latest project...1984 323i Euro Sedan

[dude8383]

Nice progress! That new shop space is friggin awesome. Your brother's e21 with an m30 swap was lovely. Wish I could have had a chance to get a ride in it but it was rather late when I came by!

[metalsoul]

Nice progress! That new shop space is friggin awesome. Your brother's e21 with an m30 swap was lovely. Wish I could have had a chance to get a ride in it but it was rather late when I came by!

Hey Bro, thanks!! And thanks again for bringing that sweet dash out to us, this is the car it's going into!

[metalsoul]

Been busy working on a couple of e21's, but today I was able to do an antenna delete and we started bodywork and sanding the whole car down

[dude8383]

Lol, electrical tape antenna delete. I rocked that for a few months...

[metalsoul]

No, LOL...that's a patch of steel I welded in!

[dude8383]

No, LOL...that's a patch of steel I welded in!

Hahaha yeh the cell definitely made it look like electrical tape. Good work!!

[metalsoul]

I haven't updated in a while cause I've been so busy, and I've been working on this project solo since my brother got a new job, while taking more classes, but I finally finished all the rust repair, got the car in primer a couple of days ago, and I laid 3 coats of Polaris Metallic tonight. I hope to have time to lay clear tomorrow and cut and buff this weekend (HOPE to at least :)

First off I got everything squared away with the motor, new gaskets, seals, belts etc. and I painted the valve cover and intake manifold, and we dropped the motor back in.

A picture of my brother after we dropped the drivetrain back in...and a couple of friends "supervising"




Next came all that nasty rust and rot removal, I patched in all new sheet metal everywhere I found it...and there was A LOT!


Before




After







Before



Midway





And there was a bit more but I'm terrible at taking time out to take pics while working!

[metalsoul]

Then came smoothening down all the rubber coating around the bottom, I opted to grind then sand it down rather than fill and sand...

[metalsoul]

After I got everything patched up with new metal, applied a skim coat of filler, I sprayed filler primer, then laid a full coat of gray primer in my make shift paint booth...it's far from ideal but it's all I could get away with...

[metalsoul]

Then wet sanding...and more wet sanding...

[metalsoul]

Then FINALLY...PAINT...BMW Polaris Metallic...I know the pics suck for now, but my cell phone is all I was going to use in a poorly ventilated room full of overspray!







After 1 light coat and 1 medium coat...



After a 3rd coat wet...

[nwe30]

can't wait to see finished product. nice job. keep it going!

[aproy]

right on! looking excellent! so is this why you werent at GFest?

i like the paint booth... i painted my 66 triumph tank with the filler stuck down on the handle of a floor jack, makes for good story lol.

[metalsoul]

^^Yeah, I've done many a ghetto bike tin paint jobs, but whatever works :) It's one of the reasons, everything compounded on me over the weekend and unfortunately my mother fell and ended up in the ER.

How's the swap coming along?

[metalsoul]

I laid the clearcoat yesterday afternoon, and put it out in the sun to bake...







Passenger side:



Remember what this wheel well arch and corners looked like before:







Drivers Side:



And the drivers side before: