Ksjdan's 1990 325is Thread - S52 Swap Complete

[8380 Labs]

good progress!

my only question is, considering you're in the south, why did you choose to go way up into the rust belt to find your car?

the time/effort/money spent to get this car back home and to the condition it's currently on could have been spent on a more expensive car from the south that was in better condition.

in either case, good luck moving forward, keep up the good work. :)

[ksjdan]

Nice work! Your steering wheel came out pretty good. I need to get a windshield one of these days.

Gracias! Best part is that I didn't pay a dime for the windshield! Permatex reimbursed me for their accident.

good progress!

my only question is, considering you're in the south, why did you choose to go way up into the rust belt to find your car?

the time/effort/money spent to get this car back home and to the condition it's currently on could have been spent on a more expensive car from the south that was in better condition.

in either case, good luck moving forward, keep up the good work. :)

Thanks for the complement!
Its difficult to find a decent e30 down here in the South, and trip cost me about $250~$300 total so it wasn't too bad.
Yeah there is good amount of rust on this car, but not so much that it's overwhelming. :)

[MattAvino]

Ive always wanted to rewrap my MT1 wheel....TEACH ME!

[ksjdan]

Ive always wanted to rewrap my MT1 wheel....TEACH ME!

It was a lot of work. And it helps if you have a good sewing machine. :up:


November 2 2012

So I started a new project today. To give you guys a little update, car is about 60-70% done mechanically. Still needs new suspension parts, some diff work, intake gaskets, new starter and I need to bleed the brakes some time. Minus the suspension, all small projects.
But today I decided to tackled cosmetics. More specifically, the worn out bumper trims. I thought about just purchasing a set of Euro Trims and calling it day, but I was shocked to see how expensive they were. $50 per piece!
So I decided to just fill in the holes and shave the side reflectors off.

Here's what they look like pre-repair







I never knew the trims were manufactured by Rehau. I used to live about an hour away from current location, and there is a Rehau US plant in the old city. Nice.




Anyways, trims sanded down to primer. ....wait what? primer? Yup looks like PO had these trims painted before. Must've been a while ago because these trims look pretty rough.



Close up of the reflector hole



Fiberglass trimmed to fitting size



For the patch, I purchased 3M fiberglass repair kit from a local parts store. I like the kit, but only downside is that the resin is polyester, so it smells bad.
I wouldn't use this kit for any interior work.

Resin applied



Looks just like the reflectors!




E30 actually doesn't look too bad without the trims. Kind of has that M-tech bumper look to it.



Finished with fiberglass and done for today. Continuing with bondo tomorrow!






Also Looking to getting a pair of smoked signal lights. $30 on eBay, so not the cheapest thing in the world, but thinking about it.



Heres a good example on a silver e30
Different bumper, but looks good with smoked signals.

[Court M3]

Car looks good, but don't get the cheapo ebay reflectors. Real ones aren't that much more.

[ksjdan]

Car looks good, but don't get the cheapo ebay reflectors. Real ones aren't that much more.

Yeah after looking into it last night, I found out there are OEM clears as well. Hard to find, but out there seems like... Im bit of an OE quality freak, so I might wait til one comes up on the market.


November 4 2012

Did some more work on the trims. It is a bit time consuming after 2 days. Original plan was to sand down bondo, prime and paint to finish it today, but I was greeted by some holes on the finished bondo. So had to patch up these little holes.

After some searching, I was advised to use putty to patch up the little holes. Unfortunately, the putty I bought takes 24-48 hrs to dry! :curse: So everything has been halted and now I wait til these little patches dry up.

I didn't take any photos of the puttyed trims, but here's how bondoing stage went...

Applied a little too much.


Using 80 grit to grind down Mt. Bondo


Shaved down to a satisfying level :D All 4 shaved, and done for today.




Aaaaaand todays special guest is...




Spotted an E30 M3! :o:D
Wasn't the cleanest looking machine in the world, but it looked amazing.

[ksjdan]

So I wanted to buy that M3 I posted above. I left a note on the guys windshield, asking if he was interested in selling it. Lo and behold I got a call few hours later. He wanted $9000, and I let him hang with my $7k low ball :nice: I called back last thursday, and my opportunity to owning this awesome M3 was over. The dude changed his mind and the car was no longer for sale.

Here's everything about this e30 m3:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?p=3454450#post3454450

November 10 2012

I finally finished the trims today. As always, it took way longer than it should.
But at least the finished product is very satisfying. It would've been some time last week, but using putty took about a week to dry!!

Here is the finished product after primer, wetsand and 3 layers of trim paint. Enjoy!

[ksjdan]

Decided to buy a set of shifter/e-brake boots from JF Boots in UK. My current OEM shifter boot is ripped and e-brake accordion is hideous! Can't wait for this to come in.

[ksjdan]

November 21 2012

Today is not a good day for me. Writing this same statement for the 3rd time because this site doesn't recognize who I am.

Here it goes again. I feel like a teacher lecturing the same stuff over and over again.


I received a replacement antenna in the mail yesterday. Just fixing one of several broken things that came broken on this car.
So the antenna I received wasn't a plug and play. :down: It must've came off a different model. The ground locations were a little different, and the mounting piece on the bottom was different. I was able to get the pieces off the broken unit and transfer it to the working one.

Old antenna stuck in the up position




Working one installed!





Once I get some lithium grease on the mast, it should work good as new :up:


Next up, I picked up this old trunk lid for 50 bucks. Lets see what I can do with this




Cleaned up!




This picture is a little misleading, as there is no clear coat left on this thing, like everything else in Alabama. But Im planning on sanding it down and respraying it for a upcoming project! Stay tuned!

[ksjdan]

November 23 2012

The JF Boots came in today. :) Took it down stares and installed it immediately.
I am really satisfied with the product they sent me. The stitching on the boot isn't putting creases on the matte leather, and the e-brake boot is long enough to prevent gap between it and the leather e-brake handle.

Texture (crease mark is from the elastic band on the bottom):



Installed inside:





Lastly, I purchased a set of wheels from a member here. Still waiting for tires to come in. :up:

[Herr Faust Schinken]

For some reason reading through this thread reminds me a need to do the fuel lines tomorrow nice car op always love another silver ethirty

[ksjdan]

For some reason reading through this thread reminds me a need to do the fuel lines tomorrow nice car op always love another silver ethirty

Thanks :up:
GL with the fuel line install!

[ksjdan]

December 13 2012

Small update on the E30. So I decided to buy a set of Euroweaves from a member, and some tires. After extensive searching, I settle on a set of Falken tires for a good price.

Had them mounted and balanced for cheap. Here's how it looks!
Still need to get the center caps redone and installed




And I bought some cow. A whole hide in automobile finish :)
Compare the size with my iphone. Its huge!

[BamaE30]

Howdy Alabama enjoyed your thread.

[MattAvino]

Dat leather...you can make so many awesome things