Any updates?
How is it progressing?
How is it progressing?
And so the saga begins
- Thread starter bimmerboy73
- Start date
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- Tags
- restoration list
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
long time...
so, its been almost 3 years since i posted anything to this thread. My coupe project was shelved for a good bit due to first, family obligations that pushed progress into the winter of 2011 and then major life (career) changes - all good- that delayed any movement until May of this year. During that time, i seriously wondered if i'd ever get the car finished. I drifted back and forth between caving and towing it to the local shop to be finished and just selling it and being done with it (wasn't really a serious consideration...). The idea of having a pro finish might sound good to most, but i'd put a lot of sweat into the project between the upgrades i'd made over the previous years to finally committing to and starting the process of doing a bare metal respray, so to me, it was more akin to failure. The trouble was finding a decent enough block of time to get the job done. And as much as i hated the idea of a shop finishing it for me, i think in the end, having that path as an option was contributing to my lack of action.
Fastforward to March 2014 - As luck would have it, 2 of my 3 dogs suffered ruptured spinal disks... in the same month. The treatment (surgery for both) tapped any resources i'd thought might go to a pro paint job, leaving me where i'd started. So, i hatched a plan to block some time off that i would use to move the project forward. The first was over memorial day - a 4 day stretch that i used to get the car from my old garage to my new place, clean it up, finish the stripping and prep, and seal it up. I took another break on June 23rd to continue the body work and push to final painting with the hope of getting everything finished in time for the upcoming Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. 10 days in, and i've applied 3 coats of epoxy primer, patched a few minor dents, and am on the verge of laying down 2k primer tomorrow with base and clear to follow hopefully on sunday or monday.
First few pictures show the car on the way to our new place and the condition it was in prior to paint. I never did find any serious rust. There was probably more surface rust that formed during the brief period the car was in bare metal than had accumulated in the previous 38 years. the trunk was the only area that required and significant attention and that was all handled in a matter of about 20 minutes with the sander. Really a solid car...
The filler you see on the car was from the side marker delete i had my local shop perform. Its all since been sealed under epoxy with new filler applied on top of the primer to address a few minor dents and dings here and there.
so, its been almost 3 years since i posted anything to this thread. My coupe project was shelved for a good bit due to first, family obligations that pushed progress into the winter of 2011 and then major life (career) changes - all good- that delayed any movement until May of this year. During that time, i seriously wondered if i'd ever get the car finished. I drifted back and forth between caving and towing it to the local shop to be finished and just selling it and being done with it (wasn't really a serious consideration...). The idea of having a pro finish might sound good to most, but i'd put a lot of sweat into the project between the upgrades i'd made over the previous years to finally committing to and starting the process of doing a bare metal respray, so to me, it was more akin to failure. The trouble was finding a decent enough block of time to get the job done. And as much as i hated the idea of a shop finishing it for me, i think in the end, having that path as an option was contributing to my lack of action.
Fastforward to March 2014 - As luck would have it, 2 of my 3 dogs suffered ruptured spinal disks... in the same month. The treatment (surgery for both) tapped any resources i'd thought might go to a pro paint job, leaving me where i'd started. So, i hatched a plan to block some time off that i would use to move the project forward. The first was over memorial day - a 4 day stretch that i used to get the car from my old garage to my new place, clean it up, finish the stripping and prep, and seal it up. I took another break on June 23rd to continue the body work and push to final painting with the hope of getting everything finished in time for the upcoming Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. 10 days in, and i've applied 3 coats of epoxy primer, patched a few minor dents, and am on the verge of laying down 2k primer tomorrow with base and clear to follow hopefully on sunday or monday.
First few pictures show the car on the way to our new place and the condition it was in prior to paint. I never did find any serious rust. There was probably more surface rust that formed during the brief period the car was in bare metal than had accumulated in the previous 38 years. the trunk was the only area that required and significant attention and that was all handled in a matter of about 20 minutes with the sander. Really a solid car...
The filler you see on the car was from the side marker delete i had my local shop perform. Its all since been sealed under epoxy with new filler applied on top of the primer to address a few minor dents and dings here and there.
Attachments
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
more
a few more just before and then after the epoxy went down. Cant tell you how good it felt to get the epoxy on the car. Great to know that the car is sealed now for the remainder of its life. i took extra care to get into all of the nooks and crannies. I'd hoped to do an undercarriage refresh as part of the respray but it will have to wait until after its done - not too big a deal as the underbody is pretty clean to begin with.
a few more just before and then after the epoxy went down. Cant tell you how good it felt to get the epoxy on the car. Great to know that the car is sealed now for the remainder of its life. i took extra care to get into all of the nooks and crannies. I'd hoped to do an undercarriage refresh as part of the respray but it will have to wait until after its done - not too big a deal as the underbody is pretty clean to begin with.
Attachments
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
as she sits today...
for those interested:
Paint:
Utech Epoxy Primer
Utech 2k Poly Primer
Utech poly base
Utech clear
Filler:
Upol Featherweight Gold
Gun:
Fuji HVLP T75s
System:
Fuji Minimite 4 - 4 stage turbine
+ a whole lot of sandpaper
for those interested:
Paint:
Utech Epoxy Primer
Utech 2k Poly Primer
Utech poly base
Utech clear
Filler:
Upol Featherweight Gold
Gun:
Fuji HVLP T75s
System:
Fuji Minimite 4 - 4 stage turbine
+ a whole lot of sandpaper
Attachments
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
progress
All in all, the entire process hasn't been too bad - outside of the 3 year delay. hardest thing to date was removing the old paint, a sandwhich of 3 separate paint layers - 1 original and 2 resprays with an iron oxide primer to cover up the factory work.
It is all prep work though... and cleaning. the actual time behind the gun is very brief - maybe 20 minutes per coat + flash time in between.
98% of my time has been spent sanding, both by hand as well as with the DA. I probably had to do a little more than necessary after the first coat of primer due to my inexperience with the gun (lots of orange peel and then runs as i tried to compensate). Its dialed in pretty well now though and my technique is getting better.
Tomorrow morning will be tacking, cleaning and laying down my final coat of epoxy to seal up the filler work. Then, its on to Poly primer , a bit of final sanding to get everything square and smooth, and then base and clear.
Fingers crossed...
All in all, the entire process hasn't been too bad - outside of the 3 year delay. hardest thing to date was removing the old paint, a sandwhich of 3 separate paint layers - 1 original and 2 resprays with an iron oxide primer to cover up the factory work.
It is all prep work though... and cleaning. the actual time behind the gun is very brief - maybe 20 minutes per coat + flash time in between.
98% of my time has been spent sanding, both by hand as well as with the DA. I probably had to do a little more than necessary after the first coat of primer due to my inexperience with the gun (lots of orange peel and then runs as i tried to compensate). Its dialed in pretty well now though and my technique is getting better.
Tomorrow morning will be tacking, cleaning and laying down my final coat of epoxy to seal up the filler work. Then, its on to Poly primer , a bit of final sanding to get everything square and smooth, and then base and clear.
Fingers crossed...
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
inspiration
I chose space grey metallic as the color back when i started and although i'll admit that over the last few months i've given some thought to going with some variation of blue that might match the original nachtblau theme - and thus reduce the amount of effort to complete the job, i'm sticking to my guns and the grey.
I'm drawing some inspiration from the M6 in the attached pictures. I have a few different mock-ups for the completed job and trim out. Its going to be interesting trying to find the appropriate balance between the classic look and feel of the car and the more aggressive tone i'm hoping to add... hopefully a sophisticated blend of 'blacked out' accents, chrome and grey.
I chose space grey metallic as the color back when i started and although i'll admit that over the last few months i've given some thought to going with some variation of blue that might match the original nachtblau theme - and thus reduce the amount of effort to complete the job, i'm sticking to my guns and the grey.
I'm drawing some inspiration from the M6 in the attached pictures. I have a few different mock-ups for the completed job and trim out. Its going to be interesting trying to find the appropriate balance between the classic look and feel of the car and the more aggressive tone i'm hoping to add... hopefully a sophisticated blend of 'blacked out' accents, chrome and grey.
Attachments
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
close...
put down a few coats of high build primer. went down pretty well. found a couple of areas that i want to touch up but otherwise, good to go. will sand, re-coat and do final sanding prior to base coat later this week.
very happy to have sealed the sunroof channels. Its great to be able to open the roof in the summer but also terrifying when you can see the rain clouds rolling in and know you wont make it home before it starts to pour. has anyone ever attempted treatment of the drain lines themselves. dont know exactly how you'd do it but it would give some comfort knowing that any water that made it in wasnt eating away the inside of the pillars ...
thought i might have read something about inserting tubing into the drains??
so close i can almost taste it.
put down a few coats of high build primer. went down pretty well. found a couple of areas that i want to touch up but otherwise, good to go. will sand, re-coat and do final sanding prior to base coat later this week.
very happy to have sealed the sunroof channels. Its great to be able to open the roof in the summer but also terrifying when you can see the rain clouds rolling in and know you wont make it home before it starts to pour. has anyone ever attempted treatment of the drain lines themselves. dont know exactly how you'd do it but it would give some comfort knowing that any water that made it in wasnt eating away the inside of the pillars ...
thought i might have read something about inserting tubing into the drains??
so close i can almost taste it.
Attachments
That is very impressive! I had such a hard time finding someone to prep and paint my car I considered doing it myself-but that would not have been a good idea! It would be great if you could let us know what equipment you used and how you manage to keep the dust away on your final coats etc. I have seen some posts from folks who have painted smaller parts of their cars but don't remember seeing a complete home-shop, start to finish and this will be a great piece of information for the really "brave"!
Thanks
Thanks
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
Just to update. Got the last of the difficult areas taped tonight (engine bay, doors, door jambs). Block sanded with 500 grit... smooth as a baby's bottom. Panels are all straight as an arrow as far as i can tell and everything is sealed up nice and tight under epoxy primer and 2k. All that's left is color. I'd planned on getting to this over the weekend but work and a surprise birthday party (my 41st) through a wrench into things. No worries though, I still have 4 days, and... Germany won the World cup!!! cant complain about that.
Anyhow, attached a few pictures of where things stood going into the weekend. have a ton more but will add them later when everything is done.
Ended up going with the 'E3' style Alpina chin spoiler. Not the custom fit the true e9 version provides but there's something about the more aggressive angle that i dont mind. AND i was able to come up with a mounting strategy that didnt involve drilling any new holes in the valance / fender. So, no harm, no foul. Also developed a contraption that ties the lower edge back to the subframe providing a bit more rigidity and the ability to 'dial in' the correct mounting angle via threaded rod and turnbuckle - all out of site, of course
Anyhow, attached a few pictures of where things stood going into the weekend. have a ton more but will add them later when everything is done.
Ended up going with the 'E3' style Alpina chin spoiler. Not the custom fit the true e9 version provides but there's something about the more aggressive angle that i dont mind. AND i was able to come up with a mounting strategy that didnt involve drilling any new holes in the valance / fender. So, no harm, no foul. Also developed a contraption that ties the lower edge back to the subframe providing a bit more rigidity and the ability to 'dial in' the correct mounting angle via threaded rod and turnbuckle - all out of site, of course
Attachments
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
I like the spoiler
looking good
looking good
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
The end is near
Wanted badly to be done this weekend in time for the PVGP but the weather didn't cooperate. The cool nights, though enjoyable, aren't conducive to painting in my garage...
But i did finally get to lay down final color today, and could be finished tomorrow if i push through. Not sure that i will though given i missed the deadline i'd given myself. Might be for the better in the end though since i managed to use all of my paint and wont be able to get more in the event of a mishap until monday evening.
I wish i could say all went smoothly but thanks to a few brain farts i almost screwed up the whole job. The biggest blunder came just before my last base coat. up to that point, everything had gone perfectly. First two coats looked great... flawless really. I'd decided to mix an extra bit of paint in my largest cup so that i could plow through the final coat and make one last complete pass with my drop coat. It was then that i wasnt paying attention - distracted by how well things were going - and mistakenly grabbed the Activator for my primer (not the base coat activator) and dumped it in the cup. Ouch. my last bit of paint... and the most important bit, ruined. Only positive was that i hadnt stirred the paint yet so the activator and base were still neatly separated. so, i grabbed a drill, punched a hole in the bottom of the cup and drained out what i could of the basecoat. Ended up being just enough to finish the job.
Two more mistakes occurred on the last pass. i got a kink in my line that resulted in a spout of paint being dumped on the rear panel just to the left of the trunk lock - managed to sand with 1200 grit and respray. the other happened when drop coating the hood. Contamination in the paint ended up resulting in a drop (more like a speck) of paint screwing up the finish on the right front. Sanded that as well but didnt get the best results as the contaminated drop didnt catalyze and so remained wet. realized this when imy first sanding pass pulled up a BB sized area of paint down to the first coat. Waited about an hour and sanded again but ended up having to feather and area about the size of a golf ball. Sprayed literally my last mist of paint covering it and fortunately got some pretty solid results. Will see how it looks in the morning. If the spot doesnt blend well, i may get more paint, sand the entire hood and repaint. Or, i might see what results a get after the clear goes down. Real bummer, but when i look at the rest of the car, the pain is dulled a bit... i'm pretty satisfied.
Ended up getting the car about 97% straight. there are still a few VERY slight depressions on the rear deck. Saw them when i was stripping the original paint but made the decision to leave them as they looked to be more a result of the attachment of the deck skin to the support structure during construction than anything else - there was no previous repair work done. I might regret it in the end but at the time i decided a few very subtle flaws were preferable to a trunk lid covered in bondo - even if that bondo was thin. There are also a few very slight rolls on the drivers side front quarter and some clumsy folds in the filler work that managed to poke through to the base.
But all in all, i'm satisfied. My intent from the beginning was not to create a concourse car but rather an extremely tight, unique and very well put together driver. If the car was perfect, i'd probably want to turn it into a garage queen and not enjoy it.
Clear coat to come.
- moment of silence for the 4 very small (but brave) gnats that had the misfortune of wandering into what turned out for them to be the wrong garage...
few pictures
Wanted badly to be done this weekend in time for the PVGP but the weather didn't cooperate. The cool nights, though enjoyable, aren't conducive to painting in my garage...
But i did finally get to lay down final color today, and could be finished tomorrow if i push through. Not sure that i will though given i missed the deadline i'd given myself. Might be for the better in the end though since i managed to use all of my paint and wont be able to get more in the event of a mishap until monday evening.
I wish i could say all went smoothly but thanks to a few brain farts i almost screwed up the whole job. The biggest blunder came just before my last base coat. up to that point, everything had gone perfectly. First two coats looked great... flawless really. I'd decided to mix an extra bit of paint in my largest cup so that i could plow through the final coat and make one last complete pass with my drop coat. It was then that i wasnt paying attention - distracted by how well things were going - and mistakenly grabbed the Activator for my primer (not the base coat activator) and dumped it in the cup. Ouch. my last bit of paint... and the most important bit, ruined. Only positive was that i hadnt stirred the paint yet so the activator and base were still neatly separated. so, i grabbed a drill, punched a hole in the bottom of the cup and drained out what i could of the basecoat. Ended up being just enough to finish the job.
Two more mistakes occurred on the last pass. i got a kink in my line that resulted in a spout of paint being dumped on the rear panel just to the left of the trunk lock - managed to sand with 1200 grit and respray. the other happened when drop coating the hood. Contamination in the paint ended up resulting in a drop (more like a speck) of paint screwing up the finish on the right front. Sanded that as well but didnt get the best results as the contaminated drop didnt catalyze and so remained wet. realized this when imy first sanding pass pulled up a BB sized area of paint down to the first coat. Waited about an hour and sanded again but ended up having to feather and area about the size of a golf ball. Sprayed literally my last mist of paint covering it and fortunately got some pretty solid results. Will see how it looks in the morning. If the spot doesnt blend well, i may get more paint, sand the entire hood and repaint. Or, i might see what results a get after the clear goes down. Real bummer, but when i look at the rest of the car, the pain is dulled a bit... i'm pretty satisfied.
Ended up getting the car about 97% straight. there are still a few VERY slight depressions on the rear deck. Saw them when i was stripping the original paint but made the decision to leave them as they looked to be more a result of the attachment of the deck skin to the support structure during construction than anything else - there was no previous repair work done. I might regret it in the end but at the time i decided a few very subtle flaws were preferable to a trunk lid covered in bondo - even if that bondo was thin. There are also a few very slight rolls on the drivers side front quarter and some clumsy folds in the filler work that managed to poke through to the base.
But all in all, i'm satisfied. My intent from the beginning was not to create a concourse car but rather an extremely tight, unique and very well put together driver. If the car was perfect, i'd probably want to turn it into a garage queen and not enjoy it.
Clear coat to come.
- moment of silence for the 4 very small (but brave) gnats that had the misfortune of wandering into what turned out for them to be the wrong garage...
few pictures
Attachments
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
and in the light of day.
20140720_140940090_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_140947972_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_140955648_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141004055_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141008070_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141019493_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141037821_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141047894_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141100849_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141111464_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141118100_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_140940090_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_140947972_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_140955648_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141004055_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141008070_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141019493_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141037821_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141047894_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141100849_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141111464_iOS by J_Otte, on Flickr
20140720_141118100_iOS by J_Otte, on FlickrTierfreund
Well-Known Member
Magnificent!. Great colour choice (I hope this is the final shade apart from clearcoat) and a very impressive result for a garage paint job.
Inspiring!
Inspiring!
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
Many thanks! And yes, it will be the final color. Cleaning the gun now and prepping to spray. Will be blacking out select trim later today and hopefully doing the headliner tonight. Blacked trim will include exterior door and rear qtr trim, gutter trim and 2800 rear bumper. I've also sprayed the side view mirror stems black... i think its my favorite part to date. looks as though it could have (and should have) been a factory option.
Fingers crossed that i can keep the dust at bay and bugs out for the next few hours!
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
Peter -
Will certainly document everything when i'm done and share with everyone. The system itself is very simple. Its a 4 stage turbine by Fuji - the minimite. Very compact but a bit on the loud side - like an old kirby vacuum from back in the day. not too bad but might piss your neighbors off if you decide to paint late into the evenings. the system came packaged with the gun (Fuji T75G) and all hoses, filters, etc. I ended up buying a second gun so that i could shoot primer separately.
As far as painting in the garage goes. I just did everything i could - to the point of paranoia - to keep dirt levels down. i wrapped the bay in plastic, swept and mopped the floors, sprayed the lower 1/3 of the plastic wall covering in low tack spray adhesive so that dust would stick to it - did the same for floors and my sleeves just before i sprayed. All of this in an effort to keep dirt to a minimum.
I also covered the opening to the garage with a section of screen - picked it up in a roll from home depot - so that i could paint with max ventilation and still keep the bugs at bay. Also avoided painting too late in the evening to cut down on the bugs. this was probably the most important part as the bugs were drawn into the space as soon as dusk hit.
Was also sure to do all bodywork outside in the drive, well away from the garage. Another important part.
All of that and ever constant vacuuming, wiping, vacuuming, wiping between every step.
is it perfect? no. but i'm pretty sure its better than the $6000 - $7000 job that i would have gotten. if not in finish, then certainly in terms of completeness, from base work - stripped to bare metal, then epoxy (2 coats), filler, then epoxy sealer, primer, and 3 coats of base + 3 coats of clear, to all of the custom painted bits - spoiler, trim, bumper, etc. I'm sure it would have cost closer to $12000 for an A+ job from a good shop. And i'd say i have a solid A-, B+ job and piece of mind that the car is going to continue to be rust free for many years to come, for around $4000 and that includes respirator, paint, tack cloth, rags, towels, and paper, sanding blocks... everything. in terms of hours spent, i've lost count but would probably estimate a solid 8 weeks of time if only working in the evenings and 4-6 hours on average on saturdays and sundays.
At the end of the day, for me its more about the prep work that went into the car. All the stripping and sealing.. the eradication of any sign of rust, shoring up the sunroof area... those things are what i'm most pleased with. if the clearcoat has blemishes, i can fix that. if there are a few inconsistencies here and there, i can live with it for now. if i want, i can sand it all back down to the base and just spray it again, and again, and again until i get it 100%. The important thing is that the car is now as protected as it can be - well it will be after i redo the undercarriage.
cant wait to get it back together again!
e30strube
Well-Known Member
Nicely done. Looks great even now.
Great job ... looking forward to pics when it's done.
Space grey and Frozen grey are essentially the same color, which is why it looks awesome without the clear! I was contemplating changing the color of mine and this color was definitely one of interest. Couldn't find any examples though.
It is tough keeping dirt out of the clear without a proper booth. Some tips in case you don't already know: wet the floor and all the surroundings and spray when it isn't windy outside. Use a tack cloth on the base coat before spraying the clear. If possible, ground the vehicle with a cable to minimize static attraction. If you have enough clean plastic sheeting and there isn't too much draft, make a booth around the vehicle right before you spray to keep dust to a minimum. Try not to aim the gun at the ground or too much at the areas you tape off to avoid kicking up dust.
Space grey and Frozen grey are essentially the same color, which is why it looks awesome without the clear! I was contemplating changing the color of mine and this color was definitely one of interest. Couldn't find any examples though.
It is tough keeping dirt out of the clear without a proper booth. Some tips in case you don't already know: wet the floor and all the surroundings and spray when it isn't windy outside. Use a tack cloth on the base coat before spraying the clear. If possible, ground the vehicle with a cable to minimize static attraction. If you have enough clean plastic sheeting and there isn't too much draft, make a booth around the vehicle right before you spray to keep dust to a minimum. Try not to aim the gun at the ground or too much at the areas you tape off to avoid kicking up dust.
bimmerboy73
Well-Known Member
lawdog-
Thanks for the advice, although i heard mixed feedback on wetting the floor down because it might cause fisheyes if the humidity got too high?? - didnt want to take a chance so i did what i thought to be the next best thing which was lay down a thin coat of spray adhesive and let it set for about 30 minutes before rolling teh car in. Dont have a booth but i did clad all the walls to cut down on dust.
Gave long thought to doing frozen grey, especially after the base was done. Problem is that that finish is still cleared i believe, just in a semi-satin finish. In the end i wasnt comfortable with laying a final coat like that down so i kept to the space grey plan.
Update - car is cleared, sans hood and trunk. Went ok. had a few really bad runs early on due to a mishap with one of the low florescent lights i have around the car. Made sure to lay down the clear nice and heavy around them so that its easy to sand and level when i wet sand. All in all, i think its going to come out really well. Will start sanding later tonight to address the runs and smooth everything out. Might wait until tomorrow to clear the hood and trunk.
Thanks for the advice, although i heard mixed feedback on wetting the floor down because it might cause fisheyes if the humidity got too high?? - didnt want to take a chance so i did what i thought to be the next best thing which was lay down a thin coat of spray adhesive and let it set for about 30 minutes before rolling teh car in. Dont have a booth but i did clad all the walls to cut down on dust.
Gave long thought to doing frozen grey, especially after the base was done. Problem is that that finish is still cleared i believe, just in a semi-satin finish. In the end i wasnt comfortable with laying a final coat like that down so i kept to the space grey plan.
Update - car is cleared, sans hood and trunk. Went ok. had a few really bad runs early on due to a mishap with one of the low florescent lights i have around the car. Made sure to lay down the clear nice and heavy around them so that its easy to sand and level when i wet sand. All in all, i think its going to come out really well. Will start sanding later tonight to address the runs and smooth everything out. Might wait until tomorrow to clear the hood and trunk.