BMW E30 320i 2-door 1986 Marko S

[Marko S]

Well,

Hello from Tallinn, Estonia!


To start from the beginning, i never owned a thread outside of my homecountry. And i thought, why not ? And this forum looks like pretty good place to start my journey.
I had many bmw's over the time. My first one was E28 518i form 1982 and since then, i just gave my finger to german automanufacturer.
Small list of my bmw's: E28 518i 1982, E28 520i 1986, E34 525TDS 1992, E34 540i V8 1993, E34 525IT 1995, E30 318iT, E30 320i 1991, E87 120d M-Sport 2007, E39 530d 2002 , E30 316i 1988, E39 525d 2000 and E39 530d 2002 M-Sport.
When the last E39 let me down about 1200km from home, i had enough. Gearbox issues. I managed to drive home, but it took a s*it load of time. So, i went to dealership and bought a new car, a new daily. It doesn't have round shape badge but it has small amout of german dna. Cause former head of BMW M, Albert Biermann went to Hyundai and made an awesome hothatch. But this is not the car i wanted to talk about.

The car i wanna talk about was born 35 years ago, 1986. It has two doors (some of you say its a coupe, but it isn't - correct should be 2-door sedan. Wierd, isn't it ? )
From the factory it came with 2.0L straight six engine and a manual gearbox and painted in Delphin gray 184 color. Option list is quite short.
Electric moonroof and powerwindows. Also power mirrors, but they dont work at the moment.

This car came to estonia in 2004 and since then i am a third owner. My friend bought it 2008 and til that day, he only drove 22000 km. Summer car, thats why. I don't remember anymore, why he did the swap, but now it has 2.7L stroker engine. 2.7 (2.5 ETA engine) engine block and 885 2.5L cylinder head. I think camshafts are also from 2.5L engine. Control unit has a alpina chip in it, flywheel has been lightened by x kg (i dont know the exact weight by how much)but it revs like a madman.

Gearbox is from E30 323 - sport dogleg getrag gearbox. Im not sure is it the same which they used in M3 or not ? But i took time to get used to it. My daily has also stickshift so sometimes when i drive my beemer i mix up gears. Well, practise makes perfect.

Interior is almost original. Only front seats have been replaced - pretty rare recaro seats. Seats are in one piece but they need some work. Luckily i have a friend who knows how to do the seats. So im not worried. But everything is done by right order.

And now the most important list - "to do list". (menards ad)


*All engine fluids and filters.
*Timingbelt.
*Sparkplugs and ignition wires, distributor cap and rotor.
*Rear axle support and both trailingarms.
*Front and rear brakes needs to be replaced and checked.
*Fuel and cooling hoses.
*Fueltank


A picture says more than thousand words, i hope.




You can check auto products (for au): catalogue au in autobarn catalogue

















New distributor cap, rotor, new sparkplugs and wires. Also replaced fuel hoses and fuelfilter.




To be continued....

[Marko S]

Part 2.

Well, i finally managed to replace engine oil. I used oil selector and i know i chose wrong oil. But it doesn't matter. I will change it soon again. It like engine washing liquid for me.
Before the oil change i tried to remember how to reset it. Luckily we have google and don't have to remeber everything.
Pin 7 and 19, 5 seconds of waiting and done it was! Job well done.




I took some photos from underneath. It looks not as bad as i thought, but deinately there will be suprises when i start to take it apart. I hoe it doesn't look like a swiss cheese.











Probably its not as small as it looks. But we'll see.





Drivers side.





Rear axle support and trailing arms looking quite rusty. I bet that incpection office will ask me to leave.


















Bought a used one. At least its better than the old one stuck under my car. I just need to take it to sandblasting and painting.





I bet it is the best detail in my car. Yes, it is the real deal. :P

[Azn Kenny]

Interesting, they also call the '08-'10 Ford Focus a "2-door sedan" since the 4-door version shares the same roof and body structure.

Btw not sure if it's just me but the pics did not load.

[Marko S]

Strange. I just checked, all pictures are visible for me. Maybe there is something wrong with your browser ?

[shogun]

Pics work fine, just be patient, as you have less than 10 posts, your posts have to be manually approved by a moderator, that is the forum spam-o-matic.

[Marko S]

Pre facelift has the headlights without the smily face. But those are quite hard to find. Well, it is possible, but the price is ridicilously high. So i decided to use aftermarket headlights from DEPO. At least they are new and for the incpection guy it was good to go.

Faceless german.






Also the lowbeam sockets need to be replaced. Pre facelift has 3 pin and facelift has 2. Highbeams are tahe same. Less electrical work.










Cause old trailing arms were pretty rusty and had few holes i had to go and buy "new ones". I'll take them apart and drag them to sanblasting and painting.

[Marko S]

In the weekend, weather was nice and i had no plans except to go to the garage and do something useful. As i mentioned before, i took old trailing arms home. Before take them to blasting and painting, i need to take them apart.
Well, they look old as mammoth s*it. Lots of cursing words, a big hammer and nerves of steel. I managed to take them apart.





To be honest, i didn't remember that rear protection plate was so thick ? At least one part on the car, which will survive even a nuclear blast.





Just a pile of scrap metal.





I used 50T press to get the rear bearings out. In some point it felt that the trailing arm will snap. But luckily it came out after putting 20T pressure on it.




And also i finished headlight project. Now they work as they should be. Job well done! I will reward myself.







In my opinion, the face looks more fresh than with the old headlights. But thats just my opinion.







Getting ready when my subframe arrives. Still few parts misssing including wheel bearings, trailing arm bushings and also OEM parts from dealership.

[ZEKTI]

Amazing progress!! Are you going to powdercoat the rear subframe and trailing arms?

[Marko S]

Thank you for the good words. But yeah, i will do that. Actually, it is already done. :P









Painted the hubs. Much better than before.





Starting to look like an axle. All the bushings, bearings and so on are new.



And MORE new stuff to install.

[Marko S]

I really hope that my threads full of photos won't be a problem here ? Sometimes people complain about photo amount and also too long posts.

Parts for handbrake adjustment. Those are only available as OEM parts. At least i couldn't find them anywhere else. And i always prefer original parts. Well, i think its in my head, but i believe that the quality is and should be better than aftermarket pieces. And if im correct, these are only for drum brake version.






Most of the parts arrived, now its the time to throw it all together. Usually german engineering is easy to fix and works as it should. But c'mon, who the hell desinged this crap ? there is enough room to put even more springs.
Before restoring it, i thought maybe i should buy disc brake version, but cause i want to keep the car as timeless as possible (and "original") so i decided to just restore this one and leave it with rear durmbrakes.





















First phase was restoration of an old subframe. Next one is rip the old one off my car and throw it to scrap. I thought i should maybe keep the old protection plates and maybe something more, but i was too lazy to do that.









I need to order that fuel hose cover, looking pretty rusty. And 75.- € less money in my wallet.




Underneath its not bad at all considering the age of the car, 35 years old. But taking small steps and replacing all awful looking parts. Starting with the heat insulation on top of the muffler and also the bracket and rubber rings.




0:1 i won.








As usual, snapping bolts is not a problem for me.





About 8 nuts later.





Driveshafts are also refurbished. New bellows, new grease and just gave a quick clean.




New muffler clamps made by bosal.






Three hours later.....



Because the old muffler was like a swiss cheese, i had to come up with a plan. Plan A - find a welder and make a custom exhaust. And plan B - i wen't with plan B.
Bosal makes the rear muffler with some piping. Easy to install and fits like a glove. And the price wasn't bad at all. If i remeber, then rear section was abou 100.- euros.
And the clamps about 20 euros.













Just ta test fit.





Almost done. Before fitting the propshaft, i checked the u-joints. They were bad. So i sent the whole propshaft to a guy who makes everything new. New joints, new paint and balanced.

[ZEKTI]

Love the progress! Your photos are showing up for me. So satisfying to see the rust parts replaced with nice new! Yes the rear drums for me were difficult as well.

[Marko S]

New parts from bmw dealership. Right one is in the top of the rear muffler. Upper left one i ordered wrong by mistake, well s*it happens.
Lower left one is proctecting the fuel pipe which is between fueltank.



And i got back my propshaft. Good as new, maybe even better than the new one ? But both u-joints were replaced, balanced and painted.



Looks much much better. I'm starting to like what i see. Any new part on the car makes me feel better.






Starting to look like a vehicle again with all the bits and pieces coming together.



Before the incpection, left indicator decided no to cooperate. Sad thing is, to get to the problem you need to remove the front bumper. Well, if you don't own a pair of mini hands growing out of your finger.
Other crappy thing is, theres no aftermarket indicators, only OEM. I just did what magyver will do and got it working. I think i need to order new ones.

I believe the front panel is painted in some point, cause it looks too good to be true.



Last TUV inspection was 8 years ago in 2013. Lets see what they have to say about my car. Do i pass it or they will send me home to mend my car.

Cheers!

[Marko S]

Love the progress! Your photos are showing up for me. So satisfying to see the rust parts replaced with nice new! Yes the rear drums for me were difficult as well.

Thanks for the good word! I take my time and try to do things as best as i can. And of course wallet size also make things slow down a little bit. Restoring old car isn't a cheap thing to do and i don't like to eat spagetti everyday.

[Marko S]

Well TUV inspection passed. Few problems i have to take care of. First, slight play in a front right wheel bearing, exterior mirror glasses needs attention, rear center seatbelt is missing (don't ask, i have no idea), tiny leak in exhaust system and a leaking clutch sylinder. Almost forgot, both front corners located behind front wheels are bad. Those need replacing. Im gonna leave it for now and take care of it after season ending.

Every electrical issue starts with a fuse box inspection. If all the fuses are fine, then the problem must be somewhere else. Because i have power windows, i suspected either motor itself or wiring. I checked the wiring, it was ok. Also the connector seemed to be fine too. So i bet it is the motor itself.



So i took the motor apart and found out it didn't move at all. And also there is a copper bushing in the bottom of the motor which keeps it centered. Disassembly didn't go by the plan. I broke it.






Only solution at that time was to use a 3D printing. Managed to get the right measures of that bushing but nothing, still not working. Well, i bet the motor shaft is gone.



I hate when things don't go by plan. To find a pre facelift window lifter is quite a challenge. I heard that it is possible to install a newer version (facelift) but then i needed to modify lifter brackets and so on. I didn't like that idea.
I still want to find a proper one. They are selling used motors on ebay, but 200+ euroes for used motor is bit much to me. Next step was dealership. The price in there was all another level. You can't get the motor separately only with the lifter mechanism. 1200 euros is definately not a price i would pay for a one single window lifter. Ridicilous.
I consider myself as a lucky person, sometimes. Its good when you have lot of people you know and lot of good friends. I got a message few days after from my friend telling me that he has lifters back at his garage.
And he got left and right one. I bought both of them. You never know when you need one. We got the price right and made the deal! Sweet!












I don't have any pictures of installation, but its quite easy. 15-20 minutes and done. If you need answers how to do it i bet google will help you.

Cause i got the poor man air conditioning working i rewarded the car with a proper wash.



















Til the next time!

Take care and stay healthy!

[Marko S]

Tuesday morning i went to work. Parked my car and that was it. Going to lunch i noticed a small leak and it smelled like gasoline. I was pretty sure that one of the old fuelhoses are bad and started to leak. Fact was, it was the fuelpump itself. Don't ask, i don't know. First time in my life i see a pump leaking. Well, i needed a solution and quick. Luckily i work in a autoparts store. I had one on the self. Unforunately it was a cheap product. Because i had no other ideas, i had to go with that.



New one. And its made by Meat & Doria - should name it scream and doria. It makes the noise like someone is being killed.




It hurts my eyes. I dont like the way everything looks underneath. But i already ordered the bracket and everything else to make it look good again.






A while ago i replaced the old fuelpump, it started leaking. I noticed that my fuelpump bracket is a very bad. Luckily bmw dealership helped me out. I got almost everything i needed. Only thing which is discontinued is nr 2 on the picture. I tried to find it on ebay but nohting. I hope that someone has that part on the shelf, collecting dust.







I also bought new clutch cylinder cause old one started to leak.






I managed to find a set of centercaps. I chose the best ones and left the bad ones just in case i need some parts in some point.




Youngtimer Camp 2021 - is a camp for petrolheads who own at least 25 year old car. The mark and model doesn't matter. For a small country its a small event. The picture is taken about half an hour after opening the gates for the participants. Later there were close to 300 different marks and models.




I just prevent boredom.



Have a nice day!

[Marko S]

This post has been forgotten by me and im sorry, but not anymore. From now on i try to keep you updated as much as i can. Last post is from July 2021 and now we are in February 2023. The whole 2022 i missing but im gonna fix that now.
As you saw, last picture i updated was brakes. I will continue from there and try to reach to the present day. I warn you, cause there will be loads of pictures and and story. Sometimes i struggle with the language, but im pretty sure that you will forgive me.

So, let's start where we left off.

I needed to renew the brakes, cause they were old, rusty and the steering wheel was shaking while breaking. Also calipers looked more like they belong to a scrapyard. So i took them apart (kept the pistons in) and cleaned them using wirebrush.







Calipes and carriers cleaned and ready for new paint.



I have done this kind of "restauration" on my other cars and always used spraypaint, so this time i wanted to try something else. Cause im following few bmw enthusiasts in the youtube (Sreten) and he used Foliatec products and was quite pleased with the result i thought i should try that myself.



Afterwards - the paint itself is good and you are able to get pretty thick layer of paint on to the parts, but painting by using brush is kinda pain in the ass for me. Okay, the result isn't so bad, but the process itself is time consuming and i had to pain them 3-4 times to look nice. But at this moment the visual result is the most important.







I let the paint dry while replacing the brake pipe and hose. Hose was full of cracks and the pipe just broke in to half. Lukily there is a option to walk in to the store and buy new ones. What a amazing world we live in.
It cost me less than 10 bucks. But it came as a straight pipe so i needed to model it myself. I think it came pretty close to the original shape.





New brake rotors.





To me honest, doesn't it look better than before ? Well in my opinion it does and by the mile.





Well you won't see it through the rim, but it doesn't matter. At least everything is new which is important and now braking is much smoother than before. It won't throw you ot of the window if driving without seatbelt.

[Marko S]

August 2021. I got a PS from my fellow forum user that he has something in the attic that i might want. He told me that he brought it himself fom Germany in 1994 and since then has been lying around and had no use for it. I don't know how many E30 owners are here and how many are from Europe but i will tell you that finding a decent petrol tank in my country is quite an impossible mission unless you walk through the dealership door and buy a brand new one. But there is a catch. New petrol tank is around 1200.- euros which coverted to US dollars is a million. In my opinion its a load of money for a "small" piece of metal. But i got lucky, cosue the guy who contacted me sent me pictures. I think this is the part where i should say that pictures says more than thousand words.

I inspected it thoroughly and i couldn't find anything that will scrape my eye. No rust nothing. Just perfect piece of bmw part. Yes its dirty and before installation it will get proper cleaning and new paint. But overall it looks just perfecto!
And you are probably asking how much i paid for this. Well it was 100.- euros = 107.- bucks. Thats a deal of the century!





Enough of the petrol tank story. Lets continue with te story of my E30. Cause at that point of my life i lived in a urban area which meant we had 5+ storey buldings and no parking space enouhgh, i called it a end to a driving season. I managed to find a roof for the car for a winter, so i called to a friend for a help. It's always good to have friends with towcar company.



I took the car under the roof of a hell of a big garage. Well it should be a metalwork factory but they are too lazy to move from one building to another, i had a opportunity to drag it there. Warm and dry and +14C all year around which are perfect condition for keeping the car and starting to take it apart.





To be continued.

[Marko S]

It's a 35+ year old car and i have noticed rust underneath while doing all sorts of works, i had to come to the conclusion that something has to be done. From the factory line there won't be any more E30's so i decided to strip it apart and do all the bodywork, new paint and etc. That means lots of hours in the garage under the car and on the car and definately in the car.
But first things first. Lets start from the beginning.

Project at it's place where it will be a unknown time cause i have no idea how long everything takes to make perfect for my eye. I have had many E30 in the past but i have never done this massive project. It will be my first but i bet it won't be my last. Just small steps cause i don't want to ruin anything.

Got rid of the tailights.



I hoped they will come loose easier but i didn't get my hopes high. Taillight nuts are so rusted they didn't even come loose. So half of it stcuk on the body.



And the other side. Same sad story.



Taillights are in one pice, but full of small cracks. Well it doesn't effect the top speed, but i don't like the way they look. And here again we hit to a problem. For a facelift model you have various of lights to choose but for the pre facelift there is not much for sale on the market. Get good used ones (if you can find) or walk through the dealership doors and buy brand spaking new ones. If you have the money. 1 pc of headlight is aprox 300 euros multiply by two and you get a 650 dollar reciept. Funny thing is that this price is only tail lights, not rear covers included. Those are additional few extra buck if you can find them cause no longer available. Thats a perfect time to think before thowing the money at someone. As i mentioned before it doesn't affect the top speed so i leve them be and let's focus on more important things.



Trunk trim removed and i was already ready for a nasty rusty surprise. But guess what, i think i got lucky.





Few rust spots but nothing major at the moment.







Also removed rear bumper and airvents (or how you even call them?)









Next stop is start taking out the interior piece by piece.



Those awful looking purple tinted windows have to go. I try to clean them and put them back as they should look. There won't be no tinting at all. In our country tinted windows are only allowed for the rear glasses. Drivers and passanger side front ones have to be clear otherwise police will pull you over and you get a fine or they take away your incpection.



Both seats out. I also have idea what to do with the seats, but this i will keep for later.







Removed the front bumper, headlights, front panel and so on.







I didn't notice before removing parts that this has has been in a small accident. You can tell by looking at the front panel. It's bit bent and someone incompetent body shop worker tried to fix that. Didn't work out as well as he probably wanted.
But i will take care of it and let it fixed and it will be as good as new.





And for the final statement. Please don't hit me too hard. This is my very first video ever and i didn't have the courage to talk in the video, so i added subtitles. In time i will get better and improve myself. Just give me some time.

Thanks and this is it for the day. But stay tuned, cause lot of pictures and tale are coming.

[Marko S]

I thought that the previous post will be the last on for today, but i guess not. I got well rested so i just take this as a advantage and keep going. I truly hope that all who are reading this thread won't be bored cause of the long list of pictures.

I removed all the glazing. Front, rear and sides. As i mentioned then the rear and sides will be cleaned off of that awful window tint and will kept clear like from the factory. Windshield was worn out, full of scratches and couldn't see anything through. So it will be replaced when the time is right. So removing it didn't matter will it come off in one piece or cracked. It came off the with the cracks. And it was an accident sort of.







Usually when poeple are owning E30's, they want to upgrade sound and speakers. In the front its not a problem, but in the back where rear shelf is located they are usually cutting holes in to the body to fit bigger speakers. Usually 16:9 oval speakers. Cause mine had bigger speakers i was so afraid that some stupid owners had cut the holes to the body and by that ruing it. I consider myself lucky again. Nothing! One of the previous owners has been smart enough not to do that. Instead they have modified the shelf itself. Boom! One less place to do the welding.



Nothing what a bodyshop couldn't fix. I bet there has been a subwoofer or something. But at least most of that part of the body is in one piece. That small hole won't be a issue.



And again every E30 owner who had to restore their cars have to face a certain fear when removing windshield. Underneth the seal there is always rust or even rotten through. Mine had no visual defects at all. Not even a small piece of surface rust.







When windshield part was untouched by the rust, i can not say that about the floor panels. I knew that there will be something. At least drivers and passengers footwell corners. Those you were able to see already from the outside that there is "minor" bit of rusted panels.

These pictures will speak from themselves.







Drivers side corner.





Passenger side corner.





In some point in the future i will clean everything to the bear metal and then we can inspect how bad it really are.

Stacking everything what comes off the car. I think i need to organize parts a little bit ?



Every bolt and nut and washer will be bagged and tagged. Otherwise when im starting to assemble the car i won't be able to remember those few thousand fastening bits and pieces which came off the car.



For a change some new parts i have managed to find and buy. Front foglighst made by HELLA. If i remember correctly also the original ones which came off fomr the car were made by HELLA. But yes, old ones had cracked glasses and burnt reflectors.I definately needed new ones. Luckily these are available in a autoparts store not only in the dealership and thats why the price is also more affordable. I think they were around 90 euros per pair. But what you can't buy any more are the frames for the foglights. These are 3D printed by my friend and cost me 25.- euros per pair. Better than no frames at all.



Aslo discontinued part is a fuel pump bracked which needs to be welded to the chassis. I waited for few weeks for the answer from the dealership and unfortunately it came negative. So i needed a solution, a alternative for that. One Norweigian company called https://e30garage.no/ is producing those. I didn't have any other choice than buy from them. Mine was basically rusted away. Close to 90.- euros poorer and one more part richer.





Same story with the front indicators. No other solution than original ones from BMW.



And a ///M badge for the steeringwheel.

[Marko S]

Next step was to lift the engine off. But before that we had to get rid of the exhaust system, propshaft and more. Unfortunately i don't have 4 post or even 2 post lift, i have to do everything on the floor. It's doable, but it would be more enjoyable on the lift. Can't complain at least i have warm garage and lots of room to stack stuff.







I also replaced half of the exhaust in a while back. I bought BOSAL and it fitted pretty good. Rear muffler + part of the piping. You also need additionl set for installing it. There are all the clamps and rubber ring to hold it in place.
As you can see aslo the heatshield is brand new and shiny and straight from the dealreship.



Engine off. Now we can inspect it bit closer. This car came from the factory with M20B20 inline six engine. Now its been bit "upgraded" if i may say so. The lower part or the block is from 2.7L ETA engine (M20B27) and 885 cylinder head from 2.5L engine. It also has lightened flywheel and custom headers which are scrap. I already found a guy who will build me new ones.
Every seal, gasket nut and bolt will be replaced in some point. I want this engine to be with NO leaks and when you open the hood (in some language bonnet) i thas to look like new.







My car has dogleg gerabox fitted by previous owner. I tried to look for the model or somekind of identification number, but nohting. I think its from E21, but i don't have any confirmation.





Doesn't look nice when leaking. Crankshaft rear seal is bit oily. Definately needs new one.



Bought myself a engine stand. Much easier to work with the engine and you can aslo roll it when needed.



Stripping it apart. Part by part.





I hate when people painting rockercovers. It looks more effective when original color.



Engine block will be cleaned an painted. Firts i thought maybe i should pick something fancier, but no. It will stay black like from the assembly line.



Video about engine removal.

[Marko S]

Started to strip the engine apart to a bare block. I will check the crank and bearing. If they seem okay to me, i will leave them be and focus on other parts of the motor.









Weird that timing belt had a hole in it. Nobody know since when. I bought the car in this condition. Probably previous owner replaced it. I have to ask but i bet he won't remember. Well thats not very important at the moment. What is important that the engine stayed in one piece and didn't break it. Cause if that timing belt would have broken it would have been a pretty awful mess and a mission to find another engine. Nowdays finding an decent M20 in my country is already a mission close to impossible. Whats left of them are in use or taken to the scrapyard. Yes, in the states there are probably many of those but to ship it here from other side of the world would be too expensive.











Rocker cover removed. From the inside it looked good. No wear on the camshaft.



One way or another i had to remove the cylinder head beacuse of the gasket leak. What i find odd was that doesn't matter what manufacturer gasket you take (ELRING, VICTOR REINZ) the coolant holes wont line up properly. I tried many different ones, but still the same. And i don't remember the old one which was installed, was it lined up correcly or not. And i didn't take pictures. How stupid of me! I couldn't try OEM cause only gasket cost 120 euros. And just throw the money and find out later that everything is the same i pointless. I could use that 120 euros for something else for example.

New gaskets and head bolts.





New gasket installed and as you may notice, in the middle near the pistons are coolant holes and those won't line up. Is that okay or is it something that i should be afraid ?



Before the paint removal.





I used this. It works pretty good but smells pretty bad.



Other side.

Before.



Between.



And after. Took me many hours to get that clean.



After painting. I used Motip matte black paint. In the beginning it seemed pretty good but when it get dry, i was't sure of the result. I'm gonna probably paint it glossy black, but later.



And the result when it's dry.



I also used the same paint romver on rocker cover to get rid of that discusting blue paint. I think it will look much much better than before.





And the result. What do you think ?



In the mean time my ordered parts arrived. Most of you should know that certain parts are not available as a aftermarket, so i had to go and knock on the dealership door to order some original parts. Money well spent.

Cause my E30 is the latest pre-facelift i already have some of the facelift parts installed from the factory. This concerns petrol tank ventilation hoses cover. Fule tank filler rubber and i was missing timing belt cover rubber "thingie".



Original fuel feed and return line and some clamps.



Inlet gaskets, thermostat, oilpan drain plug with washer, exhaust manifolt copper nuts, rocker cover studs, few o-rings and half moons for the cylinder head.



Alternator adjustment bolt with a nut and adjusting bar. Also recieved rubber grommets for the brake fluid reservoir and rear stabilizer support brackets. Weir dthat i didn't have rear stabilizer at all. So i had to buy one.



OEM thermostat housing and cover. The old one was so corroded so i couldn't use it anymore. Well i could have but after that i wouldn't forgive myself that small mistake. Everything has to be beautiful for my eye. And for others as well.



To be continued.

Cheers!

- - - Updated - - -

Little teaser how the engine will look like. I have to do some minor adjustments and fix some of the mistakes i made along the assembly but over all it looks just a tiny bit better than before.

[ZEKTI]

Wow!! Lot's of amazing progress made.

[Marko S]

Wow!! Lot's of amazing progress made.

Thank you! But we are far from over. The most annoying stuff coming. So stay tuned!

[Marko S]

Continuing with much delicate job. Interior. Stripping it down. But it takes lot of time beacuse i dont want to break anything and i need to mark down all the wires and tag all what comes out of the car.





Looks like a proffesional has done the wiring. It had the manual sunroof but some of the previous owners fitted electrial sunroof and also powerwidows. But i will fix it. Trying to find the right wire for it and also right connector. Everything will be like from the factory.



I told you that i dont want to break anything. Well i lied! I didnt but they just broke. It was so friable and just broke in to few pieces. Another part i can add to the visit the dealership list.



I also bought the proper lightning for that kind of job. Easy to use and lights up the whole car. At least now i can see what im doing.



Ripped down the headliner. I have had thoughts about that headliner. At the beginning i was pretty sure that i will change the color more darker side, but its a summer car and sometimes it gets really hot in here and i dont have AC, only the poor mans AC which means wind down the widows and open the sunroof. So i decided it will be close to hat original color. Somthing lighter which will be a sensible decision.



Definately this wont go back. It will go straight to the trash after my friend has taken all the measurements she needs.



Dont ask how, but i managed to break sunroofs tilting mechanism. Its made of plastic and it just broke. Again my wallet will be 130 euros lighter.

[Marko S]

For a change i unbolted the front axle and smashed it into pieces. All the parts what i could use are sandblasted and painted. All the parts what needs to be replaced will be replaced using only good stuff.



Subframe mounting points looked good and had no issues with the bolts holding it in place. Very often you can snap a bolt pretty easily and this means more work to get the snepped bolt out.





Front axle taken apart. I see only rusty stuff. But soon whey will look like new.







Steering rack will get proper cleaning, new rubberboots, steering linkage will be renewed. All old balljoints will be scrapped and new ones installed.



Mine didnt have rear stabilizer so i had to buy that.