1986 BMW e28 5 series touring car rep

Been busy beavering away blocking the primer down on the shell. As predicted it made a hell of a mess in my single garage with no dust extraction. Had a small issue in one of the door shuts where it had a small previous blow in with aerosol, no initial reaction but the primer bridged and lifted off but nothing major, just a flat and re-prime the small area.

Then trailered the shell to work for painting. First up I needed to paint the roof white by masking up on the faint swage line around the roof edge. Then mask up the rear panel for stonechip protection, I used tintable U-pol Raptor which helped me for better coverage when painting it.

The following day involved a big mask up, 5 hours hours worth in total. I used Octoral 2k direct gloss and applied 2 3/4 coats, 3/4 first coat followed by 2 wet coats. The job came out mint, with only two small nibs however I still dead flatted the whole car and mopped up for a flawless finish.

Once that was done I was on the home straight and just the satin black to finish off the job.

Now back home I can start the building process over the winter and work in the bolt on panels for painting.

Picture heavy!

Incredibly cool project and amazing quality of work.
John

I based my cage around the basic design of the time. I didn’t want a complex cage because they don’t look right in an older car. I’m going to fit removable door bars to make road use a bit easier.

Looks gorgeous. Can I ask a silly question re the interior black paint, is there a paint code or name for that ?
Might sound odd , but it looks like the exact sheen I'd like for my own BMW project car.
Thanks

amazing work there. thanks for sharing!

JP

The advert that appeared beneath this comment made me laugh...




I think the cage design is perfect for the age of the car. It's a shame you're not in Cornwall or else I'd be hassling you to make a rear hoop for my 1602.

Little update. I’ve removed all of the redundant wires from the loom, had a few issues with the headlights not playing ball but after some head scratching and problem solving a knowledgeable work colleague helped out and managed to get them working so now all electrics work. Once I was happy with everything I then had the time consuming time task of tidying up and re-wrapping the loom in the original cloth type insulation tape. Very happy with the results.

















That’s a good 8kg of spaghetti that’s no longer needed.

Coming along nicely. Looks great.

A small update, A while back I thought I might have to sell the project due to me being made redundant but luckily everything has worked out ok and I’m still able to crack on with it. Recently fitted rear camber adjusters to the rear beam, unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the process because I’m quite forgetful but anyway here’s a few of the rear running gear bolted back up including coilovers.