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

Exactly old cars never make financial sense but then when your driving down the road with everyone in their white rep mobiles it makes total sense. I am currently pricing up a forged engine rebuild for my Celica. Reality I would be better off just chopping it in for a Golf R or something similar but where is the fun in that.
 
So after ages of trying to diagnose why it was running like crap, including replacing the fuel pump, I discovered the cause...

HT lead #1 was arcing on the exhaust heatshield... Bent the heatshield down slightly and twisted the HT lead 45 degrees, runs sweet as a nut...

FFS. :p
 
adam cool dude said:
Exactly old cars never make financial sense but then when your driving down the road with everyone in their white rep mobiles it makes total sense.
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Very true. Just put a deposit down on a 180k mile 850 T5 (for the same price as fixing the broken AC is likely to cost me), and during the test drive I could not wipe the stupendous grin off my face. I guess I now better appreciate your situation, Acme, and its good to see you trying to sort things out properly....though I do maintain that if you're going to do something do it properly and don't half-arse it! I also maintain you should better check your cars out before you purchase them! ;)
 
Nice one Cookeh :)

Old cars are great. If a little anxiety inducing. :p

Speaking of not half arsing things, I found and cleaned back a 1P sized hole in the floor yesterday and my friend had to almost physically restrain me to prevent me from smearing some seam sealer over it instead of welding it up. He succeeded and welded it up for me instead. I maintain that it would have been fine... :D

Also spent far too long with a wire wheel on a drill cleaning off the old seam sealer and some surface rust etc from the inner lip of one of the sills, and then put a couple of layers of zinc primer on it, ready to apply new seam sealer... Got to do the same on the other side... :o
 
Right well, aside from us being a bit thick and not closing the door to check the alignment until after, and discovering its out (derp) another successful day of chopping. :) (Will figure out how to sort the alignment later... :p)

Rain is ideal weather for this sort of work as I'm sure you'll agree. Enter, the camo canopy!

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Crispy crispy where the dirt has just sat under the lip for years.
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Yum
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Bit of valance...
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Blurry rot
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More canopy action
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Cor. Still more of the inner to chop out, have ordered another outer arch to cut up and use as an outer-inner arch. (Inners are NLA)
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Gape
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Can see the inner bit is still crispy even after chopping a fair amount off...
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Mmmm new metal! :cool:
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Still lots more fab to do on the inner bit
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And more cutting needed here
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Door shut
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Shoddy alignment of the panel line... :p
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Peekaboo! Tread depth monitoring system and exterior jack access. Its a feature!
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@sigma indeed, the amount of work left to do is still very daunting though!

@Cleisthenes Yeeeeeeeeee - Shame about that alignment though... Should be able to bring it out flush with the door by beating it from the inside along that edge, but as for the consistancy of the trim line... Not sure... Possibly chop that small bit, move it down a tiny bit, weld it back in, and weld in a small new bit, then grind it flat but thats a lot of work so probably beat it with a hammer to bring the line down a bit and then smooth the result with some filler.
 
I didn't get many pictures today, but the other footwell area and the engine bay tray one one side is sorted. No major issues. One small fire, and we melted the accelerator pedal. :p

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Bit less tidy that the last few bits (welding upwards is a pain etc) but it does the job. :)
 
Dis86 said:
Much left to do?
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Welding wise, the rest of the rear arch/boot pocket area on the nearside rear, and then the inner rear arch near the fuel filler cap, the other boot pocket, and the scuttle... :)

Sounds like a lot, but we've already done the passenger front footwell, drivers front footwell & wheelarch, offside engine bay tray, nearside rear outer arch and valance, nearside full sill, and offside sill flush patches on both jacking points... :o

I'm honestly most worried about the bodywork that comes after cos I haven't a scoobydoo what I'm doing...
 
I have my own welder and a load of scrap metal etc, but I don't want to do the welding on the car, and the guy who does it has his own kit anyway.

My time is spent on fire-watch, scraping seam sealer and underseal and dabbing out small fires, moving things out of the way, etc... :p
 
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