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

[AWDBOB]

That chassis definitely should be spec e30 compatible, provided you drop in an m20. Then again, you could buy all of my m42 stuff that came back from the machine shop a few months ago.....

I kept seeing mixed reviews on whether or not pre '87 cars are allowed. Turns out, they are! It's wired for an M42 which *should* mean its one ABS wire away from accommodating an M20. It is likely but a pipe dream, though, with everything else I have going on. The car has a nice GC setup on it that I am going to "borrow" for Hoopte.

[KI4UJO]

That chassis definitely should be spec e30 compatible, provided you drop in an m20. Then again, you could buy all of my m42 stuff that came back from the machine shop a few months ago.....

[AWDBOB]

Did you have to pay extra for the blue tape?

He did a decent job sealing the car up for the trailer ride over- ‘twas a nice gesture to help keep yesterdays sleet out of some freshly epoxied rust repair.

[twright]

Did you have to pay extra for the blue tape?

[AWDBOB]

Looking forward to seeing hooptie #4 running!

Hoopte #4 still inop :(

Dropping in to share my latest bad decision.... an '84 318 DE car, set up for an m42. Originally sold by Zionsville many moons ago, and is back in Indiana now after spending most of its life in Ohio.

It's set up pretty well re: suspension and whatnot. Got a nice set of GCs, several chassis mods. He blew the motor and tore the car down for various repairs and that's where we're at now!

The trick is going to be beating the cold in getting things together.

This car screams spec e30 to me, but as far as I know, pre-87 cars arent allowed?

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[Codym42]

Looking forward to seeing hooptie #4 running!

[AWDBOB]

Hoopte #4 getting saved!

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

In order for it to be proper hooptie status you cant clean this up too much... missing sidemarker, wavy spoiler, etc must all remain

That's the plan! Anything that requires paint/bodywork is to stay exactly as-is to preserve hooptie status.

Can I bend the antenna a bit for him?

noooooo back off of my working hirschmann!

[Matt@EDC]

In order for it to be proper hooptie status you cant clean this up too much... missing sidemarker, wavy spoiler, etc must all remain

Can I bend the antenna a bit for him?

[2mAn]

In order for it to be proper hooptie status you cant clean this up too much... missing sidemarker, wavy spoiler, etc must all remain

[AWDBOB]

Hoopte's new shoes are on! So happy with how they turned out. Went with a 225/50 Kumho Ecsta on the Ronals- the 225s fill out the 7.5" wheel nicely.

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

[AWDBOB]

DForces… fancy interior… sport HooptE! You’ll be engine swapping it next! (I will stage an intervention if you actually start talking about engine swapping this thing).

Looking fantastic mate. Just keep tidying it up and smashing miles on it.

Thanks, man! Sport hoopte indeed- Hali has enjoyed the transformation as it went from biohazard, no speedo, no seatbelts, no radio, destroyed interior, to a bit more of a comfortable, functional cockpit.

I'm not sure you can call it Hooptie anymore.

Maybe if you did a paint job with a brush or roller you could.

Meh, hoopty to me is how I perceive and enjoy the car. A car that works, is left outside, and can be enjoyed any given day without any thought/fear/worry.

Hali and I have put more miles on this car in 2wks than I have in 5yrs owning Linda.

When there is a need, I will meet the need, while attempting to leave behind the "wants" unless justified by a need (see: wheels/tires).

If something isn't going to add to overall enjoyment, it will likely be left alone. Radio, good tires, safe suspension, nice seats, etc are all things that add quite a bit to the enjoyment without detracting from overall goal of hoopty-ness.

Also, there is a half inch of bondo on the drivers side of the car that is now cracking........ she's like a hatching hoopty egg that is about to make herself fully known to the outside world.

[twright]

I'm not sure you can call it Hooptie anymore.

Maybe if you did a paint job with a brush or roller you could.

[Matt@EDC]

DForces… fancy interior… sport HooptE! You’ll be engine swapping it next! (I will stage an intervention if you actually start talking about engine swapping this thing).

Looking fantastic mate. Just keep tidying it up and smashing miles on it.

[AWDBOB]

Made some solid hoopte progress.

I pulled the car apart this week to replace the seatbelts and found some not great things, but managed to reel it in and ended up with a solid result without the project spiraling.

I removed various interior components to replace the seatbelts and found another mouse nest under the parcel shelf, rust in the rear floor plugs, and the bare backside of various welds from where someone pulled dents out at some point.

I then got bothered to the carpets I previously ignored, and started to get stressed out about the whole equation.

Did some carpet cleaning with Mr. Clean APC and a drill attachment... not perfect but so much less biohazard. Hard to see, but there were just nasty, deep stains everywhere.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr






Repeat on both sides, and she good. Cleaned the back piece and put some sound deadening on resonating panels.

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






Sadness

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







BUT WE PREVAILED. I had some perfect rear floor drains in a parts car that got carefully removed. With some jacking/adjusting/massaging of the rear pans, we got the rear floors straight and the new drains were a perfect fit. Sloppy POR15 over anything that looked rusty + seam sealer on the drains and we're back in business.

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







I then noticed the drivers side door brake was pulled through the door, and also snapped in half inside the door. This was remedied by some work on the metal, a new door brake, and an appropriate sized washer to keep things fro pulling through the door again.

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





The entire central locking system on hoopte was destroyed/removed/hacked, but I need the car to lock properly, so I pulled two door tumblers and a trunk tumbler off of a nicer parts car (hoopte #2 IIRC, the iX), as well as the three associated actuators, and we have fully functioning central locking! I tried every trick in the book but could not get the ignition tumbler removed, so I have two keys for now, but having fully working central locking is worth it. Along the way I noticed my drivers side mirror plug was jacked, so I repinned it in a new plug.

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





It was finally time to reassemble the interior, and with the gray interior needing help, and with my convenient access to a warehouse of E30 parts........ you can see where this is going.

I had a pretty nice black leather sport interior on the shelf that I put in the car. I bought a drivers side upper bolster replacement that I had to put on, was my first time doing so. Didn't turn out incredible, but also wasn't terrible. The door panels and rear seats I used were "b" stock that had issues so I didn't feel too bad pulling them from stock to use on the car.

I also had a black premium sound shelf/speakers I threw on to complete the look. This car is coming along!

Once I throw the Italvolanti in here, it's going to feel like home.

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