Uwbuurman: 1978 323i polaris: almost done

[uwbuurman]

@Ben, just attend to the Sharknosemeeting, I'll hand it over overthere

@Nas, Thanks! Lost of pics to come, this is just the tip of the iceberg!

[Duracel79]

I had thought about Sharknose, but it won't fit inside an E21 especially when I'm continuing round Europe for 2000 miles after the Show.

Did you have a price in mind for the roof? and would you mind finding out shipping costs to Letchworth, England? I hope it won't be too expensive.

Regards

Ben

[uwbuurman]

Hi Ben, with all due respect, but I think it'll be much cheaper to look for a breaker and just cut off the roof yourself. Sending a roof undamaged over to the UK seems like a nightmare to me...

Complete rustfree and nice roof is 50 pounds ex shipping.

[uwbuurman]

And we have a roof again!!!!

Fit it cold and just clamp it on there.



Then some stitchwelds (or whatever its called)



After that the car is put onto the repairbench or straightener and the measuringsystem was put under it.



After measuring it turned out to be 4 mm offcenter, so we had to press the roof 2mm aside. Now its 0mm! BMW had a tolerance of 3mm in the factory, so, job well done!



All straightend out!



Then welded it all.







And on the inside



Putting the hatch back!



All grinded down.





This roof used to have a winddeflector, but thats not coming back, so welded the holes shut.



And now, I have a sunroof!!



Down from the bench, Monday an onther car needs to bestraightened





I’m happy! Nice roof, nice work!

[uwbuurman]

On Monday July 4th 2011 we went on with the floor. The previous restauration scared the crap out of us.
What a terrible job they did!!!!!!(sorry, had to get it out of my system.)

The floorpanels a just welded on to trhe side of the chassisbar



No rustprotection whatsoever, so rust everywhere



On the chassisbar there are no of insuffient spotwelds, not welded thru and tru, the outersill is not welded properly, look what happens when you open the door…



Floorpanel dosn’t run over the chassisbar, but is bended in to place en just a few spotwelds



Rear suspension mounts are rotten



And then this is what you get…

[Mihajlo]

My mechanic also changed roof on his E30, but on the different way..
He did not cut pillars, he only grinded the spots where the roof was spotwelded on the body and cut upper part of the roof where it was joined by factory. When he did that, car looked like E30 Baur

Major job was preparation of the "replacement" roof because everything has to be perfectly aligned.

But I like both ways..

[Duracel79]

Hi Ben, with all due respect, but I think it'll be much cheaper to look for a breaker and just cut off the roof yourself. Sending a roof undamaged over to the UK seems like a nightmare to me...

Complete rustfree and nice roof is 50 pounds ex shipping.

No problem, I thought delivery would be the issue. its not heavy but big and delicate.
I've still got time before I need a tintop roof, probably 2 years down the line.

Ben

PS Liking the attention to detail of the metalwork

[uwbuurman]

July 7th, 2011, done a lot tonight.

Restored the inner sill. Took out the rotten bits and put in some new metal.





After that we prepped the edges and sprayed them with this stuff.









And attached

Upper and lower spotwelded



And some CO2 welding



Then we put in the the door to check the gap. Nice and straight!

[uwbuurman]

Some days later we repaired a part of the floor

At first cut it to size



Then cut out the part on the car



Clean it all to prepare it for welding
And dryfitting to measure out the chassisbar.



And again I sprayed it in the anti-corrosionprimer



Then we put in the supportplate







Cleaned the chassisbar and took of all the rust and undercoating and other stuff.



Welded in



Close this gat tomorrow and then this side is done.

[uwbuurman]

Saturday July 9th 2011, we had a visit from Pattam2009, Patrick. He also wants to fit his car with a sunroof.



Floor at the right side is done!!

A nice selffabricated piece of floor



Put in.



And then another piece



Grinding and sanding







And put in and primered it.



And after removal of the big pannet we discovered spots like this.





The corner of the B-pillar always rusts. Seeing this, triple plates, it doesn’t wonder me. A strange construction it is.

We had to make the little corners ourselves, because its NLA at BMWs



At the rear also a shitload of filler, at some spots more than 5 mm thick!!!



This it it for now.




And the returning question: what will we replace also??

1 hint:



Took the old roof home.

[uwbuurman]

@ Ben: this is the way you can take it home!!! Just return to the Netherlands of your way back from the Alps! I'll drive up to Breda if you want.

[raseeda green]

It's amazing work, will keep checking posts, beautiful welding work too.

[uwbuurman]

Well then… on Monday June 11th, 2011 we went on with the right sidepanel.

We took of the wheelhouse arch, but that was in so bad a shape that we needed to replace that.





Here we need a new flange (is that the right word for it? Is anyone reading this anyway?)

On the inside some rust has to be cleared out



Repairing of the B pillar:

Cut out the bad parts



And put in a new piece of metal



The we fitted the sidepanel, cut it to size.



made some cornerpieces for the rearsidepanels





At the rear some rust has to be cleared also.



Old joint between rear and side panel



Tomorrow we will repair some more little spots ant then the sidepanel can be fitted on.

[uwbuurman]

We made the wheelhouse arch flange thing…



And welded it inn





Repaired the frontside of the wheelhouse



Tomorrow we’ll place the rear side panel.

[uwbuurman]

And the right side panel fits!!

But before welding it on, we repaired the bootfloor/rear wheelhouse nice work!



It goes in here



And in



Then prepped the new panel





To have and watertight joint it needs to be glued already, lateron you can’t reach it anymore



The used to spotweld this about 10 times, but with the proper glue it needs only 4



And it’s on!

Gap between the door and the sidepanel



Wled to the roof and the spotwelds



And the fit to the booth floor