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

[freeride53]

Over the last couple of weeks, my brotha Seyed Sheikh Abdullamataleb Kawtharani (-ak), has been instrumental in helping me strip my old shell.

This has been a rather depressing process for me, given I put my blood/sweat/tears/memories into this piece of metal over the last 6 years, but with a little gangster / ATL hardcore trap music, the process has turned into one of many laughs, and E30 DIY education.

First, we stripped the entire old suspension. This was already covered a little bit in this thread when we swapped on the old suspension.



Then we pulled the carpet, cutting it as close to the HVAC box as possible.



I will be scrubbing, and steam-cleaning the hell out of this thing in January.



This is pretty much what the car looked like when I left LA last week..



Then I packed the majority of the remaining good parts off the old shell into my family's trusty 1992 Volvo 245 (my first true love) and headed up the Pacific Coast Highway. Don't be fooled by the rain, we had a lot of fun.



Encountered some die-hard Brick lovers along the way. A guy named Matt stopped me at a gas station in San Luis Obispo. He, like I, used to frequent Turbobricks.com many MANY moons ago. He remembered my Peugeot, and my E30 as well. Chopped it up, and left.



Stopped at the Bixby Bridge in Big Sur on the way home. Met this cool Swiss guy from Zurich. He said that he and some buddies had just finished up an English language course in San Diego, and had gotten a speeding ticket along the way. Funny, as I had gotten a speeding ticket in Chur, Switzerland just two months ago. Showed him my ticket and we had a few laughs. Then he took a good photo of me posing in front of the bridge and I posted it to Instagram.



Arrived home Saturday night, and immediately got to work with some buddies Sunday morning. Here's the car with the trashed hood, RF fender, and valence (not pictured) removed.



It got dark so I don't have any more photos from that evening. But the next day, woke up to a lovely brand new OEM RF Fender, brand new OEM valence, Euro grills (that will need paint when it warms up in SoCal) and lovely Schwarz hood. Oh the joy of dent-free panels.



Then tonight, started opening the 10+ boxes of parts that have suddenly accumulated in my parents garage. First, installed some bulbs in my new set of Hella Euro Smileys. Decided on 55w Hella Yellows for the highs; 35w 4000K Philips for the lows; and 6 LED w5w bulbs for the City lights. I had the exact same setup on my old Smileys on my old shell.



Some nice new slotted/vented rotors for the rear, to go with my Powerslots for the front



Some random little unnecessary goodies



Christening of the new hood..



Installed the "325 / M20" front valence plastic vent thingy even though I have a 318



Then installed the 10 new iS lip spoiler clips and my old iS Lip Spoiler which UNBELIEVABLY survived the horrific crash.



That's all for tonight. I ordered some new Bilstein B8 Sport strut inserts because the old ones had like 40k on them and I don't wanna risk installing a slightly bent passenger side strut.

Look out for many more updates this week and this Saturday.

Happy motoring,
S

[freeride53]

I am happy for you man. It's good that you are back in an E30. Getting hit by careless, dumb and reckless drivers is just annoying. Will be following this build. I have been down this road but luckily I have been able to revive my car 3 times so far.

Cheers,
-Argad


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Thanks brotha. I hope I never meet the guy who hit me.

But I'd like to think, and know for a fact, that it will be even better than before.

[staysideways]

I am happy for you man. It's good that you are back in an E30. Getting hit by careless, dumb and reckless drivers is just annoying. Will be following this build. I have been down this road but luckily I have been able to revive my car 3 times so far.

Cheers,
-Argad


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[freeride53]

Wrapped up the weekend strong, I'd like to think.



Put my personal M-Tech 2 Wheel on, with an added spacer mod to bring it closer to me



Installed all four OEM mud-flaps with McGuyver binder clip hardware mod



Cute little furry friend seemed to take a liking to this thing as well.



And then on an once again sad note, blew away some more of my hard-earned money on the following parts this evening. :-(

- Complete M42 "Mess Under The Intake Mod" Kit
- Oil Filter
- Air Filter
- Turner Conforti Chip
- Red46 M42 Skid Plate .. had a RaceSkids/EJ Knight plate for 6 yrs, decided to spread the love
- Magnaflow 14851 (to be cut & custom angled by my exhaust guy)
- M42 Strut Brace
- Delrin Shift Bushing Kit
- Steering Rack Swap Kit (for a z3 or z4 rack)
- A few more quirky though embarrassing things that I'm ashamed of admitting that I bought.

I think that's all for now. Or so I hope. Now going to cry myself to sleep over my recent fiscal irresponsibility.

[freeride53]

Im usually pretty busy during the week, Wednesday is usually my only free night. Weekends are better. Im off early on Fridays too, but this Friday we are having our holiday work party

Text Sent :)

[2mAn]

Im usually pretty busy during the week, Wednesday is usually my only free night. Weekends are better. Im off early on Fridays too, but this Friday we are having our holiday work party

[freeride53]

Its looking good Sina! hmm when you're back in SoCal Im flying back tonight, maybe I can come help out

Hey, awesome yes! We can grab kabbab after with Abdu who's practically my neighbor.

What are you doing in the evening these next few days after work?

[shameson]

Glad to see you back in a new ride. I always dug your last sedan, excited to see what becomes of this one.

[2mAn]

Its looking good Sina! hmm when you're back in SoCal Im flying back tonight, maybe I can come help out

[freeride53]

Haven't had much "free time" this Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend, but some progress has been made with the new shell.

Here's what me and some family & friends were able to get done:

• Mount the 17" Kopi Alpinas I had laying around w/ some fresh rubber
• Swapped in my front sport seats
• Swapped in my rear seat
• Threw in my OEM floor mats (to temporarily mask my gross carpet)
• Cleaned up/threw away gross trunk carpeting panels
• Swapped in my Bilstein P8 Rear sport shocks
• Swapped in my rear H&R Race springs/pads
• Currently waiting on rust neutralizer to dry in battery well
• Swapped in my M-tech 2 wheel (M-Tech 1 is for sale)
• Swapped on my Matt-B shift boot & knob :)
• Threw on my rear heckblende
• Threw on my rear mudflaps

Most likely driving this thing back down to LA tmw as my sister's Mercedes transmission just gave up last night.

At this point hoping to swap in my front suspension/brakes next weekend, down in LA, and give her an alignment.
Was surprised to find a nice pair of E30 M3 CABS already installed on this new shell/car/thing so that's one less thing to fiddle with!

Before shot of the car (from a couple of months ago when some buddies picked it up for me)



And now this morning.

[bmwsone01]

Zero parts left. Completely totaled.

No. That's not me. He's my friend. He as my old ACT wheels. Mine is a slick top.

[2mAn]

Haha thanks! Gotta rep the Persian/Assyrian/Armenian brotherhood fam.

And yes, it's really nice. Only downside is I've been online buying too many car parts while riding the train


Thanks! Stay tuned, just started stripping the old shell and taking inventory of the parts. WAY more to come on this long weekend starting this evening. :devil:

haha If only he would rep it too :rippedoff:

Buying car parts is never a bad thing, as long as you're buying them for a car you own. I hate getting these ideas, buy parts for a car I plan on owning down the road then later having to sell it... I restrict myself now to only having a few extra E30 parts sitting around. I try to get everything installed ASAP.

long weekend?!? Dont you love bank holidays? We're tied to the market so unfortunately we are open tomorrow, but we get most of the bank holidays off too. Columbus is my favorite day off haha

[freeride53]

Dude hell yeah ! Sorry im at work so I couldn't look through it all! But that's awesome. I'm way over here in NC tho so i guess we will just be able to comment through rev haha


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No, I drove this thing through the Smokey Mountains/NC back in June and intend on doing it again next summer in this new shell, when it's done.

This time, will need to hit the TOD as well!

Yea dude, public transit in LA really isnt that bad depending on where you go. This is definitely a way to go in your case. You get to browse r3v while everyone else sits in traffic!

ps LOVE the avatar.

Haha thanks! Gotta rep the Persian/Assyrian/Armenian brotherhood fam.

And yes, it's really nice. Only downside is I've been online buying too many car parts while riding the train

Glad you're moving forward with the project, Sina!

Thanks! Stay tuned, just started stripping the old shell and taking inventory of the parts. WAY more to come on this long weekend starting this evening. :devil:

[e30austin]

Glad you're moving forward with the project, Sina!

[2mAn]

Thanks Simon, we STILL need to get together sometime soon. I am now taking the Metrolink/Metro, which gets me to work in under an hour door to door.
Wish I had known this back when I was doing 2+ hours each way in the old shell before it got wrecked.

Yea dude, public transit in LA really isnt that bad depending on where you go. This is definitely a way to go in your case. You get to browse r3v while everyone else sits in traffic!

ps LOVE the avatar.