School me on an '88 Diving Board 325is bumper conversion...

[dandingo]

I see the tech article on the main page but that says for '84-'87. I'm getting ready to paint my car and want to do the conversion if it's not too intensive.

Is my '88 different? I already have both the front and rear plastic bumpers and shocks.

Is it just a bolt on situation or will they look like a Honda body kit?

Thanks in advance!

[e30serg]

It's super easy. The '88 is different because is has the same body style as the later models, but with shorter aluminium bumpers than the '87 an earlier models. The plastic bumpers will bolt-on just fine. Just remove the old ones, including the shocks, and bolt in the new ones using the new shocks. I think the hardest part is getting the rear surround off. There are a couple of nuts that are hard to get to.

How much are you paying for paint? Are you staying with the same color or doing a complete color change?

[dandingo]

Thanks man, I appreciate the input.

I'm staying with stock Lachsilber Metallic. Just hoping to find a deal on a paint job in this economy. I'm hoping to pay less than $1500. I got a quote from a very reputable place for that about 6 months ago so I'm hoping to get it for less. Body and Paint guys have gotta be hurtin', right?

[Asbradley21]

You lucky bastard. I was quoted over 3 grand for a full paint on mine.

[dandingo]

You lucky bastard. I was quoted over 3 grand for a full paint on mine.

Does your car need a lot of bodywork? That does seem high.

[brokenbimmer533]

You lucky bastard. I was quoted over 3 grand for a full paint on mine.

Thats what I got quoted for mine as well. Not a lot of body work on mine just a different color. Painting my Triumph alone was a 1000.

[IRON-E]

Thats what I got quoted for mine as well. Not a lot of body work on mine just a different color. Painting my Triumph alone was a 1000.

You guys are getting raped up north but you are dhanging the color and that isn't cheap @ all. Good luck with your paint job, and DAN I offered to help you dawg. Let me see what's in store in the coming weeks, how soon were you planning for the paint job.

[dandingo]

You guys are getting raped up north but you are dhanging the color and that isn't cheap @ all. Good luck with your paint job, and DAN I offered to help you dawg. Let me see what's in store in the coming weeks, how soon were you planning for the paint job.

Hey man, long time no talk! I'm not sure yet. I'm gonna shop around a bit and see what kind of deals I can get in the next couple weeks. Thanks man!

[Asbradley21]

Does your car need a lot of bodywork? That does seem high.

Nope. However that was with the damage that I had fixed. I got the damage fixed and the hood painted for 700 though. Which still makes the rest of it 2300. Which has no damage. Same colour too.

[Eric Giles]

Costs to paint a car will always depend on many factors, but I can tell you this-me and a friend that does bodywork just repainted my delphin '87 325is. I have $1000 in all the materials cost alone-3 quarts of paint, 1 gallon of clear, a few shop rolls of different grits of sandpaper, a gallon of Evercoat Fiberfill polyester primer, and a gallon of DuPont 2K urethane primer. After being fully involved in all aspects of the process and helping to do the work, a job like I did could easily reach $4000-5000 with all the many, many hours of labor that were involved.

I used to think body shops charged way too much to repaint a car, but to do it properly I would have to say that my mind has now been changed.

[Asbradley21]

Yeah, and I have to say, the paint on my hood looks amazing. I can see why having that on the whole damn car would cost that much. It's almost worth it if I couldn't buy another e30 with good paint for that much.