Early rear valence conversion?

[rThor432]

Early model cars are too big

Huh?

[RagtopE30]

Speaking of taillights, I was washing the salt off of my car at the carwash. I was in a hurry and wasnt paying attention and BAM I broke my PS taillight. Not the face but the flat side that faces the plate. F*(&%%$^&%$&^%*(&^KIN SH*(&(^#T!!!!!!

[LJ851]

Why the hell would you want to put EVEN LARGER tail lights on an e30 ?! Early model cars are too big , late model cars are comically enormous and i have one . The valance helps , save up for euro bumpers.

[Jand3rson]

This is great. Really like the look of the OEM panel over any after market valence. Welding doesnt scare me at all and my E30 is the 88 Vert with the factory facelift. So between Janderson's 44 page build (which I have read all of) and td325ic I think this should be a pretty straight forward upgrade. That is once I source a valence!

That was the hard part. It took me almost 2 years to find one, no one wanted to do the surgery and ship it. I finally had to go do it myself, and transport it home myself.

And I'm glad you dug the thread, that's why I do such in-depth project threads. Hit me up if you have any questions.

[RagtopE30]

This is great. Really like the look of the OEM panel over any after market valence. Welding doesnt scare me at all and my E30 is the 88 Vert with the factory facelift. So between Janderson's 44 page build (which I have read all of) and td325ic I think this should be a pretty straight forward upgrade. That is once I source a valence!

[StereoInstaller1]

fucking bad ass...now paint those damn bumpers, or polish them!

[Lof8]

Easily my favorite "for looks" mod. Early models just look incomplete without it.

[Holland]

Umm, why?

Early lights are freaking ugly, I cannot stand them. Plus when I see them with any kind of rear valence they look disproportionate to the rest of the car. MT2 Valences especially. They are so bland and boring to me and only look decent on euro bumpers.

[StereoInstaller1]

I am going to use Urethane and sheet metal screws, then drench seam sealant over the seam.

[td325ic]

Well you do have to drill some holes into the body but it's really no different than installing an aftermarket rear apron like a Zender. The majority of the holes do no enter the trunk but rather go through the pre-existing apron which is not enclosed, as you can reach under and feel the backside of it (if that makes any sense). Just like installing a lot of things like is skirts or an m-tech II kit, sometimes you have to make mounting holes.

If you notice in Janderson's thread he first "tacked" his rear apron in place using body screws before he welded it.

Like he did you want to seal everything really well and that's pretty much all there is to it. The way you decide to mount it is really up to you. Whether it be panel adhesives, body screws, stainless steel rivets, welding, nuts & bolts, etc or a combination of them.

[AbsorbantNut]

td325ic, that looks great!

If you dont mind me asking, how does that bolt up? I didnt see any bolt holes...

[td325ic]

Follow Janderson's Project Facelift thread and you'll be good to go. All the info you need is in there.

The hardest part of the late model rear apron swap is sourcing the apron to begin with and cutting it off the donor car. Once that's done, it's very straight forward.

While welding is the most thorough way to install it, it's not absolutely necessary so don't let that aspect scare you away. It's perfectly fine to install it just like you would an aftermarket apron and use nuts&bolts and/or oem body screws/washers. If you're worried about rust then sealing it well is much more important than what type of fastener is used to install it.

Using the pics in Janderson's thread as reference, here is how I trimmed my rear apron. It pretty much slips right on. The only thing I did differently is I kept the extra metal in the center of the apron, as you see that widened hole in the center of the apron will line up to the same hole on the body. Makes it a little easier to get everything centered correctly.

[MR 325]

While you are at it you should try to convert the tail lights into late ones as well if you can manage the work. It would look complete.

Umm, why?

[Wishno87]

Since you have a vert you can also do it an easier way where you dont have to cut up your car.

http://r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=114652

If you have a coupe or sedan Janderson's way would look best but if you have a vert the way I did it is much easier and doesn't involve modifying your body.

[RagtopE30]

It has been done, takes a lot of body work. While you are at it you should try to convert the tail lights into late ones as well if you can manage the work. It would look complete.

Blasphamy!!! Nope, gonna keep the early tails. I would consider all the extra headache of converting to the newer lights if some one could post an example of a swapped car that looks better than Janderson's car.

Thank you Janderson I was hoping you would show up on this thread, Love the way your car looks.