** Acme [Akagi] bought a pink estate car - E30 325i project log! **

Bought some more gas, spent some time today practising with a friend. Welds now starting to look pretty good if I do say so myself, definitely good enough for the simpler repair jobs on the car. Going to speak to a family friend, the "Master welder" soon to see if he can lend a hand with my learning. :)

I also checked all the connections on all the ABS sensors and cleaned them with contact cleaner, issue still there... Next step is individually testing all the sensors while wiggling the wires, then failing that, taking all the disks off and cleaning all the ABS rings with a wire brush... Failing that, it will be time to trace the wires and continuity test etc...... Really hope it doesn't come to that because I have an MOT to pass in a few months! :p
 
Ordered a new fuel tank, and various hoses.

Replaced the door sensor and now the interior light comes on when the drivers door is opened for the first time since ive owned it.

Redid a bit of shoddy wiring for the door/lights siren.

Fitted a replacement window scraper trim also on the drivers door.

Fitted my spare sunroof seal so i can now use it without the seal falling apart :p

Fitted a better condition boot badge and rear nearside centre cap badge.

ABS issue seems to have gone away on its own... So now I'm constantly worried about it. :p
 
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Right-o, a decent update today. :)

Got the exhaust, prop, heatshields, and most importantly - fuel tank, out today with the help of a mate:

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I should have put the front wheels on the ramps instead so I could rotate the prop to get to the bolts, but I'm an idiot. So I had to jack it up at the back when I wanted to rotate the prop. Had a bit of fun and games getting the prop out because we didn't realise you had to pull it out of the gearbox end *first* - The guide we were following said to pull it out of the diff end first... :p

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Got there in the end.

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As you can see here the artic disk/guibo is completely knackered so its lucky I bought a replacement:

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And the centre support bearing was in an even worse state, and it wasn't actually supporting anything anymore... So I'm glad I got a new one of those too!

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Onto the fuel tank itself. A few minor hiccups, the drain plug shot out with quite some force when I undid it and plugged the funnel I was using, causing the funnel to fill up rather quickly and minor panic ensued as I tried to stem the torrent of fuel to sort it out... Bit of a spillage! And I grazed my hand and then got petrol on it which stung a bit!

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When disconnecting the hose from the fuel sender up top, it also came off a bit suddenly and I somehow managed to splash fuel in my face and eyes, which wasn't pleasant either... Really should be more careful! :D :p

A couple of the bolts were also a bit of a pain due to rust, but we got there in the end...

One removed fuel tank:

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My my would you look at the state of it! :eek: :p

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New tank ready to go, shiny shiny... It will get sprayed with underseal first, and the well the fuel tank goes in will also be sprayed with underseal. Really not looking forward to the mess thats going to make...

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Thats all for now. The next opportunity when the weather is dry, I/we will be breaking out the underseal, and then putting the new tank in and plumbing everything up, followed by the prop and exhaust etc.

Tomorrow I'm going to BMW to pick up a gearbox selector shaft seal as well, cos I need to put a new one of those in before putting the prop back on as the box is leaking oil all down the rear face.

At some point during this process I'm also going to weld up the "coke can repair" properly with a new section of pipe, and also weld the backbox back on because the straight pipes are doing my head in... :p

Another update soon. :)
 
Yes indeed. And also one of the sills has gone, I accidentally put a spanner through it. Needs inner and outer arch and rear sill on one side. Nice £1000 bill there cos I don't have the expertise to do it myself. :p

Boot pockets and floor pan, sure. But not that...
 
I dont think thats true, anything remotely difficult and i rope in my mate Sean to provide both assistance and to inspire a little confidence. :p

I hate doing new things without a helping hand.
 
lordrobs said:
You're still learning infinitely more by doing that than tackling new jobs with a credit card and a garage :p I'm hoping we move to somewhere with more space to work on cars before the MX5 starts falling to bits. Thankfully she's not been a particularly demanding beast over the last 4 and a bit years.
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Unfortunately I started by paying for stuff to be done with a credit card. After an £800 bill for some stuff that I could probably have done myself, I realised that it would be far too expensive to continue doing it that way! :p

And frankly if your MX5 isn't already falling to bits then I think you've been duped and sold a totally different car with an MX5 badge on it! :D

InvaderGIR said:
You don't need much space, just tools and to make some effort...I only pay for tyres, MOTs and if needed, welding (as I don't have a welder) and I only have a space in a car park open to the elements to work in. And I've done plenty of repairs including diff replacement on an E30 and painting my Golf... ;)
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I used to pay for almost everything, but now I am trying to only pay for things which require equipment I don't have. Such as fitting tyres, or bearings (hydraulic press), complex/structural welding, etc.

I only have a driveway which is open to the elements, bit better than a parking space in as much as that I can at least spread out a little bit, but not much better. At some point it might get a car-port put over it, by which point it will be almost as good as a garage because is shielded on all other sides. :p
 
Right then, managed to salvage three of the five rubber grommets for the fuel tank, and after spending a couple of days going to various shops/garages/etc trying to find some grommets the right size, as well as waiting for several members of the owners club to raid their parts bins, I managed to find two (and only two) which were the right size aside from the central hole, and Dad took them out to size for me... Panic over!

Tomorrow work shall commence! :)
 
Picked up the new exhaust. Made up of:

Stock manifold with no cracks (mine is cracked, blowing, and flaky)
Stock downpipe in good condition (mine is old, rusty, and has a hole rotted through it patched with a coke can and some gun gum! :D)
Stainless Scorpion centre-section
Stock backbox with larger tips than mine. I thought it was new, but on further investigation it has just been sprayed silver! Oh well... (Mine is fine, but I cut it off cos I'm an idiot, and this saves me welding it back on...)

And new gaskets etc of course... :)

Selling a friend my old exhaust for cheaps...

Cost - £160. Worth it? Dont know. Probably is just for the mid-box to be honest.

Going to scrub up the mild steel bits (downpipes and backbox) and spray them both with super high temperature black rust proof magic paint stuff, and then polish the tips of the backbox.
 
Right so I knew my nearside sill was rotten, but I've been putting off taking the sill cover off.

Finally did it yesterday after the car meet and its pretty bad but it could easily be worse!

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it would be a flush fit 'patch' with plenty of metal removed around it, if i did go that route.

its a question of cost. Im not sure how much it would cost to replace a full outer.
 
The inners tend to be alright on these for the most part. you can see some of the lower inner sill from under the car, the lip and the area just above it. Its solid almost all the way along, but there is a little bit of rot in a couple of places. If a bit gets chopped out I can have a good look down the length of the inner sill to see if any is going from the inside, and it may well turn out that more or even the whole thing will need chopping. :)

Also, new selector shaft seal in. Thats the last oil leak taken care of. Until a new one starts. :p

Was a pig to get the old one out without a seal puller or any kind of hooky implement. I managed to get it out with a screwdriver by punching a hole through it on either side, and levering. One bent screwdriver, but one removed seal. Used a bit of metal pipe with a tapered edge and a small hammer to tap the new one in.

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Oh I forgot to mention, tank is plumbed in and after a few turns of the key she fired up. Everything seems to be working fine. No leaks, fuel level senders/pump etc all fine.

Pretty ridiculously loud with just a downpipe on it though. It was like standing next to a tank when it was idling. :p
 
Prop back in today, had to take half of it to a local garage for them to press a new bearing onto it which they kindly did for free.

Got the old manifold and downpipe out, one stud was actually a bolt, two came out, of those one was a repurposed bolt.

Also had to order a downpipe gasket, two exhaust brackets, and a dust cover for the bearing. All that together was something like £50. The stupid dust cover making up £20 of that from BMW :p

Also booked in for a rust inspection on the 18th to get a quote for getting it sorted. Or most of it. Which will be my first four figure bill for anything other than purchasing a whole car, ever. Aint that cute. :p
 
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Sit rep.

Just did a tally up and its not as bad as I thought just yet.

£3300 or there abouts is what the project is currently sitting at, which includes:

The car
Full Comfort Leather interior incl. door cards
MTechnic 1 385MM steering wheel
Tailor fit floor mats
Leather gearstick gaiter
Re-trimmed original gearknob with new leather
Replacement knee roll panel
Boot cubby covers
Drivers door seal
OEM rear speaker pods
4x Alpine speakers
Drivers door scraper trim
Drivers door sensor
Boot hinge covers
Valve cover gasket
Rocker end plugs
Spark plugs
Sump pan gasket
PAS resevoir
Clutch slave cylinder
Brake pipes
Front nearside wheel bearing
Brake pads with wear sensors
Drop links
Control arm 'lolipop' bushes (E36 M3 bushes)
Gearbox oil
Differential oil
Rear nearside brake caliper
Fuel filter
Oil & filter service
Wiper motor (intermittent wiper functionality restored)
Prop shaft centre bearing
Prop shaft to gearbox flexi coupling
Selector shaft oil seal
Fuel tank
Filler neck connecting hose
Exhaust manifold
Full exhaust incl stainless Scorpion mid-section
Exhaust downpipe bracket
Genuine BMW 15" Basketweave alloys including spare
5x genuine centre caps
Front and side amber indicator lenses
Boot glass lower rubber trim/seal
Nearside tail-light
Offside tail-light
Drivers side door mirror
Numberplates
Complete bonnet
Nearside front footwell rubber/metal grommet
Front fog lights
Genuine bonnet badge
Genuine boot badge
Replacement inner sill, outer sill, and rear arch for nearside (not yet fitted)
Sunroof panel
Sunroof seal


As well as any labour associated with the above items which I didn't do myself. :)

Also have a cache of spares which I've accumulated which aren't factored into the above. Spare headlights, tail lights, plastic trims, mirrors, door cards, front valance (brand new), foglight blanks, bumper trims, dash trims, hoses, stainless exhaust manifold, full OBC kit, map-light mirror, front splitter, bulb holders, headlight washer motors, HVAC parts, and the list goes on... :o
 
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I'll be contented once the welding has been done and its got some underseal on it, after that it will be a slow trickle of things, some expensive, some not so. Like re-doing the headliner, replacing the suspension, replacing the rear bumper and a few misc trims, and then possibly a re-spray. But the latter won't be for a good while.

A VGC sport is £10K easily these days, and I've seen loads of 325i 4 doors/tourings sell for £4K upwards. It isn't about whether I'm going to make money or lose money on it though, I have no intention to sell it for at least a few year. To be honest I have absolutely no idea what it will be worth when I'm done with it, because it will have a massive wad of paperwork and a huge list of things which have been replaced/restored, and it will be in (I hope) very good condition, but it will also be on over 200K miles. People pay less attention to mileage in classic circles, but they still pay attention to it.

The process of doing it up has made me quite attached to it, and the classic BMW and E30 community/clubs etc are good too. Its nice taking it to shows with a club and have people stop and talk about it. :)
 
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