Northern's Cocaine Cowgirl
I've been putting this off because school has been killing me, but I'm wrecked right now and making a build thread seems like a good way to take a small break...
A 4-door shell appeared in my local FB group for $500 and somehow the only problems I saw with that were:
Where do I put it?
It had a title issue, was that ever resolved?
How rusty is it?
Has the interior been picked apart?
How much random other stuff does it need/the unknown?
He told me the title issue was resolved, which I didn't really believe until I had the document in hand, and he sent me a video of the underside of the car, which is surprisingly nice considering the rest of the car. The interior is more or less intact.
As it appeared in the ad:
aaand as it showed up: (wife was obviously thrilled to have another e30)
I abandoned it where he dropped it, and didn't even look at it until the weekend. I'm honestly surprised nobody called the city on me...
That (last) weekend, I gave it a quick once-over and started noticing things:
Hood was dropped as he was about to load it. Not sure if it rolled down a hill or what, but the front right was caved backward, the rear left corner was bent up, there are some dents in the middle, and this bracket was mangled:
Pulled the bracket off to straighten it enough to throw the hood on, then noticed the hood was caved in where it mounts
Quick and dirty:
"Good Enough" is what we aim for:
With that back on, I beat the back corner straight and worked the front edge back to a somewhat normal shape, then moved onto the hinge brackets (which are missing the two removable plates that bolt with it to the radiator support for the spring to work against). I had to clean the threads out to get the bolts to even go in...
Hood installed:
A late model valence went on shortly after, which was an ordeal...
The car is an '88, but it has an early rad support, tow hook, and had pieces of early model valence attached with those round head carriage bolts that were rusted badly and needed to be drilled out.
The car was also hit in the front left, rad support and section of left frame rail replaced...
The driver's door doesn't align the best, but it could definitely fit better than it does right now...
While fitting the hood/valence, lots of interesting stuff was found:
Hundreds of self-tapping screw holes were found...
Some here:
Some holding the cover to the drip rail?
Side skirts and rear bumper are also riddled with them.
Painted in here:
These are holding on with hopes and dreams:
Overall, I don't know what to make of it.
Pros:
Smileys (Bosch, one tab broken, no city light holders)
Tan sport seats + spare vert rear seat
3 spoke wheel
Cheap
Not terribly rusty
Spare fenders
Cons:
Screw Holes
Ugly bumpers/sideskirts/tails
Misc decrepit stuff
Needs paint
Hit in front left
Parts I have for it:
Late front valence/bumper (from the corpse of my old iX, apparently)
Late rear bumper from Roy (?)
Euro grilles
M52B28
M50 manifold
Broken E34 M50 pan
G260 or ZF320
All the NA M52 takeoffs from my other car... so downpipe I guess?
Basketweaves
Winter tires
Battery
What I need:
24v Engine Mounts
Rear Apron (anticipating something ugly under current fiberglass thing)
Argon for welder
Late Tails (...I swear I had some)
Right Mirror
100 different clips/fasteners/small things.
The Master Plan:
Toss/sell the fiberglass stuff.
Identify/ label as many screw holes as possible.
Fill holes with die grinder in one hand, welder in the other + weld up the engine mount tabs on front subframe
E36 rack while engine is out.
Fix E34 M50 oil pan, find a dipstick
Prep engine with pan/M50 mani/Harness/G260(?)
Install engine/trans
Paint car white
Drive
A 4-door shell appeared in my local FB group for $500 and somehow the only problems I saw with that were:
Where do I put it?
It had a title issue, was that ever resolved?
How rusty is it?
Has the interior been picked apart?
How much random other stuff does it need/the unknown?
He told me the title issue was resolved, which I didn't really believe until I had the document in hand, and he sent me a video of the underside of the car, which is surprisingly nice considering the rest of the car. The interior is more or less intact.
As it appeared in the ad:
aaand as it showed up: (wife was obviously thrilled to have another e30)
I abandoned it where he dropped it, and didn't even look at it until the weekend. I'm honestly surprised nobody called the city on me...
That (last) weekend, I gave it a quick once-over and started noticing things:
Hood was dropped as he was about to load it. Not sure if it rolled down a hill or what, but the front right was caved backward, the rear left corner was bent up, there are some dents in the middle, and this bracket was mangled:
Pulled the bracket off to straighten it enough to throw the hood on, then noticed the hood was caved in where it mounts
Quick and dirty:
"Good Enough" is what we aim for:
With that back on, I beat the back corner straight and worked the front edge back to a somewhat normal shape, then moved onto the hinge brackets (which are missing the two removable plates that bolt with it to the radiator support for the spring to work against). I had to clean the threads out to get the bolts to even go in...
Hood installed:
A late model valence went on shortly after, which was an ordeal...
The car is an '88, but it has an early rad support, tow hook, and had pieces of early model valence attached with those round head carriage bolts that were rusted badly and needed to be drilled out.
The car was also hit in the front left, rad support and section of left frame rail replaced...
The driver's door doesn't align the best, but it could definitely fit better than it does right now...
While fitting the hood/valence, lots of interesting stuff was found:
Hundreds of self-tapping screw holes were found...
Some here:
Some holding the cover to the drip rail?
Side skirts and rear bumper are also riddled with them.
Painted in here:
These are holding on with hopes and dreams:
Overall, I don't know what to make of it.
Pros:
Smileys (Bosch, one tab broken, no city light holders)
Tan sport seats + spare vert rear seat
3 spoke wheel
Cheap
Not terribly rusty
Spare fenders
Cons:
Screw Holes
Ugly bumpers/sideskirts/tails
Misc decrepit stuff
Needs paint
Hit in front left
Parts I have for it:
Late front valence/bumper (from the corpse of my old iX, apparently)
Late rear bumper from Roy (?)
Euro grilles
M52B28
M50 manifold
Broken E34 M50 pan
G260 or ZF320
All the NA M52 takeoffs from my other car... so downpipe I guess?
Basketweaves
Winter tires
Battery
What I need:
24v Engine Mounts
Rear Apron (anticipating something ugly under current fiberglass thing)
Argon for welder
Late Tails (...I swear I had some)
Right Mirror
100 different clips/fasteners/small things.
The Master Plan:
Toss/sell the fiberglass stuff.
Identify/ label as many screw holes as possible.
Fill holes with die grinder in one hand, welder in the other + weld up the engine mount tabs on front subframe
E36 rack while engine is out.
Fix E34 M50 oil pan, find a dipstick
Prep engine with pan/M50 mani/Harness/G260(?)
Install engine/trans
Paint car white
Drive
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