ROUND 4! 88 Lachsilber / Cardinal IX coupe

[bradnic]

Oh my... that interior is beautiful! Nice purchase, can't wait to see her cleaned up.

I know right? A great looking cardinal interior really does it for my wife and I. you get downright irrational. Coolest thing is it came that way



Plans for the car:
- full rust repair including quarter panel and fender replacement. may dip the car.. haven't decided. will also go through the sunroof - every E30 I've owned had sunroof rust issues
- new IX basketweaves or 4lug alpinas ala Anthony/audiquattrot, the master of good IX taste :-)
- some sort of euro-bumper conversion if I can make it work in the rear (prob won't work). otherwise the DBs and trim on this car are really clean
- full mechanical review and refit (current parts car has all new suspension including top hats and control arms, new brakes)
- Strömung catback
- Bosch euro smileys with mishimoto xenons (like my vert - lighting is terrific!)
- OEM radio replacement incl premium amp bypass and modded OEM headunit with BT
- retrofit heated seats and rear armrest (either source a cardinal arm rest rear or recover a grey one I already have)
- rear headrests
- headlamp washers, heated washer nozzles, mirrors and drivers door lock (already have the parts)

[iXguido]

Oh my... that interior is beautiful! Nice purchase, can't wait to see her cleaned up.

[bradnic]

Let's pull that driver side flare and fairing shall we?

So how bad can it be? Did the outer rocker get eaten through? inner rocker? inner wheel well in the rear? How about the floor pans?

The driver quarter is indeed gone - hall of fame nasty to be sure

So the rear part of the outer rocker is gone, and some damage to the inner wheel well but it looks repairable.

wheel well seam is toast

and behind the tire too



Moving to the driver front, looks like the rust is still just the lower fender thank goodness - I didn't see any floor footwell perforation at all which is just terrific!


So what about the floor pans? are they ok then?
Sure looks like it, but we'll know more when I pull the interior and carpeting



What about the battery tray, spare tire well, muffler area? Seems like they kept up with the undercoating (or there's only surface rust underneath it)

battery tray looks horrid as usual but it's contained.



What keeps amazing me are these really awful perforations, and perfectly good metal right next to them. Really don't get that, but maybe it's because the car was clearly prepped and resprayed despite the rust areas. No doubt all those perforations happened after the bodywork was done.

Couple of other issues - rear window, upper driver's side


And the defroster connector has come off the rear window.. I'll just swap in the parts car's rear window and fuggedaboutit

[bradnic]

Initial rust checks

It wouldn't be an IX without rust right? After 4 of them I've finally gotten de-sensitized...

First clue you have a problem - you just know there's more under the flare and side molding... I already have the replacement quarter panel and will practice removing it on the parts car before touching this one. Worse - there's no VIN sticker on the driver's door jamb, so the panel's been worked over. Fortunately you can order replacement VIN stickers from BMW.


Of course both front fenders have rusted out lowers. They've also been pulled before despite having original VIN stickers.. they're not repaired so why? I already have replacements.




And of course both trunk wells are gone



There's rust inside the trunk, but it's probably just superficial - in fact the tail panel is surprisingly intact, and other than the usual battery area rust the rear valance is clean too. What sucks though is some knucklehead decided to silver spray the inner quarters in the trunk AND the sound deadening. It's beyond lame.



Unfortunately the trunk lid is not original - it's been resprayed from its original red. I will either use my new OEM trunk lid or transfer the one off the parts car which is the right color and in quite good shape.


On the plus side, underside of doors and door jamb areas are pristine. So is the hood hinge area, which on all my other IXes was a complete mess

[bradnic]

The keeper IX - 88 Lachsilber / Cardinal, 101k miles

I actually found it at a classic car dealer less than 10 miles from my house. There's work to do, but I've got just about everything I need OEM part wise, including about $3k in mechanical bits on what's now my parts car.

Highlights:
- Pennsylvania car
- Looks like I'm the 3rd owner
- 101k miles
- Car has probably sat idle for a long time. the goodyear tires it came with look brand new - but they're 15 years old! clearly unsafe to drive with them.
- Pristine cardinal interior and super clean dash. Only repair item is some blown stitching on the driver bolster
- Floor pan is completely rust free as is most of the engine bay, doors, hood
- Original exhaust is mostly intact

Lowlights:
- Rust is severe in a some key spots including both lower fenders, driver quarter and battery tray. There's also rust repair on the driver top corner of the rear window area. Weird thing is it's virtually non-existent on the floor pan and most of the rest of the car.
- Bondo repairs in evidence on pass quarter
- Electrical problems I need to chase down
- Front driveshaft is making noise
- Neanderthal cut the red carpet at the tunnel behind the console
- Some cheap repair work done, and rattle can spraying evident on intake manifold and trunk interior (why!!)

Rest is your typical E30 experience. On to pics.

The original car on the left, car I'm restoring on the right


Out of the garage - hood up E30 pics just rock!


not crazy about the Borbets.. will prob pick up new IX weaves eventually, use parts car wheels short term



Cardinal does *not* photograph well with flash. It's a terrific interior color, darker and less flashy/bright than most cardinal interior pics you see out there. The Mtech wheel is pristine but mounted on the parts car right now.


Dash - pristine! radio needs swapping but I've already secured a replacement and a spare for parts


Engine bay - other than a rattle can on the manifold, you can tell the car hasn't been hacked up or molested. Looking forward to working on it.
I added the IX strut bar today - been sitting in my garage for 2-3 years now lol
Radiator is new - there's damage to the bottom of the rad support so most likely the original radiator was replaced after running over something

[bradnic]

Spring weather in Chicagoland - E30 time...

[litu]

I dont know what happen, but they are showing now....

Awesome pics...

[bradnic]

which ones Sade? I'm using chrome and pics are fine

[litu]

Noo those pics not working in google chrome

[bradnic]

Back to Lachsilber - AW going up for sale

Found a 101k mile Lachs / Cardinal IX coupe. Too perfect a car to pass up.

Details to follow

[bradnic]

The doors are in great shape actually. That seal bead that runs alone the inside door edge is healthy, not bubbled up from rust underneath like the hood. Door bottoms are clean too.

Funny thing is other than floor pan and doors the lachs car is in similar condition.. Hood and trunk lid are in better shape than the white car actually. Worse is it looks damn good at twilight . Must... Resist..

I can probably use that as an argument to get the white car off the road lol. Both my boys drive it constantly

[audiquattrot]

Ahh it looks all like superficial rust. I have similar spots surfacing the worst being that same area on the pass strut tower base, below the ac lines. Mine is starting to rot there, and the edges of the front wheel well like urs. How are the edges of the doors? I can see mine starting to rust ever so slightly. Have POR-15 on tap and will treat those areas sometime over the summer

[bradnic]

rear diff is leaking. pretty sure it was replaced, but clearly needs seals



some rear suspension pics. new soft lines back there


some rust near brake/fuel line fitting. been that way a while


front lines def need work.


some weld repair on the rear frame rail


rust spot on one of the rear spring perches


clean right rear wheel arch. everything's in place


that's definitely the original muffler. already ground the rust off and resealed. pretty sure I can save it.

[bradnic]

some of the new parts

took 2 cars, hatches full, hood on the roof


I have a completely rust free IX deck lid from Levent which I'm gonna move to this car.

one of the new fenders - no holes for the IX flares



new front windhsield - pilkington glass

[bradnic]

Had to reorder everything via local dealer as shipping via my usual online oem bmw sources was too expensive. Everything's arrived - now to get it back to the garage and get the white car off the road so I can start the rust repair.

My sons absolutely love the car so that's gonna be a challenge. The lachs IX is getting no love at all anymore LOL.

I have 150+ pics detailing the current condition of the car. Just need to make the time to post them up.

Car's gonna be COMPLETELY rust free soon :-)