Sleeping Beauty...all beauty no bondo

[dirty thirty]

nice start!

[Cletonius]

You should be so thankful your grandpa is old school because you are going to get it done right the first time and it will last.

this. any plastic filler will crack over time and show iteself. a metal repair like that will last forever.

are you going to cover the whole thing in POR15 before paint?

[nebulous123]

this. any plastic filler will crack over time and show iteself. a metal repair like that will last forever.

are you going to cover the whole thing in POR15 before paint?

based on the current game plan, no....not over the whole car. over the exposed metal? yes. we are going to do all the prep work before we send it off to paint. we are going to spray the engine bay ourselves. after the engine bay the main focus is going to the rear valance. should prove to be a lot of fun

[Holland]

I see plastic bumpers, does this mean the car will be getting a late valance?

[nebulous123]

I see plastic bumpers, does this mean the car will be getting a late valance?

it sure does. we are trying to find the best way to tackle it. i have heard lots of different ways to do it and our current plan of attack seems like the easiest and should prove to be the best overall. we will be getting to that whole section after the engine bay.

[nebulous123]

Finally an update!! It's been too long since I have gotten to go out and work on the car, but I got a week off to get some good solid work done. Main area of focus was engine bay. Since I got my M50B25TU, I went ahead and shaved the engine bay and put in some bondo to make it nice and smooth.



Also had to put some bondo on the area that was bashed in for the turbo from the PO. Im still not sure how that area will turn out in the end. After banging it out best we could and throwing some bondo on it, there are still ripples and waves and I just don't feel throwing more and more bondo at it will solve the problem. We will see how it goes.





Forgot to post after photos of the bondo sanding. My bad. My brother was in charge of taking pictures and I swear I told him to get some post sanding pics...maybe he has them and is holding out.

Also went around and blended in all the areas that are going to get primer (bare metal spots), so they are ready for some filer primer. Forgot to get pics of the fenders and the hood. I swear I have some pictures somewhere.















Took the time to start the chopping of the rear bumper and trim, didn't get any pictures though. It was later in the week and it was just to get it started, no plan to actually start shortening and fitting. Thought I would mention an update with that rust I was talking about. We decided to poke at it and peal as much as we could by hand without really getting into it. It could be worse, but it was bigger than I thought it was going to be and will require some work to get it nice and clean again.



The plan for this last week was to get everything ready and primered but I ran out of time and again didn't get around to getting that far. The engine bay is taking forever, getting all the sealer off and sanded smooth, removing the glue over by the battery tray. But hopefully when its all said and done it will look as good as it should considering all the work that went into it.

As promised I am posting some pics of my grandpa's collection, this isn't all just about 75% of it. All but the (2) in the back left corner actually would run with some oil and a charged battery. And one of the two is going to be getting started shortly as he wants to have it finished for his 75th birthday which is about two years out. Enjoy. **Also should note that all of those cars, except the engines, have been restored solely by my grandpa, paint and everything.

[///Mayhew]

Wow, that is a amazing collection!

[JamesE30]

WOW indeed! Great collection, a lot of money, blood sweat and tears in that garage I'm sure!

[dude8383]

Wow. Can we see more of that collection?

Love the motors just hangin out in the middle like that!!

[nebulous123]

Wow, that is a amazing collection!

Thank you. He has good taste.

WOW indeed! Great collection, a lot of money, blood sweat and tears in that garage I'm sure!

Thank you. Indeed lots of blood, sweat and tears. The money part has always been a 1/2 and 1/2 thing. Some of those cars were rust buckets he found in the desert. So they were free. But the finished product does definitely have some money in it. Just not nearly what its actually worth.

For example, he has a 1967 (I think) VW Bettle convertible that he is restoring too. Got the shell from a buddy (traded it for a toy caboose), did all the body work and has everything he needs for the chasis, floor boards, interior, etc. All he has left is the engine to get rebuilt. He has put in $2,500 into the car so far. Totally worth it if you ask me. Needs to rub out the paint before he can put it all back together, and he doesn't want to because its going to take so much time.

Maybe I will so it just so he will finish it.

Wow. Can we see more of that collection?

Love the motors just hangin out in the middle like that!!

Yes sir you can. Hopefully this weekend or the next I will going out there for some more work. I will take hi-resish pics and get years and models and/or any funny stories that go along with them and post.

The engines are super cool and has them all over the house too. Same with old gas pumps. Funny thing about those motors, 75% of them are backup motors for the cars in that garage and are turn-key engines. The rest are dead and just painted to look pretty.

[N2MYE30]

Old cars and a full e30 rebuild...this thread delivers!

[nebulous123]

Update time. Got out for three days this weekend because the bosses were out of town. Then my cold took a turn on Friday night / Saturday morning, but I couldn't let that get in the way of progress. So here it goes.

First up is post bondo pics, I spent all of my day on Friday in the engine bay doing final touches on making it nice and smooth. Sand, blow out, clean, repeat. Didn't get finished till late in the afternoon, it was too cold to paint, and I felt like shit.















Nice and Clean!!









In the midst of replacing the top arms of the core support I must have forgotten about the brackets that help support the outer edge of the hood arm. Since I didn't want to go to a yard and cut one out, we just fabbed some real quick.







Welding in comfort and style.



So some more collection pics!! These are the only ones I got because I am lazy and didn't get better ones of the garage, they were out so I snapped them. I believe this is a 67 or 68 Bronco, hes had it for 15 or so years. I have been on many comping trips in that car and its never let us down. I believe this is the second time he has restored it because it gets trashed out in the desert and it will be the last. 170k on the chasis and 16k on the rebuilt V8. 3-speed, 4WD, and extra gas tank (not sure on the size). He is taking it to this car show next weekend and putting it up for sale. $25k if anyone is interested.











Model A. He is redoing this resto-shit show the guy before him did. He bought it not knowing it needed some stuff, but once he got into it, almost everything had to be redone. Its a work in progress, but very close.





So Saturday was half shot because of my cold. Also it was crazy windy, super cold and was suppose to rain. Inside day. Decided to start working on that rear valance. First thing up was patching the hole that was cut into it from the PO of this valance. I don't know why it was cut but it was. Have to get all the BMW gunk off!! I have found that BMW likes that stuff a little too much.









Had to cut out a little so we could get at it better.



In the process of the PO trying to get this valance out he cut up the passenger side so it was loose from the rest. Before we could weld in the other piece we have to secure it back on its proper place to ensure its the way it used to be.



Another PO acidental cut to be fixed.



Time to weld.













Rest of the day was cutting it out what I needed. I followed Janderson's face-lift thread and it went rather quickly.





Don't need you anymore.



Paint Time!!













Etch Primer is on. First sign that the sanding was good and worth all the time and scuffed knuckles.

















Filler Primer is next. Liquid Bondo. Another year of sanding this and maybe I will get some white in there. Stupid paint gun got gummed up so it orange peeled and came out in globs first couple sprays and after some adjustments had to get out of the old school guns and finish it up.

























Thats it for now. Next is putting that rear valance on and prepped for paint. Then the rear bumpers, trim, etc. Gotta do a leak down test on the M50 I bought for this car to ensure its good. Otherwise have to look into a rebuild.

Also will be posting paint scheme idea that we had with some M stripes on the hood, get your guys thoughts.

[MattAvino]

^ by the time you finish sanding that primer, you're gonna be working on an old E92 project with your own grandson.

[Vivek]

Lookin good. Seems like some things could have been masked better but it's all good. I'd just DA sand the primer off and respray the bad parts.

[amcink]

Great progress! Granpa is a Boss, bless his heart.
Can't wait for more