Dar-Dar's 1995 Avus Blue E36 M3 Project Car

[Dar-Dar]

I finally got a strut bar and it came in last night. It's an old Eibach that's extremely light weight. It isn't a fixed or a solid strut bar that's more popular and preferred for the E36s. But strut bars are meant to transfer lateral forces anyway.

It's a bit dirty. I'll clean it up and give it a nice polish. I'm only going to paint the two side mounts wrinkle black.

 

[webby]

You need to email the previous owner a link to this thread

 

[Dar-Dar]

You need to email the previous owner a link to this thread

I'll send him something by the end of this month. That marks one year of ownership.

 

[Dar-Dar]

I'm just going to leave the strut bar as is. I'm too lazy to do some painting or polishing.

 

[Sarcras]

There's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Nix]

I'm just going to leave the strut bar as is. I'm too lazy to do some painting or polishing.

Now there's something I didn't think Id hear!

 

[Dar-Dar]

@jrotax101 , I picked up a Stromung yesterday.

 

[bootyluvr]

@jrotax101 , I picked up a Stromung yesterday.

I use to have a Stromung catback on my '07 WRX!

 

[Dar-Dar]

I installed H&R Sport Springs about a month ago (June 6, 2017) as well as SPC Rear Adjustable Lower Control Arms.
Dat camber though. I couldn't add more positive camber since it was rubbing badly. This was around -3.5 degrees.

 

[Dar-Dar]

Body Repair (Rear Half) Part 1:

Before I purchased the car, it was rear ended. The person or shop who did the repair did a terrible job where the paint did not match at all and the overall body work was worse than a half assed job. It was also hit on the driver side rear quarter behind the door. The rear end was the worst part of the car aesthetically and I got tired of seeing how ugly it was. Lol. So I watched a ton of body work repair videos on YouTube (The Gunman channel) and I applied what I learned to the BMW.

Pictures of the damages and crap paint job.
I started by sanding the affected surfaces down to the bare metal using a 80 grit 6" hook and loop sanding pad on my Harbor Freight DA Polisher.


I literally opened Pandora's Box by doing this job. Lol. There was rust on the rear quarter panel that was bondoed and painted over. C'mon man?


And more rust. It never ends!

 

[Dar-Dar]

Body Repair (Rear Half) Part 2:

I coated the rusty areas with POR15 to completely stop the rust. According to their website, POR15 can be primed and painted over (which I didn't know).

I applied seam sealer on exposed creases and gaps once the POR15 was dry to the touch. Then body filler process was started.
I cut off the rusty part of the rear quarter and applied POR15 (inside and out).I also got this trick from Eric The Car Guy where body panels can be repaired using a product called 'Tiger Hair'. It is essentially a body filler that is reinforced with fiberglass. It is just as strong as sheet metal depending on how thick it is. Plus, I did not want to weld a panel on since that part does not affect the structure of the vehicle. Would I do this job on a new car? Nope.
I used a piece of cardboard to get the general shape formed on the panel.I sanded the area down after the tiger hair cured, applied more to get it nicely leveled compared to the passenger side, and sanded again. Once satisfied with the look, Body filler was applied then sanded down.
The shape is extremely similar to the passenger side and I think I did a great job.

 

[Flightmaster127]

looking good so far. Wanna come fix the cancer spots on my 97 civic?

 

[Dar-Dar]

Body Repair (Rear Half) Part 3:

Once the body filler was leveled and sanded smoothly, I began the priming process.

I sprayed the bare metal with self etch primer, then everything else with filler primer. About 4-5 coats were applied.
I then wet sanded everything down with 400 and 800 grit sandpaper for the preparation of base and clear. I applied spot putty on some imperfections such as pin holes on the surface then resanded.

 

[Dar-Dar]

Body Repair (Rear Half) Part 4:

I sprayed four coats of Base (from Automotivetouchup.com) and around 5 to 6 coats of clear. I expected runs since this entire paint job was done using cans. Im too lazy to use my paint guns since they are a pita to clean. Lol.

It's okay to have runs or orange peel on the clear coat. That's the whole point of wetsanding.

I started with 1500 to 2000 then finished with 3000. I have a 5000 grit, but I didn't want that part of the body to be the only part to have an extremely glossy finish. Every factory paint has orange peel, even Mercedes or BMW.

My DAs are life savers.


I started cutting using Meguiar's M100 with Meguiar's Microfiber Cutting pads, then Meguiar's M100 with an Orange Pad. I finished it off using a Meguiar's M205 and a White Pad for polishing.

And then a few coats of Meguiar's Synthetic Wax.

I was quite pleased with the result especially since this was the first time I've ever done body work. It was very time consuming and it took me the entire month of June to do this. Haha.

 

[Dar-Dar]

looking good so far. Wanna come fix the cancer spots on my 97 civic?

I've finished the job. It just took me a while to upload everything since all the photos were in my phone.

Just watch the Gunman on Youtube and use spray cans.

 

[Dar-Dar]

Fender rolling? I ain't got time fo' dat.

I wanted to add more positive camber on the car but the fat tires were rubbing on the fenders when I did. -2 degrees, at most, was my desired angle measurement. I did not have a fender roller and rolling would not have fixed the rubbing issue, so I decided to shave the fenders instead. The tools I used were a grinder and a Dremel. The job was pretty simple, just grind away.

I touched up the exposed metal with self etch primer and base coat. Nothing fancy really.

The camber is much better now.

 

[ron v]

Just can't leave that car alone can u Dar? Nice work as usual!

 

[Nix]

Wow man, your body work and paint is getting very very good especially for the limited equipment you are using. I'm impressed as heck. I'd say that looks damn near perfect.

Tiger hair is an interesting product.

 

[Dar-Dar]

Just can't leave that car alone can u Dar? Nice work as usual!

I don't want it to be a rust bucket.

 

[Dar-Dar]

Wow man, your body work and paint is getting very very good especially for the limited equipment you are using. I'm impressed as heck. I'd say that looks damn near perfect.

Tiger hair is an interesting product.

Thanks man. I suppose I'm a pro with the rattle cans now. Those Youtube videos help so much. Haha.

Yeah, Tiger Hair is some gross looking stuff. But it did the job quite well.