Daily driver/weekend project e30 320

[gouba 0]

Thanks boss, I tried to find the details in your sales thread from way back but the details were gone.

I'd love to get two inch lips on the front and 3 on the rears, that's a long term goal though

[antil33t 90]

About the E46 console, you may need a LHD one.

I really want one too, but as far as I can see they all have the handbrake on the right side, where the E30's brake is on the left side.

Nice car man, it's damn nice.

[gouba 0]

Anyone know where to get replacement tubing from the washer bottle to the spray units under the bonnet? Mine are old, starting to leak and look like sh*t lol

[gouba 0]

So long overdue for an update. Lots of stuff has been going on, been working on a few different thing including

Changing this

to

it's actually the same color carpet, just the lighting has made it look different. A panel out of 4.5mm mdf was made and a spare boot carpet was sourced from HellBM which was then glue/tacked on and put into place. Not totally finished yet as it is only wedged in but that will be fixed this week.

Some new window washer piping was sourced from super cheap, the old stuff leaked and looks terrible in the engine bay. New clamps were put on and generally tidied up.

The exhaust was next on the list. One of the previous owners had welded on a couple of hideous end pipes and welded the bracked straight onto the exhaust. It was ugly and you couldnt remove it which was going to be an issue with the future work I needed to get done.

This

Went to this after dropping it off to the boys at Woolf Mufflers. new end pipes were added, a mounting bracket was formed and they sprayed it a matt black to clean it up. Well beyond expectation and really reasonable (I highly recommend these guys)

and

Because of a rust spot in the drivers foot well I had to remove the carpet, upon doing so I realised how messy it was. It was given a serious water blast which pulled up a pile of dirt and suds from a previous clean.

it was clean, but I wasnt really happy with the color, so i decided to dye it. After reading about on the net I found everything I needed to dye my carpet. Total cost for everything was around $27.

You will need two packs of Dylon black dye, table salt, a hard nylon brush, a mixing bowl, funnel, metal spoon (plastic will melt and deform), plastic gloves,a spray bottle and old clothes.

Half a pack of dye, a table spoon of salt and250-300ml of boiling water was mixed up and placed into a spray bottle.

and then applied to the carpet, I did it in three layers to build up the consistency of the color, After the initial application the carpet looked like this

and

It looks inconsistent as the dye hasnt reached into the carpet fully, this is were the brush comes in. Using a hard nylon brush you brush the carpet onlong the grain, this fully mixes the dye into the carpet.

After 3 coats, the color came out like this

After all that I gave it a wash and wax which made it look great but bought up a number of little imperfections in the paint work which I will have to deal with.

Additional things I have done but dont have photos of include

repainting the chrome trim, it was previously painted black but wasn't sealed properly so I taped up the car and did that, repainted the window wiper grills, installed e36 window switches (ill take photos and do a mini write up of this) fixed the idle on the car by cleaning the intake, replacing an oil return hose, replacing a dodgy ICV, changed the rego as the previous plates had been modified (ends cut off) and swapping out the cracked sun visors.

I am getting the rust cut out on Wednesday so hopefully I can put the carpet and sound deadening back in by this weekend.

Future list of things include

Fixing the lateral play on the shifter (anyone got any suggestions for this?)

Replacing the rear end bushings with urethane ones from the group buy

Sourcing two 3 inch lips for my bbs rims will have 2 inch on the front and 3 on the rear

Dropping the car down a little and replacing the shocks

Getting the interior recovered.

Sourcing two driver seat adjusters so I can replace my slightly mangled ones in atm

Rip the rear lights off, sand back and finish properly

Either take off the rear wing and repaint or remove completely

Install a second boot light

Finish painting my valve cover and install (and also get rid of the noisy lone tappet)

Edited October 31, 2010 by gouba

[Lucan 196]

The carpet came out mint.

Where'd you end up getting the dye from?

Im doing this ASAP haha

Cars looking tidy as! Good work.

[gouba 0]

Dye was from New World Vic Park. Give me a heads up when you want to do it and ill come round and give you a hand. Was Dylon Velvet Black at $9.99

You need to give the carpet a really thorough clean before you do it though, I waterblasted mine for about 30 minutes all up and let it dry for two days before I dyed it

It can stain everything so be careful, I got some on my feet and walked through my mum's house by accident, it was a bitch to get out.

[Lucan 196]

haha sweet as, I don't drive the E30 during the week so will probably go have a look for the dye tonight.

[Top Secret 2]

Awesome work mate. Really impressed with the carpet redying. I'll have to give it a try sometime!

[tire 10]

Choice update, its those little things that count! Keep it up.

[Tristan 338]

Great job. Car looks mint.

Taking my car into Woolf in the next week fews. Can't wait

Edited November 1, 2010 by Tristan

[gouba 0]

Ordered some sound deadening to lay in the footwells before I put the carpet back in. Ordered some off trademe as I didnt want to spend heaps.

This stuff weights 4kgs per square meter so it's really dense, hopefully it will aid with reducing noise into the cabin.

[dubman 39]

Awesome progress Matt, cars looking very tidy.

[gouba 0]

So not much of an update but took my car out and took some photos as a warm up for a shoot I had to do.

Edited November 21, 2010 by gouba

[Lucan 196]

Car looks good Matt

[Jacko 2156]

^ +1

wish my E30 was that shiny!

[dubman 39]

hows this coming along? is the TM sound deadning any good?

[gouba 0]

Sound deadening is really good. When I get my interior recovered I'll pull the carpet out and chuck more in. My gf commented on how much quieter and enjoyable it is to be in my car now. Probably best $40 spent

I had plans for big things before Christmas but my cat tried to fly out a three story window. In the new year it's getting lowered to 90mm, chucking three inch lips on the back, putting an alarm in and getting rid of a pile of stone chips.

Edited November 30, 2010 by gouba

[gouba 0]

So I've been terribly lazy at updating this. A lot has gone on so i thought i'd fire up a quick update

It needed a serious clean and i spent the day giving it a tidy up.

The target

I never realized how dirty the steering wheel and gear knob could get, this is proof I need to clean it more often. I hit the steering wheel with some leather conditioner and kiwi polish and it soaked anything up I put on it, definitely a worth while thing to add to the cleaning list.

One of the things i had to do was recover the rear parcel tray. I had initially recovered it with a fabric covering which the ladies at spotlight recommended. As you can see it was painfully sun faded. You can see how different the covered and uncovered areas are.

I managed to source some backless carpet and with the help of some a dos spray adhesive I was able to recover the parcel tray in under 10 minutes. This stuff rocks (I over bought and have enough spare for another parcel tray is anyone is interested)

Installed and much better looking than before, it needed a quick vacuum which is why it looks a tad funny/hairy here. It's a vast improvement from previous.

The other big thing I have done but haven't written up on was installing a full e36 interior. Front seats have been done before but I haven't really seen the rear being put in. My old leather interior was damaged and ripped so this seemed a more cost effective option. A full e36 coupe hatchback interior was sourced for $130 and my ripped set was sold for $150 so it about evened out. The fronts were easy enough (there are numerous write ups on the net) but the rears were more difficult. Basically you have to remove the carpet from the back of the seat and cut a slit in the metal panel to the spacing of the e30 rear set. Do this for both parts.

With both sides done they fit in easily, the side filler panels need some modification to get them to fit (mainly removing some of the copper forming rod at the back. It looks a little crinkled in the photo mainly because of the lighting but i'd like to trip the foam at the rear slightly to get an absolutely perfect fit. To anyone who doesn't know it looks factory

Installed fronts

Another shot

Side on after a serious clean, the wheels take a painfully long amount of time, but they look amazing in the end.

Final polish shot, much better than this morning.

Next on the list is to install the poly rear bushings i've got, source/install new shocks, install a new painted valve cover and getting rid of all the stone chips

Edited August 3, 2011 by gouba

[Top Secret 2]

Really dig the little things you do on this. Gives me motivation to work on my E30 for a change, haha.

What was the sound deadening you used? While my carpet and the thick foamy underlay stuff is out (and thrown away), I need to get some sound deadening in there again.

How much did the fabric for the parcel tray cost?

[sascha 17]

Nice, seats look good too.

Might take that black carpet off your hands, also need to get a move on with putting my e36 seats into my e30 too!

Did you get the seatbelt stalk cut and welded in the end? What bracket design did you go with? Two long ones (one each side), or one on each corner?

[gouba 0]

Used two long ones for more stability. I source the metal from North Shore Steel, its 8mm thick plate and is heavy as f**k.

The seatbelts are the only shody aspect of it at the moment with how it's mounted (as in it's mounted ok at the moment but i'd like to revisit to improve it). I need to work on that

[BM WORLD 1283]

looking good ,. like the e36 318ti seats

maybe now you have got them to fit try a set of these with half leather and half motorsport cloth .

only $250 would suit your black door cards better etc

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-...n-396634795.htm

[dubman 39]

awesome stuff Matt, as said by others, all the little things make it special. especially on cars of this age

[*Faw_20* 0]

Happy 1 Year Anniversary on your build thread gouba, she's come a long way since the car that u first posted,.. c00L car i Love it & i'm sure you do too !! Keep it going dude

[gouba 0]

Happy 1 Year Anniversary on your build thread gouba

haha I didnt notice, thats awesome