Pics of my DIY Paintjob on my '87 535iS

[M3 Ryan]

I have finally repainted my E28. Here is the whole process from start to finish over the last 3 months. I will post one from each stage of the job, and then several of the final results.

The start of the project, at the end of december...


sanding down the body for primer...


priming, one section at a time...


blocking down the primer to check for dents and make sure its smooth...


repairs- rusted trunk seal area, this was the only rust on the car.


All primed and ready for final masking...


building an air-tight booth with filtered air and a fan.


paint and chemicals ready for mixing


all masked off, getting a final once-over with a tack rag to get final dust off surface


shooting first layer of basecoat (3 layers were used)


basecoat finished, drying for 20min before clearcoat is applied.


All clearcoated, drying for a few days before colorsanding begins.


colorsanding with 1500 grit


Polishing out clearcoat with compount, then a polish.


New glass moonroof from a Saab 900 '87-'94 (bolts right up!)


Compleated project!




All in all, I spent around 150 hours on this project. This was a long 2.5 months, but most of that time was spent not working on the car because of the rainy weather. I am soo glad to have the car back together again!
The paint is pretty good for the conditions in which it was painted in. I still need to put the sideskirts I fabricated from aluminum onto the car, I havn't decided whether or not to paint them body color or to just paint them with black undercoating.
The 18's are from my M3 and are only temporary. I had to put some new tires on my 17" motorsport II's so it was easier to have the off to take into work for replacement.

Let me know what you guys think. I did a few mods while I was in this project, like shaving the antenna off the quarter panel, blacking out ALL the trim, the moonroof install, and some new rear shocks. I am happy with the car, but now its time for some suspension repairs like new links/bushings in the front and rear and just a general overhaul of the components under there.

I will try to finish the write-up I started on how to repaint your own car in-expensively sometime soon.
Total cost of the paintjob, with materials was around $500. This is a 2-stage urethane paintjob and looks pretty decent. The clearcoat is a little dry, and I might respray it in a year or so, but for now I am just going to drive the car and enjoy it.

I am beat... off to bed.
Later guys!

[Raj]

Good stuff! I think the skirts would look better body-colored, unless you painted the lower edge on the airdam black.

[Shawn D.]

Looks great!

[Rich in Tupelo]

Looks great.

[JBort]

That's quite an undertaking; great job!

Hope to do the same soon.

BTW, your moonroof reference should read "Saab 9000", not "900".

[Tjn182]

Thats the kind of job I wish I could do on my car -- I got all of the tools... none of the experience...

[greg.epps]

Ryan, looks great, can you squeeze in some time to paint mine?

What ratio did you use to mix the Gatorade into the paint? Or was it used as part of the clearcoat?
[QUOTE="M3 Ryan"]paint and chemicals ready for mixing
[/QUOTE]

[ddstl]

Man, now you've got me actually thinking I can paint my own car!!! :p Doubt a home job would look so nice when working with a black car though. Nice work!

About the rust in the trunk seal recess: I have some rust on my black car, the worst of which is in the trunk area, including the area underneath and surrounding the seal. How did you go about removing it? Did you have to rebuild the metal at all, or was it mostly surface rust?(mine unfortunately is not just surface rust!!)

TIA

jv

[deepdiver]

Very nice job. Me I think no skirts unless on a lady.

[shifty]

Ryan,

My GOD you did an outstanding job. I vaguely remember your posts about painting your M3 from the E30Sport group a couple of years back. I think you were about to do it at the time. The pic of your M3 in your sig just says everything anyone needs to know about your painting prowess. You have a gift, my friend! You really do!

The limited knowledge I have about the prep and painting process tells me that there are hundreds of factors that come into play for a good paint job. Everything from making sure the surface is perfectly clean down to the correct angle of incidence of the paint gun upon the substrate. I know it takes years to actually be good at this, but would you believe they cut people loose with only a few months of experience to paint multi-million dollar aircraft in the Air Force?

The E36 M3 wheels that were on your 5er before the painting process are the exact wheel I want to run when I eventually get to it. It looks to me like you have the 7.5" version of that wheel all the way around. I plan on running an 8.5" in the rear. What spacers are you running in front and rear? 15mm all around? 20 in front and 15 in back? 20 all around? What tire width are you running? And do you have any issues with rubbing at any of the four corners with your setup?

The car just looks breathtaking now, Ryan. Outstanding job! I'm a big fan of a semi-monochrome look on an E28. I always spray my side markers and other lenses smoked when I get another E28, but I really like the clear lenses on your silver 5er. Having the bumpers and trim shadowlined -- which, by the way, looks magnificent -- would probably cause smoked lenses on your car to be just too much black on a silver car. I feel that you definitely chose the right route to go with the lenses!

Once again, good job! I can't come up with enough superlatives to describe your work!


[Edit by Shifty on [TIME]1111531268[/TIME]]

[Jon in Richmond]

Just one word, GORGEOUS! ~0 ~0

[Newman]

~0 OMG I wanna paint my car now, but I know I never could. I would love to respray my Royal Blau. She needs a touch up from rust and a ding or two, worried about the paint being matched by who ever does it. Thats beautiful man, great job.

[Bob in San Jose]

Ryan,

You have to bring the e28 to Bimmerfest. It looks terrific.

Bob

[M3 Ryan]

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys!
to answer Shifty's wheel questions, my current wheels are 18x8.5 et15 with 225/40/18's and NO rubbing anywhere, mild rolling of rear fenders.
The motorsport II '95 M3 wheels are 7.5" all around with 235/45/17 Eagle F1 GS-D3's in back, Pilot Sports in front.

Bimmerfest is at my work (I am a BMW Tech at what was Cutter Motors, Now Santa Barbara Auto Group) so I will have my M3 there for sure, and possibly my 5er if I can get someone to drive me home from work friday night and I just leave it on the lot overnight.
See you guys in a month!!

[Guest]

Ryan,

Great Job, your paint job looks great.

The limited knowledge I have about the prep and painting process tells me that there are hundreds of factors that come into play for a good paint job.

Shifty,

I've never painted a car, but I do have extensive experience painting Scale R/C Airplanes with Automotive Paints. The two most important factor in achieving good results is attention to detail (following instructions) and PREP WORK.

You don't need $$$s in equipment and a state of the art spraybooth to do good work. Some of the best custom paint jobs you'll find anywhere come from DIY painters painting in their garage

Rich

[jay]

Car looks awesome Ryan! Great work! I love how it all ties in with the shadowline bumpers, trim and clear lenses. Can't wait to check it out at BF this year. Let's see some pics of those skirts...

[shifty]

Ryan,

What spacers were you running on the E36 M3 wheels?

[Tim in N FL]

Ryan,
I am SO impressed with what you did here. Beautiful work!!! My God...you
are the man...the very essence of a DIY'er, in fact Compleat DIYer, IMHO.
Cheers,
Tim

ps.
love both the new wheels (e36 ///M3 style) and the new fancy wheels.
What are they???

[Edit by Tim in N FL on [TIME]1111617865[/TIME]]

[jay]

[QUOTE="Shifty"]Ryan,

What spacers were you running on the E36 M3 wheels?[/QUOTE]

Shifty,

If you need spacers I have some 20mm H&R spacers that I was going to use to fit the e36 wheels onto my e28. I don't need them anymore....

[Hunter has a Bimmer3]

AWSOME!

[Clint in the 'burgh]

That is Fantastic Ryan.

I really like the look of the rearend without the park bench though.


Looking forward to the DIY article.
If you post it on another board, please post it here too.

TIA

[shifty]

[QUOTE="jay"]Shifty,

If you need spacers I have some 20mm H&R spacers that I was going to use to fit the e36 wheels onto my e28. I don't need them anymore....[/QUOTE]

Thanks Jay, but I don't even have the wheels yet! I was just trying to compare notes with someone that's running the M3 wheels. I'm thinking of using the staggered setup and running a 20mm spacer in front and a 15mm in the rear. The 15mm spacer in the rear will bring the offset to the optimal offset for maximum rear tire width.

[M3 Ryan]

Shifty:
The spacers I used were the same as on my M3 only switched front and rear. They are 20mm in the back and 25mm bolt-to-hub in the front. They didn't rub and it filled the arches decently but not as well as my 8.5" wide 18's do.
The 18's are BBS LM Knockoff's made by SEVAS. I got them off of e-bay last summer. They are 25lbs and perfect fitment with only the need of hubcentric rings as they are for later model 5ers

[Monotalonawd]

Sorry if it has been posted before, but is the front bumper shortened? Maybe it's the black trim that makes it look like it. That makes a big difference in look, for the better!

Congratulations on the job!

[Special]

That is sick man. And you have a lift in your garage? thats amazing.