BMW e46 330cI by Notloudenuf

Is that the one where we put the headlights into the oven to bake it to loosen the old piece/glue. Then the boss comes over wondering why the oven is on, looks in there and starts screaming after seeing the big eyes
 
I have 2 dents that need repair. This is one I thought I could improve
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I took the interior of the car apart to try and get to the body panel that way.
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My wife helped a bunch here. It looks a little better but I stopped because I thought I might make it worse. I'll probably see if a PDR place and fix it.

I had lots of the interior out so I started recovering B and C pillars. I found some nice fabric at Hobby Lobby and started on that today.
Here is the C pillar with the factory covering removed. You can see a previous owner tried to "fix" it..
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There is another liner fabric under the covering. I thought I might be able to use the same dye technique I used on the rear deck. That was not satisfactory.
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Here is the panel with my new fabric on it.
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Here is the panel with the old fabric layed over the new stuff.
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You can see how filthy the old fabric was.
I'll post finish product pictures when I get everything back in the car.

Next project headliner
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Found some matching headliner locally over the weekend so got to tackle this project on Saturday.
You can see the sags
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Headliner removed
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All the old material removed and the foam
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Here it is back in. C-pillars are in this picture too
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B-pillars here
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The lighting is terrible but I wanted you all to see that I had actually completed some tasks.
Side note: removing a headliner is a easy enough by yourself. Re-installing a headliner is NOT as easy when working alone. Phone a friend.......if you have one.
 
A-pillars got finished and installed yesterday.
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The little plastic strip that covers the screw holes did not come with the car. I will probably touch up the silver screws with some black paint.
 
Notloudenuf said:
A-pillars got finished and installed yesterday.
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The little plastic strip that covers the screw holes did not come with the car. I will probably touch up the silver screws with some black paint.
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I might have an extra set of the trim pieces I could give you... I bought a few in the past and I think there might be a decent pair in my shop... Next time I go up there (hopefully this week) I'll look for you.
 
Got the wires through the boot and around the molex plug. Just had to cut off a little tab at the top and they went right through.
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While I was in the door I figured I take stock of the factory stuff.
There is technically a 3way in the door.
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They are in a little bit of rough shape
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I also got the important upgrade made as well.

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So I went through my e30/36/46 hoarder shelves and only found 1 set that were a little brittle and beige. I figured I would offer them up and you could at least paint them, but when I got home I noticed they are cracked up on the tabs. I Have another spot with some other BMW stuff I need to check, I was sure I had at least one set of minty black ones.
 
Dakine_surf said:
So I went through my e30/36/46 hoarder shelves and only found 1 set that were a little brittle and beige. I figured I would offer them up and you could at least paint them, but when I got home I noticed they are cracked up on the tabs. I Have another spot with some other BMW stuff I need to check, I was sure I had at least one set of minty black ones.
Click to expand...

I really appreciate you looking for this.
 
I have an idea to add a little flair to the amps. The KS series is the same size as the SE series. The SE have the aluminum strip through the middle. I decided to try to match the Bavarian flag of the BMW logo in plasti-dip. Here's the idea.
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Getting ready
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And here's the first amp finished
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It's plasti-dip so if necessary I can just peel it off and start over....
 
You guys may remember this picture
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I'm pretty sure its from a Red Bull or other energy drink that overflowed and was set on the trunk lid. It made a damn mess of the clear coat.
Since this is all about DIY I figured I might as well start wet sanding. Started with 400 and went up to 800.
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It's getting better but still plenty of bubbles in there
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This finally felt smooth but you can see I got down through the paint just a touch.
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I went ahead and roughed up the rest of the clear hoping it would stick when I sprayed it.
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I have everything all sanded down and the rest of the car taped off waiting on the paint to come in. It finally came in today but it's a little too cold to work on it at night so hopefully this weekend I can spray it.

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I also dipped the other amp in the Bavarian flag style. Jeremy suggested I get some thin silver pin striping to cover those edges so I'm looking for that now.

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Should be interesting. Going to follow this. I'm a sucker for a BMW install... or BMW anything really.

I need another e46 in my life. Owned 1 and installed in 4 or 5.
 
I got some time to spray the trunk lid.
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The clear coat is on too.
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There is orange peel in it but I expected that. When it cures in 3 days or so I will cut and buff it to make it shiny again.
 
More progress. I have spent some time working on my box.
Here I am checking the angle for the front. The plan is woofers flushed in and facing forward. Ports will go out the side and angle up through the rear deck speakers which I will remove.
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My cutting setup
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A few pieces put together. Pay no attention to the inset front piece because that was a wrong measurement...
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Also got some pin stripe to finish off the amps and hide the rough edges
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