And so it begins...UPDATE: 9/13

[Bimmerfanatik]

Here's hoping it's done for the Bav Show N' Shine on Oct. 1st... :)

Dismantled everything in the rear and all the side trim today, in preparation for sanding and repair, priming, and hopefully paint. The car was completely together (except the subframe) when I got there today, and I dismantled everything in about 2 hours myself. Only real snag was the convertible top - it weighs like 100 lbs! Kinda hard and awkward to get it out of the car myself.

Also, once I pulled most of the parts off, the car tipped forward on the jack stands - apparently I did a lot of weight reduction ;) That's why you'll see the subwoofer and tires in the car in the last pics - we had to weigh it down enough to balance out!

LTW FUH RAZE


Nice little smack in the rear


One thing I found interesting was no rust in the license plate light area - rather unusual.



Not :too: bad in the lower valance and corners...



Oh wait - I spoke too soon. Nothing horrendous, but it's going to take some work.




What's even more odd is that the passenger side is clean as a whistle.


What's missing here??? (Subframe is at the media blasters, along with the TA's, half shafts, calipers, and hubs :))


Here's what happened to my output shaft as a result of the subframe bushings tearing apart the CSB...note the chunks out of the props.


See the shiny spot? That's what the broken CSB did to my underbody!


What's left of the flex disc - again, notice the rounded nuts from being torqued against the output shaft.


It wasn't like this before - maybe from the bad bushings?


The new E30 Wrangler edition - no top, no doors! :)


We begin sanding, not that bad, most of the flaws are in the clearcoat.


One trouble spot - was uneven and rough, so we sanded and filled.



Here's what got done today - roughly about 8 hours of work, start to finish.

[aschmidt]

Wow you work fast! Looks like you have a decent amount of work ahead of you..Keep us posted!

[Bimmerfanatik]

Wow you work fast! Looks like you have a decent amount of work ahead of you..Keep us posted!

Haha, thanks :) In all fairness, there's probably about 5 "trouble spots" - the rest of the car just needs a real good scuffing and priming. I've got a friend of mine doing the body panels over the next few weeks, so I can spend more time on the unibody. He'll get the hood, trunk, boot lid cover, doors, bumpers, fenders and valance. That'll take a lot of the work out of it and hopefully leave me with enough time to get all this done!

[mtechnik]

interesting

[Tarn]

Good work, are you only doing the back end?


Edit: just read your post nvm.

[golde30]

cool. i love restorations, wait lemme rephrase that, i love watching restorations . looks fun, i wish i had the time and more importantly, the SPACE to take on projects like this. good luck finishing by your deadline, i bet it will feel great driving that car once you know its all been gone through yourself.

[DEV0 E30]

cool. i love restorations, wait lemme rephrase that, i love watching restorations . looks fun, i wish i had the time and more importantly, the SPACE to take on projects like this. good luck finishing by your deadline, i bet it will feel great driving that car once you know its all been gone through yourself.

jjejejejejejjelklelellekekekeke

Whoa, like whoa.

So glad I don't have rusty rust/.

[ColdAccord]

wheres the show and shine?

[KangamangusDriver]

wheres the show and shine?

Bavarian Autosport in Portsmouth NH. Huge show, I highly recommend attending.


Scott, looks good man. Cant wait to see it in oct!!!!

[AdironRider]

Looks awesome man, I wont be back in town until Oct 20th, so well have to meet up and have a beer before both our cars go into winter hibernation.

[StereoInstaller1]

Wow...good job getting it started. I hear MTX makes the best ballast evar! J/K, but just terrific that you got a good start.

I wanna know what is gonna happen on your rear hubs at the media blaster...bearings out or in?

Gonna keep it stock color?

Keep kicking ass!
Luke

[ColdAccord]

8 hours i think is a bit too far for me

[Dave]

What's even more odd is that the passenger side is clean as a whistle.

Kind of a recurring theme. The passenger side of the car has always been its "best" side.

Scott, you lady boy, that top is not that heavy! I installed it myself without any issues!!! (IIRC, when I shipped the old one, it weighed about 55-60 lbs on the frame.):p

Keep up the good work.

[Lair]

I've never seen a rusty E30.

On a scale of 1-10, how far are you going to go with the resoration level? Are we talking show car, showy driver, 20 footer. . .?

[Bimmerfanatik]

Wow...good job getting it started. I hear MTX makes the best ballast evar! J/K, but just terrific that you got a good start.

I wanna know what is gonna happen on your rear hubs at the media blaster...bearings out or in?

Gonna keep it stock color?

Keep kicking ass!
Luke

lol - my friend (seen in the sanding pic) assured me that his MTX would fit under the top compartment in the trunk - I proved him wrong.

The rear hubs are seperate from the trailing arms (which are bare). Half the inner race is still on the hub, and the rest was protected, so just the face was blasted, not the shaft that goes in the bearing. The trailing arms were blocked off where the bearing seats as well - I had the old bearing outer races still in there, but had taken them out thinking they should be out for media blasting - turns out it's better to keep them in, as they protect the machined surface. Once I get everything back, I'll paint them with a few coats of Rustoleum and put it all back together using new stainless hardware.

Not sure about the color - torn between Avus, Mauritius, and Royalblau (current color).

Kind of a recurring theme. The passenger side of the car has always been its "best" side.

Scott, you lady boy, that top is not that heavy! I installed it myself without any issues!!! (IIRC, when I shipped the old one, it weighed about 55-60 lbs on the frame.):p

Keep up the good work.

lol - indeed sir. But, once I'm finished, with the new doors, filled spots, sanded and painted, every side will be its good side. I have to admit, this car had a lot of surprises. For one, it has to have been painted, even if just partially at least a handful of times. The DS rear quarter was sprayed somewhere along the way, the area where the boot cover goes, and the boot cover - they never even removed the boot lid gasket as it had blue paint all over it. Same for the windshield to top gaskets - covered in blue paint, and hard as a rock. I'll bet that has something to do with my leaking...
One other thing - did you ever notice the DS fender? I'm almost certain it's a coupe fender, not a cabby. It doesn't come all the way down to the bottom of the rocker, and it's just off enough to make me wonder. It's not bad, but if I get up close I notice. May replace it, probably not until later in the winter.

I've never seen a rusty E30.

On a scale of 1-10, how far are you going to go with the resoration level? Are we talking show car, showy driver, 20 footer. . .?

I really, REALLY wanted to strip the car to nothing, media blast the entire body to bare metal, epoxy prime it, and fix every imperfection, then put it back together using all new hardware and cleaned/painted/coated parts.

But, time and money are a big factor in this, and this is also a daily driver, not a show car. So, doing some extensive sanding, filling, and priming, and making it look real nice, while maybe not perfect, is where I'm going with it. May go black with the engine bay when the engine comes out over the winter for the bottom end rebuild to make things easier, rather than try to match the paint. We'll see. On a scale of 1-10, I'd like to be a 7-8. If it were a 9-10, I'd always be worried about it when I parked it, or shit myself when I drove it on the highway with rocks etc coming at me. "Showy driver." Good description. It's already a 20 footer - with the blemishes gone and an even, consistent color all across the board, we'll be in good shape :)