1989 325i 24V Sedan Refurbishment

[89_325i]

A good set of uprights is now on its way to me from California. I'll strip these and stick them on the shelf in case I ever want to make coilovers.

Got my MIG set up for gas and .030" wire, since I have all my chassis reinforcements and whatnot now. Going to get some good practice in first but early results with the MIG are good. (For the welding experts, I fixed the polarity on the MIG after I took the pic)

I'm doing all the chassis reinforcements I can because the roads here are awful, and I do intend to run aftermarket sway bars. I will also autoX from time to time. I figure do them all now while the car's apart.

[89_325i]

So now I find this crap. One rusted so bad I'm not sure if it's usable. The other is WELDED in. Anyone have a set of good uprights to sell me?

[89_325i]

I've since been convinced to not dip, hence continuing work on the rotisserie. I'll fix up the underside and do my best with it. This car will always have a heated garage to live in for the rest of its days so I'm not overly concerned about future rot once I'm done.

[moatilliatta]

I've seen a few cars re rust up due to being dipped or blasted and not getting proper primer back on, and dependent on climate it doesn't take long to flash rust.

Id only do it if you could find a place that would dip a chassis then dunk it right into primer / solvent to make literally like new.

Nothing like some rust dust in the coffee. Plenty of Iron intake in this thread!

Keep us posted!

[89_325i]

Got some work done on the spit over the weekend. Last night I welded the shaft into the c channel. Now gotta get the other one finished as well. Going to have a think about some bracing too.

[89_325i]

Thanks for the offer! I got a quote on it, but the Brits over on e30zone have talked me out of dipping. I've seen enough project threads where people have done a good job with undercoating removal in key areas.

They raised some great points, there is decent rust protection and whatnot on and inside the bottom of the car. Removing all of this from the steel may in fact do more harm than good, unless everything is opened up and coated again.

The fact that the dippers in toronto can't dip the car in e-coat or whatever made my decision for me. There would be too many uncoated surfaces, seams, etc.

I will be very cautious and I will have a rotisserie, so I think I can do a good job.

[Northern]

Well if you end up driving it down yourself and decide to break the drive up into a few days, you could crash here in Halifax assuming all the COVID stuff is over with.

Outside of dipping, the easiest way to remove the seam sealer seems to be knotted wire wheels and a rotisserie.

[89_325i]

For reference, my drive to the nearest dipper in Canada. To be clear, I'm checking on it. Might have to add a year to the project to account for the extra expense.

[89_325i]

Haha, I live on Newfoundland. Likely the nearest place is in Quebec, couple days away including a 14 hour ferry ride.

[Matt@EDC]

Unfortunately I don't live anywhere moderately close to something like that. If I did I would gladly pay the 2k.

I would drive a good few hours to get it done properly 🤷♂️ If you’re willing to spend the money to get it done properly, do whatever it takes to get it there.

[89_325i]

Unfortunately I don't live anywhere moderately close to something like that. If I did I would gladly pay the 2k.

[Matt@EDC]

Ideal situation is being able to find a place that can acid dip and coat the shell. This will remove all rust in every crevice, all the undercoat and seam sealer. The issue is flash rust in all the same places fairly soon after! Therefore I would use a place that will dip in a primer or similar straight afterwards.

While this isn’t cheap (I was quoted $2k just to acid dip a shell, doors, hood & trunk) you’re absolutely guaranteed a clean sheet of... steel. If you want to kill all the rust and redo all the seam sealer & respray, it’s a lot of hours manually stripping not to know it’s all gone.

[89_325i]

Taking opinions here while i have time to make up my mind. I have a lot of work to do to this shell, no doubt. One of the things I've been considering is completely stripping the shell to near bare metal, including popping off the sunroof cassette so I can get at the join between it and the roof skin.

I have a couple reasons for this:

• I've seen the "rust spider" in burkey001's thread. This shit will keep me up at night if I think it could be lurking.
• I have quite a bit of work to do on the underside, I'm going to replace the front floors wholesale just to get back to good metal.
• The factory undercoating is very old. Can it withstand another 30 years?
• The sunroof cassette and the roof skin has rust where the two meet. How long before it penetrates the roof, even if I prep it as best I can?
• This is be a lifelong car, the repair work should last 40 years. It will be in a heated garage for the rest of its life, and not driven at all from Nov-April. That said, if its outside at all it will get salt spray and water hitting it often.

Basically looking for your experience here.

• How hard is the stock undercoating to remove? Tips and tricks?
• Has anybody seen rust under "good" undercoating?

If I bite the bullet and do this, I will take the bottom of the car to bare steel after the rust is fixed, prime, and coat with Raptor coating, up to the line on the rocker. Great thing about this stuff is it takes colour well, so the colour will go down to the bottom of the rocker. Then the car proper will be seam sealed and professionally painted inside and out. Then all the cavities will be waxed with whatever I think is best at the time, and plugged properly.

[89_325i]

I always get nervous when cars get torn down like this. Wishing you the best of luck in putting it all back together!

I'm sure a lot never go back together. I might take a good long while, but it'll definitely be back on the road at some point.

My brain wont accept anything less than this. And now that its all apart I'm even more sure.

Got a welding receptacle today to replace the one I ripped out to put in the house for the brewery. Should be able to start welding up the rotisserie in a week or two.

[2mAn]

I always get nervous when cars get torn down like this. Wishing you the best of luck in putting it all back together!