Non-BMW Stuff on a BMW Forum

gilber33

jc43089 said:

Maybe measure the length of the sleeves on the original bushings and trim these to match?

That is a really good idea had I not thrown the old ones away after I melted them.

gilber33

Bushings flush on the arm and the sleeve flush on one side. This is how much it sticks out.

Sleeves trimmed and test fitted. I have new poly grease coming from amazon to lube it all up.

straight6pwr

that looks better!

gilber33

Passenger footwell done.

Found these two little rust holes under the rear seat. Anyone know what’s right there? Both sides have a small hole in the exact same place.

I found this other rust hole. Any suggestions on fixing this one? Removing the battery cable to make access would be easy, but the rest of the hoses are fuel vent lines, correct? And they look like they would be rather difficult to move out of the way.

And needs a couple more coats, but the carpets are getting there. They look stripey because after each coat I have been brushing it in. It’s dry this morning and looks significantly better.

Also had some beer going while I was working tonight.

straight6pwr

not 100% sure, but the brackets for the two rear gas tank mounting bolts might be hung under those square sections. I've never had the gas tank out of an e30, so I do not know for sure.

this under chassis picture leads me to believe they are, and the three rust spots you're seeing on them are the spot welds that hold that bracket on.

gilber33

I believe you are correct. I looked at my posts earlier of under the car and those brackets seem to line up when comparing them to the grommets where wires pass through the floor. I was going to just do a topical patch with seam sealer, but I need to pull all the tank vent lines to fix that hole in the wheel well, so it might just make sense to pull the tank out and properly fix those two spots. They’ll be easy ones to fix.

gilber33

Confirmed tank mounts are what’s rusted out.

straight6pwr

glad you caught this now instead of later when your tank would be riding on top of your driveshaft!

gilber33

straight6pwr said:

glad you caught this now instead of later when your tank would be riding on top of your driveshaft!

I didn’t even think about that since these are the only two brackets on the backside of the tank.

gilber33

One down. Marked some guidelines for the mount.

Cut it out. Then cut a patch piece and used the mount cut out from the car for some guidelines on the patch. Cut off the actual mount and welded it on to the new metal.

And then welded that into the car.

Coated the seams with seam sealer and then will do the same as the footwells and coat it with Por15.

jc43089

Nice work!

gilber33

jc43089 said:

Nice work!

Thank you!

Got the rest of the interior matted and carpet back in.

I also pulled out all the vent hoses. I will need to cut down the pass through pipe in the car as the end of it was rotten.

My goal now is to start getting things back on the car: rear subframe, interior, gas tank, etc. I need to free up space to get my wife’s car back in the garage and I have struts and shocks for the wagon to do.

gilber33

Got the rear subframe back in (more like resting back in its place)! It was kind of annoying how difficult it is to get back in if it’s not completely straight. But it is one less thing on the floor.

And the underside of the new fuel tank mounts. The seams have seam sealer, Por15, and then underbody coating

Went to Home Depot for Black Friday and got a new pair of work gloves and a Husky 650 ft lb pneumatic impact. I had the grinder with a flap disc slip and go through a thin pair of work gloves and fillet the top of my finger. I’m always going to some type of reinforced glove going forward.

Jdesign

gilber33 said:

Went to Home Depot for Black Friday and got a new pair of work gloves and a Husky 650 ft lb pneumatic impact. I had the grinder with a flap disc slip and go through a thin pair of work gloves and fillet the top of my finger. I’m always going to some type of reinforced glove going forward.

Ive been there. Weird how it takes that one time to change your mind on safety LOL.

Progress is looking good!

gilber33

Haven’t done much to the bmw. Tonight I painted the seat rails with Por15 to clean them up.

And then I was putting in the heater core and there is this gap at the bottom of the heater core and heater box. I can only assume there is supposed to be some insulation there? I ordered a behr unit and they only gave me enough to wrap around the sides of it. Am I correct there should be a strip of insulation that covers this gap? If so, what can I do/use since I don’t have any more with the new core that I ordered. I removed and tossed out the old one without thinking of looking at how it should be installed

straight6pwr

looks like the original behr units had some foam there. (picture from internetz)

attachment.php?attachmentid=259453&d=129

looks like the one I isntalled in my e30 in 2017 is exactly like yours, and I left the gap unknowingly. *shrug* (picture from when I replaced mine). this could explain why my center console storage area right below the HVAC controls seems to get some hot airflow and gets pretty warm LOL

gilber33

lol. I found that picture, too. I didn't know if I was supposed to use some of the provided insulation or if there was some type of "gasket" for it. The Behr unit definitely did not have enough foam to do the heater core and this area. I'll pick some stuff up from the hardware store. Someone sent me this image on R3V:

gilber33

Now that I finished the suspension overhaul on the wagon and things are calming down a bit with the 2.5 week old, I spent some time in the garage. Rear subframe is bolted in now. Parking brake mechanisms installed. Removed the AC evaporator to check for any leaks. Other than being super dirty, I don’t see anything that makes me suspicious of it. Lots of bent fins, but I’ll go through and straighten them back out as much as I can.

Cut out the rust where the vent lines exit. Marked up where the opening will need to be after it’s patched. Using some plastic tubing to run the lines through the car and then will use seam sealer where it exits the car to keep it in place.