Absorbantnut's '87 325is

[AbsorbantNut]

Picked up some important items today:
Flap wheel
Metal etching primer
Primer activator
More sandpaper(I'm constantly running out!!)
Another roll of wrapping paper
More masking tape

Started getting The rear end of the car ready for primer & bodywork today. Stripped off mostly all the paint with the flap wheel & found a ton of dents I need to fill:o Grinded down the welds too so they can be swiped with some body filler & sanded down with the block.

Then it looked like it was going to rain so I sealed it up with some trashbags. And of course........it didn't rain. Ill most likely get to doing it tomorrow early in the morning. It's nice to be getting work done on this thing:D

[AbsorbantNut]

So I went to listen to the radio & I'm only getting sound from the rear speakers:( I think it has something to do with the amp. Im using it(the amp) to power the fronts and sub woofer and neither of those are working. The light on the amp comes on though, so im very confused:loco:

[AbsorbantNut]

Rear end is painted with primer & most dents have been filled. Doing more bodywork and painting it with Delphin when the weekend comes! Then I have to pick up some more HB primer & start on the driverside quarter. I'm so close!!!

[dantheman]

Wow.. Now that is dedication. Keep it up man.

[JrCamacho]

updates halted?


From page 1.. I didn't think that this would end up the way that this is going! I would have ditched that car once i saw all the work needed (and i thought MINE needed alot, haha)

You sir have taken this above and beyond a "rebuild"... your restoring this car back to life.. You have GIVEN it a new lease on life, and has many years ahead of it.

I like how your tackling a majority of this yourself, in front of your house, with a budget! And the paint doesnt look half bad under the circumstances, its better than my maaco job that the stupid PO paid for... lol

Im eager to see more updates~!

[DrLeadFoot]

Great work! I feel like a lazy POS after reading it. Garage here I come! I need to wire up my system.

[AbsorbantNut]

Well its been a while guys, but I'm back:D

Starting out by cutting out more rust






One of the few new parts going into the car, a clutch master cylinder! Thanks goes out to Jay & Carlos





Also began the monowiper challenge:p

[AbsorbantNut]

Next I had to make the patch, and Carlos's help it took no time! I picked up some scrap rocker panels from the shop that were rust free and used those.


Grinded down the whole area where there was rust & where we had to weld.


Then we welded a patch for the inner part of the rocker









Patch #2 welded in place



Then the 3rd and largest patch!






A shot from the wheel well









Then earlier today I flap wheeled the welds, caulked the lower portions that are covered by undercoaring and layed down some filler on the upper portion. The monowiper is also finished & has been cleaned and greased. I also have a "new" r134a ac system to put in. I bought the o rings and have almost completely removed the old r12 system, but low and behold, bmw thought it was a good idea at some point to run the fuel pressure regulator hose into the drier. So I need to figure out what to do before I can put any of the AC in

[WUGcatsvt]

This thread has been an interesting read. Love to watch the progress. I will be taking on a lot of what you are doing for the first time soon. I have to clean up some rust in the rear and painting in my garage. This thread has been informative in a do it in your driveway project.

[AbsorbantNut]

Added some of that cool kid stuff

[AbsorbantNut]

So, it's been a while since I've updated this thread. I kind of regret it because now I'm going to have to sum up the past two months in a few minutes.
Basically the build has been moving along and gaining speed! The coilovers were bought and assembled, a few of the more proiblematic issues have been sorted out, body work has been finalized, and the whole car was finally painted one color. PRIMER GREY. The last step to completing the bodywork on the car is shooting it with the delphin paint which is sitting in my room. I am beyond excited and have loved every...well almost every minute of work that has gone into this car. Hopefully all my hard work pays off:-D

Let's go back and start from the beginning. Somewhere around december 16th. I began by adding some more bondo to the mess that was my rear quarter.


And somewhere along the line I pulled out all my old r12 ac junk and replaced it with a friend's r134a stuff. He didn't need it since he was going s52

Then the coilovers came in and I got to work! John, forcedfirebird on here, let me borrow a set of front struts so I could build the coilovers and then directly install them without having to go back and forth between my house and the shop to build them. That helped out a lot.

By the time I arrived to the shop he had kindly removed the struts and springs.


So chop chop chop and off comes the stock spring perch


The sleeves wouldn't fit flush with the top of the strut assembly, so time to go lower


So I grinded off the lip and prepared it so john could weld



Stripped of paint, thank you mr blurry cam for always distorting my photos


Some new lips were made and fitted


And then they were welded on!


Recieved an awesome christmas gift from Carlos!


New front struts!

[AbsorbantNut]

Then Jay helped me get them in the coilovers




Here's the final assembly, without the strut mounts though


Cleaned and regreased the old strut mounts


The old versus the new


Here's the first side on. After struggling with the tirods for quite some time the old strut assemblies finally came off!


Began to work on the rear


Some pictures of the stock springs versus the new ones




By this point all the coilovers were on


Heres a shot of the old springs with the prybar. No spring compressor needed to get these guys out!








Then I took some "test shots"


Then I dropped it to the ground








Then after donating my old MC, I was given a brand new one!


Was missing this one little piece that kept me from installing it, but it came in not too long after:o


Then the nights came where I was staying up late and doing lots of sanding:p




Spraying some primer

[AbsorbantNut]

Next I began driving it and the fan clutch went bad. Sadly, I had to harvest one from the vert:(






Then back to the rear end! Time to fix some of those sketchy welds and practice some more welding!


So cut the bad out...





And stitch the new in




Then fill with seam sealer!














Then comes filler




Shaping












Then came my master plan for the rear quarter as shown below




Laying on the bondo






covered in self etching primer to seal it up for a few days while I drive it to school


Then one day when I was driving I heard a scraping noise coming from the front when I wasn't braking. After all I've been through with the car I knew exactly what it was:p



The bottom caliper bolt had backed out and was causing the rotor to scrape on the wheen when I wasn't braking!

Then Jay and I did a valve adjustment one night at the shop


My slave cylinder decided to die one morning before school, so I wasn't able to go into gear. That had to be changed






Then the wetsanding and dry sanding began!

[AbsorbantNut]

I got everybody to help, including my sister!


DD status:p



Took a day off to go to Homestead and watch some friends race


Brought the car to John's shop one night and got to use this guy


257,XXX miles and no leaks!


Clearance between strut and wheel


Rear suspension set up


I'd say its just about time for a new muffler!


CSB bracket still holding up


Time for a new diff seal


And one day after my hood flew off(because the bolts weren't quite tight enough) and crumpled up I got a replacement!


Test fit of my weaves in Jay's tires...maybe with some anti-stretch it could work:p


O2 sensor delete plug


Replacement gas tank from Carlos(silence) to help fix my fuel cut issues. I couldn't figure it out for quite some time. I would drive and then randomly the car would stall out/cut fuel. I kept swapping parts to see if I could figure out what it was and nothing was working. Then I pulled the in-tank pump and shined a light in there. Man oh man was it bad!! It looked like the Titanic or something, crazy rusty. My fuel filter also secreted a nice orange/brown sludge when it was drained:p It kept the fuel going to the rain extremely clean though, so I guess it did its job!

[AbsorbantNut]

Next up, more wetsanding!






















Smooth gas cap anybody?


Much better;)




Sand off more bondo and put some more on, the usual routine


Another problem I ran into was that the car would make this weird noise, It was like a grinding at idle, but as soon as you gave it gas it would go away. The tried and true screw driver to ear method left me fruitless in my search for the source of the noise. So after much fussing and quarrling about what could be causing the noise, I tore into the timing belt area, I needed to replace the tensioner anyways. And low and behold the source of the problem is found!

The tensioner was maxed out and the belt had about 2 inches of slack in it...:hitler: ONTO THE PICTURES


The old belt with around 100 miles on it


Old versus new tensioner


New tensioner on


New belt on, thanks again to Carlos for the belt!


Next problem I had was the mount for the CPS was bad, the bolt in it wasn't factory and it stripped the hole. So a tap was found and used in preparation for a new bolt. Below is said new bolt with one of Ben's spacers on it for a near perfect match




And now that that ordeal is done....


Time to spray some more highbuiuld primer!






Time to prep for some final spraying. All stationary glass was removed


While removing the front windshield the thin crack spiderwebbed everywhere! And yes, I am aware it is time for some new shoes






Pops and Carlos taking a look at the rear quarter


This was one of those learning days, I slept three hours in two days thinking that the car would get paintned today, but more prep work was needed to make it come out how I really wanted it to. Patience is a virtue, and hopefully it pays off. My friend Jay, a painter, was going to spray the car for me as a favor and I was so ready to have him spray it, but he convinced me to wait. Thankfully I listened. He spend the day sanding and filling dents with me. This will pay off as you will see later;)





A bunch of sanding




Can't forget about these little guys!