Tech Forum : Interior work

Tricord	Posted Monday, Jul 7th 4:58pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Administrator Post nr. 123 Belgium, Europe 323i Baur	Time to tackle the 323i interior and prepping the car for bodywork and paintjob. When I was talking to the workshop guy before I started taking the car apart, he told me I could leave the interior and dashboard for the repaint. However, since most of the interior has gone already, I was wondering wether or not I should completely strip the car and remove the electrical tree, wheel, dashboard and console while I'm at it. That way I could have the (almost) bare shell get painted, everywhere. What to do? Here's a pic of my nice recaro's. Unfortunately they're a bit worn, but I'll have them refurbished when the rest of the car is done. Here's the interior with seats removed:

tony323	Posted Monday, Jul 7th 6:41pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member Post nr. 11 Pa USA 1996 318ti, 1982 323i, 1982 320is, 1988 Alfa Verde, 1983 533i	Hi Tricord When I paint a car I usually leave the dash in but strip the interior out. The underhood wiring usually gets wrapped and hung by a wire somewhere under the hood. I take the doors off so they can be sprayed around all the jambs. If you are not doing a complete restoration(as new) I probably would not remove the dash as it can open a new can of worms(squeaks and rattles). I like to remove the carpeting because it can hold alot of dust that blows around at the wrong time during repaint. By removing the items you described it can really add alot of work. I guess it all depends on how much you are restoring your car. If the places you can't see have sound paint and no rust, I would put the time into the places you can see. Tony

BruceH	Posted Monday, Jul 7th 6:54pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member Post nr. 20 Atlanta, GA USA 81 323 Baur, 85 745	Tri, Same recaros as in my Baur. I would pull the dash and windshield for the painting. I have just finished gutting and replacing my interior and it's not that bad. Pulling the windshield allows you to get to all of the rust if there was a bad seal. If the dash is replaced properly squeks will not be a problem. In fact mine is quieter AFTER the replacemnt. The heater cables are a PITA tho. Bruce

Tricord	Posted Monday, Jul 7th 7:46pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Administrator Post nr. 124 Belgium, Europe 323i Baur	I have removed the carpet partly because I wanted to see what the body looked like underneath it. I discovered that the driver side had moisture between the pedals and the seat mounting brackets. The rubber under the carpet was soaked. That's not really a good sign, but it's probably due to the rust under the windshield rubber which allowed water to get by and seep inside. The windows have already been taken out, because there's considerable rust damage around them that require attention. Also, there's probably a hole on the right corner of the passenger footroom. See the rust in this pic on the far right: I'm still not sure what to do with the dashboard. I think I would benefit from removing it, but I'm not sure how much work is involved and how much skill it requires...

M42powered	Posted Monday, Jul 7th 8:41pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Staff Post nr. 112 Arizona, USA 1981 BMW 320i	as far as I know there aren't any special tools required to take the dash out. Just a big helping of time and patience.

tony323	Posted Monday, Jul 7th 11:57pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member Post nr. 13 Pa USA 1996 318ti, 1982 323i, 1982 320is, 1988 Alfa Verde, 1983 533i	I did not realize that you need windshield area work. I would then follow bruce's advice and remove everything. Makes things alot easier. Tony

thug	Posted Tuesday, Jul 8th 5:41am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member Post nr. 11 Pagosa Springs, CO. bmw 320/6	I would have to say, you car looks like mine right now. Ok, Tri. I just removed my front windscreen, and dash just this saturday. took me two hours for everything )steering wheel, heater control unit: the hardest, and the entire dash. I promise taht I will post some photos soon. the benefit that I see to doing it, is that I had some bad seals, and there was a lot of rust accumilating behind there... so, I got the grinder out, and ground and cut every ounce of rust that was on the car, and a lot of it was behind that seal, front and back... there are appoximately 8 main securing screws in the dash. that is after you remove the fluffly trim.you have to remove the light switches, the heater control, guage cluster, and the glove compartment... it is not as bad as i thought it would be. grinding all the rust was as bad as I thought it would be... good luck....

Tricord	Posted Tuesday, Jul 8th 4:32pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Administrator Post nr. 126 Belgium, Europe 323i Baur	It looks like I'm going to have to remove everything then. Here's the rust damage around the windshield seal: Water leaked down through there behind the dash until under the pedals, where it soaked the insulation rubber there. I'm afraid to find out what's behind the dash

Dorzas323i	Posted Wednesday, Jul 9th 2:44pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member Post nr. 23 Victoria, Australia euro 1982 323i	yo, like you've beentold, everyhting should go to make things easyer. one thing to consider when pulling up the carpet: i am currently in the midle of my resto on my 323i. and when i pulled the carpet out and was looking to see if there was rust and that kinda thing, i noticed a lot of the sound detening was loose (not the foam, but the hard matts glued to the floor)this is an area when rust can develope, if it hasn't already. just poke around at the floor, and see if it's solidly mounted to the floor, if it loose, i would pull it off. what i did was pull off everything that was loose, and then got some new self adhiesive mat, and put it all down again. but before i put the new mat down i seam sealed all the caps and anywhere where water could eventually get in. ( i'm a bit of a perfectionist, so i'm repainting the whole insidein 2pak, but that's just me) just thought i might point that out, cause you wouldn't want the car rusting after you spent the time restoring it, and like tony said it also does depend on how far you are going, and also if your changing the colour(at least twice the amount of work as just repainting). well hope that helps -Doran

Tricord	Posted Wednesday, Jul 9th 10:15pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Administrator Post nr. 130 Belgium, Europe 323i Baur	Nope, I'm sticking to same colors. The car is ascotgrau-metallic with a graphite-metallic on wings, lower doors and lower half of the car. I'm going to repaint it exactly like that. I fully agree the restoration should be thourough given the time and effort I put into the car. No use to cut corners. So I will pull the dash next week.