Thankfully I don't have any pictures of the car as it was when I bought it but lets start with the fresh primer.
Literally painted the whole car in primer, bumpers and all, because well...that's what the retard PO did.
Chillin with my dog (she was 5 months old there) in the first replacement interior. The original was cardinal but was unsalvagable..i cry a little every time I think about it.
Putting in some new rear shock mounts.
Skip ahead a few years and here we are - sanded before painting over the 4th of July weekend in '12.
Before pictures...
My "booth"
It was so hot in there that the tape started to melt and peel off.
Fresh coat of custom rustoleum (~80/20 mix of forest green and rust red primer, reduced) shot over a day and a half in 100+ degree weather
Left the bumpers unpainted. Had an extra set of DBs, surrounds, and air dam waiting to get thrown on.
In the process of for some new seats I found these diamonds in the rough.
E21 recaros! They're down with my brother in Nashville waiting to get recovered. Still deciding on pattern/style of upholstery but looking to get them done by the spring.
Shadow line time.
The new bumper and painted air dam.
Gettin there...
The junkyard muffler that I threw on finally rotted through so got a new OEM style from ebay for $120. Painted black with hi-temp grill paint to hide the weird finish that came on it. Also cleans up the rear end with the lack of rear valence that you face lift bastards get to enjoy.
Made a nice throaty rattle sound. Also disintegrated when I took the hangers off.
Decided I didn't like the spoiler matching the body so...
Still looking for the door trim.
Giant bugs. Unfortunately this is when my wipers decided to take a shit.
Spring time!
Before:
Comparison:
Right after:
The next day ~100 miles on the new set up:
Night shot.
CNC barrels, cast face, and soon to be powder coated.
50 cent cup holders work like a champ. Gotta love 80's era accessories modernized for our fat american asses!
Shoulda done all the suspension work at the same time as the springs but here's the sub frame.
New IE sway mounts. Had to get the smaller diameter bushing and trim them out to fit the 21mm cabrio sway bars.
Regardless of measuring the tie rods and centering the steering wheel I still got some cockeyed alignment.
Forgot I had these Procar sport seats hiding in a closet. They were in my first e30 ('84 318i). Decided to play around with recovering them.
Not TOO bad considering I haven't sewn anything since home economics class in 1998! Will work out the issues and actually get some thicker fabric but this was a fun project to play with.
INTERMISSION:
Another night shot.
Parked for the winter.
OOOOOO
Sprayed some GUNK! engine cleaner and took it to the car wash.
Everything came off so easily
Spotless rear main!
Original cross hatching????
Gotta love an m20!
So with the tear down mostly complete I had to put something on the naked block cause it was looking cold...and I didnt want animal hair keeping me from finishing the job...yeah Spency.
Turns out a large t shirt fits perfectly over the dip stick and oil pump!
So just gotta clean up the block, paint it something obnoxious, send the head out for a little refreshing, get a motronic 1.3 unit (Not looking to deal with the idle gremlins in my 1.1), and to clean up a few loose ends....
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