Reviving four salvaged 1M Coupes, including last one delivered to USA

[DSC_OFF]

let me know how much you want for one of these. perfect track day car.

[///M1]

Yikes, scary looking #740. From the warning triangle, looks like it was an ED car (unless it was retrofitted). Look forward to seeing her rebirth.

[Glassoman55]

After vehicle is benched , a couple of pulls on the damaged sheet metal are made...the main goal is to get the crease in the outer wheelhouse out.....

[Glassoman55]

After all pulling is completed, the damaged sheet metal is cut off and the vehicle gets prepped for the new quarter.....

[mlhj83]

Just out of interest, what is the repair process for the exposed sheet metal, now that the quarter panel has been removed. I can see quite a lot of bends and creases.

[flzrider]

Awesome pictures!

Keep up the good work.

[cchow00]

Sweet thread! My friend just passed this along to me since we were looking at fixing up an M for my dad in my garage. Do the older M's have panels welded to the frame as well? We were looking at this M - http://www.copart.com/c2/individualL...Now&cid=web_m5. It seems like it only has exterior cosmetic damage.

Any thoughts? I'll post in M5 forum as well.

Keep up the sic work!

[DriveHard]

andrew,

looks like the left side pulled clean, sans a wrinkle or 2 that im sure will be addressed.. did the roof or the right side take any damage?? looks like who ever crashed it ran it up against something soft ( like a tire wall) as opposed to a jersery barrier as there would be alot more paint loss..

Did it run??? after you bypassed the bst cable of course since the air bags deployed.. what did the inside look like with the broken glass for all this time ??

Regards,

Alex

[Glassoman55]

The roof and the right side were clean with no damage....after changing the battery cable the car fired right up and runs fine...Ive seen slot of wrecks through the years that were worse and not totaled....I would love to talk to the previous owner and find out what he ran in to and if he insisted that he didn't want the car repaired.....that seems like the only explanation on why it totaled....


As far as any bends and crease that you see...some belong...whatever doesn't belong is ironed out with a hammer and dolley.....a dolley is basically a big chunk of steel that comes in various shapes and sizes....you place that on one side and hammer the other side till you get the metal the way you want it....any bare metal spots as well as areas that will be welded are sprayed with a zinc enriched weld thru primer.....

Will post more pics in the am....

[Glassoman55]

Yes....an m5 will have a quarter that welds on almost exactly like this one.....

As far as buying a wrecked car at an auction.....BUYER BEWARE.......

Be very careful because sometimes the damage your looking at is not what it appears to be....
Make sure the car is being sold by the insurance company directly and not a car dealer...
If possible you should go and physically look at the car before you bid on it..

If your able to find a good "salvage" car, source alot of used parts and do most of the labor yourself you'll save slot of cash....

Good luck and post some pics!

[Glassoman55]

After all the damaged metal is removed, the vehicle gets prepped to accept the new parts....

Trial fitting begins.... all the new parts get lined up prior to welding....

All the gaps are also checked at this point....

[Glassoman55]

Before the quarter is put on the vehicle for the final time, a structural adhesive is applied to the lip of the outer wheelhouse.....once the quarter is put on, the edge of the wheel opening is flattened out with a hammer and dolly...once the adhesive dries it's becomes a solid seem just like factory...

The rest of the quarter gets spot welded and stitch welded....the stitch welds then get grinned down and you are now ready for some body filler and primer....

[Glassoman55]

pics

[JasonCSU]

Thanks for the new pictures and updates. It's very interesting to see!

[Glassoman55]

After some light body work on the seams, a thin coat of etching primer is applied to all the bare metal spots....

[eeghie]

Originally Posted by Glassoman55

pics

What is the black paste around the rear wheel well and what function(s) does it have?

[Glassoman55]

Its a bmw adhesive known as k5a.....it bonds the outer wheelhouse to the outer lip of the quarter.......

[Em/1]

Very cool thread and love the pics!

[octainejunkee]

great thread.
be rude not to put a carbon roof on the vo one tho

[eeghie]

Originally Posted by Glassoman55

Its a bmw adhesive known as k5a.....it bonds the outer wheelhouse to the outer lip of the quarter.......

During the factory tour in Munich there were big drums of black paste that they use when marrying the sides with floor and roof. The guide said ao it is supposed to limit vibrations entering the cabin.

Do you recon this K5A stuff is the same used all over the car (including roof panel replacements)

Do you buy it from BMW or are generic alternatives available?

Same stuff used to seal headlight units?

[Glassoman55]

Yeah...you buy if from BMW...probably the same stuff they used in the factory.....I'm sure companies like 3m and norton make their own adhesives for a lot less money but I would never use anything but the BMW stuff......I'm a little weird that way....

This is not the same glue they use for the carbon fiber roofs.....they recommend that you use k3 adhesive for that....it's grey in color....

Not sure what they seal headlights with.....

[Bokke]

Very late to the thread; nice work!!!