Help wanted near Palo Alto, California

Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith

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Is there anyone near Palo Alto, California willing to talk with me or meet and discuss my project? I am just starting, what is rapidly turning into, a full restoration of my '71 2800cs. I would appreciate a person I could ask all of my initial newbie questions, like how in the world do you remove the front fenders without destroying them? The car has a lot of bondo and various patch panels brazed in place, is that typical? I feel like I have so many basic questions as I get started and I don't want to spam the forum. Once I get further into the project, I'll post questions to the forum, and not feel like I'm wasting Forum member's time. Any guidance would be appreciated.
Jeff
 
welcome Jeff. i also have a '71 2800cs, so welcome to the madness. unfortunately, i live in Atlanta so a little tough to meet with you. first a few bits of housekeeping:

1. spend a little time in the FAQ, several people have created some extremely useful information for questions that everybody asks. things from top sources, electrical questions, what changed from model to model / year to year, colors, what color to put where, tire + wheel options, etc.

2. start a thread in e9 projects + restorations for your car and keep photos + what you did there ... then its all in one place if you need it. when you ask a question, people will chime in and give you a hand, as well as to be the best cheerleaders one could hope for.

3. we are all hear to learn + help others - this is the most amazing car forum, period.

4. people in your area. 1st the true professional is @sfdon, who has one of the best coupe shops, and he is in Alameda. he has a big back log, but when you see him answering your question ... use that answer with complete confidence. there is @ScottAndrews who is north of you in Petaluma ... he is in the middle of a serious restoration. there is @tferrer who has his CSL on BaT right now, but is in San Francisco. there are many more in the area, and they will likely chime in.

and item last - what is the VIN of your car for the coupe ancestry project ... and if you know any previous owners / places the car has lived, that would be helpful
 
Hi Jeff -Congratulations on the Coupe. My expertise is more skin level than things like cutting fenders off but I'm happy to help where I have knowledge. Luckily Don is in Alemeda but as Scott mentioned, he has a big back log. DM me if you have any questions and I'll try to help.
 
Happy to help as well, I’m a bit newer than many but have spent many hours perusing the forum and have done quite a bit of restoration on my E9. I’m in Seattle but taking a page out of Don’s book happy to hop on a phone call or FaceTime. I understand the desire to avoid asking what seem like stupid questions but Scott’s suggestion is a good one - start a thread and when you post to it with a question it’s up to people if they want to take a look, so it’s not filling their feed if they don’t want. And there are no stupid questions, but many have been answered in the 16+ years of forum knowledge. The search function doesn’t allow three-letter words so search on google adding the phrase e9coupe.com to have forum results show up first
 
Welcome! Scott already gave the household instructions, so let me start with your first answers:
Yepp, bondo is common. Our cars are old enough to have recieved love from different owners and of different 'levels'. Bondo in itself isn't a bad thing, if applied well it can last for ages.
But if you can tell that there is bondo under the paint just by looking, then something is up.
The front fenders are tough. They are welded on in various places: corner of windscreen with spotwelds, about 4 inches up on the A-pillar under leaded joint, in the door opening where the hinges mount, at the edge inside the hood where the 2 foot long reinforcements are spotwelded, at the front where it butts up to the panel with the roundel, another butt weld between the light aperature opening and the chin, and below that where it meets the chin and tucks under the car is a flange spotwelded, often with a tackweld on the outside bottom edge.
It's quite a job. And likely only the first layer of what you need to peel, as typically the rust starts 2 levels deeper.
(Sorry about that)

I think you've just realized that you have yourself one of the more difficult cars to restore. But also one of the most beautifull ones luckily!

As you can see in the picture, I'm in for the same!
 

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Welcome to the Forum! And to the fun and maddening avocation of restoring an E9!.

I would recommend you start by doing a very detailed assessment of what state your car is in, and what state you want it to be in when you are "done". Get a bore scope. They have them that link to your phone, so you can snake the camera on the end of a long bendable stalk into tiny places, and see what's there on your phone. Inexpensive, and valuable in understanding the state your car. I make lists, and organize them by topic.. but that's just me.

Your first obstacle will be rust. There are several FAQs and threads about where rust hides, and what's involved in addressing it. Two that I found very helpful are one by @Sven who has many photos of the inner elements of the car (under rockers, inside fenders, etc). The other is the thread by @eriknetherlands, who has done an amazing job renovating his sheetmetal. All cars are somewhat different, but key areas to look are the rockers (remove the trim panels over the rockers, and try to get a bore scope in there. You can see the lightweight version of this repair on my thread (https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/72-3-0-cs-2240344-restoration.44873/). Floors are another. Repair panels are generally available for both rockers and floors. The issue with floors, even in CA is that water vapor inside the car condenses when it gets cold, and then collects under the sound deadening asphalt on the floors, and eventually eats away the lowest spots (you can see some of this on my thread - with my "minimal rust" car... o_O ).

The other place is the box structure up inside the front fenders. There is an opening up near the A-pillar inside the fender that collects a lot of dirt which then holds moisture (especially if the car is driven in the rain), which then rots out the box structure. Every now and then we see cars where the shelf along the top of the front fenders rots, which can be a real mess since then the front fenders need to be rebuilt or replaced. One car Don is working on has this issue and they are basically grafting on a new front-end.. Major job...

In my experience, the mechanicals on these cars are usually very strong. You will need to replace suspension bushings and probably some suspension linkages with new ball joints. Engines are usually serviceable, or solid replacements can be found. Wiring in all but the really hot areas is usually good - often just needs to be re-wrapped.The hard bits are the various trim pieces, and interior stuff. Sometimes found on eBay or in the Parts For Sale or Wanted section of the forum. There are a few folks in Europe and South America that are often great sources for hard to find parts (@TomHom, @Lucas, @Krzysztof , @alprada70 ) to name a few...

I would strongly suggest spending time on the site reading others threads. The collective knowledge and experience of this group about these cars is truly amazing.

Feel free to DM me anytime if you have questions. I may not be able to answer them, but I can probably suggest who can...

Again, Welcome to the madness!!

Scott (easily confused with all the the other Scotts on this forum!! ;) )
 
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As many have said, welcome to the forum Jeff. Here you will find the best and brightest E9 minds in the country to answer your questions and help make your journey as smooth and informed as possible. Someone sent me this E9 diagram showing where all the typical rust spots are. I have attached it here for you to help familiarize yourself with where and what to look for. And yeah, there are a few really great threads from folks who provided a monthly update with the progress and pics of their restorations. Great morning and bed time reading! Good luck!!
 

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rsporsche said:
welcome Jeff. i also have a '71 2800cs, so welcome to the madness. unfortunately, i live in Atlanta so a little tough to meet with you. first a few bits of housekeeping:

1. spend a little time in the FAQ, several people have created some extremely useful information for questions that everybody asks. things from top sources, electrical questions, what changed from model to model / year to year, colors, what color to put where, tire + wheel options, etc.

2. start a thread in e9 projects + restorations for your car and keep photos + what you did there ... then its all in one place if you need it. when you ask a question, people will chime in and give you a hand, as well as to be the best cheerleaders one could hope for.

3. we are all hear to learn + help others - this is the most amazing car forum, period.

4. people in your area. 1st the true professional is @sfdon, who has one of the best coupe shops, and he is in Alameda. he has a big back log, but when you see him answering your question ... use that answer with complete confidence. there is @ScottAndrews who is north of you in Petaluma ... he is in the middle of a serious restoration. there is @tferrer who has his CSL on BaT right now, but is in San Francisco. there are many more in the area, and they will likely chime in.

and item last - what is the VIN of your car for the coupe ancestry project ... and if you know any previous owners / places the car has lived, that would be helpful
Click to expand...
VIN 2205743
I bought the car from Evan Esterman (San Mateo, CA) 1 Nov 1999
I have a bill of sale that indicates Evan purchased the car from Mark Cesare 13 Aug 1999
Based on receipts, Al Rabold (San Carlos, CA) owned the car and did a restoration from 18 Oct 1993 to 6 Sep 1995 (he was a member of BMW CS Registry)
Based on receipts and DMV documents, Peter Swartz (Berkeley, CA) owned the car from 26 Jun 1985 to 26 Jun 1990
 
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