The madness continues...!
I have been working on the 'new coupe' for the past several weeks now... Here is a 'brief' summary of what has been done to date with a few pics...
New Coupe Restoration Timeline
3.0CS purchase via auction on ebay on January 27, 2014
Car was transported via trailer to Visalia from Colfax on Saturday...
Car was retrofitted with a 3.5 e28, motronic 1.1 injection motor via previous owner. Has automatic Borg Warner type
65 transmission. Inspection for rust... No structural rust found.
FEB 2...
First drive revealed that it shifted very hard 1st to 2nd @ 30 mph.. VERY hard shift! Then 2nd to 3rd shift @ 55mph
Discovered that the linkage rod to throttle body was @ 1.25 inches to LONG. This upset the automatic shift points.
Subsequent fitting of shorter rod set to @ OEM length solved the shift issue and trans shifts butter smooth.
FEB 4...
Upon slow acceleration after transmission issue fixed the engine had a distinct hesitation @ 1500 rpm. After
cleaning the idle control valve and adjusting the TP sensor hesitation was fixed.
Removed R rocker panel to begin repair of minor damage to lower rear front fender. No need to replace fender!
NO rust in rocker panels!
FEB 5-11
Have been trying to fix a pesky leak at the speedo drive. Am fitting replacement o-rings and seals to fix.
Have checked most electrical components... L & R front windows work great. Back windows are stuck.
Heater, blower, vents all work. A/C is disconnected but aux fan and blower work. Original Blaupunkt appears to
work but rear power antannae does not. Will assess further. Tach and instruments lighting work. Speedo works
but trip odo is intermittantly stuck.
FEB 15-20
Begin to take things apart. Starting at trunk. Remove 'elephant skin' panels over wheel wells and all grey trunk
coverings. Fuel door was a bitch... Discovered that the left upper shock mount had 'popped' and previous owner
had attempted a wierd fix. Will fix properly before painting.
Ordered front nose trim and pair of vertical rear window seals. (where door glass meets the front of the
rear side windows)
Removed rear bumper today (Feb 20) also trunk seal and residual adhesive in channel. No need to re-chrome.
Will work on front bumper removal and 'belt' trim over weekend. Will also begin to remove rear seats and door
panels.
FEB 22 (4 hours)
In order to get to rear quarter belt trim, need to remove rear seat and interior panel. Also got the rear window motor to
work. Works great! Window has to be in full up position to get to trim nuts. Will likely have to replace the channel
"U" strip. Rear panel and armrest are in great shape.
Removed driver's side rear seat, door panel etc. Rear window motor was also stuck but got it to work properly.
Will likely not need to take window glass or lift mechanisms out.
Removed driver's side trunk belt moulding.
FEB 23 (4 hours)
Finished removing rest of belt trim and all interior panels. Nose trim was another bitch. Headlight buckets and front
bumper as well. Only things left on the exterior are the door handles and the hood and fender grilles/louvres.
Will start on the dash next.
FEB 24 (2-3 hours after work... nice night!)
Started to tear down dash... removed console face plates, radio, front part of dash (grabrail). Got screws loos from instrument
'hood', upper dash is now loose but need to deal with defroster vents ... got to figure out how to remove...
Removed glove box and will need to relocate the ECU that was rather crudely mounted above glove box.
Was able to loosen both A/C lines (was worried about that). At some point soon I will have to drain coolant (or by pass the heater)
as I need to remove the heater core/ fan box/ A/C unit all at once. Would like to be able to drive the car till the last minute.
Hope to get instrument cluster out soon...
FEB 25 (1 hour)
Was able to remove the upper dash successfully w/o removing front window! More or less home free now on the dash
redux! Yay! Can now remove the instrument cluster and get on with things...! No need to remove heater box.
FEB 26
Removed complete dash from car. Ordered dash repar components to fix cracks.
FEB 27 - MAR 1 (very stormy, wet. did not do too much)
MAR 2 (2 hours)
Finished removing all components from hood, wiper motor and arms, removed glue residue from rear hood seal. Also removed
hood latches. Removed side marker lights and front turn signals. Cleaned dirt/grime from wiper/heater box trough below front
window.
Have more or less decided to paint as much of engine compartment as can be done w/o removing motor.
MAR 3 (2 hours)
Begin to repair wood from right door. Bondo works well. Take apart instrument cluster back and bezel to prep from new veneer.
MAR 4-5 (4 hours)
Worked on door wood, repaired minor wood issues, prepared wood for veneer, glued veneer, sanded smooth, applied first several coats
of varnish on all four side wood pieces.
Began work on dash wood. Separated wood from lower piece and did minor wood repair.
More to come soon
