ROUND 4! 88 Lachsilber / Cardinal IX coupe

[e30m3s54turbo]

It must be the love for silver.
If it was me I would do the silver ix.

[Northern]

that floor won't be too terrible if you have a welder. Just make the jackpoints out of multiple pieces instead of one pre-bent piece like that ebay listing and save yourself like $300.

Obviously seam seal and undercoat the hell out of it when you're finished. There is also a lot to say for a quality epoxy primer.

[audiquattrot]

bummer man. I thought u were getting the blue one? also this would be on my top list of colors if I were in the market. I just don't know how I would feel about fixing the rusty one, unless it has sentimental value to you.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/bar/4607731723.html

and damn this 4-door is a steal....looks sweet too.

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/4642135140.html

[bradnic]

Yes that would be the rational thing to do... The plan all along was to transfer all the mech bits to the new shell. We want an original car though, in the color we're looking for. 88 IX coupes are definitely the best equipped. The only other Lachs coupe I've ever seen was already restored and for sale at $7k. That was 2 years ago.

So we're gonna do things the hard way, spend more money and time than necessary, and get exactly the car we want - without matching VIN numbers on the bolt on body panels lol. We'll do a bumper swap on it too but keep the original DBs as well.

Makes no sense, but this is not a rational hobby.

[UNHCLL]

Well, the family conference has ruled. We love our 88 Lachsilber IX. We don't like red on an IX. Apparently it's a non-negotiable item... So we're going to strip her down and repair the shell.

A completely rust free 90 IX coupe will be going on Chicago craigslist shortly.

You did stop to consider repainting the red shell.... silver?
Probably faster and cheaper and less headache than fixing your existing shell, and you could transfer over parts from silver car to get the options you want.

Faster and more fiscally prudent than fixing the rotten shell.

[bradnic]

http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/cto/4642199098.html

[bradnic]

New car's going bye bye

Well, the family conference has ruled. We love our 88 Lachsilber IX. We don't like red on an IX. Apparently it's a non-negotiable item... So we're going to strip her down and repair the shell.

A completely rust free 90 IX coupe will be going on Chicago craigslist shortly.

[bradnic]

This just got delivered



The good:
- absolutely zero rust on body and underneath
- all original body panels with vin stickers
- mostly unmolested
- armrest rear seat with ski bag
- clean title, quick and easy transaction

The bad:
- typical later model de-contented IX coupe (no heated seats, comfort seats, manual sunroof, no pop-out rear windows)
- A/C engine compartment bits missing. I'd swap the compressor anyway, but not I need to find the A/C compressor bracket, hoses etc.
- came only with studded snow tires..
- crack in windshield (which I knew about)
- brilliantrot color code (not my cup of tea for an IX coupe)
- total shit respray in some calypsoish color
- brilliantrot bumper doesn't match the respray color
- missing trim, parking lights, fogs etc.

Plan was to swap over all the mechanical bits and sell the Lach IX coupe. Not sure what I'm gonna do yet though. Not feeling the love for the replacement car yet.

[bradnic]

Another IX inbound - will be up for sale..

Well looks like we're getting another IX. Wife insists we go "up-market" and get something with less rust. I'm not gonna say no.

Will be putting this up for sale in the next month or two with boatloads of spare stuff, body panels etc. PM if interested.

[bradnic]

Well I've sourced some floor pans. Anyone know for certain if 2 and 4 door floorpans are the same? Certainly appear to be.

We had heavy rains yesterday and the car was parked outside. Front driver footwell was flooded with about a half liter of water. rest of the interior was dry. Took a hose to the cowl and I did see a slow drip inside coming from near the wiring harness area under the fuse box. Doesn't look horrendous, but clearly I need to strip the car down to take a good look at things.

Also went back and checked out some of the E30 body repair videos out there on YouTube. This one's pretty good - just mute it.
Youtube E30 UK coupe body repair part 4

[bradnic]

Anyone bought these off ebay.de? Made in Austria, apparently ebay user fastn1oud makes them by hand. friggin expensive though. $158 + shipping. wow. Definitely seems like something you should make yourself with a harbor freight brake, right Brandon? :-)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271525386876

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Reparaturblech-Bodenplatte-Radhaus-Schweller-BMW-E30-M3-S14-M-Technik-Hartge-325-/271525388900

[bradnic]

So I'm going to have front floor pan sections cut and shipped to me rather than cutting in large flat patches, which a lot of folks have done and is perfectly reasonable. Then again I'm clearly OCD inflicted so there it is. I've got a WTB thread and have connected with Jayson in CA.

Looking forward to it as I am going to want the the pans to come with the frame rail sections underneath them. That way I can weld up the frame rail to the remaining portion in front of the firewall. It also preserves all the drain channels stamped in the sheet metal - something that concerned me quite a bit as I don't want to do this repair again - not for a very long time.

Here's the WTB thread and pics of the pieces I want to get. Floor pan pics courtesy of xworks..

[IMG]

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[bradnic]

Have also seen lots of examples out there of rust fixes. The UK web sites are the best.

The "Making panels thread" that blew me away. Incredibly inspirational work.

and... an E30 Touring de-rusting project in Warsaw. Awesome stuff. So much to learn about E30 rust repair.

EDIT: found another touring resto thread I had seen a couple of years ago. on stanceworks (gag)

EDIT2: and another IX de-rusting project on r3v

[bradnic]

Well I'm gonna stick with it. I posted for help and received some helpful responses. Have also seen lots of examples out there of rust fixes. The UK web sites are the best.

E21/E30 specific rust repair examples:

Pedal floor pan repair on JGood's M60 build
1st post on Brian's amazing M3 'minor rust repair' of course
320i floorpan resto on bfc
And a new Euro 320i build thread from Brandon.

Gonna need some advice on the frame rail as I know that part is NLA. It's still sturdy but heavily rusted so it's obviously thinned out a bit. Not a good thing for a structural member lol.

[mgoblue]

ouch