grinding away

[BimmerFiend]

Well, I broke my windsheild last night.

I succesfully removed all the rest of the glass, the doors, hood, and decklid.

Did some grinding on the surface rust, man the factory paint is an inch think!

Progress is progress, even with its setbacks!

I am leaning toward flat floor pans, as the passengerside is pretty much rusted out, and the rear of both sides is too. Flat sheet metal will replace the full length of both sides. Is there any reason there is a hump below where the seat would be?

[BimmerFiend]

To my great surprise only the passengerside floor has to be replaced. Next are the front frame rails. They have some holes... I was thinking about replacing them with square tubing. Any reason why not too?

No one will ever see the floor pan under the primer and nice new carpet. I just cannot justify the price of the pressed pans.

Oh yea, and I removed the dash and front portion of the wiring harness. I tried to do it without cutting, but...

[BimmerFiend]

Here are some shots:

A little overview of my car and work area:

Want a rust free trunk floor?

The passenger side footwell is not good at all.

Please find me a home:

[kris]

Great job so far. I remember being at that point in my resto...I broke my windshield as well as someone had caulked it into place. That is a really solid trunk. Keep up the good work and watch your budget, it's easy to get project creep on these cars.

[BimmerFiend]

Keep up the good work and watch your budget, it's easy to get project creep on these cars.

thanks for the kind words. i don't worry about spending too much, just not having enough to spend.

[Arshloch]

The reason why the floor pans are formed in such fashion are increased structural integrity gains and ability for the pans to collapse in the certain way (crash case).

In other words, you need something that will remotely look like the original pans or even better. You need a heavier gage metal for this, and a few tricks to make impressions in the metal.

For some really old and rare cars there is no replacement metal available, nor good floor pans, so those folks use the body hammer & torch method (just heat the metal till it glows and hammer away). Or you can build a gig or press with some wood and make your own.

[BimmerFiend]

they will be mostly flat. I know a trick to make the pan really stiff so it wont sag or pop when someone gets in.

Structure is not a priority the cage will take care of that.

I am stuck right now. Funds are not going to the car, but to more important things. I think I will start welding the trim holes and maybe pick up some sheet metal for the floors. The blaster is going to have to wait.

[BimmerFiend]

::fork stuck in the road::

I am picking up my old '95 525i tonight to harvest its powerplant.

After some measuring the engine is four inches longer than the 2002's entire engine bay, and 2 inches wider at the transmission. the next step is measuring how high to cut into the firewall. I am trying to keep it as close as possible, but access to #5 and #6 spark plugs, as they are on the top of the head, will be impossible after then engine is in. good thing it is not too difficult to drop the subframe! Or I may be able to make them accessible from inside the car!

If the transmission from an m30 will mount to an m50, as well as the clutch components, progress will take off!

The plan is to get the engine in and running, and drivable, then repair the body. Remove the engine, and have the body painted. This may not be as difficult as I thought!

-Kyle