Bless the 'net. Stumbled across the site some time ago and just decide to go live with my first post being about my project as I really have a positive impression of this site. I hope i posted this in the right place.
I have an old E30 i bought last year in September. I just always liked the model and jumped at the chance when a friend called me and told me he had a fast E30 on his hands. The engine was loosely based on a 2.7 block with 2.5 top on, with a different chip, cam and so forth. But as usual, I wanted more. It started out with just wanting a paint job. This is where problem #1 turned up. In the winters in Denmark, we toss tons and tons of rust inducing salt on the roads as soon as the temperature nears 0 degrees C. Thats not good for a 20+ year old car.
When i dropped the car off at the original BMW dealership, they actually started laughing, because i had some rust holes some pretty funny places under the car. The short version of it, was that I said "fix it". Well. One thing took another and we ended up doing the whole schmadoogle. They stripped the car down to the bare chassis, sandblasted it, did the rust, straightened up the chassis, aligned it, galvanised it, realigned it and sent it to the painter which I had found. This is where it gets complicated:
Somebody turned up with a picture of an M3 CSL. Damn them, whoever they be, because we thought we might as well chuck the sunroof, because it was top heavy and made the chassis flex under load. And furthermore, again while we were at it, why not make it out of carbon? And the hood too? At the same time, the wheel arches were expanded to make place for the A/C Schnitzers i had found on Ebay. Alot of discussion had gone into what to do with the engine. I had emphasized that I wanted a very good sound from the car as I have experienced this to be one huge factor in my Porsches driving experience. We therefore contacted Dbilas in Germany to build a complete set for us. By now things had totally snowballed.
The car, which was supposed to be done in 3 weeks, had taken 6 months. At the time of writing (9 months on) the car is still not done. The mechanicals are almost finished and it's soon off to get its new cabin. I hope you won't flame me too much as I really have poured my heart and soul into this car, trying to make it into a unique one-off. I have added pictures below for you all to follow. Everybody is welcome to comment!
Here's the workshop list from February this year:
Front Axle:
Replacing rubber mounts and control arms
Removing and installing both complete front spring struts
Tie Rods:
Replacing tie rods
Rear Axle:
Replacing trailing arms, rubber mounts
Replacing shock absorbers
Electronic wheel alignment work after changing parts of front and rear axle
Interior:
removing and installing seats and panels
Replacing dashboard with new
Replacing windows with tinted windows all round
Installment leather cabin complete
Brakes:
Installment new brake hoses, disks, calipers and mounts - high performance units
Harness:
Replacing seatbelts
Body Equipment:
Replacing lights, frames, bumpers
Xenon for near/far lights
Sandblasting carshell
Bathing carshell in anticorrosion
Electronic alignment of bodyshell
Paint body + 7 extra layers of clearcoat
Carbon hood + roof
Transmission:
Removing and installing transmission
Sealing fron section of transmission case (transmission removed)
Sealing rear section of transmission case (transmission removed)
Installing new clutch (transmission removed)
Engine:
Removing and installing engine
Replacing cylinder head gaskets (engine removed)
Sealing oil pan (engine removed)
Replacing crankshaft oil seal
Replacing tensioning roller and timing belt
Adjusting valve clearance
Replacement pistons with high performance units
Instalment Dbilas
Electric systems:
Installment of complete new electric wiring
Stereo:
Installment of unit, 2 tweakers, 2 door speakers and 2 rear speakers
Exhaust:
Handbuilt exhaust system with Scorpion end system + A/C Schnitzer manifold
This is what it looked like last September before I sent it off:
Taking the car apart at the dealership:
Even more. And then the sanblasting bit:
A very worried mechanic:
New wheels i just got home before painting.
Painted:
A corner of the carbon roof:
A picture taken straight into the door. The red bucket is reflected in the clearcoat eventhough the lighting is very bad. It gives an idea about the quality of the job
Painted rims:
The hood. I know that many of you don't like carbon things and bits sticking off the car, but I think it's nice:
First look at the engine:
Shiny bit:
Assembly has begun:
Undercarriage:
Engine needs a good cleaning before it gets put in. I think it's beautiful. But then again, I am not very objective about that:
Mounting of the engine:
Slight problem here. Missing space for the ventilation.
And no, there is not coming another streamer in the front window.
It should be running under it's own power within the next 10 working days. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I hope I have not broken any forum rules and I will be received nicely as i have spent immeasurable amounts of time on this car. Thanks
I have an old E30 i bought last year in September. I just always liked the model and jumped at the chance when a friend called me and told me he had a fast E30 on his hands. The engine was loosely based on a 2.7 block with 2.5 top on, with a different chip, cam and so forth. But as usual, I wanted more. It started out with just wanting a paint job. This is where problem #1 turned up. In the winters in Denmark, we toss tons and tons of rust inducing salt on the roads as soon as the temperature nears 0 degrees C. Thats not good for a 20+ year old car.
When i dropped the car off at the original BMW dealership, they actually started laughing, because i had some rust holes some pretty funny places under the car. The short version of it, was that I said "fix it". Well. One thing took another and we ended up doing the whole schmadoogle. They stripped the car down to the bare chassis, sandblasted it, did the rust, straightened up the chassis, aligned it, galvanised it, realigned it and sent it to the painter which I had found. This is where it gets complicated:
Somebody turned up with a picture of an M3 CSL. Damn them, whoever they be, because we thought we might as well chuck the sunroof, because it was top heavy and made the chassis flex under load. And furthermore, again while we were at it, why not make it out of carbon? And the hood too? At the same time, the wheel arches were expanded to make place for the A/C Schnitzers i had found on Ebay. Alot of discussion had gone into what to do with the engine. I had emphasized that I wanted a very good sound from the car as I have experienced this to be one huge factor in my Porsches driving experience. We therefore contacted Dbilas in Germany to build a complete set for us. By now things had totally snowballed.
The car, which was supposed to be done in 3 weeks, had taken 6 months. At the time of writing (9 months on) the car is still not done. The mechanicals are almost finished and it's soon off to get its new cabin. I hope you won't flame me too much as I really have poured my heart and soul into this car, trying to make it into a unique one-off. I have added pictures below for you all to follow. Everybody is welcome to comment!
Here's the workshop list from February this year:
Front Axle:
Replacing rubber mounts and control arms
Removing and installing both complete front spring struts
Tie Rods:
Replacing tie rods
Rear Axle:
Replacing trailing arms, rubber mounts
Replacing shock absorbers
Electronic wheel alignment work after changing parts of front and rear axle
Interior:
removing and installing seats and panels
Replacing dashboard with new
Replacing windows with tinted windows all round
Installment leather cabin complete
Brakes:
Installment new brake hoses, disks, calipers and mounts - high performance units
Harness:
Replacing seatbelts
Body Equipment:
Replacing lights, frames, bumpers
Xenon for near/far lights
Sandblasting carshell
Bathing carshell in anticorrosion
Electronic alignment of bodyshell
Paint body + 7 extra layers of clearcoat
Carbon hood + roof
Transmission:
Removing and installing transmission
Sealing fron section of transmission case (transmission removed)
Sealing rear section of transmission case (transmission removed)
Installing new clutch (transmission removed)
Engine:
Removing and installing engine
Replacing cylinder head gaskets (engine removed)
Sealing oil pan (engine removed)
Replacing crankshaft oil seal
Replacing tensioning roller and timing belt
Adjusting valve clearance
Replacement pistons with high performance units
Instalment Dbilas
Electric systems:
Installment of complete new electric wiring
Stereo:
Installment of unit, 2 tweakers, 2 door speakers and 2 rear speakers
Exhaust:
Handbuilt exhaust system with Scorpion end system + A/C Schnitzer manifold
This is what it looked like last September before I sent it off:
Taking the car apart at the dealership:
Even more. And then the sanblasting bit:
A very worried mechanic:
New wheels i just got home before painting.
Painted:
A corner of the carbon roof:
A picture taken straight into the door. The red bucket is reflected in the clearcoat eventhough the lighting is very bad. It gives an idea about the quality of the job
Painted rims:
The hood. I know that many of you don't like carbon things and bits sticking off the car, but I think it's nice:
First look at the engine:
Shiny bit:
Assembly has begun:
Undercarriage:
Engine needs a good cleaning before it gets put in. I think it's beautiful. But then again, I am not very objective about that:
Mounting of the engine:
Slight problem here. Missing space for the ventilation.
And no, there is not coming another streamer in the front window.
It should be running under it's own power within the next 10 working days. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I hope I have not broken any forum rules and I will be received nicely as i have spent immeasurable amounts of time on this car. Thanks
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