2nd trip to bodyshop

really wanna check out the progress....finally decided to take a trip there during lunch time.  The car body is done.  They are wet sanding the car.  The roof is already black.

The car has been in the body shop for 3 weeks.  According to the shop owner, I will get it back next week......  Cross my fingers....

Door panel component

What should I do when I can't get the part?  Make one....

There are 10 pieces holding the door panel to the door.  On the driver side door panel, it's missing #6.  BMW dealer doesn't sell the part individually (these 10 pieces are part of door panel).

Made a rhino model...sent it to 3d printer....can't wait to go home and test fit...

Double check~

 

Really worried about the progress, so we woke up early on Saturday and drove to the body shop.  I even thought about different situations in case they hadn't started the job.

When I got there, the car was like this.  All little dents were fixed.  The car body was smooth.  Besides fixing the door, most body panels were done.  What a relief.

I may get the car back later this week or early next week......let's see.

Bodyshop

Ok....ready to spend the big one.....according to the shop, it would take 3 weeks.  It's a weird shop.  They didn't give you any paper work.  The guy wouldn't give you any progress.  According to Yelp, it's a good shop.  Let's see.

Where is the control module?

Really!!  Where is the sunroof control module? 

Before fixing the canvas top, the shop asked me to open the sunroof.  I thought it's a electrical issue.  The real problem was the missing control module.  

Without that module, you can't even open it manually.

Door actuator

When I got this car, I saw few parts laying on center console.  Luckily, I didn't throw them away.  One of the black box was the door actuator.  I spent some time figuring out the location.  Without one hour of time time and luck, I was able install it.  Now I have "central locking".

Replacing front cowl

some expensive clamps

Removing old cowls and installing new one

 

The tough part was to remove the wiper arms.  The previous owner did a sloppy job on replacing the windshield.  I suspected that's the reason the wiper arm is hitting the hood.  I tried to put it back, but the driver side wiper arm is still hitting the hood.  Did some research, and it seem like a commond problem. 

One way to solve the problem is to get a m3 coupe wiper.......I will try it later.

Money spent: $15.52 (clamps) + $37.90 (cowls)

Total expense: $4755.13

Taking the door apart

Very slow progress.  It took me a while to decide whether I wanted to change the interior color.  There were few setbacks.  First, the sunroof module was missing.  Therefore, I needed to get one before chaning the canvas top.

Finally, I decided the color would stay the say to save some money.  I was taking apart both door panels (the driver side was in bad shape).