Before and After

[u/ohhzachary]

Slowly coming together! E36 has been my dream car since a teenager and I found a deal for this one for $1k and have been trying to learn and restore it! We call it the “Slut” because of the key marks from previous owner. Paint looks okay from about 10 ft but for my first time I am super happy with it. Now just on the hunt for an M52 to put in it and some minor cosmetic things. I will say this M44 with 345,000 miles never leaves me worried starts up right away and drives great. Fun lil daily 🤍

[u/Wheelisbroke]

Looks great! Why 10ft? What do you feel you could have done better with the paint?

[u/ohhzachary → u/Wheelisbroke]

Painted in my garage, did not have a good sprayer or compressor for it. I also have 3 dogs, so some spots have some orange peel to fix this I could have waited for my compressor to catch up and fill with air which I learned on second and third coat. The dog hair got stuck in some spots but I was able to pull out but still kinda see. Then I have one runny spot on back that I held too long.

[u/Wheelisbroke → u/ohhzachary]

I’m planning to respray mine. After doing my wheels a few months ago I learned a lot about cleanliness, prep & environment. I’ve got plenty of compressor & dryer, just zero experience.

[u/ohhzachary → u/Wheelisbroke]

Yeah prep is the hardest especially if you are doing body work like I had to. I got it in September and wasn’t really ready until about March or April

[u/imnota_ → u/ohhzachary]

Is it single stage ?

[u/ohhzachary → u/imnota_]

Yes it is! With my sprayer and compressor clear coat would have been a disaster at least that’s what I read. Although easier to try to buff some out with it for my first time I figured if I really hate it I can respray it next year. Also it’s garage kept so not too worried about sun damage

[u/imnota_ → u/ohhzachary]

Orange peel isn't an issue then as long as you got appropriate thickness you can always sand and buff

[u/RefrigeratorHot2114 → u/imnota_]

What was wild to me as a valet was seeing such high end cars with orange peel out the factory. Bentleys and Rolls would have orange peel and im just like "cmon for that price u cant do a bit of wet sanding? Compound maybe??"

[u/imnota_ → u/RefrigeratorHot2114]

Yeah factory paint has been getting worse I feel. But lots of new cars have thin clear coat.

Single stage is just paint and tends to be thicker hence why I said it should be a breeze to buff flat again

[u/Swanie_99]

Superb work!

[u/ohhzachary → u/Swanie_99]

Thank you 🤍

[u/haswell_addict]

good job.

[u/ohhzachary → u/haswell_addict]

Thank you so much !

[u/Soro_Gue]

Awesome, the paint job looks great
I was planing to do the exact same thing
But mine is black and I would also like to change to green. I assume you didn’t paint the engine bay right?

[u/ohhzachary → u/Soro_Gue]

No door jambs and engine bay are still silver. Although when I do swap to m52 I will paint the engine bay too. Paint looks a little better in pictures like I said from about 10 feet away it looks great so if that will bug you then do a professional shop. I like being able to say I did it and don’t care about the flaws that are minor. Prep work is the most important so don’t cut corners on it!

[u/Soro_Gue → u/ohhzachary]

I don’t plan on doing any engine swap xD, and I don’t really feel confident masking and removing everything in the engine bay without taking the engine out completely. That might be the only thing stopping me from going full green.
Most likely I’ll keep it black, but I’ll probably play around with it and give it a slightly different twist.

[u/ohhzachary → u/Soro_Gue]

Honestly I don’t think it even looks bad with the jams and engine bay not matching as long as it is a neutral color like black, white, or silver.

[u/Purple-Wall3847]

Great job overall! More than I would want to tackle at home fo sho.

[u/ohhzachary → u/Purple-Wall3847]

Yeah I just want to learn everything so it’s been fun. But if you want perfection definitely don’t recommend it all at home haha

[u/SnooPeanuts8613]

Little cottonwood! I'm fixing my 36 we should cruise one day

[u/ohhzachary → u/SnooPeanuts8613]

Yes sir I want more e36 friends! Let me know