My 1988 e30 325ix - Garage'd

[jeenyus]

More welding this weekend. Flux core really is time consuming. You can only really do like one bead at a time and then you have to clean off the slag and do it again. Takes a lot of time... Next time I'll own a TIG welder. I also got some new studs and nuts for the exhaust manifold along with gaskets. Cleaned up that area as well. I did end up getting some better wire for the FLUX core welder though. I had the HF wire and changed to the Lincoln, which is much better! It is softer than the HF wire which took a lot to melt and would cause me to burn through in a lot of places. The Lincoln wire allows me to use lower heat on the thinner metal and not melt a giant hole in it.

[jeenyus]

Got a little bit of work done this weekend. Got some of the patch panels tacked into place. I almost had forgot how long it takes... I also got some OBX headers, which came as a late birthday present. I didn't imagine they would fit, but I only had a few issues with one side and was able to resolve it. Below is a picture of them test amounted.

[jeenyus]

No, I don't think weld thru primer is necessary. I have epoxy primer and seam sealer, plus rubberized under coating. I'm not sure what you mean about drilling drain holes. There are a myriad of drain holes in the floor as it is.

[D.Martijn]

Looks good sofar, don't forget to drill some holes for plugwelds at the transmission tunnel where the floor is spotwelded onto the carrier.
Are you using some kind of weld thru primer as well?

[jeenyus]

I spent the day today making templates to weld in for the areas of rust I cut out. This is a long process to get right... I am happy to be done and now I can get to welding. Some pieces will need little fill triangles for areas I got a little cut-crazy with the angle grinder. Once these are in, all I will need to do is clean, prime and seam seal and I can put the interior back together! Finally gonna finish something!

[jeenyus]

Happy Birthday, man!
Keep going at it, happy to see you didn't throw in the towel but went the more inconvenient route.

I'll be happy about it when I'm done. haha! It is one of those things where you're like, "I know this has to be done right or I'm going to have to do it again later... I dont want to do it again later..." I think the welding will go much quicker this time around. The angles or easier, the pieces are simpler. I'll make templates through the week and weld them in over the weekend hopefully. That should get me to priming and seam sealing and then the carpet can go back in and I can drive it till MS gets purchased. I have a feeling that the bitch tube on the intake manifold is causing me some grief in idle and A/F ratios.

[gnmzl]

Happy Birthday, man!
Keep going at it, happy to see you didn't throw in the towel but went the more inconvenient route.

[jeenyus]

Today is my birthday and so I get the day off from work. Decided to do a little work on the car. I made templates, cut some out of metal. Once I got to the point I could weld one in I realized I hadn't cleaned up the underside, or even removed the transmission tunnel shielding(?). So I got under the car, removed the shielding and realized that the shielding had separated and basically glued itself to the underside of my car, creating little pockets that are what actually caused these rust spots (I thought it was the studs for the shield mounting). I had to remove my entire exhaust, couldn't do it from the flange so I removed it from the manifold. I was eventually able to get under the car and clean up the area I'm planning on welding, then called it a day. Time for some beer.

[88e30ix]

Keep motivated!!

[jeenyus]

I'm in the same boat as you with the rust and same locations too! Good job!!

Thanks man! hopefully this weekend we can get this taken care of. This seems easier than the driver's side. Just some rectangles from an easier position than the others. Hopefully this weekend I can get it fully patched, but i gotta remove that heat shield under there which is a pain in the ass.

[88e30ix]

I'm in the same boat as you with the rust and same locations too! Good job!!

[jeenyus]

Ok, I cut out all the rust and wire brushed the shit outta of it all. That's always fun. I don't think it is that bad honestly. I will have to rebuild the corner even though I really hoped I didn't have to. It's all fine though simply because the angles are easier this time around. Here are pictures of the holes I cut.

[jeenyus]

Tackling the other side of the car (passenger) and I would like this to show clearly why these jack stand should just be removed. First picture is the side view of the jack stand. You can see how the rust found a nice place to party. After removing the plate I found a good amount of rust that will require me to rebuild this corner as well... Blah.

[rzerob]

Man, almost 20 years of E30s and there's still stuff I didn't know. Never heard of the OBC horn before!

I came across one as part of a package deal with the 13 button OBC, stalk, wiring and horn. I passed because I only wanted the 13 button OBC.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=62_0069

#20 just states it as horn.

[nando]

The chime is made inside the cabin at freezing temps. Can you imagine driving down the street and a horn goes off when it reached a certain temperature? The OBC horn is part of the OBC immobilizer/alarm. On original equipment you could set your OBC to keep your car from being started until the correct code was inputted to the OBC. If you inputted the code incorrectly three times the OBC horn would go off.

Man, almost 20 years of E30s and there's still stuff I didn't know. Never heard of the OBC horn before!