The 5 Year Restoration - E30 M3 Reborn

[CurrusDei]

Thanks. Yep. Replacing all hoses.


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[CurrusDei]

To the body shop!

This was the biggest milestone so far. I'll let the pics do the talking for the most part.

Accessories loaded up




Car going on the jig my shop built for me









Wasnt going to fit on this little trailer. Call the flatbed!

[bradnic]

Atlanta! went to school there.
will you be dipping the shell? doesn't seem to need it.

[CurrusDei]

Atlanta! went to school there.
will you be dipping the shell? doesn't seem to need it.

No need to dip. They're sanding down to get the surface perfect and have a good surface to adhere to. Not to bare metal because they say the electrostatic primer from the factory is better surface for adhesion than an aftermarket primer. This wasn't the case with older cars but this car is new enough that the primer bond is great.

I'm sure I'm grossly oversimplifying this, but they're the experts so I'm trusting their expertise - and lifetime guarantee on the paint.

The shop is Magnum Collision in Marietta. They've done work for me several times in the past, including on my 335 and they are a stunningly good shop. I stopped by on Friday and this was their parking lot... and this is normal.

[bradnic]

What a luxury to have a rust free shell..
Judging from that pic, it's clearly the right place for a grounds up paint job :-)

can't wait for progress pics!!

[CurrusDei]

They have some crazy stuff in there. The tech (one tech, one restoration) that is working on my car is also doing a 60s mustang coupe to fastback conversion. Check out this video from Caffeine & Octane ...

[CurrusDei]

Wheels Before and After

Magnum killed it on the wheels

BEFORE






AFTER (first ones are wet from rain)

[bradnic]

OH MY.. just a sand blast and repaint? they look incredible.
"MADE IN W. GERMANY" letting in the hub.. awesome.

[Bmwdayz]

Wow seeing the M3 torn down to a bare shell is just awesome! I'm almost to the same point with my 90 M3. Can't wait to see the out come! Great work

[CurrusDei]

Body Work

Alright, I've held out on you long enough with body work ;D



PRESSURE WASHING
























INITIAL SANDING







The guy in this picture is Steve. He's the tech doing the work on the car - and he is VERY good. You cant see it very well in these pics, but there's a 60's mustang he is converting from a coupe to a fastback.



Remember how the passenger side was all dinged up and looked like a golfball in some places? Yeh, not anymore.









I'm going to replace the hood because it will give a better result than smoothing out the existing one, but the rest of the panels are ALL being restored like this.

[CurrusDei]

Two years.

Happy second anniversary r3v. I've moved twice since buying this car, but the project goes on. Visited the car in the shop yesterday and snapped a few more pics. Nearly done with the first coat of primer - then block sand again - then second coat of primer - then paint!

You can see the new hood here as well.

[TimeMachinE30]

How much?

Trying to get an idea of such an endeavor. Locally, I'm getting the 4000 dollar mark is the going rate for a respray...

[CurrusDei]

How much?

Trying to get an idea of such an endeavor. Locally, I'm getting the 4000 dollar mark is the going rate for a respray...

Including all body work (various dents and dings), new hood, new undercoating, paint and primer, wetsanding, etc I'm looking at about $8K.

This is for it to be perfect and have a lifetime guarantee on the paint.

I got a few quotes around $4-5k for a mask & spray, but heard so many horror stories about resprays gone wrong from "hey i know a guy" referrals or run of the mill collision shops that I went with a premium shop for a bare chassis full workup. Not saying your guys quoting you are bad (I dont know them obviously), but the stories i heard involved having to re-respray, work not holding up after re-assembly, clear mismatches from stock, ridiculous paint thicknesses, etc. The paint is so key to the result and i did so much work tearing it down that I went with gross overkill.

[kronus]

given the amount of work you're putting in to this, why end up with a non-numbers-matching hood?

speaking of the amount of work you're putting into this, awesome awesome job. this is a fantastic thread.

[CurrusDei]

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

given the amount of work you're putting in to this, why end up with a non-numbers-matching hood?

speaking of the amount of work you're putting into this, awesome awesome job. this is a fantastic thread.

Thanks!

To correctly paint the car, all the vin tags have to come off. Otherwise the paint will peel up around where the old tags were even if you carefully mask them off.

Fortunately, there is a company (one company) that is authorized to make replacement VIN tags for BMW in the US. I have taken pains to document the originality of each panel by taking photographs of the original VIN tags in place-so that I can establish it is a true numbers matching, accident free car even though the vin tags are new, licensed reproductions. I'll even have the original hood if I ever want to sell someday.

Also, the hoods are really hard to refinish. Any dents or other damage that needs to be repaired is really hard to sand on because the metal is thin. Know how if you've ever seen someone sit on a hood and it makes that sickening metallic popping sound? That's what happens with the sander - very very hard to avoid having defects in the final paintwork. Since the hood is the biggest flat surface on the car, replacement is the best option. Even though the old hood was in pretty good shape for its age - that's a long way from perfect.