Uwbuurman: 1978 323i polaris: almost done

[Peter V.]

And the dutch topic is way further and a lott of donormaterial is already welded in. Very nice work Koos!

[uwbuurman]

Thanks Peter! I hope to catch up whit this English topic to my Dutch one. Must be all the way updated this year!

[uwbuurman]

Oh and for those who can't wait, just follow the link in my signature.

[uwbuurman]

Sunday May 3th 2013,

Forum member Groentje_me (Jan) called me to say that there was a NOS typ1 front up for sale on a sort of local Dutch ebay. Of course the seller was based exactly on the other side of the country, but Peter V. lives there, so I called him, and he went and collected it for me!! It’s in mint condition, stickers from BMWs still on. Jan and Peter: thanks!

But I still had to get the damn thing home. As it turned out, I had to be near Peter a week later, but with wife and kids in the car, not much space left for a complete front, so I put on the roof-rack.





At home I looked at it more detailed, and it’s realy in good condition. Much better than the NOS rear panel I got from W&N the other day. This front will be put on after the rest of the car is done.

[uwbuurman]

Friday, May 17th 2013
So I continued. I started to get the right rear wheelhouse replaced. This one seemd tob e in better shape than the left one. Seemed…
I started cutting it out.













On the inside of the wheelhouse I found some sort of bracket, all rotten. Must be from the tank filler (what that word?) But I was happy to find out that BMW supplies new wheelhouses with bracket!





This car has been tempered with before. Some rust? They just welded a strip of metal over it . But it still keeps on rotting underneath, so more repairs for me…




Some more rotten spots to repair..





The cutout edge of the old wheelhouse. This I have to reproduce myself, that’s gonna be a nice round of welding…

[uwbuurman]

The most ugly work is in this place behind the wheelhouse, on the sill. I don’t know yet how to repair this, maybe cut out a part of the floor? On the inside, where the rear axle is mounted, it’s all rotten. It has tob e sorted, but how…





So I started replacing the rotten edges.



To get a nice and clean weld, you need a clean surface to start with. Therefore I have a little sandblastingset on my compressor. So I cleaned it nice and to the bare metal!



The rear prepared for the new floorpanel





Dry fitting



And weld away! The cut needs to be welded shut, but thats for the next time.



The last piece still needs to be put in.



All done but grinding it down.

[uwbuurman]

So all the edges are repaired and ready for the new wheelhouse, apart from that rotten corner near the sill…





Spraypainted it all to preserve it for the time beeing. Wheeled it out side to dry..

[uwbuurman]

Saturday 25th of May, 2013.

This afternoon I ajusted my chassisframe. I need to get the support of that rearaxle moutingpin. I succeeded in doing so, and after that I opened up the inner sill. Unfortunately I forgot tob ring my Nikon or my HTC phone, so all I’ve got are some 0,001 mp crapy Nokia pics.
This is where the long mountingpin goes, seen from the rearseat. I hammered it out. In the horizontal part (the side of the sill, note that the car is flipped on its side) you can see that there is lots of old bad repairs and new rust.



I cut out the floor around the mount, so I can reach the sill.



Took out the rotten part



All brown pieces are rustchips.



And what happens if you weld sheetmetal over rust? Yes, it continues rotting and rusting.



Earlier on we tried to fix this problem (2011, while putting on the new outer sill) but then the car was still fitted with axles and drive shaft, so we could not repaiir it suffecient. Now I have cut out the wheelhouse and it sits without the undercarriage, I can reach the spot fairly enough. So i want to repair it.

As it turnes out, this is rather a daft construction. The wheelhouse runs behind the inner sill that is on the outside here. To repair it the best thing was to remove the outer sill, but in order to do tha the new sidepanel needs to come of. We’re not gonna do that, no will we. On the wheelhouse is a rather thick flange, it’s just spotwelded. Stupid construction, bound to rot sooner or later.

[jimbob]

lots of good work done here

ho do you tip your car on its side do u just get a couple of people to help?

i wouldnt mind making one of these frames when i fix my gold car up

[uwbuurman]

Oh no, a bare shell weights less thans 200 kilogram (440 pounds or so) so i just do that by my selve. Some times I flip it on one side and then 10 minuts later on the other side.

[jimbob]

i would just be scared of it rolling completely over and smashing the roof in

id use a friend on the other side. like a cusion

[jimbob]

i know what u mean mine is currently on some shopping trolley wheels the shell is very light

[jbe21]

Oh and for those who can't wait, just follow the link in my signature.

Oh god, browsed through most of it. Your dedication and attention to details is beyond impressive. Huge respect for you, man.

[uwbuurman]

Thanks! I do the best a I can. Lots of work have been done. I like tot share it here, just for fun. Hope every one has fun sifting through my topic!

[uwbuurman]

i would just be scared of it rolling completely over and smashing the roof in

id use a friend on the other side. like a cusion

Lol! But it can't roll over on the roof, because the side columns are higher than the roof.