Body work / Paint on the 'ole girl

[noahabel]

When spraying in the car, are you worried about dye drifting onto the trim pieces you're keeping tan?

[Jamos]

Only the rear center console vent. No where else is an issue

[Jamos]

Weather was better today - minus the multiple tornado warnings - and went ahead with painting the bumper. A few errors happened, tried to wet sand them out but then ran out of bloody paint! The other can is locked away so I've left that (small 1" circle needs paint, no biggy).

Also, this has been a project for the past couple days:




Also done a custom door panel scheme, will post pics once they're back on the car with the new dash WHICH is supposed to arrive tomorrow - through Canada Post!? How the heck will my mail man deliver a big'ol dashboard! Hopefully in one piece that's how.

[Hueristic]

...How the heck will my mail man deliver a big'ol dashboard! Hopefully in one piece that's how.

LOL, looking forward to seeing it.

[haynes740]

Hey your making good progress, stay on it.

[Jamos]

Thanks haynes!

WELL it arrived, and HOLY !@$#(* am I ever excited! I feel guilty, $105 for the dash, $13 shipping ($24 import fees) and it arrived in pristine condition! I pay double that shipping for two cans of spray paint, and it takes longer for IT to get here! I'm nervous I'll get a bill for $400 but I know I won't.

Went outside and saw this:



10 minutes later got all that plastic and tape off, then it was this:


TWENTY minutes later - I removed the cardboard and 1lb of tape, to find 100ft of bubble wrap taped to itself, on top of another 100ft of bubble wrap taped to itself annd presto:







I'm just a wee-bit excited!

[purplecty]

Wow that is a beautiful piece. Mine has some slight damage on it... That one looks amazing! What did you clean it with?

[noahabel]

$150 for clean leather dash?! Super jelly. What foreign eBay did you find that?

[Jamos]

http://www.ebay.ca/usr/european-part...p2047675.l2559 these guys! Super friendly too =)

I used Meguirs leather wipes tht have been in my garage unopened for six years!

- - - Updated - - -

So after getting that dash all shined up I also got the right side vent delivered! Just two more to go =D

I moved on to the floor seals that I noticed were rusting a couple years ago:



That's the rear driver's side floor panel, just where you would put your feet if you were sitting in the rear. I ripped the carpet up when I was dying it and that "cap" was completely missing! I felt through it back in 2013 and felt "spongy" as if the metal was just about to let go, turns out the sponge was the ACTUAL sponge of the carpet! Fortunately the carpet didn't rust over all this time . . . . . . two Ontario winter's later and here's the fix:

You can see two black discs left and the original smaller disc on the right, I made the black ones out of 1/8" ABS on my CNC:


Put windshield adhesive around'm:


And plop:


There is rust stains and salt stains in that picture, but it was just that, stains and dirt. I can't find the picture(s) that I took showing the actual rust and how I cleaned it up before covering it - but I did do that.

[Jamos]

Moved on to the doors:



I had originally tried taping the carpet off - doesn't work nicely. Then I tried taking the panel off that holds it, but the carpet is again it's own panel on that one, and wouldn't come off. So I gave in and pulled and SURE ENOUGH it came off!



So I dyed it and it looked really good. But, I figured why not try some unique things.

Brushed aluminum vinyl:


I didn't clean up the glue so it was really bumpy, I just wanted to see the overall look so I quickly placed a piece of vinyl of it after laying down that AWESOME "knifeless tape" stuff to cut it to shape. As you can see though, the carpet is much thicker and fills in the gaps, so vinyl on it's own just won't look good.

I KNOW! I still have 16ft² of suede left from my a-pillars, IT'S thicker!


I cut it to shape annnnd, though yes it is thicker, still nowhere near thick enough, and that colour - I kind of like it - is too bright for the door panel. I tried dying it black but it just turned grey, strange.

I also did this with the paint I used on my intake manifold:



Going to try to get out and get to a fabric store tomorrow to find some nice black carpet for the doors.

[Jamos]

Oh and here's how the door currently looks - factory carpet just painted black. It didn't go back on as nice as I wanted, that's why I'm looking for new carpet tomorrow:

[Sobek]

Dude you are transforming this car... It's going to look so good when you're done, crikey. What a difference some 'basic' colour changes can make, right? Love the suede idea for the doorcards, that actually looked really nice.

And I hate you for getting that kind of a steal on a leather dash. If it was RHD I'd be even more upset hahaha

[Jamos]

HAHAH if it was RHD I too would be upset!

Thanks a lot Sobek, it's been fun but also very draining doing this! The heat today was aweful, I would have worn a skirt if I had any.. if ya know what I mean.

I was hoping to get my seats in, but I decided to spray the kick panel that has the hood release on it, so I left the seats out while that's being done for ease of installation. Few people have seem them and keep saying, "WOW these things look brand new!" I guess they don't look at the quality of the leather hahah.

The suede is neat, but I really like the black look, so MAYBE I'll find some black suede tomorrow. Either way, I'll keep updating =D

[Hueristic]

What a score on that dash! Nice.

[PiotrC70]

Jamos,

What I'd like to know is how does the carpet FEEL to the touch after spray dying? In other words, does it feel stiff as if it was spray painted or does it have the same soft feel like carpet should? I ask because I'm looking at dying my carpet from a very dark charcoal to black on another car.

[Jamos]

Dark charcoal to black would take less paint than my beige to black. It DOES feel rougher, but not like it was painted with spray paint. This stuff is between a dye and a paint. You need to layer it THIN and let it dry to keep it feeling soft.

- - - Updated - - -

But what I've been doing is spraying the carpet, and then hit it with a brush. Rub the brush back and fourth and it makes it soft again, but retains the colour of course =)

[PiotrC70]

Dark charcoal to black would take less paint than my beige to black. It DOES feel rougher, but not like it was painted with spray paint. This stuff is between a dye and a paint. You need to layer it THIN and let it dry to keep it feeling soft.

- - - Updated - - -

But what I've been doing is spraying the carpet, and then hit it with a brush. Rub the brush back and fourth and it makes it soft again, but retains the colour of course =)

Thanks for the info. My other car has carpet that isn't as dense as the BMW and only a 2 seater so I imagine it would only take 3 cans to get it nice and black. My plan would also be to spray and brush or spray and rub with an old rag.

[Jamos]

The issue with brushing/rubbing when it's wet is that it will bunch up and actually get thicker and make it worse. I learned that when testing on my carpet.

For smaller pieces I think actual DYE would be better, can't find it much in Canada anymore but I know it's all over the 'States still, RIT Dye is excellent. Put some hot water in a bucket, poor the rit in and put whatever you want inside, the longer it's in there the darker it gets.

I'm thinking of doing it to my door carpet inserts, instead of wasting so much of this Dupli-Color on it.

[clarkitect]

That door panel looks great! Looking forward to seeing the results.

[PiotrC70]

The issue with brushing/rubbing when it's wet is that it will bunch up and actually get thicker and make it worse. I learned that when testing on my carpet.

For smaller pieces I think actual DYE would be better, can't find it much in Canada anymore but I know it's all over the 'States still, RIT Dye is excellent. Put some hot water in a bucket, poor the rit in and put whatever you want inside, the longer it's in there the darker it gets.

I'm thinking of doing it to my door carpet inserts, instead of wasting so much of this Dupli-Color on it.

I used iDye Poly on my rear deck. Didn't come out SUPER black like I wanted but it's a massive improvement over the faded AND it feels like factory. I put 1/2 bag in a 16oz spray bottle and sprayed away and rubbed it in with an old white shirt. Took probably 8-10 coats to get it black but it's held up really well. Sounds like I may have to go this option again.

[xboss]

Go deep and drill the plastic rivets that hold the carpet on that sub panel. That is what I am doing.

[purplecty]

Im going for BCMs look with regular sand beige pieces...

[Hueristic]

Im going for BCMs look with regular sand beige pieces...

I like this, If I hadn't tossed my tan panels I would do this.

[roys740]

that looks great

[clivesay]

Purp, I like that combo. Been wanting to do something with my silver/black to bring a little grey inside.