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Yesterday I had a few spare hours so decided to have a decent look around the car & replace the electric aerial that was broken as the new one arrived.

Here are a few shots of the engine bay, no rust anywhere that I could see, the scuttle, shock towers & battery tray all look good.













There are a few scabs on the body but these seem to be confined to the front drivers side wing & rear drivers arch, also the drivers side rear valence also has a scab on it but I forgot to take a pic of it.





The boot had never shut 1st time & always looked out of alignment, this will be why then....





The left hand hinge has pulled away from the body & broken the weld, somebody has just used sealer to bung the hole & try hold the hinge in place. Looks like I'll need bodywork before I planned

The boot carpet was a little damp in the left hand corner where the jack lives & I thought it might be due to the hinge being broken off but this wasn't the case, water is seeping in through the aerial hole. I replaced the aerial (Still doesn't work so maybe it's been disconnected from the head unit, so I still don't have an electric aerial ) unfortunately the bung that comes with the aerial is plastic & not rubber so I've ordered a rubber one that will be here on Thursday & hopefully this sorts the damp boot out.







The rest of the boot floor & inner rear arches are really good, only a little surface rust in the bottom right hand corner where the boot tidy lives.







I'm hoping to get it up on some ramps in the next few weeks so I can give the underside a good looking at.

Overall I'm very happy with the car, It's running faultlessly & has only a few annoying things that need sorting now. The next thing to have a look at is why the interior light doesn't come on when I open any doors but will work when I switch it on.

I've also just bought a pair of 51mm front struts so the part gathering for the modding stage is under way but this will be a long term project that will be done as & when funds allow. I just need to decide what engine is going in it M52b28 or M54b30 then I can plan what needs doing.

Thanks for looking sorry for the long post.

Jamie

No problem, I like the detailed inspection and sofar nothing major, still looks like a great basis even though it remains to be seen what the underside is like indeed.
Rear wheel arches are an issue on any type BMW... keep 'm clean guys, dig out the mud every wash!

Yeah, it looks really clean & from crawling underneath it doesn't look too bad under there but I'll know better once it's up on some ramps & I can have a good poke around.

Lots of work... To bad, all the rust, but it' s repairable!

The rust isn't too bad, it looks to be surface only. I'm going to grind it back, treat it & paint over this winter to see if it comes back. If it does, next summer when I take it off the road I'll replace panels or cut out & weld in new metal.

I've not updated this for a while as I've just changed the drive belts, full service & put new washer valves in. Non of that is interesting. Also I've just been, planning, researching & saving there's not been much to say until now....

I've just purchased a M20b25 for it which I'll hopefully have in by April then it will be suspension time, I've decided on H&R cup kit in -60/-40mm flavour.

The plan for this year is

M20b25 engine
H&R cup kit
New exhaust system (Probably Scorpion)
New tyres (Want to stay 14's but am struggling with finding decent tyres)
Front sports seats

And just to keep her in good nick.

I'll post pictures & update as things happen.

Cheers

Jamie

Yeah better wait for the temperatures to go up haha but good plans!

Well, the car has been away for the last 3weeks having the M20b25 installed but I pick her up on Thursday & I can't wait. The guy doing the engine swap has had a thorough look over the car & has declared it very clean with very little rust & none in the usual problem areas. It seems that being sat in a barn for 7yrs protected from the weather has been good to the old girl.
Next up is saving for the suspension & booking a week off to get the handling sorted as its best described as wobbly at the moment, I think it's still on original suspension parts.

Superb! Sounds like good news! How do you like the b25?

Thanks! It does sound like good news! I haven't driven it yet but it's a nice 70mile drive across country home from where it's having the engine fitted, I'll post up my thoughts & maybe a few pictures on Thursday when I collect it.

That's going to be one fun drive!

Jeroen wrote:That's going to be one fun drive!

I'm hoping so Jeroen but with a standard 320i rear diff & horrible cheap tyres I'm hoping it won't be too "fun"

Well I picked her up the other week & I really like the way the 2.5 drives. Much more torque & a lot freer revving. Who'd have thought that an extra 40 or so bhp would make such a difference. One thing the new engine has shown up is how bad the tyres on the car are so I've just ordered some 185/60/14 Nankang NS2R tyres as these are V speed rated & have an XL side wall.... Plus I really wanted to keep the 14" wheels.

I can't wait to get the 2.8 built now as that will be even more powerful but the suspension & brake upgrades come 1st