JackBenny's 1991 318is Project

[sandlock]

Trial and error develops skill if you're smart enough to learn from the mistakes. Good luck with the rest of the panels; you're a bolder man than I with that 2000 grit in hand ha. Your tail light polishing technique is a winner.

[drutt23]

Quick question for you....how do you like the modified booster from Treehouse racing???? Is the performance of it fairly stock or is it stiffer??

[jackbenny]

Quick question for you....how do you like the modified booster from Treehouse racing???? Is the performance of it fairly stock or is it stiffer??

Brake pedal feel is awfully subjective and I really haven't driven the car enough to give a good opinion on it. The Hawk pads in the rear are too thick and grab the rotor when hot. I think when I get that fixed, I'll have a better idea. To be quite honest, it's been so long since i drove the car stock, I'm not sure I remember what stock feels like! I like the feel so far but the pads haven't really been broken in. I would not purchase the booster from Treehouse though. I do like treehouse and their eyeball control arm mounts but I was disappointed in the booster. For what it costs, it should have come with a brand new booster and it sure didn't look like one.

And lest anyone thinks I've been slacking...

Another weekend, another panel...

[drutt23]

Brake pedal feel is awfully subjective and I really haven't driven the car enough to give a good opinion on it. The Hawk pads in the rear are too thick and grab the rotor when hot. I think when I get that fixed, I'll have a better idea. To be quite honest, it's been so long since i drove the car stock, I'm not sure I remember what stock feels like! I like the feel so far but the pads haven't really been broken in. I would not purchase the booster from Treehouse though. I do like treehouse and their eyeball control arm mounts but I was disappointed in the booster. For what it costs, it should have come with a brand new booster and it sure didn't look like one.

And lest anyone thinks I've been slacking...

Another weekend, another panel...

Hmmm...that's a bummer about the booster. Rather disappointing considering it costs $400. Glad to know before I buy it though! Thanks!

And the paint is lookin good man! That gloss is lookin awesome!! :up:

[PGAero]

Seriously, looking good.

Talk about doing it right...

Thanks for the great thread.

~P

[LJ851]

If you need to thin your brake pads , flat rough concrete like a driveway or sidewalk works very well. Just rub them face down (obviously) til they are the thickness you want. I usually then give them a few passes over some 80 grit on a flat surface to give them a little finer finish before install.

[jackbenny]

If you need to thin your brake pads , flat rough concrete like a driveway or sidewalk works very well. Just rub them face down (obviously) til they are the thickness you want. I usually then give them a few passes over some 80 grit on a flat surface to give them a little finer finish before install.

This is definitely an option but I want to take a closer look at the calipers and see if I was just a dumbass when I rebuilt them.

I will try and get an update sometime this week. There is much dust in the garage from sanding. Sanding. I'm really beginning to hate sanding.

[Simon S]

Jesus Christ.
That body work is coming out nice.
Jesus Christ.

[Oleg P]

that is nice.
how long till you are completely done with the e30?

[DuMa]

amazing thread. bump for more updates plz!

[jackbenny]

that is nice.
how long till you are completely done with the e30?

Sadly, the goal for completion was for this year's Vintage but you can see how badly I failed with that. For now it will be this summer as I want to start on the E21.

I have been doing some sanding and polishing in the meantime. I'll try and get some pictures up later today.

[Massimo]

Man it has been a long time can't wait to see her finished!

[thowes24]

WOW! I just read through all 45 pages. Your attention to detail is amazing! I can't wait to see it finished!

[Ant_e30]

great work mate, enjoy the attention to detail. also as awful as it sounds its refreshing to see that even the best of us who build brilliant cars and have access to tools/others with greater knowledge etc still have issues. But its inspiring to see you press forward. I always seem to hit major snags and ask myself if others have this sh*t or is it just my luck haha

looking forward to seeing it all fall in to place :D

[jackbenny]

hai gais, I haz updates!

Life continues to impede progress on the e30. Coupled with the southern heat making the garage anywhere from 100 to 120 degrees F, I haven't been spending much time in the garage. Luckily, I got a portable A/C and while it isn't as cold as the inside of the house, it certainly makes the garage more comfortable to work in.

I continued to experiment with the pads, polishes and sanding. I upped the grit to 2500 and this helped with the scratches. I also got some Mequire's 105 and 205 compound and polish. The initial test was fairly successful.



The initial results were promising so I decided to work the entire driver's side with this technique.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I wanted more practice with the rotary buffer before I started though, so I took the sunroof panel off and brought it to the bench to work on. You might remember I initially sanded it with 1500 grit paper. As a result there was a great effort required to get the panel flat and remove the damage.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

There are still flaws though. Admittedly I am looking at the surface with florescent light but any further sanding puts the clear coat thickness at risk so I'll have to learn to live with it.

I brought the panel into the house for protection and decided to implement the same procedure on the side of the car. I started on the rear quarter.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

There is still a bit of waviness but given the circumstances, I'm satisfied with the flatness.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Blue tape was applied to the body line for protection and to keep things straight while sanding with 2500 grit.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Rear quarter completed.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Even though I had already polished the front fender, it wasn't flat enough compared to the rest of that side. That and my previous technique wasn't yielding the same results, so I started sanding the fender again with the same 2500 grit and polishing as on the rear quarter.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

much better. Here the upper portion is polished and the lower portion is sanded.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

and here is the panel finished. You can see the difference compared to a sanded panel just looking at the driver's door.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Sure do have a lot of pictures of the lights and workbench. Actually it was nice to have something standard to judge how I was doing.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

The problem is when you work this close to the paint, you get to see and know and remember each individual flaw. When everything is polished up, it just makes them more obvious. Regardless, I am pleased with the results.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Now I needed to work the driver's door. This situation was unique because I had not touched the door at all, I started sanding with 2500 grit right off the bat. Note the cheap box fan used to generate near tornadic winds in my work area.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Lights continue to make their appearance...


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


and we are left with a polished driver's side of the car.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I still need to work the paint under the door protection strip but I'm pretty pleased. I'm going to try and get the roof finished before this weekend as well as Dad is coming to visit and we are going to repair the two screwups I made in the paint.

Til then....