'86 'es Refurb on the Cheap - Advice needed

[heinrich]

So about a month ago I got my first e30, an '86 325es. I have a '72 2002, which is my official "project" car, and got the e30 as a cheap commuter. But you know how it is. Now that I have it, it's difficult to resist the urge to improve. Still, I don't plan on putting any money into performance mods, but am all about laboring on the thing and spending small amounts to get the cosmetics back to a presentable level. I've changed the timing belt, tensioner, water pump, all filters, tranny and diff fluids, dist cap and rotor, plugs, new tires--all your normal maintenance stuff.

When I got the car, the paint was in very bad shape. It looked as if the PO parked under pine trees a lot and preferred to remove the sap with sand paper. I cleaned and cleaned, and polished and polished, and managed to get most of the paint back alright--still lots of fine scratches etc., but at least it looks ok from 20 ft.

Except, that is, for the panels where there was some ding repair. The front left quarter, rear right quarter, and left 1/8 of the roof, have some bad bondo lumps covered by black primer. This is the part that bugs me. I think I'm going to have a hard time living with those spots of bad paint, but don't want to pop for a full-car, quality paint job.

This weekend I'll be sanding down and painting the bumper shrouds with SEM Colorcoat. Roundels and wheel emblems are on the list. Possibly a bumper tuck. I have the front spoiler but it's missing the three support brackets and one fog light. I'll also be painting the rear spoiler with SEM trim paint.

What do you think? If you didn't want to spend a lot on improvements, what would you do?

Here are some before/after pics:

[Jand3rson]

I have an '87 325iS front airdam on ebay right now, if you're looking to trade up. Has all of the mounting brackets, and foglights. Needs paint, but that's it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=320019134495&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT

[tn325i]

It looks like you are on the right path...I can sympathize with you, I bought an 85 325e back the end of April..

It is still being worked on... But I have gone insane from fighting the urge of more mods!!!!

Resistance is futile !!!!

Not really....

Good Luck...

Steve

[StereoInstaller1]

Personally, I would think a set of springs and new dampers on both ends are the best imporvement in overall satisfaction.

Luke
oh yeah, welcome to R3V.

[AdironRider]

I agree, on a 20 year old car nothing is going to do more than a suspension refurb.

Incredible job on the paint man, looks like a completely different car.

[TheBlackKnight]

That is an awesome job on the clean up! I just went through the same thing, well my paint was decent, but I also just bought my 1st E30 325E and did some good detailing on it. I however kept the engine for later, and wow, if I get it looking like yours I will be a happy man! :D

[browntown]

tune-up, filters, liquids, ignition stuff. change cam belt.

that should put you back a couple hundred to start. Suspension stuff is a good place to start, but depending on how involved you get it will nickle and dime you to death.

An idea on what I've been accumulating for my under-car refurb:
wheel bearings all around
control arms and tie-rods
caliper rebuild kits
new rotors and pads
brake lines (ss if you prefer)
bushings (cab, subframe, trailing arm, diff, engine, tranny)
RSM
new front strut mounts
camber plates
swaybars
springs
struts/shocks
misc hardware

easy 2k and I havent touched the motor yet. Just a precautionary note, I clearly exhibit symptoms of OCD and cant leave a used part on the car.

[heinrich]

I've done all the engine tune up stuff, and I do still need front control arms, bushings and tie-rod ends. I have H&Rs and Bilstein HDs on my 2002, and I'd love to do that same sort of the thing on the e30; but I'm unlikely to spend the ~$650 for a performance mod. I'm all too familiar with how the costs can start to add up. IF I wanted to get into a project where I was actually upgrading components, I think I'd want to start with a better base. In other words I'd probably want to start with a cleaner 89/90 318is or 325is. With the 325es, I think I'll stick with just making sure everything is working correctly, and getting the cosmetics looking good--cleaning up those panels. I've been wondering about the cost of getting them resprayed if I were to do all the stripping and prep....

[TheBlackKnight]

A question for you regarding the engine detail. What did you use for cleaning and what was your procedure for such? Did you take many parts off to clean it, or just wipe around things and use some chemicals on certain stuff to clean it up?

Gloss your tires btw. :D

[clavinZERO]

I think it's safe to say this car is on a good path now. Do as browntown says along with all the motor stuff too. EXCELLENT clean up work btw.

[ddavidv]

Is it black or metallic black? If it's black...well, black is black. A spray bomb gloss black will match everything except the scratches in the adjacent panels. If it's metallic, that's a little harder. I'm still betting you could find a pre-made Krylon spray can that would be close enough to look better than the flat primer spots you have now. Look at it this way; you can't make it any worse than it already is, right?

[Teaguer]

I would just scoure the yards for anice black LF fender andslap it on .
Could match very well after a little buffing .

On the quarter I would wetsand and buff as much as you can without burning through and see where that gets you .
If its still lame then do like the post above says ...get some quality gloss black spray paint and then finish that up with wetsanding and buffing as needed .

Good job on getting that old dog presentable again .

[heinrich]

First, engine detail: After a preliminary spray-off to get the dust out of there, I just used a household citrus degreaser and a toothbrush-sized brush and a cotton towell. Worked the cleaner in almost full-strength on the greasy bits. Rinse with regular hose pressure. On some of the areas I used Gunk foamy engine bright. Once it was clean I treated all the plastic and rubber with Mother's Back to Black. It's still pretty manky down below, but you can't see much of it from above.

As for the paint: luckily it's all non-metallic, non clear-coated black. I have good, helpful industrial paint store here that will put single-stage acrylic auto paint into a rattle can for me. I've thought about just spending some time on prep and then spraying it that way. By now I'm pretty okay at wet-sanding and buffing out problems, and it's sure not going to look worse than what's on there now. And yes, I've also thought of looking for a junked LF fender. BTW, is the fender purely bolt-on, or are there any spot-welds involved?

Started on my bumper shrouds yesterday and one of them is now done with SEM color coat. Looks pretty good. Better anyway. When I get it all back together after this weekend I'll post another couple of pics. Over the past couple of days I've also convinced myself that I need to shadowline the thing.

--Heinrich