E3 owners - where are you...?

On recent searches of the internet for parts, I came across a full red leather trim with door cards, head rests and centre consol for £200 - a bargain! I snapped it up and am really pleased as whilst it is not perfect it is exceptional for a 35+ year old trim. Plus, my car has a tired, but servicable, cloth trim, so I was pleased to find this;

I'm loving the red leather!

I have fitted the rear seatbelts out of my mates trackday E30 coupe that he is building, as the old BMW didn't have any. They mount on the rear shelf, as in the E30 and the shelf has been reinforced with welded plate, etc. They look a bit ugly, so I have been working on modifying the E30 parcel shelf as it covered the belt reals and has neat covers for the belts to emerge from. The shelf fitted side to side but was too wide to fit between the rear glass and back of the seat. So I have been busy with the jigsaw and no-more-nails. It will be trimmed in black accoustic carpet and the holes will be covered so the speakers will be hidden too. I know it all looks a bit Blue Peter, but I am hopeful it will look almost factory when finished.

Cheers,

Martin.

Edited by BMW250L - 08 Sep 2010 at 10:56pm

Spent the day on the car yesterday and was all on my own in the workshop for most of the day, so got loads done - well, I say loads....

Anyway, onto my car, I fitted the rear panel insert with double sided tape and Tiger Seal;

Trimmed the double sided tape and sorted the new gasket seals for the rear laps. A dab of Tiger Seal to hold them in place and a smear of Vaseline to assist assembly and it all went together rather well;

TC.

More fiddling required to get the rear shelf to fit.

Original seat belt covers from the E30, which donated the shelf, fit perfectly and give the OEM look;

I then marked the holes and cut the holes for the headrests. They fit nicely after a little tweak;

Need to get some accoustic carpet and cover the self to finish it off.

Mart.

 

Started on the steering too. The steering arms were cleaned up with the wire wheel on the bench grinder, along with the steering idler. They were then etch primed and painted BMW Jet Black. The adjusters were re-zinc'd, along with the fittings. New track-rod ends;

The steering box was given the refurb treatment too - hung to dry before refitting;

Cheers,

TC.

Oh, god-damn, blast and bugger it!

I've just noticed that I have mounted the side/headlamps on the inside and the spot/main beam on the outside... i.e the wrong way round!

What a cock!

Oh well, another 30 mins to rectify.....

Hope your taking this to Gaydon 2011 as I would love to see this in the flesh.Keep up the superb work,great to see a proper old BMW being brought back to life.

Posted on behalf of Martin who can't post at the moment:

Lost a few weeks in October and November, but have cought up in December. I ended up with 11 days holiday left at the end of the year, so took a week of in December and had time off between Christmas and New Year, so things have progressed.

Steering box fitted;

Throttle linkage refurbished and refitted;

The decided to look at the interior - off the ramp, doors open;

Hoovered the floors ready for sound deadening to be fitted;

Re-wrapped the wiring loom throughout the car;

Painted repairs to rear wheel arches, which were completed some time ago, but needed a coat of paint to protect;

Scotchbrited, etch primed - then painted BMW Jet Black - forgot to take a pic...

Last year when I undersealed the car I injected all the box sections with a copious amount of wax protection. The only items left to do was the doors - I have not waxed the inside of the doors as I did not want the wax to affect the Bodyshop doing the paint as the doors have drain holes in the bottom and the wax would get potentially thoruogh and contaminate the painted surfaces during prep. So, the kit came out once more to fill the doors;

That should keep the rust at bay!  :thumb:

More to follow!

Cheers,

Martin.

Edited by Motorhead - 21 Jan 2011 at 3:01pm

May be asking you for help soon as just got an E3 in for some work

Good to chat - when I get the servos out and inspected may be giving you another call -Neil

Finished the Dynamat ready for the new carpet to go in;

Then finished my 'Blue Peter' rear shelf, which I fashioned from a cut-down BMW E30 325i shelf (donated, along with rear seat belts by Rob, thnaks!), I covered the shelf in accoustic carpet and used spray adhesive - it went rather well and I think the finished product looks quite OEM;

Then the carpet started to go in. I bought a new, reproduction carpet from a company in Germany - a full kit, to original spec, all the various peices, to the correct sizes, with all the bindings, etc. It's a really nicely made carpet set - for a Left Hand Drive car.....  what a dummy, the front carpets don't fit! Thankfully the guys in Germany have taken my old RHD carpets and are making replacements for me, so a slight delay, but no drama....

Cheers,

Mart

 

Then came the brake rebuild....

Having acquired a set of CSL callipers, I had them refurbished by BiggRed in Worcester. The Callipers came with a new looking set of ventilated discs and pads;

I painted the bells, so they don't corode, a couple of coats were needed;

Pulled all the handbrake shoe parts and adjuster out of the storage bags and worked out how they all fit together - it's been over 18 months since I took it apart - gave them a good clean up and fitted them up;

The rear hubs/discs on my Saloon version must be slightly different to the Coupe (CSL) version as the rear disc will not sit flush on the hub, so requires an 8mm spacer, between the hub and the back of the disc, which I have ordered and will fit this weekend. That kind of stopped work at the back, as I couldn't fit the callipers without the discs fitted. So, it was onto the front end;

Rather strangly the front discs fit behind the hub - I'd clearly forgotten this since taking it apart and had refitted the hubs to get the car rolloing over a year ago - So, we have to carefully remove the hubs/bearings and fit the discs;

So, what's next?

Radiator has been re-cored after failing a pressure test - it has had a greater number of 'row's fitted that original in a dual-core arrangement at the same width as the original - I understand this will be far more efficient.

Brake & Clutch Master Cylinders - New replacements will be fitted to the bulkhead along with the assosiated plumbing and new replacement twin servo's.

Then, the fully built up engine can go in! I'm seriously considering buying new replacement twin Weber carbs as the Solex originals are crap, I am led to believe, so not wanting to waste my money on refurbishing the old one, only for them to be a complete pain, I might have to bite the bullet.

Once the RHD carpet turns up I can get that in and then get the leather seats in and centre consoles, etc.

There's much more that that to do.... bumpers, brake and fuel plumbing, electrics, glass.....

Better get on with it!!!

Mart.