1985 e30 - i bought a BMW from the other side of the pond.

[benwalsh91]

Oct 4, 2023 8:22:42 GMT maf260 said:

Oct 2, 2023 6:52:01 GMT benwalsh91 said:

Thank you, i appreciate that. and glad you are enjoying the jack. i now have an x5 in the fleet so i am tempted to upgrade mine to the 3 tonne.

You should be fine with the existing jack unless you're planning on lifting the whole X5 at one time. with it! Even if the car weighs 2500 kg and you're lifting one side at once your jack is more than capable. Save the pennies for the E30 or some M3 goodies!

hell yes. thank you.

Oct 5, 2023 20:22:41 GMT kevins said:

Oct 3, 2023 11:22:20 GMT benwalsh91 said:

Thankfully, where this is a california car i am finding very minimal rust on it, finding some cracks in the floor where things like the subframe mount on but i guess thats typical bmw i guess. 

thank you for the advice, i am currently looking into what the next steps would be, i presume etch primer the entire underside when its raw metal. leave to properly dry and cure. then it will be seam seal then primer again.

once thats done i can look into what coating to put over the top but trying not to get too ahead of myself as that's when i get overwhelmed.

i notice you are also in Essex, i am over in Tiptree, just outside Colchester.

Yes I'm in Great Baddow not far away, there are many opinions on how to paint bare metal, etch is a common answer but some people are now moving towards epoxies, particularly the zinc enriched ones, it sticks really well and is waterproof unlike many primers which absorb water.

Oct 6, 2023 11:41:22 GMT jmsheahan said:

As Kevins has said, I'd be inclined to go with an epoxy for longevity. I'm using Rustbusters Epoxy Mastic (surface tolerant and has a bit more 'build' than a straight epoxy primer.

If you're after an aerosol for speed, Bilt Hamber's Electrox is a good zinc primer (and not porous from memory).

Lots of good undercoating info on the mig-welding forum.

Oct 6, 2023 12:03:40 GMT kevins said:

As you are going to stone chip over it you can brush epoxy on, in some ways this is better as you can push it into seams and hidden areas. Also with autumn approaching there is more risk of condensation, I would be inclined to brush a coat on as you go to prevent it flash rusting.

i never knew this was a thing so i am going to do some research on the epoxy primers and see what could work best. I don't mind if its either paint on with a brush, aerosol or i have a compressor here so i could mix something and put it in a gun and spray it with that.

i think you are right regarding the flash rusting so i will do some research this week and try and figure out a first layer of primer and what to use/products but i am liking this epoxy primer. i may go for something i can put on with a brush as a first coat.

[benwalsh91]

Another weekend gone by wayyyyy to quickly but a couple hours spent in the garage chipping away.

My plan was to just spend one hour on the Saturday but my neighbor came over to complain about the noise so i decided to spend two hours grinding instead.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

sit back and chill and try and be happy with what i have accomplished

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I wanted to get a little bit of time Sunday in there too but my little boy decided he didn't want to take his nap in the day so that didn't happen.

when he finally went down to bed i thought i would sneak outside for about half hour as i wanted to try some paint stripper rather than the grinder, just to see what effects it would have.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

I didnt like it, i just think it made too much of a sludgy mess which is what i thought would happen. so i guess its time to just grind it all off.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

The side sills or whatever you call them are absolutely mullered from people clearly incorrectly jacking it up over the years or i have a feeling they may have used a forklift to remove it from the boat when it was shipped so this is something i need to address before we repaint the underside, i am thinking heat it up and get some sort of clamp to attach to a slide hammer to try and straighten them out? has anyone had any experience with this or any input that could help?

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

and finally to close it off, stand back and appreciate what you got, what you have achieved so far and how far you still have to go.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

[kevins]

Coming along, you might be able to clamp on the flange and pull it down with a slide hammer, another option is to weld a tab to it, pull on that wth a slide hammer then grind it off.

[nze12]

Oct 9, 2023 11:29:24 GMT benwalsh91 said:

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

The side sills or whatever you call them are absolutely mullered from people clearly incorrectly jacking it up over the years or i have a feeling they may have used a forklift to remove it from the boat when it was shipped so this is something i need to address before we repaint the underside, i am thinking heat it up and get some sort of clamp to attach to a slide hammer to try and straighten them out? has anyone had any experience with this or any input that could help?

All too common on BMWs I'm afraid, had to deal with this on my E30. The problem with this kind of trauma is that the metal on the inside of the seam can be fractured/fissured thereby inviting rust! Whilst you are repairing this fault, needless to say of course, follow up with treatment/sealing on the inside of the sill. Having said that, (forgive me if you know all of this), there are 3-4 drains in the bottom of the sill that must remain clear after all of this work has been done, particularly as you have a sunroof model (see my earlier raves on BMW sunroofs!).

HTH
Ken.

[benwalsh91]

Got in the garage again this weekend, only on the Saturday though i just didn't feel like it on Sunday.

i did take photos but i wont put them in here, realized this thread is just going to be pages and pages of a little bit more underseal removed.

next photo of the car will be all bare metal underneath. maybe. hopefully. not promising.

also done some research on primers etc etc so getting a plan together for that. starting to get excited again over this car.

[jamesd1972]

Nah share away, we can take vicarious joy in the progress !
James

[benwalsh91]

seeing as its a rainy day at work here is the last 2 weeks of progress:

another patch done to the underside:
Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

this unearthed some rather large dents and a couple holes. it looks like i can get to these from the inside so heat them up, hammer them out and weld the holes.

You can see these on the bottom part of the trans tunnel (American car so i can get away with calling it that)

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

and i love opening the garage to this view so here it is again for you guys, still dreaming of getting this e30 back on the floor and start to resemble a car!!

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Roll it over and grab hold of the angry vibrating machine.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Sweep the mess

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and get this back in the garage.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

[kevins]

You are over half way there!

I doubt those dents will need heat, they should tap out easily cold.

[benwalsh91]

well well well, where to start.

did i get it all done by the end of the year? nope. but i had a damn good try at it

i went into the garage and started noticing some flash rusting on the bare metal so first thing was to clean it up and i chucked some etch primer down on the old girl.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

then i just tidied up, cleaned up some areas and kept going.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

and this is where i have left it as of now (this was as of tuesday)

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

light at the end of the tunnel.

i have calculated aproximately 25 hours so far in taking this undercoat off the bottom of the car, which leads me to my next post.

i want to take a moment and thank the member of team and award you with employee of the year 2023:

I call him, Angie, or Big Ange

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[benwalsh91]

Still here, still going.

spent a bit of time in the garage this Sunday and we are almost there with the grinding now.

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Also hung a couple steering wheels up on to create a bit more wall art.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

I have taken Thursday off work with the plan to get the final bits of the stripping done to the e30 and get it all in primer. But i have a feeling the wife has other plans and i wont get as much time as i would like in there. LETS SEE!

[benwalsh91]

Well, it’s safe to say that Thursday did not go to plan.

[mrbounce]

Jan 29, 2024 19:45:01 GMT benwalsh91 said:

Well, it’s safe to say that Thursday did not go to plan.

Oops. Were you given "duties"?? 

[redratbike]

Jan 29, 2024 21:08:20 GMT mrbounce said:

Jan 29, 2024 19:45:01 GMT benwalsh91 said:

Well, it’s safe to say that Thursday did not go to plan.

Oops. Were you given "duties"?? 

we’ve all been there

i end up booking a days leave and not telling her pretend to go to work 🤣🤣🤣

[benwalsh91]

yeah it was a bit of that and i had to look at a vibration on the wife's x5 to find out the control arm bushes had completely broken and it looked like one of the discs had a slight warp in it.

so i decided to order a pair of discs, pads, pad wear sensor and the two bushings to do the other side whilst i was there and it took me all day. but at least that's done. found a couple other things to do to her x5 so i will get them bits ordered so i know her car is all good for a little while longer.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

[benwalsh91]

Got in a bit earlier from work yesterday and the garage had become a bit of a mess, it was workable but i didnt like how it was getting untidy so i gave it a good clean up an organise.

ready to get in there and make more progress on the e30 and i got some more bits to do to the x5 at some point.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

[redratbike]

that’s a nice size work space you have there

[benwalsh91]

I think it’s time we got some more progress done on this car!

[Davey]

May 22, 2024 8:01:18 GMT benwalsh91 said:

I think it’s time we got some more progress done on this car!

Watching with interest.

[benwalsh91]

I am still grinding but the end is in site!

trying to work out the best way to get into the hard to reach areas and behind the spare wheel well.

I have bought a sand blaster and waiting on some walnut to arrive and going to see if that helps. big mess incoming i am sure.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Also, to help with some build inspiration to get this damn thing back on the ground. to help motivate me i picked up some wheels for this thing. lol i know we are a long way off but the opportunity came about and they was a reasonable price.

16" BBS RS, will require a rebuild which i am fine with.

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr

[joem83]

Good work!
This is a bit late to the party, but I have just found out there are mobile dustless media blasters that come to you and blast stuff!