My Hoopte30 Project Attempt #6 - the painless way to earn cash back every day

[AWDBOB]

R3V-

I want to drive a beater e30 daily so bad it hurts, and I also need a test car for the parts bizz that I don't feel bad about leaving in regular states of disarray.

Attempt 1. - got an '89 iX from Ohio and it was a total rust bucket disguised by seam sealer and undercoat
Attempt 2. - got a manual '89 iS from southern Indiana through my good buddy mr Matt - sold it because I bought a 3 story pile of e30 parts
Attempt 3. - got an auto '89 iS from a guy I did work for. Seemed promising, but the more I tore into it, the more rust I found.

This brings us to Attempt 4., which seems like 'the one'. My buddy Ben knew I was on the hunt and told me that Reggie had a late 318 no title parts car that he wanted to get rid of. I went to look at it and the car was solid- paint wasn't terrible, body was solid, etc, and he ended up having a clean title for it!

Excited, I brought it home to get it running. Upon further inspection I saw that someone along the way before he had it chopped the chassis harness behind the fuse box, which really heightened the scope of the repairs which is par for the course, and made me quite sad.

Engine turns over by hand and feels normal. Clutch pedal is dead. I am ultimately trying to find/follow a pattern of why it was turned into a parts car in the first place so I can better gauge what it'll need.

Car has Vogtland springs which feel like trash - way too soft/low by what I can tell so far. The car has poorly rolled fenders as well.

Overall the body is solid, and once it has a good chassis harness, I think it'l be a winner.

I am making this thread for both motivation and accountability. Help me stay on track R3V, and motivate me to pull this chassis harness.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Oh yeah! M42 goodness! I like where this is going...

Is it a slicktop sedan to boot? Hard to tell from the photos.

My car came with Stagg suspension, which I believe uses Vogtland springs. I can confirm that these E30 springs are way too soft, and pretty low as well. Switching over to H&R OE sport springs, Bilsteins, and adding a slightly thicker rear spring pad to level the ride height (compensates for the M42 engine being lighter than the M20) makes a world of difference.

Sub'd!

[amcp]

SWEET FIND. Sucks about the harness though. Hopefully no rust bs to uncover.

[roguetoaster]

Very nice.

[moatilliatta]

Trans tunnel to floor rust?

Pull carpet asap?

Did they remove the harness or just cut it?

[AWDBOB]

Oh yeah! M42 goodness! I like where this is going...

Is it a slicktop sedan to boot? Hard to tell from the photos.

My car came with Stagg suspension, which I believe uses Vogtland springs. I can confirm that these E30 springs are way too soft, and pretty low as well. Switching over to H&R OE sport springs, Bilsteins, and adding a slightly thicker rear spring pad to level the ride height (compensates for the M42 engine being lighter than the M20) makes a world of difference.

Sub'd!

Sadly, she's not a slicktop, but this will be my first M42 car and so far I am quite pleased! It seems like it has bits all over that are lighter- I am excited to explore the weight/balance/dynamic aspect of an M42 car!

In the name of one thing at a time, the goal is to get the chassis harness done, get it running, and then afterwards assess other areas like suspension/brakes/etc. I will look into the OE sports!

SWEET FIND. Sucks about the harness though. Hopefully no rust bs to uncover.

Thanks!! Yeah the harness is a huge bummer. A chassis harness is a pretty cumbersome and large job, so my goal is to nip it in the bud ASAP so I can put it behind me.

Very nice.

Thanks- my first DS car as well, and the color in person is quite appealing.

Trans tunnel to floor rust?

Pull carpet asap?

Did they remove the harness or just cut it?

They cut the harness behind the fuse box like a ham fisted ape. It's pic #7 in the OP.

No trans tunnel or floor rust!!



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I wanted to get this chassis harness project completed as to not let it simmer, so tonight I pulled the dash, carpet, interior trims, etc etc to assess the rust and start the chassis harness removal. I'm picking up another '91 318 chassis harness tomorrow on lunch, and am going to get back at it to see if I can't get this finished up tomorrow.

I am, however, looking for a better dash to put back in the car, as this current one has seen better days.

Oh, and LOOK AT THESE FLOORS!! I certainly feel blessed to have found this car, despite the circumstances with the harness.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr





Starting to get a picture of why the harness was cut. This fusible link repair is scary. Oh, and I found the ultimate duo: a grinder under the seat paired with the clear eyes in the front ash tray.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




A little bit of surface rust around the accelerator pedal bracket, but outside of that these floors are in incredible shape. I am quite pleased.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr





More to come over the weekend when I get this new chassis harness in the car!

[gnmzl]

The floors seem to be in really good shape, congrats on the purchase. Swapping out a chassis harness and/or an engine is a small price to pay for a decent chassis IMHO.
As a fellow beater e30 enthusiast, hope you have it road worthy and no time so you can enjoy many many miles with it.

[mjweimer]

Hot damn - that is a solid chassis. Totally worth the wiring repair to get a build platform this clean. I need to come up and have a look at this thing sometime soon.

[CompleteCustoms]

That looks solid, looks like you finally have a winner! If you find a different dash will you set that one aside for me? As a part of my project I'm going to experiment with recovering the dash and it may take me a few attempts to get something decent.

[AWDBOB]

The floors seem to be in really good shape, congrats on the purchase. Swapping out a chassis harness and/or an engine is a small price to pay for a decent chassis IMHO.
As a fellow beater e30 enthusiast, hope you have it road worthy and no time so you can enjoy many many miles with it.

Thank you- I am was thrilled to see what it looked like under the carpet! It's certainly motivating to know you're not working on a turd.

Hot damn - that is a solid chassis. Totally worth the wiring repair to get a build platform this clean. I need to come up and have a look at this thing sometime soon.

Completely agreed- the car was definitely a blessing. Once the harness is behind me, I think it's going to be all smiles. You should come up soon, I need help

We could also do a linda test drive

That looks solid, looks like you finally have a winner! If you find a different dash will you set that one aside for me? As a part of my project I'm going to experiment with recovering the dash and it may take me a few attempts to get something decent.

I think I do, too! And that dash is yours- I need the vents out of it for the new unit, but the rest of it is free to you.


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I didn't get any wrenching in today because I went on a parts hunt in Indy, and per usual came back with way more shite than needed.

The good is that I got a great deal on a minty dash that someone pulled out of a car they wrecked years ago and hid in their father's garage, until today!

I also ended up with Z3 racks for days, a powdercoated subframe, a '90 318 chassis harness, and a ton of other goodies.

The new dash is non-airbag, so if you're reading this and have a half decent non-airbag under dash panel, I'd love to buy it from you.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[mjweimer]

Seriously that is a score...but be careful a powdercoated subframe is the gateway to more shiny parts...ha ha....

[AWDBOB]

Seriously that is a score...but be careful a powdercoated subframe is the gateway to more shiny parts...ha ha....

I thought the same thing as I loaded it up and started thinking about powdercoating spare trailing arms and thinking about what medium case diff i'd swap into it and quickly shut that down

My initial justification was trade value. I'm trying to turn my paperclip into a house.

I scored a minty black vinyl sport seat bottom and partial upper today on FB for $50 that'll go well with my other spare ratty black vinyl sport seat and free black vinyl rear seat. Trying to keep things efficient while taking advantage of deals when they arise.

[ethirtydavid]

woah, what's with all the z3 steering racks? the same person with the dash was hoarding these?

(car looks nice, seems like a good project..)

[AWDBOB]

woah, what's with all the z3 steering racks? the same person with the dash was hoarding these?

(car looks nice, seems like a good project..)

Nope- it was another result of the Zionsville connection. He isn’t going to be doing his steering rack conversions after they downsize, so I was able to buy what he had in stock. There are two Z3M/E36M racks in there (Progressive, 3.2T l2l), so only 5 are the 031/611 linear 2.7T l2l pieces.

And thanks! I got busy the rest of the weekend, but *hope* to have this chassis harness completed by the end of next weekend.

[AWDBOB]

Took a half day at work and got the harness fully removed and cleaned tidied up a bit.

Things to note:

-Chassis harness OUT and mapped out
-Drivers rear impact of some sort repaired in the past. I need to grind, coat, and re seam seal. Repair looks well done.
-Random spot of rust on the passenger floor pan I missed. Grind and seam seal is the solution.
-License plate lights free of rust

I have a squid chip/19# injectors coming, along with some really cool oil additive he has been working on, called Squid Ink. He has a pretty cool Wiki page with a ton of details about oil analysis. Check it out: https://oil.sssquid.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

I'm about ready to place my first order for parts. Mostly cheap housekeeping stuff, thankfully.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr