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how are you planning to mount the foglights to that apron?
As I understand it...i tear down the foglights from the old housings to the point were they have protruding pegs on the sides. Then drill holes in the foglight ears on the M tech 1 airdam where the pegs will sit on each side. Apparently they no longer mount to the valance but to the M tech airdam itself from what I've been told. I'll figure it out when the time comes.
"I'd probably take the E30 M3 in this case just because I love that little car, and how tanky that inline 6 is." - thecj
Test fitting the air dam proved to be very telling. My euro car has slightly bent bumper centers that I thought wouldn't be a big deal once the m tech kit was fitted...I was wrong. Once I saw how the air dam fit it became apparent that the fit of the air dam and trim relied on the condition of the bumper. Looks like I will be ordering a new center.
If you look closely, the right side of center bumper is bent and slightly twisted. It's just a matter of twisting it back without damaging it. I did my best to straighten out the center piece and I got it aligned much better now. Most of it is hidden behind the airdam and trim so it isn't visible and since the CEP kit has no holes you can make your own. This is good and bad. The bad is you don't know exactly how to mount it or where exactly to drill the foglight mount holes. The good is, you can make your own holes and use whatever hardware you have on hand.
Here's the test fit, which is acceptable so I will go forward and mount the side trims. The front is taking long because while I have the hardware, I couldn't find much info on where it goes exactly. I had to read through the M tech 1 thread to find a link to the installation instructions. All 3 trim pieces must be modified to work with the M tech airdam. You need to grind off tabs and webbing mostly. Then use special bolts on the side trim instead of the clips.
I noticed that the CEP front spoiler isn't an exact 1:1 copy where it mounts to the bumper. It doesn't use the nut for the main bumper mount. There is no material there. CEP also doesn't extend up onto the fender arch.
This is an original ...
This is the CEP version...
Also there's no stop for the foglight adjuster. I plan on making my own with a small L bracket. Ahhh the little things they neglect to mention but there's always a catch with aftermarket repros.
So far the only differences I've seen are some of the mounting locations have been removed on the CEP kit.
For some reason none of the pictures show up. appreciate the help though and if you could post the link on how to install the front air dam that be great. awesome car, awesome build
For some reason none of the pictures show up. appreciate the help though and if you could post the link on how to install the front air dam that be great. awesome car, awesome build
Photobucket server was down. Here's installation instructions for front skirt:
Here the clips are replaced by special T screws and nuts. This had me stumped for a bit because I had seen that some people installed these not to hold the trim on but to secure the spoiler itself but after looking at the instructions carefully, it became clear what they were intended for. I also installed an extra bolt/nut to secure the airdam on the side.
All bolted up... the bumper center doesn't look too bad after I managed to bend it back into form.
Can't wait to clean up the car and get fresh headlights, emblems and grills on it.
Installed the rear decklid spoiler today. I got the bolt on version but discovered that the 2 left bolt holes do not line up. I either drill the holes in the trunk bigger or not use them. I opted to use the other bolt holes along with 3M double sided trim tape. The spoiler isn't going anywhere. The edge was painted satin black to mimic the original black rubber.
Not bad at all except for the two misaligned bolt holes. Fits as good as the original.
The rear bumper is off but I spent most of the time taking out a large wave in the middle.
If you look closely you can see the 30lb reinforcement brace that they installed inside the bumper to have the car federalized. Although they look nice, Euro bumpers really do nothing to protect the body. They are more ornamental than anything. I always thought they at least used bumper shocks to absorb some of the impact but they do not. They just bolt right onto the body.
Tomorrow, I install the rear apron which seems pretty straightforward. I read that the rear trim is too short with the apron and there is an M tech part $130 that is a bit longer. Being that the CEP material is very thin I don't see this being an issue but I'll find out tomorrow. I know the end caps can be modified to work so it shouldn't be too bad.
Looks great! I've got a 323i as well, and I think I've seen your car in the facebook group but it was pre-Mtech conversion. Glad to see you're putting in work. I am too.. but mostly boring mechanical stuff that isn't quite as pretty.
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