Bringing back an E9.

[AmazonE30]

That whole center console looks absolutely beautiful - a perfect combination of wood, leather, and bare metal. Great work! Love the retro-look radio as well.
I just bought a '77 E21 that needs some interior refreshment, and this is great inspiration and tutoring.

[scweet14]

love the work so far, really excited to see where this takes you. so just plans as a restoration or are we gonna see some real driving out of this thing?

[mpower5266]

Not much has happened on the E9. We have been waiting on parts and my dad has had some medical stuff(hes fine just kinda run down so I'm avoiding him.
I don't want to get him sick.) We did get a new old stock emblem for the trunk.

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And found some knobs for the radio that look more "BMW."

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So far 2021 has been pretty crazy but I am hoping this will be on the road by late Feb-early March. I am hoping some parts show up and I can get over this weekend to work on it.

[fuxxo]

wow, this is faultless! :-O amazing project

[white out]

Such a great thread.

[mpower5266]

Super mega awesome.....boring ass update. Sorry its just slow going right now waiting for parts so we are just working on little stuff. We found some knobs for the radio that don't look so out of place.

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My dad started by inspecting all the fenders and only found a small bit of surface rust in the drivers front. It looks worse in the photo then it does in real life. It will be encapsulated and touched up.

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When we started this project, we didn't want a full resto. The plan was to fix it up enough to drive it and maybe flip it for a nicer one later on. It ended up being easier to fully repaint, but we were still scared of the rockers. They have a cover on them, that we decided to leave on when we painted it(I wish we didnt) because if we found rust it would have made for a much bigger project. Well the covers did need to be repainted, the screws holding it in were rusty, and the car might go back to the body shop for some touch ups.... so we pulled them. It was a miracle.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Just a couple spots of surface rust, but no rot. I need to buy some lottery tickets. This will be treated and touched up, and not seen once the covers are installed.

Ran the fuel tank vent.

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Installed more trim.

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And installed the headlight buckets.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

More this week.

[gnmzl]

This is not boring at all. Uncovering lack of rot is always the most exciting thing. Congrats and keep up the good work on this one.

[mpower5266]

Flocked the glove box....

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Then it was time to install its face. We did a little polish/clean up on its snoot.

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The nose job.

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Add some eyes.

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And a shark is born.

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Sorry that was a little goofy but its a slow day at work and it was fun to kill a little time. I cant believe just how far is as come and how close we are to the finish line.

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[mpower5266]

Again, another small e9 update. We sprayed some undercoating in the fender wells.

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There is also a random hole in the both the front wheel wells. Its formed when the fender is seamed in over the front structure of the car, it leaves a fist sized hole in the wheel well that turns out to be a moisture trap. This is a before photo but it was also treated and undercoated to hopefully stop rust. We used a boroscope to check it out and it looked surprisingly clean.

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But the best update so far, possibly even better than the paint job. Those awful gold wheels have been finally removed.

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[mpower5266]

Got it on the ground. I love the wheels but it needs more low.

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We are going to get it ready to load on the trailer and try to sneak it over to my house this weekend in between storms.

[mpower5266]

Since work is slow, and Im just getting really excited about the progress on the car, here is a super small update.

My dad found some generic rubber boots and used them as a dust covers for the headlight connectors.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

With the dust covers installed the headlights went back in and the front end is officially buttoned up.

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The dip switch(high beams) was broken and they are extremely expensive. My engineer father took it apart and repaired and redesigned it a little to make it work.

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The A/C vent covers were installed.

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And the drivers seat, its almost ready to make the trip to my garage for final detailing.

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[EasySpeed*Inc]

So nice to see this coming together, amazing work!

[mpower5266]

Super small update, as usual. We have had nothing but crappy raining days this week but we got the e9 moved over to my house Friday night in between storms.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

The plan will be to work on it here and there over the next couple weeks as the twins will let me. I need to wet sand the hood, go over the whole car with a light compound, polish, and seal the paint. I may also steam the engine bay and any other little detail stuff I find. I did my first repair Friday night by fixing the handle on the ebrake with a 3/4" deep well socket and a rubber mallet.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I will certainly share more as I get some work done this week.

[mpower5266]

I actually got some garage time in last night. I finally finished wet sanding(hopefully) on this car. This was about midway through the process. I ended up doing 2 passes with Megs 101 and one pass of Jescar compound. This was after the first pass of Megs.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I am hoping to pull it out of the garage this evening, blow off all the dust, wipe it down and give it a good looking over before the sun sets. Then hopefully tape it off for polishing after the kiddos go to bed.

[mpower5266]

I finished the polish work over the weekend. Compounded the hood fully.

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And gave the rest of the car a full polish.

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And pulled it out in to the sun to give it a once over. Its looking pretty damn good.

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Ill get the sealant and wax on this week and get it back to my dads shop next weekend. The bumpers are ready to go on and most of the trim can be installed. I am hoping its about 2-3 weeks out from a first drive.

[hinrichs]

Wow its looking amazing. Can not wait to see it with the bumpers and trim on. Are you guys still planning on selling it for a better example?

[mpower5266]

Wow its looking amazing. Can not wait to see it with the bumpers and trim on. Are you guys still planning on selling it for a better example?

We are certainly in it where we could make a decent profit on it but I think its going to stick around for a while. We have discussed looking for another one to work on, but we already have a ton of projects. Up next is my 944 hopefully and then maybe building my 1974 2002 that I have tucked away in the basement.

More small updates on the e9. Monday night I put a coat of Jescar Powerlock sealant on and installed the hub caps.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

My dad is knocking out little projects while I have car, he painted the rocker covers.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

He also picked up the rear bumper from the chrome shop. The front bumper was not included with the car, so we sourced one shortly after buying the car. It was in much better shape than the front so we had this one chromed to match. It came out very nice.

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He also polished the front bumper using the worlds oldest can of Turtle wax chrome polish. No joke, I think that can is 30 years old..

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Last night I put the first coat of 845 on. This might be the only chemical that rivals Hoppes 9, I would wear a Collinite 845 colone.

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I also cleaned and dressed two of the tires and started cleaning the windows, but I didn't get pics.

[gnmzl]

That car really looks amazing. You deserve a Collinite 845 cologne!

[SebastienPeek]

This is really coming together now, looks great and that paint is seriously ridiculous!

[Yerboogieman]

It's difficult to find a good build thread anymore. Great job! Facebook and YouTube just don't feel the same.

[mpower5266]

Not a huge update but we are kinda waiting on some small parts to show up before we can put the bumpers on. Last week, the car went back to my dads shop since I was done with the paint. We then installed the repainted rocker covers.

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Cleaned up the strips on the front bumper that the rubber attaches to.

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Installed the gills with the black vinyl underneath this time.

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And put on some of the trim.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And finally cleaned up the rear license plate lights before installing them in the rear bumper.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

We are waiting on some stripper so we can finish stripping the trim and polishing it and some rubber parts for the bumper. I am thinking its still about 3-4 weeks away from the first drive but I am hoping it will be done sooner.

[mpower5266]

Another super small boring update but I like to keep track of these things and hopefully you all enjoy it.

Prepped the bumpers to paint the insides. We noticed they were pretty rusty so we figured it wouldn't hurt to protect them.

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Installed the rear emblem.

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Installed the rubber covers for the bumper mounts.

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And finally, bolted on its pinchers, I mean front bumper mounts. I thought it looked a little like a crab.

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More to come soon.

[SebastienPeek]

Little crab pinchers!



But seriously, seeing a project having it's badges and plastics put back on mean it's so much closer to being driven. I'm excited for you!

[mpower5266]

Another small set of E9 updates from the weekend.

Installed the rear emblem. For now, a reproduction but we will eventually source and restore an original.

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Installed the original front roundel. This will be restored as well when we source a rear one.

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Stripped and polished more trim.

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And installed that trim on the car.

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Painted the inside of the bumpers.

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Mounted the bumper center on the car. We are waiting on over riders for the bumper to show up before we can install the rest.

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Finally, we test fit the hood grills.

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We are waiting on some parts, so the car will come off the lift this week. Its at a point where we can start putting the interior back together so thats the plan this week.

[mpower5266]

Few more bites out of the elephant.

Tracked down some wiring issues and got the tail lights working again.

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This also made the under hood light work. :dunno

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Glued down some elephant skin in the trunk and got it pretty much buttoned up.

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And finished installing the trim.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr