Restoring a '72 3.0 CS I bought for $600 [VIDEO]

georgebriggs

georgebriggs

Member
Messages
41
Reaction score
0
Location
Waterloo, Ontario
Hey everyone,

New to the forum, I've been waiting a long time to be a rightful member on here as I just bought a '72 3.0 CS. Like many of you I'm sure, it's been a dream car for me to own for a very long time. It needs A LOT of work but I think I'm happier to start from scratch building it than buying one clean.

I started a youtube channel to document the build but naturally it made sense to share it on e9coupe.com 8) I hope you guys find my masochism entertaining at the very least, I know I have a long road ahead of me! :evil:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGyyN19was4&list=PLKzum1n9AlX5_KbpjsjrAKlI2E87qGpWR

Any feedback, tips, things you'd like to see etc let me know...DM me, post it here, what ever you like!
 
Welcome, looking forward to the videos an seeing your progress. Many experts here, including up your way. There are several resto threads here as well. Read up on rust issues, I see some holes in your front clip and fenders so you'll have quite a challenge.

http://www.e9coupe.com/buyers_guide/index.htm
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the details! The rust is definitely a major issue on the car.

It's going out for walnut blasting next week (video to come) which will give me a full picture of all the body work to come. I'm very glad to have help.

Any vintage BMW experts in any respect of restoration, please message me. I'd love to chat with you!
 
The best way to get advice here is to start a resto thread with pictures and ask questions as you go along.
 
Post these pictures, this will determine given the rocker, floors, fenders, and nose issues you have now whether you actually have something restorable.

I hope you are documenting the parts removal process, if you think removing the dash etc is difficult wait till reassembly with no notes or pictures.


georgebriggs said:
It's going out for walnut blasting next week (video to come) which will give me a full picture of all the body work to come.
Click to expand...
 
I've been documenting everything with photos and indexing with notes, zip lock bags and stickies.

From the guys around here that have seen it up close that know far more about restoring classics than me, they say I've got a good starting point for what I paid. I'll be posting a ton of photos soon!
 
I've been watching your videos, and I'm glad that you followed through on Brendan's recommendation and registered here.

I am envious of your momentum! Keep the videos coming!
 
Thanks Markos!

I'm doing my best to have it back on the road by spring. It's sat long enough in such a poor state. I really want to revive this beauty, come high or hell water.
 
Thanks Brendan for the cross-post!

Same here! The gf isn't amused by the sudden shift in all E9 posts :p

The more support the better, I'm trying to negotiate some sponsors for the channel at the moment as long as they are willing to marry with the vision I have. Pretty much only going to specific brands that I love and I would want to work with.
 
Let me start by commending you for your enthusiasm and fearlessness. A few suggestions:

Get your tetanus shot booster updated (seriously!);

Take tons of photos of the disassembly process so you have a visual base line reference when you finally get around to putting things back together; When necessary take notes about the disassembly to help you sequence the reassembly when you eventually get to that point;

It has been my experience that one of the first things one needs to do is develop a plan for the project. The plan needs to include the scope and time you expect to dedicate to the project to achieve the finished product you want. Figure out what you can do and what you will need to farm out to others. Build your budget around your plan and arrange your finances to allow for steady progress; Once you have your budget sorted out, double it, to cover all the things you can't yet see that need attention. I refer to this as the "while I'm at it, I might as well do........" tasks also known as "scope creep". It will happen so plan for it financially;

Part of the plan often includes a rough timetable. You mention in your video that you expect to have the car ready by next spring (2016?). I suggest you need to reexamine your schedule with an eye toward adding up the time needed for all the tasks that are already apparent in your video. Since you have no idea what you are about to embark on, I suggest you also need a project manager who can quantify and keep track of all the tasks, the people who will be performing them, the work sequence and the work schedule that results in the fewest do-overs;

I know this sounds like I am raining on your parade but in my estimation if you worked full time on the project for the next 9 months, you will be far from done. Between parts sourcing, weather delays, machine work being outsourced, and actually learning how to to everything needed to complete your project in a workmanlike fashion, the effort needed will be huge. Consider that a full time job (40 hours per week) will consume 2000+ hours in a year. What you might see on television (Overhaulin' comes to mind as an example) bears no relation to real life. When you have a nearly unlimited budget and 30 people working around the clock for 7 days, the time can exceed several thousand man hours.

This brings me back to the budget. Whether or not you value your time, pay yourself, or have a crew of paid or unpaid volunteers, the value of that time at the professional rate of $50/hour can quickly hit $100,000 on a project that looks as needy as yours. My point is that you are embarking on a significant project with apparently little to no idea what you are getting yourself into. If you are fortunate enough to have a large budget, be aware that in many cases, a project may cost more than the car is worth when it is done. If you are doing this to sell for a profit, you will likely be disappointed.

Please take my comments as the constructive suggestions they are. I would hate to see your heroic effort become another abandoned project.

Remember this, there is a reason the prior owner gave up on that car.

Best of luck.
 
Last edited:
First off, thank you so much the in depth post Jeff. It just shows how awesome of a group e9 owners are. This is post should be plaked for anyone thinking about restoring a classic. I'm certainly not intimidated by the task at hand, I know it'll be a long and arduous process.

Photos, stickies, zip lock bags, indexing everything. Everything is being well documented!

I've got a build plan, I haven't really talked about it so it makes me look a lot more unorganized that I am on the build but I do need to be more detailed as you've mentioned.

I'm actually going to be making a video exactly on planning and budgeting for the car. Although I'll be bartering some of my video and marketing service in trade for services, I want to make it realistic for anyone attempting a similar build.

That being said, what you proposed is very much in tune to what I do when it comes my managing my client productions and campaigns, so it's all very logical to me. Scope creep is something I monitor like a hawk on any of my projects I'm producing.

The bright side is I'll be working with guys that have first hand experience working with 356's and 2002's that have seen a ton of rust in their days. In Canada, there is virtually no classic without serious rust issues. I'm also building this car for myself so I don't plan on selling it. I'm very nostalgic with my cars.

I've got a rather unique plan for the car that I haven't revealed yet as I wanted to validate that a YouTube channel would be worth devoting a lot of time towards which it has shown.

Part of the reason I got such a good deal on the car however was the owners age as well. He is an engine builder but is in his mid 80's so restoring this wasn't a top priority and it was just sitting.

I take everything you've said as constructive and really appreciate the extent to which you've gone to explain everything. I'll be looking to you in the future for advice if that's alright.

Chat soon,

jefftepper said:
Let me start by commending you for your enthusiasm and fearlessness. A few suggestions:

Get your tetanus shot booster updated (seriously!);
Click to expand...
 
One thing I'd recommend is to maybe read through much of what you see here:

http://www.e9coupe.com/tech/

I'd agree your plans are ambitious and its a lot to chew but being able to attack this stuff properly will help you greatly. Also, learning some of the correct terms will help a lot in discussions or asking for help.

The steering wheel should come off of the column by just removing the 22mm nut through the hole in the center of the wheel. Being an aftermarket wheel with an adapter hub, those parts will come off together. A lot can be said about learning as you go, but developing a plan of attack for certain tasks will help with disassembly and help you to know how reassembly works.

I don't know if there's a digital version of the blue binders hanging around anywhere, but they are a very valuable resource despite their rampant use of special tools you cannot buy and can't see an image of see how it works.
 
One additional thought.

Though bagging and tagging is generally a good idea, what you do with the bags can be a real time sink or time saver. I found it helpful to dedicate one wall of my garage to parts bags. At one end of the wall was the front of the car (front bumper brackets and fasteners, etc) and at the other end of the wall was the rear of the car (rear bumper brackets and fasteners, etc). In between were the other parts in the general front to back location they would be found once installed on the car (instrument panel pieces closer to the front and rear window hardware closer to the rear). All bags were stapled ( an electric staple gun makes it easy) to the wall with their tags showing to ease the task of finding them when needed for reassembly. I initially saved everything from the disassembly, even the hardware store miscellaneous fasteners that I know I would be replacing with "correct" new fasteners upon reassembly. The tin can full of miscellaneous nuts and bolts can be a real headache when looking for four identical fasteners to complete the reassembly of a particular component. Having a bunch of extra unidentified fasteners at the end can be a bit unnerving as one generally should not have extra parts left over unless they were intentionally replaced during the reassembly process. Essentially, organization is a key factor in working efficiently when you are dealing literally with thousands of small parts.
 
+1. Repair manual:

http://www.e9-driven.com/Public/Library/BMW-E9-Manual/pages/en/index.html




wkohler said:
One thing I'd recommend is to maybe read through much of what you see here:

http://www.e9coupe.com/tech/

I'd agree your plans are ambitious and its a lot to chew but being able to attack this stuff properly will help you greatly. Also, learning some of the correct terms will help a lot in discussions or asking for help.

The steering wheel should come off of the column by just removing the 22mm nut through the hole in the center of the wheel. Being an aftermarket wheel with an adapter hub, those parts will come off together. A lot can be said about learning as you go, but developing a plan of attack for certain tasks will help with disassembly and help you to know how reassembly works.

I don't know if there's a digital version of the blue binders hanging around anywhere, but they are a very valuable resource despite their rampant use of special tools you cannot buy and can't see an image of see how it works.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top