Absorbantnut's '87 325is

[gp.plus]

Nice job so far, sub'd. If you soak the ground with water under/around the car right before you spray it will cut down a lot on the dust.

[AbsorbantNut]

Well, did some more work on the car. A few days ago I got the volvo lip mounted up. I just reused the stock lip clips and some zip ties.


Then, today after school I got the driver's side fender ready for paint & shot it. It has some imperfections, but my conditions really aren't on my side Here's some shots of doing it:




Scraping off some excess bondo here, not exactly the preffered method, but it got the job done.




Possibly the most annoying part right here. The angles to work with are terrible!


And once the body work was done, it was painted.


This shows some areas where I laid the paint on too thick and it bubbled:( Oh well, at least it will be fixed in the next coat.


Then this guy snuck up when I was cleaning up. Bad decision bug(little orange dot). Not only did you die, but you managed to tear up the fresh paint:hitler:


Got one of these things for free from a competition. Possible best thing ever. No more mixing in laundry detergent cups!


And here it is on the car. Yes, it was still tacky when I put it on, but it was definitly worth risking it.


It basically ties the whole front end of the car together

[drutt23]

Sweet progress man! It's lookin good! Keep it up :up:

[AbsorbantNut]

Well, heres some pics of the valance. It came out great! just need to sand and do another coar on the bottom ruberized half. The top came out near perfect:D


Heres a few of it on the car






And this is how the motor is currently sitting.




And my next victim:woowoo:

[frickendom]

What kind of compressor are you using? And where did you get ur paint?

[Plastic Emperor]

Great thread, its awesome to see you bring it back

[AbsorbantNut]

Well, painted the valance. Might put up a pic of that tomorrow, but it was very dark by the time I finished, and couldn't really see how it turned out:drink:

[trackjunkie21]

Damn, you're doing work!

[AbsorbantNut]

Well my hood sucks. The paint gun didnt really work and spray paint, so I was left with a spray pattern about the size of a silver dollar. Not really much fun, so lets redo it.

First, some more body work was necessary.







Now i start to realize that rusty dented things arent much fun. And that you shouldnt wait too loing before you add the bondo



Now its time for body work and rust prevention on the car! First grind down the rust and tape off around so you dont have to deal with possible drip lines.








Now you can paint with whatever suits your needs. For me, its some more rusty metal primer.


Then, it became a good idea to paint the door. First Ill sand it down, then apply some filler(bondo), and spray it.







Tape the surrounding areas off with your favorite magazine, or least favorite, or if you dont have any magazines, like I didnt, borrow your sisters.



Take out your compressor, turn it on and wake up all the neighbors from their afternoon snooze by filling it up, mix the paint, give it a quick wipe down with some xylene, and start spraying.



Not bad for a first coat and spraying in the front yard:p No, the bottom right isnt a chip, its actually a reflection!



Further proof. Yes, I know it has specs in it, but Im over it at this point. And It does have orange peel, I laid it on a bit too heavy, but now that the color is dark and rich, the coats will go on light.

And I also sprayed the sunroof panel, but I havent taken the pics off my phone yet. Comments and criticism welcome:)

[AbsorbantNut]

Spring break ends wednesday and I figured Ill start posting up what I've gotten done.
Ground down this spot on the rear quarter panel and realized that I needed to take more drastic measures:(


I started to make a patch at thsi point but Ill get to that later. First I had to cut out all the bad!










At this point, im ready to finish the job, but then I see something behind it. Tell me its not another rusty patch panel:hitler:



Well, thats what its lookin like



Yeah, theres really no way around this. Looks like it's time to hack it up some more:D





Gettin all cleaned up so it can be welded.



Patch made from a fender, the same fender which I will show in a few pictures.



Yeah, that looks like it will fit.

Well, heres what my patch looked like when I found it.


Taping off where it needs to be cut, need ot get the fender arch line, and then the body line.



Thank you Mr Blurrycam. Well, it gets the point across.




And here's the body line patch.



I have no idea why, but I had the strange urge to paint the wheel arch black, so I just followed my gut feeling



Also managed to wound my only sharpie, so I bandaged it, and continued on.

Well, lets compare the old and new at this point.


I wonder what the back side of the old patches looks like. I mean its just one patch, right?


Its actually 3 different patches, the whole rear quarter on this side was replaced, with factory metal. Then later, after not being painted, it rusted and required another patch. Which as you can see, led to more rust. What a viscious cycle.

Well at this point, i slapped on my inner fender patch and welded it, and caulked it, and painted it with some rustoleum rusty metal primer. Seems appropriate at this point.


Later followed by its protective enamel coat.


And then covered up just in time before the rain.

[e30_luv_]

Great progress! I'm fairly certain those seats are OEM E30 Recaros, which are dumb rare. Good luck, and keep up the work.

[AbsorbantNut]

Well, not too much done this weekend afterall. Carlos helped me get my trunk primered today and I sanded it down for the millionth time. Also found out why its been so tough to spray using my purple harbor freight gun. It hasn't been letting enough paint out of the gun! But on to the pictures...


Here's a pic of the grills. Tried to make them look like euro ones since the money is being spent elsewhere


Current picture of the interior


Here's the stereo wiring harness


And again, Carlos helped me here too. This is the patch on the floor panel. Still have a little bit left to do.


Here's what it replaced

[AbsorbantNut]

Lookin FRESH:giggle:

[AbsorbantNut]

Started out with some real wiring. Forget about the quick splice and crimp job on the stereo before. Heatshrinked and soldered all connections, and zip tied them together forming some kind of a harness. And to run that euro clock, I decided to make an adaptor. So at any time I can switch from my euro clock to the 13 button obc again. This took a little time finding the correct pin outs for everything, but it works flawlessly now. If anybody wants one...I guess I could make some more



Then we have the red cluster needles and the tinted bottom row of lights. Thanks to the r3v member on here who sent me the tint to do the job free of charge;)



Antenna delete/shave. Still need to go over it with the grinder and possibly some filler. I just havent gotten to that part of the car yet.....



And here's something really exciting:D



And heres some quick pics of me doing the side trim for the rear bumper. The plastic is just some more scrap lexan, just like the stuff I used to shorted the bumper.

Stock trim


Heres the piece of lexan grinded and cut to fit for the side marker delete



And heres the finished product. Side marker shaved and shortened to fit the bumper.



And a sneak peak of the paint coming along. First coat on the hood and bumper. Doesnt look great, but much better than rust, primer, and peeling paint. They will be spiffed up more this weekend.

[AbsorbantNut]

Well, I haven' really been on here much due to school/track/working on the car, but I've made a bunch of progress:p

I'll have to go through and take pictures of everything this weekend. Lets just say it will look like a different car soon enough;)