1986 BMW 326rb

[gt3guru]

I have always wanted to do a swap into my 318ti hatchback. What a sleeper my little butt-less car would make. then again a 357ti has a good ring to it too

[Method]

Newman,more updates please?

[newman]

OK guys.

Here's what's up.

The car is now sitting on a lift in my new apartment. In the past week or so i have completely removed everything from the chassis, with the exception of the doors, trunk lid and steering column. I removed the front and rear subrame to powdercoat them, along with the control arms, shock tubes, etc etc. (removing the rear wheel bearings and hubs was quite an epic process, requiring fabrication of tools and MUCH coaxing) Once they have been blasted and painted, i am going to scrape off all of the undercoating with a torch, scraper and wire wheel.

Taking it to the blasters was a MASSIVE misadventure. Essentially i got storage for the car for the price of them blasting VERY little of the car... except the WINDSHIELD. It had some slight burn marks in it before from welding, but now it's totally ruined, as there is a 6" diameter area that somehow got blasted. Whatever.

Now that the subframe is off i see a few areas that need some attention about rust. Initially this project was going to be a budget build, but obviously has spiraled out of control... At this point in time, i wish i had spent another couple grand on a shell, so i wouldn't have to deal with the issue of corrosion, but hindsight is 20/20... such is life. The integrity of the vehicle is not compromised, it's mostly aesthetic, yet a pain in the ass nonetheless.

Once i get the subframes coated and reassembled, i will snap some pics and update again.

[P90Puma]

Originally Posted by newman

Initially this project was going to be a budget build, but obviously has spiraled out of control.

Thanks for the update!

[newman]

I have repaired all of the rust on the chassis, this took a lot of welding, grinding, cutting and forming. I built mounts to connect the rust free front fenders to. I have stripped of much of the undercoating with a combination of heat, chemicals and scraping. While this all could have be avoided to a degree, my car is soon to be far cleaner than any other E30 i could have purchased for a reasonable price.

The subframes and suspension components have all been powdercoated.

In order to get the residue off the rest of the car, I am going to return it to the blasters with the subframes removed such that the underbody surface of the car is 100% clean. I will then paint the piss out of the underside of the car.

So now the car is ready to go to the blasters, but i didn't have a good way to get it on and off the trailer, so i made this chassis dolly. The 2 pins in the rear pick up the holes for the rear subframe and the front frame rails sit on the other end of the cart. I tried it out and it works great. The casters and wheels were only 40 bucks from harbor freight, and the steel was all FREE :snky: Sorry about the ****ty pics, i was planning on doing a huge picture update today, but my camera batteries died last night.

[KingOfJericho]

Is that a new rolling chassis?

[newman]

surprised there were no comments on the car in the background...

[KingOfJericho]

Is it yours? I noticed it but failed to comment. BTW that bike is effin rad.

[AnsisK]

It's your roomie's - he posted it in his introduction thread. Good story behind it too.

PS - can't wait for this to finish.

[newman]

Here are the brackets that i made to mount the car on the rotisserie. It's a 4X4X.375 wall tube. I drilled holes and welded some nuts to the outside to lock it. The inside is shimmed so it appropriately matches the outside of the main rotisserie tube. Perpendicular is a 1 1/4 SCH40 pipe that inserts into the bumper shock holes.



OK. The blaster was having some troubles with the wheel wells, so i came and ground out the heavy stuff so they can blast the rest off.

To get an idea of what the underbody looked like before it was blasted (i had already scraped a lot at this point):

YUCK!







Here is what it looked like when i showed up. You can still see that the wheel wells are more or less untouched:

PRETTY!









Then i used a wire wheel and a pistol grip sander to remove most of the rubber in the wheel wells. This **** was almost 1/8" thick in spots!!!!

[BrendanDolan]

I just got through all 6 pages, and all I can say is that is one hell of an impressive build up story. I was going to ask why you didn't just do a turbo S38 swap, but hey, something about having an RB26 in an E30 is just plain sexy. Cheers to a very cool and unique project!

[newman]

seam welded this b1tch today...

[newman]

Just drove to Massachusetts and back after work. Got back about 4:30AM. I picked up Euro Bumpers and an OEM Mech1 Body kit... Here's an example of these items on a black car (use your imagination and picture the fender flares on it)




Body kit looks like this... i think it will look even sweeter w/ the flares!:






MORE PICS OF THAT CAR HERE: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=103332

[newman]

Before anything else:

HUGE THUMBS UP TO JESSE AT BLAST OFF. He is a great guy. Not only did he deal with me working on my car at his shop, but he even helped me paint it. He is a real stand up dude. He is very honest about what he can and cannot do, and will work his ass off to make you happy. 10/10. If you need ANYTHING blasted, this is the guy to see...

Ok, i dropped about 200 bucks on paint supplies today. Gallon of Por15, Gallon of metal ready, Brushes, rags, towels etc.

Got to the BLAST OFF INC and got started right away. The first step was to coat the car with POR15 METAL READY.



It's an etching fluid that allows the por15 to stick. You brush it on and then hose it off. However, i had to sponge/wipe it off because i didn't have a hose. It leaves a zinc phosphate coating on the metal and helps with the adhesion of the paint. Here's what it looks like after it's all said and done:



The man, the legend. Mr. Blast Off himself



Now i turned to my can of POR-15 Rust Preventative Paint. This **** was almost 130 bucks, but i'm told is worth every penny.



You are not supposed to get this on your skin. That's what the warning on the top of the can is... It states that if it dries on your skin, it won't come off for weeks...

Needless to say, i am covered in it.

Including my face.

Fail.

I tried sanding it off my face.

Fail.

But the car came out great!!!













SHAMELESS DERRICK CORP PLUG FOR THE DUAL POOL MACHINE I DESIGNED



About 10 bucks worth of paint...




Overall, I am very pleased with the way it came out. It still needs another coat, as well as a topcoat of a regular paint, but I am confident that the shell will never rust again...

[Andrikos]

Great work!
Keep it up!

[MaineLotus]

Great writeup, hope you continue to post your progress!

[EspritMike]

Looks great. POR-15 is really amazing stuff.

TIP: put saran wrap over the can before you tap the lid back on. It will never come off again if you don't.

[newman]

Originally Posted by EspritMike

Looks great. POR-15 is really amazing stuff.

TIP: put saran wrap over the can before you tap the lid back on. It will never come off again if you don't.

already did that.

i actually read the directions and FAQ for both products very thoroughly.

[Andrikos]

Originally Posted by newman

already did that.

i actually read the directions and FAQ for both products very thoroughly.

Except the part where you wear gloves and other protections...

[newman]

Originally Posted by Andrikos

Except the part where you wear gloves and other protections...

I did wear gloves! but they failed at some point and actually spread the paint around... no excuse about the paint on my face though, i should have been wearing a face shield!

I don't care about looking dirty... it means i'm MANLY... or something.