Uwbuurman: 1978 323i polaris: almost done

[uwbuurman]

Januar 9th, 2014

2013 ended with grinding down the welds on the floor/right sill. This is finished. I cleared the welds and repaired some old welds. The black spots in the metal is the spot were old metale meets new. But the black spots are signs of very thin metal, and still not flat.



So I cut it out and welded in a plate.



And finished



And some protective coating.

[uwbuurman]

After that I had two more chores to finish the right floorpanel.

1. Repair the floor, frontside
2. Seat mount repairs and putting it back.

I started with the floor. First cut out the section.



The old part (thats actually brand new) and the new replacement (actually old, because from a 1978 donor)

[uwbuurman]

The new piece stichwelded in. On top you’ll see a bolt, thats temporarely, because I can’t clamp it down here.



Last part of the edge in.





And all welded.





And grinded down.

[uwbuurman]

So job 1 was down, 1 to go! Here I pop riveted the seatbracket in, so I could mark the exact location it needs to be. I want the seat to be lined out an upright, ofcourse. Damage to the top and bottom of the bracket.



Damage repaired and all primered up.



Placed and welded.



Grinded and primered



And the rest aswell





Next step will be finishing the underside and mounting the supportbracket. After that the whole right side, from boot to bulkhead is ready! After that, the leftside, and then the front is up!

[uwbuurman]

Friday, January 10th 2014.

I flipped the car on it’s side, so I could work on the floor. I started with the welds on the floor.

[uwbuurman]

After that I started the work on the “how do we call this thing”, It’s generally called a jackpoint, but that’s not what it is, it’s a transportationbracked from the factrory, assumably for mounting on the productionline/ belt tru the factory. I call it the transportationbracket.



Bracket itselve cleaned up and primered. Old holes I can re-use.



Welded and finished.



And primered.



Finished job. I very happy with the edge and the ridge. This is how it looked in 1978!

[uwbuurman]

Right side of the floor ready, so time for the deassembly of the “radhausträger”, German to english translation: wheelhousecarrier. Anyway, I mean the triangular shaped plates, on which you mount the frontwings. These are repaired somewere in the past by Brové. Well, repaired, more f#cked them up…



Bad welds, rotting again.



Bad joints, crappy finishing

[uwbuurman]

Took apart the lowerside. Looks like a mouse had a litter here.



Rust and misery, the weld in the front never stitched, breaks away easily.





Not very good to see, but here are 3 pieces of metal joined, and apparently Brové never used a coating of some kind.

[uwbuurman]

Upperside is still original, so attached very well.



This is the replacedment part I need to clean. Look at the number of welds. I count 18, Brové used exactly 1. ONE!. Wankers. They still amaze my.



From the top:
Old and rotten
Old and repaired
New and type 2, W&N



What’s the difference between type 1 and 2? Gap in the middle, type 1 is not round. The edge on top, that fits around the vinnumber. The are perfectly interchangeable, but that’s not how it should be . The advantage of the type 2 is, that that one can be attached to the inner wing, unther the chassisnumber.
Type 1:



Type 2:

[uwbuurman]

Dry fitting, sits perfect.





The point is cutoff when it was gained from the donor. I will repair this, before I weld it in.



Than two little facts:

1. apparently the little clamps for screws were already on, BMW dipped the car in the paintbath.



2. Apparently Brové didn’t need to sand before they painted. The paint can be scratched off easily… *off to get a drink…*

[Jeroen]

Such restore specialists at Brové. Or should I say suck? Incredible, and they really had a good name back in the day... but there must be more people suffering from this!

Anyway, thanks for more detailed updates sir!

[uwbuurman]

yeah, they really suck, Jeroen! In the last couple of years I've meet some more owners of former Brové restaurations. You wouldn't believe it if you saw it. Very nice E9's totally f*** up. Last month i saw a 1602 full cabrio, took about 35k euro to get it right again, while Brové restored it some 5 years back.

[uwbuurman]

In the meanwhile on the leftside of the car:

The fuel- and brakelines are mounted in plastic brackets, and screwed on a welded bush on the floor. Those were not in a good nick on my car, some screws were rotten, so the head broke off. And also a pin borke off. Those pins hold the rubber bulkheadcover and insulationshields around the gearbox.

Drilled holes in the right places. Look how the W&N panel is nog formed correctly. To bad but I’ll survive.







Welded.

[uwbuurman]

Oh and just for fun:

From this:



to this:

[uwbuurman]

Groentje_me sandblasted and sprayed some parts for me! Jan, thanks mate!
Damage to the one triangle is more than I bargained for, but it’s repairable.