Big Al's Revenge: an OEM+, MTech1 325e restoration

[gnmzl]

And I thought I had made a good write up on seat recovery on my local forum.
Impressive is a weak word for your results.
Oh and valid points on the paint. Pictures really don't show these flaws you mention, but surely they are sore for the eye in person. I'll be following your progress with interest.
Keep up making this car even better!

[Albie325]

Over the last couple weeks, I've been working on getting my sport seats torn down and refinished. I acquired these seats about a year and a half ago from a guy who converted his late model 325is into a track car so they'd been out of the car for awhile. All the mechanism worked and he just wanted them out of his garage and I was happy to take them (for $125 if I remember correctly).









Honestly the seats were in pretty nice shape to begin with, with some TLC they could have been serviceable particularly the rear and passenger seat. I will list the covers for sale (for cheap) for anyone looking for a nice upgrade or to repair any tears in their bolsters etc.

I also received my Autoberry seat covers and am really happy with the quality. The leather appears identical in color to the older set but without the 30 years of fading and wear on them. The color code is BM0830, apparently there's several actual versions of "Natural" tan. Autoberry sent me several swatches prior to shipping and this was the closest match to what I already had. The stitching and fit/finish all appears top notch, even the batting is very similar to what is on the OEM covers aside from the fact that it's pink.







I was a little surprised to find out that covers for the rear seat backs were not included so I had to order a cowhide worth of leather in addition, waiting on that to come in.

As for the tear-down, there's some really good seat reupholstery DIY's out there which I'll post the links for below. I'll add in a few things I found helpful during disassembly but these do a really nice job of detailing the necessary steps. The YouTube link is to a video of a complete M3 seat reupholstery job that I'm sure many of you have seen, I only included the link to episode 1 of 5 total.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=391756

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=347892

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrdwCoTy1i0

I started with the fronts, this was not nearly as difficult as I imagined. I've also taken apart a set of comfort seats before and this wasn't all that different aside from the thigh rest.





Remove the seat latch handle (pull straight off), followed by the latch cover, pull out the bottom push rivet and the top part slides out. The bottom of the cover is held in by 2 phillips head screws. Push up to release the two clips at the top of the cover.

For the passenger seat, you need to remove the accessory latch otherwise the seat back won't come off. There's one phillips head screw holding it on, the other side just hooks in:



Next remove the headrest (I just tapped the metal supports up from inside the seat back with a hammer until is was free) and remove the tilt mechanism covers. Note the location of the two copper colored bolts. The lower one attaches to the black plastic securing nut. If the cover is stubborn (as mine were) the top screw is what holds the cover on. Pry here rather than just pulling all over the place so you don't snap the cover in half.



Bend the tab back on the release cable grommet and remove the release cable. I broke almost all the white plastic guide pieces as they were very brittle. The cables are cheap enough so I decided to replace them all anyway while the seats were apart.





Then all that's left holding the back of the seat to the bottom are two phillips head screws at the rear of the seat back. The metal tabs that the screws attach to are notorious for breaking, all 4 of mine were intact luckily.



Lift the back rest off of the seat bottom and continue to disassemble the seat bottom. See links for more details. The only thing I can add is that you have to completely detach the thigh rest in order to be able to remove the seat cover. There's a plastic holder sewn into the leather of the thigh rest that you can't remove unless the bracket for the thigh rest is separated. It's very easy, just a brass pin held in place by a metal clip, then the bolster just slides out.





Remove the outside plastic holder on the leather first (bottom side of the above pic) and compress the foam to slide the front edge of the leather off otherwise you won't have enough play to slide the thigh rest off.



Slide the thigh rest off the track:



Now you can detach the inner plastic holder on the leather cover



BONUS: found some vintage spare change:



These gotta be worth AT LEAST double by now, if only I could find documentation that they came out of an M3... For sale thread coming soon...



For the headrests, use a flat head screw driver to pry up the plastic strips holding the leather in:







Pull the metal support out, it slides out easily:



Compress the foam as much as possible before removing or you'll tear the cover like I did. Not a big deal if your old ones are shot, but it's nice to practice for when the new ones are going on. Def don't want to rip those...



All apart, toughest part of the front seats was popping off the plastic thigh rest adjuster knob and the seat height adjuster lever, they were pretty stubborn and I felt like I was going to break them but they eventually relented.



The seat back covers weren't that bad, however they had some dings and the leather wasn't going to match the new leather perfectly. They actually peeled off fairly easily, just go slowly. Once off, I used some 100 grit sandpaper to remove the fuzz that was left behind. Unsanded left, sanded right:



Removing the seat covers is pretty self explanatory, just clip all the hog rings in the back and pull the leather off of the metal tabs along the frame. It's best the bend the tabs up slightly as it will make pulling the new covers on easier, just be careful not to go crazy as they can break off.



Moving on to the rears, the biggest pain in the ass of this whole project so far has been removing the plastic seat belt holder. I was literally dripping sweat in the garage by the time I finally got them both out. At first I was going easy on them and they didn't budge, then I looked up the part numbers and saw how cheap they were to replace and yanked away, the eventually popped out but definitely not without a fight.





Cut off all the hog rings and peel the covers off, pretty self explanatory. All done:



I finished by refinishing the seat sliders, they were a little rough. Overall they came out great:





All done, just needs some grease before reinstallation:



All in all this took me about 4-5 hours spread over a couple days as I was also doing a few other projects at the same time. I took a million pictures to remember how the old covers were folded and tacked in place. I bought a steamer to help re-expand the foam, once I get the new release cables in I'll start on reassembly. I hope to have the seats done by mid-week.

I haven't started tearing out my interior yet as I was holding out hope to attend the Vintage, but unfortunately my travel plans for later that week won't allow it. I'm also probably due for a timing belt replacement and don't want to risk that long of a drive on the one currently on the car. Bummed, but now I'll get to work on tearing out the old seats, the carpet, cleaning/redying it and the rear parcel tray, swapping the dash, and wiring in the premium sound speakers and new head unit. I'm also going to install some sound deadening throughout. I'll start that this weekend, stay tuned.

[Albie325]

Thanks guys!

This car is so nice! IMHO it doesn't need a respray. It looks just right - used, but taken extremely good care of. It's your car though.
I love it

Thanks, much appreciated. The pictures make the paint look a lot better than it actually is. The fenders, doors, and rear quarters were repainted when my dad first acquired the car but have a their share of nicks/dings. The hood and roof have not been repainted and it shows. The hood has some cracked/peeling paint around the roundel that needs to be addressed and the clear coat is peeling in a few places around the car, most notably the passenger C-pillar. When I took all the door/fender mouldings off to repaint last week I found a fair amount of bubbling/chipping paint underneath as well. I can probably get away with only painting a few panels, but with the need to paint the MTech kit and the amount of work going into the car I want the paint to match.

Seat reupholstery kit came in yesterday. Haven't had a chance to tear into it yet but I hope to get to work on the seats a bit this weekend.

[gnmzl]

This car is so nice! IMHO it doesn't need a respray. It looks just right - used, but taken extremely good care of. It's your car though.
I love it

[mike.bmw]

We've had a nice run of weather here lately so I've been driving the car a bunch and stopped for some nice photo ops, I hope mike.bmw approves!

Nicely done. Great photos!

[Rob]

Car looks great and I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[Albie325]

Not much progress, still waiting on my seat covers to come in. We've had a nice run of weather here lately so I've been driving the car a bunch and stopped for some nice photo ops, I hope mike.bmw approves!

It's not too often that I have all the boys clean at the same time, so decided to take them all out for a little shoot. My neighbors probably think I'm a huge tool but it was kinda cool to see the progression of the models side by side.













Yesterday I had a nice day for Schutzhund training with the pup and there's some nice backroad twisties on the way up to the farm where we train so took the red car with me. Got there early and had a couple minutes to take a few pics:







On the way there, there's also a military shooting range and there's a few heavy artillery vehicles and machine guns sitting out along the road. I just had to get a few next to one of the larger guns:





My fiancee forced me to go for a run this morning so brought the car and the dog with us to the park, found a fellow e30'er. There was a sticker in the back window that said "Hoonigan." I waited around a bit to see if anyone came out but they never did. YOHB?



The only real progress I made was finally getting around to painting the rocker panels, what a huge difference:





The only spot of rust I've found so far, will have it properly repaired when the car gets repainted:







Couple shots at a local lunch spot we frequent:





Had to pick up a few things at Home Depot today and saw this beauty in the parking lot, of course I had to stop for a photo op:





That's all for now. Once I get the upholstery kit in I'll get to work on the sport seats. Once the interior is out, I'll work on manual trans and while I'm at it, new radiator and remaining hoses, timing belt/water pump, and heater core while the coolant is drained.

[Melon]

Old car with A/C is fantastic.

[Albie325]

This car is so clean and you do such great things to it. Thank you for sharing. The story is very cool too!

Thanks, I hope to have something a little more exciting than repainting the trim soon!

FWIW, My idle isn't perfect, but putting some miles on the car really helped it out.

I can run the A/C when cold without it stalling out, and it starts with first turn of the key every time.

Glad to hear it, mine has been running really well and I think the last thing to tighten up the idle will be the oil pan gasket. The A/C is also high on my to-do list or I won't be able to drive it much with the summers down here. Good reason to git 'er done.

[Melon]

FWIW, My idle isn't perfect, but putting some miles on the car really helped it out.

I can run the A/C when cold without it stalling out, and it starts with first turn of the key every time.

[gnmzl]

This car is so clean and you do such great things to it. Thank you for sharing. The story is very cool too!

[Albie325]

I've been putting together a parts list for the manual trans, and the only thing I can't find anywhere is the shift carrier mount bracket. It's an early model plate-style shift carrier and the trans is the earlier version without the tab for the later, rod-style shifter so I have to use the plate style carrier.

Anyone have one for sale??? Part #6 in the diagram:





All other parts are still available for purchase. If I can't find one I'll have to make one, but I don't have any idea of sizing and would prefer to buy the actual part.

Let me know, I'd be very appreciative. Thanks guys

[Albie325]

Quick update: been doing a few small projects to button everything up as I prepare for the full interior tear-down.

It's officially pollen season in NC. If you ain't from 'round these parts, here's what your car could look like after spending an hour or so outside:



Not my car but you get the idea, for that reason I've kept the toys garaged for the most part. I remember when I first moved down here from CT I was APPALLED with the pollen, you can see plumes of yellow "smoke" when cars drive by. I decided it a better time than ever to replace the air filter and decided to go with a K&N:



Anyway, once the pollen season is over (or at least less extreme) I'll do a nice little photo shoot, in the meantime I wanted to finish sprucing up the trim:

I used Eastwood plastic resurfacer for a few items including the battery cover, front grilles, kidneys, and license plate frame:





Tough to capture in the pic, but they were definitely chalky, a few shades off from the newly refinished bumper trim



They came out looking brand new, made such a huge difference when installed:



I cleaned all the trunk carpeting and was really pleased with the lack of rust including none to the battery tray. The plastic tray was still there and protected the metal nicely:



The trunk tools weren't so unscathed and I'll be repainting them soon.

I also finally got around to refinishing the door mouldings. At some point someone (OK fine it was me I admit it) got some wax on them and went over them with a buffer and it impregnated the wax into the plastic. Forgot to take a before pic, but they looked bad. I refinished using SEM trim black and they came out great:



I ended up buying brand new mouldings (aside from the driver door which is backordered) which I plan to replace along with a few other exterior trim once I get the car painted. Here's the finished SEM painted piece (above) next to the new OEM finish (below)



Slightly darker and shinier, but honestly it looked fantastic once mounted up. I may even prefer the darker painted color:



Now I just need to paint the rocker panels which I hopefully plan to do this weekend.

In preparation for the 5-speed swap, I decided to clean up the g260 that has been sitting in the garage covered in filth:





A few cans of engine degreaser, a dremmel, and some wire brushes later and it came out looking pretty spiffy:









Lighting in the garage isn't the most photogenic (as I'm sure you can tell by now), but it was nice and shiny.

Been driving around to and from work a lot, and at 80mph the tach is right around 2600rpm with the new 3.25lsd. Might be a little higher with the 5 speed based on the gearing but overall not bad. It isn't too loud or high up on the rev range to totally kill my MPG and will be a ton more fun.



Last thing I've been putting off is fixing my passenger door handle, I thought removing the door card was gonna be a way bigger hassle than it was but the job was done in 10 mins, super easy.



Every time I take my fiancee out in the car, it gives me the opportunity to walk around and open the door for her and APPEAR gentlemanly. Major points scored either way.

The handle pretty much disintegrated in my hands:



I was also pleased with how intact the weatherproofing was underneath:



Luckily I had a nice spare:



Replaced the bung and we were done:





Now when I decide to open the door for her I'll actually BE a gentleman. I guess it'll just depend on how date night goes...

Last news for this post: I ordered my seat reupholstery kit. I had initially intended on going with LSeat.com as their price is absurdly cheap for leather. My hangup with them was that their colors are not 100% OEM matching. After reviewing various DIY's/builds and speaking with a few members (namely Pootis) I decided to go with Autoberry as his seats come out exceptionally. I did end up opting for leather over vinyl. Once I get the kit in and mounted up I'll post up a writeup/review.

Driving the car around lately has been a blast, but I keep getting the itch to just go ahead and get the manual swap done. May end up being a little sooner rather than later...

[Albie325]

Like you I need to figure out how to make sure it stays connected?

If I rig something up (and it actually works) I'll make sure to post it up

Well done! Will there be a photo shoot to commemorate stage 1?

Ha yes, I guess a photo shoot is in order. As you can probably tell from the thread so far I'm not quite as artistically talented with the camera as many of you are on here. It was dark by the time I was done joyriding yesterday and today it was raining when I left work, but I think some good weather is in the forecast for the weekend.

This is such a great thread. Looking forward to seeing you and the car in May!

Sooooo I initially wasn't going to be able to make it to the Vintage and was super bummed, however I adjusted my schedule so that I can make it for the first two days! Really looking forward to it

Sucks you had to spend that much money for something so simple but as we all know...that's part of it.

Not the first time and definitely won't be the last, just glad it's all working as it should. Forgot how much fun these cars are to drive

[rjsimeon]

Awesome details. Glad you got that idle sorted out. Sucks you had to spend that much money for something so simple but as we all know...that's part of it.