firewall, the sheet metal on these cars seem to be made of a mixture of paper towels and tin foil, they either burn through or the undercoating 6 feet away spontaneously catches fire.

[jeenyus]

Finished the passengers side corner. Now I need to figure out how to heat up the garage enough to spray epoxy primer. I will say that the last patch piece I welded is probably my best welds on this project tbh. Especially with the flux welder, it's hard to get consistency. Happy with how it turned out.

[jeenyus]

I had to cut a good amount of rust from the passenger side corner. Because I did that I will have to rebuild the drain area. It made me realize that a good amount of rust is probably from water sitting in this area, so hopefully I can figure out a practical way to resolve of and stitch it back together. I also ended up finally biting the bullet on a work light as well. The initial cost of like 130 to buy the light and this bullshit, "one battery sold separately for all" definitely increases the initial cost, but it has already saved me and helped increase what I can do on these cold short days. I have found a few places that need a couple little areas fixed and welding is much easier with 1000 lumens vs 50 from a cellphone.

[jeenyus]

i'd go mig also for this job. and thickness of metal is really handled by your consumables for both. (wire size/tip/rollers for mig. filler rod, tungsten, and then your torch setup collets etc. for tig) I have only used the pedal on with my tig, but for inside the car i'm guessing you'd want a finger control setup for tig. sidenote: i still haven't had time to even attempt to do this on my car yet. kudo's for you getting all this taken care of. i'm still scared at the thought of cutting out part of the floor.

Thanks for the input. Welding is fun and I'd guess without a flux core it would be even more fun. Don't be intimidated. There are many drain plugs in the floor already that aren't even welded in. Areas of just seam sealer holding some seams together. If imagine no matter how it turns out, should be better than it was as a rusty hole. Plus more aero (lol) on the wheel arch, help move that air along quicker than the rust box they put there from factory.

[s14brent]

It doesn't unfortunately. Tig seems way more versatile than any other option. This is probably my inexperience talking though. Just has a lot of options with the electrodes used. Doing a quick search is says it's used mainly on thin metal, so i would hope body panels and sheet metal are included in that.

i'd go mig also for this job. and thickness of metal is really handled by your consumables for both. (wire size/tip/rollers for mig. filler rod, tungsten, and then your torch setup collets etc. for tig) I have only used the pedal on with my tig, but for inside the car i'm guessing you'd want a finger control setup for tig.
sidenote: i still haven't had time to even attempt to do this on my car yet. kudo's for you getting all this taken care of. i'm still scared at the thought of cutting out part of the floor.

[jeenyus]

I would rather go with a MIG than a TIG. Do you have a connection on your flux core machine for some gas? If so, just get a bottle and some mog wire. Tig is even harder to get right on thin sheet metal.

It doesn't unfortunately. Tig seems way more versatile than any other option. This is probably my inexperience talking though. Just has a lot of options with the electrodes used. Doing a quick search is says it's used mainly on thin metal, so i would hope body panels and sheet metal are included in that.

[D.Martijn]

I would rather go with a MIG than a TIG. Do you have a connection on your flux core machine for some gas? If so, just get a bottle and some mog wire.
Tig is even harder to get right on thin sheet metal.