davekillen
Member
Hi all, I'm digging into this car so figured it was time to start a thread. It fell into my lap last year thanks to a friend who works at a local BMW shop. It appears to have been a west coast car (has a California college sticker in the window, and Oregon tags from 2007) but despite that the rockers and floors (with the odd exception of the driver's rear floor, which is nearly perfect) are pretty well shot. The sills are full of sand so maybe it was driven on the beach? I'm sure there'll be other areas of rust to address but for the most part the rest of the car seems reasonably solid.
I'm going to try to preserve as much originality as possible, which will include repainting in its original Taiga. I think I can save much of the interior... hoping to extend this even to the headliner, but we'll see. It came to me sans carpet, center console and a few other bits, though. The dash is very rough as is the rest of the wood. I'll try my hand at repairing all that (I can handle the vinyl but the wood will be new to me) but will seek professional help if need be.
One odd thing is the rocker trim. The car had decorative strips like what 2002s have, but I've never seen them on an e9 before. I think they were just a bodge by whoever did some pretty awful rocker work in the past, but am curious if anyone has seen them before.
So far I've got the interior and glass stripped out, the chassis braced, and am well into the driver's side sill. The sills will need pretty much everything with the exception of the b-pillar supports. The inner rocker is solid starting about 2 inches up from the pinchweld, so I'll probably graft a new one on at that point. I had thought about fabbing that part of things but I think it's not worth it given the time it'd take vs. the cost of a new one, and it's gonna be a massive WN order regardless.
One question I have for those who have done this... would it be wise to hold off on tearing down the passenger side rocker until I have the driver's side built back up a bit? Or is the bracing likely enough to maintain structural integrity? I welded the bracing in with the car on its tires, drivetrain still installed etc, and the doors shut nicely after that either on the ground or on the lift (supported on the frame rails up front, and subrframe mounting points in back). So I'm confident it's in good shape dimensionally as of now, but would like to keep it that way!
I'll try to be diligent about making updates here, and also will put together some videos. My background is in film and photography so sometimes videos are easier for me than putting together posts for a build thread.
I'm going to try to preserve as much originality as possible, which will include repainting in its original Taiga. I think I can save much of the interior... hoping to extend this even to the headliner, but we'll see. It came to me sans carpet, center console and a few other bits, though. The dash is very rough as is the rest of the wood. I'll try my hand at repairing all that (I can handle the vinyl but the wood will be new to me) but will seek professional help if need be.
One odd thing is the rocker trim. The car had decorative strips like what 2002s have, but I've never seen them on an e9 before. I think they were just a bodge by whoever did some pretty awful rocker work in the past, but am curious if anyone has seen them before.
So far I've got the interior and glass stripped out, the chassis braced, and am well into the driver's side sill. The sills will need pretty much everything with the exception of the b-pillar supports. The inner rocker is solid starting about 2 inches up from the pinchweld, so I'll probably graft a new one on at that point. I had thought about fabbing that part of things but I think it's not worth it given the time it'd take vs. the cost of a new one, and it's gonna be a massive WN order regardless.
One question I have for those who have done this... would it be wise to hold off on tearing down the passenger side rocker until I have the driver's side built back up a bit? Or is the bracing likely enough to maintain structural integrity? I welded the bracing in with the car on its tires, drivetrain still installed etc, and the doors shut nicely after that either on the ground or on the lift (supported on the frame rails up front, and subrframe mounting points in back). So I'm confident it's in good shape dimensionally as of now, but would like to keep it that way!
I'll try to be diligent about making updates here, and also will put together some videos. My background is in film and photography so sometimes videos are easier for me than putting together posts for a build thread.
