635csi repairing dents / cracks / scuffs

[wts]

Hi all,

I'm considering purchasing a BMW 635csi remotely that has a few repairs that need to be made to the front of the car (see the picture below). I'm looking for some advice as to how difficult it is to repair these issues and any sort of insight into the cost / effort it would take to get the car back into shape. Here are the issues:

- Dent on the nose of the car
- Scuffs in the location of the dent
- Scuffs just above the dent on the front edge of the hood of the car
- Cracks in front spoiler (below fender)

Any advice or insight is appreciated!

[RSheiman]

First, you need to hunt/search for the buyers guide to these cars wrt what to look out for. Primarily where to look for rust. Classic spots that may be very costly to repair and may not show in images, especially if the seller doesn't want them to show. Rear lights, shock towers etc.

WRT mechanical repairs, I have found my car ( 86 635) usually simple, periodically throwing a challenge. Parts are not overly expensive. Buy dealer or reputable name stuff, avoid cheap parts, cost more time and money in the long run.

Fixing paint is routine. Obviously ask this forum for any recommendations near you or go to someone you know. That said, if the car is cinnibar red, that paint costs a bit more because of the coloring ( I have a cinnabar red M6).

The spoiler, well its a personal thing. After repairing mine about 4 times, I have given up. Too many parking spaces with concrete front "stops" and speed bumps all gunning for your spoiler.

Make sure you get more pictures, bounce the numbers off here on the forum.....mileage, price, manual/automatic, recent repairs etc.

[e30luv318i]

Car is going to most likely need a complete paint job to repair your pictures areas. There is no way that paint (looks extremely aged in the picture) is going to match new paint. Yes you can half ass it and paint panels but you get what you pay for when you do it

[slofut]

If that's all that is wrong with the car as far as paint and body you're in good shape! Whats in the pic is very minimal and you'll spend as much trying to buy supplies and a few tools as it would cost a pro to do it. Not that he would match the paint perfectly, probably not, but a decent paint guy can make it look presentable for small money. The cracks on the spoiler look to be only in the paint, no splits in the plastic? That's rare and looks like a nice front spoiler, be careful with it. Have you found any rust on the car?

[JimPA]

Perhaps it's the angle but the gap between the nose and the leading edge of the hood looks wide and uneven. Make sure the nose damage is just scuffing, not bent metal behind it or on the edge of the hood. The kidneys also look dinged and dull but they're not too expensive or hard to replace.

[slofut]

Yes, you're def correct, the leading edge of the hood is bent and the nose along with the slightly damaged kidney. But this is all very easily taken care of by most any decent body man. The hood would be off and on a stand in less than five minutes. Minor bodywork. Guys in town here would fix that for about 300 bucks or less.

[wts]

Thanks for the feedback all. I did get some more photos from the guy selling, which you can see here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...n5?usp=sharing

Just saw that there is some additional paint peeling from the drivers side front panel, and looking at the photos it seems like there is some minor rust here and there. Though the seller is claiming that it's mostly free of rust / rot...

Car is a 1986 635csi, manual transmission. No reported accidents or any sort of damage on the history report. Shows ~200k miles on the odometer, but 220k on the report as of 2002. Apparently the previous owner had it in storage since then, and this guy bought it 8 months ago and cleaned it up a bit to sell. The seller claims that the car is running well otherwise, though I would want to get a pre-purchase inspection to confirm. He's asking $7k.

Wondering how much it would take to get this thing back to looking decent, and whether or not it's worth the time of getting the pre-purchase inspection. Thoughts?

[Bert Poliakoff]

"lot different labor rates in Moultrie than Brooklyn , NY . Even in Phoenix where labor is cheap, a top of the line body shop is over $100 an hour. Neighborhood shop is still over $60. He's looking at a bare minimum of $700 for the metal, paint work and a decent set of replacement grilles. Good used grilles without dents are starting to push over $150. Have you priced paint lately? A pint of just the 2 stage color alone is $75 and that's not including the cost of the clear . that will all factor in to the total cost regardless of who is doing it.

[roger hanley]

The PO must have cleaned up the interior only, seats look good. Reviewing the photo's it appears none of the bushings have been replaced. Photo #100 shows the dog bones are shot and the exhaust system appears to have been worked on and hanging low.

[Sansouci]

looks like one of the exhaust hangers is not connected. in the photo of the driver's side scuttle (the area in the engine compartment under the window) appears to have some rust/bubbling. Also look at the rear around the lights under the license plate as that is a rust prone problem. Do you have an indy shop lined up or is this a DIY project and / or DD?
We're here to help and you may also want to visit bigcoupe devoted only to E24s of all vintages.

[RSheiman]

Geeze Bert, gotta move to Arizona.............Cinnabar red is $600/gallon up here, that is the cost to the distributor. But hell, I would spend all I would save on sunscreen so screw it, gonna stay up here in New England...where you are always welcome to visit.

[1986series6]

So I was wondering why the front lip of the hood is higher than
the header panel. Well, looking @ the photos I noticed that the
hood struts were disconnected. That hood was opened without
the struts and pushed against the header support panel.
Just my guess.

The car was repainted because BMW only used clear coat on metallic colors.

Also I noticed the rubber is dry rot throughout, the wheels and tires will have to be updated to more modern tire
technology.

The harnesses along the drivers fender and firewall have been opened for some reason. Make sure you find out what
works and doesn't work.

How it drives should be the deciding factor. If your going to park it on a street in Brooklyn and not garage it, don't do it.
It will deteriorate before your eyes.

If your still going to buy it, I say not more than $2850

Just my $.02

[slofut]

Geez that car has good bones. And sport seats with a stick? I'm glad it's not near me...

[Bert Poliakoff]

Geeze Bert, gotta move to Arizona.............Cinnabar red is $600/gallon up here, that is the cost to the distributor. But hell, I would spend all I would save on sunscreen so screw it, gonna stay up here in New England...where you are always welcome to visit.

I blew it, but metallic color here is still under $400 a gallon on average.