I don't have a great deal of time to work on my car at school, so the breaks that I get three times a year are when it all happens. So along with the usual oil change and other routine stuff, I'm spending my week taking care of some body work that needs to be done.

Specifically, the exterior trim on left rear door of my 740 cracked and fell off in the bitter cold of this winter. So rather than replace it, I've decided to completely remove it and fill the holes. Not the easy way to do it by any means, but what the hell. I have some time on my hands.

I did most of the work between today and yesterday. I started by filling the holes with epoxy putty and then filing/sanding it down flush with the surface of the door. Working the putty down was easily the most time consuming part of the whole process, as it sets rock hard and nothing short of a metal file will make a serious dent in it. Some sturdy wet/dry sand paper in grits ranging from 220 to 400 finished off that part of the job.

With the holes filled as nicely as I could manage, I moved on to painting. Rather than paying $30 for a can of the Volvo stuff, I went out and got myself a can of Duplicolor paint made to the GM code 340 specification, which seems to be really close to the silver paint already on the car. I lightly sanded the lower portion of the door panel with 400 grit sand paper before I painted, and I masked it off inside the lowest crease of the door in hopes that I'll be able to blend it in unobtrusively at that location more easily than if I were to mask it off on a flat surface. Then I applied MANY light coats of paint. I lost count of how many coats I did, but it took quite a bit to cover the minor imperfections left in the surface where I filled the 6 holes. (Hindsight is 20/20...one or two of the patches could have used more sanding.) I used most of the 5 ounce can.

Right now I'm waiting for the paint to dry so that I can go back with clear coat and see how it looks in the daylight. (It looked pretty good under halogen light in my garage earlier in the evening, but I can't declare victory until I've seen it outside.) And if it does look good, I'll probably remove the rest of the trim on the other doors and do the same thing. Having done one door, I'm pretty sure I could do the rest in a day or so. Perhaps I'll post some before and after pics online if you guys are interested. (I finally figured out this whole web site construction concept.)

So the long and short of it is this: I finally understand why body work costs so much. This relatively minor job has taken quite a bit of time, though I've spent maybe $15 or less for all the supplies. This probably won't come out looking factory perfect, but hey. The car is nearly 20 years old and I'm not looking for perfection. I just want a significant improvement over the 6 gaping holes or wrecked trim that previously graced the affected area. So I'll let you know how it turns out.

Tim

85 745GLE, 94K mi
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Tim Smith '85 745GLE M46 w/90k. Also in the family: 94 854T w/120K.

What you learned in your little "work-study" experience (a new craft/trade; busines economics; project management; procurement, etc.) will go a long way for you in understanding the world of personal economics and how to relate yourself to the working world upon graduation.

Add to this the personal pride of accomplishing a new thing and the satisfaction of a job well done.

Some thing are priceless and worth doing over just throwing money at the matter and buying a replacement part.

(Just ask anybody here. We all are hopeless DIY'ers who can't explain why we'd rather take apart a stupid door switch and stretch the tiny spring inside instead of just buying a new one for $2.50! We just have to conquer it, that's all.)

Sounds like you're beginning to understand.

Well done!
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1989 740Ti 1986 240DL 1984 244GL

Sorry, but I just have to ask..., Why not buy a used replacement piece of trim? you could have found it on Ebay or some other mail order type Company, assuming that you live in a cold part of the country... personally, I live in So. Cal. so I can go out to the Bone Yard year-around and pull parts that I need. Do you a have any idea how cheap it is? Ok, ok, I do pay $2.37 per gallon for the gas to get there.

Good luck,
JJ

87 745T 255K

p.s. I thought that spring break was for drinking beer and enjoying wet T-shirt contests on some warm beach... :)

You're absolutely right. I probably could have found a new piece of trim for 2.50, and spent a little more on the right clips to keep it in place. So clearly my motivation is not economic by any means.

But I think Zee has it pretty much pinned in his post. For me this is fun and satisfying. Just because I could have gone out and got a new piece of trim and stuck it on doesn't mean that it was the method that appealed the most to me. Don't ask me why because I couldn't explain it to my satisfaction. Perhaps I just crave to get my hands on things and see something I've done come out well.

And don't worry, I still come in for dinner and enjoy a cold beer. :) Besides, I studied abroad in a warm place for the fall term so I think it's safe to say I've had my fair share of fun for the year.

Regards,

Tim
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Tim Smith '85 745GLE M46 w/90k. Also in the family: 94 854T w/120K.

Tim,
I can represent the other side of this equation. Instead of staying home and massaging the exterior of my brick into something respectable, I drove it to New Orleans from NE Ohio where I had my share of brews and tee-shirts or the lack there of. While I immensly enjoyed the trip and I spent more money than actually exist inmy college budget, my car is now in the parking lot free of snow and other exterior disguises showing its true colors some of which are represent by a particular red/brown shade. Now I have to find the time to do a little body work myself. Cheers,

J. Studer
88 740T m46 240k