E30 M3 Steel Bodywork Conversion

[bmwmech1]

How the hell did you get that thing so clean? I'll be happy if my cars paint job turns out half as nice as your transmissions paint job did. Great work.

A toothbrush, a spray bottle full of Super Purple and an hours worth of time...:D

Awesome dude. I love watching this come together.

Is that Alumiblast on the transmission?

Thanks man... no, it's VHT Ceramic Header Paint, in Flat Aluminum...

Loving the progress.

Hurry up i'm getting older here waiting for your updates. :up:

keep it up.

almost think that this thread should be stickied for its epicness :P, trans looks very nice, GJ, the car is coming along nicely, keep it up :)

Thanks guys... the updates should start happening a little quicker, now... see the next post...

Garey

[bmwmech1]

The clutch came in this morning, so I quick mounted it, torqued it to spec and bolted the transmission to the back of the motor...



Then I had a bout 50 things to tidy up, before I could put the motor back in the car... finish the weld/machine work on the steering knuckle, install the brake hard lines, paint the exhaust manifolds, pick up some exhaust manifold gaskets, elongate the motor mount holes, install the shifter, yada yada...

Okay, well, maybe not 50, but it was time consuming... end result was I got the motor back in the car and the core support back on and that was all for today. I'll get some more done tomorrow night...





Garey

[kingston]

Awesome! Great to see you making big progress!

[UNHCLL]

...ordered new trim for the rear glass and a new seal for the front, so they should look perfect, once in the car. The rear trim was looking a little rough and since the glass is bonded in, no sense to slouch on the trim,...

FWIW, you may want to check on this. If you ordered the "L" shapped trim, I know at least one side is NLA and the other may also now be as well.

Looking good Garey!

[bmwmech1]

FWIW, you may want to check on this. If you ordered the "L" shapped trim, I know at least one side is NLA and the other may also now be as well.

Looking good Garey!

Thanks for the info, but both sides are, in fact, available. BMW's New Jersey warehouse has plenty of one side and a few of the other in stock. I'll have them on Monday, so I'll post up some pics. The trim I have for the rear is in just okay condition, so I felt like it would be a downer, visually, if I didn't replace it. At least I am mostly moving forward in the build, now...

Thanks man!

Garey

[e30shmobberr]

looking goood! boy i wish i had the room for a project like this. keep up the good work

[rich4rdee]

this looks like something from an alien spaceship! :up:

[bmwmech1]

looking goood! boy i wish i had the room for a project like this. keep up the good work

Thanks man!

this looks like something from an alien spaceship! :up:

Ha... it does look like some kind of spaceship, lol!


Garey

[bmwmech1]

I only spent a couple of hours at the shop last night and I'm playing Mr. Mom today, since the wife is in NYC with a friend, for the day. I spent about 45 minutes lining up the hood and fenders. I still have a couple of minor tweaks to do, but they look pretty good. I also put the radiator back in, the electric fan back on and re-mounted the coolers. Then, just for the pictures, I put the grills and kidneys back on and put a roundel on the hood... just for the photo op...







Getting there...

Garey

[85e325]

Looking great man!! Cant wait to see it on the ground without the mockup wheels

[bmwmech1]

Looking great man!! Cant wait to see it on the ground without the mockup wheels

Yeah, I can't wait either... those will be one of the last things to go on, though. Pretty soon, but still a few weeks away...

Garey

[Kershaw]

you're getting there man! good job on the continued progress!

[EtaSport]

So for some reason I haven't checked this out yet. What's the name of your shop? I'm right down the road in Mechanicsburg. I actually work at Sun Motors BMW. I would def like to see the car, maybe even get some advice/ideas for my own. Are you in need of any experienced BMW techs? lol.

It looks great, my dad just completely gutted and resprayed an 87 vert I sold him last year and I know it takes a lot of time/work! The end result is always worth it.

[bmwmech1]

you're getting there man! good job on the continued progress!

Thanks man! It should start looking the part even more when the stuff in the next post goes on...

So for some reason I haven't checked this out yet. What's the name of your shop? I'm right down the road in Mechanicsburg. I actually work at Sun Motors BMW. I would def like to see the car, maybe even get some advice/ideas for my own. Are you in need of any experienced BMW techs? lol.

It looks great, my dad just completely gutted and resprayed an 87 vert I sold him last year and I know it takes a lot of time/work! The end result is always worth it.

Yeah man, stop by to check it out anytime! My shop is in Hummelstown... I get most all of my parts from Faulkner, so that's why we've probably never crossed paths. It has been a lot of work, but I'm sure the end result will be well worth it!

Garey

[bmwmech1]

The brand new front windshield, rear window trim and clips came in today. I spent about an hour stripping the old trim and clips off the rear window, re-installing the new parts and putting the new seal around the front windshield, getting both ready to be installed. FWIW, the rear trim is available again, as well as the clips to install it, contrary to what has been the status of those parts previously. Not quite sure why they go in and out of being available, but they are now. Pics...

Rear trim and install clips...






Front and rear glass, ready to be installed...





Have not heard back from my glass guy, so I don't yet know what day the glass is going on the car, but I'll post pics when it does...

Garey