dubman

I'm late to the game but I have a OEM gasket trace & card board template for my firewall repair; done this on my care & holding up without any issues (fitment, water tightness) for the past year

 

12 hours ago, 325iRod said:

The carpet looks great 👍 

nothing floor mats can't fix hide 😂love your work on the alpineweiss e30; looking clean!

Put 99% of interior back together (just need to replace front component speakers, speaker panel & carpet trim)

Went for WOF....failed 4 tyres due to 10 yr old rotted tyres - easy fix! New tyres next week & car will legally be back on the road. WOF inspectors spent more time looking at engine bay than the rest of the car.

Thanks to Aliexpress & Bunnings for having most of the tools, clips & other little loose bits to fix everything 🤣

Rod from @euroitalian has been awesome for parts! 

WTB E30 headlight switch - not sure if anyone has one in their spare parts bin/unused parts pile. 

New carpets after loom & floor pan tidy up. Fitment wasn't perfect but decent all things considered (easy to cut & trim). The underlay is pretty thick felt; hopefully better than OEM sound insulation (degraded 35 year old foam).

18 hours ago, Sammo said:

Nice man, what did you use to patch the dash? 

I have a fantastic matte clear finish product used for refinishing leather that leaves a great silky matte soft finish - want to use it on my dash if I ever re-do it at some point (only one crack at this point).

lucky with one crack!

I just used polyurethane from Bunnings & levelled it down with mineral turps. When/if I could be bothered to try to make it perfect, I won't level it down with turps & source a textured "stamp" to mimic the OEM pattern from a vinyl repair kit.

Most creative one & most OEM looking one I've seen that still had a soft finish, was using shredded cleaning sponge, super glue & baking powder mixture then finished off with vinyl repair kit before respray. 

finished with 99% of rust-oration & just need to tidy up some areas with prime & top coat.

patched up the cracked dash & went for matte black finish (will be two tone interior with navy door cards & centre ); will see how the dash ages/lasts over time (just don't look at is closely & without dash mat 🤣)

got new carpets & mats to go before interior goes back in.

2 hours ago, Sammo said:

Was the motor out to weld in this area? got some rust there too (under glovebox / firewall skin)  that I've done a temp patch on but will need doing properly eventually...

Motor was left in - I had to take out dash as I had to redo the whole area under the wipers & its drainage area. I was lucky the rust didn’t reach the brake booster so it saved me from taking that out. 

Wrapping up most of the rust repairs this month after putting in a lot of time over the Xmas break.

Starting to re-assemble including DIY resprayed guard, bumper & lip

ECU & tune next after going for a WOF....

I got a MaxxECU for my turbo'd M40B18 & need to install an intake air temp sensor.

Is pre-throttle body or post-throttle body on the intake manifold the best place to put it? I keep reading different things (accuracy vs. heat soak debate). any advice would be appreciated! 

Took me a few weekends to get this done; removed the previous lap weld rust repairs & redid the repair. Tried my best to protect the wiring from heat & the grinder so I don’t have to bust out the soldering iron 😂

Will tidy up all the flash & surface rust before KBS rust seal top coat. 

....and painted the rank looking parcel tray with some Duplicolour Vinyl & Fabric paint (very easy to use)

Was wondering is there anyone else that tunes stock BMW e30 ECU's anymore? I tried to ring up Gavin (Hi Velocity) but apparently he has retired!

Otherwise I'm looking at a MaxxECU set up & tune, which probably would work out better in the long run but feels a bit overkill (only intend on running 12psi).

Very slow but steady progress - got the LHS firewall & wiper area drains to do for rust repairs & will be ready for new carpets (getting fresh set made). Cleaned up very small things that you won't even see (prevent future corrosion) & painted with KBS RustSeal (recommend over POR15 as it's more flexible). 

Also bought some cosmetic goodies to keep me motivated to finish this thing up before Xmas & get it back on the road.

Not sure if anyone has a wrecked e30 facelift shell that won't mind missing a few panels cut out of its firewall & A pillar bases.

Preferably in West Auckland (I'm getting wishful here) or anywhere in Auckland & I can come around with cash/beer/combo to cut if out myself.

Trying my luck here!

Very slow progress but it’s getting cleaner - cutting out rust out of tight spots isn’t very motivating. started cleaning up interior upholstery to procrastinate doing the body work (shame modern euros don’t make headliners like they used to!)  

This is bloody awesome - so clean!

Bought an Ozito 100amp gasless MIG using flux core for $200 from Bunnings, easily burns through so been playing around with it (not gonna get any weld porn from it on thin metal 🤣). Got decent penetration & it is holding well; will try sticking piece of copper pipe behind these for future panels.

Overall, does the job & will be improving as I go. Will likely stick with spot welds & using KBS rust seal to fill in the small gaps & prevent future rusting. These aren't structural so not too fussed about getting perfect butt welds (more like I don't have enough talent for that). 

Nothing a grinding disk & various Dremel bits can't tidy up 🤪 

Basically went overseas for 4 years & car sat outside for 4 years (terrible, I know).

The repaired rust spots all came back + some new ones. Fortunately, I've got a garage now, so I'll be repairing this myself in next few months & keep it dry in future.

Full strip of interior, sound deadening & panels, so I can find it all so left over rust can't keep eating away at the fresh patches. 

sweet - thanks man, I live close by & will swing around later today (their number's offline)

Found bit of rust in the e30 after 4 years sitting on a driveway - does anyone know any suppliers in Auckland that supplies 1mm electro/galv steel? I called around (united & KS) but they've all sold out.

Appreciate any leads! 

Use VLC - open a network stream using:

http://motorsport-au.hopto.org:8080

AWESOME!

Segedins on Dominion Road sell low profile aluminium floor jacks, good prices also depending on the load

I've never ever had issues with exhausts until I approached pitstop in Albany...

Go back and talk to them about it - a cut and a V band would be a easy fix (maybe a simple mis-communication was to blame)