E30 M3 Steel Bodywork Conversion

[bmwmech1]

Garey,

Out of curiosity, and I apologize if it's been covered already, but how will you be attaching the rear side windows once you begin reassembling?

Best,
Chris

I'm using fixed mount, no vent rear quarter windows. They're held in by the gaskets and the 2 little studs at the B-pillar. The lower stud is fully accessible, the upper will be a bitch, but still doable...


On a different note... no pics tonight, but the body is in primer, the hood and doors have been shot with high build primer and sanded back and I'm ready to shoot the urethane primer on them and the deck lid in the morning. Then I'll sand back the body while they dry and once dry, I'll start shooting color. Should wrap up the color and clear over the weekend, so I'll have picture proof on Sunday night.

Garey

[bmwmech1]

Here's a few pics of where I am right now... sanding, ugh... All the panels are primed,the shell is sanded back now and I'll spray color tomorrow night and the clear on Sunday...







And a couple of teaser pics of the underside of the hood and trunk, which are painted and cleared...





Until tomorrow...

Garey

[euroshark]

Oh god, yes. Can't wait.

[bmwmech1]

Oh god, yes. Can't wait.

Haha... It's kind of like prom night in high school, lol!:):):)

Garey

[Simon S]

sweet jesus

[m3/e30fanatic]

may you live till your 300 years old.

[bmwmech1]

may you live till your 300 years old.

Only 300? Lol! Thanks man...

Garey

[85e325]

Lookin great Garey, I always get antsy when a car gets closer and closer to the day it gets painted. What paint system are you using? I'm kinda partial to PPG myself.

On another note, when you finish your's sent out here and I'll drive it for ya while you fix up mine !!!!HAHAHA

[bmwmech1]

Lookin great Garey, I always get antsy when a car gets closer and closer to the day it gets painted. What paint system are you using? I'm kinda partial to PPG myself.

On another note, when you finish your's sent out here and I'll drive it for ya while you fix up mine !!!!HAHAHA

Well, not being a painter, I decided to ask for some recommendations from a painter friend, who does muscle car restorations. He uses pretty much everything/whatever his customers decide/want to use, but he has been using Eastwood's urethane paints with good success for years now. So that's what I'm using... Low VOC urethane primer, urethane single stage for everything inside or underneath the car and low VOC urethane basecoat/clearcoat for all the exterior panels. I'm very happy with it so far... the primer was a little tough to get it to flow out initially, but some reducer and a little more gun pressure solved that. It sanded back decently and the undersides of the panels I've painted/cleared looked pretty nice, before I left last night. I'll have an update tomorrow evening, once the entire exterior is painted/cleared...

As far as sending mine out to you, we could just swap cars, if you like... I'll give you mine and then you give me yours and at least $50K on top... Sound good?;)

Garey

[FredK]

oh man, I can't wait to see the paint go on!

[e30shmobberr]

lookin goood!

[bmwmech1]

As promised, the car is indeed white. Long night last night and I just got back from the shop again today, a little while ago. I'm not thrilled with how the clear laid down, so that will need to be addressed... I didn't reduce it any and in hindsight, probably should have, but no use crying over spilled milk. It is easy enough to fix, so I'm not going to stress about it. I did realize on my way home, that I won't have to take the doors off again, which is kind of a big deal, so that's a bonus. Anyway, enough rambling, I'm going to bed...

Basecoated...







Cleared...





And the style 42's, mid refinishing...



Garey

[catuned]

The fresh smell of new paint.. MMMmm.

[JGood]

Awesome! Looks great!

[bmwmech1]

Went back to the shop tonight to cleanup and snapped a few pics of the style 42's mocked up on the car after I pulled the tape off of it. Obviously no tires, but the pics give a decent representation of the end result I'm going for...







Garey