Car Front Jacking Point Repair [BMW E30 Welding] How To DIY Fix Rusty Jacking Points On Cars | 031
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- čas přidán 18. 12. 2022
- Car Front Jacking Point Repair [BMW E30 Welding] How To DIY Fix Rusty Jacking Points On Cars | 31
In this video, I get around to fixing the rusty weakened front jacking points on the BMW E30 restoration project. Knowing this would be one of the more complex welding repairs I had to take on with this car, I've been putting this one off for a little while.
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
Car Bodywork Hammer & Dolly Set: ebay.us/l3tdWF
When I finally took the angle grinder wire brush to the rust on the front driver's side jacking point, which is a known notorious rust spot for E30s, I quickly found myself looking into a massive hole looking into behind the throttle pedal.
This is why I ended up stripping the interior including the throttle pedal and the entire carpet in the previous video because I did not want to damage or set fire to the interior of the car, which is always a huge risk when you are cutting and welding on a car.
I am aware of some front jacking point repair panels online for these cars, which are multiple panels including the little box part, but these seem very expensive for what they are, so I decided to make my own. Out of slightly thicker gauge steel too for peace of mind.
The hardest part for me when doing a rust welding repair on a car is actually cutting accurate panels from sheet steel and shaping them well to fit up in place. I have a real preference for doing butt welds, where you have two pieces of metal perfectly meeting up to each other and weld along the seem to make them join together, but with this repair I ended up doing a mix of butt welds, lap welds due to the shape being quite complicated, followed by a series of plug welds to position that box and secure it in.
On the whole, the process was very long-winded but the results I'm very pleased with. I duplicated the work I'd done on the driver's side on the passenger side when I realised the rust on that side was just as bad if not worse than what I'd already ground away.
With regard to the welding, I have included links to the tools I used at the top, and in the video, I noted the setting I was using on the Clarke 150 MIG welder. This combo of settings has worked well for me for the past few repairs too.
I'm satisfied that the newly repaired front jacking points on this chassis are solid and ready for years of use without concern. I'm still not managing to do pretty welds but they certainly are solid, and once ground down and coated over will be near invisible to the untrained eye anyway.
I've seen some very scruffy poorly welded-on patches underneath cars to get them through an MOT, and I'm proud to say my welds are much better than those by any metric. I'm not just bodging the chassis up, I feel I am futureproofing it. Well as much as one can with a car in the UK climate anyway.
All that remains to do is to coat them in seam sealer to prevent them from rusting again on me, but I will save that until I've purchased the correct seam sealer.
For more helpful how-to guides and restoration project logs, visit our blog: www.spannerrash.com/
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Just to keep getting this message out there, those are not jacking points, and people who jack from them are the reason they rust out in the first place because it separates the layers of metal and promotes corrosion. Those footwell corner cups were for transporting the shells around at the assembly plant. The jacking points are on the sills, but I personally use the chassis rails and a rubber pad. Nice looking repair though, very smart!!
Cheers! Yeah I got corrected very quickly on that - every day is a school day! 😃
@@SPANNERRASH apologies, didn't know people had already pointed it out! Video was on my recommended! Haha
Love the detail you are putting into this!!!! Most e30s I’ve dealt with here in the southern states have rust in the exact same spot! I’m a welder by profession, and you are doing great, just because a weld isn’t pretty doesn’t mean it’s not done right, you had no porosity, and great penetration! Keep up the good work!
Thanks Jordan, thats means alot to me coming from a pro welder, I really appreciate that! 😁
well done buddy, keep up the great work!
Cheers Alex!
Thanks for another informative and encouraging video.
Cheers George, appreciate that!
Great job, new subscriber.
Thanks man, glad to have you on board! 😃
Great work mate
Thanks Jason!
Another great upload! Keep posting videos , i will watch them all , grts from Holland
Cheers Frank!
Another great video, really enjoy watching the progress and your workmanship.
Shane, Australia
Awesome, thanks Shane mate 😁
VERY GOOD WORK
Thank you!
Very informative Videos. I need to make the welding work on my E30 too. Thanks!
Thank you, I hope these vids are helpful for you, especially if you're starting out welding.
Brilliant!
Cheers 😁
Cracking repair job..should be rightly proud of yourself.
Thank you Robert! I was chuffed with the result on this one.
Very helpful, thanks. I have this job to do on my E28 in january
Cheers Ben, hope they aren't as rusty on your E28 as these ones were! 😁
Good solid repair you should be pleased.
I think it'll do the job, I was quite chuffed with it, cheers! 😃
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR VIDEOS. You've inspired me to learn to weld. I bought a small mig welder for my E30 project. I have rear arches (like you), front floors/boxes, and will weld in subframe and rear end supports. Essentially, I'm going to start this winter to do exactly what you've done here. Thank you so much for your videos. You don't waste time on extraneous explanations or introductions. Thanks!
Patrick, thanks so much for the kind words. I'm really glad my videos have encouraged you to get stuck in on your own E30 project. Be patient with the welding and you will certainly get the hang of it. It'll be well worth the effort. 😃
Just got my first e30 thanks for all the things you’ve shown on here, makes more confident I can get it going again.
I'm glad my vids are spurring you on with your own E30 build. Get stuck in pal! 😁
@@SPANNERRASH I’ve owned many bmws, e28, e36, e38, e46, but this is my first e30! And by far the car that has needed the most work. It has sat for almost 20 years, wish me luck!
@@GypsyTales420 They are known to rust unfortunately. Mine is one of the best shells I've seen and it still had plenty! Good luck mate, I'm sure you'll get it sorted! 👍
Awesome work and attention to detail, btw you could've just left them flat with out the box as they were never designed as jacking points.. they were used for part of the assembly line to move the shells around before the running gear would get attatched, they're a pain for retaining moisture too. Anyway, good job they look oem 👍
A couple of people have told me the same, I foolishly thought they were jacking points giving you 3 options on each side of an E30! 😅 Not to worry, like you say, they look more OE like this. Cheers!
Great work, great content :)
Though the "official" E30 front jacking points are the ones where your rocker panel sits on the red jack stands...
As far as i know, these boxes you made were only used for carrying the chassis during manufacturing assembly.
Thank you Ákos! Seems I am learning a new thing about the E30 today as a couple of people are telling me the same thing about these points! Thanks for sharing knowledge about that, I had no idea that's what they were. 😂
Brilliant to watch and learn from. I have been looking at buying an E30 325i but was nervous to buy if needing rust work, as a semi novice. Watching your work has given me the confidence that I needed to be able learn and carry out repair work with guidance. Love watching your progress. What size 6 cylinder engine are you putting in ?
Awesome thank you! I think you can do anything if you have a go, that's all I'm doing here. 😁 Hopefully my E30 project vids prove to be useful for you. I will have certainly addressed most of the common E30 issues by the end.
I've got a 2.8 M52 6-pot engine on a stand waiting to go in!
great to see someone repairing cars instead of swapping them for a new one......great tutorials and informative cool mint work my friend..just a quick one on welding thin panels, the braces are a great idea indeed, as you had access from inside the vehicle while welding, another pair of hands holding a handle mounted solid copper block on the back of the weld site.... the copper block helps absorb the heat, thus reducing the distortion and heat radiation in the 0.7 standard body panel...i used this method in the kaizen workshop when working for a very big car manufacturer in the north east of england....ahem..hope it helps in future videos best regards cheers col...s/land
Thank you Colin, really appreciate the positive feedback! 😁 That's a very useful tip about the copper block when welding, a couple of people have mentioned that to me previously, and from a bit of light reading on it, it sounds like I've really missed out by not discovering that sooner. I'll be getting something sorted for the next welding job I do on the car, cheers pal.
Im geting to same point in my restoration ;)
Awesome, I think I have a few more videos that might be useful for you in that case! 😃
Nice job! I did the same area a while back. Got to go on to the rear passenger arch soon :(
Ahh was it exactly the same type of rot? Seems too common these front jacking points.
I did a rear arch on this E30 too, have a scroll back if you want to check that out. thought it went pretty well for a DIY job! 👍
@@SPANNERRASH Ohh will def have a look ta. Yeah same place I have a vid on it, I didn't bother with the "jacking point" as it's a race car anyway.
Another awesome video! I just did this last year and I agree - a custom panel with thicker metal is better.
Out of curiosity, do you ever run into issues blowing through with welds? I seem to struggle with this sometimes in spite of running smaller wire and using low settings
Thanks Justin! Definitely, it's quite difficult this welding, I especially struggle with blowing through when the metal I am welding is low quality, for example if it has pitting from corrosion, even if I have brushed all the corrosion away and it looks clean, the metal will want to blow through even on the lower settings.
I am using 0.8mm wire in this video and I often start on the lowest setting and then dial up the power in response to how it starts out. The best welds are the ones which are just short of blowing through. you know, where the weld sinks into the metal instead of accumulating on top. But it requires a lot of skill to do this, maybe one day I will learn how.
We used to take seats and carpets out to steam clean (not jet wash) they come up like new, made a huge difference. Took a few days to dry though out in the sun ☀️
Steam cleaning sounds awesome, I'm considering redying the carpet black before it goes back in though. I won't even think about it until summer though where I can leave it out to dry like you did when cleaning. Thanks for the suggestion! 👍
@@SPANNERRASH carpet looks grey from factory to me. I’m sure they will look great after a clean 👍🏻
Im completely New to welding but could you use a tig for the same work you did?
I believe tig welder could be used for this too, although I've never used TIG, only MIG welding so far.
I think MIG would be a more suited tool to this type of job, but TIG can do things MIG can't. It's on my list to pick one up for welding stainless steel.
Hopefully, someone more versed in both can wade in and part with some knowledge on this one.
Smashing job, well done.
One point of concern, not with the repair but your stands on breeze blocks.
I've never tried breeze blocks myself but when researching building DIY wheel stands/axle stand extension blocks I found horror stories of concrete blocks cracking while people are under the car.
Rightly or wrongly I made my blocks in the popular glued and screwed stacked wood design. And made leveling feet out of m16 bolts in the corners so we could perfectly level all 4 stands todo home string alignments with room to crawl under the car to adjust.
Anyway congrats on the repair, I've just subscribed, very well produced and highly watchable content.
Cheers Adam, awesome to have you on board mate, plenty more to come! 👍
Yeah, the way I've got the car raised isn't perfect. And to be honest I would not trust stands on breeze blocks alone for that very reason. Those are more a secondary insurance policy.
The better stands are the hardwood ones I built that are a bit taller and further forward. I'd trust those way more although mine sound rudimentary compared to the ones you're describing.
With the wheel stands also on the back, the car genuinely does feel solid and I'm okay to get under it. I promise it's more secure than it looks! 😂
@@SPANNERRASH I got a bit carried away building mine you could probably park a lorry on them 🤣... I'm very proud of mine, made them the right size for a friend's set of corner weight scales, and made a set of wheel turn slip plates and string alignment equipment too to go with them too, now need never go for an alignment at a garage again :+)
@@adamhaycroft5610 They sound awesome, I might have a go at something similar one day. I'd love to be able to do my own alignments like that.
hello, perfectly restored, only this is not a jack point but a point used during manufacture to transport the empty bodywork in the factory, used as a jack point you will have rust again in no time.
Greetings from the Netherlands. Ben
Cheers Ben! A few other people have pointed out my error regarding the jacking points too. If I'd have known that I'd have probably not gone to the effort to put them back, but rather a smooth replacement welded in. 😂
Every day is a school day I guess. At least I know it now so can avoid damage in the future.
@@SPANNERRASH hello, but you have ensured that the real purists and perhaps an appraiser will rate the car higher because you also restored the factory recordings.
@@bendeckers7392 thats an excellent point, I'll take it! 🙌
gr8 job cleaning, rust proofing, reproducing, attach-securing, everything - but how can a 10” by 1” sheet metal box be a jack point at all?🤔
Cheers pal, check out the other comments, I got schooled on this one. 🤣
Turns out those boxes at the front aren't normal jacking points, they were something used to move the chassis around in the BMW factory when they were building the E30.
Using them like jacking points is apparently what causes them to crack and become magnets for rust.
So now I have fixed them, they are just for show. I won't ever be jacking the car up with them!
The proper jacking points are on the sils, although they arent much good either.
yeah not surprised. I left you an interesting question just now, but the Utube app is just as dumb as many jackspot engineers, so it erased it instantly👋
Are you going to consider adding any aftermarket/custom parts once you finish tackling all the issues and start getting it back together?
You betcha! Done a few mods already including the 5-lug swap front and rear with larger brakes. I'm planning for this car to be an M52B28 swapped little ripper, with looks to suit. Plenty of work to do yet but it should end up as the E30 I've always wanted. Have a scroll back on the playlist and check out my first vid where I outlined my plans for the car. 👍
@@SPANNERRASH that sounds awesome, can't wait to see what the future holds, have you looked into any of the DTM Fiberwerkz stuff? I love the way their pieces look
@@talhadasti8794 Thanks bud, I'll look them up, haven't heard of them before. Leaning toward an Mtech 2 style E30 at the moment, I always loved that clean look. I'm reallly into OEM+ styling generally.
Brilliant work I need similar doing to my E91 front jacking points just out of interest what would the price be thanks rob
Cheers Rob! Your E91 surely can't have big holes like the points on this E30? It's too young for that lark.
I'm not sure what it would cost to get someone to do it. But it took me a long time and a lot of effort so I expect a pro to want to charge a good few hundred for it at least. Bear in mind the carpet needs to come out etc.
If you're asking what my price would be, sorry mate but I've got my hands full with this E30 currently. Struggling to find time for that, so not considered customer work or anything like that.
Pick up a cheap welder and have a go? You can take your time and do it cheap if you set your mind to it. 😃
It's only 3 jacking point there is holes size of a medium sized hand a freind of mind who work as a mechanic in a local garage is going to have a look tomorrow I took the 2 side skirts of today for him to have a good investigation hopefully he's not more than a chap who gave me a quote of 250 last week although I thought he was quite reasonable,
I do want to purchase a second hand welder to master the welding like yourself you have done an amazing job mate 👏
@@robw321 The 250 doesn't sound bad at all to me, considering what's involved and how long it could take.
Cheers! I wouldn't say mastered, but I've come a long way from where I started. 😄
Spannerrash do you take on work? I have a BMW E30 325i Sport in Dolphin Grey.
It's been stood for 10 years, and I want to restore it. Regards
Hi Kash, sounds like a great E30 to bring back to life! To be honest I've not thought about taking work on as I've had my hands full with my own projects for as long as I can remember. 😆
I'm far from a pro, just a weekend hobbyist figuring things out as I go. Maybe one day when I feel like I know what I'm doing I would consider doing it for others. Cheers! 😃
@@SPANNERRASH Hi, thank you for getting back to me and being genuine..
Fair enough and I respect that.. Good luck bro
@@MsREDCIVIC Cheers! 😃
Before watching while adds on .
Must be UK.
What gave it away? 😆
@@SPANNERRASH Simple it was the title " Rust and repair "..
We do get some rust here but not a great problem.
On the BMW we had an import BM come In from UK that had been to dealer here.
The dealer told them they wouldn't touch it due to rust.
@@chuckmaddison2924 You're not wrong, rust is an absolute killer here. It's very unfortunate.
There not even jacking points they are transportation pads from factory for moving around the shells
Yeah I came to understand that after people in the comments enlightened me. 😆 You live and learn!
Happy with my fix anyway. Looks close enough to OEM for me!
هاي انا من لبنان ❤ بدك شغيل
Cheers! 😃
In this case, I think you could get off with less problems if you first pick the spots on the lap, then cut out the rotten part and then weld the new part from one side or another to the old lap. It's kinda cleaner and easier to weld since you have on one side just the spots.. Anyway, it's an opinion. Also when you weld thiner sheets, it might be better to use 0.6 mm wire, which is easier to control the deposition. Welding "rule" of thinckness is that filler material (wire or stick) should be between 60 to 80% of the original metal thickness, while adjusting the welder accordingly with not to many amps and slightly higher wire speed, which also depends of the welding position you're doing. Angle welding differs from butt welding or plug or point welding. Trial is necessary, especially if your welder doesn't have accurate values to set... Hello, I see you through the floor...😏 those rusty spots are most likely caused by flying debris from the tire, sand at the most, which "sandblasts" off the paint and sometimes also the rubber coating, once it gets old and cracked. Rubber finishes from 20 or 30 years ago are not so "on level" with today's coatings, but also those will slowly decay.
Excelent work though, you earned +20 respect points! 😁Keep on, every job is an opportunity for improvement, while we learn every single day.
Awesome thank you for the pointers on that, a few people have recommended I drop down to 0.6 welding wire. I should pick some of that up if I'm gonna be doing more thin sheet. Cheers!
This is no Jacking Point. This was a special point used to transport empty chassis during Production.
Jacking your e30 on this point is one of the main reasons it has rust.
Cheers Andi, quite a few people have corrected me on that. I'll be sure not to use it in the future, thanks for sharing the E30 knowledge.
Nice solid repairs. Looks great!👍
I was getting nervous watching you with your face so close to that cutting wheel. Full face shield would go a long way towards saving your face from injuries when one of those wheels decides to shatter. Be careful my friend! 😉
Cheers mate! Yeah I really shsould be more careful, you're right. I'll have to pick up a face guard as you suggest. 👍
how can this thin metal spot be strong for jacking after repair?
I got corrected about this, its actually not a jacking point. Its a plate that is used to mount the car on a dolly in the BMW factory when its being assembled. Apparently its trying to jack a car up from this point which causes the issue. 😅
@@SPANNERRASH you got to be careful in the title of your video. anyone who follows you to use these as jacking points would destroy their cars. better change your title
maybe a weird question, but something that is crossing my mind lately with restoring my e30.. Aren't you worried about the future of oldtimers with all the new environmental laws they are working on?
Also another question, aren't you worried about getting parts for your build. I feel like it's getting harder and harder to get parts for the e30. Not sure how that is in the uk right now?
Hi Marco, yes the same concerns have crossed my mind also. I think in truth petrol cars will be around for a very long time yet, even if they stop making new ones (which don't have the same charm anyway).
It's a shame this BMW E30 I am working on is a 1990 instead of an early 1980s model though, because after a car is 40 years old in the UK it becomes a "classic car" which is tax exempt, MOT exempt and ULEZ charge exempted too. I've still got a very long time to wait for that to apply for this particular E30. Luckily I live out in the Yorkshire countryside so have no business going into London anyway! 🤣
Regarding parts, its clear to me that desireable parts are becoming hard to find, and as a result they're becoming very expensive. I think for the more important parts, BMW will start to bring them back into production again when there is demand. For example, I heard BMW might be making replacement Mtech body panels again soon.
Luckily the maintenance parts appear to still be readily available and cheaply too. I think in the meantime we will have to rely on aftermarket support for the other stuff.
@@SPANNERRASH ow that sounds great bmw reproducing parts again. I was looking for rear arms for disc brakes for instance, but they are very hard to find nowadays. I made the decision to stick with my rear drum brakes for now. It's an 318is so that's not a power machine. Are you still searching for parts for the swap or have you collected them all over time ? Can imagine the sump and oil pickup is pretty hard to find ? And the gearbox ?
@@e30_318is_project Yeah all you can do it keep your eye on Ebay and FB marketplace, those rear arms do come up occasionally if you keep your eyes peeled. In terms of real-world performance, they probably aren't any better than the drums anyway though. 😆
I think I've got almost everything I need at this point. I'm planning to use a 318is gearbox, and I already have the E34 front sump for the M52B28 swap as it came on the engine. I have no doubt forgotten something along the way though. We'll find out! 😅
Love the vids and that you're saving an E30. Miss mine. I had the 3rd E30 registered in the UK at one time... was too far gone to save at the time... wish I'd kept it now though 😔
One thing... watching someone use unguarded grinders gives me the fear. As an engineer I have unfortunately seen the results of a duff disc exploding twice in workshops, one of which was almost through a major blood vessel in his neck...
Thank you @@Decrepit_biker, the 3rd one in the UK?! That sounds like an interesting car, was it a 1983?
I appreciate your concern about the grinder, I should certainly take your advice and that of a few others who have pointed out the same. I find the guards an absolute pain in the backside though, its hard to see what you're doing and impossible to get it into tight spots.
Nevertheless, wise words. Thanks!
Why not sand it just that little bit more so it doesnt even show the weld?
I guess I was worried about thinning the surrounding metal necessarily, and knowing its never going to be seen under underseal and carpets I wasn't too worried.
@@SPANNERRASH fair enoughh
please dont jack the car up from these points
its for the assembly line only for when the chassis was transported around the factory
these rot out because people have jacked it from there in the past and cracked the seam sealer and stone chip
nice repair though looks pretty good to me
Cheers Andrew, a few people are saying the same about these points, I didn't know they weren't to be used like that. Thanks for sharing E30 knowledge!
Problem is you are using gas and some mig wire like its gonna be a clean weld. You need something that eats all the rust and shit up. Use FCAW and set the voltage higher, then tac it in different spots and grind it down. No need to run beads, wrong industry for that.
Interesting suggestion, thank you. So using flux core is better when welding dirty and rusty stuff? That's news to me.
I might pick some up and give it a try. Cheers!
@@SPANNERRASH From my experience all the dirty shit rises up to the slag layer instead of setting in the welds. FCAW is pretty much the 6010 of automotive. Just don't run a tack for too long or it'll eat through the sheet metal.
That jacking point, isn't a jacking point. Please don't jack up the car using that. Use the chassis leg 👍
I'm learning something new about the E30 today it seems, thanks Mark!
Yep they were used in the factory I believe, for moving the shell around, but aren’t for jacking.
@@royfontaine5526 You live and learn. Might not have bothered making them so robust, or even replacing them at all knowing that now! 😂
@@SPANNERRASH that’s what I was thinking 😩 Deleting them would have left a cleaner finish and not left anything tempting for a tyre fitter to use... Oh well!