Patricia A. Mayer's 3.0 CS / Paul Cain's Fjord project / The 300 mile Test Drive / VIII / Final Punch List

[paul cain]

Today I started Phase VII -the final punch list.
-installed the replacement A/C fan switch (thank you Chris! It works great)
-spare tire refinishing, including deliberate sloppy overspray on the inner black center
-spare tire install
-Removed clock for rebuild, shipped to North Hollywood (note stunning images of the under dash and back of the clock, this car still amazes me!)
-repaired lower dash panel delamination(s)
-fuse replacements
-media blasted and refinished original wiper arms with W&N wiper inserts
-made a wire harness for the Butler lamp
-Installed butler lamp over the existing hole in the dash occupied by the P-R-N-D-L lamp assembly. (The only place I could mount the base) Mike Pelly's idea BTW

 

[coupedegrace]

-spare tire refinishing, including deliberate sloppy overspray on the inner black center

I really appreciate your eye for detail and accuracy on this, but I wonder if being deliberately sloppy didn't sting a bit? If it did, I'm sure there are plenty of us here who are happy to help you out if you have any further needs for shoddy craftsmanship. I myself can vouch for being accidentally sloppy on a consistent basis.

 

[Ohmess]

Cool install on the butler light. First time I've seen that.

 

[paul cain]

Cool install on the butler light. First time I've seen that.

Pelly gets all the credit for this entire butler light idea. It's an ugly hole, and this covers it perfectly with an OEM part.

 

[adawil2002]

It's important that the butler light base Phillip heads match each other, preferably + over x...difficult to tell from the installed photo.

 

[Erik]

- Hate to be critical, but you may not have achieved enough over spray on the wheels. - Based on your examples of your originals and a look at the set I have. It is, admittedly, very hard to be sure if this treatment was original as it is so very poor. Here's a shot of one of the set that I have for reference.

Mine may have been poorly refinished to match the original poor finish, - the the lug holes are silver and not black.

 

[bavbob]

This car also comes with a butler!

 

[paul cain]

Some light repair work on the original Patricia Mayer tool tray. Then off to my local paint supplier for some custom color matched vinyl paint. See image IMG_2699 for the exact color match to the original molded plastic. IMG_2739 shows the top upper screws installed. But we all know what a crack fest that would be. These are paux screw heads that have been cut off on the back side and glued in. Otherwise they would crack at the first bump in the road. Tools in this tray are installed only for photography purposes. Still missing the Euro only headlamp bulb and Chris Macha is going to mention that the second to the right open ended wrench is the incorrect size.

 

[HB Chris]

Paul, About that wrench…….

Jim at Mesa has the H1 bulbs also any auto parts store I think.

 

[OCCoupe]

Paul, About that wrench…….

Jim at Mesa has the H1 bulbs also any auto parts store I think.

I have them in stock too.

 

[paul cain]

I am tempted to buy from you@OCCoupe, but if I buy from Jim at Mesa, I get to walk around the aisles and see so many other treasures that I need!

 

[OCCoupe]

You must be in to cats.

 

[jefflit]

And cribbage

 

[HB Chris]

About two months ago Shawn and I ran into Jim and his cribbage crew at California Pizza Kitchen here in HB where they gather every Thursday night and take over an entire corner of the restaurant. I had to laugh!

 

[paul cain]

Well, Patricia's Coupe is officially broken in. Yesterday I drove from my home to La Quinta Resort to join the last few days of BMW CCA's Oktoberfest. I brought my clip board to write down items needed to be fixed. On the way out there, I got off light - on six items and all of them minor. By the time I returned home after about 300 miles this punch list had grown to 14 items. All easy stuff. This drive was the acid test, long pulls uphill with 100°F temperatures with the A/C on at 80 mph. Rock steady temp gauge at 9 o'clock. No leaks, really no issues. The entire trip was a driving pleasure with no issues. And what a pleasure it is to be in 5th gear at 3,600 rpm.

Last night was supposed to be the National Concour event at the golf course. Concour registrations were too light, so they just turned it into a car show, complete with only one award for People's Choice. BMW CCA does an exemplary job of site selection for their National Events and this year was no different - The Pete Dye Mountain Course at La Quinta. Fellow E9'er MIke Wobber was there and it was great to meet him in person. Carl Nelson's Ceylon Gold 3.5 CS was also there, allegedly for sale, but I received no details. This was a fully catered event in an epic location. Evening temperatures were ideal and it was great to meet new enthusiasts from all over the country.

I put a short summary of Patricia's story on the pass. side door glass. (attached). It definitely pulls a crowd. I think it's the Fjord blue paint myself. Either way, lots of people voted with their pen and Patricia's car took home the hardware. In my brief acceptance / acknowledgement I highlighted that this is still Patricia's coupe and if not for her loving care over these 47 this car would not be here, in this condition.

This morning I attended the morning driving session at the BMW Performance Center at the Thermal Track. Unless you have been on a desert island The Thermal Club is the ultimate in private race tracks. See: https://www.thermal.cc/ BMW N.A. leases one corner and has there own track and facility. It's really fun to push brand new M3's and M5's really hard, particularly on someone else's tires. After the track time Jon Van Woerden (BMW CCA Official Photographer) wanted to get some pictures of the car at the track. Curious were this will lead. All in all, an extremely gratifying 24 hours!

 

[vince]

It's beautiful Paul!

 

[nosmonkey]

Exemplary work as always!

 

[Bejoe16]

Unbelievable work. Been following this from the beginning. I can only hope to be at this level of detail. Thanks for sharing!

 

[adawil2002]

Congratulations on the Peoples Choice, well done Paul!

 

[Oldbmwcoupes]

Really a labor of love, time, money, knowledge, and most of all passion. I hope to retire some day with all of these factors in abundance. For now I’ll have to make due with being poorer in all these categories. It’s been a real treat to see what you’ve done and how far you’ve brought such a wonderful survivor of a car. The award is more than well deserved. So how will you be coping with a finished product? What’s next?