Bronzit E30 - OBDII S52 shaved bay - weekend/autox toy - Journey

[jpod999]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I am assuming that you were labeled the one at fault? Too bad you didn't have a video camera in the car that way you could have proven he was driving recklessly.

California is supposedly a non-fault state. I'm not sure it ends up working out that way in reality though. I think more often than not the person who did the rear-ending, regardless of whether or not they are responsible for the conditions that resulted in the rear-ending, are held at fault. I hope in this case that's not what happens.

As an aside- did the cops who responded to the scene mention anything about the smog legality of your car?

[LostE30]

Wow! What an amazing build you have going on. You're the reason I just joined R3V. You post alone have given me even more drive to do my 30 to a higher standard. Thanks for build this thread!

[MatRacer]

wow... life is a bitch sometimes... best of luck!

[ST1G]

Luck is not relevant, you can't control it. It could have been worse, could have not happened. We all play the cards were dealt. Attitude is what matters not our ability to have good or bad luck. You know this though, you'll press on. Been there and it sucks, but hey, they once spent 6 million dollars to rebuild a man. I think your M3 will cost a fraction of that to rebuild.

[Northern]

Word. I'm excited to use it haha. I think you're overthinking the ground. Isn't there somewhere you can just bolt it and unbolt it without affecting the hood alignment? Washer line - I don't have any :D

I don't mean that big braided ground strap, I mean the ground for the harness in the hood, I assume for the washer nozzle heaters. It goes to one of the 4 hood hinge bolts on the rad support, which is how I used to remove the hood, but then getting the torsion spring and the plates to stay in place is a bitch in comparison to the two bolts now.

Sucks to hear about the E36.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Holy shit man, sorry to hear about the e36. That really sucks. :(

Thanks man

man i would have verbally assaulted that assclown. I hate how unbelievably selfish people are when they drive. Only they matter enough to be in front and never would it make any fuckin' sense to just kindly get behind the person next to you when merging into THEIR fuckin' lane!

I'm sorry for that wreck man. You're stronger than me cause I would have lost it.

Honestly, I was too much in shock to react properly. 2 hours later if I saw that guy I would've lost it. It's amazing how absurdly people drive. I lived in Germany for 3 years getting my bachelor's degree and driving there was so nice. The first time I approached a merge with 2 lanes of heavy traffic was wonderful. Everyone just pleasantly took turns and that was it, and that is how it always was. So nice.

Trust me, Ive been in your shoes, so Im trying to help. Fingers crossed that you can get one of these cars back on the road quickly.

Thanks simon. I'll bounce back. Just needed to take a step back for a week.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I am assuming that you were labeled the one at fault? Too bad you didn't have a video camera in the car that way you could have proven he was driving recklessly.

Yea, so far I am at fault. I'll probably get a dash cam or something going forward. Currently pursuing a statement from the 3rd car that got bumped, and seeing if any office buildings next to the highway mightve captured it on a security camera. But that's up to me to track down and I have like negative spare time as it is.

California is supposedly a non-fault state. I'm not sure it ends up working out that way in reality though. I think more often than not the person who did the rear-ending, regardless of whether or not they are responsible for the conditions that resulted in the rear-ending, are held at fault. I hope in this case that's not what happens.

As an aside- did the cops who responded to the scene mention anything about the smog legality of your car?

If that's true it sure as hell doesn't seem like it. Makes me wonder what's to stop me (or anyone) from buying a car with a messed up rear bumper, jumping on the highway, and causing a rear end accident like I had happen to me, and have the other guys insurance cover it (then sell it for profit) and trips to a chiropractor for massages.

Actually no cops responded. Several passed me as I was stopped/smashed in the left lane though. It was an off duty traffic municipal worker who used his lights to block traffic and help me off the highway. That said, I have been pulled over in this car for various reasons, including an impound and never been questioned whatsoever about legality of anything.

Wow! What an amazing build you have going on. You're the reason I just joined R3V. You post alone have given me even more drive to do my 30 to a higher standard. Thanks for build this thread!

Thanks man! I'm glad you got something out of it

wow... life is a bitch sometimes... best of luck!

Thanks

Luck is not relevant, you can't control it. It could have been worse, could have not happened. We all play the cards were dealt. Attitude is what matters not our ability to have good or bad luck. You know this though, you'll press on. Been there and it sucks, but hey, they once spent 6 million dollars to rebuild a man. I think your M3 will cost a fraction of that to rebuild.

Agreed. I will bounce back. And I will do better at controlling the circumstances that might put me in risk of being in such a situation in the future.

I don't mean that big braided ground strap, I mean the ground for the harness in the hood, I assume for the washer nozzle heaters. It goes to one of the 4 hood hinge bolts on the rad support, which is how I used to remove the hood, but then getting the torsion spring and the plates to stay in place is a bitch in comparison to the two bolts now.

Sucks to hear about the E36.

Yea, couldn't you still just unbolt that ground from the hood? That still leaves enough fasteners to keep the hood aligned I think.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Got some work done last night. Following the decision to turn the e30 into the weekend fun/autox/track whatever car, I decided AC is no longer necessary. So I'm plugging that hole in the firewall. Also plugged the last circular hole.





Also tacked a lip onto what's left of the battery tray to mimic the oem finish





And got the last of the seam sealer removed from the passenger side. I've been using a combination of a lot of tools for this. My arsenal includes a couple wire wheels for the angle grinder, a couple shapes/sizes wire wheels for a drill, various sized stiff metal bristle brushes, a set of chisels, some screw drivers (to scrape out tight corners), and a butane torch. By far the most effective tools have been the chisels believe it or not. They do a great job of scraping off the bulk of the seam sealer, and then I can followup with a wire wheel on a drill for the last bits. Or in tight places, use the torch to soften it, and then brush it off. The torch has also been great for softening it an making it easy to scrape out with various tools.

Hoping to start working with the body filler soon. Maybe spray primer this weekend :D

[LostE30]

I love this entire build! Your skills are amazing. I have an e30 doing the s52 swap to it. I Heber never done anything like this before, but reading thru your entire build give me all the motivation I need! Thanks for sharing the build!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[2mAn]

Thanks simon. I'll bounce back. Just needed to take a step back for a week.

#1 Driving in Germany absolutely ruins life when you come back to the shithead drivers we have here.

#2 A step away for a week is a great idea. Fresh mind to get the drive going again. I cant wait for this to be done!

#3 Did you pick up that E39 to daily around for now?

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I love this entire build! Your skills are amazing. I have an e30 doing the s52 swap to it. I Heber never done anything like this before, but reading thru your entire build give me all the motivation I need! Thanks for sharing the build!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

I'm really glad to help motivate you :) now motivate me :P

#1 Driving in Germany absolutely ruins life when you come back to the shithead drivers we have here.

#2 A step away for a week is a great idea. Fresh mind to get the drive going again. I cant wait for this to be done!

#3 Did you pick up that E39 to daily around for now?

1) Yes it did. Forever.

2) Done. I didn't touch either car for a whole week. Something I haven't done in a long time. Feels good. Now I want to skip fake work so I can get back to the real work :P

3) Not yet, the guy hasn't gotten back to me. Also looking at a decent e36 328 4 door. It'll probably come down to whatever decent car I can find and buy first.

[rzerob]

If you decide to sell your AC line PM me.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

If you decide to sell your AC line PM me.

It's all for sale except the compressor and e36 lines. I also have a brand new drier and the correct pressure switch etc. and a bunch of new o-rings for r134. Also a new parallel flow condenser.

[2mAn]

Hey man, text me back!!

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Picked up a 328 sedan as a daily while I finish the e30 and fix the e36. Got a very good price on it. Mechanically it seems quite solid, just needs a new clutch which I'll tackle this weekend/next week. Most importantly, AC works and its freshly registered and smogged so I won't have to deal with it. There's a lot of little cosmetic issues I can easily fix as well to clean it up a bit better before I sell it in a few months. Also looking to sell/trade the style 5s for style 32s if anyone is interested.





Made some progress despite not having much time.

Finished the battery tray





Almost lit the interior on fire.... I had stuffed rags behind the AC line hole and forgot to remove them before finish welding. One of them lit while I welded and started to burn/melt the firewall insulation. I caught it before anything serious happened.





Last night I finished smoothing and filling the last holes on the passenger side, and went over most of it with a wire wheel to scuff it up and get ready for filler.

[rzerob]

It's all for sale except the compressor and e36 lines. I also have a brand new drier and the correct pressure switch etc. and a bunch of new o-rings for r134. Also a new parallel flow condenser.

I re read through your thread and see you did not get to converting the AC. I was looking to buy converted lines so I could make a copy of them with what I had. But you didn't get that far. Sorry about that.