Interior & Upholstery project questions & progress updates

[jmackro]

Here is what I am planning so far, look forward to your comments.

Two thoughts:

As Honolulu wrote in post #18, you should definitely service the window tracks while you have the doors apart. Cleaning out old, solidified grease and applying new lubricant will make a world of difference.

With regard to polishing out windshield pits - no, I don't think so. #1 it's pretty tedious to do. #2 if you remove enough material to eliminate the pits, the windshield won't be optically correct - you'll think you're coming down with a migraine. New glass is the way to go.

I am debating between the original style German loops (see picture) and the thicker velour (no sample shown). While not original, …interested in the collective thoughts.

I believe in originality for something as visible as carpets, so I'd advise sticking with the loop. I'm impressed by the original appearance of the KHM samples of loop carpet and headliner material - thanks for posting those.

Good luck with the project!

 

[pmansson]

I have the coconut carpet sets on top of the original German loop wool caroets, plus Dynamat of course, plus original Eberspächer mild steel exhaust systems, and this gives a very solid and quieg feel inside. And the correct engine sound

 

[Honolulu]

jmackro, no diz but are you sure that a deep polish would make the windshield optically incorrect?

Seems to me that if the glass is optically clear, thickness variation won't matter. Trying to get this through my head. I have seen optical warble in windshield glass, never put too much thought into why.

 

[Stevehose]

I would think thickness variation would create small concave and convex lenses and thus the distortion

jmackro, no diz but are you sure that a deep polish would make the windshield optically incorrect?

Seems to me that if the glass is optically clear, thickness variation won't matter. Trying to get this through my head. I have seen optical warble in windshield glass, never put too much thought into why.

 

[boonies]

I would think thickness variation would create small concave and convex lenses and thus the distortion

jmackro, no diz but are you sure that a deep polish would make the windshield optically incorrect?

Seems to me that if the glass is optically clear, thickness variation won't matter. Trying to get this through my head. I have seen optical warble in windshield glass, never put too much thought into why.

Our 2002 years ago had an optical variation that when viewed from the right (wrong?) angle was really disturbing.

I have had windshields replaced on daily drivers in the past and always found that the fresh glass makes an amazing difference on a bright day or at night with the bright headlights from oncoming traffic.

 

[jmackro]

jmackro, no diz but are you sure that a deep polish would make the windshield optically incorrect?
Seems to me that if the glass is optically clear, thickness variation won't matter. Trying to get this through my head. I have seen optical warble in windshield glass, never put too much thought into why.

As Stevehose wrote, when you create thickness variations in glass, you are creating "lenses" - clarity has nothing to do with it. A pair of eyeglasses is made from "optically clear"glass; its thickness variations are what make them lenses. Try wearing someone else's glasses and you'll get a sense of what that polished windshield will feel like after the divots have been polished out.

 

[CARCAR]

Well I went a little different than standard........for carpet I used German Square weave from KHM colour Bouncle Oatmeal....simply because I have the same in my Pagoda roof Benz. Leather I went top shelf German Napa. I thought the original E9 colours were a little stale.......just my thoughts.
Regarding soundproofing I had the whole area floor inside and out Rhino Painted including trunk and inside of roof then dynamated the whole lot except trunk. I doubled up on the firewall with dynamat..........I hear absolutely no road noise at all in the car and no engine heat whatsoever.

View attachment 96779View attachment 96781

Hi do you have a colour ref for the leather it looks amazing

 

[Honolulu]

Respect to those who have responded with regard to my thoughts about whether polishing would create distortion. I are engineer, so I may be "a little dogmatic" about this small matter of physics. Hear me out...


One: the glass depth removed by polishing would be very small. Thus any distortion, IF it was induced, would be small.

Two: If polished glass induces distortion by creating "lenses" or areas of varying thickness, then any view through the windshield would distort as we drive by, since the viewed object is seen through differing glass thickness. We know this does not happen, or we'd all have the migraines referenced above. A note about actually observed distortion is below.

From my physics classes and any knowledgeable discussion of optics: distortion occurs as a result of the Index of Refraction, the property that (for instance) makes a viewed underwater object appear in a place other than where it actually is. More precisely, light passing into a more dense medium (e.g., air to glass) is bent away from the normal of the surface interface, and vice versa.

IR is a property of a particular formulation of glass and different glass compositions have different IR's just as borosilicate glasses (pyrex) are made with differing rates of thermal expansion. But you can also have glass with an IR of unity (i.e., no bending) and I suggest that windshield glass is such, thus we don't observe distortion as objects pass by (see point 1 above). Add to this that windshields are relatively thin, so distortion if induced, is small (see point 2 above).

For the reasons above, I retain the opinion that windshield glass would not distort visibly if polished. Anyone who has noticed a optical aberration in their glass (that group includes me) should attribute it to uneven glass composition (varying IR over the glass surface). That's a QC issue at the glass fabricator...

 

[JFENG]

Really old house glass (eg early 19th century) has substantial optical distortion. Is that due mainly to variable composition or just severely varying thickness?

 

[bavbob]

Glass is really a super-cooled liquid. The stained glass in cathedrals in Europe are quite interesting in that gravity has caused the glass to run over time so the glass on the bottom is visibly thicker than on the top. I do wonder how windshield glass is made to impart the "safety glass" aspect of it.

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

• Planning to pull the windshield, it is pitted and I know what a difference a fresh windshield makes.
  • I have seen videos of people polishing the glass, but has anyone tried it? If so, results?

I have polished wiper marks, haze and light scratches out of windshields with Eastwood's kit. I got good results. It takes A LOT of time, however. You can't go fast or you can generate too much heat and crack the glass. If you can catch the scratch or pit with your finger nail, you are probably not going to polish it out.

Eastwood does make a heavy duty polishing kit also. I have not tried this one.

I don't know how available and how expensive a new windshield is for an E9, but my glass guy got one for my E3 for $200 delivered. I wouldn't consider trying to polish one at this price.

 

[Honolulu]

Bfeng: "Really old house glass (eg early 19th century) has substantial optical distortion. Is that due mainly to variable composition or just severely varying thickness?"

I think probably both. As noted above, glass does in fact flow over decades. That's a (to me) cool sign of having an old house. I'm now building a china cabinet, I used 3/32" glass from Lowe's (advertised online as 1/8"!) but if I had a source for old wavy glass, I'd consider using it. Learned to cut glass panes doing this BTW; it's pretty simple if one is methodical about it.

Now a larger and to-the-point matter: who/where are the current coupe front windshield sources nowadays? I expect W&N and the dealer network, but who else?

 

[JFENG]

Bfeng: "Really old house glass (eg early 19th century) has substantial optical distortion. Is that due mainly to variable composition or just severely varying thickness?"

I think probably both. (Snip)

Now a larger and to-the-point matter: who/where are the current coupe front windshield sources nowadays? I expect W&N and the dealer network, but who else?

I asked because your first post suggested that optical distortion in car glass is mainly due to variations in composition. I was politely arguing against this by asking a question. No question you are right from a theoretic point of view. But in the real world of mass produced auto glass, the most common sources of distortion is (AFAIK), not variable composition but physical distortion (thickness and curvature variations at a spatial frequency to which the human eye is sensitive). A typical quality spec on thickness and shape uniformity will be well under 0.5mm.

Spatial frequency: Let’s say you polished a small 2” dia area of your windshield and took off enough material to cause visible distortion. If that same variation in thickness were uniformly distributed over a 20” area it would be less noticeable and probably less annoying.

It’s my conjecture that polishing glass is ok as long as you don’t remove more than - small fraction of a mm of thickness (how about 0.2mm) in a small area

 

[paul]

Hi do you have a colour ref for the leather it looks amazing

Sorry for late reply.....let me contact my upholstery guy and get back to you with colour

 

[paul]

Hi do you have a colour ref for the leather it looks amazing

Just heard back from my upholsterer........Leather came from Hans Reinke in Germany....the range is is called Royal and the colour is Gold.

 

[boonies]

I have been planning for the interior refresh, with new wood, upholstery and carpet this winter, and did kick the project off in late November.

All of the parts above have been removed, and I am pleased to report that there were no serious rust issues in the floor or firewall. The coupe’s original owner (I have all the maintenance records going back to 1973) spent about $22k back in 1991 having the rust remediated and the work has held up well.

I removed (chiseled) all the original asphalt and tar sound deadening material, ground surface where any light rust existed and coated with rust encapsulator (Eastwood) and now have applied the first and second coats of Second Skin Firewall ceramic coating on the firewall floors and tunnel.

Following the advice on forum I removed the boxes for the evaporator and the heater core so I could do some work on both. I am looking for a source to re-core the heater (if needed) and the radiator (I can see where it has been weeping in the past). Also planning to send my dash out to be recovered.
As you can see from the pictures, the windshield is out, and I was pleased to find there was no rust in the body under the windshield. There was a very small spot of surface rust in each corner that I will wire bush and use the rust encapsulator as it is really only surface in nature.

Planning to replace the pitted windshield and gasket (old gasket is cracking).

The dash wood has some issues, and I have a set that I purchased already for the replacement from @bela22. I did find that the plywood base of the dash had gotten very wet over some time and unscrewing the bolt holding the driver resulted in the rusted and frozen nut pulling through the mounting point, so I will need to discuss that with the company that works on the dashboard.

Exciting to get started, but will admit that when I look at that empty space, it looks suspiciously like a money pit...

 

[HB Chris]

Have heater core tested at a radiator shop, it is likely fine. I had a sweet coolant smell and pulled mine when I replaced the motor but it was fine too. On Don's advice don't purchase a windshield from BMW they don't fit. With A/C apart a new expansion valve should be sourced especially if converting to r-134 and flush the A/C evap as well.

 

[Thomas76]

That brings back some fun memories! A couple things I suggest.
-Put that felt stuff back (if you removed) behind the rear seat, will save you from leather squeaking.
-Heater core can be pressure tested by any local radiator shop
-Clean out those threads that the seat belts bolt to, really easy when carpet is out. Same is true for the actual seat anchors.
-I'd spend some time laying on your back inspecting the under dash wiring while the seats are out. Organize and look for missing things or loose relays. Relays if not mounted properly are very prone to "shorting out".
-If you're considering adding speakers now is the time to add wires to your harness.
Have fun!!!

 

[boonies]

Have heater core tested at a radiator shop, it is likely fine. I had a sweet coolant smell and pulled mine when I replaced the motor but it was fine too. On Don's advice don't purchase a windshield from BMW they don't fit. With A/C apart a new expansion valve should be sourced especially if converting to r-134 and flush the A/C evap as well.

Agree, already have the expansion valve and was planning W&N for the glass and gasket. I cracked open the heater core box tonight and found this...

Are replacement blower motors available?

 

[Stevehose]

I think there is a thread somewhere where that bosch motor is still available but a couple things have to be changed on it to fit but doable