My E36 evo goes ifor full respray today...

[VinceFox]

So i had three choices, go for an e46 m3 for a bit more, go for a 996 for quite a lot more, or keep my estoril evo coupe and give it a spruce. Tightarse that i am i chose the third option.

Some before pics, for posterity...











Alternating between excited to see results and wondering if i'm mental for sinking money into an old car at the moment. Hope it looks ok :s

[VinceFox]

Î had my capri bare metal resprayed years ago and then put it in the garage and never used it again. Got to try and strike a better balance with this.

I've man mathsed this as actually saving me money. The car owes me next to sod all (gave 3500 for it four or five years ago) and the spray job isnt cheap, but not ballbreakingly expensive. Sprayer has an m3 so hopefully sympathetic to it.

The bill for trim clips and stuff is mounting up tho!

[VinceFox]

The arches themselves are really solid, that pic is a bit misleading. It'll be right when it comes back and i'll be treating and sealing everything very thoroughly before it turns a wheel.

[VinceFox]

melvster said:

Looking forward to the outcome..... it could be a smart move as E36 M3's are getting so hard to find in tip top condition..... their time will arrive and prices will increase eventually.

Cheers melv, yeah so i keep hearing. Mine looked reasonably straight before, just think past a certain age they need to be mint. I'm a fussy git like that.

[VinceFox]

bmthnick1981 said:

I think you are doing the right thing, good ones of these are beginning to creep up in value now.

Who is doing the work?

Nuffield body. Seems to be pretty good, i've looked round a couple of his cars and theyre pretty well done. I'll stick more pics up when i get it back.


You done any of these recently?

[VinceFox]

Leins said:

You've definitely made the right decision IMO, best of luck with it

A certain degree of man maths are required here I think i.e. all you're doing is investing the guaranteed future increase in value of these cars so as to help ensure there's a guaranteed future increase in value of these cars

You can't argue with that. That's science.

[VinceFox]

My favourite colour, that's what i wanted.

What's the drop on that one?

[VinceFox]

Aye, mine came with a mint estoril rainbow spoiler but i still wanted it off. They really date the car badly.

[VinceFox]

sparks_E39 said:

Have seen you driving around Poole a couple of times, I already thought it was one of the tidiest looking M3's I've seen, so looking forward the outcome. Also If that place in Nuffield is good I may use them for some paintwork too, as I live a couple of minutes away.

Cheers sparks, i'll let you know how the job turns out.

Mine had looked ok, but needed a lot of attention just to look passable. The paint was very tired and had a lot of stone chips. There were a few tiny bits of grot starting to creep in, so hopefully now it'll look soooooooper shiny and straight.

[VinceFox]

bennyboysvuk said:

I think you've made the right decision. The E46 M3 is a great car, but your car has slightly less mechanical grip (more fun), sensible sized tyres and also a rarity factor, which is nice. As for Porsches, they don't get interesting until you're into GT3 territory.

[VinceFox]

No probs, i'll report back on the job soon as i get her back.

I'm a bit of a fussy bugger so i'll be as honest as i can.

[VinceFox]

Well, it's back. Spent all day fitting bits, still got sill covers and rubbing strips to do but needs a couple of fetles to sills first. Also going to fit new screen. Anyway, here's so far...







It's a lot fresher, the old paint was pretty flat and scratched/chipped.

[VinceFox]

Cheers Melv

Seems mad spending out on an old thing like this, but it's still just such a great car to be in.

[VinceFox]

Thx Neil

[VinceFox]

Cheers Mark. Took it for a spin earlier, it's getting noticed even with some bits missing.

[VinceFox]

sparks_E39 said:

Looks great

Got a couple of wee pickup bits to go back in for before the sills can go on, but it's getting there!

[VinceFox]

bmthnick1981 said:

Looks good, post some pics when completely finished.

aye, will do cheers

[VinceFox]

Thx guys, hopefully booked back in this friday to sort one little bit out then i can get on with refitting the rest of it.

Think i'm going to replace the scuttle covers too, just to bring it up a bit more. They're looking a wee bit grey and tired.

[VinceFox]

Mini update, just cos i'm chuffed of how it's shaping up. Got chance to start looking at sill covers today and figured out i had enough clips to do one side...







HEAVILY waxoyled everything behind there and gave the paint a quick clay and colly. So, so glad i decided to do this instead of selling it now.

[VinceFox]

Ive drenched everything, everywhere with waxoyl. Including me.

It was 1300 for the respray but the car was pretty straight already. I pulled all the trim and sills before painting and am doing the refit myself as i'm a fussy bd.

The job's really nice. I worked in a bodyshop for a long time so i can spot stuff, but it's honestly a very, very nice job. Very even, shiny and well finished.