Uwbuurman: 1978 323i polaris: almost done

[Jeroen]

A thread well worth following, THIS is how a thorough restore is done. Lots of respect for all the work you're putting in, and document it in a very detailed way as well!

[uwbuurman]

many thanks J.!

[Lars-Nord]

Still impresive work.

And we Are reading, Even if the photo's tell the story. Keep up the good story.

[uwbuurman]

Thanks Lars! later on, when I'm all the way updated you all wil see some restorations on the work that now is being done. In other words, what I'm posting now will be changed later on. But for that: keep looking here.

[uwbuurman]

With the new sidepanel the gap between panel and bootlid has to be straight and even. Well, it is!



This gap has tobe closed



And this is were we stand right now. A damaged multi coloured beat up e21…

[uwbuurman]

Almost to the day 3 years ago, July 15th 2011:

The right side is done, it’s ready!

The final chores have been done :
Welding under the taillight
Gap between side and rearpanel is closed.





And primered



Welded in the triangular shaped piece



And we started at the left side
Grainded off the sill and guess what, it nealy came apart by itselve
The only spots were it still was attached are the little blank spots in the middle of all the rust.



And we’ve cut out the floorpanel aswell, on this side the floor wasn’t welded to the chassisbar at all!!





The innersill is also very bad.





More to come.

[uwbuurman]

After cutting out all the rusted parts we replaced the floorpanel and the chassisbar at the left side!!!

At first we had to prep the chassisbar



And then the car for putting in the chassisbar





And fitted



To make it all like BMW intended a repairplate is made



And fitted



To make it look like factorywork some spotwelding



Just compare it to the otherside



Trottlebracket welded on to the new floor



And the floor fitted



This gap has to be closed and the inner sill has to be repaired.

[uwbuurman]

Monday July 19th 2011

We took off the outer sill and discovered this crap





Prepping the new sill



Prepping the innersill



Fitting them dry





And the day is gone, so more to come!

[uwbuurman]

Tonight we made a good haul but the camera was charged, so no “work in progress pics”

The floor/inner sill is ready, just needs to be grainded
The outersill is also welded on, also needs grainding

[uwbuurman]

July 21th 2011
We grainded of everything and spotwelded the sill on the lower side. Then we took of the antennamount on the Apillar, because my electric genuine BMW antenna will be put at the rear!

Grainded of the floor





Closing the holes from the antenna





And remounted the door

[uwbuurman]

Any comments so far? Just curious to know what you think of my work in progress...

[uwbuurman]

Seen what the car hided so far, it would be a real surprise what we would reveal after taking of the left sidepanel



The Bpillar is much more rotten then at the right side, but was nicely repaired







Doorcatcher is just as rusty as the other side



Grainded of the rust and primered it

And then we discovered this nice litthe hole in the wheelhousing/bootfloor



But we fixed it up again!



Wheelhouse is rotted in the middle and in the lower part





And fixed





And then, finally, the work on the sidepannel was started. Fitted it to size.





Checking all the gaps





This gap needs repairing



And than we have this!





On Monday we’ll fix the last work on the sidepanel

[uwbuurman]

My thoughs were to have the bodyshell put in a acidbath and then to be dipped in a paintbath. The acid will eataway all the paint, filler and left over sealant. But as it turned out, in the Cpillar, some plates between the skin are glued in, and smeared with sealant. But also the fuelcover, where the fillerneck is fitted (how the hell is that piece named?) is glued on to the sidepanel. If I was to put the car in an acidbath, those parts would desolve and let go. So thats not an option.

My new plan is stripping of all the paint and filler, have it sandblasted and then coated in expoyprimer. After the paintjob, I'll drown her in Dinitrol, so she'll never rust again!

[uwbuurman]

And the lift sidepanel is reattached!!

Here you see the panel being prepped



The glued parts





Spotwelding the wheelhouse





Rooftrim CO2 welded, windows spotwelded



And welded the sill



The gap underneath the taillight has to be closed and that triagular piece near the Bpillar has to be put in.





So in short: completion is near!!!! Next Friday she’s coming home!

[uwbuurman]