My E9 2800cs restoration journal

[MPOWER5266]

We have kinda been in a holding pattern lately. The dash has been delayed since Thanksgiving and I think we have gotten in way over our heads when it comes to body work. The dash is supposed to be in today or tomorrow so I hope we can work on getting the rest of the interior buttoned up this week and then get the car to a body shop the beginning of Feb. The hood latch and mounting hardware was put together incorrectly and had some worn out parts, so we pulled all of it out to sand blast and repaint.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

We also found some original wheels, so I went and picked them up Saturday.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I am hoping that I will have some more updates soon. Its kinda crunch time for getting it to the vintage.

[m_thompson]

Check the welds on the end of the hood support. They are often cracked.

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by m_thompson

Check the welds on the end of the hood support. They are often cracked.

I had heard that, and they checked out clean.

We got the dash back and it looks amazing, I cant wait to get the interior but back together.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[MPOWER5266]

Very small update. My dad found a body guy locally that can work the panels rather than just replacing them so he buttoned the car enough to put it on the trailer.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

This morning he loaded it up and dropped it off at the body shop. The guy we are using is retired and did a bunch of hot rods and show cars. He really didnt want to take the job but my dad showed him the car and he thought it was cool and agreed to take it on if we agreed not to give out his info or even tell anyone he did the work. He made it clear that he does not want to start doing body work full time again. My dad talked to him and said they got along well so I am hoping he works out. The plan is to fix the front damage, pull dents, and paint what needs to be painted. Once its back I will try to save what paint I can with a detail. This is the first time its been out of the shop in a long time.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[MPOWER5266]

I haven't checked in lately but I have a small update. Very small. The body shop is supposed to start pulling metal this week. I hope to have an update tomorrow or Friday.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

My dad in the mean time has painted the underside of the hood.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I also picked up some BMWCCA "no space" badges for the E9 and 02, I cant want to get one mounted on the E9.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And last night I started prepping the stock wheels for paint. Im just going to rattle can them with Wurth silver and clear them. These are temporary wheels, I want to get RS's or WED's soon.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[chassis]

Great update, keep them coming!

[MPOWER5266]

Got a couple of progress shots from the body shop. He is finessing the dents out of the front nose panel.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[MPOWER5266]

The front end damage is coming out nicely.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

My dad went over yesterday to pull the door cards and trim. With the door cars off he can work the dents out of the doors. This is basically going to be a full repaint now. We arent going glass out, our body guy seems to think can work around the glass gaskets. Remember the plan was to build a driver, not a show car.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

We also got one of the wheels painted. Not the oem silver but it will look good. Again, I hope to swap these for BBS or Weds in the future.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[Dlpfcb]

This is one of my favorite build threads. I can’t wait to see this thing completed.

[chassis]

Hopefully a cold start and revs video also!

[positiveions]

Love the E9. I looked at one after purchasing the E30. I think the plethora of work on one of them made me pass-up the offer.
Some stuff came into my mind. 1) Alpina wheels will look good on this car. 2) P&S interior cleaner has some great reviews. Works on everything including leather. 3) I just purchased a steamer and love this thing. Will try to clean the interior on the E36 M3 with Dove interior before hitting it with some good dye.
Otherwise, this is a great project.

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by positiveions

Love the E9. I looked at one after purchasing the E30. I think the plethora of work on one of them made me pass-up the offer.
Some stuff came into my mind. 1) Alpina wheels will look good on this car. 2) P&S interior cleaner has some great reviews. Works on everything including leather. 3) I just purchased a steamer and love this thing. Will try to clean the interior on the E36 M3 with Dove interior before hitting it with some good dye.
Otherwise, this is a great project.

P&S is awesome stuff. I redyed my Dove Vaders in my M3 a couple years ago, not a fun job but well worth it.

My dad stopped by the body shop and got a few more photos of the E9. Dents are getting pulled, very little filler is being used, and the reflectors are getting deleted. This is going to be a great car when it is done.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[wdb]

Subbed!

[BayE30]

working in auto body industry for many years, i would pull the glass. there is no good workaround for keeping the glass in, the edges around the window seal will start to lift and peel.

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by BayE30

working in auto body industry for many years, i would pull the glass. there is no good workaround for keeping the glass in, the edges around the window seal will start to lift and peel.

We are figuring that out with our paint guy. The paint on the roof and areas around the windows is in really good shape, I may be able to save it. Or it may need to be removed... The painter also said he could lift the rubber and set it a certain way so that he could blow paint and clear under the seal. We are weighing out options but having seen his work, I am confident it will come out great.

Last night I started to work on the passenger seat from the E9. I ordered a Colourlock kit to dye some of the bad areas but first I had to clean it with their heavy cleaner. Here is the seat before cleaning.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

After giving the seat a good cleaning.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I started to just dye the bad areas on the seat bottom but the leather was faded and it looked pretty bad. Re-cleaned stripping all the dye and decided to do the whole seat laying the dye on a little thicker and it started to look amazing. This is after I finished dying the seat bottoms.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And after I finished a section on the seat back.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And the finished product. I did not dye the headrest, and its a perfect match. I guess the leather "faded" or stained over the years to the darker color. I need to get some leather shield on it tonight or tomorrow but its looking good.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Its not perfect and it still shows a little wear but I like the originality and quality of the oem leather. Now I need to do the rest of the leather.

[V-Eight]

Just loved to read the story. What a great passion I can feel from your words and photos. And off course....what a great car you bought!

Enjoy it as much as you can once it's finished!

[MPOWER5266]

Did some more leather cleaning and dying last night. I thought it would be fun to do a 50/50 on one of the seats, so I taped it off and only cleaned and dyed one half. Check out the video below.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Then I finished cleaning and dyeing the other half, the finished seat is on the left.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And a before and after video with the finished seat next to the seat I had not cleaned.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

It looks like it matches to me.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And then I cleaned the other seat with ColourLock strong leather cleaner and their brush. I thought the brand new white towel would be make for a nice example.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I think they were a little dirty.

[url=https://flic.kr

[positiveions]

Originally Posted by MPOWER5266

P&S is awesome stuff. I redyed my Dove Vaders in my M3 a couple years ago, not a fun job but well worth it.

My dad stopped by the body shop and got a few more photos of the E9. Dents are getting pulled, very little filler is being used, and the reflectors are getting deleted. This is going to be a great car when it is done.

I recently bought a low pressure spray gun for redying car interior. It’s kind of expensive but worth the money. I ordered it from Japan through eBay:

Japan ANEST IWATA LPH-50-062G Low Pressure Spray Gun 0.6mm WITH CUP F/S
I paid less than the advertised price on the link above. But there is a video whereby the guy used the gun to dye the leather and it came out perfect.

[MPOWER5266]

I did a little more work on the e9 seats. I started with the top of the second rear seat and added a little extra dye to fix the sun damage. Its not perfect but it will work.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Then I feathered the dye into the rest of the seat back. The color looks different due to lighting.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Here is a shot with the rear seats swapped and the passenger front seat, just to show that the color is correct.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I just need to put the leather shield on them tonight and then wait for the car to come back from paint so I can do the drivers seat.

[Matt@EuroJerks]

Amazing job

[Hagasan41]

WOW! Huge difference.

[MPOWER5266]

Small update. We picked up some wheel center caps for the factory 14" wheels.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Naturally I had to clean them. I started with polishing the metal. Quick wipe with IPA and then a hand polish with Nuvite "C" and "S." Here is a little before and after.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Then I moved on to the roundels. Started with a hand compound. Before.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

After compound, before a hand polish with Sonax.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And the finished product after one last IPA wipe down and sealed with Jescar Powerlock. I could have sanded them and machined polished to get a little better finish but I think this is good enough.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr