Thought it was beyond me...

One of my personal issues when I got Sergio was that the knobs, switches, buttons, and other interior fittings were either dirty or just simply showing signs of their age.  Before the painting, I managed to clean up most of them but a big eyesore remained.  The automatic shifter indicator base was faded and no amount of cleansing could rectify this.  How it looked is best described by the picture below:

It can be clearly seen that the black parts had faded into some sort of dark gray and the rubber cover had layers of dust in between the grooved design.  Washing or wiping off the dust is the easy part, but what to do with the faded lettering and bringing back the color?  Painting with an off-the-shelf spray can is always an option but doing it that way presented a problem in itself because of the textured finish of the plastic surface.  The paint would smoothen it out and once done, cannot be undone.

On a visit to the US last year, I came across a product called Forever Black which is used, as the name implies, to restore the black to a car's plastic, vinyl, or rubber surfaces.  There are two unique things about it.  First is that its permanent, unlike other products which last a few days to a few weeks at most; and the second is that it is a dye rather than a paint.  Being a dye, the consistency is much thinner than paint and application is the same as using liquid shoe polish.  In fact, it comes in a container very much like liquid shoe polish.  The thin consistency preserves whatever surface finish is present despite repeated applications. Its a little bit pricey but I have seen its effectiveness when I used it to restore the black bumper trim on Winny.  After 6 months and counting, the dyed rubber still looks good as new.  This is how the shifter cover turned out:

There's no argument that the change is significant, but my only problem now is that the dye has also covered the lettering.  I knew this was going to happen but still proceeded because I thought the overall result would outweigh the consequence.  In the meantime, I was wracking my brain in thinking of how to bring back the white letters.  I had thought of having stickers printed or having a plastic strip fabricated with the letters already on, but they will surely detract from the original look.  It also crossed my mind to bring it to a sign maker who would have the skill to trace paint the letters. 

In the end, I decided to do it myself.  The risk-taker in me thought that I had little to lose since if it did not turn out to my satisfaction, I could just re-dye the whole thing and then move on to the next possibility.  I bought a white permanent paint pen (a dangerous weapon in somebody with shaky hands) and just gave it a go.  As expected the first coating was very uneven but after another few coats, the letters were starting to look good.  Gaining confidence, I continued to outline the borders as close as possible to their edge and it helped that the letters were actually raised from the surface.  However, there is no way to overcome an unsteady right hand so an increasing number spillovers came up and ruined the effect.  I was about to give up when it hit me to try scraping off the excess.  Because there was a thicker layer of paint in the intended areas, I thought that if I could somehow find a way to cut off whatever should not be there, then problem solved.  A small tool with a sharp edge should do the trick and for this my miniature screwdriver for eyeglasses was perfect.  Using gentle pressure, I was able to outline what needed to be removed and the task was made easier as the paint and dye did not bond together as closely as would have paint with paint.  Unveiling the result to the world:

Among all the things I have worked on, this by far has given me the greatest satisfaction simply because it was something I have never ever done before and thought it was beyond my abilities, large as they may seem :).  To have it come out the way it did was a just tremendous personal accomplishment.

Professionals need not worry for now...

Old vs. new...

Just wanted to show how different the new parts will be compared to what will be taken out.

Euro style will be the lighting theme, the main difference being white lenses in place of amber. But turn lights are legally required to be flashed in amber as a safety measure, so amber bulbs will go in instead of clear. The picture below shows the new white side markers with the packing box they were shipped in. On the old amber lenses, cracks can be seen on both their bottom edges.


The front foglamps were pretty well beaten up but this is not surprising considering the fact that they are located underneath the bumper and constantly subjected to road debris. The lenses were both cracked and sandblasted so nothing was salvageable except for the bulbs. Or so I thought. When I removed the bulbs, I found out that they were the 100W type instead of the specified 55W. In theory, light output will be greater but after a while, the housing gets damaged from the higher heat generated and subsequently affects the structure of the reflectors. Light is not transmitted as designed with the end result being poorer illumination from a scattered beam. No wonder the plastic case was particularly brittle and the wire insulation starting to peel off. Given a bit more time, this could have led to heavy electrical damage. The xenon bulbs which were installed are actually good so I will keep them for future use. I considered getting a pair of JDM Yellow bulbs but I thought they were too expensive so I am sticking to stock Bosch H1s.

Various warnings about a tailight failure keep coming up on the dashboard computer everytime the engine is switched on or off.  A visual check showed all the lights to be working properly so I could not find any reason for them.  While swapping out the bulbs, I noticed that one was in particularly bad shape and in which even the holder was very much corroded.  I am guessing that this was the source as a resulting short circuit would have been highly likely.  The only time I can find out if it is indeed the case is when I get back the car with the lights back in place.

As far as I can tell, the lights I am discarding are still the factory installed originals. All are marked with the logos of Hella and BMW, not just Hella as my new ones are. Whatever flaws are the result of 17 years of wear and tear. An inspection of the mounting points in the car's body still shows no sign of any accident damage and remains consistent with previous observations that such is the case.

Another great sign...

Seeing the lights...

I did another of my time shifting ideas today. As previously mentioned, my plan is to change all the lights and I thought the best time to do so was during the reassembly phase, once all the painting is completed. The easiest way is to just bring the new light fixtures to the shop and have the mechanics install them. But my new set did not include bulbs, so it occurred to me to gather all the old fixtures, check the bulbs, and reuse whatever was still good. Reusing the bulbs was always part of the plan because the large number required would unnecessarily add to expenses. The front headlight system alone uses 6 H1 halogens and its another 14 regular bulbs for the rest of the car. And so I went to the paint shop to collect the old units for stripping and to more closely check on their condition. Now that they have been removed, I can have a better gauge of what can be done with them afterwards; either to trash, refurbish, or sell.

What I found out was that 3 of the 4 tailights are cracked and therefore trash. Same with the pair of front foglamps and pair of side markers. Both front signal lights and one of the tailights will have some resale value after a bit of cleaning up. For the right price, there will be a market as they are some of the most prone to replacement and are BMW original equipment.

The big surprise of the lot was that the headlights were very much salvageable. While mounted, it looked to me like one or two of the glass lenses were cracked and the chrome rings badly rusted. But once removed, I could see that what I thought were cracks were actually hardened tar or gum streaks and what seemed like rust was just a build up of caked dirt over the years. Needless to say, everything was very dirty with slightest contact immediately blackening my hands. This is how it looked before treatment:

Notice how dirty the whole assembly was and the chrome rings had no shine at all. About 2 hours later: after a soap and water wash/applying WD40 as a stain removing solvent/wet sanding with 1200 grit sandpaper/and even more rubbing with a metal polish, the result was this:



I wish I had taken a few more detailed pictures of the "before" phase but got discouraged from doing so because of my dirty hands. It looked like neither an engine nor underbody wash was done in a long time and frankly speaking, I did not expect the results to be very positive. My only thought at the start was to wipe down the lens but when the underlying finish started to appear, I was motivated to go on and restore the whole thing.

Now that they look so good, I have decided that I will keep them as my headlight set. After all, they are the original Hellas and really are the best lights that money can buy for the car. New ones would break the budget and that is why I worked hard to give them a chance. However, this unexpected development has given rise to a good kind of problem. The "smileys" which I bought earlier, will be up for sale after I complete this project and demand should be good since they are not easy to find locally.

Lights on...

Time shifting...

Annoyed by the extremely slow rate of progress in painting, I have decided to take matters in my own hands. No, I have not decided to paint the car myself although to be honest, the idea does occur to me in moments of frustration. Spraying has not begun on my car because its my opinion that as a result of decisions on how to manage the paint booth, smaller jobs have been given a higher priority regardless of who came first. Once started on, Sergio will need to stay in the paint booth for a relatively long time therefore creating a backlog for the seemingly minor retouchings or accident repairs that come in and are a more consistent revenue stream. Most customers will not understand why a small job requires a relatively long stay at the shop and in order not to turn away business, the scheduling of the paint booth is reshuffled to speed up the turnaround time.

In any case, I have decided to time shift so that results do not come to a complete halt. Contrary to popular belief that it can only be done by comic book superheroes, time shifting is a term used in the TV industry when shows are not watched at the intended hour because the viewer has made a recording for later consumption. This greatly irritates the networks as ratings are affected and the full potential ad revenue is not realized.

For my purposes, I have time shifted by rearranging the work flow. The original plan was to finish the painting and then go on to the interior, the most logical approach to avoid dirtying and contaminating the finished areas. The interior parts are stored in the ceiling of the paint shop but exposed to dust, dirt, and spiders! To get things moving again, I gathered all of the relevant bits and took them to Seatmate, a well-known auto interior shop in the Mandaluyong area to be worked on.

After a lot of thinking, I have decided to change to a mostly black motif from the existing grey. The front and back seats will be covered with Recaro black fabric on the sides accented by a striped dark grey velour running down the middle. All four door sidings will be stripped of their glossy black vinyl/grey fabric cover and replaced with plain matte black leatherette. I have decided not to bring back the fabric accent since I was not too keen on it anyway. Initially, I wasn't planning to have the rear deck cover replaced as it was still in passable condition. The black fabric is a bit faded but after finding out that it will not cost much, I am going for it. Also in for refurbishment is the velvet piping on the rubber door seals. For me, this is one of the unnecessary items which BMW designed to create a more luxurious appearance as opposed to leaving the plain black rubber exposed. The problem is over time, the fabric disintegrates from rubbing against the car frame while doing its job of insulation and costs an arm and a leg to replace. Stripping out the old grey and then putting in the new black velvet wrap is a tedious task but the price is a fraction of a new set. The center console will get a few surface repairs then thoroughly cleaned and given a fresh coat of matte black vinyl paint. The handbrake boot cover will be changed to the same material matching the new door sidings. I have also ordered a new set of custom fit floor mats to replace the worn BMW originals (Winny gets them too!). A few more things will be done for the interior but they will have to wait until I can bring Sergio there.

I also was intending to buy some more parts at European Motors in Libis but they were not in stock and will need to be ordered first. They are mostly for clips, bolts, rubber covers, and other nitty-gritty which don't cost much but are needed for reassembly. The clips in particular have turned brittle and a number of them were broken during disassembly. I could have ordered them way earlier had the mechanics told me about it. But mechanics being mechanics, they waited until the last minute to do so and a few more days of delay will likely result.

The scheduled errands were finished by lunch time and with the rest of the day free, I decided to do something which I have not done since Project E34 began. Its been close to 10 weeks since I last played golf and it would be a waste of a beautiful day like today to be indoors, so I headed off to the club in the late afternoon for a quick 9 holes. The staff and a few friends commented that I have not been seen in a while, which I really just excuse off as "due to time constraints". But I also have to say I'm mildly pleased they notice my absence. After hitting a few balls at the practice range to get some semblance of my swing back, it was off to the first tee. To my surprise, I shot 5 pars and 1 birdie for the round. Perhaps I should restore cars more often as it seems to be good for my game.

Before going home, I decided to drop by the paint shop for a sneak peek at the day's work...and saw that Sergio is now blue again!!! The first of the planned 5 coats of DuPont paint and 8 clearcoats has been applied.

Its been a very good day...

The right blue...

After a disappointing past two weeks with not much happening, I expect that the next few days will offer clearly visible progress. Passing by the shop yesterday, I was surprised to see the car moved from the paint booth and parked instead under the sun by the sidewalk. Jun and some of his staff were milling about so I was curious about this turn of events. He told me that they were forced to bring the car to the paint center for a more accurate reading of the paint mix. To do this, some minor reassembly was required but it was good that the paint center was just a few hundred meters away and even better that the car was still able to start after not being used for 6 weeks now. And in one click!

The timing of my visit was also good because Jun was comparing swatches of the various paint mixes and he let me have a look for my opinion. He, the master painter, and myself were unanimous in choosing a particular shade as the closest match so it now becomes a matter of mixing a final batch for spraying.

P.S. It is now 2 days later and still little action. The master painter has said that the required quantity and shade of DuPont paint has just been delivered. The primed surfaces have been cleaned and sanded again in preparation for spraying but until I see a coat of freakin' paint on the car, there'll be no peace...

I have returned...

Its good to be back in warmth again. In the two days since my arrival, I have been able to do the outdoor activities that I have always enjoyed without being concerned of how thick my clothing should be. However I also have to mention that in the week before I left HK, there was no reason to complain about winter because the weather had suddenly turned for the better. Lots of sunshine and the result was blue skies, warmer temperatures and lower humidity. Just my luck for the weather turning bad upon my arrival and improving as I leave.

As is always the case, there were tons of tasks to attend to as soon as I set foot in the house but for the purposes of this blog, I will not delve into them. Will just stick to the topic at hand and mention my visit to the paint shop for my first look at Sergio in five weeks. Which turned out disappointing. I was expecting that at least a coating of the paint had been applied but instead, it seems nothing has been done at all. Based on the pictures I received from my friends more than a week ago, it is easy to notice that the car has not moved an inch from its spot. I spoke to Jun, the owner and manager of Carchitect, about this and he explained to me that the problem is they have not been able to get the exact shade of blue. The color of the exterior surfaces has faded over the years and therefore, a little bit of "research" on the variation that BMW used, needs to be done. Jun said that they have actually twice test sprayed the inside of a door, an unexposed area most likely to have kept its true color, but the mix has had to be readjusted. To a certain extent, I am happy because I will get to see the actual application of the color and not just the end result. If any further adjustment is needed, I can be there to make a decision.

To comfort myself I then proceeded to my favorite parts supplier, European Motors, to check on the orders I placed before I left. All the items were on hand and in good condition though what really made my day was the Christmas gift that had been reserved for me. It was a simple gesture but totally unexpected on my part to receive a corporate giveaway this late. I must say I get treated well by the company's staff and most importantly, the quality of the goods is high and the pricing competitive if not better than most other independent suppliers I have come across.

The whole exterior lighting set is now ready. I received the Euro version (white instead of amber lens) front corner flashers and complete Hella tailight set (while in HK, I got the headlight set, side markers, and foglamps). As I mentioned in a previous post, changing all the lights is one of my highest priorities because the way I see it, nothing contributes to a new car look like lenses which sparkle in the light. And nothing turns me off quicker even in a much newer car than having cracked, cloudy or sandblasted lenses.

I also got a few other items which may not be as high impact but are nonetheless just as important to the overall result of the restoration. The magwheel center caps were all dirty and scratched up so I changed the emblems with a new set of aluminum stickers (the blue protective film is still on in the pictures). The front and rear badges are also past their prime so replacements are due. As for paying attention to the little things, new wiper blades and a brake pedal will go into the car. Further orders were made to fill in other minor items like bolts, rubber stoppers, and plastic cover caps but are not worth going into detail.

First need to get the blue right...

On my way back...

After five weeks of managing Project E34 by remote, I will at last be back in Manila tomorrow evening and see for myself what has been done. Even though I am confident of a positive outcome, I cannot help but have some trepidation as there is no substitute for actually being there to monitor quality control. Modern technology greatly helps in these tasks but at the end of the day, my satisfaction can only be determined when I see the results with my own eyes.

All the parts I need for the post-painting reassembly of the car are with me and I expect very few, if any, hitches on this. It should be a simple matter of replacing old with the new because there are no complicated modifications to speak of. For now...

Ready for the oven...

My good friends once again dropped by the paint shop yesterday to check on what's happening to Sergio. They are not much of car enthusiasts but they say they are also motivated by a curiosity to find out a few nuances of car restoration. Neither of them have been involved in anything like this preferring instead to appreciate cars from a distance. Since I am the first person in their circle to do this, it may turn out to be a good learning opportunity if only for the fact that they can have an idea of where to go for repairs aside from the dealership. The process of transforming a clunker into an object of admiration is something which most people do not fully understand and for good reason. Car repair shops are not really the best of places to hang out in and the surroundings will turn off anyone save the most fanatical of gear heads. However, I told them not to judge a shop by its looks especially if the mess can be justified by it being busy. And this shop is always BUSY. I very much appreciate their effort in updating me and even though I will not hold my breath for it, who knows if I have a couple of future converts.

From what I can see in the pictures, the priming has been finished and Sergio should be going into the paint booth anytime for the first coat of paint. I am sure that by my return to Manila next week, the car will be in a much more recognizable state and perhaps be ready shortly after for the installation of the various parts I have accumulated. I will still have to pick up some other fixtures and accessories which were ordered before I left and should have arrived by now. More on that later.

In the meantime, the pace is picking up and I expect the next 2 or 3 weeks will be even more exciting as the car starts to take its final shape. Looking forward to that...

Even more goodies...

After a short lull, I have resumed accumulating the important parts I need. Also wanted to concentrate a bit more on the mechanical side of the restoration lest people get the impression that only the aesthetics are getting their due. I opted to get the literally heavy stuff taken cared of while I was in the mood to browse for it at this spare parts store in the Mongkok district. Over the years I had often passed Valiant Auto Parts Ltd but never actually had the inclination to find out what's there because the store setup is very different from the typical HK retailers. For one thing, its more like a hardware store back home wherein a counter separates the customer from the inventory and you need to ask the staff for what you need. In most other cases, anybody can walk right in and is free to browse unassisted if he so chooses. My problem with the assisted method is that in all the years I have lived in HK, I never really learned to speak Cantonese. And since most of the staff in stores like this catering to a local clientele speak little or no English, you can understand where the difficulty lies. I wish that I had taken more effort in the past to learn the language but because I had always worked for American companies and socialized mostly with English speakers, that simply was not another item to add to my stressful enough workday.

In any case when I passed this store again a couple of days ago, there were boxes of Mercedes Benz and BMW parts lying in the sidewalk after having been just delivered a few minutes before. This gave me the encouragement to enter and ask what exactly they had and I was very fortunate that the person I spoke to was a good English speaker. He informed me that they specialized in suspension and engine spare parts for European cars and asked me what I needed. Since there were boxes of suspension parts lying on the floor, I asked if he had the required shocks for an E34 and he replied that he had in stock a pair for the front but the ones for the rear were still in the warehouse. He let me know they could be delivered by the following day. So I got the front shocks there and then and said I would return for the rears. Which turned out to be a good arrangement because the items got damn heavier during my commute home. Plus, it remained that I still had to walk a quite a distance to reach the flat itself. Such is life abroad! No drivers, maids or assistants to help out. I have to mention that the savings was significant and thus made my effort worthwhile, but its not something I would want to do too often especially for a smaller price difference. While I may still have the strength, I no longer have the inclination and most of the time would rather pay a bit more for the convenience. In other words, the flesh is willing but the spirit is weak. Factoring into account my time, effort, transport and other costs, its a price I am willing to pay. Or maybe thats just another indication of my age.

This morning I returned for the rear shocks but before that, I went out of my way to go and check out the latest stuff from the dealership's head office. Ended up buying a few souvenir items which went on sale because of BMW's withdrawal from F1 but what really caught my eye was the latest Z4 on display. And in what I thought was a close approximation of Sergio's color. With a sales rep waiting to pounce, I had to fight a tremendous urge to whip out the ATM card so I could drive the thing home. Fortunately, I was successful at it as otherwise I would have been in biiig trouble. I was rueing the fact that I did not have my camera with me, but on the bus ride back (how's that for reality...thinking of buying an expensive convertible less than an hour before, only to end up in a bus... at least, I sat at the front row of the top deck!) I noticed that the shopping bag they gave me had the Z4 pictured almost exactly as I saw it. With a nice slogan to boot. If its not clear enough to read, it says "Joy is timeless. Joy is BMW.". By the way, the black car on the left is a 507 and for those who are not aware of its significance, it was the first BMW convertible sports car of the post-war era. Circa 1955. Still looks as fresh and beautiful a design 55 years on and in greater demand now since less than 300 of them were ever built. Proof enough of a BMW holding its value...and more.

Also got some spark plugs at a small auto supply shop in the vicinity before heading back to pick up the other pair of shocks. Inspite of the inconvenience of having to make two trips to the same place, I was thankful because I realized the second set was even heavier than the first. My only other consolation was to think that at least I got enough exercise already and did not anymore need to do my regular workout routine. The rest of the trip home was uneventful but I was happy with the thought of having saved quite a bit over the budgeted amount. Savings most likely to be used for something else...

Meanwhile, back at the paint shop...

Now that the holidays are over and done with, I can guiltlessly proceed with bugging people for favors regarding everything in general, and my car in particular. Thankfully, I have also recovered from the cold I had and that gives me much more energy to tackle my planned activities. The weather here in HK continues to be not so good, alternating between cold and foggy or cold and rainy. Even worse are days when all three converge resulting in a particularly gloomy feel to everything and at this time of the year, it happens more often than not. I can tell you as someone who grew up in the tropics, the attractions of winter get old pretty quick. After experiencing it in several places over the years, I have concluded that I would much rather suffer from prolonged heat than prolonged cold.

I was able to get a progress report by asking friends in Manila to drop by the paint shop and check how things are coming along. And also to send me pictures so I can see for myself what has been done. Special thanks to Heidi and Leo for going out of their way to visit Sergio in his "hospital bed".

From the pictures, I noticed that the body repairs have been completed for the front right fender and rear trunk lid. I was aware when I bought the car that the fender had been involved in a slight scrape and that the trunk lid had some paint fade/orange peeling most likely due to a long-ago retouching gone bad. They were what made me want to prioritize a repaint because it hurts my eyes to see such problem areas. Aside from those two spots, there seems to be no other major fixer upper as far as the body is concerned and again, I would think that this is great news. Everything still indicates that the car is basically sound

If only I can get them to revisit next week...