My 1988 320i Touring Project: Ambitious but Rubbish

[Roadrunner]

We woke up early on the weekend and headed out to meet with someone a bit closer to civilization to sell some wheels. A bit further down our road, there appeared to be...



Ermm... is that...? :???:



Yup, there she goes, making a break for it. Well, as long as she follows the rules of the road, who am I to judge?



Now that we'd made it through the worst of the traffic, we were on our way again. I was planning on doing some work on my car and detailing it before heading to a local car meet, since I had a rare opportunity to park the touring on an actual paved driveway. As soon as I'd unpacked the car, and the sunny skies present in the previous pictures turned into this:



Then, it actually started hailing.

We waited for that to pass, and I had just enough time to steal the hood liner from one of my S.O.'s cars. He originally got it from a 325 and it didn't fit his car properly, so he generously donated this hood liner to the cause. :up: I used a small flat head screwdriver to carefully pry the plastic rivets off. It took a bit of practice to find the right amount of force to remove them without causing them to fly off onto the ground or into the engine bay (not that that happened... :oops:), but popping them back into place when reinstalling the hood liner in the touring was super easy.



That night, we went to maXbimmer's Midnight Cruise, an annual BMW meet and cruise in Woodbridge, Ontario (north of Toronto) that departs at midnight, with the route and destination remaining a complete mystery until the moment the cruise begins. We went to one of the previous midnight cruises together in another car and had a blast, so I was excited to bring the touring to this one.

We found out that this year, there would be no maps and no indication of where the first stop would be. The majority of the cars that showed up were E36s and E46s, with only one other E30 (with an engine swap) there besides mine with my poorly tuned stock engine, making my car the slowest of the bunch by a significant margin.

We drove along, reassured by the distinctive engine noises from the other cars on the cruise that we were on the right track, until the two cars we were following pulled over and explained that they weren't actually going on the whole cruise. By that point everyone else was gone - we didn't see where everyone turned off of the main highway.



It was fun to chat with people at the meet beforehand, but it's disappointing that we missed out on what sounded like an amazing cruise after coming that far. Better luck next year I guess.

[Roadrunner]

I can't believe it's only been about a month since I started this thread! Thanks so much to everyone who has commented and helped me out so far so I don't feel like I'm writing all of this to myself in an oddly car-focused diary. :up:

When I first started this thread, my goals were to get the touring into shape to bring it to my first car show (check!) and more importantly, to get the heater core fixed (parts ordered last week - should have them soon!). So, I could just pack it in and call it a day once I fix the heater core like I'd originally planned... but I don't think I'm going to now.

I may have started with no mechanical knowledge or skill whatsoever, but I'm slowly starting to feel more and more like a shade tree mechanic of sorts. (And yes, that's the shade tree that damaged the car to begin with. I've found it in my heart to forgive it.)



Cutting back on the sappiness for a moment... Once I got the touring back from the shop, it was a huge relief to drive a "real" car again compared to the rental, but it was also evident that the car was in serious need of a tune up and new brakes.

First up, it was clear that the front brakes had served out their final days and the pads and rotors needed to be replaced (the rear brakes had already been done not too long ago). The brake sensor must have failed long ago, as I would have expected to see a brake warning light popping up.



I followed a DIY guide on E30 tech that is no longer working [EDIT: their forum has been down for the last few days], so here's another one in case anyone is about to tackle this job for the first time. Unfortunately, that guide refers to pictures, but does not in fact have any pictures. The guide also suggests resurfacing your brake discs, but I opted to replace them as they were too far gone. I was also very fortunate to have the help of my SO on this one to guide me through the steps, since it would be a safety issue, not just a cosmetic issue, if I screwed something up.

Some of the best tips I picked up: Use a 15mm wrench to hold the caliper pin / nut in place while you use a socket or wrench to remove the bolt on the outside; otherwise, that pin will keep spinning and you will go crazy:



Similarly, it helped to have a screwdriver or something to wedge in to stop the brake disc from spinning during the step where you remove the allen head bolt:



Although the guide is optimistic that "the brake rotor should now come free" at this point once the other hardware is removed, my rotors were rusty and seized on enough to require extra convincing to come off with a rubber mallet:



You'll also need a c-clamp to help push the piston into the caliper - you need to put a piece of thick plastic or wood on top of the caliper piston and torque down on that to prevent damaging the piston:



Overall, I was surprised that the whole job was relatively easy once I got over a slight amount of initial intimidation. After getting the final wheel back on the car as the sun was setting, it was time for a test drive and some strategic braking to seat the brakes. The new brakes made a *huge* difference in the experience of driving the car!

Up next: A few of my exciting car-related plans for the Canada Day long weekend that did not exactly work out (why does it feel like that's an ongoing theme?), and cracking my engine open for the first time! :grin:

[Roadrunner]

Your build reminds me of my first touring, a 1991 324TD in Sterling Silver.. Funny thing it died from a tree hitting in the exact spot as yours while in school in france :sad:

Aw, that's terrible! I can see how it could've caused a lot more damage or easily have become an insurance write-off if the tree had hit an inch or two higher up on the hatch. I was really lucky that the touring was still driveable, that the damage was relatively minor, and that the cost to fix it was low enough that the insurance company didn't consider it totaled (although good luck to them finding me a replacement if they tried that!).

I'd be keen on coming next year, depending on if I could get work off or not for the weekend. We'll have to see

Awesome! Hopefully a year's notice will be enough to get the time off, haha... Seriously, though, I'll keep you posted about any details I hear about the next one.

[Grime]

The show I was talking about was Tedfest (www.tedfest.ca), a classic BMW car show in Mississauga (Toronto area), Ontario. Check out pictures of the show here - look at all of the beautiful E30s that showed up! You should definitely make the trip and come next year - Montreal is not that far from Toronto. :mrgreen: They have free stuff for everyone who registers, and almost everyone who stayed until the end won prizes in the raffle draw (the prize I won is going to be a lot of fun to add to my car - more about that later!). There are a bunch of other local BMW car meets and cruises around here if you're in the area over the summer. It would be cool to see another E30 touring!

I'd be keen on coming next year, depending on if I could get work off or not for the weekend. We'll have to see

[Julien]

Your build reminds me of my first touring, a 1991 324TD in Sterling Silver.. Funny thing it died from a tree hitting in the exact spot as yours while in school in france :(

[Roadrunner]

To finish off my story, we met up with the others who were going with us and gave the cars a quick wash (no point doing it earlier because of all the dirt roads) before heading to Tedfest. The cars in our mini-cruise to the car show were my 1988 320i touring, a 1993 M5, and a 1991 318is.

It was the first time I'd brought my car to a show, and it was quite an experience to have people approach me who were excited about my car and interested to hear about the various things I've done and have planned, as well as to have other enthusiasts happily give me tours of their cars. :)

A couple of people even tried to convince me to trade cars with them - I think I'm going to keep mine, though. ;-) Here's a shortened version of a conversation I had with another E30 owner:

Him: You should trade cars with me! Mine has nice leather seats!
Me: No thanks, I prefer cloth.
Him: You could switch the interiors. My car is perfect!
Me: That's okay, my car keeps me busy with things to work on.
Him: I could break some things on my car...

I had a great time and would definitely go again next year (hopefully with my car in even better shape by then)!

A few more pictures of my touring:





...the M5:



...and more pictures of the E30 section (which I found here):

[Roadrunner]

After using all of the available daylight hours working on the car outside, we headed to a local spray-wash to clean the engine bay. Judging by the decor, the owner of the place was strongly influenced by the fake palm-tree fad of the last few years and based the entire business around it. It was like being transported to a spray-wash located in a dystopian version of California with glowing neon palm trees (was going to get pictures, but most of the lights were shut off by the time we got there to save hydro I guess)...

... And then there was the music in that place. WOW. It was cranked loud enough that you had to shout to be heard over it. I would describe it as aggressive instrumental elevator music from hell. The kind of music that slowly erodes your sanity while you're at the grocery store, but at that volume it would eventually make you snap and go on a murderous rampage. To normal people, it broadcast the message, "Wash your car and GTFO! No detailing!!" loud and clear. After what seemed like hours there working on the engine bay, I was convinced that it could double as an enhanced interrogation centre for terrorists. I know I was ready to confess to anything just to get out of there!

The insulation under the hood was on my list to remove while we were there. It looked like it had rotted from age:



Once it was soaked with an orange degreasing gum remover, most of the insulation came off with a makeshift scraper (a yogurt container cut into four disposable "scrapers") before being rinsed off. Finding a replacement for the insulation is now on my to-do list:



Since I'd never cleaned my engine bay before :oops:, I read through this guide, which seemed overly cautious if anything (he recommends that you remember to bring a pen and paper to write a reminder that you did something that serves as a reminder to not do something else... :???:), but it does explain what to protect while cleaning the engine bay.

With the electrical components safely covered, we sprayed the engine down with degreaser, let it sit, scrubbed, rinsed, and repeated for as long as we could tolerate without going mad due to the music, then removed the plastic on the electrical components and gave the car a quick rinse. The car started and drove with no issues other than a sensor being tripped for a minute and turning off.

The engine bay is still not perfectly clean (which is not my goal anyway since the touring is my daily driver), but it's much better than before:



The rear hatch cover needed to be fixed before it could be put back in. There was still tar sticking to it from the Dynamat that a stereo installer put in that had to be removed, and part of the backing needed to be glued on again:



I had a used set of tweeters that got installed, too:



I would've liked to have put the rear wiper arm and blade back on the car, but rear wiper arms are back ordered and won't arrive for another 2 weeks or so. The side skirts along the bottom of the front fenders will have to wait to be reattached until I replace the hardware that disintegrated when I pulled them off the old rusty fenders.

I'm happy to report that my original two mini-projects, installing the caps on the window crank handles (well, "installing" turned out to be way too grandiose of a term), and putting in my cup holders, are now complete. For the window crank covers, I finally found the part number to order them from the dealer, and they just pop right on. For the cup holders, I found a used centre console that doesn't have the cassette holder cutout, and the cup holder pops right in as well.

The only slight problem is that I haven't put my carpets back in yet, so I can't really put my centre console back in properly. I did a half-assed job putting it in on the morning of the car show (too sleepy and disorganized to find where I put the hardware or to take a decent picture... and forgot the rear ashtray, oops) just to be able to use the cup holders temporarily, since coffee is not optional for me.



Then off to meet up with a few people for the car show! :)

[Roadrunner]

Nice update. I hope I never find rust on my car, I've been lucky thus far.

Thanks! :) It's awesome that your touring is in such good condition. Not driving it in the winter must help keep it that way, but it's frustrating that we only get a few solid months of nice weather up here before it starts to snow again.

What show was that?

The show I was talking about was Tedfest (www.tedfest.ca), a classic BMW car show in Mississauga (Toronto area), Ontario. Check out pictures of the show here - look at all of the beautiful E30s that showed up! You should definitely make the trip and come next year - Montreal is not that far from Toronto. :mrgreen: They have free stuff for everyone who registers, and almost everyone who stayed until the end won prizes in the raffle draw (the prize I won is going to be a lot of fun to add to my car - more about that later!). There are a bunch of other local BMW car meets and cruises around here if you're in the area over the summer. It would be cool to see another E30 touring!

[Grime]

Nice update. I hope I never find rust on my car, I've been lucky thus far. What show was that?

[Roadrunner]

To backtrack slightly, here's the touring home at last a few days ago:



The colour match of the new paint vs. the old paint is better than I could have hoped for - people have to ask me which panels were repainted. The only giveaway, to my eye at least, is looking at it in direct sunlight, where you can see light scratches and swirls on the old paint from age (and possibly car wash use from one of the POs :tsk: ). The dings and dents from the tree branches in the ice storm have been pulled and are completely gone like it never happened. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out.

There's even no trace left of damage from an incident that happened to the touring before I owned it: the PO told us that one day he walked out to the touring, which was parked outside, to find a guy being... *ahem*... "serviced" while leaning on the car, leaving a large dent on the car (and scarring the PO's psyche!). Imagine filling out the insurance forms for the repairs on that one. :nice:

I had the rust hole on the firewall fixed with new metal:



...and the hole in the lower left corner of the driver's side foot well was filled:



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:arrow: ** WARNING: Graphic rust picture coming up! **

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For those of you who are highly stressed out by pictures of rust on a touring, please look at this relaxing, stress-free picture of my cute pet canary (who already got an honourable mention in this thread) instead, maybe sniff a lavender-scented candle, and skip to the next section:



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Alright, on to the scary part. Due to budget and time constraints, there are still some rust spots left on the car that will need to be addressed, the worst of them being:



AHHHH, shield your eyes! Squeamish people, keep looking away!!

I should zoom out a bit:



I'm going to chip off the rest of the tar to find out the full extent of the rust - it looks like the rust continues under there. It's not quite a rust hole yet, but if I keep scraping away at the rust, it might become one. I'll see how bad it is and decide how to proceed with fixing it.

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Still with me? That wasn't *too* stressful, was it? ;-)

I had an enormous task list to complete in order to get the car ready for the car show. Luckily, my SO's car was already in damn near perfect condition to bring to the show, so he kindly offered to assist me with mine.

Here's what we accomplished, in no particular order:

- Replaced the front BMW roundel (I bet the old one was a knockoff now that I can compare it to a new one):



- Washed the floor mats and cleaned the interior:



- Cleaned the grilles and reinstalled them - looks like one of the POs put M stickers on them that were never fully removed:



- Cleaned the wheel caps that had been in storage and put them back on the car - apparently some linseed oil spilled on them which became hard as a rock over the winter. It reminded me of marmalade on waffles, which was not the look I was going for. One of them partially cleaned (yuck!):



- Replaced the mirrors with a set of repainted ones. The old ones were pretty rusty...



...which you could really see under the gasket once they were removed:



- Resprayed the lower valence area with black rubberized undercoating. You can see how faded it was before:



...compared to after:



Things were starting to come together, but there was still lots more to do. The engine bay in particular was a huge mess... how could I possibly get this looking good in time?



You'll have to find out next time! More coming soon. :)

[Roadrunner]

I'm really excited about this entire project - especially the personal transformation that's driving it. ;)

Thanks! A few months ago, I never would've imagined that my car would be part of that lineup and that I'd be there showing it off.

Just a teaser shot from the show today after it was wrapping up. ;D

Well, since you're already jumping ahead and all, here's a preview of your M5 at the show. Had to wait until everyone flocked to the raffle draw to get a picture of it without crowds of people gathered around drooling at the sight of it. :mrgreen:

[Shock(/\)ave]

I'm really excited about this entire project - especially the personal transformation that's driving it. ;)



Just a teaser shot from the show today after it was wrapping up. ;D

[Roadrunner]

so glad you decided not to vinyl wrap it!

Me too! I just got the car back from the shop a couple of days ago and I'm thrilled with how the paint turned out.

Plus, I can always plastidip it if I get bored! :grin: (Okay, okay, just kidding.)

that paint takes a while to harden. Chuck it in the oven!

Good idea, except that I have a pet canary and didn't want to find out the hard way how toxic the fumes would be (If you think I overuse crying smilies now, you would not want to see me if anything bad happened to him)... so I used a heat gun outside instead. It seems to have worked really well this time!

This thread is highly entertaining to read. Keep up the good work!!

Thanks! I've been having a lot of fun learning and working on it. I'm glad someone else is entertained!

I also have a Touring so seeing all these nasty rust spots was freaking me out. Sounds like you're getting it sorted though.

Keen for more updates.

Nice touring! :up: The rust spots on mine are definitely getting taken care of - I got the major ones fixed at the shop, and will be fixing more myself as I go.


By the time I picked up the touring from the shop, I was only left with two nights after work to continue working on it in a mad dash to get it ready for the classic BMW car show that I went to today. Lots of updates and pictures from the show coming soon!

[bmwandhonda]

This thread is highly entertaining to read. Keep up the good work!!

I also have a Touring so seeing all these nasty rust spots was freaking me out. Sounds like you're getting it sorted though.

Keen for more updates.

[bangn]

so glad you decided not to vinyl wrap it!

that paint takes a while to harden. Chuck it in the oven!