Project Lessmeister: 91 318iS Restomod w/ MTech2 and modern drivetrain

[thriftshopclassics]

Subbed... That patch up on the Mtech rear apron is magic. Amazing work.


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[csermonet47]

Great work! Welcome back.

[CubbyChowder]

I'll be watching this one!

[Jordan]

I didn't get nearly as much time to work on the E30 today as I'd hoped, I spent half the day working on a customers E46 and making a run to the dealer for parts it needed.

I did managed to get the side skirts and panels test fit so I could make for holes that need to be drilled.

A total of 7 different holes need to be drilled in each brand new front fender!



I also used the sideskirt to mark the centerline of each clip onto the rocker panel, and then made myself a little jig that sits on the sill and allows me to perfectly align 2 level holes 36mm apart and use a self hitting centerpunch to make the drill guide. The notch in the middle allows to to center it on the mark I made.




There are of course actual OE drilling templates available but I did not feel the need to order them.

Here are the dimensions I came up:

For the sideskirts top row of mounting clips measure from the back edge of the rocker panel along the 1in or so raised section they mount to.

Measurements are from the rear end of the rocker panel, to center to center. Each ^ denotes a clip centered on the measurement. Clip feet are spaced 36mm CTC.

REAR WHEEL WELL|---190mm---^-170mm-^--180mm--^--180mm--^--180mm--^--180mm--^--180mm--^--180mm--^---------------------|FRONT WHEEL WELL

The cutouts in the sideskirt the clips snap into are 35mm wide, where the clip itself is 25mm wide.. so you have some room for error(+-5mm) if you measurements are not perfect, just double check your work before you actually drill so you can make sure a incorrect measurement doesn't cascade down the line to throw the last ones way off.

[Jordan]

Today was a lot more productive, but the weekend as a whole still fell a bit short of my goal. I absolutely must finish the car off and get it to paint during the coming week!

Thanks to Levent @ Guten Parts I was able to drill the mounting holes for the side skirt clips today. He had one laying around and measured it for me. The correct drill size is 8.5mm.



I spent most of the day carefully bodyworking the side skirts and side cladding, blocking it out and making it nice and straight. I also gave the tow hook covers and fuel door the same treatments.

[E30 Wagen]

The passenger door seems misaligned. Is that an illusion created by the lack of door seal which lets is shut farther, or is the whole door actually angled up toward the rear?

I absolutely must finish the car off and get it to paint during the coming week!

This project on a deadline for a show or something?

[Jordan]

It is misaligned, both because the seal/striker are removed, and because the previous owner loosened the 4 13mm nuts rather than releasing the pins.

I ordered new pins which I'll change out prior to paint, and properly align the doors at that time. That'll probably be in tomorrow evenings agenda.

I do a tremendous amount of sidework out of my home. It's income I count on, and with the car and parts in the way I'm very limited on extra work I can take in.

My full time job pays all the bills and then some, but my car related discretionary fund comes out of my side work. Obviously I'm going to be pouring funds into this car hand over fist so I need to get to work while the car is in paint.

[e30austin]

You've made more progress in the past couple weeks or so than I made in almost two years. Keep it up!

[george graves]

That's a lot of holes! Does the factory have a install instruction for mt2 kits?

[Jordan]

You've made more progress in the past couple weeks or so than I made in almost two years. Keep it up!

No kidding huh? I've been killing it in the garage since I got the car, working 2-4 hours a night after my 10 hour work day, then another 8-10hrs a day on the weeks ends. I need a break lol.

That's a lot of holes! Does the factory have a install instruction for mt2 kits?

It is definitely a lot of holes. Yes there is a guide for the convertible kit, which is very similar. The primary difference being the mounting of the side skirts.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=122423&page=2

[Jordan]

I took the evening off last night, but made up for it this evening.

Tonight I wanted to tackle the rear quarter panel side pods. The little feet on these pods are easily broken off when people try to remove them and don't check to see if they are still hung up on something. One swift tug and they tear clean off.

Unfortunately both of the side pods I got with the car were missing all 3 feet. Bummer dude.

You can see the hook shaped feet in this picture, of my last cars MTech2 kit prior to being painted:


I had to repair mine as this isn't the sort of thing I was wanting to buy a replacement for, and because its an easy fix.

After looking a photos and making a size approximation I carefully cut 6 identical feet out from the same scrap E55 AMG front bumper I've been using as donor material.

I clamped them together in a stack and finished the rough cuts down on all sides so I was left with 6 near perfectly identical feet.



I prepped the panel and the feet, then sprayed them both with surface modifier which allows the Fusor 143 to get an amazingly strong bond.

The adhesive has about 30-45s working time before it gels to a rubbery consistency, and given another 10-15m it is hard, but flexible. The feet would snap off of themselves before this bond fails, even on such a tiny part.



While those were drying I moved up to the front of the car and added a small touch that is often overlooked when fenders are removed/replaced/disturbed. The seam where the fender bolts to the valance. The factory finished this rather ill fitting joint with seam sealer or something of that sort. I attempted to replicate this finish in keeping with what I'm looking to achieve with this car.

Light is poor up front so I over illuminated the photo with a flashlight.

[flyboyx]

fuck it!! i sub'd too.

i also remember this car and kit from craigs. good on you for saving it.

[Jordan]

Not a whole awful lot going on the last 2 nights, mainly just moving down the list of odd and end kinda tasks, unexciting stuffm but things that need doing regardless.

While I was drilling the holes for the side skirts I noticed the fuel breather hose cover in the passenger side wheel well was quite rusty. I poked at it a bit last night and found it pretty much just crumbled. After removing it I found hard packed soil in the shape of the channel it formed tightly against the body. Ha... well soil holds moisture so yeah, understandable.

After removing it and cleaning the soil I was pleased that the well undercoated body of the car was unbothered and did not partake in the cancer.

Aside the new replacement:



I started and finished scotchbriting the underside of the trunk lid.

I block sanded and prepared the mirrors, hofmeister kink trim for paint.



I also managed to clean up the adhesive around the side cladding feet and test fit them to make sure they were going to fit. The did, and the feet are really strong. Quite pleased with that repair.

[ian e30 318is]

Good to have you back Jordan. Nice work on this one so far. Sad to see the widebody go though.

[Jordan]

Thanks Ian! I'm sad to have sold the widebody, but its a chapter in a life. I so enjoy the build process as a whole and the experience is perhaps more valuable to me than the final car I create. It is bittersweet that I sold it to a friend, and I still see the car often sitting in the corner of his shop.

This project will be leaving to go see it soon, as the widebody's new owner is also my painter for this project.

Today I got a late start as the wife and I were out way late last night on a dinner/anniversary date. I put in about 9 hours today all told and I'm very close to completion of the checklist to have it ready to send out to paint.

The first project for today was to relocate the accelerator pedal stop bracket. As I will be going with a M54b30 and it uses a drive by wire pedal I need to made some modifications, and its best done before paint.

The lip that sticks up out of the floor fits the MS43 pedal bracket directly, however the top bracket that once held the pedal stop bolt needs to be removed and relocated about 3/4" higher.

Cleaned the paint off the base to show the 2 spot welds that needed to be drilled out.



Rather than weld it back in and risk blistering paint and making a mess I decided to use Lord Fusor T21 to permanently bond the bracket to the floor pan. The bond created with proper surface prep is stronger than welding.



After the T21 set I smoothed it out, also cleaned up the surface rust around the lower pedal lip, and applied seam sealer to both.




Satisfied there I moved onto the door alignment. I went ahead and installed four new hinge pin kits so I had solid no slop hinges to make my adjustments to.

Not much to see there, just driving the old pins out and pressing the new in. Once done I loosened and retightened the hinges with the door shimmed to get it level and split evenly front to back.




To wrap up the day I then spent the next 4 hours, with my step son and wife occasionally lending a hand, scuffing the entire interior with maroon scotchbrite pads. Sounds simple but holy hell that is a lot of surface area to knock the gloss off of.