My new 1995 540i/6

BMWben

panS said:

Are you coming to the october port washington meet sponsored by the former owner of a canadian and euro e30s

Unfortunately no I won't be able to make it. I'm at school right now in South Carolina so I won't be back up north till this winter. I'm trying to find some meets to go to around here but the carloinaeuros forum I tried getting into has been dead for months so I'll have to try some other sites. Hard to find forums as great as wibimmers.

BMWben

Last weekend was not as productive as I wanted but when do you ever get as much done as you want to. I did find rebuilt calipers at AutoZone for $45 after core charge which is pretty sweet. Also a bud of mine down here told me about a shop that he goes to so I'm hoping to get over there this weekend and figure some stuff out, possibly drop my car off for them to do the drive line stuff for me. I don't really have the capabilities down here anyways. I did get started on my wheels though!

As you can tell I didn't get very far but I know how it all works now so the rest of the wheels shouldn't take long at all to take apart and wash up. I'm using this DIY I found http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1156455-*DIY-Refinishing-style-5-s-BIG-pictures. It's going to take a while to get them really nice but it will be worth it. I was thinking about getting the centers powder coated gun metal grey, what do you guys think?

Hopefully I'll get a little more done this weekend and possibly get my car to that shop but you never know.

YoungCR

A little work is still progress! Mmmm Style 5's

B C

How did you break your wheel like that?
I've never seen a set of genuine STR wheels fail that way, you must have STR replicas.

Hope you get it fixed soon!

patsbimmer1

I'm excited to see those get finished! I think the gun metal powder would look great!

Earl

I also enjoy the gun metal faces, but I am biased from my old set.

TJ sprayed the faces OEM Arctic Grey before I got them from the guy he sold them to

jc43089

MMM Arctic Grey. Luv dat!

BMWben

Earl said:

I also enjoy the gun metal faces, but I am biased from my old set.

TJ sprayed the faces OEM Arctic Grey before I got them from the guy he sold them to

What color are your bolts in those pictures? I can't tell if they are a bronze or copper. Those wheels look great! I may think about doing something like that then.

Earl

Those were gold bbs rs bolts.

BMWben

This is kinda far off in the process but do you know if I could get the centers powered coated at any old paint shop? or is it normally a specialty place? Also Chris suggested me getting the bolts zinc coated, do you know anything about that?

Earl

Powdercoating can be done by anyone who has the equipment. I doubt a paint shop would have a setup. You could also just have them painted professionally. You can't powdercoat the centercaps so if you get the faces powdercoated, you will need to find a matching paint for those.

You could get your old bolts zinc coated but it depends on the pricing.

BMWben

Well those gold bolts are $160 for 120 of them so I'll have to find something more cost effective. I soaked the bolts in vinegar to get the corrosion off and I'm going to use a wire wheel and drill to really get them clean. I'm sure I could get paint them myself but the paint probably wouldn't last to long so I need to figure out some way to do that. So what I'm thinking is refinish the faces to give them a nice shine, paint the centers gun metal grey, and get my bolts gold somehow.

Earl

You can use Montana Spray paint and clear coat and they will hold up good.

Also, I am surprised you found gold bolts for that cheap. Those would be of suspect quality. I pay more than that for just chrome bolts when I have built wheels=)

BMWben

I got a little done on my car this week, I had dropped her off at a shop last Sunday to get the drive shaft work done. Picked her up this Wednesday and the guy who did the work told me the brakes had seized up bad. I somehow got her back to my grandparents place (brakes a smoking) and proceeded to order new calipers for the front. I started on the job last night, got the calipers off easy but the rotors and mounting bracket nuts would not budge.

So I slept on it and picked up a blow torch this morning and gave it another go but still got no where. I decided to just try putting on the new calipers and just see what happens.

I got the new calipers on and started to bleed the brakes and the bleeder screw on the rear passenger caliper decided to break clear off. Looks like I get to replace those one too. Maybe I can get it done next weekend but you never know. At least I finally got a chance to give her a good washing.

YoungCR

Can't wait till we actually detail this thing! The interior will clean up awesome too.

BMWben

Finally got the car rolling last night! I threw on the back calipers and bled the brakes. Everything seemed to be in working order so I drove her back to school. I can't tell if the problems are completely fixed, there are is some noises the car still makes but they were probably there before and I'm not used to them. Maybe the new parts just need to be broken in a little, who knows. I can look into it some more this winter when I have time and money. At least I have my baby back for now at least.

YoungCR

Probably still suspension bits that need replacement, but awesome!

B C

Again, when you are ready to trade cars. You know where to find me

BMWben

CYoung said:

Probably still suspension bits that need replacement, but awesome!

That is true, I'm going to start saving for those so I can get it done. Probably just have the shop that did my drive shaft stuff do it because you have to have an engine hoist and I've never done it before. Unless we can possibly do it when I'm home but $$$

Snap said:

Again, when you are ready to trade cars. You know where to find me

I don't think I could fit all my crap for school in a E30 for the drive down here. What do you get on the highway with a boosted M20?

Also I've run into a slight paint problem. When she was sitting around for such a long time the sun and probably snap from the trees started bubbling the clear coat a bit. Here are a couple example pics.

There are probably around 6 on the hood and one on the roof. I was thinking about trying to wet sand it with 2000 grit but would that leave it looking terrible? I've never dealt with anything like this so I don't know how to get the best result. Any suggestion?

jc43089

Are you sure it bubbled? You can use hand sanitizer to dissolve pine sap, it should just come off.

Sent from my potato phone

WIBIMMERS

My new 1995 540i/6