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[quote=”Nipplator” post=192852]I’ll try and be susinct, to see an approximate outcome of polishing a surface, wipe on a wet coating of acetone. The appearance of the paint while wet will indicate the need for additional efforts to get a desirable finish. [/quote]
Huh?! Never, ever put acetone on paint. It will eat through it! If you want to remove oils and waxes from a surface, a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water will better and way less dangerous. Or you can use a dedicated oil/polish removing product like CarPro Eraser. Here’s a great video for IPA:
[quote=”Nipplator” post=192852]The third pearl of survival, before you start your polishing regimen, apply a good round of preliminary surface preparation using a good chrome polish. It reduces risk of accidental burn-through by reducing required sanding area, having a more refined, but comparable grit rating as very fine paper, but without the need to have flawless technique. I was introduced to the method when I grabbed the wrong bottle of polish while working in a restoration shop. I finished the prep before realizing the FUBAR, then suffered instant onset of mental flatulence, whilst searching through MSDS forms and databases in a panic, certain I ruined the 40 yr old original paint. Eventually informed of how chrome polish, unlike other metal polishes, lacks the harsh chemical catalysts that could have blistered the paint.[/quote]
A chrome polishing compound is going to be extremely aggressive. Chrome is an extremely tough material, and chrome polishing compounds are similarly tough. There is no need to be that aggressive. If you want to sand the finish, use a soft foam-backed sanding disc with a dual-action sander. That will be far less aggressive (than even hand polishing), and you don’t need to have flawless technique because the machine smooths things out for you.
If your polish was so aggressive that you thought you might’ve ruined the paint, you need to update your chemical arsenal, or at least step out of the body shop and into the detailer’s bay.
Wow, it looks way better! Nice job! I have a couple quick tips regarding the Harbor Freight DA polisher and some (hopefully helpful) polishing techniques.
First, it really helps to quiet the noise down if you re-pack the HF DA’s gear drive with new, higher quality synthetic grease vs. whatever lightweight grease it comes with. Here’s a good guide: https://www.custompcguide.net/10-steps-to-replacing-the-stock-grease-in-harbor-freight-da-polisher/
Second, if you draw a little black mark on the yellow backing plate with a Sharpie, you can more easily tell if the backing plate – and therefore the correcting surface of the pad – is rotating. If it’s not rotating, it’s not correcting. I’ve heard that roughly one rotation per second is desired. Too fast, and you’re wasting the DA Polisher’s power. Too slow, and no correcting is being done.
Regarding your polishing technique – work smaller areas (approx. 2’x2′ is a good place to start, vs. the whole trunk) to avoid having the compound dry out, reduce the amount of walking your body is doing, and speed up your results. The more power you can apply – within reason, of course – the faster the paint is corrected.
In the same fashion, slow down your arm movements. Work that 2×2 area for a good minute, with slow, methodical passes in baseball-field-mowing motions before moving to the next section. That way the compounding abrasives can fully break down and clarify the paintwork. Reduce your pressure in the last couple of passes to ensure that buffer holograms aren’t left behind.
Obviously, you can (like me) go completely overboard with this. If you’re happy with the way the car looks now, leave it. It’s already 75% better.
Just call up a paintless dent repair technician and have them make it 90% better 🙂 You’d be amazed at the dents they can remove without a trace.
This is a sweet little ride! If only Honda made some RWD cars other than the S2K, I’d be all over something like this. Nearly as much stuff as my 01 BMW!
Regarding the hail damage and paint…
The hail damage could be improved, if not solved entirely, by the careful massaging of a PDR technician. PDR = paintless dent repair; it’s a new-ish form of repair that I first saw a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=undb6jVC3-Q
I don’t know your area, but I do know that a friend of mine in Ohio used a Mercedes dealer in Cleveland to have PDR work done on his ’00 BMW M5, and was extremely pleased with the results.
I don’t know if Honda used single-stage paint on these models, or if it had used a two-stage (color/clear) process in 94. If it’s single-stage, you may be able to bring the paint back entirely with the aid of a dual-action polisher and some high quality compounds (Mezerna/Jescar and Meguiar’s are my favorites). If it is a two-stage paint, I see evidence of clear coat failure on the hood; that is, unfortunately, only fixable with a respray.
I don’t know if it will ever be a Barrett-Jackson car; those 50s Chevys have a lot of staying power, but I can see these going up in value over time. Great to see that this one has a new, passionate owner 🙂
FINALLY got it back together. I’ve been fighting it for four hours. I used the flexibility of the steering column to achieve a better angle as recommended by Rob781, and it finally slid together with some taps from my 3lb dead blow hammer.
Well, the column passes through the firewall at an angle and the rubber rag joint has to flex a bit to line up properly, so that’s possible.
Yeah, I don’t see any difference on any of the splines. No shifter in the column; it’s in the center console.
I can get the splines to engage a tiny bit, but I have to get the screw to the thinner portion. I can’t get them fully seated.
I’ve R&R’d airbags on this model a half dozen times; I always disconnect the battery.
Hmm, I don’t see anything that would make it “keyed” as you say, but what should I look for?
According to BMW’s TIS, the upper steering column (with that fastener) can only be removed by grinding that fastener out.
I’ve replaced engine mounts before by just lifting the engine (jack underneath oil pan), but I’ve not supported it from above before. To lift the engine high enough, I’d have to disconnect the radiator hoses as well; really isn’t much space in there, and I’d rather not mess with the E39’s notoriously brittle plastic cooling system. I think it’d honestly be easier to drop the subframe. Plus, dropping the subframe will allow me to replace the sway bar with a beefier Eibach unit in my manual car, which I’ll be keeping.
Just curious, but where is the belt tension adjusted from on this setup? Solely from the alternator/AC “turnbuckle” as you called it?
Keep it stock! I know making it into a Type R is tempting, but yes, leave it stock as an investment in your future. The Fairmont is already a project car, and this is a great driver, so leave it alone. It would do well with a wheel refinish (which would be a great DIY), maybe a little bit of paint here and there (like the mirror mounts), but it would be great to show an OE restoration, vs. the crazy (awesome) level of modification you’re doing with the Fairmont.
Hey Eric, I love your videos, production quality, everything. You make great content, and I’d be more than willing to pay for it. If you wanted to, a Patreon would be a good way to raise funds. I owe quite a lot to you, and I’d like to help.
Part of the problem is that YouTube doesn’t care about production quality anymore, but quantity. Take a look at The Smoking Tire; the videos there are now mostly GoPro-shot, but he cranks out 3+ “One Take” videos per week every week, each as cheap as can be. He maintains credibility by keeping himself honest, and he picks up little sponsors every so often (watch brands and the like, which fits his demographic). You could do that with Venom Steel gloves, for example, or Garage Boss oil drain pans. I know each of them have been advertising on The Smoking Tire’s podcast.
Motor Trend went behind a paywall. As for your videos, I would hate to see that happen; so much of the info is so useful for people like me. I would be happy to pay, but people who search YouTube for “how to replace a coolant temperature sensor” wouldn’t be able to find them as easily.
Doing a “one take”-style video might help to bring in more revenue on YouTube. Like “Why I love my Snap-On Ratchet”, or “My favorite coolant hose pliers”, or “Simple Tricks for protecting your hands in the shop”. Stuff like that. Even if they’re not comprehensive like your current videos and the production quality might be lower, they will help keep the money flowing.
If you packaged up the Fairmont videos for Vimeo and sold it as a (very long) movie, I’d chuck $15 bucks in, at least, just to have a copy of the content in a watchable/downloadable/streamable format, while supporting the creator. I would love to buy ETCG merchandise, too, and many other automotive YouTubers (like TheSmokingTire, Thatdudeinblue, etc) seem to like “Teespring.com” and “motoloot.com” for merch. It wouldn’t hurt to reach out to those companies. I’d love to hang an ETCG1 keytag from my rearview mirror, or attach a sticker to my rear quarter window.
As far as the website goes, you may want to look into a simpler solution. This website is very nice, but it sounds like it is a big hassle and expense. Have you looked into something like Squarespace.com with your developer? There is still a full featured development platform for it, but it is WAY less expensive, and you can sell digital or physical items, too. They have amazing customer support (I’ve built a simple website on the platform), and they have hosting backed by Amazon, so it never goes down, and will be very, very fast.
And for the forum, one of my other favorite channels (on the other end of the automotive spectrum) is Obsessed Garage, and a lot of the discussion from that channel takes place in a “private” Facebook group (administrators/moderators add new users) that basically functions as a forum for the channel.
Thanks for being open and honest with us.
It was great meeting you at the Road to Sema event last fall; I was the 20 year old trailing you around the LA canyons in the black BMW. I hope this helps out a little.
Loving the build so far, and I can’t wait to see the finished product! It’ll be awesome.
I’m curious why the turbo kit runs a huge loop of piping around the front end; would it not make more sense for it to run from the turbo on the passenger side, down to the intercooler more directly, and then up to the driver’s side of the engine bay? Less piping is better for turbo lag time, which would help in daily driving, though the boost threshold probably wouldn’t change at all.
That is definitely a possibility; however, Bosch is the OEM supplier of the alternator in these M54 cars. The only other brands that I can see are Genuine BMW (remanufactured costs $220 more than new Bosch) and Valeo. Thankfully, I have a lifetime warranty on the Bosch unit.
[quote=”Summer_Night” post=162424]Yeah I came to the party late…
I remember back around 1993, going to this informal classic car show that happens every Saturday in spring and summer, classic car owners talking about “They are going to use this thing called “On-board diagnostics two” where you will not be able to work on your own car. You won’t even be able to change spark plugs without a computer…”
Everyone was freaking out. Today, you can get a scanner for $20 to pull those codes out of the big, bad computer. Changing plugs still involves only a ratchet, extension, and socket.
With insurance – is there EVEN a chance they are gonna investigate the vehicle enough to even know if it was modified (unless it is super obvious)?[/quote]No, it will never be illegal to fix your own car. However, I do think it may be illegal at some point to modify your own car, as you could potentially impact the safety of those around you. With the Teslas, I know there are several ethernet ports throughout the car. Messing with them will prompt a polite, but firm, phone call from the offices.
And as far as scanners go, modern BMWs are some of the worst offenders. Need to replace a battery? Oh, that’s “coded” to the computer. How about a fuel injector? Also coded. Spark plugs, as far as I know, are still 100% analog, but it’s probably not far off.