Panici's long awaited E30

[2mAn]

Hey guys,

I've been looking on and off for almost 6 years, and finally picked up an '86 325e yesterday!
Cheers!

should've kept looking!

[TSI]

Nice find! Whereabout in Ontario are you? I've got an even rustier E30 that was in much the same situation as yours, it runs 100% but looks like shit now.

[Panici]

Man and I thought my car was a mess. You got your work cut out for you good luck and keep it up!

this^ good luck...

Thanks guys. I'm going to need that luck pulling up the carpet next week!
Who knows how long the floor has been getting wet in the rain.

should've kept looking!

You'd be surprised at the condition of cars this old, in this area. I've seen cars in worse shape, sell for MUCH more.

I got the car for $500. If I pull the carpets and find the entire car is one big unsalvageable rust hole, I can still easily get my money out of it.

On the other hand, if the rust is manageable, I've got lots of headroom to work with budget wise. (Compared to picking up a car for $2-3k)
I'm not afraid of a little hard work, and it brings me great satisfaction to breathe new life into an old car. :)

Nice find! Whereabout in Ontario are you? I've got an even rustier E30 that was in much the same situation as yours, it runs 100% but looks like shit now.

I'm in Hamilton for most of the year.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Thanks guys. I'm going to need that luck pulling up the carpet next week!
Who knows how long the floor has been getting wet in the rain.





You'd be surprised at the condition of cars this old, in this area. I've seen cars in worse shape, sell for MUCH more.

I got the car for $500. If I pull the carpets and find the entire car is one big unsalvageable rust hole, I can still easily get my money out of it.

On the other hand, if the rust is manageable, I've got lots of headroom to work with budget wise. (Compared to picking up a car for $2-3k)
I'm not afraid of a little hard work, and it brings me great satisfaction to breathe new life into an old car. :)



I'm in Hamilton for most of the year.

I was the same as you I found my car and thought I could manage the rust and then I found that the car had no floor pans I was so close to scraping the car but like you said I get great satisfaction breathing new life into old cars.

[NoM54me]

....and I thought I had rust issues.... A very common place for holes to form is the bottom of the footwells on both sides, seems to start under accelerator pedal and in same spot on passenger side. Your priority is to deal with water leaks before you attempt any electrical (audio) projects. Running-->driveable-->water leaks/rust holes. The frame rails, front and rear, are separate pieces available from BMW that can be cut out and replaced. Check realorm.com.

[Panici]

Your priority is to deal with water leaks before you attempt any electrical (audio) projects. Running-->driveable-->water leaks/rust holes. The frame rails, front and rear, are separate pieces available from BMW that can be cut out and replaced. Check realorm.com.

Obviously, that's the proper order. I just haven't had a lot of time to spend on big projects on the car. (Taking an Electrical Engineering degree at the same time here). My exams are done on Sunday, at which point I'll be able to tear into the car and get the entire interior apart.

Good to know that those frame rails are separate pieces (and still available!), I will be replacing the driver's side.



In the mean time, I was having visions of a completely disintegrated/nonexistent floor, and HAD to see what was under my driver's side carpet.

It looks much worse in the pictures then it actually is. A lot of what looks like rusty metal is just rusty water/rust covered sound insulation. There is a few holes, but based on some poking around at the areas I could see, the majority of the floor is in one piece! :)

The drivers side rear looks mint, as I suspect the passenger side pans are as well :)

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Obviously, that's the proper order. I just haven't had a lot of time to spend on big projects on the car. (Taking an Electrical Engineering degree at the same time here). My exams are done on Sunday, at which point I'll be able to tear into the car and get the entire interior apart.

Good to know that those frame rails are separate pieces (and still available!), I will be replacing the driver's side.



In the mean time, I was having visions of a completely disintegrated/nonexistent floor, and HAD to see what was under my driver's side carpet.

It looks much worse in the pictures then it actually is. A lot of what looks like rusty metal is just rusty water/rust covered sound insulation. There is a few holes, but based on some poking around at the areas I could see, the majority of the floor is in one piece! :)

The drivers side rear looks mint, as I suspect the passenger side pans are as well :)

good god Your brave for taking on this car. So much rust...

[rturbo 930]

I don't mean to discourage you, but I think you need to really consider just how much work the car needs, and how much time it'll take, especially if you don't have any fab/metal working skills. I think you'd be much better off taking a road trip to find a cleaner starting point.

[Panici]

good god Your brave for taking on this car. So much rust...

I don't mean to discourage you, but I think you need to really consider just how much work the car needs, and how much time it'll take, especially if you don't have any fab/metal working skills. I think you'd be much better off taking a road trip to find a cleaner starting point.

I don't have any fab/metal working skills, but that's first on my list this summer. Going to get a gas setup for my (barely used) MIG and start practicing! I'm always excited to learn a new skill, and metal working + welding is long overdue.

Believe me, I'm keeping my eyes open for another E30 that's cleaner.
Like I said before, they're becoming very hard to find in this area.

I've seen cars that have more exterior rust (not sure about the floorpans), and body damage., and the owners were asking between $2-4k

If I can find the right car at the right price, I'm not at all opposed.



I cleaned up the floor a little more. Probably about the best I'm going to get it until I'm able to pull the rest of the carpet.
Here's a few pics. And a bonus shot of the driver's side rear pan.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

I don't have any fab/metal working skills, but that's first on my list this summer. Going to get a gas setup for my (barely used) MIG and start practicing! I'm always excited to learn a new skill, and metal working + welding is long overdue.

Believe me, I'm keeping my eyes open for another E30 that's cleaner.
Like I said before, they're becoming very hard to find in this area.

I've seen cars that have more exterior rust (not sure about the floorpans), and body damage., and the owners were asking between $2-4k

If I can find the right car at the right price, I'm not at all opposed.



I cleaned up the floor a little more. Probably about the best I'm going to get it until I'm able to pull the rest of the carpet.
Here's a few pics. And a bonus shot of the driver's side rear pan.

I can tell you right now that the floor pan is done. Get an angle grinder and good wire wheel and go at all the rust to see where it spreads to. What kind of MIG welder do you have I hope it Isn't a cheap one... Believe me i thought a cheap welder would work and I was sadly wrong. If you dont know this already you are going to need a welder with an adjustable wire feed speed and adjustable heat. You will also need some L-56 superarc wire size .023 or .025 will do just fine for gas you will want to run a 75/25 mixture of argon/Co2 . For the steel get some 18 gauge cold rolled, You'll also want a set of dolly's and body work hammers alot of this stuff can be had at harbor frieght for cheap. Except the welding stuff never cheap on welding stuff it just cuases more headaches... been there done that. I hope this helps. Me and my dad went into my car completely blind only thing we had going for us is he knows a little bit of metal work that he picked up over the years and he can weld but never had done mig until we got this car. It takes time and lots of patience so i hope you have some. Good luck!

[mitch500]

ughh i dont know how you do it... That car wouldnt be worth it to me... So much rust it hurts to look at it haha Good luck!

[Panici]

...It takes time and lots of patience so i hope you have some. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips! I've read your build thread and it looks like you've done some good work.

ughh i dont know how you do it... That car wouldnt be worth it to me... So much rust it hurts to look at it haha Good luck!

Rust is just fact of life in this area on older cars. It's the combination of salt, de-icing chemicals, and our weather patterns that really eats cars away. (In this case, neglect by the previous owner to fix leaks)

Here's hoping that the rest of the floor is not as bad. Or that another E30 comes my way that is cleaner!

Until then I'll continue to fix this one. :)

[Panici]

Writing my last final exam this evening. Decided to procrastinate for half an hour and wire in my stock radio (w/custom AUX input).
It's more powerful then the little amp I had in there for testing, and it'll do the job for now (music while I wrench on the car) until I can build something better.

Bought some used early tails from Boltspeedman the other day, as both of mine are broken, and missing the gaskets (letting a little water into the trunk).

Also, just ordered a set of delete panels for the radio and OBC from jaywood. (and a gauge OBC panel)
The dash plan:
-Use the stock headunit for now, and delete the broken OBC.
-When I install my oil pressure gauge, put that in the OBC location.
-Eventually when I build my custom amp setup, put the switches in the blank OBC panel.
--I'll then drill out a gauge hole in the blank radio delete. I'll leave room to add two more holes and gauges in the radio delete panel in the future.

[Panici]

It's literally a full day's work for one person to remove the dash+heater box. What a day!

-Got the dash apart and out.
-Took out the heater box. (Had to cut two bolts in a very tight space, what a PITA)
-Got the carpets out.

A few rust holes on the passenger side floor, and one spot that has been previously repaired.

It looks like most/all of the driver's floorboard water is coming through the rotted heater box/gasket. I used packing tape to seal up the cowl vents for now.
No wonder it was never fixed, It'd be an expensive job to have a shop pull the dash, heater box, fix the rust, and then put the entire interior back together.

Too bad it wasn't taken care of though, because then I wouldn't be redoing the entire driver's side floor.

Also, found some tree nuts in the driver's side subframe rail. Must have been a small animal living in there at some point!

[Panici]

Tore into the floor today. I have a good idea of how bad it is now, going to start cutting out the rust tomorrow.

Also, attempted to jack from the front of the subframe, and heard that lovely crunching noise. Check out the angle of the control arm mount :o

Car is officially unsafe to drive now. Going to have to rebuild that section of subframe, and make a new control arm mount.