XCRN : 1995 BMW 525i

[trickedaccord92]

Damn man you have been busy! Great work! Looks like it is coming together nicely!

[XCRN]

Damn man you have been busy! Great work! Looks like it is coming together nicely!

Thank you. I have been somewhat busy, snow is preventing me from finishing the brakes and doing other tasks. But I was able to get some of the pillars off since the dye I got was not compatible with the fibers of the trim. Since I had a $5 off coupon from Oreily's I just went there to get the Duplicolor fabric paint and sprayed that on the pillar trim pieces. Certainly worked much better.






I also removed the lenses from a spare set I have of the rear E32 reading lights and threw them in a mix of glass cleaner and warm water. I also painted the spare light housings black to match the new trim. I still need to get the B Pillar trim out but I need to charge the battery of the car first so I can move the seat so I can reach the bolt for the seat belt. Next will be the headliner and since the dye failed miserably I will not remove the fabric from the board and just paint it as is. I am still annoyed that the dye did absolutely nothing. After it dried over night it went straight back to it's old color after 5 bottles. It worked so well with the carpet why not this?

[XCRN]

Today's update comes to you from my bathroom! Why you may ask, well it is too cold to let the freshly painted parts to dry and if I were to have it inside in an unventilated area you get really high and this fabric paint is strong stuff. So I stuck the parts and my heater in the bathroom and left the fan going and the fumes did no go past the door. So what was done today was the B pillars, touch up on the E32 rear map lights, and got the front weather trim painted to match. I ran out of paint so the rears will have to wait until I do the headliner when the snow is gone.





I also took out all of the interior lights and removed all the lenses to clean them and I also ordered a 10 pack of 10 SMD LEDs for $10. Seven of them are for the interior lights; 4 for the vanity lights, 1 for the center light, 2 for the rear lights. So that leaves me 3 left so I guess I can force the 44mm lights into the license plate lights and the last one can go into the trunk I guess

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291157908767...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Beyond this, I have some other news. I have an interview this Monday for a paid internship at a welding and fabrication business. Hopefully I can get things really moving on this project.

[XCRN]

Am I really dedicated or really stupid for taking out the headliner in single digit temperatures? This was so much easier than doing the Accord's headliner. There were no clips that needed to be tugged on so no risk of breaking the headliner that way.



Removed the misc crap from the ceiling.



Had to manually open the sunroof since the motor is busted, which this sucked. At least it was no pouring snow, all it needed was some snow to be brushed off.



And down it came in one piece. It is much stronger than the CB's headliner board.



And it will sit in here for a bit so I can figure out whether I want to paint it or re-wrap it. The only black headliner fabric I can find locally is vinyl and not cloth. I personally do not care for vinyl since it gives off some shine and gloss like interiors makes it look cheap.

[Tishock]

German Folk Dancer Fabric - Vintage Black Lederhosen Swiss Floral Pattern

[XCRN]

That's better than anything I can come with. I was going to do an American flag with an eagle crapping out F15s while the monster truck Big Foot jumping over it landing on a Volkswagen while Calvin is pissing on it.

[XCRN]

I did not go with the folk dancer or super patriot headliner, I went with some nice black suede. How I see it is I am now a BMW owner, and like it or not, things need to be done the right way. Though it is cool I got the material the trip there was quite fun. Last night 5" of snow showed up and most of the roads are not plowed and salt will not work but me and my friend ventured forth with a 99 Corolla. We are going 30 mph in a 50 zone and it is boring on the way there, but on the way back we are behind a Ford Ranger late 90s and his tail is going all over the place even going under 10 mph. Well the arse in the big black lifted Dodge behind me grows impatient and goes around but has some issues getting back into the lane and swerves a bit but then gets his act together but is going at a high speed. A few miles later we see him in a ditch scratching his head going "what the hell happened" and we just laughed, only injuries were a bruised ego. I go to drop my friend off at his place and his road was not plowed at all and there is an RX8 stuck just a few houses down from his destination so we get out and try to help him out but we got two more people and then we finally freed him. He for sure was not from the country but we get back in our little FWD Corolla and just roll on past him no issue. The damn snow plows finally show up after I am departing from my friend's house. Fun day and all I can say for today is FWD FTW!




Two yards was sufficient.

[XCRN]

Started working on a new project. When I go to a black headliner, the accessories will also need to be black. Unfortunately very few E34s came with black top interiors so most parts will have to be painted which is not an issue except for the Granny Handles or "OH SHIT! Handles". Since they will be grabbed from time to time, I fear the paint will rub off on to the hands of the poor victims that want to ride in my car. I am working on wrapping the portion of the handle that will be grabbed with black faux leather and paint the rest. Though there might be piss on the seat, the handles will remain black.

I folded the edges in an sewed them to keep the lines smooth and looking nice. I hope that it adds another nice luxury touch to the interior. This is my first stich job and the second grip turned out much better since I used tape to mark a line where to stich.




And mocked up the final product. Pretend the handle is black and the final product will either be stitched up at the rear or glued.

[XCRN]

Got another load of interior parts turned black.




I am quite pleased with my self with upholstering from scratch, the leather grips for the granny handles. Not too bad just tedious, and if you miss with the needle, very bloody.

[XCRN]

Sometime this week I will be picking up a set of these wheels. Not many E34s use these wheels so this is the best picture I can find of a set on an E34. These will not be mounted right away since I will need tires which I can get all 4 235/45R17 for $350.



I also have a second interview tomorrow.

[XCRN]

Picked up the wheels for $200 from a $350 asking price. The E34 crowd is not a big fan of using newer model wheels on these cars but I do like the Style 138s. Some curb rash as expected from buying used wheels but I am happy. No idea when I will get tires so they will sit in my roof for a bit.

[XCRN]

Played around with fitment of the wheels. Slightly concerned with the tire rubbing the suspension but I will not know for sure until I get some tires for it. They are ET20 so theoretically they should be good it just looks like a small gap between spring perch and where the tire will be. but here are some pictures I took. And just something I should note, I am now on Spring Break. I should have just bought the tickets to Florida sooner.







The nice thing with these wheels you can see the pretty brake components behind them, but wow they got some surface rust fast.

[XCRN]

My Spring Break started feeling more like Spring. It may have only been 50 degrees out but it felt like Florida to me, so I got to work on the headliner and pillars.



The sun visor pockets and granny handle pockets sucked to do.





I need to make some sort of frame or border for the sunroof opening since I messed up that area a bit.

And here is the pillar trim wrapped in the same suede material. Much better than what it was before when I just painted over the old material.




I have material to also do the rear deck but that needs to wait until the ground dries up so I can park a car next to it to give it power since the front seats are positioned in a way that is preventing me from removing the rear seat to take out the rear deck.

[XCRN]

Got some more stuff to show.

Re-wrapped the rear deck in suede. The old cloth was just painted and attracted hair, which makes me wonder where it comes from if I am not driving the car.







And here are some teaser shots of everything coming back together. Still needs more work after this but it is coming along nicely and I am loving the interior color choice.

The back, because my Friday nights will not end in the front seat

[XCRN]

So I found out why some electronics were not working, it was just blown fuses. I am not typing this just to say I replaced fuses but to show off how one of the fuses was blown and to give some background why this is significant. This particular fuse as you can see did not just blow apart it looks as if it exploded apart. This particular fuse is for the blower motor which is notorious for causing electrical fires in these cars if a bearing is shot or there is too much gunk preventing the fan from spinning freely. Damn close call to having a fire sometime in it's life, just glad I saw this first and now know I probably need to get to the blower motor and clean out the chamber or replace it. I also found blown fuses for the fog lights, interior lights, reverse lights, and adjustable mirrors. So I can highlight those in green in the fix up list.