The 5 Year Restoration - E30 M3 Reborn

[CurrusDei]

JH, the clips unfortunately don't have a part number on them, but here are some pics that might help you find them...







Doing some more cleanup on various parts. It's amazing how someone would paint a car without removing some of the simplest stuff...fortunately overspray comes off easily with some citrus degreaser and nylon brush.




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[CurrusDei]

jhaurmin, I'll go check the part tonight.

In the meantime, I'm almost more excited about these paint pics than the body...










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[jhaurimn]

Read through more of this thread today, noticed another body bracket piece I was missing. This thread is saving my ass, while at the same time making me realize how molested my car was compared to yours. :p

[jhaurimn]

Doing some work on my m3, and Im using this thread for reference. Made me realize I was missing the plastic pieces that goes to the left of the radiator. Thanks for taking the time to document everything so well ! :D

edit: do you happen to know the part number of the clamp holding the coolant hose/pipe?

[CurrusDei]

A few. Several audiobooks worth :)


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[jhaurimn]

Im guessing you spent a few hours on that harness overall ;)

[CurrusDei]

Milestone reached last night.

This:



Is now this:






More details to come. Still refinishing some of the connections, but ALL old tape is off, ALL wires were cleaned and degreased, ALL new tape is on (OEM TESA tape). No more sticky, gooey wires. Which, incidentally, were causing a musty smell. The melted adhesive and dry rotted/dusty tape smelled exactly like the musty smell I remember.

Got a few extra connectors to play with



Redoing a brake sensor wire.

The new part ( 61121367674 ) came with an extra ground wire coming out of both ends. To keep the insulation jacket tight i snipped off the ground wire closely on both ends and put a good quality shrink wrap on to keep it watertight.







Then i cut off the old lead to the brake wear sensor. Its very close to the fuse box, you can see in later pictures. This was the point of no return



On my harness, the wire colors matched up perfectly, but i kept track of which was ground and which was power just to be sure



I cut off the old crimps, and disassembled some heat shrink crimps to make new ones.



Wires stripped and re-crimped



And cut in half, just to seal the end



Both ends recrimped



And shrink wrapped. I then heated up my needle nose pliers and crimped the end of the heat shrink tubing to seal it, and cut off the excess (not shown here)



Then the whole crimped section gets bundled back into the main harness line, just as it came out, and the whole line gets wrapped, leaving only the new brake wear lead coming out. Good as new.






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[CurrusDei]

I don't even know what to say. Spent hours on here looking at every page. You sir are inspirational.

Thanks. :up:

I'm surprised they didn't do undercoat, bay and trunk first.

I thought the same thing. I'm sure they have their reasons. When they do the remaining parts they tape off/cover the entire rest of the car so there wont be any overspray.

This i guess makes sense for the underside since the undercoating is thicker - easier to control so no red overspray on the black undercoat. For the engine bay and trunk i know they go back and make sure the engine bay flows into the fenders and cowl flawlessly so there isn't a cutoff line.

[jhaurimn]

I'm surprised they didn't do undercoat, bay and trunk first.

[E30_Lue]

I don't even know what to say. Spent hours on here looking at every page. You sir are inspirational.

[SteveJ]

I refinished some of the black trim on my e21 320is- door handles, mirrors, license plate lights, etc...

Scuffed down with 400/600, then coated with Smart Grey Etching Primer and Trim Black. Results were good and seem to be holding up after a couple of years outside (no garage time for the 320).

I used to use SEM products, which I like. My supply place has been switching over to Smart products. Supposedly easier to deal with the California air requirements.

The only trim that concerns me is the drip rail. It has to be durable yet flexible to withstand the crimping/installation.

[CurrusDei]

Two Years In... M3 Build Thread...Now in Paint!

Paid a visit to Magnum. The engine bay, trunk, and undercoating remain to be done. But man...the difference here is staggering. It literally looks new.

And the best part is - this hasn't even been polished yet!
















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[CurrusDei]

Planning to repaint them, potentially myself. Also planning to refurbish the existing leather - potentially next month.

I'm hopefully picking up my 335 from Magnum this evening (had the front bumper resprayed) and will try to snap some pics of the Chariot.


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[SteveJ]

Not to get too far ahead on the build, but what are your plans for all the black metal and black plastic trim bits - re-use, refurbish, or replace?

Curious, because some of the shadowline trim around the door/window is NLA. Not sure what I plan to do yet. All the parts need to match...except for the rear window trim which is gloss finish.

[SteveJ]

At that point prices will hit ludicrious speed....

He's gone PLAID!