Back in black BMW e30

[dillon7]

Some more updates for you guys.

I grabbed some pics of the studs I welded in for the seats as well as the suede headliner. Here they are.

Seat Stud Welded (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

Suede Headliner (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

Today I started with wrapping the B-pillar trim in the suede fabric and putting them on as well as the new window gaskets.

Suede B-Pillar (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

Quarter window gasket installed (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

Installed the body matched door handles as well as the door locks.

Door handle installed (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

Here is a teaser of the finished wheels. I probably won't post a full photo of them until I finish the car but you never know.

Finished wheels teaser (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

Picked up a couple needed parts today which included a rear bumper and some material to replace the old plastic vapor barrier that covesr the inner doors. Tomorrow I'll get started on stripping and polishing the bumpers as well as installing the new moisture guard material.

[dillon7]

Awesome man, can't wait to see it back on the road! That shop is so clean and well lit, I love it.

Thanks man!

Looks great dude!!! I'm loving all the suede!

Isn't it amazing how nice the instruments look with newly polished cover? I did that a while ago, totally worth the effort. Did you polish up the clear fuse box cover under the hood? Also a simple thjng that looks killer.

One of my favorite quick mods I've done. I haven't tried the fuse box cover yet and that's a good idea, I'll have to try it out today.

[DER E30]

Looks great dude!!! I'm loving all the suede!

Isn't it amazing how nice the instruments look with newly polished cover? I did that a while ago, totally worth the effort. Did you polish up the clear fuse box cover under the hood? Also a simple thjng that looks killer.

[CubbyChowder]

Awesome man, can't wait to see it back on the road! That shop is so clean and well lit, I love it.

[dillon7]

Well this update is long overdue but here it is.

I've been slowly piecing the car back for the past 6 months and by slowly I mean very very slowly. I don't have photos of a lot of little things but I do have photos of the larger stuff done. This is the slow part of the build because now that the paint is so nice I feel bad putting any bad or dirty part back on the car so that has been very time consuming and expensive. Here is a general idea of what I've done for the past couple months and I'll try to post some more photos tomorrow to fill in the gaps.

First thing I did since the last update was fix the holes in the floorboard. The PO had "installed" some 5 series seats by simply drilling through the floorboard and and using a bolt through the top and a nut on the bottom. In the process he destroyed the factory mounting locations for the seat rails so I set out to correct that.

Here is a picture of one of the holes.

Hole in floorboard (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

I can't seem to find pictures of how I fixed it but basically cut out the area that had been drilled, welded new metal in, and then welded a bolt where the factory studs are. Here is a photo of the bolt being tacked in. I'll take some photos tomorrow of the finished product.

Welding floorboard (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

Next up was to install the new suede headliner I had a shop sew up for me. It was pretty straight forward just tedious. Again, can't find photos of the finished product but I'll update the thread tomorrow.

Headliner clamp (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

My rear quarter window gaskets were quite worn out so I ordered some new ones. Pricy things but they are very nice.

New window gaskets (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

I then installed a crack free dash with the help of a friend. Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. While the dash was out I untangled all of the wires and fixed all of the PO's half assed wiring. I also installed a new head unit I had laying around which is much nicer than the previous one. Before putting the gauge cluster in I polished the clear plastic cover since it was full of scratches. It came out incredible and looks brand new.

Dash in (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

Once the dash was in I could go ahead and put the doors on and get them lined up properly. After that I installed the front and rear glass. I have yet to install the lock strips since I don't have the tool and installing by hand is something I will never do again.

Doors on (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

My rear parcel shelf was originally tan so I originally decided to dye it black. It sat around for a couple months and had a layer of dust on it so I went to vacuum in before I installed it and vacuum started to suck up the carpet bristles which made it look terrible. On a sudden impulse I just ripped the carpet off of it which left me with this.

Rear parcel shelf stripped (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

I figured since I had a suede headliner why not have a suede rear parcel shelf. I ordered some foam backed UV protected fabric and got to work. It came out pretty good and I am happy with the result. I need to order and install some new rear speakers since mine are quite old.

Rear Parcel Shelf Installed (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

I had a bunch of suede fabric left over and y A Pillar trim had some flaws in the fabric coating so I stripped it off and decided to wrap them in suede. Pretty easy and came out great.

A Pillar Stock (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

A Pillar Suede Wrapped (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

A Pillar Installed (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

Last but not least I finally installed my renown steering wheel with momo hub that I have had sitting around for months. This thing feels great I highly recommend it.

Steering wheel installed (1 of 1) by Dillon Makar, on Flickr

As I said, I have some other updates that I don't have photos of such as dying the carpet, prepping the outside trim for paint, stripping and polishing the bumpers, and my favorite update which is refinishing the wheels. Stay tuned!

[Grime]

Hey man, crazy build, your attention detail is crazy! And the shop is off the chains. I was wondering if you still have those parts car kicking around? There's a few interior bits I need. Pm me if you want.

[MittCatchman]

This car is so damn rad and I'm insanely jealous of your shop. I was bummed when I got to the air install and the pictures were gone. I just ordered pretty much the same setup for my e30 and based on the quality of your work and thoroughness with the photos I bet those pictures wouldve been damn helpful haha. Keep up the good work, cant wait to see what you do with the mt2

[dillon7]

That weed-whacker powered nascar has my attention

haha the 1.1 hp makes the car pretty fun

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've done some stuff but I have no pictures. I just had ACL surgery a couple days ago so progress will be kind of slow for a little bit. Hopefully I can get to the shop this week and snap some pics of what has been doing and maybe be able to work on the car some.

[meech]

That weed-whacker powered nascar has my attention

[dillon7]

Futura specs?

16x9 et14

[808e30]

Futura specs?

[dillon7]

that paint is sooo nice hahaha

dude nice job thus far ! Top notch work , I cannot wait until its all finished !

YES! Love this!

Thanks guys!

[Dutch]

YES! Love this!

[12vsex]

dude nice job thus far ! Top notch work , I cannot wait until its all finished !

[eethirty]

that paint is sooo nice hahaha