71 3.0CS project - need rust advice

[goodolarchie]

Hey all,

New to the boards, long time old beamer enthusiast. I've had a few 2002's, this is my first E9. I picked it up last week for a pretty good pirce after looking for an E9 over the summer.

Here's a full album: http://imgur.com/a/d8Kjw

The Good:

• Interior is in good shape. Headliner good, no dash cracks, no seat tears.
• Suspension and steering are pretty solid, has Koni's installed, new tires and aftermarket wheels
• New calipers, brake lines rotors, pads in front, rears are in good shape
• New battery
• Not much rust on the outer body panels and mostly straight. It's never been in a major accident and been garaged most of its life
• Trunk area, rear shock towers, inner wheel well and rockers look and feel solid metal

The Bad:

• Compression from cylinders 1-6 are: 68%, 85, 55, 85, 85, 98%
• Much of the electrical is not working: Blower motor, Rear tail lamps, instrument panel light, a few other things here and there. I think most of it is just disconnected.
• Transmission throwout bearing is noisy (or another bearing)
• Driveshaft is noisy, vibrates, clunks on the rear diff during shifts, needs replacement
• Paint is crap, needs obvious body work

The Ugly: (best done with pictures)

• Rusted through near front shock area, driver left side:
  
  
• Worse on the passenger side. Metal is gone along that hood seal in that one spot:
  
  
• Rust near rear window edges:
  
  
• A few bad spots on the body
  
  
  
  
  
• Worst of the rocker panels:
  
  

So here's where I need your experience. How difficult and expensive will it be to fix those rusted areas and redo the body and paint? I've tried to find the right front panels from these two parts sites:

http://www.bmwclassicparts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=cs&Category_Code=cs-engine-bay

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?model=3431&mospid=47806&hg=41&fg=10

I'm not sure which ones map directly to the rusted shock area / drip rail. I imagine the fenders both need replacement, but the rust sits completely under the hood lid.

The floor pan will be an easy fix and doesn't actually encompass much of that area. I'm not sure about the rear window.

As far as the mechanical aspects.. my inclination is to find a good M30B35 and Getrag 265 to put in, using a megasquirt or aftermarket EFI system for ease. There are plenty of cheap donors and it looks like the motor needs to come out anyway - both for the rust repair and because of the potentially cracked head.

Bottom line is I don't want to invest $15,000 or more into this car just to make it a fun weekend driver / occasional show car. If this can be done for less than that then I will go forward with the restoration. I am realistic about the budget, so I figure if I initially intend to spend $8,000 I will come out somewhere around that mark. I know the "where there's smoke there's fire" rule about rust but I've inspected the underside pretty deep with the car on a lift, I think it was just a few bad seals and stripping material that led to the rusted shock areas and driver floor pan. The car has been garaged most of its life.

If the body work is going to cost $10k alone for a less-than-showroom finish I probably will continue my search for the mythical rust free project.

A good start would be somebody telling me just how expensive fixing the rust near the front shocks will cost, and which new panels I would buy, since that's the worst of it.

Also note that I only took pictures of the bad stuff on the car, I can take more if its helpful.

 

[WALTER]

If the body work is going to cost $10k alone for a less-than-showroom finish I probably will continue my search for the mythical rust free project.

Unfortunately, this coupe looks like it would take a lot more than $10K to bring back to an acceptable level. If the interior is good as you state, I would take that and any useable parts and look for another project. I believe someone on the board advertised two coupe projects for sale both of which looked to be more salvageable than this one. Better yet, if you are willing to pay $15K at the end of the day, I would hold out for a coupe that is running and is in reasonable condition. I found a great coupe in the summer for around $15K that is in great shape and works perfectly (except the clock). You should be able to do the same and I think you will be happier.

Walter

 

[tmason]

Hi G
I think you would be better off purchasing the 2 for 1 project in the car section and having 3 cars to pick apart to make one and ebay,CL and forum all left over parts! I don't know the purchase price but in my eye's that a part car at best. And I would be careful driving that car because it is not very safe with shock towers in that condition.
Tim

 

[Sven]

Find a different car

$10-15k will not come close to the cost of fixing rust/replacing panels on this car. The paint job alone would eat into more than 1/2 of that.

Given the rust seen in the photos I am assuming that you would need to replace both front fenders, the lower section of the rear 1/4 panels, the rocker panel (and the scariest of all would be if the structural beam and inner rocker needs replacing), patching lower door skins, floor pans, any trunk stuff (wheel well, tank surround), new fender support brace (seen in front wheel well), repair to the main structural 'A' pillar. Check out WallothNesch's site. They have various patch panels - you would likely need most of the pieces on the their page. The top of the inner front fender panel patch piece is the fourth one down in the e9 bodywork section. Start adding up all these panels then figure in all the labor to remove, cut, replace,etc.. And, you have not even touched the mechanicals yet.

http://www.wallothnesch.com/e/frameparts.htm

Now if you could do all the labor / welding yourself then, maybe?

 

[thehackmechanic]

Advice of the form "get out now" is difficult to hear, but it's either that or "abandon all hope ye who enter here." If there weren't so many mechanical and electrical issues, I'd say do nothing to the body and just drive it into the ground, but with the need for drivetrain replacement in addition to the body issues...

You have some tough choices ahead of you my friend. Think about it all very carefully before you spend a dime.

 

[bert35csi]

Here is the harsh reality: The car appears to be a total rust bucket judging by just a few pictures of it. You probably don't want to hear it, but if you were to start spending any money on this CS, then it will become bottomless money pit. To bring this body to good structural integrity, nice body work/paint and work out all the mechanicals, you're looking at a cool $30-$40K. To avoid eventual heartaches, move on to a nice sorted out $15K-$20K coupe, your sanity and especially, your bank account will thank you. Sorry for the bluntness!

 

[pamp]

Doa

I agree...sad but true...looks like a goner. All is possible as long as you are willing to throw s...pots of money at the project.

 

[m_thompson]

That car actually looks better than mine when I first got it. Hard to believe mine had deteriorated that much in only 10 years. I got new fenders with mine and did all of the metal repair and paint myself. If you can do the repairs yourself it might be resonable to repair it.

Some of the home restoration images are here:
https://sites.google.com/site/mthompsonorg/Home/bmw/1972-3-0cs

If I could do this again I would get one of the mythical southwestern rust free coupes and spend the effort on paint, interior, and mechanical restoration.

 

[Nicad]

M Thompson When I read that you purchased it at ten years old, I was very, very impressed. Gotta get my twelve year old to buy a car. Great resto. If you can weld, you can eventually fix anything...or make a new one. to the OP, I think the real work will be in the places you cannot see.

 

[bimbill]

PM sent

 

[goodolarchie]

I appreciate the honesty, guys. Thanks for the link to Walloth, I checked the BMW oem dealers and they have most of those panels for sale cheaper stateside, although I could not find the very top item (metal panel for strut bar). Fenders included I priced it out to about $2,800 in sheet metal to fix the front end, assuming the supporting structure is rusted beneath the fenders. The cutting and welding and the rest of the body prep I would likely do myself, paint at a competent shop. Seeing M.Thomsons restoration is mighty inspiring, I'm tempted to go cut out the fenders right now just to see how bad it is underneath.

I will most likely sell the running car whole next Spring or Summer. If I hang onto it I will be yanking the interior, brake assembly and wheels/tires. The rest will likely be up for grabs, though I doubt it's worth parting out vs selling whole.