agent's build thread: Klaus

[agent]

This project has been a while in the making, but now that the end is actually in sight I figured it was time for Klaus to get his own thread.

In 2009 I set out looking for a car that I could turn into an autocross flogger, which would graduate to track rat and eventually grow up to be a SpecE30. I knew I wanted a 325is and I preferred the look of the early valances. After searching regionally for several months I found a CL ad for a 1987. Klaus was purchased for the asking price of $800 and driven the 35 miles to his new home. For the record, my wife names all the cars. As far as I know Klaus got his name from the fish on American Dad, and likely at least in part because that's the only German name she knew at the time...

The day I brought him to the house in February 2010:

[agent]

After getting it home and looking over it more carefully, my good friend next door (who's in the car business and accompanied me on the purchase) and I discovered that despite not being in the best of shape, every body panel on this car was original. After more than a little persuasion from him, I decided to change tack and do a street restoration instead of risking wadding it up on a track somewhere.

The car needed a significant amount of cosmetic work to bring it back to its original glory, though the mechanicals appeared to all be in very good condition and fairly well-mainained for a twenty-three year old car. Another friend manages a garage a few blocks from my office, which I have used for services on various vehicles over the years that I coudn't do myself. He has a three-bay garage on his farm where he does work on the side, including body and paint. He was happy to let me come use his garage and teach me some body work basics in exchange for the cost of any materials I used and a per-visit vig of a suitcase of Bud Light. That's one hell of a deal if you ask me.

But before I could begin driving the car to go do the body work, I needed to make sure I could trust the car enough to drive it to and from my friend's place. So I read up and was given direction and invaluable help from my father-in-law, who's been wrenching BMWs for more than three decades. The following list of items was completed in March of 2010:

new parts:
timing belt
timing belt tensioner
water pump
coolant
coolant hoses
thermostat
breather hose
plugs
plug wires
distro cap
rotor
diff fluid
oil
oil filter
air filter
AFM
v-belts
door handles
door handle trim plates
new brakes/rotors

used parts sourced:
diff (thanks RobertK!)
aux fan (thanks Mark @ Club Racing Radios!)
US ellipsoids (thanks Mark @ Club Racing Radios!)
passenger door window motor
driver side seat belt receiver
alternator bracket
firewall drain spout
door seals
door seal trim plates
misc. switches

A couple of months later it warmed up enough outside to start getting into assessing the cosmetic work. From April 2010:

[agent]

With the mechanicals sorted enough to not worry about getting stranded, I set out to begin the body work. The first order of business was to DA all the rattle can primer off the passenger side to see what it was covering up, fix the bad spots then put primer back on them:

[bimmerteck]

He's come a long way since. :)

[agent]

This resident had apparently moved out some time ago...




On to fixing the tail light rust...

[agent]

The next order of business was to get the paint off the roof. Surprise! No primer had been used there on the last respray, so I had red paint on bare metal. Nice. After finally getting all of it off, we shot the roof with some Mason etch primer (not pictured)...

[agent]

Klaus didn't get a lot of attention last year - except when I'd take him out for the occasional drive on the nearby country roads - since I was saving for a paint job between doing some necessary preventive maintenance on my E39. While it was still cold outside I started putting some feelers out and after interviewing a few potential candidates I was eventually put in touch with a guy who lives five minutes from me who has a spray booth in one of the bays of his outbuilding. He works at the local GM plant and has a little extra time on his hands before they get their production completely ramped back up in the next month or two, so he was willing to take the job to fit my budget.

During our discussions about the body and paint work, he said he wanted to take over the completion of the body work. That way if there was ever a problem it would be on him to correct it, rather than he and I splitting hairs over who did what - i.e. my body work vs. his paint work. This made sense to me, so he is finishing the body work and applying two-stage paint to the car using the original Zinnoberrot color code.

So, a couple of Sundays ago my friend Erik (bimmerteck) came over to the house and we set out to stripping Klaus down to take over to the painters' house...

[agent]

I went over last Saturday to see some of the work in progress and get the holes drilled for and do a test fit on the side skirts kit I bought from Steve @ BluntTech...

[agent]

First hole drilled in the car for the passenger side skirt, followed by many more...

[agent]

And bringing us current, Arnie sent me these a little while ago...

[ANDRÜ]

Nice!

[agent]

Thanks! I have a pile of parts ready for the next phase:

[dinanm3atl]

Nice sir!

[F34R]

Looking great =)

[bmwstephen]

thats pretty amazing that the original paint did not peel off in sheets....