E30 Touring resto - Pic heavy

[ZiperiS]

Loving it! Keep up the work.

[Jozi]

Small update, didn't get as much done as I wanted to over the weekend. Ran out of paint and my handbrake cable doesn't fit :

Had the diff soaking in deox c for the past week with a little aquarium pump and heater. Came out nearly spotless with next to no rust


Few little spots like this left but painted it up anyway




Ran out of paint so only one coat, will do another coat next weekend and should be fine. Also got new bolts, yellow passivated them so they are pretty. Just need some washer and zinc the speed sensor plate and it can all go back together.

Also got the diff cover cleaned up and painted



Anyone know the correct orientation for the bush?

[Jozi]

For the past few weeks I've been prepping the arches for some undersealing and finally last weekend and this weekend I got it done. I had 4L of bilthamber dynax ub lying around dying to be used so, purists look away because this won't be to your liking






And up close


It's a slightly tacky finish, stuff will probably stick to it but I had my reasons for using it and there's no way it's gonna rust under there!

Also, got a few more parts plated, few bolts were new and re-plated and the rest was cleaned up, de-rusted and replated


The diff is in a big tub de-rusting, my attempt at eletrolysis didn't really work, think I used the wrong powder and I couldnt find the right stuff at the time so I've put a load of bilthamber dynax powder in the tub, a little water pump and a aquarium heater to help the process along.

I've a few more parts to plate but I think I might have enough done to start putting subframe's back on the car next weekend :dance:

Anyone know how to remove the top mount bolts from bc coilovers? The look pressed in. They have gone a little grubby and I want to plate them like the nuts on them

[Jozi]

Just a small update

Got a start made on rebuilding the trailing arms, new kunifer brake lines, stainless brake nuts and stainless goodridge braided hoses



Tools used


One finished brake line


And one trailing arm


I have to zinc a few of the bolts that are used on the parking brake and get some new pads before I can finish the brakes of. Discs also need a bit of de-rusting and if my kit can manage I'll zinc plate them also.

[Jozi]

I've mostly been tidying up small bits here and there before I refit the subframes again. Plan is to also use Bilthmaber underseal in the arches and possibly a few other places under the car, it's a nasty looking black coating though.

I've only so far fitted the front subframe and rack and the rear end can be bolted up once I have brake lines made and do up the clamps on the new cv boots.




Anyone with BC Coils notice the rear rubber above the top mount perishing? I've had them maybe 2 years and 0 miles and the rubber is full of cracks.

[Jozi]

Little bit of progress this weekend, quite happy with what I got done for once

Subframes were looking a bit worse for wear with dust from the paint shop and some paint chipped etc from being moved around. Decided to make use of some of bmw's own stone chip, more like a heavy rubberized paint than anything else, and treat the underside of the front subframe and the whole rear subframe with it, and some satin paint to make it look a little better. Both are ready to be refitted once I do the same with the trailing arms and wishones next time I'm home.





Close up of the slightly textured finish.


I also got the front of the car soundproofing started, made patterns using the old car as a template. Front of the car is done, will be adding more to some of the larger empty areas and I have another product I might use to cover the whole floor pan.

[Jozi]

Small update as progress has been nearly non-existant since starting a new job 5 weeks ago.

Old shell is another step closer to being scrap ready now that I got the last of the shadowline trim removed last weekend and the rear quarter glass.






And yes that one pice of glass missing


Good thing I have spare from the red shell that has been restored.

[Jozi]

Been awhile since I did an update. I was getting the hang of the zinc plating and then it went to shit and just couldnt get a nice plate. I cooked up a new batch of electrolite and it's pretty much been working 100% since. For anyone thinking of doing it, you need patience and it's prob less hassle to let the pro's do it :p

This is more or less what I've done so far


Most of the bolts for the door lock, the lock brackets and bit are plated and a few other bolts from around the door also. Have started on doing the subframe nuts/bolts also, eccentric washers and nuts below for the rear arms. They were new but I decided to strip the coating from them and make them more shiny and maybe? more resistant to rust than what ever bmw had on them.



I also gave the rack a good clean, new inner track rods (don't have or can't find outer ones) and new rubber boots, hardlines got some surface rust removed and a coat of paint, likewise with the spline and the two banjo bolts were zinc plated.

[CBREEZ]

this is truly an impeccable build, I can't wait to see the finished product!

[Jozi]

Did these yesterday, mostly a trial run again, brake res bracket will be used as is though, I might possibly to all brackets and bolts in the bay gold passivated.

Cleaned up as well as I could do them:


Zinc plated


And passivated

[Jozi]

Not much of an update really (being far lazier than I should be) but I do have some work in progress things.

I wanted to get the doors built up but I couldn't let myself use the old grubby catches that go on the door shuts. So I came up with a plan:



Plan was to take the old catches and pretty much ever nut or bolt that will be visible and zinc plate them myself. Couple of nuts, a bolt and a door catch to try it out on after bit of a going over with a wirewheel:



I started with the lock catch thing:



But I got my current a little high and burned the part. Second attempt but with another spare catch went much better, I still managed to burn it a little (user error) but up until that point it looked to be going real well! No pics of it : but I do have this after yellow passivating it



I also tried it on a bolts, as expected zinc won't coat the rust but it still came out quite well:



And here's both compared to an original catch from one of the shells (it was actually in pretty good condition considering)




A little more testing to do before I plate the parts that will go back on the car but so far I'm pretty happy with it!

Progress-wise, it's been slow having to do one thing before I do another etc...

So far I've pretty much got everything cavity waxed, sills will be done a 3rd time and I also have to do the subframes and some other parts.
The loom is in the car but hasn't been routed around because I needed the holes for the cavity waxing.

[Jozi]

Did you intentionally have the engine bay painted glossy?

Yeah that was always the plan. To be very honest, I wish I had done some of the smoothing myself as he didn't go quite as far with it as I have done. I'm more than happy though with how it turned out, I didn't want to go to far away from it looking factory which is how it is now, more or less

[Nixxon]

Did you intentionally have the engine bay painted glossy?

[Jozi]

After a few afternoons spent labelling the loom and all plugs I finally got the whole loom pulled from the car!



It's a bit all over the place and I'm not sure if its right but it's out now with some of it rolled up so it doesn't tangle up to much.

Also met this little fella when I removed the speaker grill

[CubbyChowder]

Looks amazing!