MyE28.com DEV

Did a bit of sheet metal welding on the e12. There's next to no rust but there are a few spots here or there. This is my first time welding sheet metal and I did it with flux cored. I have another welder with gas hookup but I don't have any gas right now.

Tacked;



Little more, just cleaned up with a wire brush;



Little more close up, lots of porosity but it'll be fine for this location.



All done, ground down. Self etch primer on top to protect it.

Did this today, slightly stressful.

Cleaned up all my brake lines, washer bottle and got my swaybars and strut brace back. Slipped a disk in my back so I'll be out of commission for a bit while that heals.

Where has this thread been all my life? Love the red powder coat!

Very very nice car, a great project. Sure hope your back heals. Looking forward to seeing this completed, no matter how long it takes.

Thanks guys!

Cek, I always enjoy ready your threads, very thorough in your descriptions!

Anyhow, not much happening with the e12, vacations and summer stuff kind of filling my time. I hope to order my engine stuff at the end of August and suspension in the fall. I'm currently getting the rear subframe and trailing arms ready for powdercoat. I am trying to figure out how the rear wheel bearings come out. Also working on brake stuff, rebuilding everything, lines, MC, re-did my booster etc. I'll get some pictures of where I'm at this week.

Tonight I finished polishing and installed my brake booster, I painted it all silver instead of black and silver and I really like how it came out! It's hard to capture the shine but it is glassy smooth!






And knocked the bearings out of the rear trailing arms. Very easy job actually, I was anticipating something mush more difficult. They are almost ready for powdercoating.





Also polished the headlight rings

Slow going this summer, vacations etc going on. Eats up time and money but keeps the wife happy:)

Anyhow, I was struggling to get the RTABs out so I went to the local Princess Auto (Canadian version of Harbour Freight) and grabbed a few things to make a tool to push them out.

Step one was to cut the lip off the bushing with an Olfa knife. The pictures basically explain the rest.









Also a picture of the louvres that I found in the trunk when I bought the car. I posted a pic in the General Topic section and have a surprising number of people wanting to buy them. Don't feel like selling them and I don't feel like having them on my car so back to storage they go haha.

That's a pretty clever tool for bushing removal.

Thanks, I almost bought the AKG tool, but it's $25 and shipping is another $30. I came up with this for about $7. Also applied a bit of heat once I got some pressure on the bushing and it slid right out.

nice work, attention to detail

Updates coming soon! I ordered a Bosch reman'd alternator from FCPEuro as well as a Graf w/p in the original bolt on fan style. I also ordered rear brake rebuild stuff from Guten Parts and Service. I also have most all of the rear subframe coming back from powdercoating. It's all the little stuff that really starts to get expensive. Also ordering brake lines from Catuned. Next up I need a master cylinder rebuild kit, new headlight lenses and rear subframe bushings.

I love it. Saw an e12 on Craig's list 2 wks ago in va for $900 and almost bought it. Any idea where the rear louvers came from? They are period correct. Wish I could find a nice set for my e24.

The louvres are AutoPlas and came with the car when it was imported from Germany.

Cleaned up the pump and assembled it tonight. More updates tomorrow.

Fresh haul from the powdercoat guy;

Rear trailing arms


Rear subframe


Headlight buckets and brackets, rear calipers, rear dust shields and rear subframe braces.


Bolted up the brackets and pump to see how it looks:

I'm also trying to decide what to order for headlights, both the original clear Hellas and the frenched Hellas are available. I don't think I can get away with all yellow, so I'm trying to decide on all clear or clear outers and frenched inners.

Great project! Very good to watch all the stuff you do!

This is my E12 with frenched outers. The inners are on the to do list.

Cool project.

Thanks guys! @Jelmer the headlights look good, hmm still deciding.
@bkbimmer, your builds are always inspiring!

This arrived from FCPEuro today! Bosch AL41X alternator, was very hard to find. Graf water pump with the original bolt on fan style, I've heard good things about them so I ordered it. The Meyle stuff is for the e24, made in Turkey so better than China! More photos later on today, I have a job interview in a bit.

I got the alternator case swapped out, it took a bit to get the pulley positioning sorted.

Only photo I have right now:

Rebuilt the rear calipers tonight and installed the front swaybar. More pictures when it is daylight.

No major updates just a few pictures;

Accessories and brackets bolted up:


Coolant drain plug installed:


Swaybar installed:



Headlight brackets and buckets assembled:

jodystevens wrote:Bolted up the brackets and pump to see how it looks:

www.arrowplating.com - It was about $50 with shipping for all my fasteners. Just say'n.

Yes haha thanks, I am going to be plating them myself before it goes together finally. I wanted to find all the correct bolts and see how everything lined up. I can't put it together with all the old looking hardware after all this work!? I'm in Canada so double that shipping

Have the gas tank in, looks like a million bucks! Need to order hoses for it later on. I want to run -6an hardline, but I'm not sure how I will fasten it. I want something that uses the stock mounting points. I really don't want to drill into the body. I also ordered all new headlights and a MC rebuild kit so that should be here in a few weeks.

Guten claimed they couldn't get the headlights so I will try elsewhere. I did get the ATE MC rebuild kit. It was pretty neat the way it came, pre-assembled in a plastic tube. They had instructions to make it easy but they were very confusing. I figured it out and it went together very nicely. All brake lines are in except the flex lines. I'd like to get the head assembled and ready this winter so I'll be ordering that stuff after Christmas.

Been a while since I updated and truthfully not a lot has happened because winter puts a damper on things. Anyhow, I've ordered a bunch of parts, including brand new carpet from the dealer as well as new headlights. Have to come from Germany so thats 7-10 weeks. Meantime I ordered a few parts from FCPeuro.

Little update. I wasn't allowed to order the Euro parts through a U.S. company because U.S. companies need to provide a copy of the title and a Canadian title isn't allowed. So I went to the local dealer and ordered the parts no problem, didn't need to provide a title or anything. Got a call from the parts desk saying my parts were in, I get there and they have one of each headlight...I clearly stated 2 of each. Oh well, another two ordered. Carpet was all NLA though apparently.

Front brakes assembled:


Rear wheel bearing and seals installed:






New headlights:

No BMW, or any other car for that matter, was ever delivered new in such nice condition, Nice work!

Looks great! I love the louvers on the windshield.