My E9 2800cs restoration journal

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by MPOWER5266

Congrats to you too. I am insanely nervous but I know its going to be amazing. I cant wait until they are "on line" and start to like cars and dinosaurs and stuff. Haha.

Hope mama and the twins are doing well!

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Hope mama and the twins are doing well!

Everyone is doing well. I have gotten away to work on the e9 a bit, I'll get some pics up soon.

[MPOWER5266]

Its been a few weeks and with the new born twins, I haven't worked on the car a ton. My dad has been fairly busy though. The trunk was filthy, panels were off/loose, and the tool kit was trashed. My dad and I found a tool kit on the E9 forum and purchased it. He also did some cleaning and dye work on the panels.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

He also purchased some tools and cleaned them. We almost have all of them, just looking for the big screw driver at a reasonable price. they are bringing over $100 for clean ones.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

He also got started on the A/C install.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Since I had already sanded the drivers side, he went ahead and installed the mirror and trim.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Last week while I was off work, we took the babies over to visit Grandma and Grandpa, so I headed out to the shop and got some work done. I finished sanding and compounding the rest of the car.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Down to the 1" pads.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And finally the car is fully wet sanded, well except for the hood. I will do the hood once we get it on the car.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

For now, my dad is going to handle most of the work. He will get the trim on and start buttoning up what he can on the car since I have the young-ins. I will still work on it with him here and there but hes going to handle most of it. Once it gets to a point where we can drive it, likely after the carpets come in and we get the interior installed, I am going to move it to my house and do the final detail before we do the bumpers and stuff. Its getting really close though, and my retired father is plugging away on it every day. I will have more updates soon, but here is a quick walk around video of the paint to hold you over. It will still get a quick compound pass with a really light compound, a polish to jewel it up, and a sealant/coating.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[wdb]

I volunteer to be your backup dad.

[chassis]

Now that's what I call a tool kit!

Nice pics and progress.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by chassis

Now that's what I call a tool kit!

Nice pics and progress.

Is anything intended to go in the compartment to the right of the kit? Very comprehensive kit!

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Is anything intended to go in the compartment to the right of the kit? Very comprehensive kit!

A rag for wiping off the dipstick. They are going for like $75 so it will not have that...

https://www.ebay.com/i/352650407775?...evt=1&mkcid=28

[whoismorggan]

Awesome build, thank you for sharing! I have serious garage envy now.

[David70]

Originally Posted by MPOWER5266

A rag for wiping off the dipstick. They are going for like $75 so it will not have that...

https://www.ebay.com/i/352650407775?...evt=1&mkcid=28

Depends on how far you want to take it but under "Similar Items" - this looks very close and a little less than 20% of the above - https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Worksho....c100677.m4598

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by David70

Depends on how far you want to take it but under "Similar Items" - this looks very close and a little less than 20% of the above - https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Workshop-Mechanic-Towel-Toolkit-Toolbox-Car-and-Bike/392906239336?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SI M%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20160908110712%26meid%3Ddece9ad b66f34c809494a242f62a55c7%26pid%3D100677%26rk%3D1% 26rkt%3D30%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D352650407775%26it m%3D392906239336%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D238620 2%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWeb&_trksid=p2386202. c100677.m4598

I actually just ordered a couple of them. Haha

[MPOWER5266]

Extra small E9 update. Sorry, but Ive been a little busy working and changing diapers.

We did get the graphics on the ac control panel.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And installed it in the car.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Installed the gas door.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And installed the antenna and started on the rubber trim.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Just waiting on the carpet and we can start buttoning up the interior, until then we will likely work on installing the trim and small pieces. Sorry for the small update, I am hoping for more soon.

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by MPOWER5266

Sorry for the small update

Oh, come on, anyone following this knows you're busy. No problem! Thank you simply for continuing to do updates of any sort.

[NGEE]

Couldn't sleep so I started poking around and found this thread. I read every post - Nice build!

Ok, now on to important stuff. You are in the thick of it man! My twin boys didn't stop screaming for the first 18 months - tag teaming mostly. They never once slept in the nursery I spent 6 months building out. Instead we slept (when we could) on a mattress on the living room floor, family-bed style. Jesus I don't know how we survived. I sincerely hope you have a better twinfant experience.

Fast forward a little and my god what an awesome thing it is to have twins. Built-in playmates for adolescence, and soul-mates for life. Mine just graduated college. It happens fast.

I don't know whether I'm disappointed or relieved that they never caught the car bug. One recently started wrenching on vintage motorcycles though. They find their own paths.

I wish you all the best. Enjoy every minute, good and bad. Cars will come and cars will go.

[MPOWER5266]

Another small e9 update. We cleaned up the tail light buckets.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And test fit the lenses.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

We need to get some rubber trim before we can install them but its some sort of progress.

[P1]

I continue to enjoy reading about the progress you're making!

[MPOWER5266]

Another super small e9 update. We decided on a doing a retro sound radio. It will look like an old radio when its off but still have bluetooth and hands free. I wanted to do an old Blaupunkt or Becker but it would just be am/fm and triple the price for one that may or may not work. This is the radio we are going with.

image by Nick Wood, on Flickr

All the knob options looked off so I raided my BMW parts stash and found some spare 2002 knobs that I will modify to work.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Speaking of the interior, we cleaned up the center console and installed a new shift boot. The metal strips were pretty rough so this is actually a brushed alum wrap until we come across a clean console. Or we may just stick with this, it looks fine to me.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

The door handles had some pitting in the chrome so we sourced some in better shape and installed them. We also got a set of locks, ignition switch and keys. The key we had would not lock the trunk and one of the doors.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

There was a little bit of damage done to the paint during the lock install on the passenger door. I am going to try to touch it up but worse case we might have the door resprayed.

Lastly, the battery tray was cleaned and painted.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Up next will be the hood install. I have a few friends coming over this weekend to hopefully help. Then its going up on the lift. The trans is still a little whiny so we are going to pull it an look it over. After that will be installing the carpets, interior and buttoning stuff up. I hope to be able to drive it by the end of the year but if not, it wont be too much longer.

[MPOWER5266]

Got some small stuff done on the E9 this weekend. Lights and trim are installed.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

They even light up.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And finished restoring the truck elephant skin.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

More this week.

[MPOWER5266]

I have been sick as a dog the last week or so( its not the rona.) I have been pretty much just working, caring for the twins, and sleeping. I am on the mend so I am hoping to make some progress on cleaning the garage and a couple of cars this week. In the mean time parts have been coming in for the e9. We got the emblems and trim for the C pillar( or B pillar I guess it doesnt have a real B pillar.)

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

We also got the radio in. The BMW knobs I had wouldn't work so we are using the stock knobs as of now, but we are looking for something that matches the interior a little better.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Just waiting for the carpet to show up and we can start getting the interior back together. I am thinking it will be driving around the first of the year.

[King Rudi]

Loving this thread sir.

[MPOWER5266]

Sort post, but massive update. We got the hood installed and 98% of the way aligned. We just have to mess with one of the mounts a little to raise it up a hair on the passenger side.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Bonus shot with its younger brother. I left the M3 at the shop so I could drive the Wagoneer for a couple days.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

[wdb]

That is a nice shop. Jealous.

[MPOWER5266]

Small update but the carpet should be in today. We hooked up the radio and it comes on.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

It also made the antenna come up.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

After that we positioned the car on the lift. It didnt need to be on the lift but it did make it easier to adust the hood and start installing the turn signals.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Again the carpet should be here today, and hopefully installed over the next few days. Once that is in, we can assemble the center console, get the ac installed and tested and then put the interior back together. After that it will just be wheels, trim, bumper, headlights, cleaning etc etc. I hope to test drive it around the first of the year.