The 5 Year Restoration - E30 M3 Reborn

[CurrusDei]

Got some goodies in the mail...

New rear trunk trim (near tail lights). New seems to be slightly different than old. Think I'm going to return it. The old one has overspray on it. How badly do you have to paint a car to get overspray on the interior trunk carpet?



New firewall trim



New battery tray. The old one is fine, just scratched up. What do you guys do for battery tie downs?




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[CurrusDei]

Yeh, it's only a couple miles, and they said only a few days.


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[jhaurimn]

Sucks its gotta go back but at least you caught it.

[CurrusDei]

Trunk latch in, temporarily, for trip to body shop.












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[CurrusDei]

Here's the rust hole in better focus







It's not large, and wasn't even a hole until I started drilling out what I thought was surface rust that actually permeated the metal in layers. Glad I hunted it down. Shop says it's an easy fix, but it's holding up the works until I get it back.

Also took the interior to an auto upholstery shop for a redo quote. The original leather was just not going to be able to be fixed to my satisfaction. Maybe it's due to a shortage of skill on my part, but even if I got the hide sorted a lot would need to be restitched; and I wouldn't put a lot of faith on some of those pieces of old leather holding tension from new thread for long.

Awaiting my quote...







This is the one that gave me my realization...




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[CurrusDei]

2.5 Years In... M3 Build Thread...PAINT COMPLETE!

Thanks! Here are some after pictures of the painted parts









...and then, *record scratch followed by silence effect* roadblock. I had finished the touch up paint on the surface rust I mentioned earlier, sanded it all down to shiny metal, primed and painted.

I was nearly done when I revisited a little rust bubble on the floor (front passenger side floor board). It was so small I was tempted to ignore it, but that's not what this resto is about. So I started with sand paper, planning to get it to metal then prime and paint, but it kept going deeper, got the dremmel and a tiny bit and worked at it like with a dentist drilling and a cavity. I followed it to where I thought I had gotten it all and then was probing with a metal pick to see if the metal was strong. The pick slipped through.

I'm glad I investigated. This should be an easy fix because looking at it from the bottom, I can see rust stains on the bottom of the undercoating around an area the size of a quarter or half dollar. That's a limited area that should be able to be cut out and refabbed easily, retaining the original floor panels. Just goes to show, don't ignore any evidence of rust. Even tiny bubbles on the surface can hide a developing issue underneath.



That's a bad pic. I'll get a better one soon. Probably going to have to go back to the shop to have this dealt with. Stay tuned.


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[greyis89]

Coming back together. Enjoying the updates. Looking great!

[CurrusDei]

2.5 Years In... M3 Build Thread...PAINT COMPLETE!

Trunk bump stops in. The driver side is original e30, passenger side is the same part number but the modern version. The e30 is flat (either by design or from decades of use) and the modern one is rounded with a longer bolt. Had to cut it down to fit. May find an e30 one later...





Now for painting.







The trunk lock came out well. A few flecks of dust show in the picture but those are on top of, not in, the paint. The finish is great.







Prepping bumper brackets. One on the left has been painted in the front already




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[0-60Motorsports]

Awesome work. Looking good

[M3pare]

Wow. Just read through the whole thread and I am speechless! Awesome work! I'll definitely be using this as a guide when the time comes to respray my M3.

[CurrusDei]

2.5 Years In... M3 Build Thread...PAINT COMPLETE!

Looks like the worlds biggest adhesive gun



Adhesive on



Some help from the wife and it went up easily. Cured overnight and is on solid. The red looking spot on the drivers side near the sunroof is leftover from old adhesive, not overspray.







I was able to reach the remaining rust spots with my Dremel using some different attachments



And got this guy nice and shiny



Primer time











Also cured overnight. Going to hit it with touch up paint and clear this weekend


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[CurrusDei]

2.5 Years In... M3 Build Thread...PAINT COMPLETE!

Getting bored, class?



There's a hold up on the wiring - need a detail guy to come take a look at where the CSL coating hazed up a bit in the engine bay. May have him do a full CS treatment on it before stuff goes back in there - like the fuse box, which will let me do the wiring.



In the meantime I've been doing a few more small pieces and getting all the trim ready for paint...

Sanding







Lock is out and disassembled. That O-Ring (actually an L-Seal) was tired. Looking for a replacement since BMW only sells it in an expensive lock rebuild kit.





Brake line gaskets back in



And sealed up. To be repainted black soon.



Mount for filler lock back in. Lock pin needs to be repainted before reinstalling it.



This guy cleaned up nicely.





Cleaned up some bumper brackets (yet more overspray from the PO)



One mounted, missing a fastener for the other



Prepping foam headliner to go back in. Fixed this small tear from storage with contact cement. Hoping to reinstall tonight





There are also some small blemishes with surface rust spots I found inside. Sanding those down, then will prime and paint over













Off to get a pen sander to reach that crease.

[jhaurimn]

[CurrusDei]

2.5 Years In... M3 Build Thread...PAINT COMPLETE!

I'm planning to get the engine bay coated, so I needed to get the decals back on first.

This is a satisfying before/after





That said, the color tag here is not close enough, needs to be metallic backed. Will be sourcing a replacement.



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[CurrusDei]

Trunk deck lid is back!






VIN stickers going back on








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