Got most of it reassembled and cleaned tonight. I won't be able to install the hood and bumper covers for a couple weeks, so my next post will hopefully be of it completed.

 

Impressive.. Have you thought about trying to paint the car yourself. I smashed up my passenger side rear door in a parking lot (I was looking to the right trying to squeeze out of a small parking lot and working my way around a large car that probably should not have parked where they did when I tagged the pillar :( ) I have managed to find a donor door at a salvage yard in Texas (I live in DC), they have the door which they state is completely undamaged, and is conveniently the same color (yay). So I'll be swapping the door out and transferring the internals (I have not looked inside the door card yet.. hope nothing is riveted.. although, not like I have much choice, and I do have the tools, its just a pain)

I plan on using the banged up door to practice painting and blending on. There are a couple of other spots on the car that have major paint chips (it happens living in the DC area where the roads are perpetually under construction), I don't want to pay $500 to the body shop.. so I will give it a go. Does not seem that much more difficult than spraying furniture which I have done (woodworking is a hobby), and the process for a piano finish is similar to auto painting.

 

At some point I will take on my own paintwork, but first I'm going to buy a welder and give welding a shot.

 

Painter sent me a teaser pic.

 

I started installing the parts today. My shoulder is still hurting a lot, so I'm moving a little slow.

 

Oh, is this going to look good.

 

Well, I thought I was done, but I still have a few bugs to work out. Looks like 'Whine not Walnuts' was right about the hinges. The driver side is giving me issues, so I'll need to replace it. I also need to find a replacement wind deflector, or at the least the missing upper half. Other than that, I think I'm good to go in regards to aesthetics.

One thing that has me scratching my head is intermittent issue with the manual transmission. The transmission was shifting fine a couple weeks ago, and then today when I took it for a spin there was no 4th gear. Then on the way home 2nd went out too.

I removed the intake hose so that I could inspect the shifter cables. They looked fine I suppose, since they were connected and seemed to move freely. I then noticed the passenger side of the shifter cable bracket on the transmission was bent from the accident. I straightened it out, but the car is still refusing to stay in 2nd or shift into 4th. WTH?

 

[QUOTE=Grip Grip;4375627]Well, I thought I was done, but I still have a few bugs to work out. Looks like 'Whine not Walnuts' was right about the hinges. The driver side is giving me issues, so I'll need to replace it. I also need to find a replacement wind deflector, or at the least the missing upper half. Other than that, I think I'm good to go in regards to aesthetics.

One thing that has me scratching my head is intermittent issue with the manual transmission. The transmission was shifting fine a couple weeks ago, and then today when I took it for a spin there was no 4th gear. Then on the way home 2nd went out too.

I removed the intake hose so that I could inspect the shifter cables. They looked fine I suppose, since they were connected and seemed to move freely. I then noticed the passenger side of the shifter cable bracket on the transmission was bent from the accident. I straightened it out, but the car is still refusing to stay in 2nd or shift into 4th. WTH?

[/QU

Red is a solid color with no metallic pigments so you should not be for a big expense here. How does it match the other body panels?

 

The bumper covers and hood match great. I rattle canned the hinges, which look fine with the base coat finish under the hood.

I think my transmission issue is the clutch sticking. I'm going to bleed the slave cyl tonight and see if that fixes the issue. If it does, I'll likely be motivated enough to swap out the old hood hinges. If not, I'll likely throw a match in the car and cook up some smores.

As for wind deflector, I meant something like the pic below. I'm missing the top half of mine.

 

So you are missing the main piece? Or part of it? The other panels looks great, well done. I remeber people painting red and some panesl look more pink sometimes then others.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...i-or-mesh.html

 

I'm missing the top half.

 

Oh that stink, yea no part for that. Looks like it got snapped off on the top half.

 

Ok, finally figured out my transmission problem. Apparently, the pin in the shifter assembly was sheered in the accident, so it would slip and fail to engage gears. I removed the assembly, removed the sheered pin, and installed a grade 8 bolt in it's place. Car was driving perfect today.

I even installed the new hood hinges and hood badge today. A couple days ago I installed the Xenon headlights, which the seller neglected to tell me had a broken mounting tab. :(

Anyway, time for the Dept of Rev inspection for a rebuilt title.

Actually, I need to install some chrome headlight washer caps too while I'm at it.

 

Wow!
You saved a beauty.
Very nice work.

 

Beautiful job. That's a keeper.

 

Yeah that looks excellent!

 

Thanks. I've only got a few minor things to resolve and it'll be good to go. I've ordered the vinyl stripes for the hood and hopefully I don't screw them up. The next issue is a code that's triggering a CEL: "Kurbelgehaeuseentlueftungsheizung, Control: line break Code: 0037DE" I think this translates to "ENGINE VENTILATION, HEATING".

Anyway, after that I've got to recharge the AC system. Whoop Whoop!

Not a crazy list anymore, but a list nonetheless.

 

Thats an open circuit in the PCV heating element located in the intake tube. Check the two pin connector going to it and make sure its all the way in. If there is an open it will trigger a code on the N18 but not the N14.

 

Wow, from Kurbelgehaeuseentlueftungsheizung to a PVC heating element in the in the intake tube. Who knew there was a heating element there.

Go you! It is great reading these threads. You never know what you will learn.

 

Well here's the finished project. No codes, no dash lights, everything is working and the hood stripes are installed. I'm really looking forward to doing nothing the next few weeks besides driving it and enjoying the good weather, if it ever comes.

 

bravo...

good job and good luck with the part-out too

 

Thanks. I'm getting close to fire-selling off everything. I hate the part-out portion, but it was a necessary evil in order to stay within budget.

 

What a great looking car. If/when you decide to sell, make sure you offer it to your friends on the forum before you list it elsewhere. We may have a bidding war.

 

Thanks. From past experience I've found it difficult to sell cars on their respective forums, but I guess you never know. I actually already have it listed locally to test the waters, and also because I think it will take a long time to sell due to the rebuilt title. I'll be driving it for a couple months at least before I'm willing to drop the price low enough to get any local interest.

 

The local buyer will see the rebuilt title first and may not even call. We see the repairs being done over the past few months as our starting point. If I didn't already have my quota of MINIs (1), I would be interested even with the drive to pick it up.