20 years in the family

Pics...we want PICS!!!

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wishbone
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Post by wishbone »

I will fly you from the UK to do this to my car? :) :)
5/1984 633csi 5-speed, delphin metallic, red leather, BBK, style 5s [sold]
f30 / 6-speed / JB stage 1 tune
Sparks Factory

Post by Sparks Factory »

Nice job. People are always hot to change the color of their old cars, but when they see a quality respray in the original, they always change their mind.

I want that rear spoiler. I have the black foam one and despise it. What model/part number is it?
horsetan

Post by horsetan »

Sparks Factory wrote:.....I want that rear spoiler. I have the black foam one and despise it. What model/part number is it?
Nothing wrong with the black rubber / foam one. As long as it's not parked under the sun for too long, it actually survives quite well. After 26 years, the original is still on my car, and although it has crazed in places, it show no signs of actually crumbling.
Sparks Factory

Post by Sparks Factory »

I wasnt complaining about the condition, mine isnt great, its not completely baked either.

I just dislike it. I like the one on the OP's car better, but dont know what model its for exactly. Ive seen it on a few cars but nothing specific.
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sharkfan
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Post by sharkfan »

Sparks Factory wrote:I just dislike it. I like the one on the OP's car better, but dont know what model its for exactly. Ive seen it on a few cars but nothing specific.
The rear spoiler fitted to the red car is the Motorsport version which was fitted to the original M635's from 1984 and to all 635's from approximately 1986 and continued through into the Highline bodyshape. The rubber blade on the Motorsport rear spoiler has a ribbed rear element which matched the ribbing on the the lower edge of the Motorsport front spoiler.


HTH

Sharkfan

btw - the restoration of the OP's car - simply stunning - I've always wanted a red 6er 8)
Bayerische
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Post by Bayerische »

Just stumbled on this thread. Your zinnobar 6 is gorgeous. Thanks for sharing the photos.

Inspirational for anyone thinking of restoring one of these beauties (it helps having friends in the trade though)

Regards,

Bayerische
Current:
89 M635CSi no.524 RHD
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TN_M6
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Location: Middle TN USA

Post by TN_M6 »

I wish my repaint on my 6 had been done with that level of detail and I don't really know how much was done to it. It sure doesn't look that good so hat's off to you. I was a little surprised you didn't just go ahead and take it back down to bare metal though. Some of the shots looked like it had already been re-sprayed once or was I mistaken. Final product is amazing though.

I also noticed the great condition of the M spoiler. Was that original or added at some point and did you use as is or refinish, possible replace. I thought they were NLA. Mine is cracking like dried mud and would like to deal with it.

Nice choice on the wheels and keeping it mostly stock looking. Hope the rest of the restore goes well and you enjoy it for many years.
The Sixer Kid

Post by The Sixer Kid »

TN_M635 wrote: I also noticed the great condition of the M spoiler. Was that original or added at some point and did you use as is or refinish, possible replace. I thought they were NLA. Mine is cracking like dried mud and would like to deal with it.
Bavauto still sells the original M-tech piece. Just 2 years ago it was under $500. Now its $630 :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

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That's quite a price jump.
Bayerische
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Post by Bayerische »

Probably due to the weakening dollar :cry:
Current:
89 M635CSi no.524 RHD
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TN_M6
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Post by TN_M6 »

thesixerkid wrote::shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

That's quite a price jump.
I now love my cracked spoiler, it has such character.
m6csi

Post by m6csi »

My new never installed M-Tech spoiler is still available! $475 shipped in the continental US.

Sorry for the shameless plug!!!
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Bert
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kos
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Post by kos »

its been a while since i did anything to this car

its been used a few times over the winter when the weather allowed it.

one thing i have done is restore the drivers seat. it was very worn as you can see in the pic. the leather on the bolster on the right hand side on the back peice was thin, and had lost colour and piping was broken off

the right hand side base bolster was really messed up, not only the leather was knackered. the foam was out of shape and the metal bracket the supports the structure was broken

with the help of a certain person, a true bmw expert mr pete walsh we sourced a very good condition passenger side seat stripped it down and removed all the leather coverings. my seat was also stripped down and the frame welded and foams replaced, and new sections of leather fitted. all put back together, mechs for the seats adjusted, runners greaced up

next job was to clean it up a touch and feed the leather

job done,

heres one before pic and a couple of after pics, the during ones are not with me at the monent

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and after

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some of the products used

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at a later stage i may actually get them all re colonised but for now i'm happy
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kos
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Post by kos »

RE, the rear spoiler

it was on the car when my dad bought the car in 1988, the car is an '86 car, a late 86 one i think. thats when they changes over. ross harris ( owner of the blue B7 turbo e24 ) spotted it at the ultimate bmw show last year at santa pod and he thought the car should have the black rubber "slab"

to be honest not sure if it was fitted by the dealer before we took ownership, but i prefer it to the plain black ones

thanks again for all the positve comments
jaws

Post by jaws »

with all that filler and all the help from your chums you should had bare metaled the body bet that fillers starting to shink or get rings in it by now :shock:
jaws

Post by jaws »

kos wrote:as you can see, most repair work is done and moving on to the prep work
most of the filler that was on the pannels has now dissapeared.

this rear quarter arch is the one that was cut out and replaced. unfortunately i never got a picture when it was gut out, and new one welded in, but now its prepped you can not tell where it was cut from. but to give you an idea it was cut form 1" below the swage line

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this rear quarter was fine, but had some rust where the mouldings sit
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"shark nose" dent removed, again minimal filler used
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rusty wing off, nor horrors behind it, all nice an solid

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sun roof area is again rust free
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next step , the screens will be removed and prep work will be finished off and get ready for paint

the areas which have had some metal work and filler have has a coat of sealer and 1st coat of primer. this will be rubbed down, and a 2nd coat will follow before it gets its final prep for paint

the sealer coat simply seals the areas where filler has beens used. even though it is minimal, there is always a risk of sinkage. this will prevent that.

any some more pics

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dissapeared yeah right under all that primer who you trying to fool [-X
horsetan

Post by horsetan »

The Asian subcontinent and Greeks / Cypriots. Never a particularly good combination when personal pride is at stake, or in the event of a disagreement.

Here we go....:roll:

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jono

Post by jono »

Well done =D>
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kos
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Post by kos »

jaws wrote:with all that filler and all the help from your chums you should had bare metaled the body bet that fillers starting to shink or get rings in it by now :shock:
nope, no issue appearing :P

as for bare metal, that's not a good idea. you'll end up skimming every panel with filler

as i know the history of the car, there is no reason to bare metal it. plus with a few coats of paint, it has better resistance to stone chips etc.

a skilled craftsman, will prep a car well an no signs of repair work



so back on topic

so where am i with this and i'm sure some of you are thinking why hasnt this car made an appearance at any of the shows/meets so far this year

well i've been doing the audio in it and some other jobs. while all the interior is out i've taken it away to the the local trim shop to have it all re connolised. while it was in good condition, it was starting to show its age with it being 25 years old. some minor scratches, cracking etc. the trimmers were actually impressed with it. its obviously staying black but trying to keep it period looking with a slight satin sheen to it. door panel insert are being done too as well as the steering wheel.

still on the interior i have purchased a set of new over mats. OE ones are not available, so i got some after market ones as close to the original carpet colour. the are a perfect fit but not quite the right shade. i do have the original ones but they are a but tired, the edge binding is frayed in places and the drivers mat has disappeared at some stage. i'm considering having the binding re done in leather, however the trim shop has assured me that they can source the original type of carpet, colour etc and make me a set up. so watch this space. finally, some rear head rests are being retro fitted. they just appeared through a contact so i thought why not. the same contact had some genuine recaros for an e24, the leather was decent but i'd have still had the re connnolised but they were early type recaros. while still period and a factory option, they didnt feel as nice or as supportive as the BMW sports seats. to top it off, ?500 he wanted was best left in the bank. e24 interiors do no sell quickly, and i didnt want to be having to sit on another interior. have my m3's interior and 2 cobra seats taking up space is bad enough

so, we carry on. car is still stripped so it was time to tackle some other jobs.

drivers door lock & central locking, there was always been a slight issue with it, and since i can remember ( and this is going back to 2000 ) we would lock it from the boot and even so the central locking would bounce on occasions. the driver door lock was stiff ( and there is a new barrel fitted ) and the door handled didnt feel right. to heavy and too stiff. the locking issue wasn't ever a safety concern because the car is never left unattended and when its in the garage its not ever locked. but it has of late bugged me and i i wanted it to be right

stripped it all out, cleaned it all up and re greased it. had to replace a micro switch for the dead locks and a few clips and it was all re fitted. some adjustments were made and it was all spot on, central locking working, dead locks working, heated barrel working. all locks working as they should and door hand feels just right

now moving on to front doors, i was never quite happy with the door alignment so i adjusted the strikers and hinges and have it sitting 99% right.

they are a real pain in the arse, doors are heavy and hinges do sag so this is as good as they will ever get. now this is done, i need to adjust thw window alignment. this again is a pain in the arse. before doing so, i;ve cleaned up the runners, re greased it all and the windows go up much quicker than they used to. the window alignment should be set up shortly. i would get some wind noise at about 70mph but as i smoke they are normally down a touch so thats not real bother, but i do want them to sit as good a possible and get rid of the wind noise. new door rubbers could be the key but at ?270 a side, you now realise why i didnt but the recaros, there are more important things to worry about than buying seats that have a "kudos" about them but are not comfortable
but any way i'm stalling on buying the door rubbers for now, and just going to finish the window adjustment as best as possible and see how it is.

it was a time consuming job doing the doors and locks, people seem to forget that these cars back in the late 70's through the 80's were hand built and the cost of a small house. the time it takes to do job like this is long, and specialised. i had a friend to hand one evening to help out and to get it perfect took about 5 hours on just the one door. from taking the door card off to the point the door cards can go back on

tonight, i took a look at the windscreen wiper motor. it worked but was slooooow and seemed to struggle. i noticed this last august going to gaydon bmw festival when it started raining heavily. the car never see rain but it was again bugging me, so i whipped it out and took it apart. no surprise to see that the grease packed in there had just dried up. so cleaned it all up re greased it ( by now lithium grease is now my new best friend ) and re fitted it. workes pretty well now and should be good for another 20 years now

while pissing about under the scuttle, the heater blower has been cleaned up at but and some of the loom re taped to tidy it up.

the plan is for me to do a few more jobs before taxing it and using it.

next on the cars, before the interior gets re fitted it to do the 4 shocks and springs. rear seats need to be out of the car to access the rear top mounts. 4 new bilsteins and a set of H&R's will go on. yes its getting lowered. nothing stupid, a nice 1.25" drop. so it will be sitting slightly lower than an M635. pretty much the same ride hight as an alpina of similar vintage

the other mechanical jobs that will be done will be a rear exhaust box, it was an advisory on the MOT and has been an advisory for the last few MOT's since the paint/body resto was done. BMW OEM is the only option. S steel is too noisy and raspy. OEM looks just right and fits perfectly. when they last 10 years plus i dont think ?265 is too bad a cost.

the other mechanical jobs to do are fit a new dizzy, rotor, plugs, fuel filter all the fluids (brakes PAS diff auto box and with filters)
re gas the AC and i'll be re taping the entire loom. some powder coating will take place, various brackets etc and fit new foam to the under side of the bonnet and fresh set of stickers for the various warning signs etc.

final mechanical jobs are to overhaul the calipers. through lack of use they are binding and the other job is adjust the steering box.

then i think the car is done and i can use it.

the plan is to have a euro road trip next spring to cyprus and leave it there

looking back its a long old list, but i'm almost there. the jobs need to be done and it will make the car far more enjoyable to drive. to answer another question, why take it to cyprus.......

well, with the compact to finish ( which i will only do when i complete the e24 ) and the M3 to worry about i have to face reality. i dont have space for all of them. the M3 and e24 need to be garaged. the compact not too bothered but it has to be in a secure place. i am thinking about buying my own place, and find a place in my budget with a double garage is slim. while i could leave one at my parents place there is a strong chance they may go back to cyprus.
when ever i go to cyprus which is at least twice a year i have either wedding to of other family event so it will be nice to have a nice car there for the occasion. its dry country so no chance rust getting to the car and i have a nice garage to store it in there. plus even though its miles and miles away, it will also be safe and where it will be kept a friend will get it started every now and them and take it for a spin to keep everything in check

so thats that. when the interior is back, i'll get pictures up.
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kos
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Post by kos »

Some photos from the Total BMW magazine photo shoot

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and the must have rolling shots

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Last edited by kos on Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
e24Indy

Post by e24Indy »

I think them wheels are Gona set it off,what's the spec on the rims
hopefully mines will look as good as yours when it's finished,
mines been In the family for 20 years now,bout time I got it on the road
I think.
Indy :mrgreen:
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kos
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Post by kos »

thanks

8.5 x 17 et 11
9.5 x 17 et 19

staggered barrels 2" dish all rounds


i'm not 100% happy with the bolts so i have new set to fit. trying to source some new ACT badges but hens teeth are easier to find

i may think about going for a wider dish on the rear, but its hardly worth it for 1/2 and inch.
e24Indy

Post by e24Indy »

I think the 9.5 will look nice on yours,if you go
Wider will there be any issues with clearance
I've got a set of 8.5j on front and 9.5j on the back,bbs style 19's
You've seen my car on the e30zone,I posted a picture a while ago
Indy :D
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kos
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Post by kos »

you can get up to 10J x 17 on the back depending on off set

a friend has 9.5 x18 on the back of his.
DunDun

Post by DunDun »

For some odd reason all your pictures cannot be viewed. Please post (lots) more, as your efforts appear to have equated to nothing short of a miracle!

Awesome job, please post more pics for us interested parties and much luck in the future.
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kos
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Post by kos »

big up date

over the last few weeks i've been working on the car with my mechanic tackling lots of mechanical jobs

first up suspension, new Sachs advantage shocks and H&R springs are fitted, new top mounts all round, new spring pads/perches etc. the struts were in good condition, they didnt even need powdercoating. new front calipers have been fitted but again the Goodridge brake lines supplied where the wrong fitment !! so, they were retuned & funded and correct ones ordered fro HEL

today i tackled the the ignition side of things. new dizzy cap, rotot arm & plugs. the car still had a slight miss fire so we did a test and check on the leads and they are starting to fail so new ones will be ordered and fitted.

also on the agenda is sort the play in the steering out, fit the new brake pressure accumulator, brake pressure switches & brake lines with new brake fluid and PAS fluid

freshly powder coated rocker cover fitted, oil spray bar replaced, the heater cover was also blasted and powder coated. when fitting the rocker cover i used new domed stainless steel nuts. BMW stopped fitting these to e24's when no one was looking lol

in a few other places i've changed a few bolts,clips etc to freshen up the engine bay. the airbox and associated brackets are off for powder coating as well and will be re fitted in the coming days

tomorrow we'll be fitting the new back box. i had it powder coated in black and it came with 2 clamp on sleeves, these have superseded the old weld on ones that would usually be supplied. the exhaust heat shield will be removed and disposed of and replaces with some heat reflecting mat. the reason for this i now have some audio and a sub box installed and its causing the heat shield to rattle with some types of music and when its loud.

all the boot area has been insulated with dynamat, up to 3 layers in some places to stop these vibrations. once the install is finished i'll get pictures up

basically, to start with i purchased a 5 channel HK amp, well thats not being used now.

what happened was this, i fitted it and ran it as a test to make sure everything was working, which it was. tried both a sealed box and a ported one, the latter being better in the car, it was a nice warm sound and reasonable bass. that was the problem, bass was only reasonable. i wanted more, not all the time but i when i feel the need for it, i want it

i decided to up the install a bit.

i got my self 2 x 10w6v2 D4, had a ported box made to my specs going by the limited space in the e24's boot and had it trimmed. the problem with the e24's boot is while it has depth, rear panel to rear bulkhead it is very shallow. at its deepest it is 15". i wanted the box to fit into that area so that was one of my reasons for sticking with 10" subs, and to get more volume had the box ported and tuned any how to power the 2 10" JL's i'm using a JL 1000/1v2. to power the 4 corners i'm using a JL 300/4.
the source has been changed as well a kenwood KDC-BT61U. mini ANL fuses used throughout as well with 4 gauge power cable

again, it all gets fitted and set up briefly before it comes back out. the important thig was to set the gains on the amps, because when it all gets fitted it will all be hidden. the only thing you will see in the boot are the 2 subs, the reason for this is when this car does most of its outings it is to shows and weekend trips away, and when i go on these it means an over night bag or 2 for me and a mate/girlfriend. i still have a quick access point to the distribution block, access to the spare wheel, jack and fuel pump. talking of the spare wheel i've had this refurbished as well

any way how does it sound, so far i am happy. works with all types of music and it drops nice and low when listening to hip/hop etc.

i have the i pod mounted in the glove box, i've installed the microphone for the phone where it cant really be seen. set up the colour on the head unit to match the OEM orange dash lighting.

in terms of the final look, i've sourced some OEM boot carpet and i've purchased some new OEM boot trim panels. the old panels had become damaged and perished over the years, mainly the car backing. but the carpet it self was in good contrition so i kept sections of it, this has been used in trimming up other section of the boot to help with the install, sections of the hinge brackets that will still remain visible have now been carpeted

the original floor carpet has been cut down to finish where the box face is and the box has now been finally put into position and will not have to come out again. all the carpets have been re fitted and all that left to do it cut out the new floor section and box cover panel.

the boot area has been fully sound insulated with dynamat, up to 3 layers in some places

there is a remote bass controler for the sub amp which has been integrated to the dash as well as the hands free kit and the i pod hidden in the glove box

internally there is one rattle which i'll try and sort soon. the only disappointing thing is the front staging, there's not enough of it but with only 4" speakers up front it fully expected it. short of getting some ?300 components it will not solve it. the rears need to be loud otherwise it will get drained by the bass, and i want the bass on tap. in all i am happy, simply you can not have it all with out spending more money and money is not endless unless you are Mugabe and keep printing it off

also this week some OEM mats arrived, first set that ive seen on e bay for about 2 years. and guess what, they are actually e23 !!!! they will be going back on e bay

the original drivers mat is missing which is the reason for all this aggro of trying to find OEM mats, they are NLA at the dealers other wise i would have bought some from there. so my original set will be donated to my mechanic who has a front pair but missing the rears in exchange for some free labour lol.
i do have another set of new ones, but the shade of anthrecite is wrong, so ive given my local trim some a sample of the carpet for the to match up and use an original set as a template to replicated the originals but with the binding in black leather

and on the subject of black leather my re conolised interior has been re fitted


lots of words, but not a lot of pictures. they will be posted in another post soon


thank you for reading

PS, i'll sort this thread out and replace pictures that are missing.
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