Taken from Detailingworld.co.uk:
Background
This particular detail was a labour of love – It’s a car that I bought a few months back after chasing it for over a year.
Around a year ago one of my customers and now good friend (Steve Kings from pcgb) were talking about cars after me completing a detail on his 993RSR. We got onto the subject of concourse and ‘barn find’ cars. He mentioned that his long time friend had an old E36 M3 stashed away in his Nan’s garage somewhere and it was possibly up for sale. I WANTED IT!! The problem was that the owner lived and worked in Switzerland, the car was close by in the UK and Steve was unsure of when he was coming home! After months of snatched international calls and text messages I did still nowhere near own the car. I gave up, bought a Lotus and forgot all about it.
So around 2 months ago I got a call out of the blue from Steve saying that he had just collected his mate from the airport – He was in the UK and had a lot of things to sort out. One of those things was selling the M3
The Car
This car was the E36 2nd generation M3 – the successor to the E30 M3. As I chatted to the owner making arrangements to go and view the M3 it became apparent that his model was a bit tasty. T213 KHE was infact #19/50 of a model called the M3 EVO GT2 (EVO individual) it was produced in the twighlight years of the E36 and was offered in a fixed spec to 50 UK customers only. It is basically a 3.2 litre 321bhp EVO in a unique (at the time) colour called Imola Red. The additions over the ‘standard’ EVO were as follows:
Anthracite interior trim with seat centre parts, door inserts and grab handles in Red Nappa Leather
Seat side parts and headrests in Anthracite
Sports steering wheel with air bag
Clear Indicators
GTII Spoiler
Front bumper corner extensions
Harmon Kardon Stereo
Electric rear pop-out windows
Side airbags
The best bit was yet to come – the car had covered just 7 thousand miles from new!! The owner had bought the car new – drove it for a few months and clocked up 7230 miles. He returned in 2003 briefly – had a thorough Inspection II service completed at Hartwell BMW in Warrington and added 23 miles before retuning to his job in Switzerland.
I must admit at the time before viewing it I was expecting an absolute mint box – when I went to view it for the first time I was very disappointed indeed.
Upon arrival the car was hastily stashes in a rickety old garage partly covered in a blanket, foam padding over the tailgate and covered in boxes. The passenger side was parked close to the wall leaving enough space along the driver’s side to pack it garden furniture and a mountain bike. The front end had been left uncovered and had around 5mm of dust and grime and there was an honest smattering of rat footprints all over the front end. I managed to snatch a view of one side only as to unpack the garage just to view was out of the question really.
After a lot of thought I decided to buy it and hope for the best.
So I made arrangements to collect it. Having been stood so long I just couldn’t turn up, reverse it out and drive it away though. All the fluids – engine oil, diff oil, gearbox oil, PAS oil, coolant and fuel would have gone bad. Also all the belts would need to be changed along with the battery and anything else my mechanic could find. I arranged to have it towed away.
I arrived at 0900hrs on a Saturday morning and unpacked the garage and managed to snatch a few pics
Bonnet
Front screen
We had to manually roll the car out and down a very narrow driveway ready to winch it on the trailer
I snatched a shot of the interior too – not the mould forming on the steering wheel
As you can see it was raining at the time. Just great!
In daylight I could get a better look at the car and found nothing major – apart from to N/S front wing had a small dent at the front where a brass lamp on a shelf had fallen and clipped the wing. As we offer Paintless dent removal as a service then I was sure it would come out. Phew I was relieved that the gamble on buying was so far a good idea! The car was dropped off and I hastily gave the car a quick wash (I remembered to take along two buckets etc and the garage hat a jet wash. I was so anxious to get rid of as must dust as possible as it was really eating away at me!
After a few days I got the call from the garage I was waiting for (and hoping nothing more than I had anticipated had been found) the car was ready for collection.
I was really frustrated though – my diary stacked and me with a burning desire to rip into the M3 and get it done. I had to grab a day here and a Saturday there to get it done over a few months. As this wash the case the usual order of the detail was a little muddled, but for the purpose of the write up I have set it out in a regular procedure format.
Once back at Off Your Marks I set about washing it properly
Here is the equipment used
I am currently using Autoglym acid free wheel cleaner and must admit to being mightily impressed with it – great action and very safe, especially important on the polished face EVO rims.
I decided to remove the wheels after doing the first due to awkward tar spotting – plus I wanted the arches clean too. Heres a wheel clean sequence
Misted with the AG and agitated with ***** Brush
Next the wheels were treated with another AG product – Tar and Adhesive remover.
At this point with the wheels rinsed and taken inside, the arches were assessed – not too bad really. I used the trusty Meguiars SDG and a good brush. It has to be noted that Daveb from DW played a major role here which allowed me to get on with a few other bits.
Before
After – note the arch area around the spring looks discoloured due to the fade out of the red paint from manufacture and the base is visible
And the front before
And After
And a shot of arch – head inside looking at upper inner lip
Meanwhile back indoors I cracked on with the alloys, firstly claying with my old favourite sonus mild
And then HD cleanse
Background
This particular detail was a labour of love – It’s a car that I bought a few months back after chasing it for over a year.
Around a year ago one of my customers and now good friend (Steve Kings from pcgb) were talking about cars after me completing a detail on his 993RSR. We got onto the subject of concourse and ‘barn find’ cars. He mentioned that his long time friend had an old E36 M3 stashed away in his Nan’s garage somewhere and it was possibly up for sale. I WANTED IT!! The problem was that the owner lived and worked in Switzerland, the car was close by in the UK and Steve was unsure of when he was coming home! After months of snatched international calls and text messages I did still nowhere near own the car. I gave up, bought a Lotus and forgot all about it.
So around 2 months ago I got a call out of the blue from Steve saying that he had just collected his mate from the airport – He was in the UK and had a lot of things to sort out. One of those things was selling the M3
The Car
This car was the E36 2nd generation M3 – the successor to the E30 M3. As I chatted to the owner making arrangements to go and view the M3 it became apparent that his model was a bit tasty. T213 KHE was infact #19/50 of a model called the M3 EVO GT2 (EVO individual) it was produced in the twighlight years of the E36 and was offered in a fixed spec to 50 UK customers only. It is basically a 3.2 litre 321bhp EVO in a unique (at the time) colour called Imola Red. The additions over the ‘standard’ EVO were as follows:
Anthracite interior trim with seat centre parts, door inserts and grab handles in Red Nappa Leather
Seat side parts and headrests in Anthracite
Sports steering wheel with air bag
Clear Indicators
GTII Spoiler
Front bumper corner extensions
Harmon Kardon Stereo
Electric rear pop-out windows
Side airbags
The best bit was yet to come – the car had covered just 7 thousand miles from new!! The owner had bought the car new – drove it for a few months and clocked up 7230 miles. He returned in 2003 briefly – had a thorough Inspection II service completed at Hartwell BMW in Warrington and added 23 miles before retuning to his job in Switzerland.
I must admit at the time before viewing it I was expecting an absolute mint box – when I went to view it for the first time I was very disappointed indeed.
Upon arrival the car was hastily stashes in a rickety old garage partly covered in a blanket, foam padding over the tailgate and covered in boxes. The passenger side was parked close to the wall leaving enough space along the driver’s side to pack it garden furniture and a mountain bike. The front end had been left uncovered and had around 5mm of dust and grime and there was an honest smattering of rat footprints all over the front end. I managed to snatch a view of one side only as to unpack the garage just to view was out of the question really.
After a lot of thought I decided to buy it and hope for the best.
So I made arrangements to collect it. Having been stood so long I just couldn’t turn up, reverse it out and drive it away though. All the fluids – engine oil, diff oil, gearbox oil, PAS oil, coolant and fuel would have gone bad. Also all the belts would need to be changed along with the battery and anything else my mechanic could find. I arranged to have it towed away.
I arrived at 0900hrs on a Saturday morning and unpacked the garage and managed to snatch a few pics
Bonnet
Front screen
We had to manually roll the car out and down a very narrow driveway ready to winch it on the trailer
I snatched a shot of the interior too – not the mould forming on the steering wheel
As you can see it was raining at the time. Just great!
In daylight I could get a better look at the car and found nothing major – apart from to N/S front wing had a small dent at the front where a brass lamp on a shelf had fallen and clipped the wing. As we offer Paintless dent removal as a service then I was sure it would come out. Phew I was relieved that the gamble on buying was so far a good idea! The car was dropped off and I hastily gave the car a quick wash (I remembered to take along two buckets etc and the garage hat a jet wash. I was so anxious to get rid of as must dust as possible as it was really eating away at me!
After a few days I got the call from the garage I was waiting for (and hoping nothing more than I had anticipated had been found) the car was ready for collection.
I was really frustrated though – my diary stacked and me with a burning desire to rip into the M3 and get it done. I had to grab a day here and a Saturday there to get it done over a few months. As this wash the case the usual order of the detail was a little muddled, but for the purpose of the write up I have set it out in a regular procedure format.
Once back at Off Your Marks I set about washing it properly
Here is the equipment used
I am currently using Autoglym acid free wheel cleaner and must admit to being mightily impressed with it – great action and very safe, especially important on the polished face EVO rims.
I decided to remove the wheels after doing the first due to awkward tar spotting – plus I wanted the arches clean too. Heres a wheel clean sequence
Misted with the AG and agitated with ***** Brush
Next the wheels were treated with another AG product – Tar and Adhesive remover.
At this point with the wheels rinsed and taken inside, the arches were assessed – not too bad really. I used the trusty Meguiars SDG and a good brush. It has to be noted that Daveb from DW played a major role here which allowed me to get on with a few other bits.
Before
After – note the arch area around the spring looks discoloured due to the fade out of the red paint from manufacture and the base is visible
And the front before
And After
And a shot of arch – head inside looking at upper inner lip
Meanwhile back indoors I cracked on with the alloys, firstly claying with my old favourite sonus mild
And then HD cleanse
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