So here it is.... an E30 M3 for me!

[FireFight]

rad m3 man! looked pretty rough to start, but its coming along nicely

[Zacm829]

Nice work! Car is looking great, can't wait to hear how it does on the ring!

[BSS]

I suppose I had better update this then! :o:

It's a long story but I was meant to take this to the ring back in May and it was decided that repairing the front floor/lifting pads on both sides was a good idea along with the other prep for the trip so out came the carpet and while my main man Gary was repairing the drivers side....



I got a bit inquisitve with the heat gun on the sound insulation stick on pads and found some more rust.



That put going to the ring out of the question so it was either go in my 325i (which also needed some basic prep) or take the Munich legends track turd....



At 10.30 the night before the trip the clutch master died on said turd which left me with no time to get a new part and fit it so I ended up going as a passenger with Simon in his E34 M5.

Maybe it was a sign not to go....

It's pretty much sat there doing nothing up until this week due to a house move, a holiday, work, an M5 engine build etc etc but Gary is back on the case and it should be solid by the weekend and back together soon after so I can start using it again!

What has caused the rot i hear you ask? Well at some point someone has replaced the metal brake pipe that runs across the bulkhead in the engine bay and full marks to them for using a BMW steel line but where they have bent it to shape and routed it, it's knocked the "elephant trunk" partially off so rain water from the scuttle has been draining straight onto the engine bay sound insulation which has acted like a sponge and rotted the bulkhead from the outside in.

Possibly the same craftsman also replaced the clutch master cylinder but did not refit the bulkhead grommet for it correctly and that let water into the drivers footwell.

GRRRR!!!

[BSS]

Lots more metal has been cut out!



Now, some of the other smaller holes on the bulk head and the big nasty one near the trans tunnel to be repaired permanently and finished to be as invisible as possible would require the engine and box to be removed and the heater box etc etc and as said earlier in the thread I'm not looking to get into a full blown resto at this stage so those areas have had temporary repairs to make it solid and water right for the time being.

The front floor "jacking pads" and inner sills on the other hand are accessible without too much agro.






Sections cut from a rust free donor car meant repairs would look as per factory and retain the jacking pad feature.







Some of the in progress pics, note the temp repair on the left to the hole next to the trans tunnel.





Both sides done and in zinc primer.





Some alpine white blown in and some sound insulation reinstalled.

[2mAn]

very cool!

[M-technik-3]

nice update

[ThatOneEuroE30]

looks like the rust was never there

[getouth]

Well done!

[BSS]

Thanks guys!

looks like the rust was never there

That's the aim, to try and make the (permanent) repairs as invisible possible. I'm lucky to have a very skilled panel guy who knows his was round an E30.

[BSS]

Some pics of the "Jacking points" after the repairs were covered in 3M bag sealer and some Alpine white paint blown in.





And what to recap, what they looked like before hand.

[AdOz]

Loving this! Hopefully catch you at a show one time when we are both finished restoring :)

[BSS]

Thanks!

It's been nearly 4 months since it was last on the road and finally today it left the workshop! :D





As well as the repair work to the floors, sills and bulkhead it's also had a pair of new front wings as the old ones were rotten at the bottom and scabby elsewhere.

There has also been the addition of a new genuine Evo 2 front spoiler and brake cooling ducts in place of the front fogs and the blanked off bumper vents for the rad were cut out.
These along with the front bumper and wings had new paint and it was all fitted up with a new Sport evo bumper seal, new sport Evo kidney grill and the headlamp and scuttle grills got some satin black paint.

New ones of those will be fitted when it gets it full resto but for now they look ok.

As you can see, the black front bumper tape is missing, I have two parts but the other is on world wide back order from BMW and C3 are also out of stock! :(

Also, I've misplaced the side repeaters but i have some spares at work which I'll pop on tomorrow.





Another new addition is a pair of Recaro LS's in the correct matching "houndstooth" trim which are in pretty good condition. They are from a 4dr car but can be converted relatively easy for use in a 2dr with the tilt function and a pair of 2dr donor seats are in the pipe line.

Very happy with these as the interior was really letting the side down and now that the carpet has completely dried out and all of the dashboard parts and trim parts have been individual cleaned it not such a bad place to be.

Still a long list of jobs to do including finishing off 13 button OBC and cruise control retro fits of which the dash looms were fitted when the dash was out plus various suspension jobs.

But the main thing..... back into daily use! :D

[E30 Wagen]

I love those seats.

[nugentnsb]

christ thats sexy

[M-technik-3]

Nice seats, love mine still like them just a tad bit more than recaro srd's since they are narrow compared with LS seats.