My build, 86 325es -> pickup

[mikeday]

Here begins my project thread! Lately its been becoming more apparent to me that i am in need of a truck. The hold back is... most trucks suck, therefore a better truck must be made. The e30 pickup! I'll be taking lots of pictures of my progress . Criticism is welcome, but in the end its my project and will end up the way I want it.


My platform: 7/86 325es auto-tragic : $150
Hit in front and severely beaten, the perfect candidate for this project


MINT hounds tooth interior! minus drivers seat....


Trunk sound deadening removed, thanks to some local help



Roof braced and marked up for some trimming.


And here we are at the end of Day 1.

[mikeday]

Day 2

I removed the trunk lid and deck lid area. The decklid is not the easiest to cut out due to the amount of angles...



Collected replacement parts, new hood and both fenders



And how she looks at the end of day 2.




Day 3

I started out the day by cutting out the rear roof supports and welding in patches for the bed rails. It's hard to tell how flat it is with the flat-white paint but thats all i had in the garage.







Grabbed this chunk of ford ranger to start work on the cab portion of the e30. The roof line is a very similar arc between the ranger and e30. I walked around a junk yard with a large template for half an hour matching it up :D


I cut the ranger cab into six parts to get all the lines right. So far i have the passenger side tacked on. The portion around the door needs a bit more work to line up right but otherwise it looks good.

[mikeday]

More Progress!


The Goal for today was to get the cab portion all tacked into place. The ranger rear section was narrowed 7 inches as cut so that the pillar angles matched up. The portion under the rear window flows right into the rear seat support to form a full "wall". And yes the fuel pump hatch is still accessible :D



Later i need to sort out what int he harness needs to stay in the tail of the car. Whatever i decide to keep outside the cab will be cut and rewired with a large connector. This way i can push it all through a grommet, id hate to have water in the cab.










Todays progress.

Lots of stuff got done today. I cut the radiator support out of Corey's parts car yesterday, then we went on a junkyard run this morning. Major score at the yard... i made it out with a euro front valence, front and rear plastic bumpers, and clean front quarters for $78!!

Now for the work, once we got back i cut out the old rad. support while Corey removed the dash.

Old support (note drivers side is fubar)


Close up of fubar, it doesn't look as bad as it is. Its pushed in about 6 inches.


New support


The old support removed.


The first test fit of the new support. Everything lined up great


Just to make sure it was all lining up correctly the quarter panels went on. The Radiator support lines up perfect! From here it was all tack welded into place.


Now for the junkyard score
Euro valence


Front quarters


Front and rear bumpers


And Finally how it sits right now.



I'm very pleased at how everything went tonight. That front end has been holding me back for quite some time now.

[mikeday]

Update:

I started painting a few things for the engine... the entire engine and all components will be black in a white engine bay.

wrinkle paint FTW



aandd the bags are in!!



Full up:



Full down, who says you cant tuck tire on an early model....

[mikeday]

Update:

I started painting a few things for the engine... the entire engine and all components will be black in a white engine bay.

wrinkle paint FTW



aandd the bags are in!!



Full up:



Full down, who says you cant tuck tire on an early model....

[mikeday]

My experimental front suspension came in today....


Tada! 04 civic coils from the bay... 50 shipped



I heard a rumor about these things fitting up front, so seeing as i only need fronts I'll be a test dummy. They're cheap enough to justify the risk in my opinion.


Took all of 6 minutes to test fit





and for comparison...


stock:



Ebay:

[mikeday]

Finally an UPDATE

After a few weeks of not doing much i finally got some work done today. I had been waiting for a steering rack before throwing the engine back in, big thanks to fredk and his e30 awesomeness!

For starters i welded two nuts into the bottom of the sub frame. This way i can make a skid plate that easily attaches to the sub frame and rad support.



After that I cut the spring perch on the front housings and welded one about an inch lower for more adjust-ability. Also i get more travel now that the adjuster is out of the way.



Once all the parts had dried i tossed the engine and suspension back in.



yes i painted the abs unit... one of the fittings is partially stripped so i didn't bother removing it.



And finally just for shits and gaggles i put the coils and bags all the way down. Its not very drivable but i find it entertaining




Stay tuned, theres not much more i need in terms of parts so progress should stay steady

[mikeday]

On to finalizing the metal work!


I finished the passenger corner of the cab last night.




Then on to the bed rails... No more C-pillars!!


After that i decided to dabble with the lower point of the new B-pillar



And thats all for tonight. Big thanks to some vdub guys who came and helped out. Portions of the drivers side are solid just not ground yet (my last grinder disk died)

[mikeday]

UPDATE!

Ok so for the past few days ive mainly focused on the bed rails and the structure in them. Inside both rails is a section of black iron pipe connecting the B pillar to the rear of the truck.

Pics!!


One of the brace pipes that connects to the other one under the rail.


The bed rails are fairly straight and only need a few touch ups here and there


Open bed... plenty of space for parts


Tailgate on


The trunklid spoiler looks great and pulls together the tailgate in my opinion, you can see my beginnings of bracing what will be the tailgate. (note the new toy in background)

[mikeday]

As for today, the rear window is semi in, needs more tweaking for me to be happy...

Some shots with my buddies VW wheels

Enjoy :D









Heres some shots of the day i got it running and i went for a little spin

Heres the pics of the truck as of this morning, its a bit ratty but it runs. From here on its just body work so it should go much easier.











Hey look what i can do!