E12 with m30 turbo content!

[jodystevens]

Thanks guys!

New carpet enroute thanks to BluntTech!

[jodystevens]

Did some rust repair:





It's pretty much all welded in now, I just have to clean it up a bit and I can start prepping the floor for paint.

[tig]

Great work. I still love this build.

[unt0uchable]

Man oh man. The attention to detail here is impeccable. I agree with Coldswede, better than showroom new! You have patience, good sir. Keep up the excellent work!

[ASCCCII]

update?

[jodystevens]

Still working on the floor, need to address the front jack pads and since you can't buy them, I'll have to shape them.

[jodystevens]

Did a bit more work today making patches for the floor.
Passenger side floor panel from before all done.


Needed to make a price for here;






Still have to cut out the old section, but you get the idea:


Drivers side floor:


Patch just has to be final fitted.

[ASCCCII]

where did you get the new floor panels? Are you in Canada?

[jodystevens]

I got the panels from: http://www.classicbmwparts.nl/en_GB/c-2245589/bmw-e12/
I contacted them through their Facebook page, they were super easy to work with. Had them cut the panels out of a pretty much rust free car.

I am on the east coast of Canada.

Final fitted and tacked the panel in. I'll finish welding it later.

[ASCCCII]

I live on the west coast and thanks for telling me about them im going to go check them out. I have similar rust issues on my e28. Can i just cut a piece of regular metal and weld that in?? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

[jodystevens]

Well you could just take a piece of sheet metal and weld it over or whatever, but I wanted the factory floor stamping and I wanted a butt weld so that it will last and look right. The e28 floor drains are smaller in diameter than the e12 iirc. Getting e28 sheet metal should be leagues easier then finding clean e12 panels.

Unless you just have a couple little spots then you could just cut/form some patches.

[ASCCCII]

thanks. I will try to find some original e28 floor panels but I will probably weld in some sheet metal. Also the build is awesome. When is the turbo coming????

[jodystevens]

Turbo will come once I get it back on the ground and the interior complete:)

[jodystevens]

I finished up both jack pads. Almost done with the body work.

Just a picture of the passenger side, it's all cleaned up and sanded for primer now. Sorry for bad lighting, I keep the garage dim when I weld:

[Jelmer538i]

Looks very good! (as always.. )

[wkohler]

Nice work! I wish I could do that.

[jodystevens]

Welp. I was admiring my nice carpet last night and as I was looking at it, I realize "Hey! This is not going to fit my car!!". The floor pan is all wrong and this has the cut outs for the rear seat heat which I don't have. So, back to square 1. I went back to realoem and it doesn't even list a carpet part number for my VIN(5376924) so I have no idea where i came up with the one I used.

Such a disappointment.

[LuckyHenriksen]

Great project, I really enjoy seeing all the progress

[Hffvdbl]

Fantastic project! Anything new with the car?

[jodystevens]

Nothing new to report. I'm at a crossroads of what to do next:
-finish interior
-finish suspension
-rebuild top end of engine

After buying the wrong carpet for a hefty sum, it kind of took the wind out of my sails so I've been working on other things around the shop. I'm waiting for that to sell so I can proceed with a custom carpet set.

If anyone wants a NOS 1979 or later e12 carpet, PM me. It's really a beautiful piece.

[wkohler]

If you talk to KenB on firstfives, he can tell you what it would take to put that carpet in your car. I think you end up with a seam or two that isn't really too visible once you're done. He did it in a '79 528i.

I'd do the suspension first and do the interior when the car is on the ground.

[jodystevens]

I spoke with Ken and he said it doesn't work well at all and he ended up going to a custom carpet.

I think you're right though, do the suspension first.

[Hffvdbl]

What color is the carpet Jody?

[jodystevens]

It's Marine Blue, my intent was to dye it black with RIT dye in a big barrel.

[Hffvdbl]

I have a 79 528i that I was wanting to change to black interior. Would it work in that model? How is your floor pan different other than not having rear heat vents?

[jodystevens]

I have a 79 528i that I was wanting to change to black interior. Would it work in that model? How is your floor pan different other than not having rear heat vents?

The only difference that is a deal killer for me is the seat mounting brackets. You can see on the carpet it has the section on either side of the trans tunnel where the sheet metal is raised for the seat mounting. My driver side is similar to that, but the passenger side on my floor pan is raised up a considerable amount to mount the seat. That's really the only difference. And this carpet has vent holes for the heat which isn't too big of a deal to me.

[wkohler]

That's precisely the same reason Jody can't use it...

[Adam W in MN]

Sorry to hear about your carpet woes. Mine was ok after all the years but I had it professionally cleaned while out of the car. My biggest concern is what to do for carpet padding because mine crumbled and fell apart when I removed it.

I ordered some things from classicbmwparts.nl and wasn't really happy with the condition. The tail light pieces had some shitty epoxy repair where the studs always break in the plastic reflector housing. And the fasteners holding the metal surround trim of the plastic lens were rusted which is precisely the reason I needed another set (one side of mine had to be drilled out wrecking the reflector housing). When I complained to him about the condition he stated that they were all like that because the fasteners rust and the studs break the plastic. He seemed incredous that I wasn't pleased to receive a "repaired" set of tail lights with smeared on epoxy. The original parts are nla in case you are wondering.

I also ordered the firewall heat insulation and he folded it in half. During the transAtlantic journey it cracked in half and he said he didn't have another to sell me.

He's the only game in town other than random stuff on fleabay or someone in the U.S. parting an e12 (assuming the parts you need aren't euro specific) so I'm not ready to write him off yet.

[jodystevens]

Yea I contacted them about a decent carpet set, but he was mostly unresponsive and I kind of got a bit of a go around about the condition. I did order floor plans from them and they were fine.

[wkohler]

Well, you can still get the padding for the front floor and rear floor sections new. The bulkhead piece is what's NLA for both E12 and E28.