Fowler BMW E30 318

[FowlerE30]

PLEASE READ or not...Graduating High school in 2014 naturally I took college money..... and spent it on what turned out to be a parts car . SO i bought another e30..which had just as much if not more rust. This is the hand i was dealt. Now im going to take lemons, and make one crazy as fuck tall glass of lemonade (and by tall I mean LOW)
This car had hidden rust, its the E30 318, the inline four cyclinder with rear drums... its the "undesirable dirty-30". It will never be a "clean" show car, so im not going to pretend it is or could ever be. but it deserves to be restored in some way and im pouring my time and money into it, learnig as I go. Never been to a class in my life on anything to do with cars but i want to do this... I want to tear it apart, do the body work, suspension and engine, design it, fabricate it, paint it, start it and DRIVE it. "Cant" and any word similar are out of my vocabularly. So thats what I'm going to do. PLEASE COMMENT and HOPE YOU ENJOY!

-Alec

[TeckniX]

Attachments.. who does that anymore, even my email doesn't do that.. SMH




Looks like a lot of work ahead of you..

[FowlerE30]

Removed bumpers
replaced fuel pump
removed exhaust from headers back
Pulled seats, carpet, dash, speakers, passenger door, gas tank
Cut out rust in drivers side and welded 20 gauge sheet
Cut out rust in passenger side floor and firewall, fabbed new battery box "tray" and firewall and welded in
Bought M3 steering wheel, shift boot and ebrake boot with striping
Courbeau rep seats (not keeping them)

Plans: remove rust and strip exterior paint to bare metal, fabbing a widebody from steel sheet. I donnt have the money or expierence with creating panels from carbon fiber or a mix. How many people do? SO I will be using steel sheet. (please dont commment on the HEAVY WEIGHT OF STEEL!. I enjoy working with it and I refuse to use some asian plastic parts. This thread is about building a car for myself and thats what Im decided on)

[FowlerE30]

Photos from this past weekend. Difficult area to get into but I did the best i could. Would like to coat with clear to display the welds but seam sealer is probably the best choice..

[FowlerE30]

Ass shot... invested in a car lift with my father this past fall and cleaned out the garage, sort of.., in order to get off the gravel driveway and make more jobs possible. still cramped in my 1 1/2 car garage but You do what you can with what you have.

[Bargiela]

Awesome base to start a bad ass car! you have a lot of liberty there in US when modifying a car, and this is a very easy one, so i would start with upgrading the rear axle from one off a 6cylinder (with rear discs and bigger diff) and i would try to buy some good suspension. looking that you can drop whatever you want on the bay, i would wait on the drivetrain to do a major project. about interior and exterior, if you dont have almost any parts at all, you got a really good plain canvas to go mad, original and with style. Good Luck!

[bostongreene36]

If you're planning on doing a metal widebody yourself, you could do a widened m3 style fender. Seems like it'd be a fairly easy option. either way, best of luck looks like you got your hands full with this

[FowlerE30]

[IMG][/IMG]Thanks Bargiela! I plan on swapping the rear as I **** the drums that are their now. Awhile ago I bought JOM Blueline springs and shocks because they were cheap and could really slam my car. However I might put those in to start but eventually switch them out for better quality. Bostongreenee36, I saw ur build thread! Goodluck. I could manage the box fenders like the m3 but I'm looking in a different direction. More like Ken blocks hoonicorn!?

[FowlerE30]

Just some raw lines, working over ideas... how many of you does this make sick?haha

URL=http://s296.photobucket.com/user/AlecMFowler/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20150221_181416_zpshqqysszk.jpg.html][/URL]

[FowlerE30]

Ran out of shielding gas for the MIG last night so I removed the rear bumper this morning as that was on the list. Took some measurements and going to play around with cardboard for a bit on rear wing ideas...#selfiesunday I guess. Frustrated with the small problems i run into but working them out. Hoping to make a cardboard wheel soon today to determine the rear fender measurements/ fitment.

[TheBig_Wood69]

ha laaaaammmmmeeeee

[FowlerE30]

ha laaaaammmmmeeeee

God dammit Rob.haha

[FowlerE30]

Took 8 Hours today to do some cleaning and work on the last major floor patch. The right corner had rusted away, along with the inner rocker-panel side and the floor seam over that. SO having bought more cutting disks and grinding pads and shielding gas this week, i got to to work. Managed to almost finish the entire area. Its small but ive taken the time to shape every piece the best I could with some wacks from a balpine hammer...Im also going to re fab the corner plate for the underneath to reinforce the corner as a jacking point. [IMG][/IMG]

[TheBig_Wood69]

mmmmmmm im all wet now

[FowlerE30]

Its been a month of little work on the car and more stressful thinking of all that has to be done, but im picking up on progress quickly and actually hope to have this finished in.. two months? Ive dropped some plans to the back burner such as the shark nose extension, however this thing should still be a head turner. or at least a glance. OKAY PICTURES ARE COMING.

I worked today on cutting and grinding areas that needed to be welded for rust in the rear wheel arch. Also closed up my fuel door...
[IMG][/IMG]

Unfortunatley I felt the need to cut the inset panel away and that left a small gap so i put a quick patch
[IMG][/IMG]
Then spent time fitting a sheet the best I could, little more grinding and it wont be noticeable! (Picture is pre ground) lol
[IMG][/IMG]
Need some help here, has anyone ever moved there fuel door behind their licence plate? would love pics and a walk through of your work...also anyone ever removed that stupid expansion tank from their rear arch? I want that thing gone and it doesnt seem to be a necessity for the hose system but BMW wouldnt have out it there if it wasnt a good idea.. Hoping to be widening the rear fenders this weekend or next wenesday..
[IMG][/IMG]
I want to cut and ad spacing sheet to just the top portion of the arch, leaving the front and rear portions displaying the tires? however im toying wiht putting an exhuast dump in front of the right rear wheel just like ken blocks hoonicorn and a steel shield might be needed to prevent tire melting he has that exact thing... Comments welcome!