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

[AWDBOB]

I've been chipping away at the 318i sedan to get it moved along to its next owner. Once I got it running/driving, the power steering rack decided to blow out its seals, so I swapped in a good used rack with new inner/outer tie rods. The cluster I put in also yeeted itself, so I had to put together another one, this time with working odometer gears!

I have done 100s of small things that are hard to remember at this point. Every time I drive the car, there is a new list, so I've just been making lists and checking off boxes.

Today I went on a 45min drive, and outside of feeling a bit floaty, seemed to drive well, held temp, good power, etc. M42 cars are pretty cool and unique- I was surprised.

If all goes according to plan, KI4UJO will be taking over responsibilities from this point, in partial exchange for a slicktop 318Ti Compact that I most definitely don't need.

He's going to button up the transmission issue, fix an oil leak, align the car, and ultimately turn it into his daily driver!

My goal is to have the 318i slicktop sedan, turbo 318iS, s50 early sedan, black 318i sedan (this car below), and an '89 coupe all gone before vintage, and have hooptie's head gasket repaired for the trip.

I can only drive one car at a time- the older I get, the more I crave simplicity.

I'll have more progress to report soon on OG hooptie, but will save that for another day.

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

[AWDBOB]

What did you cover the rust with? Is that POR-15?

Temporarily, farm and implement on the quarter panel, while I waited on my silver "Mastercoat" to arrive.

On rust prone areas lower on the car I use AutoGuard. Much better than Por15 in my experience, as is Mastercoat.

I've been looking for better shells that are all one color and free of poorly repaired body damage, but so far, no luck.

I sold a nice red bare shell, non roller a few months ago that would've been the perfect reshell candidate, but timing was not on my side.

[twright]

What did you cover the rust with? Is that POR-15?

[AWDBOB]

A sorry sight for sure, but just think of it as one of those sick, senior cats at the shelter. They were never long for this world, but at least you gave it love and let it frolick some more for the last couple years of it’s life.

yes indeed, one of those cats that has a few years left that you spend 6k on vet bills to keep alive, and then it shits on your keyboard and barfs on your phone when its life comes to an end

[Matt@EDC]

A sorry sight for sure, but just think of it as one of those sick, senior cats at the shelter. They were never long for this world, but at least you gave it love and let it frolick some more for the last couple years of it’s life.

[AWDBOB]

YESSS...moves under its own power is quite the achievement and the Tunes work...so half your problems can be solved with some volume adjustment...ha ha.

bahaha yes, if only I could tell a potential buyer that.

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Had a bit of a rough realization with the official hoopty. The car originally came from North Carolina and really didn't have much rust, which was why I was okay dumping so much time into the chassis. I only made one winter drive with it, which was when i went up to Jake's to manual swap it. I drive it a lot, but never in winter and barely in rain.

I've been over capacity for a little while by 3-4 cars, so while i finish up backlog so I can bring it in to do the head gasket, the car has been sitting outside, for 6mo or so.

I went out today to install the sound system and button the interior back up, and upon pulling the drivers side footwell speaker, realized that rust was spreading at a rapid rate on this thing. I got to grinding, and discovered the inner rocker letting go, the floor corner behind the fender was letting go, along with all of the terribly quarter panel and rocker repairs on the drivers side. It was really disheartening to see your car more or less evaporating, and was a hard realization that these cars aren't long for this world, and once the shells start to go, it's really tough to stop them.

The rockers were rotting through in multiple spots, as well as the quarter underneath the 1"+ of bondo, so it all had to come off. Now the rust is stopped, but the car looks so bad. I don't have the energy or time to put into another shell. I recently found and stopped rust starting in the passenger rear wheel well that wasn't there when i got the car, along with various spots all over the car. Such a shame that, while these cars are meant to be driven, they're more or less becoming one with the earth, at some rate.

The transmission that I resealed is leaking like crazy already, the power steering system that I totally redid already is puking fluid from various locations..... it's genuinely difficult to keep a shit box on the road, let alone a nice car.

Idk what this means for the future of the hoopties, but I am burnt out, and it's hard to enjoy stuff that, for every hour of driving, you have to put in that same time or more back in, in labor.

Inside the speaker cavity:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



Behind the fender:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



This whole vertical seam isn't looking very healthy:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



The rocker holes that appeared recently:


Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




Back of rocker:


Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




Back of rocker pulling away from floor:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



Alarming amount of bondo:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



Multiple rust holes all behind the bondo, where it was cracking, causing water ingress:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




Stopping the rust, but looks absolutely terrible:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




To top off the minty premium sound stuff I found for my audio repair/upgrade, I'll be installing it all with a lukbox, and saw that these went discontinued on Crutchfield again, so found some left over stock and made a forever head unit purchase:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[mjweimer]

YESSS...moves under its own power is quite the achievement and the Tunes work...so half your problems can be solved with some volume adjustment...ha ha.

[AWDBOB]

One of the OG hoopties has been the bane of my existence. A source of deep misery. The '91 318 sedan featured previously in the thread has fought me every step of the way. As the issues piled up, as did my time invested into the car, so I couldn't jump ship.

But today, I drove it. Likely the first time the car has been driven in at least 10 years. But it knew that its job wasnt done. The test drive, as most do, only revealed a host of other issues.

But it moves under it's own power!

Newly discovered issues:
-Bad dual mass flywheel, so I have to pull the trans again.
-HVAC blower motor is hitting something
-Power assist braking doesn't power assist
-Car won't idle
-Exhaust rubbing all the things

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

[AWDBOB]

Things are happening......two new cars appeared in the stable.

Rust free 318iS that needs some sorting

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




S50 swapped early sedan that is a ripper. I haven't had this much fun in an e30 in quite some time. Was never a 24v guy but this car has changed my mind....

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




And I did a rear end overhaul on hoopty, replaced all of the poly with rubber, swapped out S3.73 to my leakiest S2.93 for future things, and added a 14.5mm rear sway.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



Gonna put the car back on my beloved e38 style 5s from Linda, but the other two are in Michigan still.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




Jake's photo, but I bought an e28 goodies twin scroll manifold with t3 TS to t4 TS and a pulsar g30-660 turbo with a TS t4 exhaust housing. Have megasquirt, deka 60lb injectors, wideband, and am going to be running Jake's new M20 turbo kit for testing purposes.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

I see nothing wrong with bringing cosmetics back to a 10 and just enjoy the wear and tear... Mechanicals > Cosmetics

Is that MS2 or 1 in the box?

I agree in regards to mechanicals > cosmetics. Unfortunately with the price of bringing cosmetics to a 10, there isn’t a chance that my brain would enjoy driving the car as such, so the progression will likely be: mechanicals——> enjoy——>cosmetics——>Sunday driver.

It’s whatever he uses- I opened it up and it’s a micro squirt board atop another board. V1.4 of his stuff. It has wasted spark, which will be good for the fate of hoopty.

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

[moatilliatta]

I see nothing wrong with bringing cosmetics back to a 10 and just enjoy the wear and tear... Mechanicals > Cosmetics

Is that MS2 or 1 in the box?

[AWDBOB]

I think the real question here is whether you actually want to drive the M3. If yes, take the hooptie approach and enjoy! Then again, I always advocate for getting the car on the road end enjoying it over making it shiny.

I want to drive it! I've joked about spending all of my time and energy restoring the mechanicals and leaving the exterior as-is for a few years to really enjoy the car.


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I found a WhodWho Megasquirt unit set up for wasted spark and an LC2 wideband in a box at the warehouse and ordered head studs for hoopty..... it's a sign

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[KI4UJO]

I hope to restore the M3 to a high level of quality to get back to not just fixing shitboxes, but the temptation is there to treat the M3 the same way (mechanically strong, ignore cosmetics) until I have the coin/desire for some high end body work.

I think the real question here is whether you actually want to drive the M3. If yes, take the hooptie approach and enjoy! Then again, I always advocate for getting the car on the road end enjoying it over making it shiny.

[AWDBOB]

1(800)Hooptie

I'm loving the progress and lust the time to do the same.

You do a mighty fine job at executing detailed work at a high level. The E30 world needs you. I'm not sure the E30 world needs me to save hoopties, but maybe some day in 15 years there will be a couple extra cars on the road that didn't get parted.

I hope to restore the M3 to a high level of quality to get back to not just fixing shitboxes, but the temptation is there to treat the M3 the same way (mechanically strong, ignore cosmetics) until I have the coin/desire for some high end body work.

I think a hooptie is a good addition for most people, vs a second car that is also nice. Jake has plenty of nice stuff, but the hooptie excitement is something very unique to this flavor of endeavor. An itch that isn't quite scratched by nice paint and mint tail lights.

[moatilliatta]

1(800)Hooptie

I'm loving the progress and lust the time to do the same.