Panici's '87 325is E30 - Boosted In Bronze

[Panici]

Dang, that rear subframe looks bad. Hope you can find a decent used one.

I found a used one, but the guy wants $150 for it. Plus he is a 3 hour drive away (in each direction).

So I decided to attempt to fix my existing subframe. My friend Kevin found a good deal on a new Lincoln Electric Easy-MIG 180, and we split the cost. He is looking into a gas setup, and already has welding gloves and a helmet. Meanwhile, I've wired my garage up with a 30A 240v circuit, and a plug for the welder.

I'll need some major practice before I attempt to weld my subframe, but that's ok because there is a lot of other rear-end refresh stuff to be done meanwhile.


I powerwashed the rear differential, subframe, and wheel wells. It did a decent job of taking off the undercoating, but I'll have to finish up by hand.






I also took some comparison pictures of my 14" iS, 15" iX and 15" Euro basketweaves.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?p=4650742

[efficient]

Dang, that rear subframe looks bad. Hope you can find a decent used one.

[Panici]

June 14/16

Subframe Refresh: Day 2

Separated the major components of the subframe today.

I didn't mess about with the very rusty trailing arm bolts. I scraped off all the crusty rust, and then hit them with the propane torch. Along with plenty of PB blaster in the last few days, they came off without issue.


Discovered that my subframe has some major rust on the outer TA mounting points. I'm going to either have to find a local welder to get them reinforced, or find a replacement subframe.



Driver's side trailing arm off, showing the center locating pieces I had epoxied on in 2014. They were still solidly attached (enough to stop the spring from shifting should the suspension be completely unweighted)








Passenger side trailing arm off





Workspace at the end of the day







Bagged and tagged hardware





Replacement trailing arms compared to the ones that came off the car. Take note of how nice the brake dust shields are on the old arms. I will be reusing these.





Subframe and differential after cleaning up all the dirt and tools. That jack I made up when I did the transmission swap last year, came in handy again today.





And the downer for the day.
Very rusty outer subframe mounts for the trailing arms.
The area was packed with undercoating, which trapped water all these years, and rusted the metal away. Similar to one of my front spring perches, which I replaced back in 2014.

[Panici]

June 13/16

Subframe Refresh: Day 1

Finally started my subframe refresh today.
I've been following the DIY here:

http://www.rtsauto.com/e30-rear-subframe-and-subframe-bushing-removal-and-install/

I am still not happy with the jackstand location supporting the rear of the car, as I usually place the jackstands on the subframe. The spots do seem to be fairly solid rust-wise, at least. I have been placing the floorjack under the spare tire well when I am working. Just slight pressure through a piece of wood gives a third contact point and makes the car rock solid. With just the jackstands I was able to get some slight side-to-side motion with my standard "push hard to see if the car is stable" test.

Three of the four allen head body bolts stripped out, and luckily I had a perfectly sized bolt extractor to remove them. I will have to either get new bolts from the dealer, or source an equivalent size and grade bolt from a hardware store.

The guide wasn't overly helpful when talking about getting the subframe out with the driveshaft in the way. I ended up removing the exhaust heatshields and the entire shaft. I was able to squeeze it out around the front section of the exhaust, as I previously deleted the center resonator.

I'm going to be finding a lower mileage shaft or getting one of the u-joints replaced, because it has failed and is quite notchy. The slight driveline vibration at speed actually caused the front three driveshaft-to-giubo bolts to loosen up since I did the transmission swap last summer.


I had the subframe hang up on the driver's side bushing and refuse to drop. I ended up buying a short 5/8" bolt and notching the thread in four places, which allowed it to bite into the soft aluminum. I then made use of one of the old subframe bolts and hammered from above, with a large 9lb sledgehammer, until it finally came free.

On the passenger side, the rubber bushing completely separated from it's metal sleeve, leaving the sleeve stuck to the car. I'll look at removing this tomorrow using the same method.

Also, I just cut the e-brake cables rather then trying to remove them while the subframe was in the way. I have new ones to replace them anyways.

[Panici]

nice work man! :up:

Thanks! More to come.

[cypriotgeeza]

nice work man! :up:

[Panici]

June 3/16

• Wrapped and tucked the modified radio amp harness.
  • Used OEM "tesa" cloth harness tape
• Washed the car in preparation for a safety inspection tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed!

[Panici]

May 31/16

• Bearing puller set came in the mail
  
  • Pulled the old wheel bearings out of my spare trailing arms, with ease
  
  
  
• Attempted to fix the exhaust leak at the joint from my front to "catback" exhaust sections
  
  • Used some exhaust gasket maker.
  • The repair didn't last more then a few days. I assume the whole exhaust system is flexing too much because there is no center hanger.
  • The (reduced) weight of the system is supported only at the manifold studs and then at the rear muffler hangers
  • Once I have my own welder I'll be fixing this properly.
  
  
  
• Finally tore into my sunroof, which I hadn't used all last year out of fear.
  
  • I'm very lucky that my sunroof cassette has little to no rust! Huge worry off my mind.
  • The one side of my sunroof panel was very rusty, and was responsible for the "rain" of rust when the sunroof was used previously.
  • I took the panel out of my parts car roof, cleaned up the rusty edges, and painted with flat black Eastwood rust encapsulator.
  • It's a poor paint job, but in my defense I was working with an almost empty can of rust encapsulator. I can't buy the Eastwood stuff here, but I have more on order to my friend's USA address.
  • I reused the seal from my silver panel for now.
  • There was also a small rust hole in the top of the panel, which I plugged with a trim plug and some black RTV. This is a poor repair, but will work as a temporary solution to keep the water out.
  • I am attempting to find a nice Lachssilber sunroof panel without rust to replace this one. It will get a brand new edge seal.
  • I also took some time to snake the drains, clean and grease the sunroof track, and repair some cracks with "plastic weld" in the rails.
  • My sunroof is now fully operational again!
  
  
  
• I'm conducting some long-term testing on "DuPont's Rubber Saver". It claims to recondition and extend the life of plastic and rubber parts.
  
  • I've applied a heavy coat to my trunk seal, as well as the plastic trunk trim piece.
  • I also dabbed a single spot on my 2004 Jeep TJ's faded fender. It sits out in the weather all year, and will be a good test of how well this product actually "soaks" into the rubber/plastic.
  • I will update with pictures periodically. If I'm pleased with the product, and sure that it won't "dry out" seals similar to armor-all products, I'll apply it to the rest of the rubber on the car.
  • I should note, that the bottle claims to work for 5-6 automobiles, and I've used almost half of it already on just my trunk seal. I am probably applying it much too liberally.

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June 2/16

• Replaced wiper blades, went with a 19" passenger side, and a 21" driver's side.
• Swapped my TDA7492 "50w+50w" amplifier board out.
  • It was running into over-current protection and cutting out.
  • Replaced it with a TDA7498 "100w+100w" Class D board, and now it's able to be run loud without cutting out
  • Noticed driver's side tweeter isn't working, will need to investigate further.

[cypriotgeeza]

Nice!

Can't beat a fresh engine bay! 8)

[2mAn]

nice, looking good! lmk when your parts arrive

[Panici]

May 5/16

Only had a little time to work on the E30 late this afternoon.
Finally had some success removing the cosmoline from the engine bay!

I realize this shouldn't be a huge deal, but if you look at all the earlier pictures of my engine bay in this thread, I think you'll see why I want all of this nasty stuff gone!

I first removed my newly painted grilles, as I wasn't sure how this adhesive remover would affect the non-clearcoated trim paint.

I then used a can of aerosol "3M Specialty Adhesive Remover - 38987".
(Unfortunately this stuff removed my matching VIN tag from my hood, and the other underhood stickers are starting to peel. But worth it to remove this cosmoline.)

Sprayed the stuff on an area, waited 5 seconds, then hit it with the pressure washer. Tough areas needed this done 3-4 times to get most of the cosmoline off.

No rubbing or scraping needed with this method. However I suspect the stubborn areas will need some scrubbing during my next session.

I paid special attention to the back of the hood (in prep for painting the rusty spots), and the front rad support area, which was terrible looking before.

I then finished up by giving the entire car a quick wash, I didn't want any errant adhesive remover sitting on the paint.


Little bit of Before/After with pictures from earlier in the build thread:
























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May 6/16

• Pulled the hood off and took care of the rust on the underside. Used Eastwood Rust Encapsulator. Eventually the parts not covered by the hood blanket will be colormatched. For now I just wanted to slow/stop the rust.
• I made a first attempt at banging out the large hood dent (just using a hammer and block of wood). Made some careful progress but need to get my heat gun and give it a second attempt.
• Started taking care of some rust spots in the bay and on the front of the car. Still have a LOT of them to tackle.

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May 9/16

• Painted the last rusty spots around the front bumper area in preparation for the front trim and bumper going back on.
  • The plan is to continue the process down both sides of the car, until all the spots are covered.
  • When I paint the iS airdam and e28 spoiler, I'll also colormatch the visible spots.
• Fabbed up an airdam bracket out of 1/8" x 3/4" aluminum stock, with just a vice and a hammer.
  • I used my partial bracket and filled in the blanks.
  • This took the better part of an hour to get all the angles right. My friend Kevin has a metal brake at work, he's going to have a crack at making me two more brackets.

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May 10/16

Washed up the '87 325is airdam (from the previous owner), for the first time. The repair (after the PO hit a cat) seems decently well done, but I still have to address the missing side bracket on the silver half.

I also split and washed the E28 335is heckspoiler.














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May 11/16

• Took another shot at fixing the hood dent.
  • It's not perfect but it's much better then before!
  • Painted repair marks on the backside of the hood dent
• Pulled out big dent in driver's side rear quarter.
  • I used my Go-Pro suction cup mount.
  • You can't even see where the dent used to be. Unfortunately now the dent in my driver's door looks quite bad.
• Reinstalled front diving board trim.
  • It really bothers me that I didn't paint the reflector surrounds to match. I'm sure I'll have it apart again at which point I'll paint them
• Repaired the two destroyed front trim screws. Used 2-part epoxy and some SS hardware.
• Painted my ellipsoid trim rings with some duplicolor "chrome" paint. They aren't fantastic, but are better then before.
• Found out the ballasts I got for free with my ellipsoids are shot.
  • Both HID bulbs that he threw in still worked when tested with some spare 50w ballasts I had lying around. I will probably run this setup until I retrofit in some nicer projectors.
• Reinstalled my hood blanket, which was painted with Duplicolor Fabric Paint.

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May 12/16

• Finished my front plate delete.
  • Stainless hardware. Filled the sides with hot glue to hold them down. (Should have done this before painting, the glue is slightly visible on the edge when installed)
• Installed repainted front bumper trim. Installed front bumper on car.
• Ordered rear wheel bearing removal kit.
• Removed all four rear TA bushings in my spare set, using a combination of force and fire.

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May 16/16

• Installed a new reverse light switch (FAE) on the Getrag 260.
  • I have reverse lights for the first time since the transmission swap!
• Installed the 325e crank sensors into the trans bellhousing.
  • Essentially using them as blockoff plugs as the 325i motor uses the front crank sensor only.
• Put in the battery, and started the car for the first time since it was put away last year.
• Went for a drive, everything seems in order!
• Going to DD the E30 for a while until I sort out some stuff with my Jeep. After that it's subframe refresh time!

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May 24/16

• Have been DDing the E30 for a little over a week now.
• I think my mechanical fan may be on its way out. Having temperature creep issues when stopped.
• Did a reduced interval oil change today. Used Castrol GTX 20w50 dino oil and a Mobil 1 filter.
• Gave the dash, center console, and other plastic+vynal parts a healthy coating of Vynalex.

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May 25/16

• Dug up my under dash panels. This one was from my parts car.
• Installed dash panel with random hardware I found. Still missing a middle screw.
• Shot some clear on my ellipsoid rings. They certainly aren't "chrome" as the spray paint indicated, but they look better then before.
• Ordered a 16" Spal 30101517 pusher fan

The 16" Spal 30101517 was ordered as my fan clutch isn't working properly. Water temp is fine when moving, but rises when sitting in traffic.
It was the same price, if not a little cheaper, then a new Sachs fan clutch.

Some bonuses: It should make the front of the motor easier to work on, get rid of the parasitic loss of the mech fan, and work with my eventual M52 swap.

[Panici]

May 2/16

Weather is finally warming up. It was about 12c today so I got a little work done in the afternoon.

• Washed the car for the first time this year.
  • I can't believe how dirty the car got sitting under the cover. Going to buy a better one for next winter.
• Took off hood blanket and found some rust on the hood.
  • Going to deal with the rust and fabric paint the hood blanket while I have it off.
• Tested out some 3M aerosol adhesive remover on the cosmoline.
  • This worked pretty well, but still required wiping off the cosmoline.
  • I am going to test it with the powerwasher next time I am cleaning.
• Got my Alpina Recaro seat I sourced from Germany.

Sneak preview of the Recaro. More information and pictures to come!






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May 3/16

• Took the front bumper off as well as all the trim
  • Luckily there is no more rust under here. Valance looks to be in great shape!
  • You can clearly see the "shark nose" heritage without the diving board mounted.
  • Of course two of the bolts didn't cooperate and I had to cut them.
• Made another front license plate delete.
  • This time I used the bandsaw and some precision. Much better then my reciprocating saw attempt.
• Painted all the front bumper trim pieces with Duplicolor Bumper Coat.
  • I laid down 6 or 7 coats
  • Unfortunately, the UV damage / pitting still shows through. I was hoping the bumper coat was a higher build and would hide the damage.
  • When I tackle the rear trim, I'm going to try a high build primer first along with some sanding. I can always redo the front trim in the future if it bothers me.
• I'm soaking the bumper and trim mounting hardware overnight in some rust converter. Anything that doesn't turn out nice will be replaced with new hardware (if I can find it).

Prep consisted of a rubdown with Duplicolor grease and wax remover, followed by a wash with dish soap and water.


3 coats.



7 coats.












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May 4/16

Mostly worked on my girlfriend's Jetta this afternoon. Had to take the front bumper off to change a headlight housing, and de-oiled the side-mount intercooler while I was at it. She pulled out the driver's seat and gave the interior a full clean, then she did some prep and paint on her DS fender rust.

I did paint the E30's hood blanket with a can of Duplicolor Fabric Paint. I think I got 4 or 5 coats out of a single can. I bought a second can, but decided it wasn't needed. Hood blanket looks WAY better. Well worth the $14 and time to paint.

I did literally zero prep to paint the hood blanket, as a spot test with just a cloth and water was already pulling the blanket fibers apart.

I picked up some SS hardware to replace the stuff I cut from my bumper trim. Also grabbed some aluminum stock to make some iS airdam brackets.


Before (back of the blanket, which was actually cleaner then the front):


During (Front, one or two coats):



After: see May 11 update post below for finished+installed pictures.

[Panici]

April 25/16
Just finished my last exam two days ago.

Some small updates:

• Took the other ellipsoid apart and cleaned everything up.
  • I was able to save / piece together four of the rusty adjusters that I'll use for the highbeams. I'll have to buy four new ones for the lowbeams.
  • Everything else is in good shape!
• I'm in the process of restoring some taillight bulb holders with built in trunk light "windows". AFAIK these were in pre-1986 early cars.
  • I'll be writing a DIY
  • I'm also doing a partial LED conversion, which will be in the DIY.
  • Waiting on parts from eBay
• I brought the first half of my bottlecaps to my parents house.
  • I ended up having to move some of the load into the cargo area, as the low pressure zone behind the tires wasn't allowing the rad to cool on the highway!
  • I tuned up the pressure washer which hadn't been used in 6 years (still need to take apart the carb and make sure all the jets are clean), and used it along with some wheel cleaner to clean these 7 bottlecaps before storing them in the basement.
• Ordered a bunch of parts I need for my rear-end refresh

Next job is to clean and de-clutter the garage so it can be used as a workspace. Hopefully I'll also get the car uncovered tomorrow (for the first time since October) and put in the spare painted grille bits.


Also, I weighed the Auto Trans and some supporting parts the other day:
A/T (no bellhousing) - 95lbs
A/T bellhousing - 4lbs
A/T torque converter - 33lbs
=A/T total - 132lbs


AT driveshaft (no CSB) - 15lbs
(unfortunately I don't have a weight for the M/T shaft.)

When compared to numbers I found online for the M/T parts:
Getrag 260 - 78.6lbs
Single mass flywheel ~15lbs

If you count all the hoses and bits, it looks like I took out ~40lbs by doing the transmission swap.

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50/50 shot. Left is only soap+water. Right is soap+water+magic eraser













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April 26/16

Cold day today (39f), didn't get a whole lot done.

• Uncovered the car
  • It's dirty but doesn't seem worse for wear.
• Swapped the grilles and kidneys for the ones I painted.
  • Notice the difference in air openings. I seem to have three different styles of side grilles here, and two different kidneys.
  • I miss the chrome kidneys already. I'm trying to reserve my judgement until I can wash the car, and paint the bumper trim to match.
  • I believe I have another spare kidney, I may mask the chrome and paint that to match.
• Interior still looks like when I put it away in the fall. No new cracks in the dash (thank god)
• Have a small leak around the driver's side tail light. Need a replacement light and gasket.
• Rust on passenger door has gotten worse. Will need to address this soon.
• Vacuumed a bunch of seeds from the engine bay. They must have blown up from underneath.
• Removed the firewall insulation from behind (and under) the fusebox to prevent water being trapped. Thank god there isn't any rust to speak of there.

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April 27/16

Did a lot of running around today.

• Ordered parts at the dealer.
  • Subframe bolts, elipsoid adjusters, tail light gaskets, fuel filler hose
• Had three spray cans made up (at a local place) of Lachssilber Metallic (203).
• Bought a sandblasting gun and copper slag media.
  • Going to attempt to strip trailing arms and rear subframe.
  • My compressor is most likely too small to get any useful work done.
• Brought my good condition driver's tail light (with a crack in it) to my parents place.
  • I'm going to attempt to repair/plastic weld the crack and install on car
• Brought 535is heckspoiler to my parents place. Going to paint with the front iS airdam.
• Picked up a bunch of rear end refresh parts from a semi-local guy. Two hour round trip saved me some money on import and border charges.

Still need to source a couple of new subframe nuts. Dealer would only bring in a box of 10 :/

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April 28/16

Another day of single digit temperatures. Unseasonably cold for this time of year.

Rolled the car back two feet as the front of the hood was being consistently hit with bird droppings. Hopefully there won't be any new ones tomorrow.

Picked up those parts I ordered from the dealer.
Plastic welded my spare rear tail light lens, and installed with new gasket. It isn't pretty, but should keep the water out!







Also, I'm now on the hunt for a set of MINT early euro tails which have the proper reflective coating inside the rear fog lens. It seems that some North American early rear tails have the reflective coating (on the passenger side of this pic) while others do not have the same level of reflective coating (driver's side of the pic).

Both of these had the rear fog hole blocked off which is standard for NA tails.
In person the difference in reflectivity is noticeable if you are looking for it, or if the tails are hit with a camera flash.
Perhaps i'm being a perfectionist.

[2mAn]

I just bought an adjuster setup because my headlight was bouncing around and once I took the light apart, I found the plastic was broken, not the adjuster. I have a brand new adjuster I dont need ;)

ps my rear shock mounts should be here this week so yours should be on their way next week.

[Panici]

Mid-April 2016
I'm almost done writing my final exams, the weather has just started to get nice. The E30 is still hibernating at my parent's house until after I'm done with exams.

Meanwhile, I have been working on some E30 stuff as study breaks.

Firstly, I picked up a can of Duplicolor Trim Paint, and set about reconditioning one of the spare grille sets that I have.

My only prep before painting consisted of a brief washing with dish soap and a scrub brush. I then applied four coats of the trim paint. In total it took me about an hour.

So far I am impressed with the results, time will tell if the paint holds up.


Before washing:





Washed and dried:






Four coats and some drying time later:









I also picked up a used set of Hella US Ellipsoids.
Unfortunately the adjustment screws are all very rusty, and one of the high beam lenses is cracked. I did get them for a decent deal and he threw in a set of unknown HIDs (which I'm not planning on using)

One of the ellipsoid buckets was siliconed into place pretty roughly, so after applying some PB Blaster to the adjustment screws, I tore into it. I wasn't very careful and destroyed some of the adjustment screws in my haste.

I ended up getting it all apart. I got all the silicone off, and washed up the plastic frame (which was undamaged).









As for the other side, there is no silicone kludging, just very rusty adjustment screws. I soaked them all in PB blaster, and am going to let it sit overnight before I attempt to take it apart. I'm going to be more careful taking the second light apart, hopefully I can save some of the adjustment hardware.

To put it all back together again, I've ordered a full set of 12 bushing clips (63121378369) from eBay for ~$5 total.

With a quick google, it looks like the adjustment screws are expensive ($15usd each) brand new. My plan right now is to buy four new adjusting screws from the dealer and use these with the ellipsoid buckets.
I'll then use the four best rusty adjustment screws for the highbeams. Hopefully I can clean them up with some PB blaster and TLC.