1984 633CSi Rises again!
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- Jono B good
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
I can attest to the "be careful" option as I have crunched my air dam a bit due not paying attention to angles on on ramp to parking lots and steep roadways.
~Cirrusblau-Metallic~
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
I've crunched many a spoiler in the cars I've had in the past. In fact, I had to remove the spoiler on my convertible to clear the garage at work. The worst I ever had to deal with was an Italian car. That was stupid low.MrE wrote: ↑Sun Aug 26, 2018 12:14 am Good stuff mate. I think the transformation between the first pic on page 1 of this thread and where you are now is a credit to you, and that car is lucky to have you!
Now just remember to take care when parking nose-in at kerbs & gutters, and making your way up & down driveways.
Given the 7 brackets holding this spoiler on, if I contact anything I know who is winning that battle. I do pull into spaces quite slowly and carefully. My parking spot in the garage at work just BARELY makes it. See below.
Thanks for the warning.
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
- Jono B good
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- Location: Victoria, B.C., Canada
Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
WOW! looks like 1 cm of clearance matey! Yarg! avast ye skally wags the shark has landed!!
~Cirrusblau-Metallic~
Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Song-
With regard to wiring up the fogs, I hope you find what I did on my '83. The wiring harness was already set up, I just needed to connect the switch and the fogs.
I sourced the switch from a scrap yard. Be sure to get the dashboard insert panel too. It is slightly different than the blanking panel in the car - it needed just a touch of a file to fit.
I also sourced my fogs at the wreckers. The connectors didn't match the ones on my wiring harness, but I had the smarts to take both ends at the wreckers and simply replaced the females on the wiring harness.
Someday I may luck into an air dam like you did - for now I just have fogs below the bumper, "dealer extra" style.
Cheers
Mark
With regard to wiring up the fogs, I hope you find what I did on my '83. The wiring harness was already set up, I just needed to connect the switch and the fogs.
I sourced the switch from a scrap yard. Be sure to get the dashboard insert panel too. It is slightly different than the blanking panel in the car - it needed just a touch of a file to fit.
I also sourced my fogs at the wreckers. The connectors didn't match the ones on my wiring harness, but I had the smarts to take both ends at the wreckers and simply replaced the females on the wiring harness.
Someday I may luck into an air dam like you did - for now I just have fogs below the bumper, "dealer extra" style.
Cheers
Mark
Mark
1983 633Csi Saphirblau/Pacific 6725029
1963 Austin Healey 3000 BJ7
1983 633Csi Saphirblau/Pacific 6725029
1963 Austin Healey 3000 BJ7
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Thanks for the tips. I am awaiting a fog switch from Ralph. I'll figure out a way to make it work!mjeb69 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:34 pm Song-
With regard to wiring up the fogs, I hope you find what I did on my '83. The wiring harness was already set up, I just needed to connect the switch and the fogs.
I sourced the switch from a scrap yard. Be sure to get the dashboard insert panel too. It is slightly different than the blanking panel in the car - it needed just a touch of a file to fit.
I also sourced my fogs at the wreckers. The connectors didn't match the ones on my wiring harness, but I had the smarts to take both ends at the wreckers and simply replaced the females on the wiring harness.
Someday I may luck into an air dam like you did - for now I just have fogs below the bumper, "dealer extra" style.
Cheers
Mark
As for the wiring for the lights, I found the connector for the driver side. It was hanging free attached to the same metal retainer as the connector for the temperature sensor. The passenger side wasn't so clear. I still haven't found that one, but them again I haven't looked real hard.
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
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Bad Roof Paint - Before
I'm looking forward to fixing the bad paint on my roof this Labor day weekend. The plan is to spend day one removing the bad paint or feathering the transition from the paint flaking off to the "good" parts. Then I'll fix the small dents on the roof and then get 2-3 coats of primer on the roof and sunroof panel.
The next day I'll sand the primer and make sure all is smooth. This should only be a 1/2 hour. Then I'll shoot the base and clear coats (estimated 2-hours). Day 3 will just be reassembly of the sunroof and the new seals. Hopefully I'll be all ready to go after day 3.
Running up to this, I've been scraping off the peeling paint a little each day. Under the peeling paint, it looks like the original paint is intact. I swear that whoever painted this car in its past, did not use any primer! Here's what it looked like as I scraped the roof a few days ago. After several days of this scraping, I got all the loose stuff off. I used a muti-tool with a scraping blade and I still couldn't get some of the paint off the forward sections and the C pillar. That paint seems to have adhered well. I've gotten all the loose paint I could. Here's a picture of the roof and sunroof panel after a week of scraping here and there. You can see that the old paint under the scraped stuff is different shades of gray. If I sand a bit, I get to a darker material which I assume is primer. In any case, this will be an interesting process. I am planning to go down to the original primer on the whole roof if possible. We will see how it goes. Stay tuned...
The next day I'll sand the primer and make sure all is smooth. This should only be a 1/2 hour. Then I'll shoot the base and clear coats (estimated 2-hours). Day 3 will just be reassembly of the sunroof and the new seals. Hopefully I'll be all ready to go after day 3.
Running up to this, I've been scraping off the peeling paint a little each day. Under the peeling paint, it looks like the original paint is intact. I swear that whoever painted this car in its past, did not use any primer! Here's what it looked like as I scraped the roof a few days ago. After several days of this scraping, I got all the loose stuff off. I used a muti-tool with a scraping blade and I still couldn't get some of the paint off the forward sections and the C pillar. That paint seems to have adhered well. I've gotten all the loose paint I could. Here's a picture of the roof and sunroof panel after a week of scraping here and there. You can see that the old paint under the scraped stuff is different shades of gray. If I sand a bit, I get to a darker material which I assume is primer. In any case, this will be an interesting process. I am planning to go down to the original primer on the whole roof if possible. We will see how it goes. Stay tuned...
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
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Roof repaint - Day 1 of 3
Labor day weekend is here! What does that mean? Roof paint time. I have to stare at my failing roof paint every day. I have been so looking forward to getting this fixed right. Here's the long day in pictures.
First while cleaning up the car in prep, I noticed there were 4 small dings on the forward part of my roof. I don't know how they got there, but they needed to be gone. I was thinking about using my small dent pulling device but then decided to do things more conventionally since I was going to repaint the whole thing anyway. Next was the old paint removal. This took a while. As expected, the car had a bad repaint on the roof, but the underlying original paint was still holding fast. It took quite a bit of sanding to get all the repaint off. The one surprise was the repaint color coat. That was so thin that a light sanding with 120 grit removed it fast. The primer was much more difficult. I'd say all the sanding took easily 3 hours. I started with 120 grit and then went to 220 grit before primer.
At the A and C pillars, I decided to blend across about a 2 inch area. I hope the paint match will make this ok. In the photo below, you can see the layers I went through for the driver side A pillar on the photo the the right. On the left you can see the color coat (left side) and the dark grey primer (right side). Next was removing the sunroof. I've never done that before and in my stubbornness, I got it off, but I realized later I didn't do it the right way. So getting it back on correctly will be a trick. The sunroof panel paint looks all blotchy as I sanded through layers of old paint, however as I was sanding I felt it with my hand and it was very smooth. I decided to stop and just shoot the hi-fill primer over the old primer. As you can see in the "after" picture, it turned out really smooth and even. Finally, after about 6 hours or work, it was time to tape up the car and shoot the entire roof. I loaded up my gun with Nason 2K primer and shot it at 25psi using a 1.7mm tip. In the photo below, you can see the before and after. It turned out really good. I did notice a few dust particles in the primer. I'm not going to worry about that as I am leaving it to dry overnight and will be going over it all with 400 grit in the morning. For day 2, I'll sand the primer and then re-tape the A and C-pillars a bit further down to make room for the color blend. Also, I used a clever trick to prevent lines at the rubber trim junction. I ran a piece of thick string under the rubber trim so that it slightly lifted the rubber from the metal. That allowed me to tape the rubber and allow a soft edge that will go under the rubber when the string is removed. Fingers crossed that this trick works as intended.
Going into day 2, I'm going to have to think about a way to get my garage more dust free as the color and clear coats won't be so forgiving about dust particles.
First while cleaning up the car in prep, I noticed there were 4 small dings on the forward part of my roof. I don't know how they got there, but they needed to be gone. I was thinking about using my small dent pulling device but then decided to do things more conventionally since I was going to repaint the whole thing anyway. Next was the old paint removal. This took a while. As expected, the car had a bad repaint on the roof, but the underlying original paint was still holding fast. It took quite a bit of sanding to get all the repaint off. The one surprise was the repaint color coat. That was so thin that a light sanding with 120 grit removed it fast. The primer was much more difficult. I'd say all the sanding took easily 3 hours. I started with 120 grit and then went to 220 grit before primer.
At the A and C pillars, I decided to blend across about a 2 inch area. I hope the paint match will make this ok. In the photo below, you can see the layers I went through for the driver side A pillar on the photo the the right. On the left you can see the color coat (left side) and the dark grey primer (right side). Next was removing the sunroof. I've never done that before and in my stubbornness, I got it off, but I realized later I didn't do it the right way. So getting it back on correctly will be a trick. The sunroof panel paint looks all blotchy as I sanded through layers of old paint, however as I was sanding I felt it with my hand and it was very smooth. I decided to stop and just shoot the hi-fill primer over the old primer. As you can see in the "after" picture, it turned out really smooth and even. Finally, after about 6 hours or work, it was time to tape up the car and shoot the entire roof. I loaded up my gun with Nason 2K primer and shot it at 25psi using a 1.7mm tip. In the photo below, you can see the before and after. It turned out really good. I did notice a few dust particles in the primer. I'm not going to worry about that as I am leaving it to dry overnight and will be going over it all with 400 grit in the morning. For day 2, I'll sand the primer and then re-tape the A and C-pillars a bit further down to make room for the color blend. Also, I used a clever trick to prevent lines at the rubber trim junction. I ran a piece of thick string under the rubber trim so that it slightly lifted the rubber from the metal. That allowed me to tape the rubber and allow a soft edge that will go under the rubber when the string is removed. Fingers crossed that this trick works as intended.
Going into day 2, I'm going to have to think about a way to get my garage more dust free as the color and clear coats won't be so forgiving about dust particles.
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
- Ralph in Socal
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Definitely requires dedication and it’s showing.
Wet down the garage floor to keep dust down. You really will not be walking across very much but be careful not to slip.
Or mop it down an hour before you start spraying
I was shown this trick below many years ago. It lifts the windshield seal off the body so you can paint past the seal edge. Let it dry well before taking the toothpicks out
Ralph
Wet down the garage floor to keep dust down. You really will not be walking across very much but be careful not to slip.
Or mop it down an hour before you start spraying
I was shown this trick below many years ago. It lifts the windshield seal off the body so you can paint past the seal edge. Let it dry well before taking the toothpicks out
Ralph
There is a very fine line between "Hobby" and Mental Illness.
85 635csi Zinno Auto
84 528i Euro
83 635 Euro Arktik
81 528i Kastanien 5-speed
88 528e Bronzit (Granpa Car)
86 535i Auto (For Sale)
81 633 csi (retired)
85 635csi Zinno Auto
84 528i Euro
83 635 Euro Arktik
81 528i Kastanien 5-speed
88 528e Bronzit (Granpa Car)
86 535i Auto (For Sale)
81 633 csi (retired)
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Hey Ralph, I used a piece of string to get the same effect. It worked a charm!! I'll post my pics soon.Ralph in Socal wrote: ↑Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:00 am Definitely requires dedication and it’s showing.
Wet down the garage floor to keep dust down. You really will not be walking across very much but be careful not to slip.
Or mop it down an hour before you start spraying
I was shown this trick below many years ago. It lifts the windshield seal off the body so you can paint past the seal edge. Let it dry well before taking the toothpicks out
RalphDC758D95-2A6C-4EE0-8F3B-1D5856EFB4D5.jpeg
Thanks for the tip.
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Hey Ralph, I ran a piece of string down the whole rubber seal to get the same effect. It worked a charm!! I'll post my pics soon.Ralph in Socal wrote: ↑Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:00 am Definitely requires dedication and it’s showing.
Wet down the garage floor to keep dust down. You really will not be walking across very much but be careful not to slip.
Or mop it down an hour before you start spraying
I was shown this trick below many years ago. It lifts the windshield seal off the body so you can paint past the seal edge. Let it dry well before taking the toothpicks out
RalphDC758D95-2A6C-4EE0-8F3B-1D5856EFB4D5.jpeg
Thanks for the tip.
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
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Roof Repaint- Day 2 of 3
The goal today was to shoot the color and clear. I started by sanding the primer coat with 400 grit paper to get a super smooth surface. Even though I did everything according to the instructions on the can of primer, I still got a little orange peel. I ended up spending over an hour sanding the roof and sunroof panel. Then it was time for the paint!
The trickest areas were going to be the A and C pillar transitions from new to old paint. At the end of the day, 3 of the 4 areas turned out awesome. The 4th, passenger side C-Pillar will probably have to be redone one day when I get time. With that said, I was careful to mask with a soft edge and I moved the masking a bit away from the new paint with each coat. Here's a picture of the drivers side A-pillar, which was one of the best results. Also note how nice the rubber and paint edge look? I used a trick of putting a piece of string under the rubber to lift it off the metal. When I painted, the paint went under the rubber trim. Removing the string and tape and there is no paint line. Awesome. I shot the basecoat as instructed and was surprised how much material was needed! I had to mix up another batch of basecoat. It seemed my gun was putting out a lot more paint than when I did my spoiler. The basecoat was a 1:1 mix and I used a 1.3mm tip at 25psi. Then it was onto the clearcoat. Given my experience with the basecoat, I mixed up a lot of clear and I didn't want to be caught short again. I gave it two nice wet coats of clear and it turned out pretty darn well! I used a 4:1 mix with the same 1.3mm tip at 25psi. So in the end, the car looks a heck of a lot better than before. The paint looks very nice, although I discovered that painting in a garage will always end up with bits of dust in the paint. I'll have to do a light wet sanding and polishing to make it truly shine. However, it is SOOO much better than before.
After a few hours, I took off the masking areas. I stepped backed and laughed at how much dust had accumulated on parts of the car that wasn't covered. It wiped off easy enough since it was all from the sanding of the primer, but I was still a bit shocked. So ends day 2. This part took about 3 hours. Tomorrow I will reassemble the sunroof and then get the final polish done. It'll sure be nice to have a shiny roof again!
The trickest areas were going to be the A and C pillar transitions from new to old paint. At the end of the day, 3 of the 4 areas turned out awesome. The 4th, passenger side C-Pillar will probably have to be redone one day when I get time. With that said, I was careful to mask with a soft edge and I moved the masking a bit away from the new paint with each coat. Here's a picture of the drivers side A-pillar, which was one of the best results. Also note how nice the rubber and paint edge look? I used a trick of putting a piece of string under the rubber to lift it off the metal. When I painted, the paint went under the rubber trim. Removing the string and tape and there is no paint line. Awesome. I shot the basecoat as instructed and was surprised how much material was needed! I had to mix up another batch of basecoat. It seemed my gun was putting out a lot more paint than when I did my spoiler. The basecoat was a 1:1 mix and I used a 1.3mm tip at 25psi. Then it was onto the clearcoat. Given my experience with the basecoat, I mixed up a lot of clear and I didn't want to be caught short again. I gave it two nice wet coats of clear and it turned out pretty darn well! I used a 4:1 mix with the same 1.3mm tip at 25psi. So in the end, the car looks a heck of a lot better than before. The paint looks very nice, although I discovered that painting in a garage will always end up with bits of dust in the paint. I'll have to do a light wet sanding and polishing to make it truly shine. However, it is SOOO much better than before.
After a few hours, I took off the masking areas. I stepped backed and laughed at how much dust had accumulated on parts of the car that wasn't covered. It wiped off easy enough since it was all from the sanding of the primer, but I was still a bit shocked. So ends day 2. This part took about 3 hours. Tomorrow I will reassemble the sunroof and then get the final polish done. It'll sure be nice to have a shiny roof again!
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
- hornhospital
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Y'know, you could easily write a book about this project, a la The Hack Mechanic (hint, hint). I'd buy it.
Ken Kanne
'84 633CSi "Sylvia"; '85 635CSi "Katja";'85 325e "Hazel Ann"; '95 M3 "Ashlyn"
'84 633CSi "Sylvia"; '85 635CSi "Katja";'85 325e "Hazel Ann"; '95 M3 "Ashlyn"
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Roof Repaint - Day 3 of 3 - Sunroof hell
So today was supposed to be easy. I was just going to reassemble the sunroof and polish up the car. Well, all the nightmare stories you hear about sunroofs? It's real. I spent 3.5 hours on this on it wasn't without incident.
First the easy part. I got my freshly painted panel and installed the new rubber seals. These are the most expensive pieces of rubber I have ever purchased without a doubt. They went on easy enough. Measure, press into place and trim the rear piece. I also discovered that my old seals were installed incorrectly. The seams were all wonky, I installed these correctly. Next was to mount the panel. Now, I managed to take my panel off without removing the plates that retain the screw guides. That was a mistake. I removed the screws for the front adjustment arms and wrangled the panel out. One of my front guides (white half circle thing) cracked, but I epoxied it and figured it could be reused. I should of read the Bentley guide a bit closer. I couldn't figure how to get the front panel mount pieces in place. Not only that, the sliding interior panel kept getting caught in the wrong state of half-open. I finally pushed the panel back hard while pressing the sunroof open button. This allowed me to clear the screw drive guides. Well, this is where the trouble began. I couldn't install the front guides unless I got the panel closed again and pushed up the forward section. I operated the roof panel and the screw drives popped out of their guides. This caused all kinds of nightmares. I kept moving the panel backward and forward trying to get the guides back in and the panel got pushed up and scraped the opening. Yup, I got a big ass scratch. Many profanities ensued. I struggled with this for almost 2 hours. I finally got the panel in and working, but I cracked a screw drive teeth and also lost a black plastic roller piece on one of the levers. Finally, the white plastic white piece on one of the front panel mounts cracked. Although it still works, it's not as secure and may need replacing one day. I was running out of time as I had other commitments today, so I just got it all back together and thank goodness it all works. I still need to adjust the panel as it's not at the exactly correct height on the front (Uh oh, maybe that front panel mount?) I think I may have to go back in one day and repair some of the parts that got damaged. I'm just glad it's over for now. Good news is if you step back, you don't notice the scratch so much. There's more refinishing in my future. I have a tiny bit of basecoat left... That's all for now. I guess the good news is that it looks a lot better than the crazy flaking and dull paint that was there before. Just don't look too hard at the scratch Ahh, I can't unsee it. Sigh.
First the easy part. I got my freshly painted panel and installed the new rubber seals. These are the most expensive pieces of rubber I have ever purchased without a doubt. They went on easy enough. Measure, press into place and trim the rear piece. I also discovered that my old seals were installed incorrectly. The seams were all wonky, I installed these correctly. Next was to mount the panel. Now, I managed to take my panel off without removing the plates that retain the screw guides. That was a mistake. I removed the screws for the front adjustment arms and wrangled the panel out. One of my front guides (white half circle thing) cracked, but I epoxied it and figured it could be reused. I should of read the Bentley guide a bit closer. I couldn't figure how to get the front panel mount pieces in place. Not only that, the sliding interior panel kept getting caught in the wrong state of half-open. I finally pushed the panel back hard while pressing the sunroof open button. This allowed me to clear the screw drive guides. Well, this is where the trouble began. I couldn't install the front guides unless I got the panel closed again and pushed up the forward section. I operated the roof panel and the screw drives popped out of their guides. This caused all kinds of nightmares. I kept moving the panel backward and forward trying to get the guides back in and the panel got pushed up and scraped the opening. Yup, I got a big ass scratch. Many profanities ensued. I struggled with this for almost 2 hours. I finally got the panel in and working, but I cracked a screw drive teeth and also lost a black plastic roller piece on one of the levers. Finally, the white plastic white piece on one of the front panel mounts cracked. Although it still works, it's not as secure and may need replacing one day. I was running out of time as I had other commitments today, so I just got it all back together and thank goodness it all works. I still need to adjust the panel as it's not at the exactly correct height on the front (Uh oh, maybe that front panel mount?) I think I may have to go back in one day and repair some of the parts that got damaged. I'm just glad it's over for now. Good news is if you step back, you don't notice the scratch so much. There's more refinishing in my future. I have a tiny bit of basecoat left... That's all for now. I guess the good news is that it looks a lot better than the crazy flaking and dull paint that was there before. Just don't look too hard at the scratch Ahh, I can't unsee it. Sigh.
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
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Tiny projects always grow
Yesterday I was going to do a simple thing, sand, and polish out my roof since there were dust specs in the clearcoat. Recall I sprayed my paint in my garage with no special accommodations for dust filtering or anything. I started with 1000 grit and then went to 1500 grit. This was all followed up with a rotary polisher with a wool pad. Here's a picture of the roof. The top portion you can still see the slight orange peel of the painted surface, whereas the bottom portion is super smooth after the sand and polish.
Since this turned out so good, I wanted to fix up my cracking paint on the fender where I had painted a repaired area with shaker cans. Mixed blessings here. As I started polishing, the cheap shaker can paint started to come off! It seems the heat and friction on the polisher compromised the paint. Well, that wasn't acceptable. I decided to repaint the repair area with some of the leftover 2K paint I had from the roof. That ended taking a few hours. I had to remove all the old paint and was able to do it using just lacquer thinner.
I didn't even bother to set up my paint table this time and just worked from the ground. It was really a janky setup but got the job done.
A few hours later, here's the repaired area with the excellent new paint. Now I have to wait a day and then I can wet sand and polish this out as well. At least I'll not have to worry about the paint failing on this area again.
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
- hornhospital
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Another amazing project with excellent results. I feel certain that you could do a complete car repaint with the same results. With your determination and resolve it would get done. You are an inspiration to us all.
Ken Kanne
'84 633CSi "Sylvia"; '85 635CSi "Katja";'85 325e "Hazel Ann"; '95 M3 "Ashlyn"
'84 633CSi "Sylvia"; '85 635CSi "Katja";'85 325e "Hazel Ann"; '95 M3 "Ashlyn"
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
I'm just trying to share the knowledge that I have gained through experience. Again, I've gotten so much from this forum and want to give back what I can. My car wouldn't be my daily if it weren't for this forum. I would have given up in frustration a long time ago. I appreciate the note.hornhospital wrote: ↑Sun Sep 09, 2018 9:04 pm Another amazing project with excellent results. I feel certain that you could do a complete car repaint with the same results. With your determination and resolve it would get done. You are an inspiration to us all.
BTW, I finally got to wet sand and polish the fender repair on Sunday. It's the area right in front of the rear driver side fender. I started with 1000 grit, followed by 1500 grit. Then I used an orbital polisher with a wool bonnet to finish it off. What I learned is that I may want to go one step finer with 2000 grit or finer. It took a while to polish out 1500 grit. I figured more time spent sanding would be a bit less polishing. Still a satisfactory result.
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Song
Simply awesome!
Between the wet sanding and the polish, did you use any machine compounding cream? Do you have to wait before you wax the repainted surface?
Simply awesome!
Between the wet sanding and the polish, did you use any machine compounding cream? Do you have to wait before you wax the repainted surface?
Sansouci
84 E24 633Csi Auto, Bronzit/PearlBeige 6997510
93 E32 740il M60 Auto, Alpenweis/Ultramarine
60 528i M30 5-speed Green/Beige (crushed)
71 240Z 4-speed White/Blue (rusty & sold)
65 396 Chevelle 4-speed, Marina Blue/Black (stolen)
84 E24 633Csi Auto, Bronzit/PearlBeige 6997510
93 E32 740il M60 Auto, Alpenweis/Ultramarine
60 528i M30 5-speed Green/Beige (crushed)
71 240Z 4-speed White/Blue (rusty & sold)
65 396 Chevelle 4-speed, Marina Blue/Black (stolen)
Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Hi, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your articles on the progress of your car restoration.
Its a great record of your work, well written with so many fantastic photos clearly showing the steps
involved. To do so much without workshop facilities is truly inspirational!
Maybe I can help you with a polishing tip, I wet-sanded my new paintwork using an 'random orbital' disc
sander fitted with a Velcro pad. I fitted 3M wet-sanding discs starting with 2000grit and finishing with
3000grit. (using this type of sander/polisher does not generate much heat so it much kinder to the new
painted surface and does not burn the paint) I used a spray bottle of water with a little car shampoo
added to wet the surface and reduce clogging the disc. With a variable speed control you can work slowly and steadily across the panel. I have found that the 3M discs cut very well even though they are very fine grade, saving many hours trying to remove the scratches caused by 1000 or 1500grit. The same machine also works very well as a polisher using fine 'machine grade' compound. It is recommended not to wax the panel for about 6 weeks as the paint does not fully cure ( even in an oven ) for some time. cheers Nigel.
Its a great record of your work, well written with so many fantastic photos clearly showing the steps
involved. To do so much without workshop facilities is truly inspirational!
Maybe I can help you with a polishing tip, I wet-sanded my new paintwork using an 'random orbital' disc
sander fitted with a Velcro pad. I fitted 3M wet-sanding discs starting with 2000grit and finishing with
3000grit. (using this type of sander/polisher does not generate much heat so it much kinder to the new
painted surface and does not burn the paint) I used a spray bottle of water with a little car shampoo
added to wet the surface and reduce clogging the disc. With a variable speed control you can work slowly and steadily across the panel. I have found that the 3M discs cut very well even though they are very fine grade, saving many hours trying to remove the scratches caused by 1000 or 1500grit. The same machine also works very well as a polisher using fine 'machine grade' compound. It is recommended not to wax the panel for about 6 weeks as the paint does not fully cure ( even in an oven ) for some time. cheers Nigel.
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
I just used some Turtle Wax polishing compound at the end. As for waxing, the paint instructions say to wait 90 days. So that's what I'll do.
I think I am going to get some different polishing wheels and compounds. Just using the wool pad and Turtle Was final polish took a LOT of time. I am sure there's a better way.
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Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
-
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 1224
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:04 am
- Location: Silicon Valley, CA
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Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Thanks for all the tips Nigel. I was perusing Amazon for different pads and compounds last night. I didn't think about using a fine grade wet sanding disc on the orbital sander. That's a great idea. I spend a lot of time hand sanding the 1000 and 1500. I did use a spray bottle to keep the surface wet while sanding. I can still see spots that are not perfectly smooth, but I am so tired of sanding. I'll need a while to build up the resolve to go at this again. It'll come though.NigelC wrote: ↑Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:06 pm Hi, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your articles on the progress of your car restoration.
Its a great record of your work, well written with so many fantastic photos clearly showing the steps
involved. To do so much without workshop facilities is truly inspirational!
Maybe I can help you with a polishing tip, I wet-sanded my new paintwork using an 'random orbital' disc
sander fitted with a Velcro pad. I fitted 3M wet-sanding discs starting with 2000grit and finishing with
3000grit. (using this type of sander/polisher does not generate much heat so it much kinder to the new
painted surface and does not burn the paint) I used a spray bottle of water with a little car shampoo
added to wet the surface and reduce clogging the disc. With a variable speed control you can work slowly and steadily across the panel. I have found that the 3M discs cut very well even though they are very fine grade, saving many hours trying to remove the scratches caused by 1000 or 1500grit. The same machine also works very well as a polisher using fine 'machine grade' compound. It is recommended not to wax the panel for about 6 weeks as the paint does not fully cure ( even in an oven ) for some time. cheers Nigel.
As for the wax, instructions say 90 days on the paint. I'll wait for the 90 days. I just have to be lazy for a while and divert to other projects.
Anyhow, I appreciate the response to my never-ending thread.
-----
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
-
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 1224
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:04 am
- Location: Silicon Valley, CA
- Contact:
Sunroof fix - 2nd time's a charm
This weekend I had to remove my sunroof again in order to replace the "sliding jaw" and also adjust the sunroof. The first time I did this was a bit of disaster when I was repainting the roof. This time, I knew better what to expect. Here's my day in pictures.
First order of business is to remove the panel. There's a definite order to this.
First, you must open the roof 1/4 way and then unsnap the 6 spring connectors holding the interior cloth panel to the sliding panel.
Second, you have to close the sunroof. This frees up something inside allowing the interior cloth panel to slide all the way into the roof.
Third - open the roof careful of the little latches that could catch the interior panel. You want to open the roof far back enough to expose the 4 screws that are holding the cable guide in place. Remove the screws and the guides, put them aside. Now the front panel guides with the "sliding jaw" will be free when you close the roof again. Fourth - Close the roof again, but you'll have to firmly pull the sunroof panel shut while operating the motor. You want to keep tension on the cable so that it won't pop out of place. Once the sunroof panel is closed again, you can remove the panel held by 6 bolts on the underside. Now with everything free, you can remove the front panel guides, clean them up and replace the "sliding jaw". Note the new black ones have a bit more to them than the original white ones (which were all crumbly). Of special interest is the adjustment screw. It's the screw closest to the sliding jaw. It has a fixed washer which slots into a groove in the sunroof panel sheetmetal. The head of the washer stays fixed when you turn it, causing the sunroof panel's front edge to go up and down.
While I had it all apart, I had to vacuum a bunch of crumbling foam and refasten the cloth with rubber cement. IT was a mess in there. Fifth - I used some lithium grease in the channel after cleaning it out well. Installed everything in reverse order and my panel was all done! It took about 2 hours to complete, but it all went well. It was a nice day for this as I worked in the shade of an umbrella in my driveway. The next few hours I learned that it's impossible to match a small spot of metallic paint. I tried to fix the huge scratches on my sunroof using a small airbrush. It was marginally successful, but that's another post for another day. Little by little.
First order of business is to remove the panel. There's a definite order to this.
First, you must open the roof 1/4 way and then unsnap the 6 spring connectors holding the interior cloth panel to the sliding panel.
Second, you have to close the sunroof. This frees up something inside allowing the interior cloth panel to slide all the way into the roof.
Third - open the roof careful of the little latches that could catch the interior panel. You want to open the roof far back enough to expose the 4 screws that are holding the cable guide in place. Remove the screws and the guides, put them aside. Now the front panel guides with the "sliding jaw" will be free when you close the roof again. Fourth - Close the roof again, but you'll have to firmly pull the sunroof panel shut while operating the motor. You want to keep tension on the cable so that it won't pop out of place. Once the sunroof panel is closed again, you can remove the panel held by 6 bolts on the underside. Now with everything free, you can remove the front panel guides, clean them up and replace the "sliding jaw". Note the new black ones have a bit more to them than the original white ones (which were all crumbly). Of special interest is the adjustment screw. It's the screw closest to the sliding jaw. It has a fixed washer which slots into a groove in the sunroof panel sheetmetal. The head of the washer stays fixed when you turn it, causing the sunroof panel's front edge to go up and down.
While I had it all apart, I had to vacuum a bunch of crumbling foam and refasten the cloth with rubber cement. IT was a mess in there. Fifth - I used some lithium grease in the channel after cleaning it out well. Installed everything in reverse order and my panel was all done! It took about 2 hours to complete, but it all went well. It was a nice day for this as I worked in the shade of an umbrella in my driveway. The next few hours I learned that it's impossible to match a small spot of metallic paint. I tried to fix the huge scratches on my sunroof using a small airbrush. It was marginally successful, but that's another post for another day. Little by little.
-----
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
-
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 1224
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:04 am
- Location: Silicon Valley, CA
- Contact:
Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
I had a bunch of scratches, (4 of them) when I had difficulty installing the sunroof panel after painting.
I tried to use a paintbrush to do touchup, not so great. End of the day, it's really hard to match metallic paints in a small area.
After prepping the surfaces and taping-off the area, I used a fine airbrush to apply the primer.
After sanding the primer down with 400grit, I used said airbrush to lay down the color and then the clear. After initial sanding with 1500 and 3000 and a light buff, here's what it looks like in the bright sun. You can clearly see the whole area.
The metallic flakes in the spot areas are aligned differently than the rest of the panel. This is the hardest to hide. Dang tape lines. I should have blended much further out but I was trying to keep it contained.
After a bit more sanding and a quick hand polish, If you look at this in the shade, the effect of the paint alignment isn't as bad. You can still see the area if you know where to look. Also from different angles you can see the difference pretty clearly.
I think that this can be much better. I'm debating whether or not to keep working this spot or just live with it. I've not worked on the area outside the fix area too much. I can hide this a bit more if I do, but again there may be a better way.
What do you think?
I tried to use a paintbrush to do touchup, not so great. End of the day, it's really hard to match metallic paints in a small area.
After prepping the surfaces and taping-off the area, I used a fine airbrush to apply the primer.
After sanding the primer down with 400grit, I used said airbrush to lay down the color and then the clear. After initial sanding with 1500 and 3000 and a light buff, here's what it looks like in the bright sun. You can clearly see the whole area.
The metallic flakes in the spot areas are aligned differently than the rest of the panel. This is the hardest to hide. Dang tape lines. I should have blended much further out but I was trying to keep it contained.
After a bit more sanding and a quick hand polish, If you look at this in the shade, the effect of the paint alignment isn't as bad. You can still see the area if you know where to look. Also from different angles you can see the difference pretty clearly.
I think that this can be much better. I'm debating whether or not to keep working this spot or just live with it. I've not worked on the area outside the fix area too much. I can hide this a bit more if I do, but again there may be a better way.
What do you think?
-----
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
-
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 3726
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 3:24 pm
- Location: Gilroy (SF Bay Area) CA
Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Song, can you mask the entire panel good enough so that you can reshoot the whole thing
Appears that you can sand and polish that area for ever, but it's never gonna appear like the rest of the panel
Sheesh, repainting metallic, what a bitch
Appears that you can sand and polish that area for ever, but it's never gonna appear like the rest of the panel
Sheesh, repainting metallic, what a bitch
Bobbo
1980 633 CSi Cypress Green/Pearl Beige
2017 X5 M Sport Xdrive 35i Carbon Black/Ivory White
2005 330 Ci ZHP Cabrio Imola Red/Bone/Black
Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Aren't you two neighbors? My left coast geography is a little weak.
Sansouci
84 E24 633Csi Auto, Bronzit/PearlBeige 6997510
93 E32 740il M60 Auto, Alpenweis/Ultramarine
60 528i M30 5-speed Green/Beige (crushed)
71 240Z 4-speed White/Blue (rusty & sold)
65 396 Chevelle 4-speed, Marina Blue/Black (stolen)
84 E24 633Csi Auto, Bronzit/PearlBeige 6997510
93 E32 740il M60 Auto, Alpenweis/Ultramarine
60 528i M30 5-speed Green/Beige (crushed)
71 240Z 4-speed White/Blue (rusty & sold)
65 396 Chevelle 4-speed, Marina Blue/Black (stolen)
-
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 3726
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 3:24 pm
- Location: Gilroy (SF Bay Area) CA
Re: 1984 633CSi Rises again!
Well Ken, not "exactly" neighbors
Song is a bit misleading in that he indicates his location as Silicon Valley, but he actually lives "over the hill" toward the coast, so technically not in SV, like I am
In fact, we've only met once, at Canepa, an amazing restoration shop and museum in his home town
I recently picked up parts from him that were delivered by Ralph in SoCal, on one of his jaunts up our way to deliver much needed parts, but through a friend of his that I actually work with
I know, small world
Wish I had more time to fart around and visit with the local owners
But now with 3 BMW's, 2 dogs and a wife that likes to keep me busy, not easy
Song is a bit misleading in that he indicates his location as Silicon Valley, but he actually lives "over the hill" toward the coast, so technically not in SV, like I am
In fact, we've only met once, at Canepa, an amazing restoration shop and museum in his home town
I recently picked up parts from him that were delivered by Ralph in SoCal, on one of his jaunts up our way to deliver much needed parts, but through a friend of his that I actually work with
I know, small world
Wish I had more time to fart around and visit with the local owners
But now with 3 BMW's, 2 dogs and a wife that likes to keep me busy, not easy
Bobbo
1980 633 CSi Cypress Green/Pearl Beige
2017 X5 M Sport Xdrive 35i Carbon Black/Ivory White
2005 330 Ci ZHP Cabrio Imola Red/Bone/Black