'83 BMW 635 CSI Project. Sold!

[Dennisch]

After posting in the Show your real car thread I figured my car deserves a thread of it's own.

This is my car. The picture was taking 7 years ago, but the outside of the car didn't get any work so far, so it looks roughly the same today.

1983. German Import.

I have it for 8.5 years now. I bought it from a friend of my former boss. As I got older and got a place for my own, money went to other things instead of my car. Being a car mechanic didn't help either, it helped , because after a week of dirty hands I couldn't see myself spending my weekends getting more dirty hands.

The last time I worked on the car was 5 years ago. I pulled out the interior, which had turned ugly green, to check for rust and I tried to repair the seats, but they where beyond repair.(Thanks fat former owner ) and the heaterunit, the valves inside where stuck, and I broke it trying to get it out.. I gave up and never looked at it again.

As I found new inspiration to work on my car, happened last month, I started to work on all the stuff I already bought, my all black leather interior, all the brake parts, and a new (second hand) heaterunit + controls (I broke one of the sliders).

I removed all of the bitumen that was on the floorpanels, no rust at all, sanded it down, and repainted it with durable metalpaint, it took so much time to clean it all, it was ridicoulus. But it's done! Also cleaned out the trunk and painted it.

After that I replaced the heaterunit, which ment draining the coolant, and finding the space in the engine bay to get the hoses off. Not easy, but not hard eiter. Now that was the easy part, , trying to get the unit back in was idiotic. The rubber sleeve that goes around the coolantpipes worked against me, big time. But just after midnight, SUCCES! Done!

With that done, the interior could go back in, so I placed it back, it's all in pretty good condition, except for a big tear on the floor on the drivers side.
And my fine black leather interior could finally go in, and it looks good.

That's it for now, I will post more pictures soon.

 

[motortrend]

I really like the E24, so I will definitely be following this. I wish you best of luck with your project! Hope you can get us many pictures and info along the way.

 

[Eric.]

That looks like it would be awesome to leave looking exactly how it is and make a beast out of it.

 

[Ibonibo]

Nice project. Have fun.

 

[Grayfox]

She needs a good wash and wax.

 

[strtgng]

Let's see those pics!

 

[Dennisch]

I really like the E24, so I will definitely be following this. I wish you best of luck with your project! Hope you can get us many pictures and info along the way.

Best BMW ever. Without a doubt. Pictures will come soon, when I take the car outside.

That looks like it would be awesome to leave looking exactly how it is and make a beast out of it.

The way it looks now, is how it's going to be for a while, I'm gonna drive it for a couple of months when I'm done with all the technical stuff, then take it apart to get it repainted.

Nice project. Have fun.

Thanks.

She needs a good wash and wax.

Only a wash, the paint is beyond the point of waxing back to a shine.

Let's see those pics!

I took some pictures but the camera on my phone is crappy without proper lighting, I'll take a better camera with me next time.

 

[Encyclopedia]

One of the best if not the best looking bmws in my opinion. Looking forward to more pictures!

 

[Dennisch]

I promised pictures, so here they are!

As proof!

A piece of my old interior.

The original color was grey, which would have looked good, but the green it transformed into,

And the new, shiny black leather, hmmmmm.

I cleaned it, and then used black leathergrease? (don't know the word) to bring it back to life. And it did well. It gave me such a smile on my face, awesome.

The instrument cluster.



The centerconsole.

Again, everything works here! I replaced the heatercontrol with a new one.
And yes! It's a manual gearbox! As it should be!

Before cleaning it. (dusting it off)

And after cleaning.

As new! No cracks or rips all over the dash!
Needs some more cleaning, but all in good time.

Chrome in all the right places.

The chrome is in excellent shape, in and outside the car.👍

The boot, rust free and repainted.

With the upholstery back in place.

The rustspots come from my jack. Need to clean it properly.

My wheels. 17" x 8.5j, tire size is 235/45/17. Nice and beefy.

I will get them sandblasted and repainted the same color, they are in perfect shape, no chips or dents on all 4 wheels.

My front brake calipers.

Cleaned, overhauled and repainted, but I'm gonna repaint them to black, to match the wheels.

The heart of the beast.

Brand spanking new engine, completely dry all around and underneath. 👍

Standard place for rust on a E24.

It rusts because there are 2 plates spotwelded and glued together.
But it's nothing to worry about, as it's easy to weld a single plate back in.

The beast itself.

And after a bit of cleaning.

The butt!

Small dent in the bumper, but I will hamer that out, no problems.

New (second hand) tail lights and the left front turnsignal.

So, that are the BMW pics for now.
My car shares it space with these 2 cars:

1980 Mercedes 380SLC. Mom's car.

Just finished rebuilding it with my dad. Full restoration, needs only a new interior.

And this behemoth. Dad's car.

Needs some TLC, but it's almost done.
L6, 3 speed manual gearbox, and no electric options what so ever!
Anybody want to take a guess to make, model and year?

 

[Tha-Ran]

Starting to look like something, that E24.

Where do you live? Maybe I could visit you sometime.

 

[Crispy]

That BMW is sick! Love the black paint. Loved it when BMW had the window sills low enough to rest your arm on.

 

[Dennisch]

Small update.

I pulled of my rear bumper to get the dent out, and, ohnoez, I found rust.

That's only the left side of the car, the right side is also rusty, but not as bad is the left.

Now, I am a pretty good welder, but my metalwork and metal knowledge lets me down sometimes. I started to grind away the rust, and took a piece of sheet metal, bent it into shape, and started welding. It didn't go well. But stubborn me just kept on welding. I was done with the first piece, and I was sick of how it looks. Tracing back my steps, and looking at other sheetmetal, I realised : wrong sheetmetal .
I found a old plate of good sheet metal, started welding and I realized that I could still weld properly. Hence the result : The right, wrong metal, lot's and lot's of grinding, still not good, the left, no grinding so far, but already looks good.

 

[Omnis]

What the heck is on the right? Silver?

 

[Dennisch]

No, it's a different kind of steel, I think it's galvanized or something. And you need really hefty welds to get it to stick to the steel of the car.

I'm gonna cut it out, because the more and more I look at the picture, the more I want to get it out and do it over.

 

[Dennisch]

Most of the rusty bits are gone now! I kept the left side in place so the rest wouldn't deform so much when welding the new plates in.

New plate welded into the mountingbracket for the rearbumper.
I grinded too much away of my first weld. So I had to do it again.
No biggie. The hobliewoblie plate below the bracket is also back in shape, after some gentle persuasion with a hamer.

See, I told you I could weld. 👍

 

[Sgt_Sheep]

Looks like a great project! Best of Luck and LOVE the E24!

 

[a112]

Rials are awesome in 17". Also I see some Bundt wheels in 15" on the Merc, very nice. I have a similar set for sale.

 

[Dennisch]

Looks like a great project! Best of Luck and LOVE the E24!

Thanks, although it will take some time before it's fully done.

Rials are awesome in 17". Also I see some Bundt wheels in 15" on the Merc, very nice. I have a similar set for sale.

Ah, a man with knowledge!
The Rials are so light, they weigh absolutely nothing.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Huh, only just realised I've not posted in here yet! Congrats on the project, it's good see a 6 getting some serious restoration attention. I was never brave enough to attempt any bodywork myself, so spent LOTS of money getting the rust sorted out on mine, never did get round to the front wings though.

Unfortunately she was stolen, and I've not got the money to re-invest in another one!

 

[Dennisch]

Ooh, bummer dude, that sucks so bad. Looks pretty mint to me.

 

[a112]

I vote for polished lip on the wheels, if you can handle the work.

 

[Hun200kmh]

I am the proud owner of a 1992 BMW 325i. Bought it in 1997 from its first owner, with about 80.000 kms.

Was my everyday car up to 2001 but family growing I needed a bigger one.

In 2001 I didn't sell it though, for 3 reasons: 1) I love that car; 2) No value; 3) I love that car anyway.

Still have it, good shape (years won't damage a BMW 6 cylinder engine unless you really want to) and 220.000 kms. Just the sound of THE SIX is something else.

But I have to admit. The 635 CSi is ... something else. Congratulations and enjoy it as much as you can

 

[Dennisch]

The rear is done, crappy photo, I am very pleased with the result. I've put metalpaint on it for now, so that it won't rust, untill I got it painted.

My fueltank, completely sanded down with a wirebrush, and sandpaper, and then painted with the same metalpaint.
2 tubes by the fillerpipe seemed to have sprung a leak, so I had to solder them to stop them from leaking, and it worked. 👍

 

[Dennisch]

Small fix to the car. My windshieldwiperbushing were completely gone, really strange, but it needed fixing. So I did.

As you can see, it looks like crap. But, for some strange reason, and lucky I might add, a 12mm copper tube, normally used for gas or water, fits perfect. Well almost. I had to use a standing drill? Don't know the word. I'll use a pic:

I placed the copper tube in the machine, took a piece of sanding paper, and grinded it down until it fits.

And the result?

Succes!

I had to make 4 of them, and it was such a pain to get the old bushing out of the housing. But hey, there can only be 1 winner.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Keep up the good work.


Man, every time I read your thread I wanna go out and buy another E24!

 

[Dennisch]

Keep up the good work.


Man, every time I read your thread I wanna go out and buy another E24!

Well, I just got a financial wallet upgrade, thanks to the wellfare office, so I guess my car will be done this summer, excluding paint. But I am making a list of things I need to buy, almost all the rubber parts underneath the car are gone. I estimated it will be roughly 1500-2000 euro's and it will be ready for the autobahn. Aawyeah.

 

[dudeguy]

I'm think that is called a drill press. Nice CSI btw

 

[E28]

Well, I just got a financial wallet upgrade, thanks to the wellfare office, so I guess my car will be done this summer, excluding paint. But I am making a list of things I need to buy, almost all the rubber parts underneath the car are gone. I estimated it will be roughly 1500-2000 euro's and it will be ready for the autobahn. Aawyeah.

And when it's ready it'll be the coolest thing on the autobahn. 👍

 

[MatskiMonk]

I'm think that is called a drill press. Nice CSI btw

I was going for pillar drill

 

[Dead_Poetic]

Here in the states it's called a drill press. Anyway, when I see your car all I can think of in my head is this: