236 replies to this topic

[rodomo]

three speed syncro?

Gurls gearbox.................real men drive 3 speed crash (1st) boxes

[dirtbag]

Well I spent today again pulling the beast apart. It's still not fully stripped, but as you know I'm taking my time and being careful.


The one job I had trouble with yesterday was getting the screws out of the sills, so that's where I started today.





The whole outer sill screws on, making for a nice gunk trap inside. If this were mine I'd be repairing the rust, remaking new sills then fully welding them on. But that's just me.





It's not often I've seen a car with removable sills. Peugeot 403s are the same. It's strange that the Germans make the sills removable, yet weld all the front panels on! Crazy : )





I think not having the sill a separate part would look nice. Imagine the lower front guard just smoothly rolling underneath, instead of having a big seam and an ugly chrome trim.





Getting these sills off was really kicking my ass, but I got them off eventually. This is some of the crap that was in the front of the left sill.







There's a weird looking repair at the base of the B pillar too.





This is in front of the left rear wheel. Nice ; ) I especially like the quality of the blisters in the paint above the sill : )





I knew this part had rusted well when I was able to do this with my pointer finger : )





This is the inside of the front of the left outer sill.





So next job was to pull the drivers seat and start in there. Goodie, more tar removal!!!





I also attacked a few bits off the dashboard, just out of curiosity.





Wow, a wood grain dash that's actually made of wood : )

[rodomo]

What does that make me?

Chuck Norris?

[dirtbag]

OK, so same deal as with the left side, I had to jump start the rear side window to get the mech out, but having done one side this side was much easier. There was still the tar sheet to deal with though. Grrrrr!!





You can see at the bottom of this pic a little white area. That's the hole in the inner sill where the outer sill collected gunk.





Next fun job for me was to start ripping the tar off the drivers footwell. I didn't get it finished today, as it's exhausting and I'm old, but I made a start!





You can see on the tunnel, I've already removed the carpet and underlay, but there's rubber, then foam, then tar. Thanks Germany : )





You don't want to know how long it took to just get to this point.





There's some surface rust in the floor. Not actually holes as such, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some after blasting. I'm going to assume I'll be making a few floor pans just to be sure.







Once I'd had enough of that I started removing the trim from around the roof gutter area. With the trims off I found this weird cut in the A pillar. Stabby stabby : )





These trims are just from the top of the roof on the drivers side. No wonder it's taking a while to pull this apart and label everything : )





Then I thought I'd go glamorous again and chip away some more tar from the floor.





Another floor repair, and again at least it's welded and not just held in with cloth tape : )

[dirtbag]

OK, so with the inner sill trims and channels removed, I removed the visors, inner handles on the roof and interior light and started unpicking the roof lining to get to the sunroof.




There is some surface rust on the underside of the roof skin, but I don't think it's anything the blasting wont cure. Fingers crossed anyway.





I had a go at jump starting the sunroof but had no luck, so looked around the assembly and found what I hoped was a mechanical over ride. Luckily it was. Yay : )





A few turns inside here and the sunroof came all the way back.








As you know I've been taking a thousand picks of everything to make reassembly simpler. For this reason I numbered all the different pieces of the front of the sunroof assembly and put arrows facing forward on each piece. I don't want to call myself a complete idiot, but I know my memory isn't good enough to not take these steps.





And with those pieces out I was able to unpick the last parts of the roof lining.





I know the old roof lining wont get reused, but I kept it in tact as much as I could as I'm sure it'll be a good starting point for a template for the trimmer.

Edited by dirtbag, 16 August 2012 - 10:55 PM.

[dirtbag]

It's starting to look pretty shaggy now : )





OK, now I know someone was saying the C pillar badges were drains, but I looked inside those holes and there was zero sign of water/rust, so now with the roof lining out I could find out what was going on with the sunroof drains.


Both rear corners of the sunroof channel have these pipes coming out and heading down the C pillar.





But luckily, and as I kind of expected, they don't go to the badge holes. They go down the rear wheel tub and out the bottom of the rear guard.





This bin is filled with the crap I've been scraping off the floor and what not. It's pretty chockers now and I cracked one side of it trying to pick it up with one hand hahaha!





And no, that doesn't include all the carpet and underlay. This pile is just from the drivers side!!!





Well I know it doesn't look much, but that's about all I got done today. I still have to strip the drivers door and the dash, but hey, it's definitely getting there.





I like when cars are at the stage where they just look like old pieces of crap, as bringing them back to life is much more rewarding : )





Last thing I did was to put the drivers seat back in so I could take it back up to the house.





Even sitting high and half pulled apart I think it cuts a pretty nice side profile.





Oh, and I also noticed the sunroof has a drain at each front corner too, so not a bad design really.





Welll that's it for today. Tomorrow I'm going to take it back down and get that door stripped but then I'll have to move on to other jobs. It's been good getting to learn the car and get the project underway, even though for you guys it's pretty boring to watch. That's just too bad : )

[dirtbag]

Yeah apparently, but haven't found anyone around where I am that has it.

[Statler]

Now is the time to cut a nice 1/4 mile.

[fenz]

I rekon you could strip 3 holdens down to their pants in the time it takes to strip one german car.
Cant believe how much tar and deadner crap its got inside it.
Were they known for being a quite ride or is it just ze german overkill???

[dirtbag]

Maybe I should invest in a heat gun and give it a try. Can't be any worse than it is now : )

[axistr]

Well done Tim, most people don't realise how well these beamers are engineered till you pull them apart, bugger that it has so much cancer.

[enderwigginau]

Caboolture Iceworks, Lear Jet Drive.

[enderwigginau]

Hahaha Insert evil-thought smiley......

Ghost Bimmer badges on the roof in a southern cross pattern hahahahaha

I know a fella who put Chrysler Penta-stars in a southern cross on the roof of his rallycar......looked great.....

[dirtbag]

Thanks Grant re Ice. I'll try a heat gun but if that doesn't do it I'll try them for sure, as even the engine bay is covered in the crap!!!


Well I did a bit more today.


I started by stripping the drivers door. I love it when people "fix" things with silastic : )





There's a bit of plastic chrome on various parts of the car, like the knob for the quarter glass, and the chrome is coming off. I assume this stuff can get redone?





I noticed that the door strap (or whatever you call it) has been replaced with one from another car. It just had me thinking how hard it would have been to find that part!!!





There's been some kind of repair done to the window mech and inner door frame at some stage, but it all seems to work fine so can't be too bad : )





I've taken lots of pics of the inner door so I can remember how to put it all back together.





There's some rust along the top of both doors. Mainly on the inner edge. There's also a hidden message in this next pic : )








The mirror mount is very neat. There's no screws visible, just a little black rubber flap that you pull back to reveal a mounting screw. My only issue with this mirror is there is no passengers side one. I like either two mirrors, or none. One just doesn't look right to me.

Edited by dirtbag, 17 August 2012 - 11:30 PM.

[dirtbag]

There looks to be a bit of rust in the lower front corner of the door, but wont know for sure until it's blasted.





The rear part of the door looks OK so far.





It would be nice to smooth the handles and locks, but that's Mackas call : )





Small bit of rust in the outer skin. I'll be interested to see this car in bare metal.





Bit of rust on the passengers side inner top section as well.





I always said this car had a real Karmann Ghia feel to it, and now I know why : )





Starting to look pretty sexy now : )





You have no idea how much of an assbag the timber dash was to get apart and out of the car!!! At least it's done now : )








A lot of work in the timber.








I love the VDO stamp in the sheetmetal and the soldering for the guage mounting bolts.

[dirtbag]

Pure luxury : )





Starting to get a nice collection of outer panels : )





So as the parts have been coming off I've been labelling and stacking them onto the shelves I built. It's getting pretty full now, and I haven't even started on the running gear yet!





Boot and bonnet are safely tucked away where they wont get bumped. I don't work up this end so they're safe here : )





OK LS1, jump over and get in the BMW!!!!!










There we go. All done. Just need to put the grill back in and she's good to go : ) hahaha





I love the new dash layout : )





Pretty : )





Driving this thing with no windows was fun enough, but take away the doors and dashboard and it's even more fun!!!!





OK, so now it's back at the house for a while so I can get on with some other projects, but it's about as pulled apart as I can get it and still be able to drive it. I'll still chip away at all that tar from time to time though. I'm so lucky : )