need an expert opinion....
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Category: Technical & Model Specific Forums
Forum Name: BMW ///M Power
Forum Discription: Ask your BMW M Power Technical Questions here (M1, M2 hybrids, M3, M5 & M6)
URL: http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=33784
Printed Date: 21-May-2024 at 16:30
Topic: need an expert opinion....
Posted By: UweM3
Subject: need an expert opinion....
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 18:56
I discovered a tiny tiny water puddle on my carpet.
nosy person I am, lifted the carpet a little 
decided to take the carpet out for a better view (the cable IS submerged) 
so now comes my question. Do you guys think the water has something to do with this tiny pinhole I discovered in my passenger wheel well? 
I do really struggle here and would appreciate some advice. I am still not sure... 
...hmmmm 
would also like to know if you guys have these additional vent holes in the passenger side. Or was this an option? 
Still not sure about it. Maybe I should check the elephant trunk thingie under the bonnet. Might be just a little bit clogged up..... 
------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Replies:
Posted By: Andy S
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 19:04
|
Uwe did you leave a window open or the sunroof open??????????? ------------- E30 M3's never die |
Posted By: M3cK
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 19:11
|
Mmmmm.... Welllll...I would say get a second opinion from someone who is more technically minded than myself but if I had to comment, I..I..Look I'm sorry, Uwe. Can you give me a clue? Anything??? |
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 19:14
Actually it's worse when the car is PARKED in the rain  The water just runs down the firewall and dribbles in.
I will post some more picture tomorrow. I have started to cut a few rusty bits out. Just very very small bits.....  Just a little spot weld here and there and some touch up paint and it will look as new.------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Andy S wrote:Posted By: BMG M3
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 19:17
|
Mine has very small amount of rust where the battery cable passes thru the bulkhead,much the same as yours.
Go on Uwe,bare shell that car or re-shell it. There is hours of fun to be had stripping a rusty M3 in your garage and having it there for ages.
I take it the cage idea is on hold until further investigation ? |
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 19:24
A: haven't got a garage 
B: cage goes in ASAP
I don't want to re-shell the car. I want to keep MY car. Silly sod, I know but I have never owned a car as long as this and can't let it go without trying. I will strip more down and assess the condition. Sides and rear look promising so far.... ------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: Dannyboy
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 19:25
for the last ten years! ------------- 1992 clio 1.8 16V Good 1998 Subaru Impreza Turbo Terzo Great 1987 M3 Diamond Black Awesome (Now awesomer with Billys & Eibach) |
Posted By: kevin
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 19:32
|
Uwe, I'm with Brian, if was me I think a new solid shell is the most cost & time effective way to go but if you can do all the work yourself then maybe the satisfaction of repairing it will outway the grief. Great decision re the cage now you have the NS bug. I suppose another way to look at it is if you are rebuilding the car over the winter at least you won't be pining to get back on track, so much. Good luck with it Cheers ------------- Kevin '04 E46 330Ci Convertible '08 E61 535d Touring (TorqueMeister Towbarge) ’95 E34 M5 ’89 E30 M3 (Cecotto) |
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 19:33
The M3 is actually my toycar, but was thinking to buy some fish and rename it in KOIcar  ------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: BMG M3
Date Posted: 13-October-2006 at 19:38
| From what I've learned with my car,you won't see or find most of the rust unless you strip it or start removing underseal. You've seen my car,come and see it now and see how bad the rust is.If I had a weld-in cage to the strut tops,it wouldn't make any difference as the strut top was barely attached to the inner wing ! The bar to the floor by the A pillar would have been useless too - there is no floor there ! |
Posted By: jon90
Date Posted: 14-October-2006 at 10:12
Can`t understand how so much water has got in,have you tried the hosepipe test? 
Jon |
Posted By: 215DMX
Date Posted: 14-October-2006 at 12:25
|
Uwe, not sure but I can't recall those vents being on the options list, might be worth looking on the ETK.
Good luck! Makes me think I am really lucky with my car, after seeing this, Brians, Sheps Evo2 etc. I've been investigating mine this year and as far as i can tell theres nothing really to report. |
Posted By: stevesingo
Date Posted: 14-October-2006 at 14:03
|
Looks like you have the special factory light weight model
Steve |
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 14-October-2006 at 15:06
|
I have welded the first hole up now. Little bit like reconstructive surgery
Or 3D Puzzle ------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: kbannon
Date Posted: 14-October-2006 at 21:27
|
The Limited Edition E30 M3 'Flintstone'
------------- Current: 2009 E60 520d "Sport" tractor Previous: 1989 E30 320i SE 1997 E39 523i 2003 E39 525i Sport Individual |
Posted By: M3Nally
Date Posted: 15-October-2006 at 20:10
|
You just need a wet and dry vaccum cleaner and some duck tape and you'll be fine!
------------- E30 M3 Macao blue metallic Evolution 2 E39 530d Sport Auto, Aegean blue Edition, Sat Nav, TV, comms pack etc. E39 540i Auto, Sat Nav, TV, leather, luxo barge |
Posted By: steeldonkey
Date Posted: 16-October-2006 at 18:58
|
Nice, form memory i had that factory option on two of my e30's seems to be a common feature although i never managed to find it on the bm option list............ |
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 17-October-2006 at 18:03
wet and dry vac workes a treat! But duck tape? NO chance! Not even a proper mastic festival was able to stop it long term (was nominated for the "customer who spend most" award) . It actually made it much worse . ------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: stevesingo
Date Posted: 19-October-2006 at 23:31
Saw http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-M3-COMPLETE-BODYSHELL_W0QQitemZ280040061938QQihZ018QQcategoryZ10374QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem - THIS and thought of you 
Steve |
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 20-October-2006 at 00:01
Thanks for that Steve ------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 26-October-2006 at 08:41
update. After scratching the underseal off, there was not much left and I decided to cut the rotten metal out as good as possible. I didn't really wanted a full blown repair as the car will be stripped anyway but it was just too bad to be left alone.
welded. 
all I have to do is to slam some seam sealer on as there are some tiny pin holes in the top corner I was unable to weld watertight. If you can't get the metal really clean there is no chance for a proper weld. After a few days in the rain I can report that there is no more leaking. On this side
With the carpet now out I found the drivers side to be leaking as well
Some very careful poking with a screw driver revealed almost the same as on the passenger side.......... But I have decided to stop for now. It's really an dashboard and engine out job to fix that somehow. Let's wait and see what the future brings
------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: BMG M3
Date Posted: 26-October-2006 at 09:14
|
Blimey ! You really did cut a chunk out of that car I think you now know why a full strip and rebuild was the way to go on my car. New shell time.
|
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 26-October-2006 at 09:25
|
Toby informed me that a new firewall is NLA ------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: Lancastrian
Date Posted: 26-October-2006 at 10:14
|
Uwe, Your signature says ".........bought a welder now" but I guess you have used one before. That is a really neat job. Just for info.... The inner panel that goes from the door aperture to the wheel arch (includes the loudspeaker aperture) is available and costs less than £20 IIRC. I decided that it was easier to use a part of that panel to get the right shape for the wheel arch, than to make up repair pieces.
------------- E30 M3 Project - Specification TBC |
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 26-October-2006 at 11:25
thanks, but it looks nicer on photo than reality. I haven't really checked what panels are available to improve the quality of the repair. Intentionally I didn't wanted to go that far at the moment. It just happend...... (I am not goint to touch the other side right now) ------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: 215DMX
Date Posted: 26-October-2006 at 14:21
|
Uwe, the 'turret panels' are available, as are the chassis rails and the support accross the top of the wing (wheel side)
Also it might be worth buying the Convertable strengthing panels there are 3 of them per side, one most people know which joins the strut top the the inner wing, the other 2 go on here: ( i have already bought these parts, about £50 total for both sides) 
|
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 26-October-2006 at 14:45
|
I don't believe it will be done with a panel here and there. The whole filewall looks like a Swiss cheese. holes everywhere.
This time it has to be done quite radical to stop it for a few years. ------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: SHEPSM3
Date Posted: 29-October-2006 at 13:11
|
Its quite shocking, as Brian said, when you start stripping off the underseal and sealer......its suprising how big holes like that appear from what looked like no problems there. ------------- [IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/ShepsM3/New-1a1.jpg">[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/ShepsM3/New-1b1.jpg"> |
Posted By: UweM3
Date Posted: 29-October-2006 at 16:10
when I "persuaded" some of the new metal with a hammer from the inside of the car, a whole section of the strenghtener (that y-shaped thing under the fender) just fell out!! And there was no indication before that i was rotten. Like Brian said, just the underseal was holding it in place ------------- E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg..... |
Posted By: Sporty1
Date Posted: 30-October-2006 at 13:00
| I Think i'm going to go and check my car! |
Posted By: M3Nally
Date Posted: 30-October-2006 at 14:22
|
Uwe,
That is quite horrible and a reminder to us all of how things might really be under the carpets. Do you have any racing wellies for track work? javascript:AddSmileyIcon('  ')
Kevin ------------- E30 M3 Macao blue metallic Evolution 2 E39 530d Sport Auto, Aegean blue Edition, Sat Nav, TV, comms pack etc. E39 540i Auto, Sat Nav, TV, leather, luxo barge |