E30 Touring Restoration

[Red_liner740]

Inspirational. Especially since i'm about to go through exactly the same thing.

1989 325ix Touring, has a bit of rust, definitevely less than what you have but it will have the same thing done. all rust fixed and new metal installed, followed by a full paint job.

Any pointers?

I too have rust on the hatch but mines not bad, any idea how hard is it to remove the rear hatch glass?

[LeSeb]

Pointers.... Well if u plan on doing it all yourself set aside alot of time and expect it to be long term project, and make sure u find all the rust cause u won't be happy finding any after u painted it. And the hatch glass i never removed but it looks like it's installed like a typical window with that black adhesive. Shouldent be a problem. And to be honest my car seemed to have very little rust but as you search ur bound to find alot. The rockers and floor plan are problemmatic aswel as the undercoat, it drys cracks and let's water to settle behind it and rust. That was the situation on the rear valance and had the most technical repair, the others don't require as much finness but u get the hang of it as you go and u can make it look decent

[Red_liner740]

I was wondering, in your research, is it possible to buy new rear valance metal and weld it in or is building from scratch the only way?

I have rust in similar spots as you, driver rear valance, passenger floor board, but havent removed carpet to look closely.

I'm having a retired body man do the work with me helping him with grunt work.

[LeSeb]

U might be able to find one somehow but I haven't seen it, I had to fix another spot on the rear, it would be a staggering amount of work to replace the entire thing, I would just patch it in, it's not extremely difficult but takes some time an experienced body man won't have any problems

[LeSeb]

updated photos will fix the size next time, needed to unload some progress been a long few weeks

[pilotskillse30]

Great work

[shameson]

Awesome work man, the hellrot looks so good on it

[tak7]

Beautiful car!
Where are you in Alberta?

[LeSeb]

Thanks everyone. I'm in calgary alberta

[E30 Wagen]

Amazing work! I'd like to know more about the final wet sanding and polishing process you followed as that's one area of painting I don't have much experience in.

[LeSeb]

Basicly all the paint work u want to wetsand need to be sanded 800 1000 1500 2000 and finally 2500. With 800 you will take down the high spots in the clear knowen as orange peel. As it dryes u will see the shiney low spots that are the orange peel. I would go fairly close to peel free in 800 grit. I painted my car with a friend so I knew I had a lot of clear as we did 5 layers. Then all the other steps are there to remove the previous grit scratches. One door took about 35 min in 800 25 min each other step till u can see a reflection in your sanded workpiece. Then I did a 3 stage polish which was fairly effortless. The paint is perfectly smooth and the entire side in step one took about 45 min to polish. And looks amazing right after. It takes a lot of time and patients and not very comfortable on your back. I have a couple spots I went to aggressive on the polish but I'm not to upset cause I can repair the areas and honestly didn't think It would have came out so good when I started this project but as I go I just accept It's going to take a lot of time and money but soon it will be done and I will be that much more satisfied in the end. I'll post a link to a video of the paint. Enjoy

[tak7]

Thanks everyone. I'm in calgary alberta

Cool, I grew up in Red Deer, in BC now though.
Keep up the good work!

[roznic]

Amazing work man, touring looks very nice..

[itskingsteelo]

fuckin awesome!!!

[E30 Wagen]

Basicly all the paint work u want to wetsand need to be sanded 800 1000 1500 2000 and finally 2500. With 800 you will take down the high spots in the clear knowen as orange peel. As it dryes u will see the shiney low spots that are the orange peel. I would go fairly close to peel free in 800 grit. I painted my car with a friend so I knew I had a lot of clear as we did 5 layers. Then all the other steps are there to remove the previous grit scratches. One door took about 35 min in 800 25 min each other step till u can see a reflection in your sanded workpiece. Then I did a 3 stage polish which was fairly effortless. The paint is perfectly smooth and the entire side in step one took about 45 min to polish. And looks amazing right after. It takes a lot of time and patients and not very comfortable on your back. I have a couple spots I went to aggressive on the polish but I'm not to upset cause I can repair the areas and honestly didn't think It would have came out so good when I started this project but as I go I just accept It's going to take a lot of time and money but soon it will be done and I will be that much more satisfied in the end. I'll post a link to a video of the paint. Enjoy

Awesome man, thanks for the response. You've got me excited to start painting my own car that's been sitting for two summers.