Projects & Resto's

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

Hi Folks, I thought it might be fun to put up a couple shots of the car before it goes in for full paint. I hoped to drop it off yesterday but the viper they're working on is taking a few extra days so it looks like next week- I hope. Anyway, this is what she looks like now and I hope to show her off in a couple/few weeks when she has "most" of her cloths on.

As always, thanks all for your help!

 

[vince]

I can't wait to see the finished product.

Please tell me they are going to weld up the some of those holes for 'automatic' script on the trunk lid, front side reflectors, etc...

 

[David]

Love to know the cost on the paint work.

Might want to roll the fenders now in case you want to drop the stance a little in the future.

Are you doing a bumper conversion ?

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

I'll keep the info coming

I will let you all know of the price for paint as the shop that is doing it has a great reputation for being both excellent and fair on the price. They actually gave me the rattle cans to protect the metal and told me how to prep everything so that they would not have to charge me to do grunt labor. I'm good at that. I plan on doing the older bumper conversion so the holes in the back will be welded up. The front side marker light holes as well. I guess I'm lucky that the job was put off for a week as now I'll have time to do it right. I have some body work to be done for sure but they don't have to take anything off the car- or put it back on either so I'm counting on that keeping the price down. I am pretty sure they have the experience in rolling the fenders as they have painted quite a few of these so they tell me. It's fun getting towards the last chapter of this rebuild, but I think there will be allot of "short stories" to come once it's on the road. BTW, YTD-13 months since I bought this baby, approx.1100 man hours (my wife kept countL), 1300 pictures, I stopped counting the receipts - that was depressing but I have them all (did not show those to her J). Please make any suggestions- I appreciate all the input sincerely!

Color to be: Midnight Blue, black and grey semi-stock interior, I thought it might be fun to mount a small tablet where the dash speaker goes- Nav/internet/itunes, etc!

 

[David]

If it were mine;

Side marker delete
Roll fenders
Move antenna to the rear fender if yours is on the front fender
Bumper conversion
Drop in the spare tire well from an E24 so you can use a matching spare (looks like you may have 16x7 staggers which wont fit in the stock well)
Reinforce the rear shock towers
Cut a hole for the rear Euro fog light in case you go that route in the future


Do they use water based paint in TX like California ?

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

here is the paint info

First Water-Based Shop In Texas,“AkzoNobel’s Autowave is a superior paint product that is much more environmentally friendly. It contains less VOC emissions and therefore is less harmful to the environment. The product produces a beautiful, long lasting finish.

So the story goes- any experience with this stuff?

 

[David]

I know that when I tried to use water based paint to touch-up some scratches, I could never get it to dry enough to hold-up to wet sanding. I wonder how the pro's do it.

But it just feels counter intuitive to spray water, in any form, on these cars...

 

[jmackro]

"The product produces a beautiful, long lasting finish."

So the story goes- any experience with this stuff?

How do they know it will be "long lasting" if it has just been introduced?

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

all very good questions

In practice I would not be surprised if they used a veriety of paint types depending on the car/customer. I will be sure to report back (or ask questions first) once I get the complete info. It was interesting that someone asked the question and I had read about this on their site earlier this week, thus the cut and paste below.

 

[Stan]

If it were mine;

Side marker delete
Roll fenders
Move antenna to the rear fender if yours is on the front fender
Bumper conversion
Drop in the spare tire well from an E24 so you can use a matching spare (looks like you may have 16x7 staggers which wont fit in the stock well)
Reinforce the rear shock towers
Cut a hole for the rear Euro fog light in case you go that route in the future

ALL OF THE ABOVE PLUS
Cut holes for rear speakers if you are considering music
Reinforce with some Coupe King parts http://www.coupeking.com/body-reinforcement-cs-2295 http://www.coupeking.com/?post_type=parts&p=5099

and if you cut out a good wheel well, i know a guy who needs a solid stock-sized well!

 

[Nicad]

That sure seems like a lot of money for two pieces of folded metal. Good tip on the E24 tire well. Gives me reason to hang on to my chrome spare Alpina.
Looking forward to the finished product. Congratulations on your productivity on this restoration.

 

[61porsche]

The manufacturer you mentioned is the parent company of Sikkens which is a plus.

Water based paints have been around a while now. The down side so to speak is that they are a two part system with a clear. ( Dries dull so needs a clear.)

So depending upon what you're doing on what car, too much shine might be a problem; meaning an original single stage paint ( non-metallic) won't look quite the same. But by now, all the paint formulas that used to be original have to be rematched if you're being absolutely correct.

Now, I don't know about the cost of materials which could be a factor or not depending on your budget if you have one.

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

Thanks for the input

I think I will go with filling the holes and rolling the fenders- BTW, does that effect the appearance or does it just tuck the lip up so they don't cut into the tires? I will definitely plug up the antenna from the front pillar- I guess wind noise was not a factor back then. I just visited the carpet folks and they're going to cut, sew and "mold" the carpet for a perfect fit. I'm going with a non stock carpet because I may end up living in this thing if my wife ever sees the bills. Regarding the paint, down here in Austin there is lots of sun so I'll talk to the shop regarding that and see what they suggest. For those in CA, the sun here is a little more plentiful but allot "hotter", and there is no really awesome beaches either. I'm working on a source for the bumpers now but I think I'm going to leave the rear tire well alone- great suggestion, but I'll use the stock spare if I get into trouble and renew my AAA card. I saw a cool shock tower brace that also housed the battery so I may move in that direction, but that will be down the road - I see this car as a daily driver to and from work where I can park it inside both places so with the strut tower brace on the front I hope I'll be OK for a while.

Thanks all!