My Son's Vert.....Project

[benge100]

My son is/has hit 16 in the last month or two and I wanted to buy him a car for his 16th birthday and fix/mod it so when he gets his permit he will have a nice car to run about in.

I have my car dealer licence and use it to mainly trade BMW's (E36, E39, E34 etc etc ) but dont do to many E30's but love this model. I have "done" lots of cars and have a fair amount of mechanical skill and have some good friends that I can call on to help out when I need it. Plus I have R3V...... I started looking in the summer and I actually went to hae a look at this car as a resale but it was too rough and I told the guy that I wasnt interested as it needed too much work. He called me back a week or so later and said that he really needed money to pay his house note so I threw a number out and 10 minutes later I was on the way down to pay him. In between me looking at the car and collecting it someone drove it and cracked the oil pan (suspension is shocking) so i had to organize a flat bed truck.

The plan was that I would run through the suspension, Brakes and generally sort out the mechanics, fit a new stereo, clean the paint and give it to him on his birthday. Sounds simple.......

The car is a 1987 325ic 5speed swartz on Tarus red leather. I really wanted him to have a 5speed as I want him to learn to drive "stick" I liked the car as soon as I saw it, there is something that speaks to me when I look at cars and this one was shoutin..... I want to come home with you.

I got the car back to my shop that I use to clean and work on my cars and started to look at what I had got. It was alot worse than I had first thought, the rear shocks were hanging off !!!!! So I got my pad and started to work out what I had to start ordering.....

[Stevie30]

Great start. He will love the vert. Pictures please as you complete the project.

[benge100]

Some pics......


When I looked at the car it had 2 seat covers on and I pulled one up and saw that the seat was trashed but when I took off the covers it had 1 black and 1 red seat ???? rear seat was trashed, I took out the missmatched floor mats and there was huge holes in the carpet Hmmmmmm....

I wanted to hear it run now I had it in my shop so I want and got some liquid weld to plug the hole in the oil pan just so I could hear it run, I filled it with oil and started it. Wow. It cranked for 20 seconds and spluttered into life and the valves sounded like someone rattleing nails in a can so I shut it straight down. Check engine light was on and it sounded like it was missfiring but it was hard to tell over the rattle etc so I shut it straight down.

[550]

You should buy him something like a Volvo first. Kids usually crash their first car. hehe

[benge100]

It's a bit late now to buy him a VOLVO !

What self respecting BMW driver would advise someone else to buy a volvo???

[550]

Couple of things here..

I don't drive a BMW. I do, however, envy an E30.

So think about what I said: let's dissect it.


"Kids usually crash their first car"

so...

"buy him a volvo" - So you don't ruin the BMW.

Think about it ;-)

[benge100]

He better not crash it !

He really is a great kid and deserves a nice car and I wouldn't buy him something if I thought he wouldn't respect it.

[550]

I know and I understand :) I will do the same for my kid if he or she deserves it haha.


Just statistically kids tend to crash their first car :-/ Not necessarily on purpose.

But it is gonna be a pimp ride ... I wish I had one when I was that age haha

[benge100]

please dont jinx it

hahaha

[benge100]

Can someone help me post pics by url (how to do it) I have alot of pics and want to post them better

[550]

You need a site to host them on try
photobucket.com

Upload them to that site, (They have a nice bulk uploader)

Then use the mass [img] generator for them as well.

Works awesome for posting a lot of pics :)

[87e30]

Upload them to photobucket or some site like flickr.

Then click this little image button on the post box. (It's got a picture of mountain and moon and it's yellowish.)

Copy and past the URL of the picture into the dialogue box that comes up and it should put IMG code around your URL and put it into your post. You get the direct link to the picture from photobucket or flickr or wherever you host them.

Yeah, or do what the guy above said and copy the IMG code directly from photobucket.

[benge100]

Cheers, I am gonna work it out to post the rest of these pics.

[RedHoodRidah]

Couple of things here..

I don't drive a BMW. I do, however, envy an E30.

So think about what I said: let's dissect it.


"Kids usually crash their first car"

so...

"buy him a volvo" - So you don't ruin the BMW.

Think about it ;-)

We have a WINNAR!!!

Clean vert for a first car.

[benge100]

So,

I started to rip into the car, the ugly seats came out, the rears are unusable so it needs a complete interior, which is gonna be hard to find. I took off the hood, grills, lights, bumpers fogs etc etc. I had already decided that the Diving board bumpers were not going to work so a plastic bumper swap must happen.

I got the car up on jackstands to see what it needed suspension wise. I started to make my list and quickly decided that it needed everything so I ordered.

Control arms
Wishbone bushes
wishbone brackets
shocks
springs
spring pads
shock mounts
sway bar bushes
sway bar links
Tie rods
boots
clips
fastners


All of this for the front AND the rears, I put the order into BMW (oem for this car) and turned my attention to the oil pan. I went to pick a part and pulled an oil pan got a gasket and started to strip the suspension down along with the steering rack, subframe etc to get to the oil pan, what a PITA this is without a lift.

The wheel arches were totally minging ! 21 years of crap and dirt under there. it needed a good clean as it was hard todo anything in there. I got my drill with the wire brush attachment on and cleaned the crap off there, then I primered them and repainted them. I am much happier with how they look now. It was a tough job as there was so much shit under there but well worth it, I didnt want to put all of these nice shiney parts bolted to messy arches.