I bought my '93 325is from a guy that hauls junk cars about a year ago. I have been gathering parts for it over the last eight months. The bad news was that the car had live up north for awhile. The bottom of the fenders were GONE as well as the part of the body they attach to. It had also been in a minor wreck. The good news was that it only had 117K, was a stick, and had a LSD. The interior is so so. The best price was the price, $650.

I have obtained a full set of Bilsteins w/ Eibach springs, a set of style 68s, as well as the required body parts. I'll keep posting pictures as it comes together. This week I started on the rust repair. I'm using the free metal from the upper part of the fenders to make the patch panels. If anybody has a tan drivers door panel, I need one. Mine is beat!

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics. I don't like having the good camera in the shop environment.









After cutting out the rust.



Patch welded in.

 

It looks like quite a project. But from the pictures, you are pretty good with the torch. Please keep posting your progress. I would like to see how much it will cost at the end.

 

Clarke - Can't wait to see the build-out and the final project.....THAT's AWESOME bro...

 

I was a little rusty (no pun intended) with the mig. It is one of those things that you loose the touch for if you don't do it regularly. The last time I did any amount of welding is when we were building our e30 race car at the shop a couple of years ago. So far my only cost is the car's purchase price. Everything else has been on the barter system, etc. My new fenders and grill were a gift from my boss when we had a kick *** month at the shop. The shocks and springs came from a car we parted out. The biggest expense will be for the paint work.

 

Awsome project! As others have said, please post pics of the progress.

Chris

 

that looks like it will be a fun project.

 

Spent the last couple of nights finishing up the rust repair. The right side was much worse than the left.

Making a template:



Metal all welded in and etch primed:



Seam sealer added to cover the welds:




First test fit of the new panels:



More info to follow as the project comes along.

 

Looking good Clarke......keep us posted...

 

Finally got some more free time to work on the rust bucket. This weekend's work consisted of doing a major service to the car: fluids, filters, plugs, etc. While the cooling system was empty I upgraded the t-stat housing to an aluminum piece and changed out the radiator hoses for some Samco silicone hoses. Also replaced the busted alternator duct.





Spent a couple of hours scrubbing the style 68 wheels that came from a parts car. There must have been al least five years of brake dust on these things. Replaced the front struts and springs with some Bilstein sports w/Eibach springs that came from the same donor car. I power washed the inner fender area while the struts were out. Lots of dirt sticks up in there. Next I trimmed the lip from the rear wheel opening so I can run some nice sized rubber back there.

 

Well it's been a while since I had a chance to work on the e36. The front suspension got new control arms with HD outer ball joints (for those that don't know e36s, the have these terrible outer ball joints that have a rubber surround in them that has lots of give and flex in them. The HD ball joints get rid of that rubber and have a larger ball and socket)

While I was cleaning out the rear wheel wells, I found ANOTHER rust hole. This thing had to have lived in Michigan for most of its life.



Hell what's another patch panel at this point?



I also decided to remove the texture that BMW has on the rockers. The rockers are going to get painted body color, not that ugly dark gray that came from the factory.



Rockers all primed.



The best part is that it is starting to look like a car again! I finally got down to my friend's house to pick up the fenders that he cut in for me. I spent some time hanging the new fenders. The panel gaps aren't too bad, considering that they are aftermarket fenders.





Hoping to get some time to work on it this weekend, maybe get my hood back to the shop so it can go on.

 

^^^DAMN CLARKE!!! Great job thus far man. I couldn't do this if you asked me to!!!! I'll eat a donut while I watch....hahahaha.

 

I haven't had a chance to update this in a while. I have spent the last few evenings after work stripping all the trim from the car. I had Champion Auto Glass remove the windshield.



I have removed the trim above and below the windows, sunroof seal, all lights, etc.





All loaded up in the trailer to go to the painter this morning!!!

 

Looks great so far!

 

It looks good. Keep us posted with the progress!

You going back with the same color?

 

Staying the same color. The color is really nice when it is clean. Also didn't want to get into all that is required to do a color change correctly.