1992 BMW -- Been sitting for 4 years outside. Help?

[Invictus]

A very good friend of mine GAVE me his '92 BMW 325i car. This car has been sitting in a field for 4 years, even had a tree fall on the rear windshield during Hurricane Gustav shattering it.

Anyhow, when I rub my hand over any area of the car it feels like sand paper, literally. There is very heavy oxidation basically everywhere as well as mildew, etc... Car is very rough but hey, it was free :beer:

Is there anything I can do with a porter cable or would it be best simply to begin sanding everything down and having it re-sprayed?

Pics will be up tomorrow evening!

_____________________________________ Restoring has begun :rockon:

For anyone who cares, I thought i'd just take a few pictures along the way to keep track of my progress but mainly to link it to the guy who gave me this car so he can see for himself!

Here's what I had to start with :x

Began removing all bad parts from front end. Front bumper is still good and will be reused.
Hood sustained huge damage and is not even worth trying to straighten. Both fenders are buckled underneath causing clearance issues when the front doors open.

New hood, front fenders, trunk lid, seats and tail lights came in today! They are BLUE off of a wrecked car but I test fitted them and everything lined up perfectly. No fitment issues with the doors or hood. Everything will bolt right on perfectly.

Test mock up just for giggles and clearance check:

Changing out the shattered rear window. (Tree branch fell on it during Hurricane Gustav as it sat for 4 years)

New window!

Gave it a bath, (didn't bother with trunk because I have a new one).

This was just soap, water, and rinse... I was shocked at how well it cleaned up. I still plan on sanding and re-spraying the entire car however PEARL WHITE, just to teach myself and get some experience.


:rockon: Deliver from Chemical Guys :rockon:

All in a day's work. ____________________________________________ 3/12/09

 

[Evan Almighty]

Clay bar that thing, that should acctually get allot of the grit feeling out of it, then you can work your way down from an orange pad to a black pad, car should feel like or better than you if done properly. Also getting a beamer for free is always a good deal

 

[THE_STIG]

Could wet sand it

 

[V-Sicks]

I highly doubt clay bar and compund is gonna get the results he is looking for. Waiting for pictures but i would say Meguiars uni grit 1500 followed by uni grit 3000, meg 105, menzerna PO 83, PO85, then your choice of wax or sealant. Just IMO

 

[zaxjax]

I would suggest a rotary but if all you have is a PC than try a very aggressive compund. M105 or Hi Temp Extra Cut will work. You are going to have to do several passes and then move to a meduim polish and then a final polish.

 

[Invictus]

Pics!!! Thanks for the replies guys!

 

[Invictus]

And yes!!! It was a FREE beamer! It runs great save for a minor transmission issue but i'm excited to begin restoring this car.

Do you guys think there is any hope in restoring this paint or should I just begin sanding down?

There are places on the front door where it looks like the clear coat is actually bubbling up and I can pick it right off. My camera died and it was dark before I could snap a few more pictures.

 

[Invictus]

I highly doubt clay bar and compund is gonna get the results he is looking for. Waiting for pictures but i would say Meguiars uni grit 1500 followed by uni grit 3000, meg 105, menzerna PO 83, PO85, then your choice of wax or sealant. Just IMO

This is the kind of reply I was looking for however I was hoping to get a little more detailed responce. I have 0 detail experience, in fact, my 7424 porter cable has never even been opened and I don't have any pads for it YET.

This car is very rough, i've ordered a new front grill panel, rear trunk lid, front pass fender, and pass rocker skirt off of eBay. The leather interrior is pretty good. i'm excited but what do you guys think about the paint! :beer:

 

[V-Sicks]

Sorry, but it's really hard to tell from the pictures. I would guess a PC won't have much affect on that paint. May try a wool pad on a rotary, using M105.

 

[Wynn]

You're already going to have to have parts painted. I'd suggest going at it with a buffer or even a hand rubbing compound and see what happens. If it don't work out, get a cheap spray job, drive it a while, and sell it.

Thats what I would do, anyway.

 

[Invictus]

I think I may try teaching myself to paint the car. We shall see how it turns out! Afterall, it was free :beer:

 

[M.P. Cobra Fan]

With all the body work that needs, I would not even bother with any buffing. I would just sand it down and start body work for a complete repaint.

 

[offroadkarter]

who leaves a BMW sitting in a field?

 

[Invictus]

It has a couple of issues with the transmission that at the time, he could not afford to fix. The owner was in high school at the time and basically just took over his mom's suburban and she ended up getting a new vehicle. Just one of those things I guess, it just got left behind. It wasn't until I started asking him about it, he knows i'm "into" cars and all and he was delighted to let me have it.

 

[Invictus]

updated first post with today's progress.

 

[thomas91169]

:rockon: Deliver from Chemical Guys :rockon:

this pic alone gave me much hope.

im glad to see you are saving such a nice car that was left fr dead basically.

yud be surprised what a PC in the hands of the right people will do, hell even in the hands of a beginner using the proper steps.

However i think that since you are repainting other parts, might as well get the whole car sprayed.

 

[Invictus]

Yes, that's my plan. I'm going to paint the entire car.

 

[CASSPER]

i dont even know you but im super excited, that looks like its going to be a lot of fun:banana:
just curious, what was the issue with the trans?

 

[pianoman90]

I love E36s. I had a 95 M3 back in the day and it was a blast to drive. Seeing as how you've been given the car, there is a lot of potential with this car. With my M3, I bought an automatic (it's a long story), but later on did a tranny swap with the ZF 5-speed. Everything on the car is ready to accept a manual transmission, should you feel the need to drop in an S50/S52 motor and transmission.

 

[Invictus]

i dont even know you but im super excited, that looks like its going to be a lot of fun:banana:
just curious, what was the issue with the trans?

Its very exciting! Its a rough car but i'm looking forward to it. Didn't do much but change the motor oil and tail lights yesterday it was raining all day long and all this morning.

I finally got the car started for the first time yesterday (the gas looked like chocolate milk...) and it idled very loud so I immediately cut it off and changed the oil. There was only 3.5 qts in it. It takes 7qts of oil! After the oil change it ran very smooth and very quiet. I changed the oil filter, air filter, bled the breaks with fresh fluid, cyphoned out as much coolant as I could and replaced with fresh, and did the same with the windshiled resovoir.


I really don't know what the issue what the trans is yet. It slips EXTREMELY hard, nearly impossible to drive it although I did not let it warm. For example i'd have to rev it to 4000 (while in Drive, lol) and then as the rpms drop back down it would slowly engage and move a couple of feet. It's rough.
The owner's manual doesn't give me any specs about it, just states that the fluid will last a "lifetime" and need not be changed. Contact dealer for more info. I find this hard to believe.

I got underneath it and found the drain plug on the transmission sump and drained it, then unbolted the whole thing and removed the filter. Only about 1.5qts of fluid came out and the filter looked terrible! The entire pan is covered in sludge. Autozone had the replacement filter and pan gasket but there is another lower sump I removed as well to get ALL the fluid as well. I had to order this gasket from the dealership and will be here tuesday. I will clean it and re-fill it with fresh fluid and see if this makes any difference. I'm hoping it will.