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more pics- back home from my out of town work trip, so back to work on the car.
drivers side door- not much exterior rust. the primer spots are nicks/ scratches in the paint that im fixing as i go

hood (bonnet) roller. its a bit rusty. may be able to salvage it

drivers side wing. found a small amount of rust on the very bottom

my wheels

front wheel

rear wheel

front lower valance removed to fix curb damage and catch a few hidden rust spots

my welding hood

well- i got to the passengers side door and found some major issues
this is an over all view of the door- notice the huge spots of primer

this is the biggest spot on the door. i sanded down tho the metal and found previous accident damage that looked like it was fixed by some 8 year olds. i didnt get a pic of it from the outside

this is what i found on the inside of the door. notice all the holes from the body repair.

this was another spot that i found. its at the front of the door


and some of you eagle eyed people may have noticed that i decided to go ahead and go without the trim. the missus was the final push

Looking very good, keep it up
Will you be replacing the rear bumper and subframe for a euro spec one?



Damn, I wasn't expecting a big hole like that under those lights. I guess mine will stay on for now then

thanks for the kind words and the encouragement. i have a front subframe to put the 2.3 liter 6 up front and i have the entire rearend for the back to swap from drum brakes to disc brakes.
the hole behind the lights wasnt too bad to fill. i cut a piece of steel, welded it in, ground the welds flat, then smoothed with some body filler. it took about two hours from start to finish. really looks a lot better now.
and i wish i had a set up euro bumpers to put on here. the 323 that i stripped for the swap had some on it but they were in shit condition

only got a little bit done today. had to contend with some rain and i got another job call. heading back out of town for a few days, and theres a trip to las vegas happening as well. heres the pics from today

passengers side b-pillar. only found these two little spots. was a bit surprised, in a good way though


this was under the rear pop-out window on the same side. this window has always leaked and i was again surprised by the lack of issues to contend with


after i return home i have to tackle the removal of the windshield ( windscreen) and rear window. have two big spots in the front at the lower edges of the window. the rear is coming out to make sure there are no more surpises. then the roof . after that- paint time

tyson 320i/323i wrote:

What are the holes? gun shots or something ?


J

the holes are from where the body repair was done. it looks like they drilled the holes through the door to be able to use a slide hammer to pull the dent back out. like i said, 8 year olds. it was a hack job at best. short of replacing the entire door skin , i have to fix it as best as i can. i treated the spots with some rust convertor and put a coat of paint over the area to seal it from the elements.

id say get another door!!!

J

doors that are in good condition in my area are as common as unicorns. the only two local scrapyards that deal in european cars dont have many parts to speak of for a 320. hell one of them didnt even know what a 320 was. its good enough for now, but i am certainly going to be mindful of the door and will be looking for a replacement

kool, well goodluck on the cars progress...

J

thank you sir. its a labor of love for sure. most of the neighbors dont get it, especially when there are two much newer bmw's in the driveway

tyson 320i/323i wrote:thank you sir. its a labor of love for sure. most of the neighbors dont get it, especially when there are two much newer bmw's in the driveway

LOOOL, no one can ever understand us guys with old cars, they think AH its old get rid of it and get a new car e.t.c., its the love of owning an old car and the pain of building it, its either you love it or hate it, i guess were just retro and love living in the past !!!


J

was very productive today
used these to fix my doors. they cost about three dollars at the local hardware store

filled in some more of the holes left from where the trim was. the fender right behind the drivers door

the holes filled on the passengers side

an unsuccessful removal of the windshield

this was one of the many spots found under the windshield gasket

another area

this was, by far, the worse spot under the gasket. i knew it was there but had no idea it was this bad. and to think i was hoping the rust was gone.


alpina- they do not get it at all. being retro is cool. sometime in the future we will be cool again

well i am back from my out of town work. it was crazy and i pulled many a long day. most of the shifts were 12 hours long, from 7 pm to 7 am monday to saturday. i went out and got the biggest spot on the windshield area fixed yesterday. just as i finished the sky's opened up and down came the rain. heading back out now and will get pics today. i promise.

well here are the pics as promised
the big nasty hole on the windshield area. welded up and smoothed out with some body filler


the same spot treated with some primer. looks so much better


the other side of the windshield area.


the last of the trim holes filled


my other welding hood