Let's make an E30 M3! (M3 S14 cabrio clone project)

[flyboyx]

so much yes here.

looks like you have a set of nice new parts to start with. yes, the front fenders are different at the bottom rear. you are ahead of the game due to the fact you are aware of this. you will also need the outer rear quarter inner fender. i think one or both are nla. you can perhaps salvage them from your donor car? another piece of sheet metal you will need is the horizontal strip that is situated between the front bumper and the grill. the front tow hooks are different and will need to be modified before you can mount your bumper. when you compare both cars, you will see what i mean.

the front lower area of the rear quarters is going to be tricky to fab into the body. spend a lot of time reflecting on this before you make any cuts.

your side skirts are going to give you a head ache too. when installed, there will be a gap of about 20mm all along the bottom where they attach to the bottom of the rocker panel. the best solution i can think of is to actually modify the top of the skirt so the rest lines up.

post up a pic of your henna when you get the chance. there are hundreds of parts you are going to need off it. i would really like to see what you have to start with.

as you may have deduced, i am doing one of these as well. this thread as well as pm's can make a good knowledge swap for the both of us.

[Oldskoole34]

Now this has potential of being a great project. Good luck! Subbed[emoji106]


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[IronJoe]

Thanks for the comments, all. I'm very excited to get this going.

so much yes here.

looks like you have a set of nice new parts to start with. yes, the front fenders are different at the bottom rear. you are ahead of the game due to the fact you are aware of this. you will also need the outer rear quarter inner fender. i think one or both are nla. you can perhaps salvage them from your donor car? another piece of sheet metal you will need is the horizontal strip that is situated between the front bumper and the grill. the front tow hooks are different and will need to be modified before you can mount your bumper. when you compare both cars, you will see what i mean.

the front lower area of the rear quarters is going to be tricky to fab into the body. spend a lot of time reflecting on this before you make any cuts.

your side skirts are going to give you a head ache too. when installed, there will be a gap of about 20mm all along the bottom where they attach to the bottom of the rocker panel. the best solution i can think of is to actually modify the top of the skirt so the rest lines up.

post up a pic of your henna when you get the chance. there are hundreds of parts you are going to need off it. i would really like to see what you have to start with.

as you may have deduced, i am doing one of these as well. this thread as well as pm's can make a good knowledge swap for the both of us.

Thanks very much for your reply.

1) I'm definitely paying close attention to the front fender area. I actually cut off and saved the lower section of the non-M fenders in case I need some extra material.

2) Inner fenders I have not tackled yet. Tried to order them from ECS but I had issues.

3) While the metal strip between the bumper and grille is specific to the M3, it is actually identical to the top part of the early bumper valence. The strip from my M3 was half-mangled, but I compared and measured and was pleasantly surprised. I cut off the bottom half of the valence and voila - the M3 part in perfect condition.

4) I haven't looked into the side skirts yet, so thank you for the heads up.


I'm very interested to hear about your build as well! Thanks again for chiming in.

[2mAn]

but will there be pink shirts in the new drop top?

[flyboyx]

Thanks for the comments, all. I'm very excited to get this going.



Thanks very much for your reply.

1) I'm definitely paying close attention to the front fender area. I actually cut off and saved the lower section of the non-M fenders in case I need some extra material.

yes, me too. spend a lot of time thinking about how to fab this in before you do any cutting on your m3 fenders. just like the lower front part of the rear quarter, this is going to be a very complex body line. i suppose it is going to be partially hidden by the skirt, but i'm kinda anal and want my body panels to look oem.



2) Inner fenders I have not tackled yet. Tried to order them from ECS but I had issues.

3) While the metal strip between the bumper and grille is specific to the M3, it is actually identical to the top part of the early bumper valence. The strip from my M3 was half-mangled, but I compared and measured and was pleasantly surprised. I cut off the bottom half of the valence and voila - the M3 part in perfect condition.

that is a great idea. the part from my donor car is in good shape, so i just used the original.

4) I haven't looked into the side skirts yet, so thank you for the heads up.

responded to your pm


I'm very interested to hear about your build as well! Thanks again for chiming in.

oh...one more thing....before you get too far along with that cabrio shell....do yourself a favor: remove the seats and pull up the carpet. since you have a leaky top and it appears this car has been sitting outside, there is a really good chance you have some rusty floor pans. its better for you to know this now in case you want to elect to chose a different donor.


personally, i have not gotten around to any cutting or fabbing yet. when i do, i will start a thread also. what really needs documentation is the modification of the bottom of the fenders, the front lower quarter panel area, and what to do with the side skirts so they look oem.

blending the top body line of the cabrio quarter to the coupe replacement is a necessity, but probably fairly intuitive. the rest is probably mostly a matter of swapping around parts.

[CorvallisBMW]

Awesome, sub'd!

[Kershaw]

I've always wanted to do this! Good luck. This is a great project.

[spiDmang]

the cats out the bag!! :up:

Can't wait man! Lets get this thing ready for the picnic! Between you and Greg, there is gonna be alot of garage time at both of your places haha.

[IronJoe]

the cats out the bag!! :up:

Can't wait man! Lets get this thing ready for the picnic! Between you and Greg, there is gonna be alot of garage time at both of your places haha.

Yeah, it's going to be a busy summer

I thought I'd upload a few pictures of the progress. Here's a day or so after I got the vert home:


So far I've pulled the front fenders, front end, rear bumper, and some interiors bits.




Bumperless rear-end



Under the front fenders:



Literally every interior piece seen here is getting replaced.



...with some help from this:




Dirty M20:




And the new heart waiting to get transplanted:

[gte175x]

What color are you going to go with?

[mcm185]

Walking into the garage and seeing that poor m3 everyday would be so depressing.. Glad you are giving her soul some new life.

[flyboyx]

that poor m3 makes me cry. my donor was hit in the rear but no where near that bad.

[DER E30]

RIP M3 :(

Glad to see it donate its bits to another car though

[IronJoe]

What color are you going to go with?

Pink.

Walking into the garage and seeing that poor m3 everyday would be so depressing.. Glad you are giving her soul some new life.

Yeah it's been a rough couple of months. It basically sat all winter, it just depressed me to look at it. But now that I have a direction and a new shell I'm reinvigorated.

that poor m3 makes me cry. my donor was hit in the rear but no where near that bad.

I'd love to know more about the shell you're using. Have any photos?

[e30serg]

Sub'd! Sorry to hear about the M3 man. I HATE people like that asshole that hit you....