BMW E30 Floor Pan Underseal Removal + Floorpan Rust Repair & Welding | 033
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- Опубліковано 22 січ 2023
- BMW E30 Floor Pan Underseal Removal + Floorpan Rust Repair & Welding | 033
In this BMW E30 build video, I get back underneath the chassis and start removing the thick underseal which was applied from factory. I'd noticed a few patches of floorpan rust underneath the car while doing previous restoration work so my intention was to use a wire brush to take these areas back to bare metal, hoping to find no large rust holes to deal with.
Here's what I use in this video:
Clarke Weld MIG 150 TE Turbo: ebay.us/jbdfE8 (this is the newer version)
0.8 Welding Wire: ebay.us/eQWqWx
Argon/CO2 Welding Gas & Regulator: ebay.us/7BOngD
Angle Grinder Wire Brushes: ebay.us/sSJjtM
Dewalt Angle Grinder: ebay.us/CmsNuW
Safety Goggles: ebay.us/2Dvt5C
Using a wire brush on an angle grinder I took the opportunity to grind away as much of the beige factory underseal as possible and resurface it ready to take a new coating of Dinitrol 447 undercoat which I'd used on the underside of the car previously ar the rear end.
One of the additional coatings I'd noticed when previously cleaning the underbody was a black tar-like substance localised around the floor pans themselves. I can only assume this was an additional product applied to the higher-impact areas underneath the car to protect it from stone chips, rocks and road grit.
I'd been recommended to try using petrol or diesel on a rag to clean this off, but it appeared to do very little to help. Luckily it was quite a cold day making the tar a lot harder than normal allowing me to grind it off with the cup wire brush.
My intention was to resurface the underside of the car ready to take a new coating of underseal, without stripping away the solid e-coat the car received from the factory, as I am a firm believer that disturbing 30 year old solid ecoat would actually shorten the cars life and encourage it to rust more readily.
The areas where I could see surface rust bubbling up received a bare metal treatment with the grinder and most areas cleaned back perfectly and I applied etch primer to protect and prevent flash rusting.
I took the opportunity to remove the fuel feed and return lines, unhooking them from the soft lines at the fuel tank end. I also unclipped the fuel vapor breather line and the main steel brake like which runs from front to back and hung them out of the way. With this done I gained access to the plastic line clips which screw onto the studs to remove them. Underneath these clips is where I could see the majority of the surface rust appearing on the underside of the E30.
Unfortunately, I did find 3 rust holes I wasn't expecting, one on a stud and another on a metal seam where the chassis rail joins the underbody. I created 3 patches to weld in to repair this which went very well. One complication I had was a metal stud which got removed from the underside in the rust patch. I had a stroke of genius and used a steel self-tapping screw welded to the patch which served to replace it.
With the welding done, I can once again say the car has no rust rust holes left, that I'm aware of. Although my next target is the front wheel wells which has some very thick underseal to remove.
For more helpful how-to guides and restoration project logs, visit our blog: www.spannerrash.com/
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#bmwe30 #welding #rust #repair #restoration #bmw #e30 - Авто та транспорт
Just wanted to say, despite doing body work, your shop is very clean.. like how mine used to be! Props!!
Haha Thanks! I literally can't think of anything in the world that makes more of a mess than bodywork. 😂
Thank you for this new episode! Great work! 🙂
Cheers pal! 😃
And yet another great progress! Love to watch your videos , cant wait till the next one , grts from Holland!
Thank you Frank! Momentum is still carrying the project along.
The body looks very solid, my congrats on this.
Cheers Ozzy, I have been very lucky with this car so far. It's had plenty of rust to deal with but in the grand scheme of E30's I've been blessed with a solid shell.
You are doing an outstanding job 👍🏾 Keep up the good work✌🏾 I was surprised to see the underside of your E30 just as clean as mine is, although my car is 100% rust free, your underside is just as good now 👏🏾
Thank you for the kind words mate, I really appreciate it! 😁
New subscriber👍
Glad to have you on board pal! 😁
Great stuff
Cheers Logan!
Nice job m8!
Cheers Marios! 😁
Great video and series.
I know your pain with that horrible Schutz coating. My 309 is/was covered in it, got most off but it's so thick, plus it's horrible to work near but I've found engine degreaser to be quite good at removing it, I tend to work it in with a brush and let it soften. It's a messy job without a doubt.
Cheers mate! Indeed it's bloody awful sticky stuff. I'm still unsure if it's a factory addition or if someone came along and coated it afterwards. As annoying as it is, it's likely a contributing factor in the car being generally solid underneath.
Maybe if I'd let it soak in for longer like you, I'd have had more success with products like that, but I do get impatient! 🤣
Love how this is coming on, doing a real good job! I've been trying to find a welding course near me because I'm in no doubt my E30 is in a similar position :)
Thanks man, still making progress! A course sounds good, you could get a huge headstart doing that rather than burning loads of time wondering why it ain't working like I did. 🤣
@@SPANNERRASH I still don't have anywhere to weld though, so not sure it'll help me quite get 😂 probably going to have to pay someone to sort out my rear inner arch for this year's MOT
@@Keats.Garage Good point. It might upset the neighbours a bit to be fair! 😆
Great work mate , I don’t the same on my Mercedes W202 ended up doing the whole car with an angled Grinder, 50% of the studs broke on mine so I ground them all off and used rivnuts in a fit of rage 😂
Thank you Jason, sounds like you had a battle with the W202 then! 😂 I think if so many of my studs had broken off I'd have done the same trick with rivnuts.
I've never done them before but I always think they look ideal when I see them. I'll finally find an excuse to get a set one day!
@@SPANNERRASH you can get rivstuds as well so of you want to keep the OE clips for pipe work just get the correct diameter rivstud and the clips go straight on
@@ChopperMeir Rivstuds! now that is news to me, I'll definitely check those out, cheers for the heads up!
the lungs must love you 🙂
They have survived luckily! 😅
Great video, thanks. Could you talk me through what each of the 4 lines at 6:50 are? I know the two rubber ones are the fuel feed/return. Is the silver painted line on the right hand side the breather?
Cheers Mika! 😁
Sure I can. You're right about the fuel feed and return soft lines.
The silver line is a fuel vapor breather line which routes all the way back to the fuel vapor expansion tank - found hidden beside the fuel filler neck in the wheel arch.
The thin black line in the background is simply rear brake line.
In an earlier video I did more of an explanation about that vapor expansion tank setup and its lines as I had the whole rear end and fuel tank off the car.
Hope that helps!
Loving your content mate! Do you plan on upgrading the steering rack?
Cheers pal! Definitely planning on swapping it for either E46 purple tag or Z3 1.9L rack. At which point I do that though I'm not sure.
My e30 unfortunatelly needs a bit more welding attention underneath. You mention a breather pipe which seems to be completely disconnected on mine and rotted out--how is your one routed?
The hard 3rd hard pipe for the fuel? Yeah its a breather for the tank it routes from the chassis rail at the front right down to the fuel tank, then I'm pretty sure it cuts across to the other side of the tank and connects to soft line into the port on the tank.
its kinda hard to describe, I'm pretty sure I covered it in a bit more detail in a later video so it might be useful to check that out. 😄
What is that spray u use on bare metal after welding?
I often use etch primer just to prevent flash rusting.
@@SPANNERRASH thanks for respond bud!
What gauge steel for floor panel ?
I think it was simple 1.2mm sheet steel
what thickness sheet metal do you use for the patch jobs mate, and where does a hobbiest like myself obtain that from.
Good question Mo, I've been mostly using 1.2mm sheet steel for external body panels, but I've used some 1.5mm in places where things are a bit more structural chassis related.
I actually had a very hard time finding sheet metal, luckily I found a nice local engineering shop and when I gave them a ring they were happy to sell me some off-cuts.
I have also seen sheet metal sold at auto-jumble style events. Hope that helps!
Might want to get a mask or respirator if you're going to keep doing that man. Keep pushing though.
Cheers Dean, yeah I really should take better care, just find them a bit awful to work in. Hopefully not too much more of this type of thing at least. 😄
Was waiting to see when health and safety department would chime in..
I think you should wear a respirator mask whilst taking off all that nasty chemical under neath the car, nice videos though, thanks
Thanks for your concern Steve, I definitely do agree with you!
Wear a mask mate.. you don't want to be breathing in all that underseal
I should listen to your advice as it's bloody awful stuff. I might pick one up but they are horrible to work in...
@@SPANNERRASH yeah totally get that as well..