Aussie 74 3.0L CSA resto project

[lisa_spyder]

I am the very lucky new custodian of an Australian delivery E9. We have had the car "home" now for 3 days and we're into it already. The car is pretty much complete, but in pieces. The mechanicals are all sitting on a trailer and the body is in the workshop. The trim is out (seats, door trims etc). There is almost nothing in the engine bay. Car came with a whole host of spares, mainly mechanical stuff.

The car is genuine RHD, delivered into Aus in 1974 through a Melbourne BMW dealer, auto with Zenith carbes. Finished in Granatrot with beige-grey velour interior, electric windows, local air-cond fitted (maybe on pre-delivery through the dealer, not sure though). No sunroof which I am pleased about. I have a 2 inch thick file on the car which I am still wading through, but a cursory glance is enough for me to see the mileage adds up and it has pretty good history.

The underside of the floors are very good (no sign of that awful body deadener either). There are some small areas of rust, none are structural (but we haven't quite finished looking yet so this is not conclusive).

Internal boot trim, tool kit case etc are not in great nic...can't have everything :wink: . Tool kit however is almost complete which is nice .

Lots of items to check yet, but I thought some pics of the undercarriage, floors etc would be of interest. Overall the car is remarkably solid and appears very original (now is the time for you experts to speak up if you see something suspect - please!).

 

[x_atlas0]

Looks to be in great shape. How on earth did you get the sound deadening material to come off in a solid sheet? Mine took a chisel and weeks to come off.

 

[lisa_spyder]

We were lucky! This car has been down to bare metal before for painting (in the mid 80s). So the underside of the floorpan was stripped then. Inside the car, the deadening had been replaced with the stuff that comes in a sheet (still black and thick, but a whole lot easier to work with) and that all came away without too much hard work. There is still a bit to go in places the pics don't show (and I have so far not had to do any of it as Mike has hopped into it).

I was thinking it would be many hours of heat gun and chisel too...

 

[project E9]

The insulation mats were fairly well stuck into place on the floor. A heat gun and paint scraper were needed to remove most of the mats, although some large sections were kind enough to lift easily without heat. It still filled a day but that was a breeze compared to what it might have been!
Next will be to remove the insulation/sound deadening from inside the wheel arches.(oh what fun)
I have also started checking all the trim parts both interior and exterior and so far everything seems to be there, its mostly all looking good!

 

[project E9]

So far, so good, both rear wheel arches are now stripped and checked for any hidden rust under the body deadener and fortunately no big surprises just a little surface rust which wiped off easily. The front wheel wells have also checked out very well.
A really pleasant surprise is that all the electric windows work well, if not a bit slow, also the A/con and heater fans, rear window demister, and most of the accessories are all operable. A few minor repairs to the loom and that should see it ready to go. Even the heater core is holding pressure, I think we can wait on that one yet though before making a final decision whether or not to get it cleaned and tested outside the car!
The wheel base has measured up to within 2.5 mm and that is before re-bushing, the front and rear suspension.
Everything is looking very good so far, and there is no reason to think there will be any great problems in the areas investigated.

 

[lisa_spyder]

Who's who in our zoo...

I can see the potential for some head scratching..."project E9" is in fact my husband Mike who at this point in time is having much more fun than me...he gets to work on my car (in between paying jobs :wink: ), whilst I get to hardly even see it due to my current work overload :cry: .

But at least there is progress and the news thus far is all good. Once I get a breather from work stuff I'll be posting regular pics and reports both here and on our blog.

One thing so far I am not happy with though is the rather agricultural looking alteration/addition to area above the centre console (added to hold the air-cond knobs etc). I'll get some pics and post them asap. I'll be looking for a better way to finish this area and accomodate the necessary knobs - fast!

Cheers,

Lisa