body and interior Project: MiniMe

[Russell74Fjord]

E9er, if you wouldn't mind enlightening us all as to the guestimate cost you have incurred, maybe broken down, car cost, paint and body, engine, bumpers, etc. or just a overall #. I think folks don't appreciate the cost involved these days. Especially the way prices on parts has increased lately.

[Fatherof3]

1 hour ago, Russell74Fjord said:

E9er, if you wouldn't mind enlightening us all as to the guestimate cost you have incurred, maybe broken down, car cost, paint and body, engine, bumpers, etc. or just a overall #. I think folks don't appreciate the cost involved these days. Especially the way prices on parts has increased lately.

 

 

Bartender, better pour another round for me and my friends here.

We're going to need some cheering up

[e9er]

19 hours ago, Russell74Fjord said:

E9er, if you wouldn't mind enlightening us all as to the guestimate cost you have incurred, maybe broken down, car cost, paint and body, engine, bumpers, etc. or just a overall #. I think folks don't appreciate the cost involved these days. Especially the way prices on parts has increased lately.

 

I saw you car up at the Lemay event a few weeks ago, it looked great!

 

As far as cost go...  I'm kind of afraid to add it all up.  As a friend of mine said, for car restoration - you have your books and then you have the books you show your wife. 

 

Mechanically, the car was in good shape.  The guy I bought it from is a part owner of an indy shop in WA and it was one of his toys (he owned it for 13 years).  New brakes, clutch, radiator, and a 38/38 Weber were all recently done when I bought it. 

 

The body work and paint was over 7K, there was no rust repair needed but there was a lot welding needed for the bumper conversion. I also had the body shop modify the rear valance to have true center exhaust.  The bumpers were really expensive.  Between buying them, having them rechromed, and all clips and everything, I'm in them at least 1600.00.  It's all the other stuff that you have to consider when doing a full windows out paint job, you don't want to put old trim on brand new paint.  I thought a lot of my trim looked pretty good until I got the car back from the body shop.  The beltline trim is all new and it cost 1200 bucks, I priced it in November and it was 800 and when I went to buy in January, it had gone up 400 dollars.  Add in all of misc, window seals, clips, roundels, new grill, more and more money.

 

I did most of disassembly and reassembly myself, including the sunroof, window mechanisms, etc...  I got lucky on the wheels but I have a lot of hours in them.  A good friend of mine, Sean- who is a '02 guru, helped me with some tweaks and with the things I needed two sets of hands on like the bumpers.  I can't imagine how much it would have been if I would have paid someone to do all it.  I bought a lot of the hard to find parts from Conner at Vintage Autobahn.  Conner is a great guy to work with and his prices are very competitive.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2016 by e9er

[zinz]

wow.. kudos to you for all the hard work.  It's a beauty

 

+1 on Connor and Vintage Autobahn... he's always been a big help with my project needs.

[Mike Self]

Was the red E30 in one of your pictures a 318is?  They look nice together--the original and "the 2002 for the 90s"

 

mike

[Russell74Fjord]

E9-er, thanks for the reply on costs, yeah a lot of items like the beltline trim have really gone up in price recently. And some parts that are re-productions, even from BMW have been of lesser quality. I purchased a new "2002" rear emblem from BMW, and it is not the same, cheapened, thin casting that deforms easily. I'll polish up my old one.

 

And body work is $$$, it all adds up, and I agree, you never really want to add it all up, just ball park it with some creative license and amnesia too!

 

looks awesome,

 

I had recent work and a re-paint on most of the car, and decided to cover the front with Xpel to lessen the rock chip damage since I plan to drive it.

 

Look forward to see your car in person some time.

 

below, 2004 Seatle 02-02-02 drive, lunch stop at our local favorite drive in, "Dicks" .

 

not my photo although I am in it, and sorry to the original photographer whom I don't know and cannot give credit too,