Savin Big Money Project Thread
-
I would be WAY TOO afraid to ever remove that rats nest.
so why all the work? Restore?
-
Haha oil stains are from the Toyota, it leaves a puddle every time you park it. I just top it off and giver.
The wires don't scare me, but I am an electrician/controls technician so wiring and diagrams are a daily thing for me. Without the ETM I would be screwed. It has pretty much turned into a restoration. This phase will include repairing all rust, seam welding, already installed reinforcements, buying lots of tools, painting everything except the outer body.
I realize this much work could be better spent on something besides an e36 but although they do not have the classic style I like how this car drives better than older or newer BMWs. I plan to have this car for a long time so that makes me feel better about spending money on a worthless car. In another 20 years the kids will be ooohing and ahhhing over a "classic" e36.
-
Should be the same thing, it is all in the front except for the sensors to the rear. You have to get 2 pins out of the blue plug that goes to the cluster and unhook a couple of those spade connector terminal jumper things that are in the black insulators. I think it might be necessary to disassemble the fuse box but you already did that. I have some additional pics if you need them. Mostly just patience is required.
-
Haha oil stains are from the Toyota, it leaves a puddle every time you park it. I just top it off and giver.
The wires don't scare me, but I am an electrician/controls technician so wiring and diagrams are a daily thing for me. Without the ETM I would be screwed. It has pretty much turned into a restoration. This phase will include repairing all rust, seam welding, already installed reinforcements, buying lots of tools, painting everything except the outer body.
I realize this much work could be better spent on something besides an e36 but although they do not have the classic style I like how this car drives better than older or newer BMWs. I plan to have this car for a long time so that makes me feel better about spending money on a worthless car. In another 20 years the kids will be ooohing and ahhhing over a "classic" e36.
Hey. Kids dump thousands of dollars into civics. del sols, integras and so on everyday. If they can justify it. Then so can you!
-
Did a little work on Saturday, got started with seam welding in the engine bay. I am not the best with mig welding, using .023 wire and 75/25 gas. The biggest problem is probably the seam sealer that is stuck in the cracks and pops when welding. Any tips are appreciated. I will be borrowing a tig welder from a guy at work, I have done quite a bit of tig at work on stainless.
-
Looking good man!
-
Every time you make progress it makes me want any e36 again.
-
Not any e36, a rust free one only lol. I haven't gotten much done due to 50 - 60 hour weeks at work since April. Hopefully it slows down soon. We are making spam now, just commissioned the batching/grinding system last week. Soon the place will be too full for anything else.
Sent from my potato phone
-
Yes! Rust FREE!!! That's becoming quite a unicorn. By the time I finally do get another one for a project car it's gonna be damn impossible.
-
Borrowing a TIG welder to make it look real fancy. The bay is coming along well. I got an x-brace from Jawa and a set of chrome hella headlights with the celis angel eyes from BFC. They have no housings so it might be interesting, also not sure about the chrome but I can always paint that.
-
This thing needs to see the road this year!
1984 BMW 528e - SETA and manual swapped! M50 to come!!!
1988 BMW 528e - Need parts?
1991 Chevy C1500 (mighty 350 with TBI and Wisconsin weight reduction package)
1996 Mazda Miata (SOLD!!!)
1996 BMW 325i (Donor car)
1998 Chevrolet Corvette (BEAST)
2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee (BROKEN)
-
Are the welds themselves burning out the seam dealer or is that just getting buried?
The welding burns it out, some just takes longer. The TIG works well because I can add heat but not filler to flow the MIG weld out smoother and burn out impurities.
-
This thing needs to see the road this year!
It will, As soon as the bathroom is done this is top priority.
-
Well hello there. I am not in Wisconsin anymore unfortunately. I got a promotion/sidemotion and am working at the Hormel engineering R&D facility now. Basically a custom machine building shop that only supplies Hormel Foods. Very near Albert Lea Minnesota if anyone is ever passing through hit me up. We sold our House in Platteville to another BMW guy that I met on a cruise so the BMW tradition continues there.
We rented a house for a little bit in Albert Lea while we were house hunting. We ended up buying a place in the country just into Iowa, yea surrounded by cornfields, pretty lame scenery after growing up in central Wisconsin and then living in Platteville but oh well.
So we found a place with 2.5 acres on a blacktop road which was difficult to find. 2 bedroom ranch house that is structurally in excellent shape but it was a foreclosure so the price was right. We made a few modifications to the inside which were a little different because it was a modular home (ships in two halves and lifted with a crane onto the basement) So the center wall was pretty important because the trusses are two halves rather than spanning the whole house. We wanted it to be open between the living room and the kitchen/dining room. We took some siding off the end of the house and cut a hole to bring two 16" x 30' LVL headers which I glued/and lag screwed to the trusses so I could remove 17' of wall below. It worked great, I preloaded it upwards 1/4" while fastening the beam and when loaded it only came back down 1/16".
Old view
New View
Also put in some rustic hard maple flooring and rearranged the kitchen cabinets to work with the new layout.
There is a 2 car attached garage so the BMW has a resting place for now.
It has a "chicken barn" that is 18x40' which isn't in great shape but I'm repairing to be dry inside. I put steel on the roof and replaced the rotten boards on the walls and repainted part of it.
ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD a 32x42' barn from around 1920.
The roof was beyond repair on the other side from leaking and rotting the roof. I found an Amish guy, Gideon, that would tear it down for free in exchange for the timbers. Here are a few pictures of the demolition. He did it in 5 days by himself with no power tools. You can see how bad the roof was bowed in. The arched beams were 7 stacked 1x2 boards held together with carriage bolts every 18".
He is in the process of rebuilding it right now.
Current status.
I will be pouring a new floor with tubes for hydronic heat in the spring. The downstairs is just over 12'6" height so I can fit a lift.
Side note, Amish guys have cool tools. Yes a dewalt chop saw with a gas engine. Everything else including the screws attaching the steel on the exterior he does by hand.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login