Uwbuurman: 1978 323i polaris: almost done

[uwbuurman]

See what I mean?



To get it tot roll over the dead point on top of the sidebar, the whole car had tot be lifted al most upside down.

[jimbob]

Oh yes they are much taller than the roof , do they flex much with the whole weight on one side?

Great idea for easy access to the underside

[uwbuurman]

Less than an inch, is has a diagonal support bar

[uwbuurman]

[uwbuurman]

Well then, here my next proof of stupidity of the “official BMW restorer” who restored my e21 back in ’99.
The dustplates from the rear axle are totally gone. But not just that, they are horribly repaired, just welded a plate on top of the rust. In a time that brand new ones just costed around 10 quit. Really unbelievable, that Brové. I’ll order some new ones tomorrow.

[uwbuurman]

Some better pictures than my crapy Nokia 0,03 mp fotos. Now some less crapy HTC One fotos.

I found some troubled metal. The first operation lead me to cut away some rotten material. This is what I found.











The outer wheelhouse has also some substantial rust damage. It has to come off, but I can’t reach is very well.



Not to good. I can’t reach the spot all the way, and to leave it half and half rusted, getting me a rusted spot again in some time, does not suit me at all. The speed I’m working with, it’s rusted again before I’m finished…

Only way to repair it propperly is to get the enforcementplate out. I rather did leave it as it was, but I have no choice. Drill the hell out of it!





That’s better, more space to work!



And to get a good picture, this is where the rotten part sits in the new wheelhouse.

[uwbuurman]

And I collected a box at the local BMW stealer.
these:



I replaced with these:



And I got me bunch of those selflocking bolts for the rearaxle mount on the long pins.

[uwbuurman]

The rotten piece near the axle mount is gone. Under the double plate I found a 10ct piece, dated 1975. Fits the hole exactly, I’m very curious to know who lost it there and what they where doing on that backseat losing money.



I gave the rotten area a good look The outer wheelhouse is beyond repair, so new metal has to be bought… Probably a whole new outer wheelhouse, for just a small part.



At the rear I also ripped out a rotten part and there is a weld aswell. This needs to be repaired aswell.



I sandblasted the part that remains in the car, thats a whole other look!



For protection I painted it in primer



And then I had to fabricate a new piece of innersill. I held on to the old rotten parts to use as a mould.



In my very expensive folding bench, and then it’s ready!



In the end a little edge hammered in to it and then we have this.



Roughly it fits, but for the detailed fit its gonna be sanding down, I guess. But thats not before the outer wheelhouse is repaired.

[uwbuurman]

So I went to the Stealer, again, got me a new piece of metal, again. The rear wheelhouse on a e21 consists of two parts. The inner part is larger and contains the shockmount. Those were very much dead in my car, but the smaller outer wheelhouses looked alright. But on this side there are pieces to be replaced on both ends of the outer one, and what works better than brand new BMW replacements? NOS of course!



In an attempt to get a solution for the rotten floor edges against the inner sill, I searched for some of those wiringharnas clamps. Originaly the car has 7 of those clamps, but mine are far from original. So I asked around for the measurements. On both side the car has rotten edges, only on the left the car has those clamps, since thats the only side with a wiringharnas.



In the front in my floor I welded in some new W&N imitation panels. Nice of model and fit, but the egde on the side is the wrong way around! It goes down instead of up. Due to not having the edge up, on that part there are no clamps. In short, irritation all around. There is no donormaterial, all e21 have the same problem at this point. So I took measures, detailed, and had one of my staff draw it in Autocad. Had it hydrojeted out of new sheetmetal and bend. That left me with two new edges, and 6 clamps on the right places!

[uwbuurman]

On the front of the car there are some lame old repairs with lots of filler and sealant. To repair all of that, after the rear is done, I need a lot of donormaterial. My friend Jan had a breaker, which I can use so I picked up a piece of that one.







Had my little kids with me, and they where lucky! They got a delicious icecream from Jan’s mum. I’m happy with the donor, they where happy with their icecream!
On the way home I drove the E91 through a write-off barrier…

[danielson_dan]

You should change the name of this topic from "restoring" in "fabricating a car from scratch"

[uwbuurman]

Done whaha, LOL

There is a Dutch member who always says: some guys take a good car and put a new vinnumber in, but Koos took a vinnumber and build a car around it.

[jbe21]

[uwbuurman]

[uwbuurman]

Sunday August 11, 2013.

This is were I left off.



The rotten parts is all gone, apart from the lower corner of the outer wheelhouse. Thats attached to the outside of the sill, in the middele on the pic, and is actually inside (still following this??) The biggest part is cut out.



Thats from this spot. Where the sill is attached to the wheelhouse, some bits of metal are left. Those I will remove later on.