phenryiv1's 1989 325iC Project - SETA 2.7i Swap Complete and Running!

[phenryiv1]

[phenryiv1]

Yeah, looking forward to seeing it. Maybe if it comes out well I'll haul the e21 to your guy to do it (since it will be a bare shell, so should be easy). Mostly because I'm just cheap and hate spending money on painting stuff, so if I can get a decent job at a Maaco, I'm down with that :)

We'll see after today. Paint shoudl be finished. I am going to try to check it out after work.

In unrelated news, the (correct) Dungeon Motorsport e36 steering adapter kit arrived:

[irish44j]

Yeah, looking forward to seeing it. Maybe if it comes out well I'll haul the e21 to your guy to do it (since it will be a bare shell, so should be easy). Mostly because I'm just cheap and hate spending money on painting stuff, so if I can get a decent job at a Maaco, I'm down with that :)

[95maxrider]

Small defects aside, I think that's going to look awesome when it's done. Nice choice on the color!

[rcsoundn1]

Looks decent so far. I would not be ashamed of the macco name, If its a good painter that's what matters. I have seen very presentable jobs come out of a mans back yard. I feel its more about the skill.

[phenryiv1]

Only reason I asked is because the lack of paint on one trunk hinge. And all of the extra paint on the hood sliders and trunk shock. Just a little tape could have fixed all of that and saved you a lot of time cleaning them parts.

Yeah, I don't get the hood latch paint (pull them - it takes 60 seconds!) and the lack of paint on the passenger side trunk hinge. The trunk strut "overspray" is not a big deal but stuff like that bothers the hell out of me.

I went over that stuff with them this morning and discussed what all needed to be masked. With the back window torn to sherds and a still-good rear seatback I was very clear that they needed to avoid any overspray on the interior since cleaning off the seat could very easily ruin it. I talked with the painter, the prep guy, and the shop manager all at the same time to be clear on my expectations.

[White325is]

Only reason I asked is because the lack of paint on one trunk hinge. And all of the extra paint on the hood sliders and trunk shock. Just a little tape could have fixed all of that and saved you a lot of time cleaning them parts.

[phenryiv1]

maaco paint job?

It is actually being done at a Maaco- yes. This is the 3rd car that they have done over the last few years and the painter there has been doing this for a really long time. I did a ton of research on the shop before having my truck done there 4 years ago. I talked to several (very expensive) restoration shops and went around to about a half dozen body shops before deciding to go to this Maaco. The owner had worked at various other shops before going out on his own and buying this franchise a while back.

When I was first referred to Maaco (by a friend who restores old Euro/British cars and build ratrods & hotrods in his spare time) I was in disbelief- no way that a Maaco could do a good job, right? But he was adamant that the painter there was legit, having painted small parts & trim for my buddy's shop when they were backed up or their booth was occupied and they had a rush job.

I did over a dozen "drop by" visits (at all hours) and checked out other cars in various stages of completion. I crawled under cars, checked condition, and scoured forums (other models) and got reviews from past customers from this specific location and after about 6 months I finally took my own truck there for paint after I did the stripping and basic prep work. That was a fairly cheap paint job at $850 (minor color change form one shade of red to another), and it has held up very well despite parking outside all the time and using the truck as an actual truck- hauling brush, car parts, towing the rallyX car, etc.

I had another car painted there- a 1993 Dodge Stealth that had nearly no prep work done and after 2 years it still looks good. That one was also a budget job (no color change) but it looks very good despite (again) 100% outside, unprotected parking.

With this car I had originally planned to just re-spray it Bronzit and wanted the red door and fender painted to match but as with anything, the scope crept to what it is now- color change, trim painted, off-the-car metal prep & paint work, etc. This ended up costing well more than I wanted but even the basic paint- no body work and no trim/accessory pain- was quoted out at 30-40% higher at every other shop that I spoke with. On top of that, every other shop that I considered needed to see the car in person- a pain when I have to tow it everywhere it goes, just to get an estimate.

Had I not had them do cars before, I would never have trusted them to do a color change and to do all of the "extras" that are being done. Could I have gotten a better job elsewhere? Yes. Would it have cost 2x (or more) what I am paying? Probably. I am not exactly proud that Maaco is painting my car, but this shop and this painter do good work and I found only 2 other shops whose finish quality was on par with what I have seen out of this shop with my own eyes. Both were far more expensive than Maaco, even before the body work was factored in.

Only time will tell whether I made a colossal mistake, but at this point I am already so deep in this car that (as noted a few posts back) an e36 or e36 convertible would have been faster and cheaper so any aspect of logic is already way out the window. This whole project is based in emotion but that is another story altogether.

[White325is]

maaco paint job?

[phenryiv1]

FINALLY! Some paint is on the car!

I stopped by the body ship this morning after they told me that they had cut in the jambs and inside of the hood/trunk. I wanted to see the color in person before they shot the main part of the exterior and I was not disappointed.

Pictures are worth a thousand words:

[phenryiv1]

More acquisitions in the absence of a car...

The steering system on the convertible has been loud (and potentially leaky) since I got it. I saw a good deal on a reman Cardone PS pump ($70 with a lifetime warranty) through Advanced Auto Parts so I snagged that. I also took the time to clean up and paint the pulley(s) from several old PS pumps that I had around and will install whichever one looks cleaner.

I figured that while I was at it I might as well go ahead with the e36 rack swap so I went on eBay and picked up what looks like the cleanest e36 rack (w/ 128K from a 98 318ti) that I have ever seen. Boots are super clean and though the tie rods are worn the rack itself feels very smooth and solid. At $120 shipped I jumped on it. I measured about 3.2 turns lock-to-lock with variable speed near the center so despite hearing about 50 different theories on what ratio comes in the 318ti, it seems that it shares the same rack with other e36 coupes/sedans, including the 1996+ M3 versions.

I also picked up what I thought was a complete Dragon Motorsports (e30tech.com) steering rack conversion kit from on here but when I got it yesterday it was for an airbag car and it was just the bushings. I was a bit disappointed but it was only $13 so I just bit the bullet and ordered a new complete kit straight from Dungeon.

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94377

Now all that I need to do is check the condition of my current tie rods (when I get the car back) and get this installed.



Saw this- need to follow up on the need for a coupler on the steering linkage: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...6&postcount=10

[phenryiv1]

Not a lot to report, at least not in terms of significant progress on my part.

I stopped by the body shop to check the progress on the repairs. The frame was straight up front with only minor adjustment needed to the supporting sheet metal. It still looks ugly but when put on a frame rack there was no compromise of the integrity of the front structure itself.



Door repair (I had missed this durng my prep):



Repair of the major dent in the lower frame rail. With convertibles having the extra reinforcement, this spot was too tough for me to handle on my own.



I also snagged an OEM head gasket and VC gasket. I bought the VR set for the whole car but I wanted to run an OEM head gasket and the VC gasket was included.

I also talked to the BimmerHeads guys and it looks like my rebuilt 885 will ship out this week or early next week. New HD rockers, valve job, Schrick 272 cam, and a set of "matched" OEM valve springs. The Schrick set that I had was actually for an M30 (error in the Schrick application guide) so the seller refunded my money for those and I am shipping them back. They COULD have worked with the 885 head but it woudl require new valve seats/retainers and I don't really NEED them with a 272 (not even remotely necessary form what I found) so a good/tested OEM double spring set will be up to the task.

This may seem like a minor thing, but since June (http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...6&postcount=89) I have not been able to fit both daily drivers in the garage. The convertible- with its leaky roof- was on "my" side of the garage and my wife's side was take up by the SETA bottom end, disassembled body parts, spare B25 parts, and other build parts. With the car at the paint shop the convertible and all of the large body parts were out of the way so my WRX was able to get back in on my side about 2 weeks ago. This weekend I finally organized and cleaned up my wife's side to get her car back in the garage as well. So for the first time since June 1, I got 2 cars in the garage at the same time:





Also, it was sad to see it go but I sold my SETA bottom end. I was really on the fence about building that versus refreshing my B25 and in the end, time won out. Swapping the motor would be a more time consuming process and for a street car/family cruiser the ROI would not be there. A semi-local was looking for an SETA bottom end and I was tired of looking at this one so he came up this weekend and hauled it away. Sad to give up on it but probably not the worst thing- indecision is no longer a factor and I can focus on updating the B25 without the distraction of the SETA/2.7i option clouding my vision.

[phenryiv1]

posted http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...3&postcount=17

Thank you- that should help immensely as I do my re-installation.

[bradnic]

Sounds pretty straightforward. I'll keep my eyes out for the thread. Thanks!

posted http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...3&postcount=17

[phenryiv1]

Sounds pretty straightforward. I'll keep my eyes out for the thread. Thanks!