E21 316: Flared wheel-arches painted.

I have a buyer organised for the car, coming to pick it up next weekend. Just throwing up some recent pics of the painted wheel arches.

E21 316: Big job broke out - Time to do the N/S/R Wheel-Arch...

This is the first wheel-arch I pulled to fit the 16s and it's the only one now still needing a tidy-up, to say the least. I cut too much of the lip off trying to wedge some balloon-like 45% profile tyres and left it in a right mess. The newer 40% profile tyres fit perfectly and only needed minor cutting to the other arches, leaving this one miles from the rim and totally out of shape. The bit I cut off is the line used to form the arch on the rest, so this one was missing an edge to build the filler up to and totally sculpting the new arch-line by hand with hanging bits of mesh and filler was never going to happen. The easiest method would be a plastic arch cover, hiding the cut area completely and easily smoothed into the wing, but all four would have to match and the Group 2 ones are just too big to consider. It seems my only options are -

A. Buy a new pressed-steel wheel-arch from eBay for £25. Trim it, grind the wing away in the right shape, weld it in place, grind the welds down flat and smooth it all off. Only then could I pull the new arch-lip out and fill it to match the other three. [http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E21-316-323i-1977-1983-REAR-PASSENGER-SIDE-WHEEL-ARCH-NEW-CLEARANCE-PRICE-/190865619545?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2c707a3a59]

B. Spot-weld the piece I cut off back into place and secure it with fibre-glass filler. Fill the lip to match the others and build up and re-shape the arch up to where it meets the wing almost.

No doubt B involves a lot less time and effort, but it's still going to be a lot of rubbing down.

The chewed up scrap of metal, good job I saved it. It didn't just slot back into position, there was quite a bit of grinding and filing.

I had wanted to tack-weld the metal on and fill the gaps with fibre-glass, but I couldn't get hold of one so masking-tape did the job. I caked on plenty of P40 fibre-glass filler in between the tape, waited for it to go off, removed the tape and filled in the gaps.

Well sealed behind with more P40. You can see the sliver of metal in position as the light shines through, showing just how much arch got cut off originally.

It was then ground down with a rotary-file on the drill, mainly inside so nothing rubs on the tyre, but a bit to give the lip some shape. All that's left now is the arduous task of filling all that arch.

E21 316: (Wheel) Arch-Nemesis Beaten! - tidied up with a bit of flare.

Been enjoying the car and weather too much over summer to neaten up the pulled wheel-arches, but thought I'd take some time off to finish them before the rain and gloom sets back in.

I bent the lip with a pair of grips into the smoothest arch I could and filled it flush with P38 to where the original outer lip was. This took quite a bit of building up.

Normally I'd give it a coat of zinc-primer for now and rub it down again, but for aesthetic value I went straight to red-primer and it's already lifted the look of the car.

More of the rear arches had to be cut away than the front, so this meant a smaller and slightly easier area to fill. The only remaining arch is the dreaded N/S rear one, which I hacked to death trying to install tyres that were too big, but it's a mammoth job alone and will have to wait.

E21 316: Melber Wheel Painting!

Thought I'd spruce up the ratty Melber alloys this week to try and get away from the touring-car look and back to the general stance car vibe by painting the rims in cream. Or beige really, Peugeot Panama Beige to be precise - I spotted a Mk2 Golf with the full wheels painted in it and it looked like a nice antiquey dark cream. It looks decidedly lighter on mine though, perhaps I should have gone for Antelope Beige after all.

The dish I have left in the dark metallic-grey for now, but as one has the paint polished off something will have to be done, maybe a matt dark-grey or just grey-primer, we'll see.

E21 316: Some Paint-Job Pics...

Gonna take some proper pics when i've finished cleaning and refitting all the trim, but for now here's a few I took in the dark.

E21 316: Re-Spray Update!

I managed to sell the engine and crank to another BMW enthusiast who is keen to do the 2-litre upgrade that I can't stomach on his E30 Baur convertible. Nice. He's picking the engine up tomorrow and the block was still in the boot of my car in the paint-shop, so I decided to pay an impromptu visit after work and see how the car is coming along.

All masked and ready to paint. I wasn't expecting them to do any filler work for the money, but you can see from the 328ci behind that my Beemer is in the right hands. They've sorted out that front wing panel for me and smoothed out even the minute blemishes I was going to leave. Turns out that line of rust from the door bottom was actually a ridge - the whole bottom edge had been pushed in, probably slammed into a high kerb - and they've sorted that out, so I've got to give them props there. Can't wait to see it finished!

** Couple more pics the guys sent me as they wheeled her into the spray booth - today's the day.

E21 316: Re-Spray Day!

With the trim off and loads of extra fettling right up to last night the car went in today for respray. Can't wait. By doing the prep and stripping it down beforehand I saved an absolute packet on the spray job too and it should make turnaround a lot quicker.

E21 316: Re-Spray Strip-Down 3 - Wipers + Washer Nozzle Removal.

A. Washer-Jet Nozzles:

1. Twist and pull the hose off from below the washer-nozzles.

2. The nozzles have a plastic at the base that spreads when they're pushed into the body, so working them out is pretty easy by pressing the flaps in with your finger one at a time.

B. Windscreen Wiper-Arms + Bases:

1. Lift the cap at each wiper-arm base and, using an adjustable-spanner, remove the top-nut and washer.

2. Raise the wiper-arm to an upright position and wiggle it off the spline.

3. Remove the large diameter nut and washer from the base-mount and remove the mount. *The rubber seal will likely be perished and hard to find a replacement, but you can just cut a new one out of sheet-rubber as I did, or I will supply a set for £1.99 inc. postage to mainland UK - see here.

E21 316: Re-Spray Strip Down 2 - Grilles + Lights Removal.

A. Front Grilles, Headlights + Indicators:

1. Disconnect the corner-indicator wiring-plug - the small round light-grey socket in the front corners under the bonnet - and push the indicator-side plug through the hole in the inner-wing it's wire goes through. *When re-fitting, the plug will need to be accessed from inside the wheel-arch to push it back through the hole into the engine-bay.

2. Using a pozi-screwdriver undo the screws located at the top and bottom of each corner-indicator lens and gently prize the lens free of its seal.

3. Remove the larger pozi-drive screws from the top and bottom end, inside the indicator itself and pull the it, along with the wiring-plug, out from the corner-grilles.

4. Remove the two small screws holding down the lower edge of each front-grille, located between the bottom grille-bars. Use a pozi-screwdriver with a pretty fine tip as it's easy to round off the old heads with larger ones.

5. Remove the 2 metal clips from the top edge of the kidney-grilles by gently prizing them forwards and upwards. Tilt the kidney-grilles forward, hold the bottom centre and lift it clear of the plastic clip at the base.

6. Remove the 3 metal clips the top edge of each front-grille and lift the grilles off.

7. Disconnect the main headlight wiring-plug, just behind the headlight in the engine bay. They just pull apart, no clips here, but may be a bit stiff.

8. Using a large pozi-screwdriver, remove the single screw from the bracket on the outer side and the 2 screws from the inner side of each headlight and carefully remove the lamp unit from the body.

B. Rear Grille + Tail-Lights:

1. Remove the 2 pozi-drive screws from the lower corners of the rear centre-grille.

2. Inside the boot, pop off the 2 plastic push-nuts from the studs behind the grille.

3. Remove the two 10mm bolts from the boot-latch, just inside the boot lip at the centre and lift the latch  up through the gap and out of its recess.

4. Using a wide pair of need-nose pliers, or carefully tapping a flat-head screwdriver, unscrew the ring-nut from the back of the boot-lock barrel. The lock should then slid out of the boot-lid and the grille will come free. *Replace the boot-lock and redo the ring-nut, unless you are leaving it off for the re-spray.

5. Remove the six screws from the back of each tail-light unit using an 8mm socket with a few inches reach. The plastic back-covers are what hold the tail-lights against the boot wall, so once they're off the light-units are free so be wary of them dropping out.

E21 316: Re-Spray Strip Down 1 - Bumpers + Ext. Trim Removal.

A. Badges:

Use a slim flat-head screwdriver wrapped in cloth to prize the BMW roundel badges gently from the body, being careful not to dent the rim of their recesses. Move round the badge lifting a millimetre or two at a time to avoid bending the badge or tarnishing the rim. The two studs sit in plastic cups, which will likely stay in the bodywork. Use a flat-head screwdriver to separate them from the surface, but it's best to push them from behind while teasing them out to avoid snapping the ancient plastic-collar.

Do the same for the model-no. badge, but these have 3 studs, to the left, right and centre, so apply pressure here and there's less chance of snapping the delicate joints between numbers.

B. Side Rubbing-Strips:

*Avoid using the 'sliding off' technique used for the E30, as suggested on other forums - the E21's strips have fixed clips at each end.

1. Using a 10mm wrench remove the plastic nuts located just inside the wheel-arch behind the foremost edge of the front-wing strips. Gently peel the front end of the strip away from the wing until it pops clear of the push-clip to the rear.

2. Remove the 10mm plastic-nut located just inside the rear wheel-arch behind the end of the rubbing-strip. Gently peel the rear end of the strip away from the wing until it is clear of the push-clip.

3. Using a 10mm socket with at least 5" of reach, remove the plastic-nut located just inside the rear door edge behind the rubbing-strip and the one located behind the leading-edge of the strip, inside the door-jam next to the hinge. Gently peel the strip off the door from either end until it is clear of the 3 centre push-clips.

* Screw the nuts back onto the trim for safe-keeping.


C. Front + Rear Bumpers:

1. Remove the 13mm bolt from either side of the front-bumper, located just inside the wing and behind the bumper side-strafe about halfway down.

2. Support the bumper and remove the 13mm nut on each of the bumper-brackets than extend out of the front valance, behind the centre area of the bumper. The front bumper should easily come forwards off the car.

3. Remove the two pozi-drive screws holding each no. plate lamp into the rear bumper, pull the lamp down, disconnect the wiring sockets and replace the lamps to the bumper for safe keeping.

4. Remove the 13mm bolt from either side of the rear bumper, located inside the boot just to the rear of each wheel-arch in the storage compartments.

5. Support the bumper and remove the two 13mm nuts from each side of the rear section located inside the back of the boot. The rear bumper should come away easily.

*If one or more of your bumper side-bolts shears the captive nut away from where it's fixed inside the bumper it is possible to prize away the metal that cases the square-nut enough to get a slim 13mm or 1/2" spanner onto it and get a turn. You may still need to cut the bolt off, as we did with the N/S/F one, but the above process is still essential for tightening a new nut back on.

E21 316: Filling the rest of the Dents.

There weren't many more body blemishes to be fair, just a couple down the driver's side you could barely see [invisible on the pics], but worth flatting out for the respray while the bonnet was being done.

The rub down reveals how small these pin dents were and metal had been pushed in slightly over an area of a about 2" round.

Two quick skims of Isopon P38 body-filler and a rub down with 180-grit paper on a flat block, then P600 Wet/Dry - not going mad here.

A coat of filler-primer and it's back to factory-flat. Ok, so you could barely see them in the first place, but at least I know they're gone.

Also needing the merest attention was this tiny patch of rust bubbles on the o/s bonnet corner, worth mentioning because it's the only one I found on the car, where on my 1995 318i I could have pointed out half a dozen without trying. A quick rub and one blob of filler was all it needed.

E21 316: Big bonnet dent filled.

This ding in the bonnet was from a dropped tool by the look of it and this pic doesn't really give an impression of how far the metal was pushed down.

The rub-down showed an area of of about 2" round that needed filling. A nasty drop whatever it was.

It took one big fillet of P38, a lot of rubbing with a flat-block, a quick coat of filler-primer and two quick skims of filler to eliminate pitting.

The final skim was then rubbed well flat with P600 Wet/Dry paper.

This was the worst bit of damage on the 316 and something that everyone noticed - I'm glad it's been put to bed.