how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

General conversations about BMW E28s and the people who own them.
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alberto flores
Posts: 9
Joined: Nov 07, 2022 4:42 PM
Location: Sweden

how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by alberto flores »

Hello everyone,

I am new in the forum, I just got a BMW e28 518i and already started the project, took all the interior out to clean the carpet and also to see how was the condition of the rust on the floor.

So far it doesn't look to bad, but its been hard to find information on the Sound insulating dash panel engine room 51481889457, mine are ok-ish, but I guess I will have to stick with them since I can't find any replacement out there.

Is there any recommendation on how to clean them? is a weird material, not really sure what can be done.

I am also thinking of removing the sound deadening and replacing it with new one.

thanks in advance and happy to join the e28 community!

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Alberto.
Aldo525
Posts: 276
Joined: Mar 24, 2021 3:04 PM
Location: CHILE

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by Aldo525 »

Hi Alberto, this is Aldo from Chile.

What year is your 518i??....and your location is Sweden. I'm asking because I have an 83' 518i that comes from Sweden, brought to Chile in the nineties. Mine is K Jetronic injection...not too much e28 4 cylinders K Jet remaining in the world.

Regarding your question, in my case I cleaned it just using a wet cloth and degreasing soap and patience.....Just be careful in the brittle areas.
alberto flores
Posts: 9
Joined: Nov 07, 2022 4:42 PM
Location: Sweden

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by alberto flores »

Aldo525 wrote: Dec 04, 2022 10:42 AM Hi Alberto, this is Aldo from Chile.

What year is your 518i??....and your location is Sweden. I'm asking because I have an 83' 518i that comes from Sweden, brought to Chile in the nineties. Mine is K Jetronic injection...not too much e28 4 cylinders K Jet remaining in the world.

Regarding your question, in my case I cleaned it just using a wet cloth and degreasing soap and patience.....Just be careful in the brittle areas.
que pasa Aldo!

my 518i is from 1983 as well, I don't know what injection system my car has, I think the past owner change the engine and haven't really checked.

I do want to do a swap eventually, but started taking the interior out and now I found new challenges first.

I don't know how deep I want to go with the restauration, but the time is now if I want to deal with the floor, if I get the carpet back in, I don't think is coming out any time soon.

for the sound deadening I have read people use dry ice, but not really sure what to do here.
Aldo525
Posts: 276
Joined: Mar 24, 2021 3:04 PM
Location: CHILE

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by Aldo525 »

Hi,..todo pasando !! :laugh:

Send a picture of your engine to see what is in there....and you can check details about your car at Realoem using the last seven digits of the VIN. This is because K Jet is a mechanical injection system, so there are no too many wires in the engine, no ECU, no sensors, etc...so if you are thinking on a swap that could be a major work, not only a new plug and play engine.
Blue Shadow
Posts: 10195
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: SE PA

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by Blue Shadow »

I helped Tammer remove the interior sound deadening material stuck to the body of his E36 he was making into a track only car. We used dry ice.

put the dry ice on the work area and let it do its stuff, making everything cold. Then you can collect the dry ice to reuse on another section before you take a soft hammer to the material which will shatter and pop off the metal. Experience will tell you when you need to use a regular hammer, small spots or tight quarters, but the use of dry ice sure does make quick work of removing that material. Of course, doing the whole inside of the car is not quick work by any stretch of the imagination.
Last edited by Blue Shadow on Dec 05, 2022 10:39 PM, edited 1 time in total.
gwb72tii
Posts: 619
Joined: Sep 21, 2021 4:58 PM
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by gwb72tii »

Blue Shadow wrote: Dec 04, 2022 5:06 PM I helped Tammer remove the interior sound deadening material stuck to the body of his E36 he was making into a track only car. We used dry ice.

put the dry ice on the work area and let it do its stuff, making everything cold. The you can collect the dry ice to reuse on another section before you take a soft hammer to the material which will shatter and pop off the metal. Experience will tell you when you need to use a regular hammer, small spots or tight quarters, but the use of dry ice sure does make quick work of removing that material. Of course, doing the whole inside of the car is not quick work by any stretch of the imagination.
what he said
alberto flores
Posts: 9
Joined: Nov 07, 2022 4:42 PM
Location: Sweden

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by alberto flores »

ok, well...progress is progress right guys?

I had quite different scenarios coming into this one. The driver side was brittle and coming off in chunks, I have to say that it also felt dry, while in the passenger side it was a lot of moisture and I even saw some wet areas under the sound deadening making this side different to remove.

Also, the sound deadening on the driver side was "flat" while in the passenger side it had a honeycomb pattern which made it even harder to remove since it was breaking in smaller pieces all the time. (the work is still in progress)

Did I forgot to mention that I found some nice floor ventilation channels?

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Anyhow, I guess the restoration project has been officially started.

I'll be posting progress on the instagram: the_mfrequency

Next step is to finish taking the sound deadening and cut and weld new floor.

Any recommendations on where to get the floor panels? Norway e30 maybe?

or should I just cut the damaged area and weld a metal sheet?


thanks for the help!


Alberto.
Ordnator
Posts: 550
Joined: Aug 31, 2015 7:34 PM
Location: Halifax NS

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by Ordnator »

Hi Alberto,

Try these guys:

https://www.classiceuroparts.com/produc ... anels-e28/

I have not used them personally but some of the UK e28 guys use them.

Best regards,

Mick
alberto flores
Posts: 9
Joined: Nov 07, 2022 4:42 PM
Location: Sweden

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by alberto flores »

Hello Mick,

thanks a lot for the help!

this is exactly what I needed, awesome support!


Alberto.
Federico
Posts: 545
Joined: Sep 16, 2013 6:38 PM
Location: Argentina / California

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by Federico »

alberto flores wrote: Dec 05, 2022 6:07 PM
or should I just cut the damaged area and weld a metal sheet?
You don't really need a replacement panel if the rusty area is flat and small. You could use flat sheet by the looks of it.

Also, be careful when cutting off the driver side rust; there are lines under there.
alberto flores
Posts: 9
Joined: Nov 07, 2022 4:42 PM
Location: Sweden

Re: how to clean the Sound insulating dash panel engine room?

Post by alberto flores »

Hi again everyone,

I have move forward since my last post and facing new challenges.

I have cut the floor on the front passenger side and now I am too close to the lower "beam/chassis" under the car, around 1 cm.

The second problem is that the cut is close to the factory spot weldings, since there is rust between the two layers of sheet metal, I now have a wavy surface (as seen in the first picture/link).

I don't know what to do next, it seems that if I continue to cut I will leave no material to weld on since I will cut flush with the "beam/chassis" under it.

I have checked and the "beam/chassis" is hollow, meaning that I could cut on top of it and weld a bigger piece rust free and without the wavy surface that I have now at the edge of my cut.

would this be possible? I am a little afraid of continue cutting and making a mess.


sorry for the links, couldn't make the images work.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PrJh5W ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DPTw15 ... share_link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vbt-0G ... share_link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ECTQyl ... share_link

Thanks for the help!

Alberto.
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