My 1988 320i Touring Project: Ambitious but Rubbish

[Roadrunner]

In an effort to make some kind of progress on the touring while I wait to get it back from the shop (I should have it back in the next couple of days! :D), I thought I would try my hand at refinishing the valve cover we got from the scrap yard which I'm going to swap with the one on the touring. The plan was to spray paint it with black crinkle paint and sand the paint off of the bars and BMW lettering to give them a brushed aluminum look. I was planning to do the same with the intake manifold, but that will have to wait.

The valve cover was filthy, covered in grease and flaking paint. After trying several degreasers we had, the one that worked best by far was POR-15 cleaner degreaser diluted in water. Here's what it looked like after a thorough degreasing and removing the worst of the loose, flaking red paint:



I scraped the rest of the paint off with a razor blade...



...sanded it to smooth out the surface and get rid of surface rust and oxidation, prepped the surface for painting by giving it one last cleaning and wipe down with isopropyl alcohol...



... and masked the edges and stuffed the holes that I did not want to get over spray on.



After the first coat with VHT Wrinkle Plus high temperature black spray paint:



I followed the instructions to do 3 coats in different directions: one vertical, one horizontal, and one diagonal. After the third coat, you could start to see the crinkling effect. I left it to dry until the next day, then hit it with a heat gun for a while to help cure the paint. The texture wasn't completely even (there were still a couple of shiny spots) but I thought it wasn't too bad for my first attempt.



And finally, sanding the bars and the lettering. The paint gummed up the sandpaper quickly, so I found it was easiest to scrape as much as I could off with a razor blade first and then sand. There were some deep gouges that needed a coarser grit to smooth out, and then I used a sanding block with a finer grit of sandpaper to get the final brushed finish. I was worried about sanding off the new black paint, so the areas around where I was sanding got taped up.



That turned out to be a huge mistake. When I pulled off the painter's tape, layers of the new black paint came off with it. I thought that the paint was already cured and hardened by that point. I was wrong. Oh, and "touching up" the spots that peeled off with additional spray paint didn't work. I tried. It seems that once the paint has dried you are SOL and stuck with it as is.



Now that it had turned into a huge mess, I decided to start over and give it another try. The part with the lettering looked awesome, and I loved the black crinkle effect, but I must have gone wrong somewhere along the way. I think that the biggest mistake I made was leaving too much time in between coats, which probably allowed the paint to dry too much in between and not adhere in between the layers.

On the bright side, I now had a chance to try out using aluminum paint stripper, which would have made the job easier in the first place. I was looking for aircraft paint stripper but couldn't find it for sale anywhere locally. I ended up using MEK (Methyl ethyl ketone), which removes paint from aluminum, though it will eat through plastic. The paint started to bubble off as soon as it was applied.



Most of the paint scraped off easily with a razor blade or wiped off with a rag after it had been saturated with MEK. One benefit of my "workshop" being outside (no garage) is avoiding fumes from stuff like that. Somehow, it looks like I've managed to completely avoid the sun as well. ;)



Once all of the paint was off again, I went through the same drill as before: quick sanding, paint prep and masking. I did three coats of paint plus a bit extra at the end anywhere that looked like it needed it to make sure it would crinkle, and actually set a timer for 5 minutes in between coats this time.



The second I sprayed the first line of paint, it started raining and I had to relocate to my front porch to finish painting. I used the heat gun on the fresh paint as soon as it stopped raining - otherwise it might not have even dried properly due to the humidity. By then, it was late and I was working on the lawn in the dark with a flashlight, feeling like a real professional! The paint on the valve cover started to crinkle up evenly, so I think it's going to look great. I'm going to leave it for a couple of days before removing the tape just to be safe this time!

[Roadrunner]

Our local scrap yard got an E30! I don’t know where all of the scrap E30s are ending up, but we hadn’t seen one there in well over a year. The bad news: the car had been parked for years and had been infested with vermin, when the windshield had been crushed by a branch, and the car had been further damaged by the water that was allowed to freely enter the interior as a result. Yuck. :shock: My S.O. came across the car, sensed a stench in the interior from outside the car, cracked the doors and walked away while it was being aired out, and it was gone when he came back minutes later. He looked around and found it on the loader on its way to be crushed. What?! There were still plenty of good parts on it - it hadn't been picked at all yet! E30s don’t just grow on trees. After convincing them to *not* crush it immediately, he was able get me a full hood gasket, a set of taillights, some switches, and an M20 valve cover.


Enjoying a temporary stay of execution.

We went back to the scrap yard together as soon as we could to see if the E30 was still there, hoping it hadn’t been crushed yet. We were in luck. Unfortunately, the smell of the interior was still horrendously bad. It smelled like the vehicle had been submerged in a bog and then left to bake in the sun while a large mammal lived inside. As soon as you cracked the doors, the eye-burningly strong scent cocktail of mold, mildew, gas fumes, and rat piss punched you in the face. I was starting to see why they were in such a hurry to crush this car...

The main part that we were after was the intake manifold, which I wanted to get to refinish and swap with the one in the touring. The idea was that I could practice removing it from this car so that I’d somewhat know what I was doing when I removed it from my own car (this one was going to be scrapped any moment anyway, so it should be pretty forgiving). I started working on removing the bolts while my man pulled the vent windows for one of his cars. As he pulled off the seals, nesting material and shit from the resident mice started raining down from the headliner and into his clothes. This was turning into a seriously hot date.


Lovely!

Removing the intake manifold was a complete fail, I'm afraid. I won't go through all of the steps that I followed, but this guide is the closest I found to describing the process (wish I could find one with pictures - I'll have to take pictures myself once I try this again on the touring). One of the hardest parts was tracking down all 12 bolts on the manifold flange, since you can't see them and have to just blindly feel around for them. Once you find them, the space to remove them is extremely cramped. After the fuel rail, bolts, hoses, and all other parts that needed to be disconnected were off, the intake manifold still would not budge. The oil return tube (aka bitch tube) was supposed to just be pressed down, but it would not budge either, no matter what we did. Eventually we just cut the bitch tube with a hacksaw (did I mention the rest of the car was about to be destroyed?), but the intake manifold still wouldn't come off; whatever was holding it on was too corroded. Even if we could break it free, it was becoming clear that it was in worse shape than we thought and it wouldn't even be worth it. This sums up the whole experience: :curse:


This car is dead to me now.

I might have to (for the time being) give up on the idea of refinishing my intake manifold, but I did get a new valve cover to refinish. I'll post about that next - hopefully something will go right! :D

[Grime]

Thanks, man! :) They sure seem to be rare around here. You should post some pictures of your touring! How is it holding up driving it around Montreal? (Haven't been there in a while, but I remember lots of crazy drivers and even crazier road conditions.)

I just got the touring, so I'll start a thread soon. Quebec in general isn't nice to cars, at least my touring will never see the winter.

[Roadrunner]

The touring has been in the shop for nearly a full month now. The insurance company had been hounding us about bringing the car in to be fixed, and then was in no rush to send someone to actually approve the work. I’m starting to get a bit nervous about whether I will even get it back in time for Tedfest next Saturday at this rate. I was definitely banking on having more than zero weekends to work on getting it ready for the show.


An old picture of the touring (with a different set of wheels)… Come baaaack!

Even though the panels won’t match perfectly, I ended up getting the touring painted. I think I can still get it polished up and looking great (assuming it’s ever returned to my custody, that is…). The idea of wrapping the car ourselves is still a possibility, but in the meantime, I feel good about the decision to invest in actual paint.

Besides wanting to get my car back, I cannot wait to return the rental – a GMC Terrain – which handles like a total POS despite being practically brand new. It has about the same amount of cargo space as the touring, but is so large that it requires a reverse camera to maneuver it around without incident.


It’s worse than it looks.

The technology built in to make it “easier” to drive just feels irritating to me. Here’s a partial list of my complaints and grievances:

- The automatic transmission constantly lurching around while hunting for the right gear – I swear it’s getting worse by the day.

- The computer deciding for me that I should really be in eco mode – what the hell is eco mode anyway? (EDIT: It turns out that my partner turned eco mode on on purpose to save fuel. One mystery solved! Sadly, however, turning eco mode *off* does not perceptibly enhance the power delivery in any way.)

- The car automatically locking itself – apparently the consumer can’t be trusted to manually lock the doors, but until the vehicle learns to discriminate between dangerous criminals trying to get in and me trying to unload my groceries, this will continue to be highly annoying.

- Literally no change in the vehicle’s speed when you floor it – I don’t even know how that’s possible, but passing anyone is out of the question.

- The truck trying to connect to your phone so that you can make calls and text while driving – because being connected to your social network while driving makes up for the complete lack of connection you have to the road while driving, right?

- Headlights that automatically turn on and off at night, storage compartments with lights that cannot be turned off, alarms that go off when you’re not wearing a seat belt (while the car is parked) and a radio that automatically turns itself off (while you’re listening to it!) – pretty much engineered to ruin your night at the drive-in.




Sorry, we’re in a GMC Terrain! And, I believe they meant emergency brake.

This isn’t even a critique of the rental specifically; it just makes me realize how much I prefer my “old” car.

While I wait to get the touring back, I’ve been stocking up on parts for the next round of projects I have planned.

Up next: Adventures in the scrap yard. :mrgreen:

[Roadrunner]

Keep up the good work. Cool to see another touring in Canada.

Thanks, man! :) They sure seem to be rare around here. You should post some pictures of your touring! How is it holding up driving it around Montreal? (Haven't been there in a while, but I remember lots of crazy drivers and even crazier road conditions.)

[Grime]

Keep up the good work. Cool to see another touring in Canada.

[Roadrunner]

The insurance company has finally decided what they're willing to pay to have fixed from the storm damage. While the touring is in the shop, I'm going to have the rust that I described before taken care of. I also wanted to get my new fenders and a replacement set of mirrors painted.

The mini-dilemma: The body shop owner thinks that it will look like shit with only some panels repainted. He strongly suggested getting it vinyl wrapped (after the damage is repaired and all the dents are pulled, etc.) which he thought would look amazing. I hadn't considered getting the car wrapped before, but after looking it up, the idea was tempting. It would look damn near flawless from the outside. Check out the E30s that are vinyl wrapped in this thread for an idea. Plus, I could actually afford it, while a full, proper paint job would cost more than the car is worth.

There seem to be some significant downsides with vinyl, though, especially in my specific case. Some people say that vinyl will last up to 10 years, but the shop estimated 3 - 5 years. Since I don't have a garage, the wrap would be exposed to UV, contaminants from birds/trees etc., and the elements year-round. I live on a dirt road and could see the vinyl getting chewed up easily from all of the gravel and grit hitting it all the time. They also warn you not to pressure wash the car, since that could cause the edges to come unstuck. Spray washing is my main method of cleaning the car in between hand washes in the warmer months, and without a garage, it's pretty much the only method in the winter (hand washing it outside in -30 degrees c is not happening!).

And then, at the end of the day, it's an expensive band-aid covering bad paint underneath. My car will still look like a bowling shoe with mismatched fenders when the wrap eventually peels off.

I've asked a few other people for their opinions, and most think that I should not get it vinyl wrapped, with the reasons ranging from, "You don't wrap an E30!" to the fact that paint is easier to touch up.

The option I'm leaning toward now is to get the necessary panels of the car painted and just go with it. It's my daily and it's almost 30 years old; I'm not trying to get it in showroom shape, after all. If it looks that bad with the new paint compared to the old paint, we could vinyl wrap the car ourselves (even if it doesn't last too long, at least the materials aren't too expensive and it would protect the new paint for the time being), then save up to get more of the car painted in a few years.

What do you think?

[Roadrunner]

hahaha! na not impossible.. seen people do that removing steering wheels too when they try remove it without the nut on.. funniest shit to watch. As soon as I see someone attempt it I sit there with my popcorn.

Wow, and I thought I was a total noob when it comes to cars! At least I haven't sustained any head injuries yet. :mrgreen:

All these rust pictures stress me out, but I'm about to take the same trek when I get back home and yank all the carpet. My passenger floorboard is way way worse than yours fwiw, I need to check out the firewall area more closely now.

Good luck with pulling the carpet and dealing with the rust - I hope you don't find anything too scary under there. Do you have to remove the tar to get at the rust in yours? Interested to hear how it goes!

[Heitzke]

All these rust pictures stress me out, but I'm about to take the same trek when I get back home and yank all the carpet.

My passenger floorboard is way way worse than yours fwiw, I need to check out the firewall area more closely now.

[bangn]

Thanks, I'll try that! A lot of people describe it as more or less impossible to remove the steering column, so it sounded a bit intimidating to say the least. (Then again, I'm pretty sure I read a recent thread on r3v about someone who punched himself in the face when removing the shift knob. So... yeah. )

hahaha! na not impossible.. seen people do that removing steering wheels too when they try remove it without the nut on.. funniest shit to watch. As soon as I see someone attempt it I sit there with my popcorn.

[Roadrunner]

also the weird rust hole in the firewall is most likely from water in the plenum chamber.

That hole on your firewall is most likely from brake clutch fluid spillage.

Thanks guys! I will look into that soon. I forgot to mention that the rust hole in the firewall exits into the driver's side wheel well, but the rust might start further up.

[Roadrunner]

That's bad practice and something I would come to expect from a workshop that has under-quoted a job and butchers your car to get a job done. Spend the time and do it correctly. Its a BMW not a toyota ;)

Point taken. :) I'm not big on the idea of slicing and dicing my car either if I can avoid it. I'm looking for a crack-free dash to replace the old one, and thinking about anything else that needs to be replaced as well "while I'm in there" doing the job properly.

Cutting it out is lazy and Steering column isn't that hard to remove. Knock the pins at the top round with a cold chisel and hammer in the right spot and they generally undo quite easily if not by hand. Then replace with two bolts so its easier next time!

Thanks, I'll try that! A lot of people describe it as more or less impossible to remove the steering column, so it sounded a bit intimidating to say the least. (Then again, I'm pretty sure I read a recent thread on r3v about someone who punched himself in the face when removing the shift knob. So... yeah. )

if you're lucky you should be able to see past the heater hoses in the engine bay to the pipe. All the ones I have seen are aluminium :S

I'm going to check that as soon as I get my car back so that I can order the parts I need (too bad I didn't know what I was looking for earlier! ). From what I've read on r3v, E30tech etc, it seems like E30s without factory-installed AC had plastic inlet pipes, but solid info on this is surprisingly hard to come by until I can see for myself.

[bataangpinoy]

That hole on your firewall is most likely from brake clutch fluid spillage.

[bangn]

also the weird rust hole in the firewall is most likely from water in the plenum chamber. Where the firewall meets the closing panel in the engine bay that sits behind the fuse box its spot welded and lightly sealed inside the plenum chamber. Water travels past the small bead of sealant and drains between the two panels and sits there..

The rust has worked its way south it seems so you would need to remove that padding to check it out properly.. Most of the firewall rust starts from the plenum chamber when the drains become blocked too

hopefully this explains it a bit better



notice on this one how the rust has come through behind the fusebox bracket

[bangn]

Thanks for the reply! :)

From off/page2"]Here's[/URL] a thread from someone who chose the "C-section" method to remove the heater core in a non-AC E30.

That's bad practice and something I would come to expect from a workshop that has under-quoted a job and butchers your car to get a job done. Spend the time and do it correctly. Its a BMW not a toyota ;)
Cutting it out is lazy and Steering column isn't that hard to remove. Knock the pins at the top round with a cold chisel and hammer in the right spot and they generally undo quite easily if not by hand. Then replace with two bolts so its easier next time!

if you're lucky you should be able to see past the heater hoses in the engine bay to the pipe. All the ones I have seen are aluminium :S