|
Wife's Project FD: HERX7
My wife has been wanting to get out of her E30 for a while since she hasn't really driven it since she got pregnant two years ago with our son. It's a runner that would probably be best as a base for a track car, but what she really wants is a "street fighter," something that looks good, runs well and is just fun to cruise in. I would help her work on it, but I don't know anything about BMWs, don't want to learn, and don't get the appeal of the E30. I also refuse to let her mod her daily beyond basic bolt-ons (2011 STI hatch) for multiple reasons. Here's a picture of the E30 on its good side where it looks presentable:
https://preview.ibb.co/jjxE7Q/20170811_181203.jpg I'm trying to sell it right now but everybody keeps lowballing me and I'd honestly rather just have it crushed than to look at it again. Man, I hate this thing. I digress... She's a big fan of vintage cars and loves the traditional 3 box shape so she wanted to get into either a BMW 2002 tii (too expensive), a Datsun 510 (impossible to find in the Midwest and expensive), or a KPCG10 Skyline (way too expensive). We tossed around the idea of getting back into a Datsun Roadster but I suggested something more modern. She likes the FC and the wedge shape so while I was looking for N/A FCs, I came across a rolling 93 shell, VR on tan, without a drivetrain and a few missing interior pieces. She's always wanted to learn more about workin on cars and since I still have a bunch of FD parts that I had been trying to part out from my build here, I suggested the FD. She thought about it and likes driving my car enough she went along with the idea even though she thinks the body is too sleek for her taste. So we bought the shell sight unseen and the P.O. was able to have it delivered to us. We kicked my car outside and rolled her car in (The little F-Type is our son Parker's car, a birthday gift from grandma) https://preview.ibb.co/mCZxu5/20170820_203415.jpg This is the how it looked delivered: https://preview.ibb.co/mm3kgk/IMG_20170819_131712.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/hp597Q/20170819_162528.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/eGJU7Q/20170820_203109.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/iwDwnQ/20170819_162545.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/cWbtZ5/20170820_203221.jpg The was body was definitely worse than I was led to believe. It looked like it just sat outside and it had a plate on the rear, the sticker says it expired in 2007. I took a hammer and just tapped on the rusty areas to see how bad it was. It was pretty bad. The outer skin on the bottom of the driver's rear quarter is almost all gone. The arches on the driver's and passenger's side have a few sections of rust, but only up to where the inner and outer skins are joined. I also found rust on the driver's side next to the frame rail towards the middle of the car. https://preview.ibb.co/ec7YZ5/20170821_174211.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/jiSBMk/20170821_210505.jpg It's more work but it's not that big of a deal because I can cut off the bottom of quarter from my 1st car to use as a patch panel and my wife wants aggressive aero with overs anyways (she's leaning towards the Rocket Bunny kit, I'm trying to steer her towards pretty much anything else) because she doesn't quite realize just yet how expensive it is for the proper execution of the kit. 3K for aero, 3K for either coilovers with air cups or bags to get the right ride height and not destroy everything while driving, and 3K+ for the right 3 piece wheel otherwise it'll just look stupid. So we'll see what she finally decides on, but every journey starts with a single step... |
Of course I get a trade offer on the E30 for a FC days after we got this. Oh well. Yesterday we pushed the car out to wash off all the grime just to be able to work on the car without feeling like you'd catch ebola.
https://preview.ibb.co/dLk1nQ/20170821_174420.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/gW2su5/20170821_175236.jpg Then we got the hood, fenders, and wheels off https://preview.ibb.co/e0sQE5/20170821_210429.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/i7YXu5/20170821_214305.jpg Today I took a look around the parts bin to see if my quarter could indeed be used as a patch panel, turns out it can https://preview.ibb.co/eHDAgk/20170822_161954.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/ihpY1k/20170822_161929.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/noy47Q/20170822_162006.jpg I had already sold off a bunch misc. items that we may end up needing but that's not a big deal since we have all the major components. Since this car is so old and rusty, we're going to use the fuel tank, rear subframe, rear knuckles and hubs, all the suspension parts, and possibly brake calipers off my 93 parts car (the gift that keeps on giving), the transmission from my 94, and rebuild the motor that came from my 94, if we can. Still haven't decided what turbo set up to go with. Mine will likely always stay twin, but for this car I figure the best bet is something simple, reliable, and responsive with power in the mid-range since it's a street car. More than likely, it'll end up being a T3 frame single with a small street port but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. That's likely at least a year away. Today, she got to work on removing the Konis that came on the car. https://preview.ibb.co/eawfgk/20170822_210725.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/bzzBnQ/20170822_220054.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/dUkHSQ/20170822_220328.jpg She got through 3 corners before it was bed time for her so tomorrow she'll get the last one. If it were me, I'd just be determined to get it over with, but I'm just the project manager. Since she's doing the work, we called it quits. I guide her on what needs to be done, teach her how to do it, and give some pointers and tricks on how to make certain things easier. This is probably going to take longer than she wants, but if that's the case, she can drive around my 94 and I can take over this project until completion but it's actually refreshing that I don't have to do anything physical and since I'm not wrenching, I'm trying to document this build better than I did for mine. Loosely speaking, the current plan is: Strip down the car Tackle the rust issue Assess what we have/what we need Sell any parts we have duplicates or triplicates of that we don't need to help fund this project Rebuild the motor Bodywork Gather parts Reassemble The timeline is unknown. |
Been busy the last two weeks, had to go out of town but with this long weekend we finally got the garage and storage unit organized and had a chance to work on the car. Since I'm teaching the wife how to wrench, it seems like the progress is in slow motion, but better than no motion. Got the upright off the driver's side, but had to stop on that corner since it was getting late and don't want to piss off the neighbors.
https://preview.ibb.co/bFG9oa/20170903_215423.jpg Then we moved to the rear. Took the tail lights off, and all the studs on the center snapped of course... The two outside security bolts on both sides were rounded so I taught her how to drill a bolt and use a bolt extractor. She got tired, so we stopped here. Tomorrow we'll try to get the bumper off and the driver's LCA off. https://preview.ibb.co/cXar1v/20170903_215433.jpg |
That's a serious project car. That's awesome that you both get to work on it together, and your wife is learning the ropes!
When you get it finished are you going to have it all repainted in VR or are you going for something completely different? Are you planning to restore it back to stock, or do you have other long-term goals for the build? |
Nice! How is the interior of the car?
Glad you guys are saving another FD! Too many have headed to the crusher. Dale |
Good luck with the project! Really cool to see the wife wanting to be involved.
|
Originally Posted by jj_calvin
(Post 12213616)
That's a serious project car. That's awesome that you both get to work on it together, and your wife is learning the ropes!
When you get it finished are you going to have it all repainted in VR or are you going for something completely different? Are you planning to restore it back to stock, or do you have other long-term goals for the build? My wife is about the aesthetic, so she really couldn't care less about what parts are on the car. She just wants something that looks good and is fun to drive. It won't be stock, it will basically be the opposite of my car in terms of the build . The mods she wants so far: 1. Widebody. Talked her out of the Rocket Bunny, but still undecided. 2. V Mount. I think her exact phrase was, "The way that intercooler sits looks cool." 3. Wire tuck, again, because it makes the engine bay look better. 4. Possibly move the ABS to the hatch area. If it's too much of a PITA, just delete ABS. 4. Coilovers and wheels, because every car just looks better with them. 5 As far as the interior is concerned, she said her only requirement was that she wants to be able to listen to music off her phone. When I think about it, it'll basically be the world's crappiest show car. :hah:
Originally Posted by DaleClark
(Post 12213958)
Nice! How is the interior of the car?
Glad you guys are saving another FD! Too many have headed to the crusher. Dale I haven't peeled back the carpet to see what the metal looks like underneath but I'd give it a 8/10. It's 93 tan so, there's a lot of tan lol, but we'll see what she wants to do. I'm not sure if she wants a full interior or to gut the thing. The issues I've seen are: Damaged: The glovebox is warped. The defrost vents are cracked Missing: No steering wheel, but has a hub which is good since we'd put in a new steering wheel anyways. No door cards and window switches. Door cards aren't a big deal since she wants Bubble Tech panels, but I'll have to source switches since I sold them with my door cards. No rear hatch trim. I just sold those too. Go figure.
Originally Posted by THE TECH
(Post 12213978)
Good luck with the project! Really cool to see the wife wanting to be involved.
|
My wife is a busy lady. Works something like 50 hrs a week, goes to school part time, on top of being a mom. So today, after I put the baby to bed, I did stuff that required the angle grinder since she's not very good with it.
First, I started to cut off the rusty portion of the rear metal. It's pretty bad, but I'm not too discouraged by it since I have the panel to replace it, and it'll be covered by an over fender. The inner layer I'll have to think about what the best course of action is. It seemed pretty solid, so I think it may only be on the surface. If any holes pop up, I can always just make some patch pieces. Didn't want to cut too much and it was dark and our next door neighbor has a newborn so I didn't want to make too much noise in the garage so I left it here after spraying some WD-40 on the exposed metal. https://preview.ibb.co/mVx2Da/20170906_223607.jpg Then, when I was working on removing the rear bumper, I couldn't get the bottom nut off because the bumper bracket holding the stud was so rusty, it was spinning on the driver's side. Luckily, if you can call it luck, on the passenger side, the stud just broke off so it could be slipped out. After removing the passenger side first, I was able to get the bumper to sag enough to just cut out the black plastic piece on the bottom and get the bumper off. Not a problem since she wants a diffuser, it would end up getting removed sooner or later. Left it here for the night since my wife can take care of disassembly from here on out. https://preview.ibb.co/h1a0zF/20170906_202432.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/fXvYKF/20170906_223526.jpg Here are interior shots since Dale asked: https://preview.ibb.co/c28aYa/20170906_224053.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/kMa0zF/20170906_224103.jpg I forgot it's missing a passenger seat. (Sold a pair of tan seats too haha). She kept the Status bucket from her E30 and will be putting that on the driver's side. |
Interior is actually in really good shape! That's some of the better tan parts I've seen too.
Dale |
Managed to get the exhaust and antenna off. Then got the exhaust shield and started on the rear bumper beam and fuel tank but ran into more rust trouble. Any auto body repair experts out there? Need to know what we should do.
First, the gas tank bolt was just sitting in at a funny angle, but it just spins free so is there a rivnut or something on the other side that broke loose and is preventing the bolt from coming out? Do I just need to cut that out once I get the gas tank out? https://preview.ibb.co/iKBMbv/20170908_212721_001.jpg Second, the lower studs holding the bumper beam snapped, any advice on how to repair this since it's not easily accessible. https://preview.ibb.co/ipBwbv/20170908_220338.jpg |
At first I was thinking damn that is alot of rust, i wouldn't mess with it. But after seeing the interior shot, that alone is well worth the effort. Anyone can do body work, some a lot better than others, but a really clean interior, like yours, is something that is getting EXTREMELY hard to find in FDs. Keep it up!
|
Originally Posted by Gilgamesh
(Post 12215112)
At first I was thinking damn that is alot of rust, i wouldn't mess with it. But after seeing the interior shot, that alone is well worth the effort. Anyone can do body work, some a lot better than others, but a really clean interior, like yours, is something that is getting EXTREMELY hard to find in FDs. Keep it up!
https://preview.ibb.co/fP2smv/20170910_181605.jpg Pulled off the brake booster, master and slave cylinders, ABS unit, rear suspension, brakes, PPF and driveshaft. Still need to pull the rear diff, front suspension, and subframes. |
The wife had homework to do, so I went at it alone tonight, although she gets upset when I work on the car without her. Removed the ABS thingamajigger, hardlines, steering rack and rear knuckles today. Then called it quits since it was a natural place to stop. Going to try and get the gas tank and both subframes out this week. Hopefully I'll stop running into frozen fasteners sooner or later...
https://preview.ibb.co/dNopZF/IMG_20170912_224359.jpg |
That's quite a job your wife has taken on. She needs to get her own account.
Love the banging video in the 3rd post BTW |
Originally Posted by TomU
(Post 12215737)
That's quite a job your wife has taken on. She needs to get her own account.
Love the banging video in the 3rd post BTW Last week was kind of a bust because our kid got sick, who got me sick, then got my wife sick all while the sister-in-law was in town visiting. We were able to get the rear subframe out, except the rear lowers are seized so I'll probably just hack up the rear subframe and scrap it since it's too large to ship efficiently. The remaining items we need to remove from the exterior are the fuel tank, brake and fuel hard lines. https://preview.ibb.co/nbfuw5/20170918_231428.jpg This week her aero also arrived so we mocked it up. It's all knock-off so it needs quite a bit of work. The Duraflex stuff isn't too bad, it's not as bad as I thought it would, be but the fronts are a company I never heard of and it fits HORRIBLY. Oh well, we'll try to massage it the best we can, but I always knew it'd be a 10 footer since we're doing everything ourselves. https://preview.ibb.co/ev11b5/20170922_223028.jpg |
Almost done with disassembly. Only a few heat shields and hard lines left before we start fixing the body. Removed the fuel tank and rear sway bar today.
https://preview.ibb.co/bYm8r5/20170924_212523.jpg https://preview.ibb.co/eA6xjQ/20170924_212438.jpg Found a bug graveyard on top the of the fuel tank https://preview.ibb.co/fanRdk/20170924_212452.jpg One of the gas tank straps won't come out, so we'll need to cut out a little bit of the rear panel to remove the nut that broke off and weld it back on. |
Started to address the rot. Went out bought a MIG and other supplies to get the job done. Never done anything like this before, never formed sheet metal, never used a MIG, although I've only used a TIG before and that was at the local community class when I took a class. So I thought, how hard could it be? First, I cut/grinded away the rust
https://preview.ibb.co/keGtTw/20170927_204941.jpg Then used cardboard to make a template https://preview.ibb.co/iwsBFb/20170928_115435.jpg Used an angle grinder and shears to cut out the shape. There's two for the inner and outer skins https://preview.ibb.co/mJ6Sow/20170928_115439.jpg Used a few hammers and dollies with a vise to roughly shape them https://preview.ibb.co/mMCdvb/20170928_115446.jpg Test fit and removed material until it was a decent fit https://preview.ibb.co/hF37ow/20170928_122355.jpg Clamped in place and ready to weld https://preview.ibb.co/fxw5ab/20170928_150002.jpg Me tacking it up https://preview.ibb.co/bNeQab/20170928_212816.jpg Tacked in place https://preview.ibb.co/dboU1G/20170928_221421.jpg I tacked it all the way around but it's super ugly because I kept blowing holes in the metal. Took a while to figure out the right setting and I also later found out the sheet I'm using is way too thin (20 ga. I'll go out and get some 16 for the large repair on the rear side of the quarter. All that work just to cut away half of it lol. I just needed material to give the overfender a place to mount to. https://preview.ibb.co/itwGgG/20170929_015322.jpg |
Get some scrap metal and practice welding. That way you won't ruin a piece you spent time shaping
That's way more work than i'd take on BTW But on the plus side, you may become a proficient welder :) |
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:07 PM. |
© 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands