The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebaggery

[Ken]

haha yes, looking forward to it

[SlimKlim]

Got her strutless in no time this morning to swap the top hats, only to discover the thick washer under the driver's side top hat was busted all to shit.





So... I'm gonna order new hardware for both sides and finish that up sometime this week. In the meantime I'll fiddle around with the headlights to fix the awful EU style cutoffs that angle up on the right side, and/or pull the interior panels and start working on rewrapping the suede parts and trying to make everything fit together a little better.

[SlimKlim]

Today, many projects were begun, and none were finished.

I pulled the interior to start rewrapping tomorrow, and pulled the headlights and cracked them open so I can redesign the awful EU cutoff.







To Lauren's abject horror, I'm finally caving to the latest fad and removing the halos. We had a good run for 5 years, but I'm kind of over the look, and the car is flashy enough with the multi-colored grill, bright yellow paint and ridiculous exhaust. Think I might recycle the wiring to do the "city light" mod for something like this:



Just depends on how much of a pain in the ass it is, and whether i can find all the necessary parts at autozone tomorrow morning.

And finally, the little bastard that's been irritating me for the past 4 years, I really should've done this sooner...

[SlimKlim]

Finished up the headlights yesterday.

Trimmed a 3"x1/2" piece of aluminum and JB Welded it to the existing cutoff.



Then completely mutilated two 194 bulb sockets to fit inside the city light opening.



My hoarding tendencies are finally paying off! Threw in new HID bulbs I've had kicking around in the garage. Also took the opportunity to cover up some exposed connections and attempt to clean up the wiring.

.

Cleaned all the adhesive from the halos off the individual lenses and cleaned up inside of the housing before sticking them back together with a copious amount of RTV.



I think I might order some glass polish and give them a thorough wetsanding and polishing to fix all the pits, you can't see it as much in the photos but they are really showing their age.

In the meantime, onto the interior panels.

[SlimKlim]

Roughly trimmed all the new fabric for each piece and came up about a yard short. Gotta run back out and pick up another yard and find the real-deal Super77 spray, the stuff I have now tacks up too quickly to re-position easily.

Test panel:


..not off to a good start... Pretty sure that part is covered up by the door panel and weatherstripping, if not I'll have to redo it.

[premiershine9]

Glass polish reccomendations:

Zaino Z12 (light to med. cut)

And I carry a more aggresive cut as well with ceramic/silica abrasives which really does cut even the most difficult scratches but I can't think of it right now- comes in one gigantic size bottle- the Zaino is more one-car owner friendly (size wise)

[SlimKlim]

Thanks, I was thinking about trying to find a shop to do it for me this week, buying the supplies and right kind of buffing pad will be expensive, and it would probably only be like 30 minutes of labor time for a pro. I'm gonna call around tomorrow and see if I can find someone.

[SlimKlim]

Well I forgot how tedious this crap is, and sitting hunched over on the floor gets pretty uncomfortable, so I thought I'd whip up a little DIY instead of actually getting work done. I've wrapped many things in many cars over the past 5 years and thought I'd use a piece from this project to write up my methodologies.

Step 1: Get your shit.

You will need:

-A clean work area, having a vacuum handy to suck up dust and scraps between panels isn't a bad idea either.

-Good scissors, not that old kitchen pair you used to open your tuna fish when the can opener broke last year. Pony up the $15 and buy a brand new set if you don't have a pair that has only been used on fabric.

-Exacto knife with a brand new blade

-Rubber gloves

-Spray Adhesive, I have both 3M 80 and Loctite 200. The Loctite goes on clear and sprays lightly, but doesn't allow much re-positioning. The 3M stuff goes down like spiderman splooge and can bleed through the fabric easily, but allows more working time. Pick your poison. I've been using the Loctite on the smaller panels but will use the 3M for the actual headliner.

-Rubber Cement for the edges

-Your girlfriend's lint roller

-UV protectant spray, cheap micro suede will fade quickly in the sun, so I'm going to try treating it with this spray I found at Jo-Ann for $13.

-Fabric of your choice. I'm using "caviar" microsuede from Jo-Ann for $13/yard. To cover my headliner, A, B, and C pillars, parcel shelf, glovebox, center console, and kick panel takes about 3.5 yards. It actually has a bit of stretch to it, unlike some stuff I've used before, which is great for panels with lots of curves.

Step 2: Start by trimming your fabric roughly to the size of the panel, leaving plenty of overlap. Then roll over the backside with your lint roller to remove any crap stuck to it.



Step 3: In a totally separate area, put on a pair of gloves, and spray your bare panel with adhesive. I'm using a clothes hanger to dangle it from my back porch, which also makes for a nifty handle to transport it back inside. You just want a light even coat of adhesive, too heavy and it'll bleed through the fabric.



Step 4: Come back inside to your clean room, set the panel down and remove/change your gloves. Then carefully lay the fabric over the panel and smooth out the bubbles starting from the center.



Step 5: Flip it over and trim the excess fabric, leaving 1/3rd-1/2in overlap.



Step 6: Spread a thin layer of rubber cement around the edge of the panel. This shit is stringy as all get out, and will end up on the pretty side of your panel in a heartbeat, so make sure you aren't weaving a web of misery between the bottle of glue and your panel.



Step 7: Once the cement has tacked up a bit, fold the fabric over the edge, try to pull it tight and not let it pinch up around the edge. Keep your hands clean. Stop and wash your hands, burn through gloves, whatever, but don't try and work with the fabric when your fingers are contaminating everything.

Step 8: You'll end up with these little donkey ears on the corners. Snip it down the middle, then cut a triangle out of each side so you can lay it down without overlapping.





Step 9: Deal with your switch openings.



Take your exacto knife and slice down the middle, then cut a triangle for the shorter sides.



Use the same rubber cement methodologies to wrap around the inner edges. I use the back of a safety razor or something similar to press the fabric down in hard to reach areas.

Step 9: Flip it back over, hit it with the lint roller and marvel at your awesomeness. Treat it with the UV spray and let it sit for at least a few hours, you want the glue to be nice and dry before you go trying to shove it back into place.



Rinse/Repeat for all of your panels. A crap load in my case. So far I've only done my A & B pillars and this switch panel, so I'm gonna be doing it all week if I want to get the car reassembled next weekend.

General Tips:

Take your time. This is the kind of project that vastly benefits from a relaxed pace of work so you can sit and fuss with each panel, instead of trying to get a dozen of them done in an afternoon. You'll be staring at it for years to come, and that one little spot where the glue bled through will end up driving you insane. Part of the reason I decided to completely redo mine.

Be OCD. Wash your hands, go through dozens of gloves, vacuum your work space, change out the paper, etc. Any errant glue or dust will end up on or under the fabric you're trying to work with.

Don't be cheap. Even using the cheap fabric, this project gets expensive quickly. 4 yards of fabric @ $13 each, good adhesive is $10-12/can, the UV spray is $13/bottle, good scissors run $15-30, etc. It will still come out to a fraction of the cost of buying new panels or trim, so do it once and do it right.

[premiershine9]

Nice write-up! Are you going to be laying over most of the interior pieces for the most part? Can't wait to see how it looks!

[ScottyB]

bookmarked. awesome writeup, especially as i have the stripped headliner board to the wife's car sitting in the garage against the wall, going nowhere fast. love the microsuede look...i'm gonna give that a shot.

[SlimKlim]

I've got all the nuts & bolts I need to get the car back in one piece on order, but some of them won't be here for a week or two, so I'm not rushing through the interior stuff. Just doing a piece or two per day.

Nice write-up! Are you going to be laying over most of the interior pieces for the most part? Can't wait to see how it looks!

What do you mean laying over? I'm laying the fabric over the factory vinyl, but I'm removing the old fabric before laying down the new stuff.

[SlimKlim]

Some teaser pics.

[SlimKlim]

DONE.

No good photos because I've also been making chili and cornbread all afternoon, but here are some crappy iphone teasers.



I love how it sits with the extra front camber and spacers and additional spring pad in the rear. It's how I've always wanted it to look and rubbing should be a non issue except for when turning into a steep driveway on the front.



City lights in the high beam housings, bit more subtle than the old angel eyes.

I can't remember the last time I drove the car when it felt this good. Amazing what a functioning steering rack can do. It needs an alignment, a paint touch up and a headlight adjustment and it's done for the year.

[navin]

DONE.

...and it's done for the year.

don't kid yourself

Ever thought about doing a HID retro (Jake you too..!) -- I was just checking out TRS for some instructions for the retro kit I bought, and found this: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-retrofit-kits/morimoto-retro-quik-system-bmw-e36-ellipsoid.html#.Uu_7bhBdVjQ">http://www.theretrofitsource.com/comple ... u_7bhBdVjQ</a><!-- m -->

[SlimKlim]

Ok. "Done for the year," assuming the fluids seeping out of the motor don't turn into a gush before this winter. Ideally I'll squeeze a season of enjoyment out of it and take the motor out for a full rebuild when the weather gets cold again and I have some cash set aside and can take my time fussing with it, but that's assuming the car doesn't have it's own plans.

I have HID projectors already, the real reason I took the lights apart was to modify the cutoffs so they didn't suck, adding those city lights was just a "since I'm in here" thing. I tested the cutoffs in the garage yesterday and the passenger one came out perfectly straight, the driver's side is ever so slightly uneven, but it won't be noticeable when you're driving along. The important thing is I'm not blinding every poor bastard in the lanes to the right of me with those stupid EU style cutoffs, or whatever they were.

[Jake]

Ever thought about doing a HID retro (Jake you too..!) -- I was just checking out TRS for some instructions for the retro kit I bought, and found this: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-retrofit-kits/morimoto-retro-quik-system-bmw-e36-ellipsoid.html#.Uu_7bhBdVjQ">http://www.theretrofitsource.com/comple ... u_7bhBdVjQ</a><!-- m -->

Dude, I just removed my HIDs in the E36. They were installed in the halogen housings. My foglights were brighter. I'm back to regular halogen bulbs and couldn't be happier.

[navin]

^exactly... you had them in Halogen projectors. The link I posted is a 'kit' that includes a HID projector, along with a mounting bracket for the e36 headlights so you don't have to hack it up and its basically bolt on.

[D_Eclipse9916]

$325 buys a good set of race pads...ricer!

[SlimKlim]

If you did want to upgrade from halogen to projector in an E36, this is the most cost effective way to go: http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E36-M3-S52_.../ES251675/.

You'd just want to crack them open before installation to do the cutoff modification.

[RawrImAMonster]

If you did want to upgrade from halogen to projector in an E36, this is the most cost effective way to go: http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E36-M3-S52_.../ES251675/.

You'd just want to crack them open before installation to do the cutoff modification.

Those are still halogen projectors and not HID projectors. They'll "work" for HID's but the beam won't be nearly as wide and it will have hot spots. Also the cutoff is weird like you mentioned.

Lighting terminology is slightly confusing. There are halogen reflectors which you should never ever use HID bulbs in (think honda civic with blinding lights). There are halogen projectors which you can get away with using HID's in. It won't blind other drivers, but the beam won't be as nice and it can cause tunnel vision because of the hotspots. Then there are actual HID/Xenon projectors. These are the ones that come on OEM HID applications and provide the best lighting.