1985 535i - M30B35 Swapped|Vinyl Wrapped

[WalterH]

Hello.

My name's Walter. Here's a thread for my 1985 535i. I've owned a couple BMWs prior to this one (e32 5-speed, e34 540i 6-speed, e30, ect) but this is my first e28. I've wanted one forever, and Paul (mooseheadM5) had this one at his shop.

It was previously owned by a BMW/car enthusiast who had the following done:

• M30B35 Swap
  Bilstein Sports F+R
  H&R Springs
  Upgraded front brakes from a 750i + Stainless lines
  MOMO Wheel
  20MM Front Sway
  3.64LSD
  Lots of new suspension bushings and goodies
  WORKING A/C!
  Probably forgetting the other stuff

This happened.


It was a nice clean high hit. The deer didn't want to ruin such a nice example of an e28. It sat like this at the shop for a year? Maybe less? Not sure. I purchased the car 1 week and 6 days ago.

From the hit, it needed:

• Radiator
  Fan + Clutch
  Grills + Kidneys
  Headlights
  Core Support fixing
  Hood

Here it is being delivered to my garage.


The plan is:
Fix it.
Wheels
Vinyl Wrap (That's what my shop does along with graphic design/signs and such)
Clean interior
Drive and enjoy
Euro Bumpers + Headlights Eventually

Progress so far:
Headlights and grills and such removed. (Excuse the garage mess)


Removed bumper, test fitting grills and headlights after some core support repairs + replaced radiator. Also sanded down the rough clear coat spots to prep for vinyl wrapping.


At this point it was running and driving. The A/C still worked. The impact with the deer didn't destroy the condenser, saving me tons of time and work getting it working again.

Drained the bumper for future tuckage


Because it's being wrapped, didn't want any previous color showing from the valance, so that got painted as well:


Aaaand look what arrived in the mail today! 3M Dragon Red. Roughly enough to wrap one and a half E28s.


I told myself this car would be wrapped, registered, fixed, and on the road in 1 month. Currently on schedule for that. Stay tuned for more!

[leadphut]

awesome! keep going.

[demetk]

Nice. Doesn't the vinyl fly off if you go on the highway?

[WalterH]

In its current position on the car, yes. It would probably fly off on the highway.

[demetk]

LOL. I have found that most e28 owners had a great sense of humor.

[bkbimmer]

LOL. I have found that most e28 owners had a great sense of humor.

We do drive clown cars so it makes sense.

[WalterH]

After the first wrapping session:


Hoping to knock out some other (actual paying) jobs so we can have this car wrapped before the weekend.

[slammin_e28]

If only some butthole would bring you parts....

[WalterH]

If only some butthole would bring you parts....

You're probably my favorite butthole. See you tonight.

So progress:

My Alpina lip made it to the good ol' US&A yesterday.


More panels are wrapped:

All that's left to wrap is the passenger's doors, roof, and hood. Hoping to knock most of those out today.

Also tucked the bumper using the "drive into a wall" method. Worked great! Decided not to tuck too far.

More to come! Ready to hit some mountain roads soon. Deadline is October 6th (one month since purchase) to finish it. Still ahead of schedule.

[WVe28]

Looking good so far! Subscribed

[muleskinner]

Cool. I'd like to see some pics of how you actually wrap the car. Have seen some amazing wrap jobs at the local caffeine & octane, but curious how it's done.

[Germz]

ive always liked the thought of wrapping my e28, but i could never quite figure out how id wrap the roof, a and c pillars since its pretty much all one piece. if you get some close up shots of those areas, id love to see how you did it.

[WVe28]

He does it for a living so I'm sure he can do it better and cheaper than he could paint it or get it painted. For the inexperienced, I'm under the impression that doing a proper wrap diy is not easy to do and very expensive to have done professionally, not unlike paintwork but I'm personally more confident in the information available and future maintenance involved in paint than wrap. I'll find out soon how well one can do on a budget diy paint job as I will be painting mine in t-2 weeks with a $1200 budget. I will document in my own thread; sorry to hijack!

[BDKawey]

yesssss. +1 for vinyl wrapping. excited to see this done and what you do with the roof. my next e28 will likely be purchased as a rust free shell and get my e28's 5.0 with a turbo and a wrap.

was your wrap wide enough to do the quarter panel?

[WalterH]

yesssss. +1 for vinyl wrapping. excited to see this done and what you do with the roof. my next e28 will likely be purchased as a rust free shell and get my e28's 5.0 with a turbo and a wrap.
was your wrap wide enough to do the quarter panel?

Roof isn't done yet, but I'll get pictures when it's finished. I ordered a 5x50' roll of 3M, which was wide enough to do the quarter panel.

He does it for a living so I'm sure he can do it better and cheaper than he could paint it or get it painted. For the inexperienced, I'm under the impression that doing a proper wrap diy is not easy to do and very expensive to have done professionally, not unlike paintwork but I'm personally more confident in the information available and future maintenance involved in paint than wrap. I'll find out soon how well one can do on a budget diy paint job as I will be painting mine in t-2 weeks with a $1200 budget. I will document in my own thread; sorry to hijack!

Exactly. The paint was rough on this car, and it basically only cost materials to wrap it. For most first-timers I've heard anywhere from 20-40 hours of work to wrap a full car - We're going to do it in a fraction of that time. If we were to charge a customer to wrap a full car, it's around $2000.00. I wish I had the same skills and know-how when it came to paint. I skimped on a little of the prep work for the wrap (didn't sand down clearcoat spots enough) so it won't be a show car, but I think it's going to turn out pretty decent.

ive always liked the thought of wrapping my e28, but i could never quite figure out how id wrap the roof, a and c pillars since its pretty much all one piece. if you get some close up shots of those areas, id love to see how you did it.

Will do. My brother is actually the expert and primary wrapping labor force, so I'll ask him to give some tips once he's finished it. From what he said, the quarter panels are the biggest challenge on this car due to the angles and stuff.

Late night wrapping and fixing the hood release cable with my brother and slammin_e28 (not pictured) Alpina lip comes in today. Hoping to finish more wrapping. Stay tuned!

[leadphut]

[WalterH]

Ok, so some progress:

Pulled the seats and carpet out to give 'em a good scrubbing. The carpet had definitely been out before. Had it all out in about an hour


Here's a 50/50 shot of the carpet


Finished wrapping the back section of the car:


It actually looks like a red car now! (almost)


Started wrapping the hood, laid down a big piece of vinyl, brought it back up and all the paint came up with it. (Thus rending the vinyl garbage) Probably due to a shitty respray of our replacement hood. So off came the paint!




Probably should've prepped the whole car like this, but whatever.

Remember that Alpina lip from Latvia? Here it is!


Aaaand here it is wrapped:


And here it is installed!


And here's the finished front end (minus a turn signal cover I'm waiting on)










Due to the mishap with the hood, we ended up having to trash the whole piece, and don't have enough vinyl left on the roll to do the roof. I'll be ordering the rest tomorrow and if it comes by this weekend (hopefully) be done with the wrap!

[BDKawey]

dude i love this so much. nice work.

did you atleast prime the hood after stripping the paint? id be worried about moisture causing rust under the wrap and then lifting it up. not sure if any moisture could even get under the wrap but on the edges it could happen id think

[WalterH]

dude i love this so much. nice work.

did you atleast prime the hood after stripping the paint? id be worried about moisture causing rust under the wrap and then lifting it up. not sure if any moisture could even get under the wrap but on the edges it could happen id think

I think it'll be fine. It's wrapped up and under the hood so the edges won't be exposed to much moisture. And if it does happen, I'll just buy another piece and re-do it. The hood was pretty easy.

[leadphut]

really enjoy the progress and the fact that you saved this car. nice job.

now, let's talk about those rims...

[Pavel]

Epic.

Makes me think of my E23 and wrap.

[slammin_e28]

really enjoy the progress and the fact that you saved this car. nice job.

now, let's talk about those rims...

They'll be leaving soon.

Soon enough....that's the question....

[tig]

Wow.

[cddallara]

dude i love this so much. nice work.

did you atleast prime the hood after stripping the paint? id be worried about moisture causing rust under the wrap and then lifting it up. not sure if any moisture could even get under the wrap but on the edges it could happen id think

I was always told that primer is not a sealer anyway.

Car looks great btw

[WalterH]

Wrap is complete. Car is registered and running and driving. The idle isn't quite where I'd like it to be, but it stops hard, goes hard, and is a total blast to drive.

[travisj]

(Beat you to it Sherman!)


Looks very nice there, Clark.

What color is listed on the title?

[BDKawey]

was this your first wrap and could you rate the difficulty?

looks awesome, i cant wait to wrap something. hoping it'll be an e28 but ive been considering wrapping my spec b when i have the dents pulled

[Collin380]

Wow! Beautiful job...

[bkbimmer]

Looks good.

Small constructive criticism... the front lip needs to be raised up in the middle so the side profile doesn't slope forward. Easy fix if you care.

[WalterH]

Wow! Beautiful job...

Thanks!

was this your first wrap and could you rate the difficulty?
looks awesome, i cant wait to wrap something. hoping it'll be an e28 but ive been considering wrapping my spec b when i have the dents pulled

My shop does this professionally, so not the first rodeo. I think I said earlier, if you haven't wrapped before, I'd recommend paint.

Small constructive criticism... the front lip needs to be raised up in the middle so the side profile doesn't slope forward. Easy fix if you care.

Thanks! I'll fix it!