E36 Engine and Paint Detail

J

jerry@robs

New member
Actually, it was a full detail but I don't have much pics in the interior (after) coz it was dark already and I didn't have my camera by the time I finished everything inside.



The car is a BMW 316i, silver... not bad shape but the driver's door has been repainted and horribly sanded (I believe those are 1000grit marks).



What made this project hard was I had to do a complete engine degriming, body detail and interior shampoo within the day. I have no clue how you guys in the US can do it in one day, for me, I can't do it... I was lucky that my wife volunteered to do the interior... It saved me at least 2hrs.



The amount of grime in Manila car engines are at least 4-5x worse than it is in US major cities, the paint also receives the usual bombardment of almost-daily rain, diesel fumes, acid rain and constant overspray problem. Especially for this BMW, apparently the road he passes daily springkles weird droppings of hardening powder of some sort...



Here are some pics... Not much to look at, especially with the paint since they were taken at noon (I know, worse time to take pics... but I don't have a choice, that's the only time I met the owner the day after)...



Engine Before: The engine has some weird yellow coating that seems to be prevalent with local German cars. I think it's some sort of anti-corrosive coat.



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Engine During:

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Engine After:

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Exterior Before:



Etchings and stains from god-knows-what



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Wax stains



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Sand marks



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After: Roofdeck mall parking. Taken a day after.



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One thing I've learned, though... Silver is a great color, hides a lot of imperfections, but the satisfaction of detailing a dark car seems to be more thrilling anyday.



Oh, don't think I forgot the headlights... The headlights seem to have a little leak on the gasket/seals for quite some time. The dirt is accumulated underneath the glass and neither one of us knows how to dismantle the headlight assembly. I tried using a glass polish and a plastic polish to no avail.



Nevertheless, I enjoyed doing this BMW, I got paid for it... Kinda like giving myself a monetary gift for my birthday... :D
 
Good job David! The reflections in the trunk are impressive, and the engine looks showroom fresh:up



Have yourself a beer. You deserve it!
 
Thanks bud... but I don't drink hehe... :bounce



Engine:



Meguiar's APC+

Cyclo Tire Foam cleaner

Stoner's Trim Shine

Autosol metal polish

Meguiar's #66 cleaner wax.



Paint:



Mother's Trigger Wash

Soft99 Clay

Meg DACP w/ rotary

Meg Power Cleaner on some areas by hand

Soft99 Fusso Coat (x2)
 
That's one sexy looking engine bay David, good work! :xyxthumbs



As for the headlights, you can't really "dismantle" them properly, but if you really really want to clean them inside you can take them apart. I'm assuming the leak is in the outer cover and water/dirt has got into the space between that and the lenses right? The outer cover is held in by a butyl seal of some sort and (apparently) you can take a hair dryer or heat gun to soften the seal and then gently pry apart the lens. Clean them up as well as you can, then re-seal them with silicone caulking. Let sit for a while to cure, then re-install.



This goes for a lot of headlight assemblies like this with one lense inside a sealed enclosure too I guess, and I should do this with one of my leaking side markers.



Incidentally, I have a set of E36 headlights patiently sitting in a box.... :p
 
Thanks for the info Brian, I don't wanna bother with dismantling anything for now since I can't afford to replace the headlight if I screw up hehehe...



I think my friend is selling the car soon that's why he asked me to detail the car all of a sudden...
 
David,



I like the way the engine looked after detailing it. ?:xyxthumbs



Quick question. Did you use water to wash down the engine before applying APC+ or did you go straight to APC+? And did you use the Stoner's Trim Shine on the plastic and hose parts of the engine?



Nice shine. I love the engine pic. :bow
 
The yellowish goo coating on german car engines/undersides is

called cosmoline. 3M Wax Tar & Adhesive remover is the best

thing I've found to remove it.
 
Excellent Job! I always appreicate a good engine detail because I know how dirty of a job that is.



:bow



BTW, the fan shroud on that Bimmer is gigantic!! hehe.
 
lynx: Straight APC+, sit for around 2 mins then hose off... then APC+ with toothbrush and paintbrush one section at a time...



tets: Thanks for the info... :) The owner didn't want it to be removed anyway hehe.



showroom: Yeah, it sure was huge... hehe
 
theveed said:
One thing I've learned, though... Silver is a great color, hides a lot of imperfections, but the satisfaction of detailing a dark car seems to be more thrilling anyday.
Click to expand...



Nice work. I agree with you about dark colors, be rewarding.



Eric
 
My buddy used to have a 1988 Audi with those sanding marks and no matter how much time I spent on that specific panel (only worked on one) with Fine Cut rubbing compound, PC and a yellow pad I could not remove them at all.



I now have the DeWalt rotary, that may be the trick.



How did you remove them, any special tricks or just the normal routine?



By the way, should of said it before I asked my questions but nice job! If you can remove those sanding marks then you really know your stuff! They are a major pain in the neck.
 
joed1228 said:
My buddy used to have a 1988 Audi with those sanding marks and no matter how much time I spent on that specific panel (only worked on one) with Fine Cut rubbing compound, PC and a yellow pad I could not remove them at all.



I now have the DeWalt rotary, that may be the trick.



How did you remove them, any special tricks or just the normal routine?
Click to expand...



Thanks for the kind words, guys...



Joed... I tried using DACP at first with the W8000 red cutting pad but it didn't work. So I switched to #84 with W8000 at speed 2 (around 900 RPM) and medium pressure.. It worked fine.... Then I proceeded with DACP to remove the smaller marks.



At first I wanted to wetsand it with 2500grit w/d sandpaper but I didn't have the time... So I went to the buffer route instead... Glad it worked out...
 
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