My 1988 e30 325ix - Garage'd

[rzerob]

lol! Oh I can imagine it! This is an interesting little part. I'm sure it doesn't work though. Would I cause any issues removing it? Seems unnecessary if it's not working.

I have a 13 button OBC I installed on my ix and never installed the OBC horn and it works as it should without the horn functions obviously. But if you are going to remove it remove the wiring harness to it as well. There is no point leaving it there if you are not going to use it.

[jeenyus]

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.

lol! Oh I can imagine it! This is an interesting little part. I'm sure it doesn't work though. Would I cause any issues removing it? Seems unnecessary if it's not working.

[rzerob]

So like an OEM alarm system? Or the chime that goes off at freezing temps?

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.

[jeenyus]

It's the OBC horn.

So like an OEM alarm system? Or the chime that goes off at freezing temps?

[rzerob]

It's the OBC horn.

[s14brent]

oem horn? i dont think i had that tray under mine though....but my car came missing a lot of shit also lol..

edit: nope....i see your horn next to it in one of the other pics....no clue homie

[jeenyus]

Just wanted to test out the seam sealer before going for it on the crucial spots so I fixed this little rusty area in my driver's side wheel well. I'll paint it black and then I'm sure nobody will ever know. Also I am wondering if anyone knows what the part is right behind the spot I fixed? I took some pictures best I could, but no part numbers to help me.

[jeenyus]

It sure is, but nobody's happy until they spend $600+ on a welder and gas. I know I can't justify a cost like that, and my little flux machine does a decent job for what it is. I helped user DasDelphin patch his e30 vert up with it too (pics in his build thread), as well as some fender rot patches on a friend's old Nissan Sentra and a Dodge truck. As long as it holds, I wouldn't think twice... Though I will say cleaning the flux and blobs off the welds gets annoying after a while. Copper backing plates help with the burn through, though, and otherwise it's not too bad or too complicated. Plus, no cylinders of gas to blow up the garage lol. Anyhow, props to you for going against convention and doing it your own way! Good luck with the rest of the car. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Thanks man! I really appreciate it. Gonna need to look into that backing plate. The only thing I've found to help with burn through is just turning down the wire feed speed to like a 2.5 or something. Also you're totally right. Cleaning each weld gets so annoying and makes the process extremely tedious.

[15Michaeljoseph]

This honestly made my day. Thanks for the kind words. As I see a light at the end of the tunnel I'm getting excited to actually drive the car again! Flux welder is as difficult to weld sheet metal with as they all say.

It sure is, but nobody's happy until they spend $600+ on a welder and gas. I know I can't justify a cost like that, and my little flux machine does a decent job for what it is. I helped user DasDelphin patch his e30 vert up with it too (pics in his build thread), as well as some fender rot patches on a friend's old Nissan Sentra and a Dodge truck. As long as it holds, I wouldn't think twice... Though I will say cleaning the flux and blobs off the welds gets annoying after a while. Copper backing plates help with the burn through, though, and otherwise it's not too bad or too complicated. Plus, no cylinders of gas to blow up the garage lol. Anyhow, props to you for going against convention and doing it your own way! Good luck with the rest of the car. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[jeenyus]

Excellent work on this. I went through the EXACT same floor repairs last August on my New England daily'd 325iS... Same as you, learning with hand tools and a flux welder. My patches looked the same, and I ended up costing everything with Eastwood's rust encapsulator and seam sealer when done, followed by another coat of encapsulator and undercoating on the outside. "A grinder and paint"... it's fun when you think of what you're doing for the car. Making matters worse, my passenger side transmission mounting slot (on the body) was rotted out. That was fun to do. Ended up cutting a rust free section off of a friend's parts car and welding it into mine Worked perfectly. Can't wait to tackle the rear spring perches. Fantastic job, love to see someone succeeding in a similar position. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

This honestly made my day. Thanks for the kind words. As I see a light at the end of the tunnel I'm getting excited to actually drive the car again! Flux welder is as difficult to weld sheet metal with as they all say.

[15Michaeljoseph]

Excellent work on this. I went through the EXACT same floor repairs last August on my New England daily'd 325iS... Same as you, learning with hand tools and a flux welder. My patches looked the same, and I ended up costing everything with Eastwood's rust encapsulator and seam sealer when done, followed by another coat of encapsulator and undercoating on the outside. "A grinder and paint"... it's fun when you think of what you're doing for the car. Making matters worse, my passenger side transmission mounting slot (on the body) was rotted out. That was fun to do. Ended up cutting a rust free section off of a friend's parts car and welding it into mine Worked perfectly. Can't wait to tackle the rear spring perches. Fantastic job, love to see someone succeeding in a similar position. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[jeenyus]

but....from my understanding...these car's are rarely "finished", so keep posting! good job tackling this, I've never used a flux-core, but if you're going to epoxy and cover with seam sealer and underside rubberized coating i think you're going to be just fine. Do you mind sharing what products you plan on using? And how did the gas pedal bracket go? That's the area I need to tackle on my car. I actually plan on cutting the bracket out completely and using a SRS pedal bracket on the replacement sheet metal. (ordered a 3 hole bracket but they also make a 2 hole version also.)

You might have covered it already, but what gauge sheet metal did you use around that area? I might actually need to buy thinner gauge mig wire and rollers for this job. I had a friend bring his miller 110v welder over when we did my rear fenders because I didn't want to blow through it with my .030 or .035 (i forget which one i have since I haven't used it in forever). I'm thinking of practicing on a some cut up pieces of sheet first. Super worried about blowing through and making it worse.

I ended up using 16 gauge with .030 wire. I would probably use 18 gauge steel though if I had to do it again. 16 is a little too beefy to pair with the original floors, which i think might possibly be 20 gauge tbh. You should be just find going with .030 wire. .028 wire could work too, but it's not as versatile and you would only use it for that one project and I think i read on your thread, you had the same spool of wire for ever. The gas pedal was only covered in rust and I was able to clean it up, lucky me! I did have to replace one of the drain holes by the gas pedal though. Waited a month to get the part from the UK. little 20mm plug.

The product I am using (epoxy primer, brush-on seam sealer, prep spray and rubberized spray for the under) is all Eastwood. I have had really good success with their products in the past and like their company is general. Price is meh, but I like keeping it all in the family.

[s14brent]

nobody wants to see this until it's finished

but....from my understanding...these car's are rarely "finished", so keep posting! good job tackling this, I've never used a flux-core, but if you're going to epoxy and cover with seam sealer and underside rubberized coating i think you're going to be just fine. Do you mind sharing what products you plan on using? And how did the gas pedal bracket go? That's the area I need to tackle on my car. I actually plan on cutting the bracket out completely and using a SRS pedal bracket on the replacement sheet metal. (ordered a 3 hole bracket but they also make a 2 hole version also.)

You might have covered it already, but what gauge sheet metal did you use around that area? I might actually need to buy thinner gauge mig wire and rollers for this job. I had a friend bring his miller 110v welder over when we did my rear fenders because I didn't want to blow through it with my .030 or .035 (i forget which one i have since I haven't used it in forever). I'm thinking of practicing on a some cut up pieces of sheet first. Super worried about blowing through and making it worse.

[jeenyus]

Taking care of the bottom of the fender. Just took a flappy wheel and took off as much as I could and sprayed some self-etching primer to avoid any oxidation. This should get me through winter season and then I think I will get new fenders and front valence (rust free!)

[jeenyus]

I've only ever MIG'd an entryway table together, but I've always wanted to learn how to weld well/properly. I think it's awesome you are tackling all this yourself. Keep up the good work! Also, I think you should try to fit those 24"s under the E30. You may have to cut and weld some structure, but it'll totally be worth it in the end. ;)

Haha! Tires showed as R28! Thanks for the kind words. It's been fun and thank God it won't be visible!