The Bimmer Basement

[Mpower5266]

Since work is slow, and Im just getting really excited about the progress on the car, here is a super small update.

My dad found some generic rubber boots and used them as a dust covers for the headlight connectors.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

With the dust covers installed the headlights went back in and the front end is officially buttoned up.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

The dip switch(high beams) was broken and they are extremely expensive. My engineer father took it apart and repaired and redesigned it a little to make it work.

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The A/C vent covers were installed.

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And the drivers seat, its almost ready to make the trip to my garage for final detailing.

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[The J]

Stunning work. Love the craftsmanship.

 

[111R]

Didn't you say the steering wheel was being replaced or restored? Not sure about that groovy wrap...

 

[Mpower5266]

Didn't you say the steering wheel was being replaced or restored? Not sure about that groovy wrap...

I think it will eventually get a Nardi wheel, all though the funky wrap kinda cleaned up nice. I may rock it for a little bit.

 

[eljay]

This is fantastic work!!

Amazing.

 

[Mpower5266]

Super small update, as usual. We have had nothing but crappy raining days this week but we got the e9 moved over to my house Friday night in between storms.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

The plan will be to work on it here and there over the next couple weeks as the twins will let me. I need to wet sand the hood, go over the whole car with a light compound, polish, and seal the paint. I may also steam the engine bay and any other little detail stuff I find. I did my first repair Friday night by fixing the handle on the ebrake with a 3/4" deep well socket and a rubber mallet.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I will certainly share more as I get some work done this week.

 

[Purist]

The E9 is looking fantastic. Can’t wait to see it once you’ve had a chance to go over it and correct the paint. Kudos to you and your dad for all the work done on it, thus far.

Cheers, man!


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[Arclitgold]

It’s coming together. Looks fantastic!


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[Mpower5266]

I actually got some garage time in last night. I finally finished wet sanding(hopefully) on this car. This was about midway through the process. I ended up doing 2 passes with Megs 101 and one pass of Jescar compound. This was after the first pass of Megs.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I am hoping to pull it out of the garage this evening, blow off all the dust, wipe it down and give it a good looking over before the sun sets. Then hopefully tape it off for polishing after the kiddos go to bed.

 

[Mpower5266]

Didn't get a ton done in the garage this weekend, I spent a lot of time with my wife and kiddos. That being said, I did work on the E9 a little.

I finished the polish work over the weekend. Compounded the hood fully.

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And gave the rest of the car a full polish.

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And pulled it out in to the sun to give it a once over. Its looking pretty damn good.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Ill get the sealant and wax on this week and get it back to my dads shop next weekend. The bumpers are ready to go on and most of the trim can be installed. I am hoping its about 2-3 weeks out from a first drive.

 

[Arclitgold]

Wow that’s looking just so so cherry


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[Ralf11]

That era of BMW are the best front-engined cars made.

 

[Mpower5266]

More small updates on the e9. Monday night I put a coat of Jescar Powerlock sealant on and installed the hub caps.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

My dad is knocking out little projects while I have car, he painted the rocker covers.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

He also picked up the rear bumper from the chrome shop. The front bumper was not included with the car, so we sourced one shortly after buying the car. It was in much better shape than the front so we had this one chromed to match. It came out very nice.

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He also polished the front bumper using the worlds oldest can of Turtle wax chrome polish. No joke, I think that can is 30 years old..

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Last night I put the first coat of 845 on. This might be the only chemical that rivals Hoppes 9, I would wear a Collinite 845 colone.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I also cleaned and dressed two of the tires and started cleaning the windows, but I didn't get pics.

After the kiddos went to bed, I spent some time in my happy place giving the wagon a much needed wash. I forgot to turn the motion detection off on the camera so I caught this cool shot.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

 

[ricketycricket]

I spy your hand and phone taking that selfie! LOL.

 

[Arclitgold]

I’ve been wanting to try Colinite. Auto geek recently had a deal with it and some Wolfgang sealant. The colinite tops the sealant yeah?


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[Mpower5266]

I spy your hand and phone taking that selfie! LOL.

I thought someone was texting me over and over, but when I checked the alerts I was like, "that looks kinda cool." Haha

I’ve been wanting to try Colinite. Auto geek recently had a deal with it and some Wolfgang sealant. The colinite tops the sealant yeah?


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I use it over Jescar Powerlock but it should play with Wolfgang.

 

[Fred C Silva]

Awesome! Such a huge job :поклониться:

 

[MrPink]

love the transformation from basement garage to full on addition w/ wash bay. This is one of my favorite threads so far on here.

 

[ChadTexas]

Your carport wash station is really nice. I think it is a great idea to have an extra space to do projects. I also like the way you have the wash equipment ready to go.

 

[Hugo L.]

That era of BMW are the best front-engined cars made.

The Mercedes W123 would beg to differ.

 

[Ralf11]

The Mercedes W123 drives like a solid bank vault!

But who wants to drive a bank vault?

 

[Hugo L.]

Bankers. And people who want to drive the best front-engine car ever made.

 

[Robey5]

Wow. That e9 looks really nice. You’ve really made that car into a shining gem. Guten TIGHT; like a 18 YO German frauline!


More pics, please.

 

[Mpower5266]

Not a huge update but we are kinda waiting on some small parts to show up before we can put the bumpers on. Last week, the car went back to my dads shop since I was done with the paint. We then installed the repainted rocker covers.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Cleaned up the strips on the front bumper that the rubber attaches to.

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Installed the gills with the black vinyl underneath this time.

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And put on some of the trim.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And finally cleaned up the rear license plate lights before installing them in the rear bumper.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

We are waiting on some stripper so we can finish stripping the trim and polishing it and some rubber parts for the bumper. I am thinking its still about 3-4 weeks away from the first drive but I am hoping it will be done sooner.

 

[Mpower5266]

Another super small boring update but I like to keep track of these things and hopefully you all enjoy it.

Prepped the bumpers to paint the insides. We noticed they were pretty rusty so we figured it wouldn't hurt to protect them.

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Installed the rear emblem.

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Installed the rubber covers for the bumper mounts.

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And finally, bolted on its pinchers, I mean front bumper mounts. I thought it looked a little like a crab.

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More to come soon.

 

[mmsheb]

Nick,
What did you do to prep the inside of the bumpers for paint? What paint do you plan to use?
Thanks, Mike in WI

 

[Mpower5266]

Nick,
What did you do to prep the inside of the bumpers for paint? What paint do you plan to use?
Thanks, Mike in WI

Etch primer and a normal flat off white paint. From what we could tell the bumper had some sort of off white coating oem.

 

[mmsheb]

Great. Thanks.

 

[Arclitgold]

Nice work! Keep the updates coming.


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[joey1320]

Cool cars and nice shop.

 

[Mpower5266]

Thanks for all the kind comments.

Another small set of E9 updates from the weekend.

Installed the rear emblem. For now, a reproduction but we will eventually source and restore an original.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Installed the original front roundel. This will be restored as well when we source a rear one.

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Stripped and polished more trim.

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And installed that trim on the car.

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Painted the inside of the bumpers.

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Mounted the bumper center on the car. We are waiting on over riders for the bumper to show up before we can install the rest.

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Finally, we test fit the hood grills.

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We are waiting on some parts, so the car will come off the lift this week. Its at a point where we can start putting the interior back together so thats the plan this week.

Other than that I had a pretty relaxing weekend. Picked up the Wagoneer and took my wife on a day date since her folks had the kiddos. Our little town has allowed to-go drinks since Covid hit so we ate lunch and had a few beers while we walked around down town. Of course I had to snap a quick pic of the Wag.

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And another cause why not?

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Sunday, I just chilled and hung out with my parents and my wife and kiddos. Enjoyed the nice weather and hung out on the deck with the kids.

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And finally, I came up with another project. You know, since I have all this free time... I have a company coming out to quote some gravel and fill dirt since there is a bit of a drop off around the wash bay slab. I am going to have them quote gravel in this area back behind the garage near the wash bay. I have a really cool idea for this space, stay tuned.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

 

[zjohnson1]

I actually saw your Wagoneer parked there when we were at Ace growler Saturday strapped down with the kiddos. I had a peek and remarked to my wife on how clean it was, perfect day for a drive!

 

[Matias]

Nice small updates. Progress is always progress, no matter how small. It's something I'm still trying to learn, as I try to start and finish a job as soon as possible, so work too late in the evenings etc. Divide it into small manageable parts, then you have the energy to do it when you have a little bit of time, don't need a whole day or evening to do it.

Wagoneer is great, all in all that day seemed really relaxing. Good pic of the kids, may they grow and the cars progress at a steady good pace

That's a good space, waiting to see what you come up with!

 

[Mpower5266]

I actually saw your Wagoneer parked there when we were at Ace growler Saturday strapped down with the kiddos. I had a peek and remarked to my wife on how clean it was, perfect day for a drive!

I probably just missed you at ACE, I popped in for a couple of walking around beers.

Nice small updates. Progress is always progress, no matter how small. It's something I'm still trying to learn, as I try to start and finish a job as soon as possible, so work too late in the evenings etc. Divide it into small manageable parts, then you have the energy to do it when you have a little bit of time, don't need a whole day or evening to do it.

Wagoneer is great, all in all that day seemed really relaxing. Good pic of the kids, may they grow and the cars progress at a steady good pace

That's a good space, waiting to see what you come up with!

Thanks. Like my dad said, "its like eating an elephant. Just take it one bite at a time."

Speaking of, more super small updates.

Tracked down some wiring issues and got the tail lights working again.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

This also made the under hood light work. :dunno

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Glued down some elephant skin in the trunk and got it pretty much buttoned up.

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And finished installing the trim.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I also worked on a little watch project last night. I have had this Tissot since 2004ish and for the longest time it was my every day watch. Over the years it took some damage and eventually the paint on the bezel got really chipped up and looked pretty rough. This was common on these. I tried to touch it up but it looked worse so a few months ago I stripped the paint completely. Since the finish was intended to be covered with paint it was rough and the watch never looked right. Last night I was a little bored after the kiddos went to bed, so I grabbed some scotchbrite and gave the bezel a brushed look. It came out pretty nice, so I tossed it on a rubber strap I had on another watch. I'm excited to have it back in my rotation, but I do wish it was a little smaller.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

 

[Ralf11]

I might have missed it in the last 124 pages, but...

How about a close up of the tool kit?

 

[Arclitgold]

Wow that BMW is really coming together. I bet you’re impatient to get it together and drive it!

I’m impressed that you’ve been able to keep up with all the projects. I’ve mostly not done anything since my little guy was born two years ago


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[Mpower5266]

I might have missed it in the last 124 pages, but...

How about a close up of the tool kit?

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

We are actually going to pull everything out of it and put it in a tool roll, apparently the tool boxes break while driving often because of the weight.

 

[GirchyGirchy]

I also worked on a little watch project last night. I have had this Tissot since 2004ish and for the longest time it was my every day watch. Over the years it took some damage and eventually the paint on the bezel got really chipped up and looked pretty rough. This was common on these. I tried to touch it up but it looked worse so a few months ago I stripped the paint completely. Since the finish was intended to be covered with paint it was rough and the watch never looked right. Last night I was a little bored after the kiddos went to bed, so I grabbed some scotchbrite and gave the bezel a brushed look. It came out pretty nice, so I tossed it on a rubber strap I had on another watch. I'm excited to have it back in my rotation, but I do wish it was a little smaller.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Nice! I just recently finished up a Tissot project, too...neighbors gave it to me when I was a kid, didn't work, but I kept it. Finally got around to swapping in a new movement and fitting new hands. Luckily was able to get the crown off the old stem. Works great!



BTW, is it just me, or does the 2800 logo on the rear appear to be slightly bowed? Or is just an illusion from the trunklid's line being bowed?

 

[Mpower5266]

Nice! I just recently finished up a Tissot project, too...neighbors gave it to me when I was a kid, didn't work, but I kept it. Finally got around to swapping in a new movement and fitting new hands. Luckily was able to get the crown off the old stem. Works great!



BTW, is it just me, or does the 2800 logo on the rear appear to be slightly bowed? Or is just an illusion from the trunklid's line being bowed?

Awesome looking Tissot. I have the bug to build another watch, but yesterday I added up what I have spent on watches and tools in the last year.... So I am taking a break.

As for the logo, its the angle of the pic. My dad isnt the best photographer.

This might be my most boring update yet but I have the photos and time so why not.

Saturday I cleaned the seat belts.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

While I did that, my dad worked on installing the needlessly elaborate door trim and weather stripping. I really cant explain the process but the pics should kinda show it.

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Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

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Ok, that was boring and I hope you are still awake. Here is some rubber on the rear bumper.

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The over riders for the front bumper showed up, ignore the pile of fried chicken in the back ground.

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And finally, my dad started to install the vapor barriers on the door and rear 1/4. But there was an issue.

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Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

The E3 is a sedan for those that dont know, so we got one that would work for the E9 but the rest are trash. Funny story, the first time we ordered from this company they just sent an empty shipping tube so they are getting better. Rather than waiting we are just going make our own. More updates soon.

 

[Purist]

Car's coming along great, Nick. Keep up the great work and keep on sharing your progress!