$500 325i Vert Build: M52 Turbo

[JRHemmen]

Took my head off for machining on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised at how clean it was. I know I never want to go above 500WTQ so I have no need for a forged rotating assembly, but I do plan to have a shop hone and replace rings/bearings. Plenty of parts have arrived, I'm hoping to have the head rebuilt and potentially pull the M20 over Christmas. Sent from my OnePlus 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[JRHemmen]

Had a very impulsive black Friday weekend, made quite a few purchases for the project:

Cutring headgasket
Copper spacer to lower compression
ARP 2000 head studs
Swap engine mounts
Lightweight flywheel
FX250 Clutch
Vanos rebuild kit
Oil pump rebuild kit
New timing chains
Precision 6262 .63 AR turbo
RSI T3 Turbo manifold
New exhaust studs and nuts
Chase Bays brake booster eliminator, BBE line relocation kit, clutch line, vanos line, and slave cylinder line

[Albie325]

Much appreciated, thanks!

[JRHemmen]

I realized that in all my focus on paint I completely forgot to mention that I got an M52 to drop in here. I plan to replace as much as possible without removing the rotating assembly before turboing it and dropping it in.

Also, the spreadsheet that I attached above will be out of date as I am working out of a local copy that I have saved to my computer. If anyone has any questions related to it or wants to see an updated version, let me know.

[JRHemmen]

Wow, paint came out really well, and those rims are beautiful. Was looking back through your paint pics, do you have prior experience with paint and autobody? What paint setup (gun, compressor size, moisture system) did you use? I looked through your spreedsheet, but how much paint product quantity-wise did you buy in total? The reason I ask is I'm looking into getting my car repainted but the prices I'm seeing are steep. I toyed with the idea of painting it myself awhile back (I've done a ton of research and I'm aware that this will be a grueling and potentially foolish endeavor) but am curious to hear your experience with it. Looking forward to more updates!

Thank you! I'm super pleased with the rims. I've painted some with spray paint in the past, but this was my first time using a gun and first time cutting/buffing. I used the two harbor freight Black Widow guns ($160 each w coupons) with a measly 20 gallon Campbell hausfeld compressor, in line moisture trap, and inline pressure regulators.

I used PPG deltron paint with the deltron 3000 clear. I bought 1qt of basecoat (2qt sprayable, 1:1 mix) and 2qts of clear (4:1 mix). I need more base since I sanded it off and redid it, but it would have been enough if I hadn't I think. I also used Speedokote primers, bought a gallon of each and used very little. However much you buy, it's probably a safe bet to buy twice as much clear as base.



I definitely think painting your car is something you can do yourself. I'm a bit of a realist, which certainly helped me along. My thought process was this; The car needs painted. I cannot afford to pay someone else to paint it. I am going to paint this myself.

The paint turned out great, but I definitely missed a lot of small dings and waves in the body that I wish I had caught. Its amazing how much more prominent those things are when the paint is fresh.



Hope this helps and good luck!



Sent from my OnePlus 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[Albie325]

Wow, paint came out really well, and those rims are beautiful.

Was looking back through your paint pics, do you have prior experience with paint and autobody? What paint setup (gun, compressor size, moisture system) did you use? I looked through your spreedsheet, but how much paint product quantity-wise did you buy in total?

The reason I ask is I'm looking into getting my car repainted but the prices I'm seeing are steep. I toyed with the idea of painting it myself awhile back (I've done a ton of research and I'm aware that this will be a grueling and potentially foolish endeavor) but am curious to hear your experience with it.

Looking forward to more updates!

[JRHemmen]

This new paint looks incredible after polishing. I got tired of working on the body and decided to do a quick refinish of my style 5s so I can get the tires mounted and clear up some floor space. I can't complain for a day and a half of work though. Sent from my OnePlus 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[JRHemmen]

I had a few people on Reddit express interest in seeing my budget for this project, so I figured I'd share it here as well. Linked is a spreadsheet with every part I've purchased, as well as quantities, vendors, prices, etc. I hope this can be useful for someone.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3rn51afBTTHcDh3bUdiakV4NlZTUVN6SjZ0M2R3bXNSX0U0/view?usp=sharing

[JRHemmen]

Also managed to get the windshield back in after touching up some flock on the dash. Ordered new grilles, roundels, windshield lock, driver side mirror, antenna delete plug, and license plate lights. I can't wait to get this thing together! Sent from my OnePlus 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[JRHemmen]

So, after coming back a week later with fresh eyes I realized just how poorly I painted the car. Soooo.... I stripped it all down and painted again. It was an expensive mistake, but the car looks leagues better than it did before. I also took the opportunity to fix a few of the dings that I missed the first time around. The body still isn't perfect, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I'll upload pictures from mobile in a post below.

[JRHemmen]

Got the rear quarter repaired and painted the car. There are some spots that I'll need to sand, bondo, and paint again that I missed the first time around. They're all on the bottom of the passenger side, so it was probably a result of poor lighting. First time using an HVLP so orange peel is real, but I think it laid on thick enough that it'll be glass after cutting and buffing. Sent from my OnePlus 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[Albie325]

OOF. No bueno, hope you guys are still friends but man I'd wanna give him a forklift to the face.

[gnmzl]

Oh man, what a bummer! I got super excited to see your progress on the bodywork and then that mishap.... Hope you are able to perform a quality repair on that spot fast enough

[JRHemmen]

Painting will be delayed. A friend smashed into my rear quarter with a forklift. Sent from my OnePlus 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[JRHemmen]

The moment I realized that my trunk and hood were not in fact Alpinweiss, but rather white spray paint on top of black spray paint on top of alpinweiss.


After more hours than I'd like to admit of stripping, sanding, bodyfilling, etc.


My DIY poor-man's paintbooth


And how the car sits now, after 2 coats of epoxy primer and 3 coats of urethane primer. There are a couple spotted I missed that need some more filler and a quick prime, but I should be laying color next time I go home (in 2 weeks)