E30 M3 Steel Bodywork Conversion

[Luis325]

Yeap they are still available at some shops and bmw dealers
We got our 3 m panel sets from a local shop who had them since the 90's...LOL
got them really cheap!
2 sets are sitting in my garage and one is installed on my friends e30 m3 vert!

Cant wait to see your finished car!!!!!

[bmwmech1]

Factory pieces are still available

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-M3-E30-Seiten...ht_1792wt_1282

Those are what I bought from BMW. I got both rear quarters, tailpanel, trunkwell sides, and front fenders... all brand new DOT R e-coated sheetmetal. The shell was sourced for the NLA sailpanel/rear window frame, rear glass, trunk lid, hinges, taillights, package tray, interior c-pillar covers and miscellaneous other parts. You just have to be dilligent and a little lucky to find some of these parts...

Garey

[rThor432]

Definitely liking what I see, and it makes me want to get started on mine... :)

Put the Ronals on!

[bmwmech1]

Since this is a newer thread I've not talked much about how I am going to do the cage in this car, both the way I will sink the tubes into the A and B pillars and how I will do the same with the door bars into the sills. I've also not talked much, if at all, about the brake setup and how I am planning on doing that... well pictures are worth a thousand words so here are a few specific ones to help everybody visualize the end results...

Front plinth and door bar...



Rear plinth and door bar...



A pillar tubing...



B pillar tubing...



Windshield bar...



Cantilever brake/clutch setup...



All pictures are of the V10 E30 that Piper Motorsports built a few years ago. Incredible car/project and a source of alot of inspiration for this project...

Garey

[ClassicSkril]

wow this is epic.

[neighborhood]

When you start building the cage, are you going to be cutting the roof off again to have the room to fully weld the tubes? If so, why didn't you wait until afterwards to add the non-sunroof panel?

[bmwmech1]

When you start building the cage, are you going to be cutting the roof off again to have the room to fully weld the tubes? If so, why didn't you wait until afterwards to add the non-sunroof panel?

It's a good question... I had thought about waiting to swap the roofs, but the reality is that to be able to get the main hoop tight to the roof, there can't be anything in the way. The sunroof cassette is pretty big in these cars and is not a bolt in affair, so removing it would have required a fair amount of time and effort. I couldn't leave the roof off the car and then attempt to put it on the rotisserie, it would have most likely collapsed. I wanted the car on the rotisserie to facilitate the cage construction, so I made the decision to swap the roof, to have all of the clearance I will need to bend up the main hoop to fit tightly and I'll utilize the plinths to gain access to the top weld joints. Believe me, I thought about the logistics/construction steps for a good bit before I took the plunge and cut off the roof... it was a conscience decision, that I thought through all of the steps first. This just seemed to be the correct route for me to go on this part of the project, for a number of reasons. Mostly, to help with access and being able to work in front of me, rather than over my head...

Garey

[freeride53]

I really love to see home-made M3s.
Especially when they're properly executed, not with cheap-ass fender flares.

[Vtec?lol]

I really love to see home-made M3s.
Especially when they're properly executed, not with cheap-ass fender flares.

yesss!!! omg

[Simon S]

Holy crap!
Kudos on the rotisserie.
No corner-cutting here..
Cage-work thus far looks straight-up elegant.
A project of this magnitude would get me obsessed with how far back one can get the m60 mounted.

[bmwmech1]

Spent a little time at the shop tonight... had a customer's banged up E36 M3 that needed some suspension attention. After I got it back on all fours, I did a little work on the door/sill bar on the drivers side and fabbed up the first plinth block for the drivers front A-pillar cage tube... enjoy...

Door bar (1"X2" rectangular steel tube) cut into the sill and plinth block orientation...




Plinth block fabbed from 1/4" plate


Garey

[bmwmech1]

Holy crap!
Kudos on the rotisserie.
No corner-cutting here..
Cage-work thus far looks straight-up elegant.
A project of this magnitude would get me obsessed with how far back one can get the m60 mounted.

Thanks for the compliments, but the cage pictures are of an M3 Piper Motorsport, down in Virginia, did a few years back. They were for reference as to how I am planning the cage install in my project, but thanks anyway, Lol! If you think about the size of the M60, the width is dumbfounding, but the length isn't much more than the S14, so it will sit pretty much where the S14 does. It's all aluminum, so the weight isn't much more than the M20 or M50 and with just a few mods initially, it should put out another 100 horsepower or so than the S14. Should be fun...

Garey

[Ray Smoodiver]

Looking good so far!

[durtyE30]

Boss status. Subscribed.

[Alpina]

This is impressive,,and a lot of it