Hello. My name is Dan, and today I doomsday prepped
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went fishing yesterday. worked on the car today. life is good.
time to tackle my window trim. problems: 1. two pieces of trim are trying to jettison from the car. 2. chrome window trim is so 70s.
the upper trim where it comes down to the front fenders likes to fly off of e30s at highway speeds. luckily, last year it decided to come loose when I had the roof rack on, so it couldnt fly away. i had it temporarily taped in place:
with the tape removed, you can see how the trim was failing. those little rust spots are where the clips are supposed to be holding the trim to body seam.
here is a set of new clips. you need (4) for one side of the car. I ordered (5) for good measure.
old clip (rusty and the little sharp tangs are worn down) vs new.
to fix, simply slide or pull out the old clips and push the new ones in with a screwdriver. if you cant get the old ones out, just leave them and install the new clips next to them. its not worth bending your trim to try and get them out.
and done.
the next trim piece that was falling off was the driver's side rear 'wing'. you can see it here sticking out from the body.
to remove, just carefully pry it straight away from the car. be sure to slide the little clip out of the way at the top where it meets the upper trim.
under, you'll find four holes/grommets. if you remove the trim, you'll likely have to replace all four, so have them on hand. there are (3) 51131870459 and (1) 51141902279 which is actually the same grommet used for the hood emblems. new grommets pushed in place:
trim reinstalled
all lined up again.
at the same time, I 'shadowlined' the chrome window trim. most e30s came with some amount of chrome trim. early cars, all the trim was chrome. later cars had a mix. m3s, 318is, and other special cars (Mtech) had full black trim. it may have also been an option? not sure. my car is a late car with a mix (chrome upper/lower trim, black window trim, black front and rear windshield lockstrips)
the car has the rear pop-up windows, so you have to remove them to properly paint the trim that is under the seals. removal is easy - one phillips screw at the pop-out latch, and two 8mm nuts behind the clothes hanger hook and seat belt on the B-pillar. no interior trim has to be removed.
i saved all my packing paper from FCPeuro orders (they overdo the paper) to use as masking paper
starting the masking job
masking all complete. note: unplug your battery because you'll need to leave your doors open for extended periods of time.
sand all the trim with light grit (220) to prep the shiny chrome surface to receive the primer.
i usually use SEM trim paint for this job, but i'm sick of tracking it down so I went with store-bought rustoleum trim paint. in the end, I was happy with the finish. it is slightly more glossy than SEM, but matches the factory trim finish well. my only gripe is the nozzle is a wide spray pattern, which is super wasteful on thin trim. i sprayed most of the trim with the can twisted to get more coverage.
did two coats of self etching primer
patiently wait at least 12 hours to pull your masking tape (hardest part of the job)
and boom, done.
i am just about wrapped up for the 'winter' projects. I took the car out, washed it, and drove it. much smiles.
more to do:
replace pulley idlers (squeek squeek squeek)
replace coolant level sensor
adjust rear coil heights (after pulling the car out and looking from a distance I can see its not even from side to side)
alignment
Dan
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I appreciate the amount of effort you put into your posts for us bozos on here.
I need to do the shadow line trim on my car. Debating having one of buddies who owns a wrapping business do them just so I'm not committed to one color or the other.
What lens/body were you using on the last shot?
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I appreciate the amount of effort you put into your posts for us bozos on here.
I need to do the shadow line trim on my car. Debating having one of buddies who owns a wrapping business do them just so I'm not committed to one color or the other.
What lens/body were you using on the last shot?
Wrapping is a great idea! In the old days before vinyl warp, electrical tape was the go to for those wary of painting.
Camera is a d7200 with an f1.8 35mm lens. I set it to f1.8 for that shot
Dan
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Wrapping is a great idea! In the old days before vinyl warp, electrical tape was the go to for those wary of painting.
Camera is a d7200 with an f1.8 35mm lens. I set it to f1.8 for that shot
I had a suspicion it was a 35mm. Definitely the next one on my list.
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Man that driveway shot is gorgeous!
Good to know new clips are still available! I've had a piece or two of that trim fly off before...
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Man that driveway shot is gorgeous!
Good to know new clips are still available! I've had a piece or two of that trim fly off before...
Thanks! Small DOF and dramatic lighting make a boring old driveway much better LOL
Dan
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stopped at a couple spots while running errands and snapped a few more photos since the car was clean. tried to go to places that are now empty due to the situation where normally cars and people might be in the way.
my photo variety has been boring lately (lots of 3/4 wide shots), but whatever.
Dan
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Those are some wallpaper quality shots.
Dan
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happened to find the moon out last night
This middle german 'style' building seemed appropriate. Fachwerkhäuser!
Milwaukee buildings are displaying red white and blue colors as a display of hope that we will get through this pandemic.
city lights
white on white
Dan
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Is that german building Mader's over on 3rd st? Great photos, if you're looking for other spots you might try over near Kadish park/Kilbourn Reservoir park. Might be some good angles overlooking downtown from North Ave, although its been awhile since I've been over there.
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Is that german building Mader's over on 3rd st? Great photos, if you're looking for other spots you might try over near Kadish park/Kilbourn Reservoir park. Might be some good angles overlooking downtown from North Ave, although its been awhile since I've been over there.
great idea!
nope, thats a county park building near lake park
Dan
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How long of an exposure are you using for these shots?
I was kind of wondering about this as well. The sky seems to have a lot of color to it. I was thinking maybe these were taken not long after sunset... maybe half-hour/hour?
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there is a lot of ambient light in this area, so the exposures were from 5 to 15sec, at ISO400 f7.1
these were taken about 9pm. it was fully dark outside (besides the moon). in my experience, the sky is always blue in long night exposures. from what I read, there are several things that affect that - the moon, time of night, light pollution, etc. i've never had a greyish black long exposure come from the camera. shorter exposures do tend to look greyish black.
my process is this - set the camera to an appropriate aperture (f7 to 9ish for 'landscape' scene) and low ISO and let the camera expose the scene. what will happen a lot is it will expose the maximum time (30sec on my particular camera) and the scene will still be underexposed. i then crank up the ISO until I get a reasonable shot. after getting a close exposure, i use exposure compensation to dial in the exact amount. that will make the camera add or remove a second or two from the exposure. if its REALLY dark out and there arent many light sources, you'll also have to crank the aperture open
also a sturdy tripod and using the shutter timer (or remote) are 100% necessary for exposures these long. you still can handhold night shots, but you'll have to use a big apertures (like 1.8) and high ISO to get the exposure times down.
for example, this shot was handheld. It was shot at f2.2 IS01600 with a 1/4 sec exposure. even at a 1/4sec i took several photos to get one steady enough to be sharp.
and for funzees, here are some non-car long exposure night photos I have taken.
Dan
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