MyE28.com

Chris:

This is very exciting. I know it's a lot of work but you'll be happy when it's finished and you can actually ENJOY the car.

This car certainly found the right home and I'm glad you finally bought one that was deserving of your time and talents - unlike those old strays you usually take in!

Regards,
Mike

Thanks for sharing the updates, Chris. A painter convincing you to create more work for him is the guy you want painting your car. It looks like things are progressing nicely.

This thread is delicious.

shagrath wrote:This thread is delicious.

+1
yummy!

Looks like it's going well. Brings back memories of when I had my car done - I hope your checkbook isn't smoking as badly as mine was.

Pics like this are nice to look at! Keep the pics coming!

Nice to see the progress Chris. I'm sure you're looking forward to getting the paint work completed and everything put back together. Keep up the excellent work

-RoW

To Roys point, congrats Chris...she will be sweet when finished.....great to see another one saved....keep the pics coming...

David

Chris, this is awesome progress! Your painter really sounds like a through and through car guy, not just a body guy. I was glad to see when you decided to move forward with this and with everyone else, I'm enjoying all of the photo updates! Keep it coming. This is the kind of stuff that keeps ya comin back.

Thanks. I'm stressed out.

Small update, no photos. Car doesn't look any different.

I picked up the four original doors on Saturday morning. I have to strip them down to get the wiring out to transfer to the new ones. Fortunately, I don't have to do it immediately since he's decided not to paint the jambs separate from the rest of the car. All removable panels will be painted off the car. When they're ready to go on, I'll run the wiring then.

Also received my reproduction tire pressure decal. It matches the original perfectly in size, shape and color. The text is sharper than the original. I'm disappointed we have to destroy the original decal, but it's the only way to do it right.

Right now, he's been working on other stuff, but he's just about ready to start the body repairs.

Where did you buy that sticker?

(I cannot remember if I did buy one for my car, a long tim e ago...)

Wow this is beautiful ! Soo jealous.

Not much was done to the car for a couple weeks. Last Thursday (December 20), I went to the shop to get the front and rear glass and to pull the headliner. I didn't care about the rear window as there is nothing special about it, but I've got three other E28s with cracked windshields, so I wanted the windshield. Sadly, it didn't make it between the E28 and the touring without cracking, so I was a bit upset about that. I didn't share my disdain over the windshield with the painter, but instead just pulled the headliner and photographed what was a couple of tiny bubbles below the rear window seal on the left side.





That will be repaired. I gave Mike the part number for the correct windscreen and left. He called me yesterday (Wednesday) and said his cost is $350 on it and he'll have it Tuesday. Great. He also said my car was his focus this week for bodywork and he was starting the doors as soon as he hangs up. Great. Hopefully I'll see something tomorrow (Thursday).

So, today, I came by the shop to give him the $350 for the glass and to check out the progress. He has completed all of the bodywork on the doors and the front fenders. He also cleaned the insides of the front fenders, revealing the original undercoating.





I'm happy we were able to save the original fenders as they have had the arches rolled and are actually quite clean.





They have been primed and blocked to 180. Still has to do 320, then a final 600. He removed the edge buildup from both the factory and the last paint job, as well as all of the rock chips, many of which were painted over previously. He still has to reveal the hole in the left fender for the antenna. I brought it up just to be sure, but he said he knew about it, so I felt kinda dumb.

The bodywork has been completed on the doors as well. Couple of dents here and there and the left doors had some hail damage. Better than rust. You'd never know it now. Still glad I was able to get Polaris doors. No surprises there, but he says they had been painted before and weren't prepped well underneath, so they removed all of that down to the original sealer (I believe that was shown previously). The doors have also been blocked with 180 grit and will get 320, then 600, then will be essentially ready for the color.









The car in the background is a '67 Camaro RS/SS with a 396 that is a "barn find." Belongs to the guy who runs the transmission shop in Mike's complex. It needs every body panel replaced aside from the windshield support. Owner didn't want to go with a re-pop body, to retain as much originality as possible so Mike is buying all of the panels and will weld it together himself. I looked inside the car and there are virtually no floors. Should be fun. Will give me a chance to recover before sending the E12.

So, no more updates until after the new year. He's ready to work on the actual car itself. He's had several people who couldn't believe what they were looking at when they saw the project. Looking forward to seeing it done, but I'm not really looking forward to putting it back together. Kinda burnt out I guess, been thinking about a different project. I'm going to work on stripping my old doors this weekend hopefully, then figuring out which latch parts and such are the best and go from there. From what I can see in these doors, I'll be sticking with the stuff from the "new" doors.

Outstanding.

Nice update, thanks for sharing!

I was going to bug you about progress earlier, but didn't.

Gee whiz, those rust bubbles were tiny, but look at that rust damage! I am mortified by what I may find under MY "medium size" rust bubbles in the same area.

Sounds great Chris.... slow but steady progress. I'm sure you'll be rejuvenated for the "assembly" when the time comes. Nothing like the anticipation of seeing the final results and mini- completions along the way... it's the best part of a "project" build IMO.

-RoyW

This car hit the Lotto with you as the owner Chris. Outstanding prep work will lead to a beautiful respray. Can't wait til I can see it in person.

It's looking good Chris! Just wait until you see that fresh paint on her. It will snap you out of that burnt out phase the first time you see it.

Looking great Chris!

Well done so far. Stay focused on it! Can't wait to see it done.

Looking good Chris. Thanks for the update. Keep them coming.

Thanks for the update Chris, its coming together well.
-Rod

Chris...sell the other BMWs and concentrate on the Alpina. Keep the touring as the DD. You will be set free of all of your worries.

Not long now! This is going to be super sweet when it is finished.

Here's the last update for 2012:

I received a call from Mike, so I was a bit concerned, but he actually had good news.

The windshield has arrived. It's sitting in a big box at the shop and I'm not going to touch it. I asked if it was going to be in the way and Mike said, "No." I then said, "It's staying here then."

He then said he was working on the rear panel and that I would probably want photos before it's all finished and seam-sealed. He was right. He also had the right front inner fender done and the left was ready for color. So, as though I didn't already have enough to do on this, the day of the end of the year, I added a trip across the valley onto my list.

I showed up at the shop and snuck in a shot of Mike welding:



Needed a tripod and a longer shutter speed to make it all stancey.

Here's the progress:













There is a gap on the bottom because the bottom of the trunk floor needs to be raised to meet the panel. Everything has been measured multiple times and all panel gaps are perfect at this time, so whoo-hoo. Mike knows exactly what it's supposed to look like and what to do (such as the seams under the tail lamps), so I'm confident there are not going to be any issues. He explained how the factory did it and how he will be doing it and that's good enough for me.

I'm also glad I decided to just replace the panel.



Up front, here's the left inner fender, prepped and ready for some silver base coat:



Here's the right side. They did a great job masking, but I'm still glad it was all done before I did all of my suspension refreshing. They cleaned the wheels too, so add $500 to my asking price on these lovely style 8s!



Shit just got real. The tire pressure sticker has been removed:



The import tag will come off next and then this jamb will be prepped like the others.

All of the removable panels sans trunklid are fully prepped and ready to be painted. Blocked with 180, 320 and finally 600 grit paper. All edge buildup has been removed to provide a clean base from which to work. As I may have mentioned before, the doors did have a repaint on them, so they took them down to the original sealer, then addressed any dings/dents, and prepped the entire door. I've never seen reflections in primer before!

















Then, I popped on over to the paint booth and saw my new hood prepped for paint on the underside. I did tell them that the DOT-R sticker must be removed though. I know it's been replaced. He knows it's been replaced. Everyone knows it's been replaced, so let's not ruin it with a sticker.



The underside of the hood will get basecoat and clear. The factory didn't do it this way, but I want the protection provided by the clear, so a dulling agent will be added to the clear to ensure it's as close to factory appearance as possible while being protected and easy to maintain.

So, Mike is working tomorrow as "the old lady gets annoyed when [he's] around too long." He figures it will be ready for paint by the end of the week. Exciting.

I wished him a Happy New Year and left.

You. Are. Awesome.

Cheers to the new year.

Excellent progress Chris. This car really did hit the lottery!

Great post Chris!

Just wow Chris. Happy new year!