Project finished - 'MY22' 318is - bare metal, nut and bolt restoration

[burkey001]

Minor update

Was practicing to rope in the side windows. (with old window seals, no interior trim and a car you’re not worries about scratching) surprisingly very easy.
For a car you DO care about not scratching and one with interior trim and new window seals… I don’t think it’s a one person job. I need to recruit someone to push the glass in an down from the outside when I try again. I can get it *half* installed, but the its not quite right.
Still, learning experience is a good experience



This gasket was causing me grief, I was installing it from the engine bay side and it kept migrating out once I installed the HVAC box…. Turns it I was doing it wrong. Looked at another 30 and realised it’s installed from the cabin side. Problem solved!


Getting somewhere with this now… dash going in.
Hot tip – dash goes in easier if the steering column is not installed.


Amazing how much more complete it looks when you put a dash, console and steering wheel in… Do like the Evo 3 wheel.



Have a minor dilemma forming, or formed, because the dash is new, as is the console and all the other stuff but I cant find a ‘new’ glovebox. New as in “e36/46 pattern and colour” that the newer production date stuff comes in.
Old glove box, regardless how clean it is will look crap because it’s a different texture, gloss level and colour. So, may reach out to Relicate and see if they can do a half hide colour and texture match to the dash and get it subtly trimmed

[econti]

Is that a new dash?

[burkey001]

did the phrase 'new dash' give it away?? :)

yes, last new RHD dash in ze world. worth more than most complete e30s :)

[Tzantushka]

Nice progress as always.
We need to petition BMW to do another run of RHD & LHD dashboards!

[mbonder]

There is a trick to installing the rear side glass, maybe PM Jordan, I know he mentioned it in his build thread

[Melon]

Yeah man, I had a few choice words for the heater core hose gasket, even installing it as you mentioned (inside-out) it's still a pain.

[econti]

I just might be disabled.

I did ask BMW to do more, but no response. I do not believe they plan to, unless E30s become a big part of the heritage side.

I did also find a company who do reproduction dashboards, but they wanted a brand new one to make a mould from, and in the process the new one would be destroyed. A bit rich for my pockets to throw down 15k+ for the whole process to then have to sell things to E30 owner, most of which don't want to pay for the parts to do an oil change.

[digger]

I got the 2nd last dash in 2017....wasn't that bad price wise

[Jordan]

I've reached out to all of my contacts high up in BMW about putting them back into production, doesn't look to be happening any time soon. Jon & I also found out who... and reached out the company that actually manufactures (or did) the last batch of E30 dashboards from BMW and offered to buy a very large quantity of them to put the tooling back into service. They never even replied to the emails.

[TeXJ]

I've reached out to all of my contacts high up in BMW about putting them back into production, doesn't look to be happening any time soon. Jon & I also found out who... and reached out the company that actually manufactures (or did) the last batch of E30 dashboards from BMW and offered to buy a very large quantity of them to put the tooling back into service. They never even replied to the emails.

That sucks to hear

[burkey001]

Pattern for the front seats is approved, huzzah. Took a lot of samples.
The front seat design will then inform the pattern and shape of the rear seats. which will influence the rear side pods which will then carry some themes forward into the front door trims.

Had some interesting chats about bringing in some Hofmeister kink influences into some of the patterning

This side bolster has been made in leather as the final sample and is pretty much good to go.





one thing will change is the treatment of transitions of directions / shapes. Rather than take a smooth radiused transitioned, its going to be more "one line in this direction, smaller radius and another straight line'

my thinking is that the car is quite angular, so we need to carry that theme through inside - sympathetically - but also it gives a cleaner definition to the elements of trim. like a well defined muscle maybe? Kind of more 'athletic' than just an amorphous shape.

i think about this stuff too much... it's a seat :)

nothing here is actually pinned down, its just overlaid the foam, will end up a little tigher and more defined anyway


the other interesting thing is that because the leather is full aniline and natural grain it has a lot of 'defects' in it which is doing the trimmers head in. The lack of a poly top coat and pattern embossing is exactly why I chose those leather. I want to see that it's a natural product. Just part of the charm of a properly natural product

[projectJTv4]

I just scrolled through all 11 pages and am amazed by all the work you put into this, it's such an incredible build. I had a quick question that I do not think was mentioned here, if it was, I apologize.

For your hardware, are you sourcing everything from BMW or using aftermarket equivalents?

[Pootis]

How much time have you spent making sure your sockets/wrenches are perfectly clean before they touch a bolt on this car? lol

[efficient]

damn just went through this whole thread. very nice work

[Melon]

Those seats are awesome man, great choice.