elias

Took the drivers side guard off to have a look and see if I find any more rust. But appears to be in good shape, rust appears to be limited to the one hole and hasn’t spread. will be getting the rust hole repair quoted by some panelbeaters not something I want to take on myself.

That’s a lot of cutting. Probably not something I want to be doing myself, will try and talk to some panelbeaters and see what they reckon. Will pull the fender off and see how much more rust I discover.

Good to hear, have got the 2002 reservoir, grommets and adapters for brake lines already, just need to find the time to go to pickapart to grab a booster.

Sweet yeah that sounds like a good plan will do that for the areas I can do myself. Just a bit stuck on what to do about the rust hole underneath the cowling near the inner guard. That’s probably not a job I’d take on myself.

Saturdays progress. Engine and gearbox are out, and at the scrapyard. Removed sound deadening, removed rear seat, removed boot trims. Pretty much stripped as far back as it needs to be at this point for rust repair/paint. Still trying to workout the best way to get rust and paint sorted without spending a fortune. engine and box out. Was not a fun Job as I couldn’t use a ratchet strap to lift the back of the gearbox once the engine was up and out, so I needed to lift the whole thing up and over the front core support by hand, not a fun job extremely heavy thing. But got it done. brake booster/master are out too pretty much a bare engine bay apart from some wiring and brake lines. Yet to figure out how to get the fuse box out. Most of the stuff on the firewall is glue residue but there are also some rusty spots that will need some attention, no holes however.

Car is looking great!

Unfortunately I have discovered quite a bad spot of rust in a very unfortunate place. Underneath the windscreen cowl, right in the corner and it’s bad. A significant hole. Definitely something I’ll need to get professionally fixed. Quite surprised to have found rust that bad with how relatively rust free the rest of the car is.

that is a good point actually, maybe worth reconsidering

Hahah yup it sure did, has gone well beyond what it was meant to but always seems to go that way. There’s nothing I hate more than having to do something twice so may as well do it now.

Little bit more progress got more of the front end apart. Sold my getrag 220 to a mate, and will be going with a zf. Makes getting a correct driveshaft easier and is stronger, may as well do it right and use the gearbox bmw used with this engine. also pulled out the brake booster and brake master in preparation for paint. Will be getting replaced with e90 items and a 2002 reservoir. also drew up an adapter plate to mount an e36 ecu to the mounting bracket designed for the e30 ecu. will laser cutting it one night next week. plan is to remove the engine and gearbox this week. Also will remove/get some to remove the windscreen to check for rust and make sure it’s sealed properly as I believe some water has been getting past.

Lovely e39 m5 on the awful commute back to the shore from highbrook.

Will be getting pulled this weekend. If anyone wants a free long block/auto gearbox flick me a pm. Would be a shame to send them to the scrap yard.

SOLD

Hey Paul, I may have found some more locally to me, I will see if they match with what I’m after, failing that I will be in touch.

More progress tonight. Decided I may as well do it once and do it right so got straight back into it after work tonight. Pulled the dash out, as well as the entire AC/heater core unit. Bit of a tedious job with all the wires (not actually that many of them). was stoked to find almost no rust, apart from a small amount on the lip that I showed in photos from the outside earlier, which was the main motivation for pulling it all out in order to be able to access it properly and fix it properly. most rusty part was the wiper motor mount, luckily no rust transferred from the mount bracket to the car itself so I’ve removed it and will be getting acid dipped sand blasted and repainted, before being reinstalled after the whole engine bay has been painted.