Quote:
Originally Posted by Salty B.
This thing appears to be rust-free. I pulled the driver's door card and felt around at the bottom and there's nothing there, nor on the outside. I took some pics of the inside and the outer bottom but they're kind of crappy. The vapor barrier is largely intact so I took these through a tear in it. I tihnk it can be reused if patched.
Too bad it didn't have sport seats... they are gray and I think with heaters but someone ripped that control panel off so I'm guessing. I want the wheels (18") but the two rears are stuck to the hubs; looks like someone tried getting them off as the lugs are all on the ground. The tires are from 2018 and are Lingling Chinese crap, but they will do for now, if I decide to go back for them and their guy can get the rears un-stuck. They're dirty but in good shape.
Come n git it!
VIN: 5UXFB53306LV2580Z
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Thank you so much. Really good news. I will probably have to go down there and plan to get that door. I might actually grab the other three while I'm there. Thank you! Happy new year.
Probably the weekend after next I should be able to make a trip.
I almost have this thing back on the road. This has been an absolute ton of work. All I have to do is chip the old donut gasket off of the midpipe and it's done.
I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures, especially before pictures, but you all have seen an e53 rear end that's never been touched and spent about a decade in the salt belt. The rear subframe in particular looked like it had spent time in the ocean and I think was close to cracking.
I replaced the subframe with one from the south. I replaced most of the pieces associated with it or reconditioned as I could. The only thing I wanted to replace and couldn't was the CV axles, the manual ones are not available. Otherwise, all new suspension parts in the rear. Bilstein B6 lowering kit.
The brake pipes turned out really well. The pedal is finally solid. The master cylinder was an aftermarket unit from 2017. I replaced that and the booster which was not easy. Since I finally had to take the wiper arms off, I was able to find the passenger one new, but the driver one is NLA, so I had to try and paint that which turned out okay.
I also painted and resealed the diff. And painted the pinion flange, and axle flange covers. I painted a ton of small parts, that took a long time
New parking brake and rear brakes. The calipers are refurbished from carID on eBay for about $100. Great buy so far, we'll see how they work out
I found the eisenmann exhaust on eBay and lowballed the guy. We came to a nice deal. Assuming I can ever finish getting that gasket off and it works out I will post a sound clip of it on m54.
I also trim blacked the bumpers, the side skirts and the fender flares. That took forever. It turned out fairly okay, not perfect but a lot better than it was. It took six cans of that trim black stuff, not cheap.
There was some rust on the rear corners under those heat shields, and the spot in front of the battery tray. I used the wire wheel to knock everything off to bare metal, and then the KBS kit to neutralize and seal everything up. Then I bought the paint bucket of fluid film and went under with the foam brush and coated everything. This all took a few weeks and was not fun and quite dirty, but hopefully will be worth it. No more rust anywhere, except for the driver door.
