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Project Armo "330i" M-tech 1

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    Next I tackled the issues with the bodykit. The right side skirt and the front spoiler required attention. The corner of the side skirt had broken off at the fixing point.


    M-tech parts are made of polyurethane and they are not weldable so I had to go with gluing. After some googling I found the 3M 55045 bumper repair glue. It's a two-component very fast curing polyurethane glue that's made for repairing plastic car parts. You can shape missing pieces entirely out of glue and after curing it behaves as plastic so it's flexible and you can sand and drill it.

    3M shows how to repair a plastic bumper tab using 3M™ Superfast Plastic Adhesive: a fast to cure, two-part urethane adhesive suitable to repair, rebuild, res...


    The glue requires a 3M-specific glue gun but luckily we already have it at work due to some other plastic gluing projects. On the video they also use a special plastic film to aid shaping the glue but that was so outrageously expensve that I decided to try baking paper instead and it worked just fine. Main point is that glue should not stick to the material. The glue is pretty expensive. Around 50 bucks for 50 ml of glue + 15 bucks for the primer (at least in Finland). Of course you also need a suitable de-greaser. I used the 3M one since we already have it at work but any suitable solvent that doesn't soften the plastic should be fine.



    First I sanded off any paint on the area, tapered the edges and drilled a couple of holes to aid adhesion. Then I put a piece of baking paper under the part and squirted (is that the correct word? - Probably not) some glue on it. Then I folded the baking paper on the glue, got it well spread on the part and formed it flat. After curing I sanded the glue to right thickness and shaped it as the missing corner.











    The glue is confidence-inspiring. You can grab the new corner and bend it very forcefully this way and that and it feels as it's become one with the plastic. Next I tackled the front valance. It has been repaired before and one of the repaired areas between the foglight and the brake cooling duct had cracked open again. I sanded off any previous glue and filler.


    Most likely the cracking had been because the plastic was not int he correct shape. It had deformed quite a bit and the recess had just been filled with a thick layer of filler. I took a hot air gun, heated up the plastic and tried to form it back in correct shape the best I could.


    My original intention was to repair just this one spot but after having a close look at the repairs I decided to sand them all out and redo everything. Actually there were quite a few repairs on the valance.





    I used fiberglass net to reinforce the cracks I repaired.














    There was so much to repair that I had to buy another tube of glue. I learned a lot in the process and I'm sure there's still a lot to learn but I'm pretty happy with the repairs. At least they feel a lot more solid than the previous ones. Still I can't shake the feeling that this valance is nearing the end of it's life. There are so many repairs on it. I'll need to take care and not bump it into anything to keep it in one piece.

    Here's a couple of notes on the use of the glue in case someone else is facing the same task:
    - The glue hardens very fast so you need quite a few mixing spouts or alternatively you need to prepare everything really well to move quickly from one area to another before the glue hardens in the spout. You should always extrude the half-hardened glue onto a piece of cardboard and continue using the glue once fresh glue flows freely again.
    - The glue develops quite a bit of heat when curing and it may feel like the glued area has no structural integrity when the plastic and the glue soften because of the heat but it will solidify when cooling down.
    - When spreading the glue on a flat surface, bubbles form easily. You might want to try just squirting a large bead of glue on the middle of the area to be repaired and then spreading it out with baking paper or alternatively try to squirt as even thin layer as possible. Squirting a bit here and there leaves bubbles even if it's easy to spread and flatten the glue under baking paper.
    - The glue doesn't stick as well to already cured glue as it does to plastic. So you should try to get the area filled at once. Adding a thing layer of fresh glue on top of old glue seams to work especially bad.
    E30 Armo "330i"

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      Very informative, thank you very much for sharing! Coming along nicely, hopefully for the next season this beast will be on the road!
      '85 Alpine Weiß 2-door with m20b30 ground up build

      Comment


        Originally posted by gnmzl View Post
        Very informative, thank you very much for sharing! Coming along nicely, hopefully for the next season this beast will be on the road!
        Thanks! I'm pretty invested in putting Armo on the road for next summer. It should also be doable even with my limited hobby time/week. Some people put a car together in a week so I should be able to do it in five months.
        Last edited by Skarpa; 11-22-2019, 06:16 AM.
        E30 Armo "330i"

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          Glad you like the 3M glue, thanks for the pointers as well. I'm getting ready to start prepping my MTech kit and it's nice to see that this worked well in case I need it.
          '86 325e Zinnoberrot /// '02 325ci Schwarz II /// '18 M4 Azurite Black Metallic ///

          Albie325 Build Thread | Albie325 COTM Jan 2021

          Comment


            WOW, it's going to look awesome...I'm so impressed by your fabricating skills, and the armo on the valve cover is very cool. I bet you will have the nicest E30 in Finland when your done, I only saw one when I visited this summer.

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              Originally posted by Albie325 View Post
              Glad you like the 3M glue, thanks for the pointers as well. I'm getting ready to start prepping my MTech kit and it's nice to see that this worked well in case I need it.
              I'm glad if I can be of help. Hope your project turns out well!

              Originally posted by finnmole View Post
              WOW, it's going to look awesome...I'm so impressed by your fabricating skills, and the armo on the valve cover is very cool. I bet you will have the nicest E30 in Finland when your done, I only saw one when I visited this summer.
              Thanks! I don't know about THE nicest one. There are some damn fine E30s in Finland but I am aiming to be among them. Nowadays you don't see that many E30s in traffic anymore but when you do, they are usually pretty nice and well kept. I quess most of the POSs are already either parted, crushed or project cars.
              E30 Armo "330i"

              Comment


                I bet you still have "katsastus" in Finland, so all the cars need to be in good working order. We don't have to have our cars inspected any more in Canada (at least not on the West coast)

                Comment


                  Originally posted by finnmole View Post
                  I bet you still have "katsastus" in Finland, so all the cars need to be in good working order. We don't have to have our cars inspected any more in Canada (at least not on the West coast)
                  Yeah, that's true. Usually cars end up parted out or crushed when thwy no longer pass the yearly inspection with reasonable amount of work which is good because lord knows what kind of deathtraps Finnish people would drive without it. Although the inspection is also a pretty big limiting factor when modifying cars because there are fairly strict regulations concerning engine swaps and whatnot. So no LS-powered E30s in Finland. At least not without trickery.
                  E30 Armo "330i"

                  Comment


                    Lately I've been assembling the suspension.
                    .



                    Although I've had quite a few minor setbacks hindering the progress. I forgot to install the dust shields behind the front hubs, the half shaft bolts were wrong size as well as the hub nuts, the bolt holes in the cv joint rubber boots had to be drilled to correct size and while doing that I of course managed to mangle my thumb, quite a few screws and whatnot were lost or missing and one of the trailing arms was bent open about five millimeters.



                    I'm guessing someone has bent it when removing the trailing arm bushings. Not me, though because I used a puller that applies the force to the housing of the same bushing. Anyway it was fixed with hydraulic press and some touch up painting. Regardless of the hindrances, I was able to slowly progress with the assembly:





                    Once I get the drive shaft bolt washers and the hub nuts, I'll drop the body on wheels. And it's about the time because the rest of the parts are well on their way to be painted.



                    E30 Armo "330i"

                    Comment


                      Looking great

                      Comment


                        Nice.
                        How to remove, install or convert to pop out windows
                        http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=297611


                        Could be better, could be worse.

                        Comment


                          Originally posted by eternal24k View Post
                          Looking great
                          Originally posted by rzerob View Post
                          Nice.
                          Thanks!
                          E30 Armo "330i"

                          Comment


                            It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas













                            E30 Armo "330i"

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by Skarpa View Post
                              It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

                              Every where we go.
                              How to remove, install or convert to pop out windows
                              http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=297611


                              Could be better, could be worse.

                              Comment


                                I got the car on wheels again. It's been a while since the last time.


                                I gave my little finger to sticker tuning.




                                The suspension color was inspired by the Team Jägermeister.





                                Now that the body was ready for painter, I had a look at the front fenders. The day I bought the car, a Mercedes driver bumped into the front corner bending among other things the front fender. Since then the fender has been bent. I just tapped it a bit into shape with a rubber mallet. I've had a straight replacement fender for quite a while but having a closer look at it, it had a lot of hidden rust. Especially in places where the metal overlaps and it's not easy to repair well. I decided to try and straighten the original fender which had only a little rust.





                                The dents don't show well in the pictures but all the faces from the wheel arch to the top of the fender were bent with a sharp crease going across them. After a while of careful tapping with various hammers and dollies the fender turned out surprisingly good taking into account that I have no former experience of panel beating. Half of the work was repairing the marks left by my previous crude work with the rubber mallet.



                                Both the fenders had a little rust at the rear end of the wheel arch while the drivers side had a rust hole in the front as well.













                                Then it was the time to take the body and the fenders to the painter. Damn, I lost by a few weeks to project Binky!



                                It was a good day for transporting with nice dry, cold winter weather. In return I received the separate parts with damn fine paint. (pictured in previous post) The paint is better than I dared to hope for with very deep red shine to it. 5/5

                                Last edited by Skarpa; 01-05-2020, 12:12 PM.
                                E30 Armo "330i"

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