1978 323i driver/project

[cgifool]

Looking good!

Did you end up supplying that tweed for the recaros? I love the look

I picked the tweed from a set of samples the upholsterer provided, and he provided it. Glad to be done with the futile hunt to try and match the original. Can't wait to try these in my car!

[cgifool]

Visited my baby yesterday.

It was in the paint booth after receiving a coat of semi-gloss primer with a blotchy color, which the owner told me makes it easier to see (and fix) tiny little surface imperfections. I actually kind of like the look, but not as much as I liked the bare-metal look

He said they had done the interior work, but I couldn't see to verify due to the plastic masking film.

Trunk gasket lip is still missing a small section - not sure why they didn't get ALL the welding done before starting the block sanding, but I'm assuming its being done by different people, who available for different amounts of time.

He still thinks I'll get it back by the end of this month, we'll see!

I've started thinking about what order to put stuff back together, it'll be important because everything I removed is in a storage locker a few miles away and there's not enough room to just bring it all back at once!

Tonight I'm planning to clean out the heater box and replace the old leaky valve.




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[MortyCrock]

Looks great, man. Super stoked for your progress!

[cgifool]

Last night I disassembled my heater box. The old heater valve was clearly leaking (and not from the gasket) - but also all the old foam rubber bits are crumbling and need replacement - the heater core had a few handfuls of old dried leaves and seeds in it - the grease in the flap mechanism needs replacing - and the fan doesn't spin as freely as I'd like. Overall kind of a mess. The core itself looks just fine.

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[320iAman]

'Visited my baby yesterday.' Is a boy or girl ?

Randy

[jaredmac11]

It's a modern world, Randy. We let the cars choose their gender.

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

[320iAman]

lol

Randy

[cgifool]

It's a modern world, Randy. We let the cars choose their gender.

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

LOL. It's okay with me if my car is non-binary.

Got a call from the body shop yesterday, they got a small amount of paint and shot a test panel - want me to come by and confirm the color before they go and buy enough for the whole job. WOOT.

Also said they had finished the floor repairs, including a 5" patch on the drivers side.

[cgifool]

Stopped by the body shop to do a color check - I was expecting just a single panel, but they had painted the whole interior and trunk! Also had welded patches in not just the drivers side, but also the passenger side floor and one in the trunk. They are really going above and beyond. I love the color!


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[cgifool]

Ordered a master cylinder rebuild kit from the ebay link Randy provided, $15 shipped, not bad! I don't know whether mine needs it, but it probably can't hurt!

Dropped off my new hood hinge at the body shop today - the old one was very slightly bent from an accident long ago, which kept the hood from springing up fully when the release is pulled. Interestingly, the old one has a slight offset section in the middle, whereas the new one does not. RealOEM only seems to show one part for all models and years. <shrug>

Since Monday, they've painted the inside of the hood, trunk lid, and doors. I'm not totally pleased with the paint on the hood catch and window regulators and random bolts etc, things that aren't supposed to have paint on them (due to not fully disassembling stuff before painting) - but, I don't really want to make a stink about it - I figure I can remove any of these things I care about later and probably easily strip the paint off with a nice long soak in brake fluid.

They've made really fast progress the last few visits, but the shop owner warned me that not much will happen next week due to a bunch of insurance work coming through. No big deal, I don't mind waiting a little longer!


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[320iAman]

"Ordered a master cylinder rebuild kit from the ebay link Randy provided, $15 shipped, not bad! I don't know whether mine needs it, but it probably can't hurt!"

Car is coming along nicely, the white material looks like epoxy which another way to prime the car for paint,,epoxy -paint,, epoxy-primer-paint or primer-paint.

True, plus when your brake master cylinder goes out , dont have to shop around you can rebuild it with Ate quality parts, done in less than a day.

[cgifool]

A week ago the body shop told me "two more weeks". We'll see!

In the meantime I've been puttering around with my heater box, replaced the old crumbly foam on the two sets of flaps, and sprayed some lube on the fan motor bushings. I tried and tried with no luck to find sheets of open-cell 1/8" foam, and eventually gave up. Then I walked into my shop and was poking around and found an 18" x 18" sheet of it just sitting there on top some spare parts. No idea where it came from unless maybe it was used as packing material or something and I happened to save it "just in case!" Lucky me!


Not sure what else there is to do with that fan motor, never really had any problems with it but I wish it turned just a little bit more freely.

Also yesterday I put up my new 10'x20' portable garage, $370 or so shipped from Amazon. Turned out pretty good, all done except for the concrete anchors.

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[Somjuan]

I get excited every time you post in here, very excited to see that paint job. As far as the motor goes you can always send that out for a refurbish/rewind. Some of them you can rebuild with nicer sealed bearings, depends on the blowers though

[cgifool]

I get excited every time you post in here, very excited to see that paint job. As far as the motor goes you can always send that out for a refurbish/rewind. Some of them you can rebuild with nicer sealed bearings, depends on the blowers though

Thanks! And also thanks for the idea, I hadn't even thought of that. As it happens there's a place like that just a mile or two away from me, I'll bring it by and see what they say.

[cgifool]

Visited the car last Friday - it was in the paint booth getting all taped up again for paint!

Really hoping to get it back soon to take advantage of my extended time home in the coming weeks/months..

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Also continued puttering about with my heater box - cleaned the leaf bits and old foam tape from the heater core and reassembled the box halves and flaps, re-clipped all the box clips. reinstalled the blower motor and covers and their clips and reconnected the wires.

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[cgifool]

Bolted on the new heater valve and gasket (with a smear of o-ring grease on it), and the copper pipe that attaches to it. That's all for tonight.

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[cgifool]

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[320iAman]

Interesting by pieces, is that the final color ?


Randy

[cgifool]

Interesting by pieces, is that the final color ?


Randy

Yes, Chamonix was the original color. The above photos show it reasonably accurately, like an ivory or antique white. When I bought the car it had a really cheap respray of Alpine white on the outside only.

[320iAman]

Yes, Chamonix was the original color. The above photos show it reasonably accurately, like an ivory or antique white. When I bought the car it had a really cheap respray of Alpine white on the outside only.

Nice, its looking really good.

Randy

[cgifool]

Got two more photos emailed from the body shop yesterday. Luckily (for me) they are staying open during the "shelter-in-place" order that was issued a few days ago since auto repair shops are considered "essential".

I see what looks like the trunk lid in the rear left, the gas flap, new battery tray, new hood hinges all in the back right, and the front valance all looking good. Some day I'd like to get the front valance swapped back to a euro one, but its pretty darn low priority since the only differences (holes) aren't visible with the bumper mounted.

I'm not certain whether they'll be painting the lower lip and rocker panels black again right away, or in a few months once I get it reassembled.

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Sadly, they never fixed this dent above the right muffler cutout, or cleaned up the poor job of welding up the US bumper holes that some previous owner commissioned. They've already gone above and beyond what was originally quoted scope-wise, and are holding to the quoted dollar amount, so I'm not going to ask 'em to do anything about it right now. Maybe this fall after I've had time to get it all back together and drive it a while.


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[cgifool]

Got a call from the body shop today.

Right door, fenders, and trunk lid are on. Left door going on shortly. Some hinge pieces for hood hadn't been painted (not sure, maybe the springs?), they'll install the hood once the paint is dry on the pieces. Undercoating sprayed on the repaired places and inside the fenders (don't think they undercoated everywhere).

Says car should be ready to go home Friday or Saturday!

That would make roughly 7 months time at the body shop. It's been a long time, but no complaints here!

[cgifool]

Got a call from the body shop today, they painted and installed my new hood hinge (purchased because I thought the old one was bent), but it turned out that the new one doesn't quite match the old one - and the hood scrapes on the hinge when you close it!

No idea what's going on here, I checked the realOEM page and the diagram shows the same part number for all years, with the center section being straight like my new one. But my old hinge has an offset section in the middle.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...19#41611862282

A testament to this amazing shop, he is going to repaint the old hinge and reinstall it all at no extra charge to me. He has given me many many free hours to get this car done right while sticking to his original price quote.

American Elite Auto Body in Round Rock, Texas, y'all.

[cgifool]

Body shop asked me to come by to look the car over and see if I have any issues. They're on the final stretch!

They painted the rocker panels and lower lip of the front valance black as I requested, but unfortunately also painted the lower parts of the rear quarter behind the wheel as well, which I'm having them put back to white. They still have to switch the hood hinge back as well. It's been raining like crazy here so I wont be able to bring the car home until next week whenever we get a sunny day.

Overall everything looks really good, can't wait to start getting this thing back together!!

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[cgifool]

It's back! Phase next starts tomorrow!

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