Well, we are making progress on the 633 auto-to-manual swap. With any luck I will be able to pull it out of "dry dock" and manuever under its own power this weekend.

We have mounted a 635 airdam but it needs to be painted. It appears to have been painted before as it is peeling in spots. Any recommendations as to preping? I am expecting it will come down to old fashion muscle, patience and various levels of fine grit sand paper.

Nice. What transmission did you choose? Did you get the driveshaft and pedal box from the same donor vehicle? The PO of my 633CSi did a auto-to-manual swap but I have no records to document exactly what they did. When I ordered a new driveshaft from Drive Line Services of Portland I told them about the swap and gave them the model number of my transmission. Unfortunately, I received a driveshaft that wasn't compatible (3/4" too long, IIRC). They later admitted they should have asked me to fill out their dimension form to ensure I got the right one the first time. I think the replacement driveshaft that ultimately worked for me was originally intended for the 535i.

I'm getting ready to do another 5-speed conversion to my white race car so I hope things go smoothly for me this time.

As for the airdam, just scuff it up with 400 grit paper or a gray/white Scotch-Brite pad, clean it will a solvent that leaves no residue, prime and paint as normal.

You will want to use a flex agent in the paint. The kind I use; you fog on a base right over the plastic, then you mix a small amount in with the paint.

We do not have spray paint equipment and were planning to use a rattle can. I can order the paint in a rattle can and will ask about a flex agent.

We had a 79 635 euro donor car. Structurally the 635 was in pretty rough shape but the PO maintained the engine and drivetrain. Unfortunately I broke the close ratio transmission (previously documented in this forum) and picked up a 5 spd overdrive that we think came from an 82 e28. Anyway it bolted up perfectly.

Other parts we used from the 635 include: drive shaft, ecu, pedal box-brake boost-brake fluid tank assembly, radiator, airdam, and m90. There may be others in the future that will be swapped. We also modified the oiler bar and put in the new banjo bolts that this forum has recommended.

It fire up first time. Did it without the exhaust pipe on and that was impressive. So far Jrbroug and I have about 50 hours into the project. I guess about 10-20 more hours of end-of-project details.

Oh, and the drive shafts are different. The forward driveshaft length and flange is different for automatics.

Looking back we should have started a project thread and added pictures...

Oh well. Pictures will be up shortly with what has been done so far.

yeah you want to try and find a paint made for plastic bumpers ect...like makr said, something that is made to flex without cracking...so you dont get little stress cracks....see what you can dig up... not sure about clear coat...if that needs to be anything special or if you can just use the standard