Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[dvallis]

More Body Shop

Time to get down to business. Ended up with a gallon can of this stuff ... Everglass short strand fiberglass / kevar body filler. Very similar to 3M MarGlass. Got it from an auto body repair wholesale supply shop. It's very strong and can take some flexing. This will be the base layer.



Here's the proportion of hardener to filler. Once mixed you only have 5 minuets to work it. That's the downside from regular bondo.



Work in progress. Don't try and work MarGlass when it starts to harden or you get the crocodile skin look.



Front fender done. I got the hang of it at the end, towards the front. It's smoother. :devil: Nothing a sanding block and some more regular filler can't take care of.



Here's the rear with fuel filler delete. Fuel cell will have a trunk deck filler.

[dvallis]

More Das Beast Body Shop

Sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding ..............

Front is looking better. Still needs a filler slick coat and more sanding to get rid of pinholes and voids.


Liking the rear. Will never tell there was a filler plate.


Other side done.


......... 4 hour upper body workout. Damn I am sore! :devil:

[dvallis]

More Body Shop

Next step is a slick coat of regular bondo. It's not as strong as bondo glass, but is doesn't have to be. This coat just fills in surface holes. Bono gets a bad rap because people use the wrong type for a job. For instance, use if I used this slick coat as the flare structural base I'd be asking for trouble. It would soon crack and fall off if you built it up to any thickness.

So, here's the slick coat before sanding.


After sanding. NOW we're getting somewhere. Looking and feeling very smooth. This is with 80 grit sandpaper.


Next coat will be bondo glazing putty. Fills in even smaller holes. Then sanding with 180 grit. Then wet sanding with 220 grit.

Man. Body work is totally OCD. :devil:

[2mAn]

Loving the progress! Love the wheel choice, hopefully they arent too heavy

[Digitalwave]

Don't you think you should have done the body work with the trim removed, so it's removable in the future?

[dvallis]

The flares are mode to overlap the trim. I could have cut the trim and made it removable, but I'd have to engineer a new clip system. Not worth the time. And I like the blended look. Center trim is still removable.

[dvallis]

Loving the progress! Love the wheel choice, hopefully they arent too heavy

Wheels are 20 lbs. Not feather light, but I'll take it for $100. Getting rims 4 lbs lighter costs $1500 more. Not a great ROI.

[dvallis]

Das Beast Arctic Body Shop

So it's 45F degrees in Texas. Obi Wan (Rob) used to own a business that had an in house paint shop. He educated me on the horrors of painting in cold weather. It doesn't work. Paint doesn't operate at that temperature. So ... we had to engineer the hell out of it.

Finished the glazing putty coat before Arctic Freeze set in.

Before:


After. Now it's getting smooth.


First step: Build a rig with infrared heaters to warm up each fender to ~100F. Once it's there for about 15 minutes, remove the heaters, let cool to 80F then start shooting with paint. Notice the gun and cup warming up as well. It was COLD.


Here's the paint shop setup. 4:1 primer / reducer, shooting with a cup gun.


And the end result. Primer really brings out any imperfections. A few spots need rework. After that's done, back to block sanding the primer with 320 grit, do a reveal coat, then block sand some more with 400 grit.


Rear quarter. Filler door is gone. :devil:


Overall it's going pretty good.

[2mAn]

Cant wait to see it with Alpine White paint and the wheels.... or are you painting it a different color?

[dvallis]

Sticking with alpine white and Warsteiner livery.

[2mAn]

That's my work computer wallpaper

[JJ1]

Great work! You should consider picking up the rear subframe with your cage. It's a known failure point for pretty much every 3 series. And also consider reinforcing the shock towers. They can mushroom. Eager to see the end result!

[dvallis]

Use The Tools Luke

This bad boy is going to save me 1000 hours sanding the rest of the car. 5" random orbital sander. Could not use it on the fender flares with all their compound curves. However, it's perfect for taking clear coat off the rest of the car.



6 hours later the whole car was done. Still have some minor things to address with MarGlass, bondo or glazing putty but the major sanding is finished. Time for some final body fabrication. And engine bay is also work in progress.

[haaken675]

What kind (thickness) metal did you use for the roof panel? I have a fiberglass delete panel that I was planning to install, but I think I like what you did better as it will be much more flush inside.

[dvallis]

I used 20 gauge sheet steel. Light enough to work compound curves. Stiff enough to hold its shape.