E39 V8 restoration

[DarinD 8]

Looking good Julian! That colour should set off the interior.

[Tristan 338]

Finished the trim... Pleased with the finish. It looks good in the car but too dark to photograph adequately. Here's a teaser. The colour's pretty faithful in this pic:

All the trim went back in smoothly except this piece which is a bit of a fiddle and annoyingly, I chipped it very slightly so going to have to try and touch up as it'll be too much of PITA to take it out and completely repaint and sand.

Will take better pics and post DIY over the weekend.

That looks stunning mate. Job well done.

[Allanw 1051]

Come on! Go get some pics today. I reckon it will look awsome with all the black, and probably livens it up no end.

Must be worth at least another 20HP too.

[jeffbebe 1559]

Overall very happy with the finish but am going to have to redo the centre console piece as I chipped it re-installing. The plastic trim underneath is really brittle too and a couple of important fixings have cracked or broken so it no longer snaps into place perfectly. Will repaint the trim when I can find a good centre console piece to replace the old one. Until then... It looks pretty good:

[Allanw 1051]

[Tristan 338]

Tidy!

[yng_750 247]

very sexy.

what paint did you use?

i would be tempted to try a slightly darker red, the original pic i believe was a very thin leather wrap if i recall correctly. that being said the satin finish would do that too.

though i can 100% say in now hate my wood trim

[yng_750 247]

i especially like the tv surround, even if you stuck with wood thats worth doing black IMO

[Tristan 338]

Julian, I've been reading about using heat treatment on conditioned leather to "shrink" it back to it's original size (tightening out the creases and deep wrinkles)

What do you think? This guy's done it with good results. Obviously A LOT of care would need to be taken.

http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=80602

[jeffbebe 1559]

very sexy.

what paint did you use?

i would be tempted to try a slightly darker red, the original pic i believe was a very thin leather wrap if i recall correctly. that being said the satin finish would do that too.

I used car paint from Repco. They had a wider range of colours than Mitre 10, etc. It actually looks great in the shade and then quite vibrant in the sunlight. It was the darkest red I could find that wasn't wine red. I thought burgundy would be a bit too old fashioned.

Julian, I've been reading about using heat treatment on conditioned leather to "shrink" it back to it's original size (tightening out the creases and deep wrinkles)

What do you think? This guy's done it with good results. Obviously A LOT of care would need to be taken.

http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=80602

Woah, that's awesome though bit of a worry there isn't more online about this... I wonder if a hair dryer would work? There would certainly be a lot less fear of burning the leather. The seats in mine aren't bad so it wouldn't take much to get them back into shape. I need to condition them first though as the PO has neglected them. Would be great to do this before recolouring I reckon as it should make that process much easier if there aren't too many creases in the leather.

[Tristan 338]

Further down the thread the guy mentions he initially tried a hairdryer but it wasn't producing enough heat, I think I'll give it a go in future but I'll do it on some practice leather first (offcuts from an upholsterer and deliberately wrinkle them)

[yng_750 247]

i have seem people building new seats and they use a steam gun. possibly those new steam mops could be modified to work.

[jeffbebe 1559]

i have seem people building new seats and they use a steam gun. possibly those new steam mops could be modified to work.

Guess it's the same principle - heat and water to shrink the leather back to its original shape.

Tristan, let me know how you go. I'm keen to give this a try before recolouring so happy to help with yours as well one weekend.

[jeffbebe 1559]

When I bought the car it had a fair few bumps and scrapes... I don't really like bumps and scrapes so I decided to get rid of them...

Before:

During... (I'd like to say that's me but I hired a pro. Anton from AJ Dents, really nice guy, good price and did an exceptional job!! Highly recommended)

After... Very happy with it. Looks as good as new, apart from the dirt, but that I can fix!

Cost $300 all up which I think is great (The dent by the headlight and the one on the bonnet were much worse than they look in pics), especially considering it would have cost upwards of $600-800 to get a similar result from a panel and paint shop. Also, having watched Anton at work, I'm much more confident now that I could fix some of the smaller dings myself in the future (although, touch wood there won't be too many!)

Edited June 14, 2013 by jeffbebe

[beemn 50]

Was heading home yesterday and saw the guy there working on your car..bonnet was up and the dent looked big! Did a lion jump on it?

[jeffbebe 1559]

Was heading home yesterday and saw the guy there working on your car..bonnet was up and the dent looked big! Did a lion jump on it?

Hahah! I don't know, it was there when I bought it. Judging by the fact I couldn't push it out at all and that the bonnet needs a pretty hard push to close on occasion my best guess is that the PO dropped it closed with something still under the hood (a screwdriver, wrench, etc). Schoolboy error but could also knock the bonnet out of alignment and create a flat spot like this one.

[jeffbebe 1559]

Got some new stuff from Schmiedmann today... Part 1 of a truckload of gaskets - though these are the biggest bits.

2 x front door gaskets (the bits that attached to the body not the door)

Front and rear window gaskets

Fancy gloss black FL kidneys (tried some cheap aftermarket ones on my last car and they were sh*t so decided to get some decent ones)

[NZ BMW 368]

Where did you get the windscreen gasket from?

[jeffbebe 1559]

Where did you get the windscreen gasket from?

All from Schmiedmann - bought one from BM Workshop about a 18 months ago for my old car and it was almost 3 times the price. The rear windscreen's proving to be an absolute b*tch to get in along the top right. Had no problem when I replaced the one on my 528, this one's proving very problematic. Can't see any obstructions but the window sealant looks pretty thick in the corner it won't fit properly.

If anyone's got a foolproof technique let me know!

EDIT: Fixed. Looks like the rear windscreen has been replaced at some point and the old rubber was trim was glued' in with too much sealant. Had to cut some of the extra sealant out, repaint the scratches I made cutting out out (it's not easy stuff to remove!!) so it doesn't rust under the trim, and then the trim fitted perfectly.

Also discovered BM Workshop serviced the car for many years and the previous owner was happy to share old service info. Looks like it was exceptionally well looked after up to about 4 years ago when it changed hands. Good to see that some of the big jobs (cooling system, suspension) were done at around 120,000kms - it's done almost 60,000 since then but they should be good for another 40-60K.

Edited June 20, 2013 by jeffbebe

[jeffbebe 1559]

Pretty happy with the cosmetics now.. On with the engine!

[Michael. 2312]

Pretty happy with the cosmetics now.. On with the engine!

Those wheels are such a good match for the E39.

[NZ BMW 368]

I saw this parked across from the pools this morning, the red trim looks great. I stopped for a sneaky look through the windows whilst walking past.

[jeffbebe 1559]

I saw this parked across from the pools this morning, the red trim looks great. I stopped for a sneaky look through the windows whilst walking past.

Thanks. Just got some Pellecare topcoat to redo the black leather as well so will crack into that when I get a day free.

[jeffbebe 1559]

Figured it wasn't worth spending a lot of time on the paint until I'd fitted the ACS spoiler I nabbed off my old 528. It was a PITA to get it to stick last time round so I decided not to f*ck around with 3M tape or that kind of stuff and went straight to hardcore glues. BMW recommend an adhesive called Betalink but I couldn't a stockist anywhere in NZ and dealers aren't much help on a Sunday if you're not buying a car. Anyway, opted for Sikeflex-227 which I'm assured will work equally well... The proof will be in the pudding, as they say, plus this stuff's black so won't show up at all through the back window.

Cleaned up the glass with some meths, lightly sanded the underside of the spoiler and cleaned with meths too before applying a thin line of sealant about an inch from the edge right the way round. Seemed to be a much better fit than my old car and fitting was pretty straightforward. Used green painter's tape and a bit of cardboard packing to provide a bit of leverage to the tape and parked in my work garage so it can stay dry and cure for 24 hours.

Fingers crossed it'll be rock solid and not fly off as soon as I go over 60kms (as spoiler's affixed with 3M tape are prone to do).

Always liked the fairly sublet look of the spoiler on my old car so wanted it on this one. Probably be the last cosmetic mod I do unless I can find a front lip/sword I like that isn't ridiculously over-priced.

Edited June 23, 2013 by jeffbebe

[yng_750 247]

That sikaflex is very very good stuff. Used by alfas to glue the rear quarter panels on as they dont weld them on some models.

Also very very hard to get off again when its been there for a few years