The complete repair, rebuild, repaint, and v8 swap of my early model sedan

[OoPEZoO]

Any luck getting that block welded up yet?

Thats a shitty thing to find at this point in the project. Does it seem to be just a surface crack, or is it cracked clear through to the internal passageways in the block?

[JGood]

Nope. It's just the loop of metal for the starter, it's completely external. Just needs a tiny little bead of weld, that's the kicker. The trans would probably hold everything together just fine, I just don't want to take the chance.

I'm in Florida this week, when I get back I'll be focusing 100% of my time on getting painted by the end of the month.

[OoPEZoO]

I'd fix it too. The last thing you need is to crank the starter some cold morning next winter and listen to the sound of it stripping teeth and doing more damage. Enjoy the vacation

[Garageaholic]

If you mig weld with gas (which i know you do), you could get a different gas and aluminum wire and mig weld it up yourself. It might be the most convenient and cheapest option.

[Jean]

Nothing new really. I've spent the past week or two trying to find someone to weld my block for me. I found a crack right near the starter. I've just about exhausted all my options for someone coming to my garage with a TIG welder to weld it up for me. Tried finding a welder to rent, or a shop with a somewhat portable welder that I could pay to come do the work, etc... Next step is to disassemble the engine and haul it off to a shop to have them weld it. It's one thing after another with this project.





Got the coilovers installed. I originally planned to shorten the struts and run 325ix shocks. So I went and bought some used 325ix Bilstein HD's on this forum. Of course, they showed up completely blown and unusable. At this point I'm already in the hole too far to keep buying shit, so I just reassembled the struts with my normal length Bilstein's. I'll probably be riding on the bump stops, oh well.

Dude, mine is welded there as well lol.

[JGood]

Frank, it's pretty thick, and cast. It should be TIG'd. I'd need a spool gun for MIG at the least.

Jean, was it like that when you got it, or did you do it? I think I'll bevel the edges a bit to get more filling.

The other side is broken clear off, so I need to have a plate welded in to prevent debris from getting into the bellhousing.

[bmwmech1]

Frank, it's pretty thick, and cast. It should be TIG'd. I'd need a spool gun for MIG at the least.

Jean, was it like that when you got it, or did you do it? I think I'll bevel the edges a bit to get more filling.

The other side is broken clear off, so I need to have a plate welded in to prevent debris from getting into the bellhousing.

Justin, what's your timeframe for getting the motor in the car? I'm still pushing to get done enough to go to G'fest, but after the 20th, I can bring the TIG down and we'll see what we can make happen. LMK...

Garey

[JGood]

Justin, what's your timeframe for getting the motor in the car? I'm still pushing to get done enough to go to G'fest, but after the 20th, I can bring the TIG down and we'll see what we can make happen. LMK...

Garey

The engine won't be going in the car until well after the 20th, so if you get some free time after that, that would be great. In all honesty, I'll be surprised if I'm ready to install it by the end of June. Just trying to get things taken care of as quickly as possible to make Bimmerfest.

Is anyone going with you to gfest? I have a spoiler for Levent that I need to take to him, was considering taking the track car there.

[StereoInstaller1]

Wow...this has got to be the stupidest, most retarded, financially irresponsible project thread in all R3V history.

Damned impressive! You are a good man to rebuild this car that has done so well for you. I think it is safe to say that all of R3V is proud of you.

1. Keep it up, you are helping LOTS of other people have the nerve to dive in themselves, get way in over their heads and yet, continue to persevere.

2. Your car will eventually be driven by your grandkids and you will have pics and a story of how "that old car" got put back together.

Good luck on it, bud. Hope it all comes out the way you want...and don't forget to use seam sealant on everything!

Luke

[JGood]

LOL, thanks Luke!

I have to thank r3v in return, for the great people I've met, the massive amount of info available, and the generosity from everyone.

[JGood]

If all goes as planned, the car will be fully prepped by this coming weekend and I can start building the paint booth.

There's just a bit more sanding to be done, then the car needs cleaned. I need to do a bit of fiberglass work on the rear bumper, otherwise all of the actual body repair is finished.








I'm building a 20'L x 12'W x 8'H booth, using 2x4's. It will be wrapped in 2 and 3 mil plastic sheeting. I'll build in a couple fans and filters. It's pretty basic, and I'm sure it won't be perfect for painting a car, but I'm not building a show car.

[JGood]

Oh yeah, I also picked up a new set of 325ix Bilstein HD's, since tirerack.com had them on sale. I'll wait until after the engine and other heavy things are on the chassis before I go hacking up my strut housings. I think with the 20mm subframe spacers, I'll probably end up cutting the housings about 2". I want the adjusters on the coilover sleeves to be about half way when my ride height is where I want it for daily driving, that way I can go up an inch or down an inch.

[JGood]

Got the paint booth framed out. Still need to figure out fan and filter mounting and hang the plastic sheeting. Using 3 mil for top and bottom and 2 mil for the sides.




Car is fully cleaned and prepped for paint. Just need to tape it off and do a final wipe down when its in the booth.

It's currently a BMW 300i LTW :)

[Garageaholic]

Wow. Great job! So I wont ask about color, because I know you wont divulge. But what's your planned complete date for the entire project?

[JGood]

I don't have a planned completion date, other then ASAP. I've been doing nothing but working on the car every night. It needs to be driving reliably by August 25th so I can go to Bimmerfest East. Sounds far away, but I still have to build the car from scratch after it's painted, outside of my 11 hour work days. I think I have most of the m60 swap stuff figured out and built/modified, but it will still be more challenging then reassembling an m20 e30.

I'm looking forward to the V8 e30 group cruise to Bimmerfest man!