It's been a while since I've posted and I figure it's come quite a ways since the last one so here's a long overdue update! My BMW is gone now, and the "Rustbucket" is now pulling daily-driver AND farming/logging/towing duty, a role I never intended it for, so my priorities shifted a bit :P

After the PO's cheap 4x20w deck crapped out I took a moment to add in a JVC 4x50w digital media receiver and a good solid docking mount for my phone.



Repaired the melted 3rd brake light assembly and replaced the bulbs with LEDs so it won't happen again. Kitty hair and paint to fix the rusted out bottom edges of the cab that resulted from said leak.




The starter that gave me so much trouble last year ended up getting worse through the winter and has now since been replaced with a brand-new Bosch one. Turns out that starter was getting heat-soaked which was causing the hard cranking once the engine warmed up. The Bosch by comparison is turning over the engine with aplomb hot or cold, combined with a lifetime warranty I'm more than happy with that swap.



And most recently I tried my hand at painting an entire hood sanded to bare metal with nothing but rattle cans because lets face it, ANYTHING is better to stare at than what it looked like before :P





Somewhere in there I also managed to plug several exhaust leaks at the cat flange and at the manifolds with some gold old fashioned 2000F furnace cement. No clue how long it'll hold but so far so good. I still have one annoying leak to track down that I'm pretty sure is in the EGR system. My next project is learning how to weld, I've put it off for far too long. I just ordered a 155-amp Weldpro multiprocess unit (MIG/flux-core/stick) and who knows what could happen next? :P

 

chug, chug along, how well can you see with those head lights

 

What color/brand did you use on the hood? Progress is always good.

 

The headlights work very well, a huge improvement over the stock ones. And the paint for the hood was:

Rustoleum Automotive Filler/Primer in Red 249320
Duplicolor Perfect Match in Toreador Red Metallic BFM0344
Duplicolor Perfect Match Clear Top Coat BCL0125

I used an orbital with 60-grit to strip the hood down to metal, wet-sanded the primer by hand with 400 and 600-grit, and wet-sanded the clearcoat with 2000 and 2500-grit. I wouldn't advise sanding the Toreador Red Metallic, as it dulls the metallic flake.

 

Thanks. I have the same color and need to do some repair work. Looks like a good match.