'76 3.0 Si - Introduction

JimV

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Luis,

Your car looks superb. Perhaps we could get together for coffee one day this summer in the north shore area. Considering that it's extremely rare to see an e3 on the street these days, we could create quite a sight with two.

Cheers,

Jim
Verona '73
 

restart

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I recently picked up a 1976 3.0 Si, automatic (ZF 3HP22) in the crazy cool period color of Taiga. Built 7/76, last month of US 3.0 Si production. Many thanks to Chris Macha and Ron Perry who were invaluable in assisting me with this purchase.
P1010909.JPG


Hi, nice bav! Mine is fjord, love the green!
interesting car lift, looks very handy.
Bests
 
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Luis A.

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Hi Jim, Good to hear from you here; didn't know you were on the forum. Yes, a Bav cruise is definitely in order once the weather turns!

You should post some pics of yours...
 

zambo

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Hi Luis

Great thread. I am at the stage where I have the evaporator out - not too difficult as it turned out.

I have three questions though, if you can assist. First, is the black goop that you use to seal seam on the heater unit like a mastic or similar.

Second, the sealing material (foam strips, etc) you use on the intermediate piece for example, is that material quite rigid. By that I mean, does it "give" when pushed in the way that upholstery foam does (I assuming not, but just checking).

Third, there is that little "pillow" thing inside the intermediate piece between the heater and evaporator - what did you make yours from? The "pillow" appears to be stuck to a sheet of adhesive paper which in turn is laid inside the intermediate piece and the paper wraps around the outside edges of that housing.

Thanks for any advice on these questions.

Regards

Richard
 

Luis A.

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Hi Richard,

As a reference, this is shown in page 4 , post #38 of this thread.

Yes the black stuff is black mastic, I had some laying around for a while so I can't point you to a specific manufacturer or part number but it's not difficult to find.

The foam material isn't rigid at all, it's 'medium' soft closed cell, likely polyurethane, water resistant foam with an adhesive backing. I got it in several thicknesses at McMaster Carr.

Sorry to say tat I didn't touch the "pillow' inside the intermediate piece. I don't think it's as much of a pillow as a lining to the inside of the piece and mine was not in need of any repair so I left it alone. What I did do was replace the foam around the edges as seen in the photos.

Let us know how it goes for you.
 

zambo

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Thanks Luis - I will let you know how it goes. The evaporator is the project of the week! Then recommissioning/updating the engine bay side of things next week.
 

zambo

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Hi Luis

I have a follow up question - though more general about the evaporator than you excellent refinishing of the housing. So I guess anyone can chime in on this query.

This is about the blower/fan in my evaporator unit. Mine has all but seized. For those that may have experienced this, is there a standard (known) part that replaces it or is it a case of my AC tech working out the size/dimensions and matching it to a suitable modern day equivalent?

Thanks again for any advice.

Regards

Richard
 

Luis A.

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I know there are threads on the E9 portion of the board regarding the evaporator fan. Mine was working perfectly so other than cleaning it I didn't have to do anything to it.
 

E3_kiwi

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Congratulations on a fantastic restoration, Luis!
And a most informative thread, thanks to your detailed descriptions and pictures.
I really like the E3 in Taiga green - suits the car to a tee.

A couple of questions I have are (and I've borrowed/plagiarized one of your pictures to explain):
1) What is the name of the gray underbody color? Is it painted over the spray-on sealant or actually the color of the sealant itself? I'm touching up some underfloor areas on my Si and it seems to be a chalky white hue rather than gray - however this could be due to aging/ingrained dirt etc.
2) Did you renew the upper firewall sound absorber? It looks like a fresh part on your car, but I see that this foam section is NLA from BMW. Mine is perished and falling to pieces, so would like to replace it.
 

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Luis A.

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Kiwi, I'd have to look at my photographic record to be sure of this but IIRC, the original underbody coating was in very good condition (a southern California car all its life) and all they did was a light application of the Wurth undercoating product. The color is spot on what was there originally.

In regards to the upper firewall sound padding, you can see the whole story here: http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11377&highlight=firewall

The short answer is the upper one was available 3-1/2 years ago when I did the restoration. The lower one is almost a perfect match to the 2 complementary pieces available for the E9.
 

E3_kiwi

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Luis,
Thanks for the reply with info and link - much appreciated.
My mission now is to track down a new upper firewall piece from somewhere.
And I'll need to find a cunning method to try and match my touched-up underbody areas with the surrounding original color.
 

Joe Barthlow

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Great work, Luis! My 1976 3.0Si VIN is only 180 units off of yours. Mine came to me in similar shape at 76,000 miles. your work serves are great inspiration! thanks for sharing!
 
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