Rcav's 86 325 es

[mkoneod]

I just meant the alpine w/blue interior...My baby lacks the rust.

[glucklich21]

I love blue E30 interiors. Shame you don't see them more often.

[mkoneod]

As ugly as they are, I agree...

[oreilly]

The fiberglass was layed on top of metal patch panels that were riveted in.
I agree that there is a lot of rust and thats why we decided that it's beyond fixing both time wise and cost wise. The rear spring perch is getting cut and welded though since that see's alot more stress than any of the other areas we patched and sealed up.
This car was / is a daily driver that gets much better gas milage than the V8 Envoy, if we can make it fun and keep the investment down, all that much better.

[mkoneod]

The fiberglass was layed on top of metal patch panels that were riveted in.
I agree that there is a lot of rust and thats why we decided that it's beyond fixing both time wise and cost wise. The rear spring perch is getting cut and welded though since that see's alot more stress than any of the other areas we patched and sealed up.
This car was / is a daily driver that gets much better gas milage than the V8 Envoy, if we can make it fun and keep the investment down, all that much better.

Agreed...save that girl...The car itself is nice once those issues are addressed.

[AT-JeffT]

Make the spring perch your first priority. Its dangerous to you, and anyone driving around you.

[oreilly]

It is. Hopefully going in this week.

[Butler]

Its coming along nicely. I love that roof rack, I want one... but I don't know what teh hell I would put in it. Camping supplies?

Nice eta.

[oreilly]

Well, it's been awhile. Made a ton of progress today, picked up a 135amp mig welder from Eastwood and everything we'd need (they through in a free autodark helmet!!!)

Cleaned up the rust out of the sring perch and grinded it all down.

welded in a 3"x10" 1/8th steel plate on the bottom.


then put in 1/8" thick angle to support the spring plate

also put in a triangle for additional support

then undercoated everything



and for giggles we pulled the rusted out muffler! Sounds awesome for about an hour, then the headaches start. Gonna put a Flowmaster on tomarrow.
Mike

[unicorn]

Beautiful work. You are a hard working genius. Cutting and welding ad slathering black tar is fun. I love the front bumper delete, too, a dyi of that would be nice to have. I love that roof rack. Excellent work, dude.

[oreilly]

Much appreciated! Today the custom exhaust gets installed.

[oreilly]

Well we got the Flowmaster Super44 muffler on and it was amazing, only problem was a lot of droning at 1-2000 rpms. We put a 12" tailpipe on and it quieted things down alot. Highly recommend them as the sound is amazing.
few photo's of our fun.

[TimKninja]

How much did you pay for the welder? I got some rust to patch up too.

[TurboFox93]

Ditto on the welder. Any previous welding experience? I have some spots on my Alpine that I have been on the fence about welding up.

[rcav13]

So the welder is reasonably priced at $330 and the machine is great. It comes with everything you need to get started. When we (oreilly and I) went to Eastwood up in Pottstown, PA and they had a promotion that included a choice of a auto darkening helmet or a cart. We opted for the helmet because we figured now that we have a helmet we could build a cart. The guys at Eastwood were super helpful and you can order the products online as well.

As for welding experience, we really had none. We watched a couple youtube videos and videos on Eastwoods website. Then we picked up some sheet metal and thicker steel and just practiced. It is really not that hard and when you get some stuff welded you have a huge sense of accomplishment.

After doing hours of research it was our opinion the Eastwood 135 amp is perfect for the entry level welder and would carry us in to more advanced levels of welding.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.