Blue

[nmlss2006]

[evandael]

i am excite. will it remain satin or is this pre-clear?

[be34st]

dabadee,dabadaa...

I like that color.

[BROKINBIMMER]

Should have wet the gravel prior to spraying...Looks cool tho

[Eric535]

the flat color looks awesome

[Cptcarisma]

HEY.. Isn't that Vlad's new shop???

;-)

CAPP

[nmlss2006]

Oh, this is staying matte, or as BMW now likes to say, 'frosted'. After all the effort it took to get it that way... I will repeat what I have already said several times: never again. The painting is bad, but it is nowhere near the most difficult part. The car is entirely disassembled - I just left the side rear windows in because they wouldn't have bought me much and they're a real pain to get back in (not that the rear windshield is fun, BTW). There's a LOT of work involved if you want things to remain reversible and even then you need 57328 new clips, seals, gaskets... I do think the car shed about 50lb worth of crud that was under the various trim parts, though.
And I sort of still need a better hood and trunk, but they're going on as-is for now.
With all this said: does anyone have exact measurements for the black part under the side sills and on the rear valance? Or does one spray to the edge of the Wurth stoneguard?

[mikeedler]

to the edge is how they were from the factory. what color is that?

[nmlss2006]

The color is 'I like topaz blue, let's mess around until we find something I like that looks similar... yes, that's about right'.
Black to the edge, OK except for small problem: I do not have an edge on the rear valance, I do have one on the sides. What reference points should I take?
My other E30s have varying distances.

[rob&e30]

nice~!

[dannyyisntt]

Its almost like a navy. I like it

[nmlss2006]

Continuing onwards with pictures of black instead: I like to use Rustoleum's flat black Stops Rust on seat rails and the like. I figured I'd try it in the trunk, since there were too many scratches and some of them had started rusting. So... simple green, vinegar, alcohol, wire wheel, vinegar, alcohol, rust converter then flat black on top, you get this:





The original seam sealer seems to turn the Rustoleum shiny, but it covers well and is nicely resilient, which will help prevent future rust. Since I am me, I applied thick cloth tape to the areas where the battery box touches the metal. That way, again, no abrasion, no rust.

While I was there, I got some semigloss Rustoleum and treated the hood hinge the same way, after taking it apart. Picture was unfortunately taken with phone, in a hurry:



And yes, that is the original latch from 1991 after cleaning and treating with rust dissolver. A little lithium grease inside and it's better than new.

[Simon S]

Best thread title of the year !!

(and good job on the efforts.. looking forward to her coming back together)

[GT BMW E30]

i know a lot of people :-( on maaco. i have had good results from the one in east orange. since you bought the paint and stripped car it would have costed close to nothing to have them do it. its been cold, snow, raining and windy. hopefully we can do a meetup to see the finished product.

[nmlss2006]

Oh, it would have cost me a LOT less to have Maaco do this. Would it have come out the same or better? I do not know. And I wanted to see if it can be done. Short version, it can be done, but no, it's not even remotely worth it. Not to my standards, anyways.
Work has been suspended until the weather stops sucking. Sometime in JULY it seems...