Labor of love from Australia - Malachtgrun convertible running restoration

[Tzantushka]

While we are still in lockdown finally got around to fitting the upgraded starter cables and engine earth.
I bought these a while back from Bavarian Restoration as I knew the engine earth was original and wasn't looking that great.
They are certainly a thicker cross section than the originals.



Starter cable was straightforward, 12mm bolts on the battery clamp, 13mm nut on the starter.
Remove, re-route new cable, tighten & cable tie the cable to the existing loom tray.

Old cable


Engine earth was a bit more involved with the airbox & AFM removed to access the engine earth from the top.
2x 13mm nuts later, wipe-off the grime and refit.

Can't see it from the photo, but the engine earth was only attached by a few bunches of strands.
It's a minor upgrade and helps the old girl out when starting.

[Tzantushka]

Well - we're still in lockdown for 6th time...
It was a cool but sunny weekend before spring, nothing better to do than clean & treat the soft top.

Based on the receipt folder that came with the car a new soft top was fitted in 2012.
It's in reasonable condition - although the tension straps are stuffed.
Since owning the car, I've done nothing to the soft top fabric apart from regular vacuuming and infrequent washing.

Decided to give it a good clean and treatment.
Went with 303 Cleaner & Fabric Guard.
Raggtopp is also recommended but hard to find here in AUS.



To prevent water ingress & over spray during treatment ended up using one of those cheap painters drop sheets under the top.



Hosed it down, good spray with the cleaner & agitate with a soft horsehair brush.





Good excuse to take the car for a drive in the sun for an hour with the roof-up and surprisingly the top dried-off perfectly.
Once in the carport, drop sheet under the top (covering the rest of the car) and time to apply the treatment.

Instructions say to spray, which gave very good coverage using a 2-3 medium coats.
Also ended-up using a 5cm soft paint brush and brushing the treatment into the main seams & stitching to ensure through coverage in those areas.
The treatment is curing for the next day or so - will need to wait for the usual water beading photos...

Few observations.
The treatment did darken-up the fabric a little & made it look newer.
Any over spray on the plastic window was wiped off straight away.
Wasn't too stressed as the back window was given a clean-up & polish.
When you brush it on, it soaks-up a lot and turns white but dries clear.

[burkey001]

Looks good, where is the 'after' pic? :)

[Tzantushka]

Looks good, where is the 'after' pic? :)

Waiting for the fabric guard to cure and then I'll throw some water on it...

[Tzantushka]

COVID-19 lockdown continues... So not many updates.

Recolored the seat back covers.
You might remember from post #61 the seat backs were the odd color out after the F&R door cards, convertible top cover & footwell kick panels were refinished in Duplicolor Medium Beige.
Well, that has been fixed.



Yes, there's a bit of separation, but I'll fix that when the seats eventually need recovering.

Also, collected the re-skinned dashboard goodness awaiting swap over.
(not looking forward to that task)







On first inspection the texture looks pretty close to the original material - unlike the 'rubberised E36 material' from the recent OE production runs.
Although one of the centre vents copped a shunt and needs to be fixed.

For our Australian viewers, used the Dashboard Doctor in Melbourne.

[burkey001]

dash looks pretty good! Dashboard Dr?

[Tzantushka]

dash looks pretty good! Dashboard Dr?

You betchya!

That was my only option given you bought the last OEM RHD dash :)

[Albie325]

How much did the re-wrap cost you? There's only 1 place i've found int he states that does it, and they quoted me over $2500USD to have mine done. Looks like it came out great though!

[Vincenze]

This Mexican craftsman shows how he wraps vinyl over a very convoluted door panel.

[Tzantushka]

How much did the re-wrap cost you? There's only 1 place i've found int he states that does it, and they quoted me over $2500USD to have mine done. Looks like it came out great though!

Not cheap - but certainly cheaper than that...
Or freighting a good RHD dash from the UK.
Have PM'd you.

[Tzantushka]

This Mexican craftsman shows how he wraps vinyl over a very convoluted door panel.

That is impressive.
No fandangled technology there - just artisan craftmanship.

[Vincenze]

How much did the re-wrap cost you? There's only 1 place i've found int he states that does it, and they quoted me over $2500USD to have mine done. Looks like it came out great though!

Is it Just Dashes?

http://www.justdashes.com/tag/bmw/

[lukeADE335i]

The dash looks great.

Over here in Adelaide there's "Dash Original" who are pretty well respected for their work too. Here's a photo of a 3.0CS dash they did, but they do plenty of old Porsches, Alfas etc:

[Albie325]

Is it Just Dashes?

http://www.justdashes.com/tag/bmw/

Yah that's who I was referring to, was a couple years ago that I spoke to them though. Can't remember if the price included shipping to/from

[Tzantushka]

So the Dash swap has started...

The A pillars trims came-out,- as they were busted from the 1980's alarm install and needed to be repaired and the vinyl re-glued.
Cleaned up the vinyl and gave it a light dusting of Duplicolor Vinyl & fabric in matt black to bring them back to life.


This is the dash that's coming out.
It has been cracked in it's day, then an attempted repair, and cracked along the repairs.
The repair has been done with a filler and then texture paint that's spattered all over the place.
The pictures don't show how bad it is - that's why it's been hiding under the dash mat.