The complete repair, rebuild, repaint, and v8 swap of my early model sedan

[JGood]

Started tacking on the 1/4 panel. I'm really happy with the progress so far. I ran into a bunch of issues. Lot's of difficult prep work to undo poorly-done things from the last time the 1/4 panel was installed, some rust to remove in the wheel well/rocker area, and some fitment issues. The 1/4 panel was overlapped previously, but we decided to do a butt weld this time, with a sheet behind it overlapping each panel by 1" or so. The gap was too big to fill without that sheet behind it. The reason for the gap is because we had to cut away a bunch of butchered metal from the previous install (there's still some holes left from previous plug welds that you can see). All in all, I spent 16 hours on Sunday getting it to this point. I'm exhausted, and will probably take a few days off.






I actually did all of this welding myself. I was hesitant, because I've never done body stuff before. Only one way to learn... Luckily I haven't warped anything yet. I'm taking my good old time, only doing 2-3 tacks per minute or so.




Template made from passenger side (ignore the blue tape). We're pretty close. Shouldn't take nearly as much filler as the previous overlapped install did.

[FunfGan]

Lookin good! Body work looks nice for your first time.

[Ninz30]

holy shit man! you really love this car. that is a lot of work put in.

[JGood]

Lookin good! Body work looks nice for your first time.

Thanks. I can't take much credit on the 1/4 panel, all I really did was follow instructions. My buddy was there helping me, he is great with body work. Actually, he helped me through this entire project, with tips, supplies, tools, and an extra set of hands occasionally. I probably wouldn't have started this project if it wasn't for him.

[JGood]

UPS just dropped off some goodies for the V8 :)

[Jean]

^Nice! there must be another box coming with the intake / valley pan 'goodness' still right ? :)

[JGood]

^Nice! there must be another box coming with the intake / valley pan 'goodness' still right ? :)

That and $350 worth of other new m60 parts came with the $700 engine 8)




The stuff that arrived today isn't everything I need, it's just the stuff that I got a crazy hook up on, Levent has a thread in the retail classifieds section of this forum for an inventory clearout... I got almost all of the m60 stuff they had... I didn't want to tell any of the m60 guys until I ordered it and had it in my hands, lol! $400+ worth of m60 parts for $178 shipped


In case it's not clear, this is a budget m60 swap! For not buying or having access to a donor car, I'm doing pretty well so far. Buying parts individually can get expensive... all sorts of little brackets and sensors and clips and shit that normally can be pulled from a donor car, I don't have. I haven't lucked out with a V8 e34/e32 in a junkyard yet, but it's just bad timing, because I know the local yard gets them often.

[Jean]

Oh you dirty bastard!!! Nice score!

[JGood]

Oh you dirty bastard!!! Nice score!

LOL, sorry man! Still worth checking out, there was 2-3 of some of the items that I ordered.

Dude, definitely get that UUC or JB flywheel. I lifted the stock flywheel and the UUC flywheel back to back. Actually, the UUC flywheel hurt to lift... but that's because I threw out my back trying to lift the stock flywheel first! My scale says 40lbs for stock, 17lbs for UUC.

I'm not sure what hurts more though, bending over to pick up the stock flywheel or bending over to pay for the UUC... :(

[e30lov]

j you should buy my transmission. I'm broke. I'll even deliver it the 2000ft and help install it

[Jean]

J - yeah the e39 dual mass was like 38-40lbs as well when I worked on the m62tu... not going with that. It will be UUC , JB or another from UK.

[JGood]

j you should buy my transmission. I'm broke. I'll even deliver it the 2000ft and help install it

5spd > 6 spd ;)

Same 1-5 ratios, cheaper, considerably lighter, you can use the e36 drivehsaft and shifter, bolts to stock e30 trans mount, uses cheap/lightweight flywheel/clutch. 6 speed requires custom driveshaft, shifter, trans mount, $$$ flywheel/clutch, much heavier, etc...

I'll admit, I would love having an extra overdrive gear if I had a relaxing DD like an e34 or e38. But this car isn't built for cruising on the highway and getting good MPG, so it's not worth the extra labor/cost/weight. Convince Hower to swap his e38!

J - yeah the e39 dual mass was like 38-40lbs as well when I worked on the m62tu... not going with that. It will be UUC , JB or another from UK.

I was in contact with TTV in the UK when I still considered doing the 530i lw flywheel, they have good prices, but shipping and fear of customs hassles kinda turned me away... the JB and UUC have the replaceable friction surfaces that you can get within 2 days notice.

[JGood]

Did some more welding on the 1/4 panel today. Almost finished the c-pillar seam.

Then started working on fitting the e34 booster linkage. Still waiting on the front booster mounting bracket to arrive before I get to crazy, I need to make sure this is all going to align properly. So far, I'm very happy with how it's coming together.

[Jean]

I was in contact with TTV in the UK when I still considered doing the 530i lw flywheel, they have good prices, but shipping and fear of customs hassles kinda turned me away... the JB and UUC have the replaceable friction surfaces that you can get within 2 days notice.

Have you asked them how much these cost as replacement?

[JGood]

have you asked them how much these cost as replacement?

$70