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

These pictures could have been ones I would have taken in 1973 during a tour of the BMW assembly plant - IF they had allowed me to take a camera!!! - Ha. Great work as always Paul.

Gary
 
Gary,
Thanks for your kind words. That is exactly what I was after, 49 years later! i.e. ?what did that rear suspension look like as soon as the car came off the production line -not at the dealer weeks later -when it would be filthy sitting on their showroom floor. ;). I tried to replicate each of the finishes and color (torque) markings as observed on Patricia Mayer's coupe.

That beautiful rear muffler is the one you sold be a few months back, installed after a little prep and finishing work.
 
All the final assembly hardware has arrived. The rear suspension / exhaust / floor pans are all Phase II.
Phase II is finished.
Here are some finished photos before the first drive.
I use a Raptor it is vey tough and it is tintable I mixed a little bit of my my car paint that is Malaga color and it came up very nice it is same as my car color but I end up paying about $500 it is little price they use the RAPTOR for bed liner and it is holding up very good but don't forget to buy a clear that you can add your own color it comes black-gray and clear that is kind of white and you can add your own color
 
@bluecoupe30! Thanks for your commentary and encouragement.

Like my continual pursuit to improve my restoration / preservation skills, I am similarly trying -at a much more novice level- to improve my automotive photography skills.
I am currently experimenting in the above images with both an iphone12 and a Canon G5x. All the bluish hue images are off the Canon. So far the iphone yields better results and is more effortless. Thanks for noticing.
 
@bluecoupe30! Thanks for your commentary and encouragement.

Like my continual pursuit to improve my restoration / preservation skills, I am similarly trying -at a much more novice level- to improve my automotive photography skills.
I am currently experimenting in the above images with both an iphone12 and a Canon G5x. All the bluish hue images are off the Canon. So far the iphone yields better results and is more effortless. Thanks for noticing.
Beautiful workmanship !
 
All the final assembly hardware has arrived. The rear suspension / exhaust / floor pans are all Phase II.
Phase II is finished.
Here are some finished photos before the first drive.
Hi Paul, Love the attention to detail.

What product do you like to use for the gray exhaust finish? I'd like to preserve my factory exhaust and give it a blast/refinish treatment this year. Luis
 
Monday begins Day 1 of Phase III. And Phase III is a game -to maintain a very high standard of workmanship, encompass a very large scope of work and to seriously compress all of it into three weeks with a hard deadline of April 4th. Watch this space.

See attached schedule.
 

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Why April 4th?
Short Answer:
It was a combination of two things:
1-having all the parts and sub-assemblies done and 'on the shelf'
2-availability of a professional workspace

Long(er) Answer:

I am extremely fortunate to have Rey Rivera as a friend and an intensely focused Vintage BMW collaborator. For those of you who have not seen his 'shop' Shop is a massive understatement. Go to:

For the next three weeks I am renting this corner at Reyn's Speed Shop. There is no better space to do the work we are about to undertake, than this corner of Reyn's facility. All the mechanical work on the hoist, then roll it back 15 ft and we have an instant 'spray booth'. Then roll it back for assembly. Sounds easy, huh? ;)

I am exceedingly fortunate that I can do my own work here and then pull in Reyn resources to help with key areas to keep the timing on schedule. This shop is exceedingly powerful in ways the images can't convey. Its the knowledge base and resources that are a phone call or a heckle away. We know we going to run into issues and roadblocks, and it's this 'game' in this problem solving that is so gratifying. It's Rey's openness and sharing, and my desire to up our mutual game on workmanship and sharing whatever we learn.


It is going to be an exhausting and hopefully gratifying three week journey.

It does not get any better.

Monday is 1 of 21. Three weeks ends on April 4th.
 

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Unless Paul tackles another restoration at this level, we will never see this a finished project like this again. Much better of course than, "Off the Showroom Floor" by far.
 
Day one was very productive.
Started at 7:30 am
Image one: -the motor and auto trans dropped at ~10:30am
Image two, slowed us down. We did a quick re-installation, this time with the Getrag 265 attached to the engine (see image 6). This was to finalize what the new guibo depth was, holding up the original (auto drive shaft). This got us the exact dimension we needed for the lengthening this driveshaft - an item that is the longest leadtime for this project. It goes out in the morning for lengthening and a full rebuild and balancing.
Image three was the really big surprise for day one. All the ancillary motor items were cleaned, sorted and boxed. All three boxed batches go out to different suppliers in the morning. This was really the big win of the day.
Image 5 was taken at 6pm tonight with the motor fully stripped down, tools away and ready for cleaning.
It all went smoothly. We had three really reluctant bolts but PB Blaster and some very focused heat, they all came out with no issues.
All in all, immensely gratifying.
 

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Monday begins Day 1 of Phase III. And Phase III is a game -to maintain a very high standard of workmanship, encompass a very large scope of work and to seriously compress all of it into three weeks with a hard deadline of April 4th. Watch this space.

See attached schedule.
Impressive--Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project??? You'd make a good construction scheduler. ;)
 
Deliberately avoided MS Project from prior career flashbacks. This was just for play in MS Powerpoint.

Another productive day. Introducting Dawson Graf -one of the mechanics at Reyn Speed shop. A pleasure to work with and he has a total 'can do' attitude. He's been absolutely key in making all this progress.
 

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