My E30 project.

[EWAustin]

The key to getting the filler perfectly flush is lots of sanding using a block like this


Painting is a little trickier, you paint the first coat going over the part that needs to be painted, then you reduce the paint 1:1 again and paint a larger area, then reduce it again 1:1 and paint a larger area etc etc etc until you can't see the fade.
Then you gotta clear coat it.

[mops]

that is trully insigfull.

that sanding block... does it have rubber underside, or firm (like a block of wood) ? should you apply alot of pressure or rater many strokes with less pressure ? circular motion or back and forth ?

I tried to fill up hole after arieal, but it came out very bad... both paint and filler...

paint wise, before painting "intermediate" area should you sand it with something like 400 girt or just clean thoroughly and it is ready to paint ?

[EWAustin]

The block is solid rubber. Firm rubber, but not hard like metal. I use a combination of back and forth and circular motion. Just keep sanding until when you close your eyes and run your the flat of your hand (palm and fingers) over it you can't feel the change between the paint and where the filler is. If it gets too low, let it dry, clean the area. put more filler on and do it again.

The hole from the antenna should be welded shut before you put filler over it, otherwise it'll crack and fall out very quickly. Filler isn't very strong, and should be used as little as possible.

Intermediate area should be wet-sanded with 400 grit,

[trent]

look for DURA-BLOCKS

that is the best invention in the world for sanding

[EWAustin]

DURA-BLOCKS look nice, I've never tried one though.
Personally I like 3M's sanding block; cheap, effective, and teaches you the value of a good DA

[EWAustin]

It's late, I'll write more about these pics later, but here ya go:

Door off


Door on


New Trunk lid


OEM lip spoiler mounted, tomorrow it comes back off for more sanding. Yes, I know that it looks funny without the bumper there.

[EWAustin]

finally more to see:







Tuesday... Paint

[xLibelle]

little bit of a drip there. anything special going under the hood?

[EWAustin]

Lotof a drip, turns out the quickie-lube place I took it to stripped the drain plug. They'll be paying for a new drain pan shortly.
Under the hood is anti-special for now (230k mile M20b25), but it'll probably be sold before I get to that :-(

[EWAustin]

Spraying the rubberized undercoating on the rocker panels:

All done:


Wait a minute, where did my car go?


Oh here it is, about to go into the paint booth!

[etajohn]

Whaaaa!!!!! The suspence! Looking good so far!

[EWAustin]

So Close!!!
Sprayed the last coat of primer today. This one doesn't get sanded.
Tomorrow morning I mix the paint, dust the car, and spray the car.










As usual, the rest of my pics can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ewausti...7594503771710/

[Rennsport]

im sooo jealous of your skills, my car needs a good bit of body work and a whole bunch of paint, but painting is much to tedious for me, guess ill just keep saving my pennies (little copper coins you pervs, not my penis)

[Jean]

That's a lot of patience man! Thumbs up!

[EWAustin]

Whoa, the fumes :p

Spraying:



Take that! Evil white hood!


Also, it gets hot in the booth. 90+ degrees from start to finish:

Tomorrow I spray the clear coat, then reassemble it next week.


Many Thanks to my good friend Sam for taking time out of his day to photograph mine.