73 POLARIS E3 BUILD...Slowly..

StephenZ

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Ok, guys...I've started on my tear down and rebuild on my 73 Polaris Bavaria and I figure if I start a thread, it might keep me a little more accountable. The last car I fully stripped down was a 69 1600 and that took me a year and 8 months to do...but that was a full blast the bare body, performance engine resto. This will be close, but no body blasting...I hope. My plan is to tear down the engine, strip out the engine bay, and start from there...it's filthy, but solid, so it's just a ton of cleaning in prep for paint. I'll start at the beginning...

Here's a shot when I went to look at it. Seems nice enough...
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Then there's the engine bay...yikes..but I've seen worse.
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For a car that's my age, the interior is pretty nice..a new headliner, driver seat cover, and a few vinyl repairs, and she'll be nice driver quality.
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StephenZ

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First thing was the drive home to Valencia from Long Beach...the car hasn't been registered, or driven for that matter, since 2013...I got as far as Van Nuys and parked it in my buddy's car warehouse, as my brakes gave out...cue the horror movie foreshadowing music.... Once I had it towed home, I slowly started on the removal of everything up front..

I think every time the oil was changed they poured an extra quart on top of the engine, just for voodoo good luck...

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The ole 'one man hood removal'...making the gym membership pay off...man it's heavy..
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There's the lump! A lot tougher to yank than the little 1600 motor... Did I mention I really hate dirty stuff?
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StephenZ

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I started with the carb rebuilds and intake cleaning..just some light work to ease back into the game...If you look closely, you might be able to see a little grime on the intake manifolds and carb..
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Nice...
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There they are cleaned up and rebuilt...not for a show car, but still nice..
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StephenZ

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Digging into the engine, I found the top end to be in nice (ish) shape...the head is an 86, and appeared pretty good. The underside was a bit weaker. Some valves were a bit far gone and one exhaust valve was cracked. I ended up stripping the head down and cleaning it, and lapping in all new valves and put in new seals. The pistons and walls all looked really good and were still in spec, too. I put a ball hone through it, cleaned the pistons up and put on new rings and all new rod and main bearings. Got the engine cleaned up and reassembled with new water pump, starter, timing chain, oil pump chain, etc, etc... a lick of paint and she's not too shabby! I know, I painted the block in a cast iron colored paint...I've always liked that more than black..sorry....:)



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Not polished up, but I'm building a car I won't be afraid to drive..:). I made my last one so nice that I sold it after I drove 400 miles...still regret that..
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StephenZ

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Holy moly...I haven't updated in a while. I've been insanely busy with work and two kids (they're worth the delays, though:)
So I've been slowly doing some sanding and half hearted prep to get closer to paint...Also pulled the AC and heater core out from the inside..(I have all new stuff to replace it with, someday) I've kind of been in this place of not wanting to do a super serious resto on it, since it's not a hugely valuable car and it want to enjoy it (plus I have little time), but today I realized that I'm not doing much on it because I can't accept doing less than a nice job on it, so I think I've been avoiding the massive undertaking (I've done a few cars all by myself...lots of work, as some of you know!) Today, I decided, screw it, I'll start doing it correctly...for me that started with the front fenders...the front right had been repaired a long time ago from a very small crumple (which also totaled it..pfft).. I yanked the fender (the fender is newer) to see what kind of metal work was in store. Luckily, it's just some pathetic metal straightening that was covered with bondo. Shouldn't be too bad to fix up at all. Underneath the fender is really great! A CA car all its life, it just has dirt and a very light dusting of surface rust in some places. Under the stuff I scraped and wheeled off is very nice original painted metal. Yay! Next, I'll pull the other fender to clean and prep for painting. I guess I'll also take the doors off to get the jambs and all that looking nice and new for paint, as well.

SOOO, my big question is, what should I do about the windshield gasket nla issue that's been going around?? I desperately want to remove the front and rear wind screens to properly paint, and also replace the headliner (which I already have), but I'm scared I'll be stuck with no way to put my front and rear glass back in..Thoughts? I tried carefully prying it from the inside to see if I can get them out without cutting the rubber, but I'm too nervous I'll crack the glass...(been there...much younger and impatient then).

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duct-tape

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is your gasket fresh and flexible? you may be able to remove it without having to buy a new one.
call around to some of the old shops and see if they can do it. none of the newer places will touch a gasket style seal. they want to glue them.

if you HAVE to cut it out, the part number for the Si seal (with no provision for the lower trim) is 51311828235
 

StephenZ

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I tried prying it a little to see...it seems in pretty good shape...maybe I will call on a couple custom places around here... good call, hadn't thought of that. I'm so used to doing everything myself! lol.
 

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I just got my rear seal in the mail!..:). Yeah, just need the front one before I move forward with the front and headliner..
 

Peter Coomaraswamy

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Hi Stephen, You're doing a great lot of exterior work for someone who said you're not going to have it blasted :) I am in the middle of an e3 mechanical resto right now but I hope to be done in a couple of weeks, just trying to get it road worthy. It's a 3.0 si, so a little different than yours, but I think she'll be drive able (semi-safely) for a total of about 2,000. the engine is in good shape, has a newer head- as yours does- and has a little rust but nothing major. I have to re-do the entire brake system and all hydraulics, belts, hoses and allot of wires and a major cleaning. While waiting for parts I rebuilt the rear driver-side door panel, the wood core was in good shape so the veneer went on easy- I'm glad to have a partner project here!!!
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StephenZ

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Wow! Great looking door card there! It's definitely nice to have any encouragement along the way. Yeah, as I keep tearing it down, it gets closer and closer to a full strip down and rebuild. I'm lucky that the car is completely rust free and solid...I'll probably end up pretty much stripping it down mostly to metal before I paint it. I'd love to have it done asap, but I couldn't live with myself if I went this deep and didn't really do it nice. I just need to find that damn front windshield gasket...:). When I got into this, I didn't realize how rare these cars are. It's tough not having tons of other people's info to help motivate me... Do you have a thread for yours? I'll take a look and see in a minute. Hopefully, I can update with some movement soon!
 

duct-tape

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StephenZ

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here bud. I thought you had this info already
The seal that holds the lower trim is gone, you will not find one anywhere. the next best thing is the later model that doesn't have a slot for the lower trim piece, but it is the same size and will hold your glass.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/fitting/51311828235/

Thanks for the link, duct-tape! :) I had read about that one, but can you, or anyone, clarify for me... would this gasket just not have the lower trim at all, just rubber, or would it need to be a different sized piece that I'd also have to source? If it's still my trim on the other three sides and nothing on the bottom, I guess I could settle for that...but if I also have to find some other metal trim to fit in there and match it up to the original pieces, that sounds not fun..
 

duct-tape

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you can use your trim for the sides and top, the lower trim that fits (from the later model) is wider by 1/4 inch. you could try to get that part, or all 4 sides from the later model, or just run your own trim and skip having a shiny piece on the bottom.


that's my plan. I can forego the lower trim
 

StephenZ

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you can use your trim for the sides and top, the lower trim that fits (from the later model) is wider by 1/4 inch. you could try to get that part, or all 4 sides from the later model, or just run your own trim and skip having a shiny piece on the bottom.


that's my plan. I can forego the lower trim

Ahh, okay, that clears it up. I had understood it as you had to get that other trim in order to use it. I think I might be able to forgo the lower trim piece.. Having much nicer paint, and my new headliner would make up for it...:)
Thanks for the clarification!
 
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