Diamantschwarz Forever: An E30 Love Story. Re-shell & Restomod

[freeride53]

Good shit Sina! It's not a bad thing overall to get to do it all again and learn from the little mistakes the first time around.

Thanks LBV. This whole ordeal's been one big pain-in-the-ass, but...

It's been an interesting experience, which is far from being over, or plateaued.

A big learning experience, as well as one to make sure I appreciate my E30 everyday.

[freeride53]

Today was an interesting day. Got some good seat time (450 miles or so) in the E30. Also ran into an old lifelong friend who spent many hours in my E30, or driving alongside of it throughout high school, college, and beyond, on Highway 5, somewhere near Stockton. We caught up, and drove all the way down to LA in tandem.

Back on topic: learned a lot about this car, and further realized how much slower it feels than my old E30. Not crazy, but noticeable. In addition to the "Mess Under The Intake" Mod I plan on doing next weekend, I intend on replacing the injectors, spark plugs & wires, air filter (Mahle on hand), and replacing all of the exhaust piping, which probably has mad holes.

[IronJoe]

Sub'd, nice work so far on the re-up!

[freeride53]

Sub'd, nice work so far on the re-up!

Thank you sir! I have been absolutely *loving* your M3 Vert build.

Here's a more updated photo.



BTW - if all goes as planned, Friday, I'll have some more bodywork taken care of. Stay tuned.


Also.. had some friends over, this past weekend. We pulled my original M42 and Getrag 240. Good fun.




And the money $hot, of course

[Streichholzschächtelchen]

Ayyyyy slow down I need to finish my swap before you! Lol do work Sina

[freeride53]

Ayyyyy slow down I need to finish my swap before you! Lol do work Sina

Thanks Nick. I'm just trying to play catch-up with Ryan (phreshkid).

Wish I had more hours in the day after work to make quicker progress. :(

In other news, I really, really, REALLY need to find the source of water leakage in my trunk - before I lose my mind.

The trunk floor and left side of the trunk are where the moisture is occurring. Going to remove my rear bumper tomorrow, hoping it's that left vent thingy.

[mike.bmw]

The trunk floor and left side of the trunk are where the moisture is occurring. Going to remove my rear bumper tomorrow, hoping it's that left vent thingy.

It could be the tail light seal. That's what caused my small leak. It wasn't easy to diagnose, but it was super easy to replace the tail light seal.

Other leak sources: trunk seal, antenna grommet, sunroof drain lines, sunroof drain line connection to vent-thingys.

[lambo]

I hate your cali weather... I wanna work on my hooptie but it's cold dude

[2mAn]

Other leak sources: trunk seal, antenna grommet, sunroof drain lines, sunroof drain line connection to vent-thingys.

[freeride53]

I've been pretty frustrated lately with how little time I have after work. My hours have been steadily increasing, and I still haven't been able to get rid of my old shell.

So I've made a pact with myself that I am going to get rid of it this week. I'm compiling a list of ~50 or so tow yards, wreckers, scrappers, etc in the LA/IE/OC area to get it done.

In the meantime, some updates from this 3-day holiday weekend. Drove down after work on Friday evening to San Diego. Car drove well. Despite lacking a little "oomph" that my old 318 had, it drives pretty damn well overall. And handles really nice, despite having kaput sway bar end-links/bushings.

Saturday morning proved to be rather solid. Drove up to Carlsbad to check out a local veteran E30 guy's stash. First, grabbed this nifty clean trunk floor mat.



Then off came the cracked/warped rear bumper, and off it went into the trash bin.



Replaced it with a really clean Diamantschwarz rear bumper with Euro Trim.



Then off came the tired, disgusting non-original VIN trunk lid that came with the shell. It was also replaced with a nice Diamantschwarz trunklid from a 318is, with spoiler holes. Also pictured, John, Josh, and Josh's super cool DS 318is. Two super cool SoCal E30 OG's with some awesome rides. The E30 that provided the rear bumper and trunk lid was also another awesome OG E30, originally owned by "JAX S50"...and also met its maker some years ago.



After that, zoomed back down to La Jolla to a girlfriend who was annoyed at me playing cars on our anniversary weekend. But it was okay, because I got to involve her in installing the new iS spoiler I bought.



At that point, did dried up the moist trunk and found the culprit behind my trunk leak. As many had warned, it was my left tail light gasket. Water had even collected inside the tail light lens but I had been to blind to see after work in the dark. So off it went, to dry up.



Cannot wait until this thing receives some thorough body and paint. Just about ever panel has a ding or dent. As barely visible on the left rear quarter.



Some new tail light gaskets from Carl at La Jolla Independent did the trick.



Then went for a little drive up Mount Soledad to feel out the car's new suspension and bracing. Impressions: nice and tight, but eager to do the front & rear anti-sway bars.



The last time I had visited this little road and troll's bridge was with some buddies in our E30's, about 5 months ago. A little eerie, but cool, considering it felt as if I was in the same car.



Also don't think I'm going to bother painting my non-spoiler trunk lid anymore when it comes time for paint. Really digging the iS rear spoiler, completing this car's "iS look".



That's all for this weekend. And that's all until I get rid of this old shell. :hitler:

SP

[2mAn]

Sina jaan, those new parts look great! Buy a sawzall and recycle that car. Chop it into tiny little pieces

[phreshkid]

I remember that faithful Soledad day

[freeride53]

Sina jaan, those new parts look great! Buy a sawzall and recycle that car. Chop it into tiny little pieces

Merci agha. If I cannot get a tow-yard & junker to pick it up by week's end, I'm probably going to resort to that.

I remember that faithful Soledad day

That was an overall pretty good day. I propose that we all get together and do that drive again, out to Palomar Mountain, Julian, and back to LJ - except spend more carving Palomar. Simon, you come too!

[IceWhite]

Sorry about what happened, but this is coming along very nice.
I think you and your friends are having too much fun putting this one together, that's good and it keeps your sanity in check.

I too love that IS spoiler too, makes it look complete.

[efficient]

I see plenty of dudes that pick metal up always looking for metal in socal. Maybe next time you see a guy in a truck with the back of his truck full of metal, wave him down and tell him you got a car you want to scrap. I bet he would chop it up and haul it away. Or Craigslist it see if someone would take it.