My m3: timeline, commentary, resurrection

[Mfever]

I absolutely love this car! One of my favorite ///M3's on s14.net. I go back and read your original build thread from time to time! Keep up the good work!

[uofom3]

What did you paint the parcel shelf with? I need to do the same.

Duplicolor automotive fabric paint in black - worked well. I'm happy with he outcome and hard to beat for the $.

[uofom3]

I absolutely love this car! One of my favorite ///M3's on s14.net. I go back and read your original build thread from time to time! Keep up the good work!

Thanks man!!

[uofom3]

Slightly more progress made today. Removed the center console and knee bolster and found a hack wiring job in front of the shift lever for the old alarm that was in the car previously. I also discovered that many if the fasteners were incorrect or missing so I need to replace those as well.

Console out:


I the took out the knee bolster to paint it - it was very faded.

Before:


After:


I also out the parcel shelf back together and it turned out really well. The picture makes it look a little off (crappy iPhone pic) but in person it looks clean.

I used Duplicolor Vinyl/trim paint in flat black for the knee bolster and that also turned out well. I think I am probably going to shoot the balance of the under dash. I checked the painted piece against the dash and it matches very well.

More parts on order today so it's moving in the right direction. Once the carpet goes in the reassembly should go quick. Also came up with two other ideas for the exterior that I'm sourcing parts from but that will wait to be released until the interior is done.

[uofom3]

Finished parcel shelf:

[uofom3]

So in the process of going through the interior I realized that I never picked up a sport evo dead pedal - which I always wanted - an now those things are a bitch to come by and FU expensive. So I thought about what other models might look good in there and I wa reminded of my e46 dead pedal - love the way it looks and always thought I could graft one into an e30. Got on CL and found one is great shape today for 40 bucks:




I test fit it in the car - length is good but this will take some time with the Dremmel to get right but after looking at how it's constructed I think it's doable.



It should be damn close once it's trimmed up. I have always been a fan of taking pats from newer BMW's and putting them on the older ones (e36 switches for instance) so I'm pretty stoked. If I get it right, I'll post up a DIY in case someone else wants to try it but I want to get it to fit first.

[uofom3]

Here it is against the e60 m5 pedal - if the e46 is too narrow once installed the e60 might be a better choice as its quite a bit wider:

[uofom3]

These are the ridges that have to be contended with. The dead pedal is about 4.25 inches wide and the space on the e30 might be just slightly wider but my flattened carpet is probably bunched up and making it had to get an exact measurement. Should be easier oneces the new carpet is here. Pics of the ridges:



Did a test grind with the Dremel and as expected it chews right through it. This can be flushed out to look great with some other bits on the tool:

[e30m3s54turbo]

I love red e30. Sweet car.

[uofom3]

More progress this morning:

Got the other seat out and vacuumed around the area to make it a it cleaner to work around:



After some work I got the old carpet set out - this stuff was bad. It has had moisture trapped in it for some time.



You don't realize how bad ths stuff is until you finally get it out in terms of being stained or dirty.

Interior basically out:




Footwell needs to be cleaned up:



Hopefully this afternoon I will get the floor boards all cleaned up and prepped to put the new carpet in. Have some dash parts on order from Blunt to get the odds and ends finished and then I can put it all back together.

[fronton]

Did you order new carpet from blunt? How much $?

[uofom3]

More progress.

Cleaned up the footwell on the drivers side:



No rust at all which is huge - very excited to see that.

While it was sunny I sprayed the kick panels and the center console:



Before:


After:


Took a break - I really want to test fit these on the m3 for fun - 20in ch-r's. don't think it would fit:


And I couldn't help myself - took two quick pics of the m5:



Ok back to the e30:

I have always loved this kind of picture - e30 m3's look awesome when they are getting worked on - almost like they were made for it.




I then test fit the carpet:



It fits just ok out of the box - a lot of trimming to do. I stopped working on that aspect if things not long after to pic as I am still waiting on more parts for the interior and this thing is not going back together until I they all arrive.

I did put the rear parcel shelf back together - was getting dark and pics are a bit fuzzy but it turned out great:




Finally - a grainy pic of how she was left:


To prove my e30 loyalty - the big guy gets to sleep outside until this portion of the project is done:



More to come soon... Hope to have the interior all set by this time next month - then it's on to the motor/mechanical refreshing. Still want to have It done by the picnic and making good progress so far.

[uofom3]

Did you order new carpet from blunt? How much $?

My understanding is the factory black carpet is NLA. I got this from stock interiors.com and is just OK for fitment but the color is spot on. Can't argue with it for $190 shipped to my door.

[archie]

Love what you're doing. Thank you for the photos and step by step on how your car is coming along. Going to be awesome when finished.

Hey one question, what wheels are those? Arc8's (concave)? They look great.

[fronton]

My understanding is the factory black carpet is NLA. I got this from stock interiors.com and is just OK for fitment but the color is spot on. Can't argue with it for $190 shipped to my door.

Ah, thanks. no, black carpet is not NLA but stock gray is. I think it is north of $500 though.