My '73 Roundie Revival [BMW 2002]

[CubbyChowder]

So I bought this 1991 BMW 318is yesterday for a few reasons.
First and foremost, it's the perfect candidate for paint practice. I am going to prep and paint it within the next few weeks in the original Diamantschwarz Metallic to get myself ready to paint the 2002.

Second, I need to daily drive something that's more my style. The Honda Civic I have just isn't cutting it. It's awesome reliability wise, and has treated me well, but it just has no character. I need some Euro goodness back in my life haha. Once I sell my Civic, this e30 will actually end up being cheaper than my Civic was, so I guess I'm coming up in a way even.

Third, I just love e30's and have wanted one for quite a while now :D

So far this e30 is awesome, loved every moment of driving it home. Clean title, has the 4-cylinder M42 engine from the factory (they only offered this in 1991), black vinyl sport seats in surprisingly good condition, interior is mint except for cracks in the dash, body is straight, lots of new engine/drivetrain parts, runs great. I could go on and on, I'm super pumped on this thing.

The only downside is now I want to dump a bunch of money into it :D but since it is my daily, I will be giving it the love where it needs it. Meaning I'm going to replace all the suspension bushings, rebuild the shifter, basically tighten everything up. It will be getting a drop and wheels too, but that's coming a bit later. One step at a time.






Shea Butta snuck in on the last shot

[CubbyChowder]

edit: had a problem with my pictures, I'll fix them tomorrow and update it then.

[phreshkid]

Broseph, I managed to get a hold of those rm's. lets just say I got a pretty good deal.

[CubbyChowder]

Broseph, I managed to get a hold of those rm's. lets just say I got a pretty good deal.

Nice! what are your plans for them?

Ok, I fixed my pictures and have 2 days worth of updates for you guys.

Day 1 was spent grinding down the welds on the fender. I only got to work on it for an hour so I didn't get too much done:






On Day 2 I spent a few more hours on the fender. Did a bit of welding on each end of the fender flare to close it off and also shaved a few trim/side marker holes. I then proceeded to spend the next 2-3 hours getting it down to bare metal. I came across yet another large area of body filler and unveiled a pretty enormous dent in the fender. It's beyond me why the people who did the body work on this car just covered everything up with filler instead of hammering out any of the dents at all. I guess now is a good time for me to purchase a hammer/dolly set and learn how to straighten out panels! I'll be making a trip to Harbor Freight tomorrow for some supplies. I was very relieved to find that the rest of fender had hardly any dents and is very straight for the most part.

First, this is the backside of the front end of the fender flare which wraps down and around the curve of the body:



I welded a tab to it, this shows the frontside of it, most of which will be cut/ground off. I didn't take a pic of the backside at this stage:



This is how far I got on that section today, it looks all rough and unfinished right now but with a bit more work I think it'll look ok:



This is how the fender looked after a few hours of grinding:






And here's that lovely dent I was telling you about earlier, I think I should be able to hammer most of it out and keep filler to a minimum:



That's it for today, next step is taking care of that dent and then onto body filler!

[phreshkid]

I am thinking about building them up. 7.5j rear and 7j up front. Are you still looking for a set?

[tinkwithanr]

Nice work, the fenders are turning out really nice.

If you haven't thought about it yet, I'd really recommend picking up a 'shrinking disc' along with the hammer and dollies. It should help to fix the area's the hammer can't.

[Boostesi]

i am jealous of your patience, and your 02, and your steelies lol good job sir.

[eur04lif3]

So I bought this 1991 BMW 318is yesterday for a few reasons.
First and foremost, it's the perfect candidate for paint practice. I am going to prep and paint it within the next few weeks in the original Diamantschwarz Metallic to get myself ready to paint the 2002.

Second, I need to daily drive something that's more my style. The Honda Civic I have just isn't cutting it. It's awesome reliability wise, and has treated me well, but it just has no character. I need some Euro goodness back in my life haha. Once I sell my Civic, this e30 will actually end up being cheaper than my Civic was, so I guess I'm coming up in a way even.

Third, I just love e30's and have wanted one for quite a while now :D

So far this e30 is awesome, loved every moment of driving it home. Clean title, has the 4-cylinder M42 engine from the factory (they only offered this in 1991), black leather sport seats in surprisingly good condition, interior is mint except for cracks in the dash, body is straight, lots of new engine/drivetrain parts, runs great. I could go on and on, I'm super pumped on this thing.

The only downside is now I want to dump a bunch of money into it :D but since it is my daily, I will be giving it the love where it needs it. Meaning I'm going to replace all the suspension bushings, rebuild the shifter, basically tighten everything up. It will be getting a drop and wheels too, but that's coming a bit later. One step at a time.

Its my twin! you even have the I lip...lol

Should have an IS lip :rofl:

[CubbyChowder]

I am thinking about building them up. 7.5j rear and 7j up front. Are you still looking for a set?

I would be interested in a set but I could only offer trades at this time. I would trade you my 16x9.5 3pc Epsilons if you were willing to put some cash on top. They're 4x100 correct? PM me if you're interested in making a deal.

Nice work, the fenders are turning out really nice.

If you haven't thought about it yet, I'd really recommend picking up a 'shrinking disc' along with the hammer and dollies. It should help to fix the area's the hammer can't.

Thanks I'll look into that!

i am jealous of your patience, and your 02, and your steelies lol good job sir.

Haha thanks dude

Its my twin! you even have the I lip...lol

Should have an IS lip :rofl:

Haha I know I was a little bummed it didnt have the IS lip, but I'll be getting one before I repaint the car so I can color match it

[Mr. Tasty]

this '02 is sweet. I can't wait to see this finished. I am going to own a modified '02 in my life.

[A Sucked Orange]

Are you going DS on the 02 paint as well? Great idea using the other car as practice.

[CubbyChowder]

Are you going DS on the 02 paint as well? Great idea using the other car as practice.

I haven't decided 100% on what color the 02 is going to be. Right now my top choice is VW's toffee brown which I've seen on some mkvi jettas and the new beetles.

[CubbyChowder]

Made some more progress on the fender. After hours and hours of hammering, filling and sanding, I primed it up and am happy to say that it's getting there. haha. It still needs quite a bit of work, but it's progress and I'll take anything at this point.

[A Sucked Orange]

Lookin' good to me. Did you have any metal working experience before the 02?

[CubbyChowder]

Lookin' good to me. Did you have any metal working experience before the 02?

None whatsoever, I'm learning everything as I go, which is probably why it's taking me so long.