I'm starting to strip out my E30

My car is mechanically sound. I always focussed on the mechanics instead of "creature comforts", and being a bachelor certainly allowed me to take that to the extreme. Now I have a "civilized" E46, and I'm thinking I'll turn the E30 into more of a "machine" in the ultimate driving sense.

In neglecting creature comforts, water intake was never solved well. I didn't care if the carpets were trashed, and recently it has gotten worse. The recent clutch cylinder work dumped a lot of brake fluid into the pedal area.The carpet was already wet there, and the back isn't great. The trunk has always always leaked, and there is the classic E30 fish pond on the left hand side. So I've decided to rip it all out. At some point I will either decide to restore it, or more likely call it a track car and keep it in an uncivilized, light, loud(interior wise), and machine like state.

I'll use this thread to document what I do and my progress. Feel free to leave tips or ask questions

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1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles
2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles

Yesterday I cleaned everything out of the trunk. It's bare metal back there now.
The back seats, seat belts, and associated carpet is also gone.

Next up is to remove the front seats and the carpet up front, which I read is a bear to do. Apparently BMW installed the carpet and then plunked the heater core and center console right now on top of it. I may just cut the carpet away and leave what is under the console.

It'll be interesting to see just how bad the flooring is under the carpet and insulation. I'm hoping not to find too much if any rust under there.

We're having borderline spring days out here in Washington. Quite odd. Nice for dinking around with cars though

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles
2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles

Quote
Earendil
Yesterday I cleaned everything out of the trunk. It's bare metal back there now.
The back seats, seat belts, and associated carpet is also gone.

Next up is to remove the front seats and the carpet up front, which I read is a bear to do. Apparently BMW installed the carpet and then plunked the heater core and center console right now on top of it. I may just cut the carpet away and leave what is under the console.

It'll be interesting to see just how bad the flooring is under the carpet and insulation. I'm hoping not to find too much if any rust under there.

We're having borderline spring days out here in Washington. Quite odd. Nice for dinking around with cars though

You might want to seal the taillights so the trunk will dry out and stay dry.

Quote
Earendil
At some point I will either decide to restore it, or more likely call it a track car and keep it in an uncivilized, light, loud(interior wise), and machine like state.

If you do make it a track car (and I'll heartily approve that suggestion), my biggest piece of advice would be to build it to a particular class for a particular governing body. I've seen too many people build generic track cars, and when they go to compete with it, find that it doesn't fit the rules for anybody's class. That means they're faced with either more unexpected work to meet the rules, or run in a class for which it's hopelessly unsuited.

One good place to start would be with the rules for Spec E30. Another possibility would be the ITA class for SCCA. Even if you're not planning to compete in those classes, at least the possibility is there for the future, and if you decide to sell it as a track car, it will be a lot more saleable.

Good luck with the project!

__________
Dave
'91 325iX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2011 03:46PM by Dave_G.

Quote
rkj

Quote
Earendil
Yesterday I cleaned everything out of the trunk. It's bare metal back there now.
The back seats, seat belts, and associated carpet is also gone.

Next up is to remove the front seats and the carpet up front, which I read is a bear to do. Apparently BMW installed the carpet and then plunked the heater core and center console right now on top of it. I may just cut the carpet away and leave what is under the console.

It'll be interesting to see just how bad the flooring is under the carpet and insulation. I'm hoping not to find too much if any rust under there.

We're having borderline spring days out here in Washington. Quite odd. Nice for dinking around with cars though

You might want to seal the taillights so the trunk will dry out and stay dry.

Keeping the trunk from ever leaking is on the to-do list, because if BMW didn't believe in cup holders, I doubt they believe in fish ponds.

But I'm not so sure it isn't the antenna seal. Since I plan to removethe antenna and seal the hole, I'll way until that is done to determine where the leak is.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles
2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles

Quote
Dave_G

Quote
Earendil
At some point I will either decide to restore it, or more likely call it a track car and keep it in an uncivilized, light, loud(interior wise), and machine like state.

If you do make it a track car (and I'll heartily approve that suggestion), my biggest piece of advice would be to build it to a particular class for a particular governing body. I've seen too many people build generic track cars, and when they go to compete with it, find that it doesn't fit the rules for anybody's class. That means they're faced with either more unexpected work to meet the rules, or run in a class for which it's hopelessly unsuited.

One good place to start would be with the rules for Spec E30. Another possibility would be the ITA class for SCCA. Even if you're not planning to compete in those classes, at least the possibility is there for the future, and if you decide to sell it as a track car, it will be a lot more saleable.

Good luck with the project!

Wonderful advice! And I'm all over it
The plan right now is to aim for PRO3. They are the biggest E30 league here in the NW, and it's primarily a stock configuration with avoided weight limit. That will keep me from going overboard with modifications. And the idea is that I'd sell it to that crowd if I ever decide I don't have the time/money/energy to go that far. In the mean time it'll be a fun track and autocross car

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles
2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles

Quote
Earendil

Quote
rkj

You might want to seal the taillights so the trunk will dry out and stay dry.

Keeping the trunk from ever leaking is on the to-do list, because if BMW didn't believe in cup holders, I doubt they believe in fish ponds.

But I'm not so sure it isn't the antenna seal. Since I plan to removethe antenna and seal the hole, I'll way until that is done to determine where the leak is.

The "easy fix" is to open the plugs at the bottom of the trunk, so water gets out faster than in...
The disadvantage is the ingress of some road dirt and noise, but nothing to worry about...

JP