1983 Henna Red 323i

[kdevitt]

Managed to pick this up off eBay a few weeks ago - meant to post pictures before. Its not often that brand new OEM E30 parts come up - well it probably is, but thats besides the point :D

I actually don't think I'll be using it after all, but I'm sure I won't have too much hassle shifting it!

[BrewCity11]

Nice! My winter car came with that in perfect shape except for one cassette holder. I managed to find one used. It's on its way. Hopefully it looks new like that!

[kdevitt]

Today was quite tough! I put down a layer of primer on the offside quarter panel yesterday. Probably wasteful, and definately something a pro wouldn't do (that said, a pro wouldn't be painting a car out in the open with aerosols :D) - but having the primer down helps me spot impurities in the paint underneath, so I can smooth it down.

After a small bit of sanding you can see the red coming back up under the primer

I really wasn't happy with the full panel though, and from my experience with the bootlid, I knew that messing around smoothing off rough areas into slightly less rough lumps wasn't going to keep me happy.

So about 4 hours later...

This was tiring work, my arms were hanging off me by the time I was finished.

I put down another two light coats of etch primer, and the finish this time was much smoother thankfully.

I spent another 40 minutes or so wet sanding this down to get it as smooth as possible, and it started coming out really nice.

I re-covered any spots which were a bit light on primer after the wetsanding, and these will be done again tomorrow.

With the primer dry, I was able to put some paint down in the lights and inside the arches.

I was also able to get to coats down on the door jam.

[Japandrew73]

It's crazy how daring you are with your paint!

[kdevitt]

It's crazy how daring you are with your paint!

Its like Dr. Pepper! Whats the worst that can happen.

I'll more than likely end up getting a professional to do the whole car again, but its not too often you get a chance to practice like this, so I'm grabbing the opportunity!!

[kdevitt]

Having some decent weather today gave me the opportunity to get some paint down on the quarter panel and bottom of the door.

Its killing me not having a workshop, compressor and gun to work with - I reckon I could get close to the finish I want!

Still, despite being an aerosol job, its better than it was! My prep work is still letting me down badly though.

[Japandrew73]

Where are you getting all this Hennarot Paint?

[kdevitt]

Where are you getting all this Hennarot Paint?

Just get it mixed up by a local crowd...

[Peterkaczynski]

nice work on the e30

[kdevitt]

Seeing as this isn't a restoration, I don't mind upgrading a few bits! Haven't see this done on a non cabrio, so decided to give it a go. The auto dim mirror is one of the handiest things in the E46 - so had to have one in the E30.

Bought an E46 and E30 mirror from eBay - didn't want to risk destroying the mirror in the car in case this didn't work out.

You can see that the E46 holder is substantially shorter than the E30, the fitting for it is also completely different - the E46 one twists into place on the windscreen.

First thing was to cut the end off the E30 holder. This allowed me to place it inside the E46 holder, and measure it in place to see where to make my cut.

I marked the piece and cut another chunk off

I would of been happier being able to weld this in place, but I can't weld, or have a welder - so Araldite super resin had to do the job!

This take an hour or so to set.

In order to get the front panel of the E46 holder to fit back on, the E30 pert needed to be ground down

The rubber grommet from the E30 also needed to be cut to fit around the E46 piece

I extended the wires needed - 12v constant, ground and 12v reverse signal, and put the mirror back together again

Once that was done, the mirror just clipped back in.

I didn't wire it up yet - am going to wait for that. Will be doing a good bit of wiring, and will have the interior out too - so only want to be stripping parts once.

[Japandrew73]

auto dimming? What do you mean? does it have a light on it? Whats the little black circle in the middle bottom of it?

[PУCCKAЯ_e30ka]

your mirror is upside down, flip it. nice project!

[IRON-E]

Damn man, that's a lot of work but I'm happy to see you're not afraid to take on the tasks @ hand.


Nice work, keep it coming...

[kdevitt]

your mirror is upside down, flip it. nice project!

Ahem...good spot :oops:

[kdevitt]

auto dimming? What do you mean? does it have a light on it? Whats the little black circle in the middle bottom of it?

Basically when you're driving at night the mirror 'darkens' so headlights behind you don't dazzle you. It replaces the little lever you have at the bottom of your mirror to manually do it for you.

The little dot is the light sensor for the mirror.