My E24 refresh project [1983 633csi]

[MPOWER5266]

I drove it for the first time last night, and then to work this morning, and I found some issues. Nothing major but things we need to address.

When the brakes are first pressed, it wants to pull to the right a hair before settling down. The floor mats are trash and pile up behind the clutch, they are just autozone cheepos. I want to get cocomats. The HVAC fan has two settings, off and f5 tornado. The car has been lowered on H&R springs and billy sports, it handles great but the big tires let it down. I would like to swap a z3 shifter in like we did on the E9, the stock unit is tight but tall and kinda gangly.

Other than that, its a really solid car and runs great. We had it on the lift and there is zero rust. The diff and trans are a little grimy from leaks but not bad. This is going to make a nice car.

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by MPOWER5266

But yea we have nothing to do, so picked we picked up this nice little 1983 633csi.
Stay tuned.

Probably the most beautiful BMW of all times.

[MPOWER5266]

Got started on the detail last night. But first my son had to inspect it.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


He thinks we may need to dye the seats but we can get away with a good cleaning first.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


My daughter had no opinion. So I went ahead and gave it a good wash with Adams Strip wash to remove any waxes or sealants that may have been on the car.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Then I hit it with some Adams Iron remover.


by Nick Wood, on Flickr


There wasn't much on there, but it did pull some from the roof and quarter panel.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Then I gave it a claybar.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


I did a couple test spots and I think its going to come out great. Its hard to see but the lower half of this photo is a test spot.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


The 1/4 that looked like it had a blended spot doesnt seem to have a clear coat. I am a little concerned about that but I will start there and see what I can do to make it look better. We may eventually have that resprayed. I will get it taped up and hopefully finish compounding it tonight.

[MPOWER5266]

Started on the paint correction last night. The first step was taping up all of the trim on this thing.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Got my weapons prepped. I am honestly pretty happy with the cheapo 3" polisher I picked up for this project.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


I was going to go with Jescar Compound, but I was running a little low. I used Megs 105 and other than the dust, I am happy with the results.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Here is a before and after of the passenger door.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


And after Megs 105 with a microfiber pad.


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Hood.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


And fully compounded.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


I am hoping to finish the polish tonight and the majority of the detail over this weekend.

[P1]

Love seeing what a difference a good detail can make.

[MPOWER5266]

Made more progress on the e24 this weekend. Friday night my buddy came over and hung out while I polished the car. I am pretty happy with the results.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Shiny…

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Took it pretty easy Saturday, I had other projects to work on. I did put the first coat of sealant on. Today I got started bright and early.

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Started off cleaning the trim and putting solution finish on it. Before.

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After.

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I then put the second coat of sealant on the paint.

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After that, came my least favorite part of car cleaning, the interior….


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


It was fairly easy to clean the dash, door panels, etc etc. And it needed it.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


The leather was next and it was rough.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

It just took a lot of scrubbing and contorting myself into weird positions.. Here are some before/after/progress pics..


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


This was a brand new towel. This was just from the passenger seat...


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After about 2 hours.


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I still need to condition the leather, clean the carpets, glass, coat the trim, wheels/tires, and one more coat of wax on the paint. Hopefully I’ll have it done in time for cars and coffee Saturday.

[overcoil]

Those seats look great. I wonder if BMW still offers the padding foam/filler thru a Classic Center.

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by Caravaggio

Those seats look great. I wonder if BMW still offers the padding foam/filler thru a Classic Center.

I am not sure, but my dad and I used memory foam in my 2002's seats. It came out awesome, and thats probably all I will use from now on.

Very small update. I was tired after work last night so I didn't do a ton. I did vac and clean the carpets. Before.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


After. It looks a little dark but it was wet. This morning it had dried out nicely.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Then I conditioned the seats.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


No photos but I cleaned the inside windows and coated the trim. After that I put a coat of collinite 845 on the paint.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


I am pretty close to finishing it up. I just need to coat the glass, clean the wheels(I am not going to remove them to clean them, just wipe them down), and dress the tires. I should have it done in time for cars and coffee this weekend.

[tracer bullet]

Seems like this doesn't need nearly as much work as your last project documented here. Is there a lot more to do mechanically or do you think you'll be fairly happy with this one after giving it a good cleaning (and paint correction and so forth of course being included in that)?

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

Seems like this doesn't need nearly as much work as your last project documented here. Is there a lot more to do mechanically or do you think you'll be fairly happy with this one after giving it a good cleaning (and paint correction and so forth of course being included in that)?

It really doesn't need much, just some leaks and small maintenance.

[MPOWER5266]

I put the finishing touches on the detail last night and over all I am pretty happy with it.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


I also tossed the mats out of my wagon in for now, they seem to work okay. I think we will eventually find some cocomats for it.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


I was hoping to get it out this afternoon for some better pictures but we have rain until Friday and I want to keep it clean for cars and coffee Saturday morning. I think the plan for now is to address some leaks, find a steering wheel, z3 short shifter, and hopefully exhaust(the muffler needs to be replaced. ) I am also on the hunt for some wheels, which will need restoration I am sure.

[P1]

She looks extra long in those last few pics. Detail did wonders.

Which products do you use for the interior?

[Cos270]

A little off topic but is that M-sport speckled paint flakes in your epoxy floor??? Awesome touch!

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by P1

She looks extra long in those last few pics. Detail did wonders.

Which products do you use for the interior?

P&S interior on the plastic bits, simple green xtreme on the carpet( I am going to go back in steam it), colourlock heavy leather cleaner, and Nuvite conditioner(just something I sell at work its okay.)

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by Cos270

A little off topic but is that M-sport speckled paint flakes in your epoxy floor??? Awesome touch!

Good eye.

[Mani59]

"Pretty happy with it"

You should be absolutely delighted with it - it looks absolutely stunning and you should be very proud of your efforts!

[IcewaterPete]

Very nice work! You found a real gem.

[MPOWER5266]

Small e24 updates.... As you can see in this photo the weird little cover dealies(no clue what to call them) were looking pretty rough.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


So we pulled them to re-glue.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Added new speakers. I am not an audiophile so these will be fine..


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Cleaned them and reinstalled.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


The exhaust didnt sound great and had a "putty" patch on it. We removed the patch to see if it could be repaired... its a lost cause so a Billy Boat exhaust is on the way.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Since we are waiting on the exhaust, it seemed like a good time to fix some other stuff. Leaks on the trans and diff were addressed and cleaned.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


And the tired old shifter was pulled and replaced with a Z3 lever.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Hopefully the e24 will be done in the next week or so and we can do some little things on the e9 before putting the Jeep Cherokee Chief project on the lift.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[MPOWER5266]

Oh, almost forgot, antenna override installed. This and the e9 both have power antennas that would come up when the radio is powered on, but since I pretty much just use bluetooth in both, I hate that the antenna is up. This allows you to have the head unit on but the antenna down.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[IcewaterPete]

Very impressive progress.

[MPOWER5266]

Small update on the E24. The exhaust showed up.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


But the mid pipes were wrong so they are going back to Billy boat. Since we are holding on that we decided to pull the rear package tray.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


We tried cleaning it but it seemed like it would be better to just re-dye it.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


Much better.


Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr


We may re-dye the seats soon. Just waiting on the exhaust parts to come in right now.

[MPOWER5266]

Micro update. The last couple weeks have been nuts. Between work, holidays, and a death in the family we haven't had much free time.

We got the parts back from Billy Boat and finally got the exhaust hung. It sounds good.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And since the rear seats were out, we dropped one off at our local upholstery shop to fix this seam.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And started to dye the other seat and rear center console with Colourlock.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

More soon.