Finally got my M

[Venom13132]

If you just prop up the forward carpet section with some wood blocks, allowing the air to circulate, it should dry out without having to completely remove it.

IF YOU DO decide to take it out, some strategically placed cut(s)__right down the centerline of the car between the firewall and eater matrix area__will allow it to be removed without taking the whole dash apart.

Last summer I was working on a Coupe that had a swamp in the RH footwell (after some very serious and sloppy frame rail replacement) and the collision shop guy had also cut the carpet down the centerline rendering it two (2) completely separate sections. Upon assembly, all the cuts are hidden, and it did make it a lot easier for me__working alone__to get them out of the car.

I used some gaffer's tape upon reassembly to hold the cut sections back together, and no one would be the wiser, save for my totally transparent nature of car repair, and generating about a thousand (1470, to be precise...) pictures of the process



Edit: what do you know, it's even blue! http://spcarsplus.com/gallery3/index.php/EDL_Cpe

so many photos! haha nice to see though, can be very helpful in the long run. I haven't even looked at my rear subframe yet, but I am going to guess it is in need of reinforcement.

Hopefully we will have some warm and sunny weather this weekend and I can prop up the carpet and leave the top down and let the sun do its work on the moisture. Its been rainy today so im sure its got more water in there now. I am having a house built right now so I wont have a garage to park the car in till late July.

[Venom13132]

Pulled the dash out. The drivers side pod is in pretty bad shape so I picked up a full dash from a local yard that I am going to be doing carbon skinning on once I get a little better at it.
IMG_8338.JPG


First picture is coated with black dyed resin then the 2nd picture is with the carbon layed on. I didn't do a steller job laying the CF so I may redo these parts now that I know better what I am doing.

I am wrapping some of the blue parts in Blue Carbon Kevlar. Here is an example of the color.
DSCF0217.JPG
I am doing the A-Pillars right now.

[Venom13132]

I have the last coat down on my door trim pieces and boomarang trim along with the first coat of resin on the A-pillars for the blue carbon/kevlar. I peeled the tan off of my junkyard dash and am prepping it for blue carbon/kevlar. The airbag an gauge pods are getting regular CF getting those prepped also.

IMG_8370.JPG

IMG_8371.JPG

IMG_8372.JPGIMG_8369.JPG

[sleepy740]

Final Product is going to be so awesome!!!

[Venom13132]

Final Product is going to be so awesome!!!

Thanks!! I sure hope so. What color is that on your wheels? I may have to copy that!!

[sleepy740]

Thanks!! I sure hope so. What color is that on your wheels? I may have to copy that!!

Here is what mine looked like. I went with Gunmetal Centers, with a Light Silver Lip. I originally wanted a polished lip, however it was easier to just paint them Silver.

[Venom13132]

Yeah, that looks great! Love the gunmetal on the Estroil Blue. I need to get my wheels refinished and will most likely go that route!


For those interested in my CF shenanigans going on here is a link to my thread for that.
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...arts-in-my-Z3M

[bubbafett]

Love the blue carbon fiber. I've never seen it before.

[steveo539]

Similar road trip to purchase my car. Flew to Baltimore, the guy picked me up at the airport, made the deal and I drove it back to Seattle. I really have to give you credit for the amount of work you have accomplished in the time you've had the car. You might want to consider new window sliders when you are in the door doing the latch seals. Also take a look at the door lock/tumbler mechanisms. They have a tendency to come apart and all the guts end up on the bottom of your door. Your key will just spin in the lock but won't do anything. The crimps that hold the end plate in the mechanism come loose and puke all the little parts out the end. I re-crimped mine when it was apart and used a small dab of epoxy to hold the end plate on should the crimps fail.

[Venom13132]

Love the blue carbon fiber. I've never seen it before.

thanks. the blue is actually kevlar woven in with carbon fiber. Its a little more difficult to work with than the plain carbon fiber. But I wanted to keep with the black and blue theme of the interior, so it is a nice option.

Similar road trip to purchase my car. Flew to Baltimore, the guy picked me up at the airport, made the deal and I drove it back to Seattle. I really have to give you credit for the amount of work you have accomplished in the time you've had the car. You might want to consider new window sliders when you are in the door doing the latch seals. Also take a look at the door lock/tumbler mechanisms. They have a tendency to come apart and all the guts end up on the bottom of your door. Your key will just spin in the lock but won't do anything. The crimps that hold the end plate in the mechanism come loose and puke all the little parts out the end. I re-crimped mine when it was apart and used a small dab of epoxy to hold the end plate on should the crimps fail.

Thats a hell of a drive back! I just finished cleaning the interior with the carpet out and removing some wiring I didn't need anymore since I'm installing all my own stereo equipment. I got the carpet back in last night, Makes it feel more like a car again. I am about to go on vacation so no work on the car for a week or so. I wish I had more time off, I would take a work on the car vacation. I will have to look into the door lock tumblers. I'm guessing that will be an easy fix while doing the seals. Not sure what you mean by window sliders. Looking on realoem right now.

- - - Updated - - -

IMG_8419.JPGIMG_8420.JPG

[Venom13132]

I found a good deal on a hardtop in Illinois. Lucky for me the guy is about to go to Alabama to visit family and has to pass through Indianapolis on his way so he is delivering the top to me.

[s8ilver]

I found a good deal on a hardtop in Illinois. Lucky for me the guy is about to go to Alabama to visit family and has to pass through Indianapolis on his way so he is delivering the top to me.

Score! When are the rain channels getting carbon fiber'd?

[Venom13132]

Score! When are the rain channels getting carbon fiber'd?

I am kind of in "throw the car back together" mode right now because I have an event at the Blue Ridge Parkway coming up in a month. So my CF wrapping is a little on hold till, most likely, the winter. So I will have more time to mess with it and not care that my car is apart. The hard top is silver and I have a 60" x 72" sheet of that 3D carbon fiber vinyl laying around from when I had my RX7. So that is going on there temporarily. In all honesty I would really like to get good enough at working with the Carbon that I can recreate the top in carbon fiber.

[Venom13132]

[Venom13132]

lot has happened since i started this thread. Doing a BBK with 135i calipers. Needed to host some pictures for my for sale thread for my extra set of calipers.

[Venom13132]

more photos

[Tommm]

I bought and drove home a few cars like that. When I sold my 68 Firebird Convertible back in 05 or 06 I bought a Miata. I decided to roll the dice when the seller answered the phone White House. He was a producer for one of the news networks. I figured if he could get security clearance he wasn't going to play a game with a six year old car. Took the train to DC, he picked me up, did the deal at his house, and drove back to NY. The next day there was a blizzard that shut the eastern seaboard down.

I bought an E46 323Ci this year. Seller was original owner, original clutch, 87,000 miles and still on original brake pads, no accidents, and all the service records are from a BMW dealer. Flew to San Antonio with my 15 year old daughter Friday night, met the seller at 8:00 AM Saturday, did the deal, saw the Alamo, had lunch on the Riverwalk and drove it back to CO. Ordered new pads, rotors, and cooling system. She did the brakes with me and will do the cooling system with me next month. It will be her car when she gets her license.

Those two cars had some thought put into it. Last weekend at a PCA breakfast a friend said he traded in his 07 Cayman S with 38k miles for a new Cayman S. I bought his E39 540i 6M from him three years ago so I knew how he takes care of his cars. Texted my wife at 8:12 and told her he traded the car in. She texted back buy it, sell the white car (in my sig pic). After breakfast he, my buddy who I share the 944S DE toy with and I went to the dealer. At 10:43 I took a picture of the car, and a few minutes later I shook hands on the deal. Three hours from finding out the car existed to cutting a check.

Now I have my 63,000 mile 2000 M Roadster white/black for sale if anyone is interested. Records from P.O. from 2004.

[Venom13132]

I bought and drove home a few cars like that. When I sold my 68 Firebird Convertible back in 05 or 06 I bought a Miata. I decided to roll the dice when the seller answered the phone White House. He was a producer for one of the news networks. I figured if he could get security clearance he wasn't going to play a game with a six year old car. Took the train to DC, he picked me up, did the deal at his house, and drove back to NY. The next day there was a blizzard that shut the eastern seaboard down.

I bought an E46 323Ci this year. Seller was original owner, original clutch, 87,000 miles and still on original brake pads, no accidents, and all the service records are from a BMW dealer. Flew to San Antonio with my 15 year old daughter Friday night, met the seller at 8:00 AM Saturday, did the deal, saw the Alamo, had lunch on the Riverwalk and drove it back to CO. Ordered new pads, rotors, and cooling system. She did the brakes with me and will do the cooling system with me next month. It will be her car when she gets her license.

Those two cars had some thought put into it. Last weekend at a PCA breakfast a friend said he traded in his 07 Cayman S with 38k miles for a new Cayman S. I bought his E39 540i 6M from him three years ago so I knew how he takes care of his cars. Texted my wife at 8:12 and told her he traded the car in. She texted back buy it, sell the white car (in my sig pic). After breakfast he, my buddy who I share the 944S DE toy with and I went to the dealer. At 10:43 I took a picture of the car, and a few minutes later I shook hands on the deal. Three hours from finding out the car existed to cutting a check.

Now I have my 63,000 mile 2000 M Roadster white/black for sale if anyone is interested. Records from P.O. from 2004.

tool bad you couldn't have just bought the Cayman straight from him instead of the dealer getting a piece of the action! Cayman is on my list of cars I would own. I am more of a built not bought person though. I thought I wanted a car that was already fast and complete and nice from the start so I bought one and I drove it for a year and just wasn't happy. So I searched for a project and found that M.

[Tommm]

tool bad you couldn't have just bought the Cayman straight from him instead of the dealer getting a piece of the action! Cayman is on my list of cars I would own. I am more of a built not bought person though. I thought I wanted a car that was already fast and complete and nice from the start so I bought one and I drove it for a year and just wasn't happy. So I searched for a project and found that M.

I may have ended up paying less. I basically paid a little less than i would have paid if i bought it from him, added the tires they put on (wholesale v retail), and paid for the detail and other work they did. The dealer made the sales tax spread.

Remember, they have guys on payroll whether they work or not, so, for example, detailing the car, and, mounting and balancing tires over a week doesn't cost much if anything, I would have paid Tire Rack retail for the tires they get wholesale, and I would have paid for the other work done. The difference is hundreds, not thousands. Plus I got treated like I am wealthier than i am by the dealer staff.

Here are pictures i took yesterday of my M. https://photos.shutterfly.com/story_...6a/10215540746