Author Topic: 1989 e30 Touring... this is Betty (Read 5083 times)

e21lover · « **Reply #40 on:** July 17, 2012, 09:20:36 PM »

Winston has never heard of the term cutting corners.

germanstyle · « **Reply #41 on:** July 18, 2012, 08:24:09 AM »

Attention to detail at it's finest here. I thought I was beyond picky about cars....you take it to a whole new level Winston.

MC Hammered · « **Reply #42 on:** July 18, 2012, 11:10:15 AM »

Coming from you Mike that means a lot.

I'm hoping that once I get this wagon done it will help relieve the sting of selling my e30 convertible.

It would have been so nice to cruise around in her right now.

e30_vert · « **Reply #43 on:** July 19, 2012, 12:47:08 PM »

wow Winston. Its cool to see someone who really does pay that much attention to detail pick a part someones work like the PO. Sheds some light on things.

Also good work. This wagon was gorgeous before, I cant wait to see it finished.

perrygolfgti · « **Reply #44 on:** July 19, 2012, 06:33:41 PM »

lookin good so far nice work

MC Hammered · « **Reply #45 on:** July 30, 2012, 10:46:56 PM »

Time to get rid of the rear sound deadening so first thing to go is this 20 year old insulation… and I was scared to breathe in the dust when I pulled it out

Just takes some patience and a soft touch to get it going

GONE!

So this is what we have left.

I went out and bought another 10lbs of dry ice and went to work hammering out the old sound deadening. The material located above the muffler turned into the same obsidian like substance as the sound deadening by the shifter which is heated by the transmission. It took 4 hours and made a mess but this is as good as it gets. There is still a 1"x3' strip left underneath the hatch area.

Here are some surface rust spots that will be cleaned up

I decided to pull off the rubber seal and see what is hiding underneath… not too happy when I found rust on the entire edge

The entire time I was working in the trunk area I kept looking at the fabric covers that were sitting on top of the wheel humps

To satisfy my curiosity I removed the left hand side one and found nothing out of the ordinary

However… when I removed the right hand side one I saw this

I took a little screwdriver to probe around the area and rust just fell to pieces

Time to send it back to the shop to cut out and patch up this spot too

EuroG60 · « **Reply #46 on:** July 31, 2012, 11:35:17 AM »

Which shop are you using for the rust repair? Ive got some similar work I need done on a project of mine.

MC Hammered · « **Reply #47 on:** July 31, 2012, 11:39:04 AM »

I am having the work down at Blitzkrieg and Peter has been doing some great work on the car for me.

I haven't had a chance to take pics of the rear driver side repair but when I took a look at it I was surprised at what I saw. I authorized them to do a cut and weld to get rid of the rust, however, Peter fixed the area and made it look OEM.

MrPlow · « **Reply #48 on:** August 01, 2012, 12:54:20 PM »

ya, most people probably don't realize Pete has taken the autobody course from BCIT and does some great autobody work... even if he is focusing on mechanics right now

Love the dedication.

Slammed80 · « **Reply #49 on:** August 01, 2012, 02:27:48 PM »

Quote from: MrPlow on August 01, 2012, 12:54:20 PM

ya, most people probably don't realize Pete has taken the autobody course from BCIT and does some great autobody work... even if he is focusing on mechanics right now

Love the dedication.

I can vouch for peters body work skills. He did all the shaving on my rabbit front bumper that was on my Gti.

e21lover · « **Reply #50 on:** August 01, 2012, 03:37:50 PM »

Always great updates! Going to be at the concours aug 19?

MC Hammered · « **Reply #51 on:** August 01, 2012, 06:06:11 PM »

Quote from: e21lover on August 01, 2012, 03:37:50 PM

Always great updates! Going to be at the concours aug 19?

I don't think I'll be attending any shows this year.

I'll be happy if I get the sound system and new interior installed before the end of September... and then that still leaves rewiring the engine harness, new tune, new exhaust.

e21lover · « **Reply #52 on:** August 01, 2012, 08:20:04 PM »

Quote from: MC Hammered on August 01, 2012, 06:06:11 PM

I don't think I'll be attending any shows this year.

I'll be happy if I get the sound system and new interior installed before the end of September... and then that still leaves rewiring the engine harness, new tune, new exhaust.

Well shit. Im hoping to make it, euro headlight set up is still in the states

Nick_2.8T · « **Reply #53 on:** August 02, 2012, 07:40:09 PM »

amazing work Winston, so jealous of this car.

MC Hammered · « **Reply #54 on:** August 24, 2012, 08:16:27 PM »

One of the last leaks up front came from the big fusebox bulkhead gasket. It must have shrunk just enough over the last 20 years to let water seep in now

Using a tool to confirm the location of the point of entry

So how is water getting there? Well there is this tiny gap you can see underneath the hood gasket

Gap shown with gasket removed

Rainwater will run down the side of the car, drip through the opening, run underneath the fusebox and down the outside of the front strut tower where it eventually meets the side of the fusebox bulkhead gasket.

Since the gasket is not sealing the water will just seep through over time and enter the cabin.

So I began by removing these remnant pieces of sound deadening from fusebox area. Doesn't do much except hide dirt and debris and wait for rust to form

What it looks like with the sound deadening removed and you can see all the dirt built up underneath it. If you look carefully at the lower center part of the image you can make of the bulkhead gasket.

Path of water flow from the above gap to the edge of the gasket is shown with the red arrows.

I don't have a before picture but there was a lot of debris built up in the gap you see in the image below.

To seal up the edges of the bulkhead I used Proform PF224 urethane based body sealant

My very special tools to do the job

I pumped in a bunch of the sealant into the gap and then proceeded to smooth a bead of it around the entire edge of the gasket.

Obviously the caulking gun will not access the area, so putting small amounts on a gloved fingertip and smearing it into place it how it was done.

MC Hammered · « **Reply #55 on:** August 27, 2012, 12:49:00 PM »

The last leak that I know of up front is coming from the blower motor area

After removing the last piece of carpet that is wedged between the dash and the transmission hump I could peek into the spot where the blower motor gasket is.

I set the hose on a fine mist and set it up to spray the right hand side of the windshield, bent myself into an awkward position and proceeded to see what happened… the drip indicated with the red arrow is what I wanted to find, but as I let the water keep flowing you see what happened next.

MC Hammered · « **Reply #56 on:** August 27, 2012, 09:43:45 PM »

Since I have an s52 swap, unless I lower/drop the engine, I am unable to extract the blower motor in order to put some sealant over the deteriorating 20 year old seal.

If water can't get past the driver side grill opening then the water leak problem is solved right? So I decided to seal up the drive side grill.

First I had to flush cut off all of the little plastic nubs

Sanding them down smooth

Using some cardboard to make templates

I used an old vinyl chequebook cover for the waterproof barrier

Pulled out the tube of PF224 sealant, spread it all over the vinyl piece with a plastic knife and put the piece in place and let it dry.

MC Hammered · « **Reply #57 on:** September 14, 2012, 07:57:45 PM »

There is nothing like necessity to light a fire under your ass and get things done… a dose of procrastination from doing any more work helps a lot too.

So while there was some light out I decided to start installing some sound deadening into the car.

The sound deadening products I have selected are Dynamat Extreme, 1/4" Dynaliner and 3/8" Dynapad. For the doors I will use 1/8" Dynaliner to replace the vapor barrier.

Here are the high tech tools for the job

Some people like installing the Dynamat in big sheets, I prefer to cut them down into smaller pieces and them fit them together.

If the pieces line up then that is great, if they don't I won't let my OCD run out of control since this much Dynamat is overkill anyway.

So this is how much one sheet of Dynamat Extreme will cover

Sometime you just have to make a hole

The sun has set, the temps have dropped as I can feel the Dynamat harden up. Two sheets took 90 minutes to install and the J-roller does come in handy making the sheets conform to all of metal.

This is how much two sheets of Dynamat Extreme will cover.

MC Hammered · « **Reply #58 on:** September 15, 2012, 08:11:36 PM »

Today we start doing the driver side of the car… just like playing Tetris

The driver side layout is not as pretty as the passenger side but it gets the job done.

This is how much one sheet of Dynamat Extreme will cover

Finished with the second sheet

Starting the front console section

As I am rolling around I realize the butyl is squeezing out of the edges of the Dynamat pieces and sticking to my coveralls… the butyl is nasty stuff and isn't going to wash out so I decide to start taping up all of the seams with aluminum tape.

Front driver seat area all taped up so I can move around in there again without any more issues

Front console section done with Dynamat

Now all taped up

Front driver section completed

Working on the rear console section

Now all taped up

Driver side section all completed.. I probably have the same amount of aluminum in my car as a Russian satillite.

Taping up the passenger side before calling it a day

Everything done today took 7 hours, I used up 6 sheets of Dynamat and have 50% of the car done.

MC Hammered · « **Reply #59 on:** September 18, 2012, 10:57:11 PM »

Rear seat area done and taped up

I chose to use Dynapad in this vehicle to help block/absorb noise. It is a sandwich construction of foam and heavy vinyl material.

Making templates and cutting the Dynapad

Pieces fit together perfectly and they are heavy so they just lay there.

Total Dynapad used for the front & rear footwells and the rear seat top is 1.5 rolls.