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Either that, or she wants him in the shed, not in the house...

But nice progress indeed!!

progress and a leaning curve which is good! Take your time to do it right mate!

she’s fully supportive...... it’s maybe to stop me buying more e21’s

Hey guys!

So most people I know were going back to work on Monday 4th January but I was due back on the Tuesday.
I thought the best use of my time would be to bin off the household chores and spend the day in the garage.... Uninterrupted!!

I got the car mounted on the roll over jig then spent a good 15 mins just turning it and locking it in different positions... just because i can!!!

7389D619-BCAA-4309-9AE8-75AC99FC9AF4 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

I then gave the underside a clean down to remove years of oil and grime and out came the twisted knot cup and grinder

Nice, makes your life a lot easier!

so since ive had the car on the roll over jig it has made things a lot easier. A couple of hours in the evenings here and there and I'm slowly making progress.

First job was repair to inner arch/bulkhead which i was really pleased with the result
8042C3CF-2506-448B-B762-1A4DB46BF03D by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

C4942100-32A4-4D23-8717-16025D1238A4 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

Then onto the chassis legs/rail The passenger side was not too bad, welded treated and primed. The drivers side needed a large section cut out but this did give me a chance to inspect inside the rail and treat where required
AEEF4B9B-0AF7-4FE5-B4B9-B6C3247B66C7 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

D3AE3DE4-6755-4C85-8EA4-F115747BE517 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

408654BA-9740-4EB8-8525-2DA8C91C1E59 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

24908581-4131-4260-A5A4-57D95FD7B749 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

Got a couple of hours free today so I started on the passenger side inner arch, sorting out this mess

D0ED5C6E-70D5-4753-AC89-8FC71C145610 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

Cut out the mangled bits, beat it back to shape and stitched back together

C907F98F-2776-4796-8B61-A67CD67136D4 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

Some new metal welded in to part of it

30678EC1-FA23-4945-939A-A49D171B8697 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

And then just to ruin my day I finally set about removing the headliner(which I ripped ) and sunroof to reveal this......

33E4ED86-BA60-4DE0-815B-BD23E04C1E94 by Iain Bell, on Flickr[/img]

Holy crap! That sunroof casing is gone. It is pretty good removable and possible to change it, but it will be quite some work. Not what you want to see...

Working on a car in a jig makes life alot easier.

That sunroof is bad indeed, good luck with the repairs

Yeah it was pretty disappointing to see that but hey ho onwards and upwards!!!

Is the case spot welded to the roof skin?
I can a couple of spot welds round the inner edge of the sunroof opening, is the rest of it towards the back just bonded?

It is bonded all around, on the edge, in the outer skin of the roof itself maybe some spotwelds. Construction is exactly the same as on the e12. It is in dutch, but see the pics in my e12 528i topic. Ofcourse, I replaced the complete roofskin, with sunroof case and all, but it is just to show you it is fitted. It is possible to change the case.

The flaps laying on the roof frame are only welded to the frame, not spotwelded, not to the roofskin, just on the casing and the supportframe.

I suggest heating the bonding glue with a paint stripper or something, in order to get it soft, cut it with a stanley knife or dome thing. Don't dent the roofskin.

Uwbuurnan, Thanks for the tips I’ll take a look at your topic

I had a mk1 Glf GTi that had a sunroof that looked like that, I never got around to repairing it, as I was using the car daily, but I did get a replacement section of roof with the sunroof tray atatched to pick apart. I'm not sure how it is on the E21, but on the Golf, the front and sides of the roof panel hole are folded at 90 degrees and spot welded to the sunroof tray, and the back of the roof hole is folded a full 180 and onto a strengthening rib that supports the roof panel, and is welded at either side to the top of the sunroof tray. I'd guess the E21 is similar?

I guess if you can find another sunroof tray, I'd guess replacing it as a whole is the best option, should be just drilling out spot welds and replacing it. it would give you a chance to paint it properly inside, which i think is part of the problem. On the Golf, the outer seal hardens and cracks, and starts letting more and more water into the tray, which then rusts out at the back corners due to poor painting. Throw in a blocked drain and it just adds to the fun!

Who at BMW thought running the front drains into the sills was a good idea???? It's the same on my E34! Moronic!

You're doing a great job so far, and making progress!

polov8 wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:22 amWho at BMW thought running the front drains into the sills was a good idea???? It's the same on my E34! Moronic!

That! Crazy!

So since my last post life has been a bit crazy but have made good progress.....

Passenger side front inner arch repaired
Bulkhead/firewall repairs
Windscreen aperture/scuttle repaired
Drivers side new floor pan
Drivers side inner sill repairs
Drivers side rear floor repaired
Drivers side rear subframe mounting point repaired

I’m now starting the drivers side outer sill, I’ve got the door fitted for lining up purposes and test fitted the sill which seem to hang 15mm lower than the inner sill.
This looks like it will cause problems with the plate that holds the subframe as the 2x bolts that go through the sill will currently be coming straight through the point it bends at 90 degree (pics will explain this better)
So a bit of fabrication needed here !!!

I’ve been going at it any chance I can get
My aim is to try hand have it ready for prep and paint next summer. still a lot to do but never say never!

I’ve been quite pleased with results, it’s all one hell of a learning curve that’s for sure!

I’ll get some pictures posted next time I’m in front of the computer