1991 318is Restoration Project...Now with some Air!

[Tuee]

Ha !
Hope that worked out for you - I'm loving how subtle it is..

Shit man - been a while since I checked your thread. You've been busy !!
Holy crap, that's a lot of work. Props.

Ha, I remember reading what you did in your thread but didn't remember who though, thanks for the idea and the tail lights turned out great, I'll post some day pics later. I don't think I've been as busy as you, I've been actually slacking lately, its either too cold, wet or too hot, lol. Never a perfect day. Hopefully the car will be sealed, primed and ready for paint soon.

[Simon S]

This idea goes to a forum member who did it and I thought I'd give it a try

Ha !
Hope that worked out for you - I'm loving how subtle it is..

Shit man - been a while since I checked your thread. You've been busy !!
Holy crap, that's a lot of work. Props.

[Tuee]

awesome thread do you have close ups of the sides on the front between the bumper and the valence. i want to see if the valence flairs out and the gap

Thanks, I'll get some pics for you soon, but ya on one side it does stick out a bit and the other side is kinda sticking out. My guess is that the rep mtech valence is wider than the original one. I wonder if they even used the original valence to create a master mould. I'll also get you the pics of the flaws I see in the kit.

wow

Thanks.

[Butler]

wow

[johnwoo]

awesome thread do you have close ups of the sides on the front between the bumper and the valence. i want to see if the valence flairs out and the gap

[Tuee]

Another update,

Rear Aftermarket Valence Mounting,
So I used the same brackets that I used for the front mtech valence, but this time I only flattened two of the brackets instead of all four.


Top View


Flattened one,



Fiberglassed,



This one is the middle two brackets, secured from underneath the car,


The side one pops out in the trunk,


Installing sides,



Side skirts are just mounted with some bolts and nuts,



Done for the night, finally everything is actually mounted and not just held in with clamps.

[Tuee]

loving this thread great work shes gunna look awesome.. are you keeping the wheels gold?

Thanks man, the wheels will remain gold with polished lip.

[Brezzi]

loving this thread great work shes gunna look awesome.. are you keeping the wheels gold?

[Tuee]

I've been getting some pm's about how I've mounted the kit, so I kinda did a write up of the process. All the pics above in other posts, the front valence cover was just held in with clamps.

The metal brackets that I used were used for securing fence posts to the "fencing" material, on the left is the piece and on the right its the same part but flattened out.


The bolt that's used to secure this is shown below,


You can see that the one on the left, the head was shaved down so that it would sit flush with the surface,


So the two pieces together look like this,


Next, holes were drilled in the metal valence piece,



So that the bracket sets like so,


And would bolt down like this,


I don't have pictures of the next step but I'll try to explain it well. The mtech valence was placed over the metal valence and secured with clamps. Then we sprayed primer or any color in between the metal and metch valence, where the brackets were. This was done so that an outline of the bracket was left on the mtech valence. Once we had this outline we know where we'd have to secure the bracket on the mtech valence.

We glued in the bracket temporarily with hot glue gun.


Next using fiberglass mat and resin we fiberglassed the bracket to the valence.

As for the sides we kept changing the way we mounted it so again I didn't get pictures of this step.

For this step we used the same bracket flattened out. Instead of a bolt we used one of these, (don't mind the location of these as this was our first attempt, just note the end pieces)...these were found in the furniture hardware section at home depot.


Then this piece was jb welded to the bracket (no pics, sorry) and then this whole bracket and piece to the mtech valence.

Don't mind the L bracket, it was eventually ripped out.

Approx. location of brackets with respect to mtech valence,


This side piece was also fiberglassed,


This is where it screws threw the metal valence (circled in red),


Leave the fiberglass to dry,


Then it can be mounted,
The one in the middle, washer and nut,


Side mount, washer, furniture screw and nut as this was too long, so a proper one will be placed in time,


I hope this will help some considering the aftermarket mtech kit, personally I think this kit was horrible to begin with but I wanted to give it a try. This one in particular was made by extreme dimensions, not sure how other kits fair. I'll try to do the same for the side skirts and the rear valence once those are done.

[Tuee]

A lot of good work going on ITT.

Thanks, the weathers been crap lately so not much work on the actual car itself but I did end up redoing the taillights and decided to paint the spare valve cover wrinkle black.

I wasn't planning on redoing the taillights but I happened to find the red tint at a parts store nearby, I couldn't find any for the life of me anywhere near by.


A few coats before wet sanding,


This idea goes to a forum member who did it and I thought I'd give it a try,



Before clear coat,


Cleared,


Valve cover before,


During..cause apparently your supposed to wait for the wrinkle effect to dry in.

[MR E30 325is]

A lot of good work going on ITT.

[Tuee]

More sanding and sanding...also blacked out kidneys,





How the sealed beams turned out

[Tuee]

Bit of wet sanding and mock up today,



M-tech valence cut,


Rear end mocked up,

[Tuee]

Well, I'm back on the project now that schools done with. I've been trying to get this stupid kit to fit and its just so horrible I can't do it. So the plans are to run the valences and skirt from the kit and the stock bumpers. Nothing really to show with the body work but here's some side projects that I've been working on when body work gets boring.




I know I'll probably end up getting ellipsoids but somethings gotta keep me busy so here's the headlights getting some new life.

Before



During


After


Some wheels that I picked up for cheap
B4

During

Final-Not done yet.

[Tuee]

More?

Nothing yet, I'm just finishing up school so updates should start coming in April. I've been dieing to get to work but school just bogs me down.