Henna Red 323i

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kdevitt
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Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:08 pm

So yet another update!

Heres the finished result with the spoiler. Have to say I really love this spoiler - had put one on my dads 1986 320i a long time ago, so it was something I definitely wanted.

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Anyhoo - heres the bottom half of the bootlid, the part where the 323i badge used to be specifically....

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So the spoiler had to come back off again - amazing the plastic nuts holding it on were still a bitch to remove, despite them not being fully tightened.

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Above is the results of sanding the whole bootlid at the same pressure - the area under the badge obviously had a lot less paint covering it!

I stripped all the plastics, locks off etc and sanded down any rough areas, and surface rust. Quite of bit of the paint had bubbled, so I took it down to bare metal.

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I did have a slightly frightening moment when I shut the bootlid, with the lock removed - I thought for a moment I'd never open it again, but a quick prod around opened it back up.

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With a bit more sanding done, and the back of the car masked up I was left with this fine sight.

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I laid down two coats of primer - will leave overnight and tackle again in the morning!
Last edited by kdevitt on Tue May 07, 2013 10:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Alex
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Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:11 pm

Awsome getting the love it needed, real credit to you :cool: :D
vinni
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Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:34 am

Wow that spoiler looks good on there. Keep up the good work. :cool:
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The_Diddler
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Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:39 am

Great work, looking forward to the next installment!!!!! :D :D
E30Gheko
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Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:44 am

Mate that's starting to look really good. I also love that spoiler. How are you matching the paint? I can't tell from the pictures but the red ones tend to fade over time.
kdevitt
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Wed Dec 31, 2008 1:02 am

Cheers guys - its quite an enjoyable experience. Not needing to use the car anytime soon really helps too - means I can afford to take my time with it.

Need some bits for it by the way in case anyone has them. Need the black plastic strip which runs at the top of the boot, and the reg plate lights too.

Black strip is at the top of this picture...

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E30Gheko wrote:Mate that's starting to look really good. I also love that spoiler. How are you matching the paint? I can't tell from the pictures but the red ones tend to fade over time.
Its increasingly looking like only the roof and bonnet will escape paint, so to that end I've had no paint matching issues! I'm really happy with the match against the polished paint - its fairly bang on (once the old stuff is porter cabled!)
Last edited by kdevitt on Tue May 07, 2013 10:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ollie_bwoii
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Wed Dec 31, 2008 1:31 am

Looking Awesome! Love the Tech1 Spoiler in Henna! :cool:
kdevitt
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Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:09 pm

Haven't really had too much time lately with the car - being back to work, the weather being crap, and with a few other things, but such is life. Theres only a tiny bit of progress in this post.

Anyhow - after laying down a coat of primer, it was fairly obvious the back of the car was as smooth as a typical Irish road...so out came the filler. Most of the marks in the car were down to my sanding to be honest - I probably went down further than I needed to, but felt I was better off taking out any rust and bubbling paint completely rather than 'smoothing' it off and painting over it.

I put a skim of filler anywhere where there was an imperfection - which was a substantial enough area.

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I let this try for a few hours and set to work with the sandpaper.

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So its fair to say that this was my first major fuck up. I knew the grade of sandpaper I was using was too fine - it took me hours to get the result above, and it was still, well, a smooth sort of lumpy. I re-primered, and it looked decent - so on I continued.

I sprayed the inside of the boot - got about three coats put down. Am quite happy with how it turned out - not that anyone will really be seeing it!

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So - I put down several coats on the main part of the panels, I was reasonably happy with how it went.

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Once it dried though, my earlier mistake shone through! There were several high points, so I decided to start sanding it back again.

I tackled a small section first -

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And then did a bit more - four and a half hours to be precise (excuse the crappy photos - didn't have my own camera with me!)

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Am very happy with the results of the re-sanding - its ultra smooth. Car is covered up now waiting for a bit more primer and paint.

Finally - managed to test fit one of my new parts! Only a small piece, but looks well imo.

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Last edited by kdevitt on Tue May 07, 2013 10:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:03 pm

kdevitt wrote:Cheers guys - its quite an enjoyable experience. Not needing to use the car anytime soon really helps too - means I can afford to take my time with it.

Need some bits for it by the way in case anyone has them. Need the black plastic strip which runs at the top of the boot, and the reg plate lights too.

Black strip is at the top of this picture...

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Its increasingly looking like only the roof and bonnet will escape paint, so to that end I've had no paint matching issues! I'm really happy with the match against the polished paint - its fairly bang on (once the old stuff is porter cabled!)
The black cover you are after is still available from the dealers, i know i got one for mine....... :D

Cover 51 47 1 904 968 cost about £14.00 + VAT

You may also need new fixings..

Rivets 51 48 1 905 599 about 24p each at VAT, you'll need 4
The_Diddler
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Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:04 pm

Great :D thread keep it coming.................
DanThe
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Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:06 pm

Keep at it and you will soon have some nice paintwork, in regards to the "colour coded Vs black plastic" mirrors my old chromie had the best combination of the two

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Colour coded can be a bit overkill on a standard bodied car but the black plastic can also look out of place
kdevitt
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Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:10 pm

The_Diddler wrote: The black cover you are after is still available from the dealers, i know i got one for mine....... :D

Cover 51 47 1 904 968 cost about £14.00 + VAT

You may also need new fixings..

Rivets 51 48 1 905 599 about 24p each at VAT, you'll need 4
Managed to pick up a second hand one during the week actually - was in perfect nick, got the two reg plate lights, and two wings - all for €20. The fact I'd already ordered a wing brand new from the dealers was a bit of a pain though!
The_Diddler
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Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:15 pm

kdevitt wrote:
The_Diddler wrote: The black cover you are after is still available from the dealers, i know i got one for mine....... :D

Cover 51 47 1 904 968 cost about £14.00 + VAT

You may also need new fixings..

Rivets 51 48 1 905 599 about 24p each at VAT, you'll need 4
Managed to pick up a second hand one during the week actually - was in perfect nick, got the two reg plate lights, and two wings - all for €20. The fact I'd already ordered a wing brand new from the dealers was a bit of a pain though!
Good stuff, looking forward to the next chapter.... :D
kdevitt
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Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:33 pm

So, thankfully some progress at last!

Managed to get the boot lid and rear of the car finished off. It wasn't without trouble though. I re-primed the nearside rear of the car, and the primer reacted with the paint - meaning it was out with the sander again. I took the whole of the area down to clean metal again, and when the etch primer went back on again it was fine.

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So onto something slightly less paint oriented! The car has some trouble starting when its cold, so decided to swap the plugs. I actually have the full service kit for the car, but have just been focused on other stuff. Plugs came out without any hassle - although there were two of these in there:

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Completely different plugs to the other four - not sure if it was causing any problems, but the cold start issue is still there unfortunately!

So with that done, the daily driver needed some attention!

Quick wash

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Last edited by kdevitt on Tue May 07, 2013 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kdevitt
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Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:22 am

Seems to have gotten a bit dark around here lately? :)

Anyway, a bit of an update for those who are interested - I'm sure it won't impress some people, but I'm not doing anything which isn't reversible!

Part of the problem with buying a chromie is the chrome...I guess the plastic bumpers are easily repaired if damaged, but if the chrome gets damaged its not such an easy fix. There was a nasty enough dent, and a good bit of pitting on the rear bumper, so I made an executive decision to colour code it. Had it been in better condition I definitely would have reconsidered what I was about to do, but it wasn't - and the Tec 1 kit probably looks better with colour coded bumpers!

Here was the rear bumper as I got it:

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A sanding disc with 80 grit paper on it had the desired effect

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I laid down two coats of acid etch primer, lightly sanding between coats

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Finished photos of the bumper are to come - turned out really well imo - four coats of colour wet sanded in between. The fly doing its kamikaze dive into the final coat was a bit of a pain, but such is life!

The tec 1 apron was originally dolphin grey - condition was quite good, with a few gashes out of it. Sanded it down to get as much of the paint off as possible, which was probably slight overkill.

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Its since been primered - but there are LOADS of sanding marks. Spent quite a while re-sanding, and its alot better - but still have a good bit of sanding left. Have quickly realised that the painting
part is the easy bit.

So as you can see - when I got the car, the previous owner had started some work - I think this was done prior to Vinni getting it.

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The primer wasn't covering up a multitude of sins thankfully, although I did do quite a bit of sanding on the offside rear arch to remove bubbled paint and a small bit of surface rust.

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I ended up removing sections of the arch, just leaving solid metal - so you can see the inner arch in the picture above is missing a bit! I intended welding a new section of arch in myself, but I may just get a pro to do this bit.

Anyway - I digress. You may have noticed that all the work I've been doing is on the rear of the car. My idea is to work from the back of the car forwards, and there was really very little left to do at the back.

There was a small hole in the bottom of the valance. I filled it with isopon a few weeks back - leaving it to dry until I was ready to paint this section. After sanding down the valance I was delighted with the way it held up. The area filled is just left of centre in the photo below. I also sanded down the area as much as possible.

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I did the same with the offside rear arch...

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Once the sanding was done, I masked up above the valance. The idea was to paint the bottom area with stone guard paint - mask off the very bottom area to replicate the factory finish, and then respray the middle area.

Here is the rear after the first bit of stone guard went down.

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And a bit more...

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The bottom section masked off...

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More primer down!

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Before putting down more paint, I took the masking back a few millimetres. The reason for this is that I need the paint I lay down to overlap the primer, otherwise I'd get the telltale line in the finished result. Once the primer was dry I started putting down more Henna Red - I wasn't overly concerned with the finish, especially since the panel is going to be almost completely hidden behind the bumper. That said, I didn't want major runs in the paint, and its nicer to know that it'll be presentable if I ever decide to do away with the Tec 1 kit.

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With the light fading, the photos aren't great - but you get the idea!!

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The highlight of the day was getting the rear bumper mounted on the car. It still needs to be compounded, but the finish is quite good regardless - and the car hasn't had a bumper on it since I bought it.

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Should get a bit more time on it tomorrow.
Last edited by kdevitt on Tue May 07, 2013 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Alex
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Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:26 am

:cool: comming on well, i admire your work, looks spot on :thumb:
vinni
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Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:09 am

Looking really good mate, thats the 1st time the car has had the bumper on the rear in about 10 years lol. Your right in saying the old repairs were done before i got it :) Keep up the good work mate, its all starting to come together now. :cool: :cool: :cool:
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kdevitt
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Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:39 pm

Well hit my first real problem today!! I offered up the Tec 1 rear valance to the bumper - and I think I prefer it standard!! :D

So I'm keeping the standard bumpers and selling the kit - theres a lovely contrast between the black at the bottom of the valance, and the red on the bumpers! Apart from that - I spent a while polishing the exhaust tips - and they don't fit through the rear valance!!
Alex
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Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:48 pm

glad your keeping it standard, although it would look good with a tech 1 kit, but i think the less unmolsterd this is the better it will be

:cool:
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ah
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Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:31 pm

Looking good mate,keep going.
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Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:41 pm

I think it would look better with chrome bumpers.
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leeparkes
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Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:46 pm

Coming on nicely,good work!
Cypriotgeeza wrote:I done both my mates in my old 318is
felt so proud,even tried it with a E30 325i and got put in my place.. :o:
Ollie_bwoii
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Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:54 pm

YAY standard chromie's rock!

What's happening with the Tech1 Spoiler though?

Standard chromie, bottletops, spoilerless etc............ its the way forward
vinni
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Sun Feb 01, 2009 9:31 pm

Wonderd how you was going to get round the back box issue, shame i would have liked to have seen it with the kit on, but standerd on that car is the only way to go. :cool:
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hennabm
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Mon Feb 02, 2009 1:06 pm

Interesting to see that it has vents on the rear quarters behind the bumper. What month is built in?
Sco323 has one from May 83 with vents yet mine from Dec 82 doesn't. So which month saw the change? :?

Keep it Chrome and black mirrors :D :D
'82 323i henna
'90 320iSE sterling silver No more!
'10 116d Sport Red - MkI
'12 1.4 Punto Easy Exotica Red
'11 X3 3.0d SE
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kdevitt
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Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:05 pm

Its Jan 83 from what I know
hennabm
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Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:06 pm

So just a month after mine mmmmm intersting that the design should alter so quickly in production. :?
'82 323i henna
'90 320iSE sterling silver No more!
'10 116d Sport Red - MkI
'12 1.4 Punto Easy Exotica Red
'11 X3 3.0d SE
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E30Gheko
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Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:28 pm

UBL 44Y does not belong to you does it hennabm????
Alex
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Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:29 pm

i think it does winkeye
The_Diddler
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Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:33 pm

E30Gheko wrote:UBL 44Y does not belong to you does it hennabm????
Yep it does
Alex
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Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:36 pm

E30Gheko wrote:UBL 44Y does not belong to you does it hennabm????
have you seen it in the flesh :drool: its even better than it is in the pics

absolutly awsome :cool: :cool:
Sanchez
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Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:38 pm

Alex wrote:
E30Gheko wrote:UBL 44Y does not belong to you does it hennabm????
have you seen it in the flesh :drool: its even better than it is in the pics

absolutly awsome :cool: :cool:
was car of the month as well last year.
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Alex
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Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:48 pm

while we are on topic :drool:

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i tried as hard as i could to find a spot of dirt in the pics and i failed

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and its long lost brother winkeye

another 323i stunner :drool:

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87mtech27
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Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:49 pm

nice car, looking forward to when its finished.

i haven't seen a red chromie in tech 1 kit in ages.
E30Gheko
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Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:53 pm

Well correct me if I'm wrong here but isn't UBL 44Y one of the few remaining original press cars and worth an absolute mint to a collector?
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