Parting (with rust) is (not) such sweet sorrow…

Happy Friday!  What a beautiful day it is!  The heat and humidity have subsided for a bit, and boy, are we happy about that!  It should be a perfect evening for our Cruise-In!  Come join us!   And don’t forget to help make us the #1 repair shop in Indy by voting for Reggie’s Motorworks on the the A-list!  Thank you for your votes!
Last week, Reggie was tackling rust removal from the rear passenger side of the 1988 e30 M3.  Here’s a look at the rest of this project:

We had to patch both the inner fender well and the outer fender well.  This is a photo of the inner fender well after fabricating a patch from scratch.

Reggie fabricated a patch panel out of a leftover piece from the Baur’s battery box (more on that below).  Note how the panel folds downward to create a factory-looking seam.

Using a card stock template makes getting the right size patch much easier to achieve!

Here’s the view from underneath:

And the view from inside the trunk:

Once the metal patches are cut to size, Reggie uses his trusty magnet to help hold the patch in place while applying some tack welds.

Then they are properly welded in place.

Reggie uses a grinder to smooth the welds:

A coat of self-etching primer (green) is sprayed on to prevent rust.  The tan area is weld-thru primer, where a bracket will later be welded in place.

Reggie used fiberglass reinforced body filler to seal any pinholes that may have been left from welding.

And now to smooth out the finer areas with some body filler!

Once the body filler dries, it’s time to do some sanding to even out the surface.  Please note that the work done on this area is not 100% show quality, since it will be covered by the bumper in the end.  But we are super happy with the results!

Filler primer fills in scratches and finer details to create an even surface for painting.

Once the filler primer dries properly and some more sanding is done, the car is ready for color!

As we mentioned above, even though this area will be covered by the bumper in the end, we are very, very pleased with the results of the finish work.

And voila!  The bumper has been reinstalled and is ready to go!

Adios, rust!  Speaking of rust, Reggie had made some progress on the rusty battery box that he removed from the Baur.  See more here.

He’s welding in the new one as I’m typing this.  So I better get busy to get you caught up to speed!  Here we go!

Before:

Now: Prepping the area for the installation of the new battery box.  The surface needs to be clean and smooth to ensure a nice weld.

More grinding and sparks!

Finally! The new battery box is ready to be installed…

and is ready for welding!

Now that the nice new battery box is welded in, all Reggie will need to do is a little grinding on the spot welds you see below, prime, then paint.

We can’t wait to put her back on the road!

That’s where we’ll stop today!   Come and join us at the Cruise-In!  We’ll have a tent, some chairs, and good company!

Have a great weekend!