Project Facelift

[backtrail69]

We just cut off a rear valance off Nandos parts ix today, I have some rust repair to do to it and Finish making it a skin. Was free, so you can't complain.. :D

[Jean]

$100-120 is about the most you should pay for a straight rust-free piece. If it's your car's color, maybe a bit more. They can also be had new from the dealer for around $200.

Nice, picking one up tomorrow in black for $10, it's straight but w/o fogs. I don't want fogs anyway so :)

[Jand3rson]

Josh, any updates on the rear valance? How did it go if you got it welded in?

We're not welding it just yet, we're just getting it placed where I want it so I can prep the area to be welded.

[Jand3rson]

Finally, some progress is made on the rear apron swap!

It's nothing major, but we finally got around to getting the apron roughly mounted up to the car, so we can see the areas that need work, trimming, massaging, etc. We also got some templates made to make end caps for the wheel-well overlap that adding the new rear apron creates. Right now, the apron is rigidly mounted to the car with about 8-9 screws, just holding it up so we could get the best idea of how it's going to sit and where it's going to end up permanently. It's pretty damn solid right now, and we measured the distance between the bottom of the body and the top of the apron, getting everything to just around 1/8", which is pretty close, especially considering you'll never see any height flucutations that small once the bumper is mounted. In a few days we're going to pull it back off, take care of any problem areas or gaps, and I'll strip down the area where it's going to be welded, and we can get to it! Enjoy the pics!

Driver's side of the apron mounted with screws. The only real gaps are at the top corners of the apron where it rounds the corner of the body, but they'll be easy to fold in and weld up. You can also clearly see the difference in the 2 wheel wells, where the endcaps will go:



Driver's side corner and across the backside. Yes, the DTM tips are ugly, they'll be gone soon. :D



Passenger side:



It's not even painted and it already looks better! You can see the gap a little more clearly at the top corner in this shot:



Another rear corner shot, little bit more clear:

[Jean]

Nice, your work is inspiration to ugprade my car to plastics .

Got the valance and bumper shocks today, I should have grabbed the bumper carrier but didn't have any room in my car...

[StereoInstaller1]

Josh, may I recommend something?

Put your car on jackstands, then re-measure. It is unlikely that your car is unlevel...but if it is as easy as using jackstands under the frame, why not?

If you can't tell, this would be experience talking...bad experience.

Luke

[Garageaholic]

Josh, looking great! Are you doing this by yoself? I'm very impressed. Can't wait to see this shit when it's done! Don't scratch your paint!!

[Mike325]

You are a GOD:bow:

[Jand3rson]

I just realized, I'm going to have like 5 different VIN numbers on this car... :D

Josh, may I recommend something?

Put your car on jackstands, then re-measure. It is unlikely that your car is unlevel...but if it is as easy as using jackstands under the frame, why not?

I'll give that a try when we pull it off to make the adjustments needed. Thanks, Luke.

Frank - I'm doing the job with my brother in law, Andrew. And yes, we are being very careful around the paint! But what's covered by the bumpers won't matter, anyway. :D

Jean - I'm glad I could give you inspiration to start this project on your own car. Remember, everytime an E30 loses it's diving boards, and angel gets its wings!

[AndrewBird]

Luke, we were measuring off the body, not the ground. We used the top lip (above the drains and below the license plate) as a common plane and measured down to the lip in the valence.

In other words,



From there to there. So the car being level has no affect on it's fitment.

[nefarious7907]

That doesnt look like half of the PITA that originally thought it was going to be, but still not a exactly easy. FYI I am going to do the rear of my car sooner or later.

[Jean]

I can't find fog light covers for the valance on realoem, anybody got a link or pn ?

[Il Duce]

lookin' better already!

[Sean]

bah! zip ties work great.. if you bolt it on and hit something, you're still going to break it off, only now you're going to really tear it up and possibly bend your valance. I had zip ties holding mine on for 2 years, I bottomed the lip out many times and nailed lots of cones and it never came off.

also, a splitter isn't going to do shit to protect your lip. it will actually make it more likely that you hit it when you go into driveways/ramps because it will stick out further than without one.

also, greg's lip really wasn't that bad. I know dan destroyed his after 2 days, but I had mine for 2 years without trouble, until I got a little carried away pulling into a field and ended up running it over.. and while it cracked, it never completely broke.

Regarding Greg's lip - I broke mine about 5 days ago. Took a left turn off of a main road, and went head first into a dip I didn't think was as big as it was. Slammed down RIGHT on top of the lip. Snapped the front left corner off, and cracked it in numerous places.

It handled everything else great though, and looked badass in the snow! :D

I'm gonna get ahold of some fiberglass, and fix it before I drive back to school. lol

It's pretty damn brittle in the cold, and thats why is cracked so bad. Zip ties held it great, but rips out the holes on the lip in numerous places. lol

[StereoInstaller1]

Luke, we were measuring off the body, not the ground. We used the top lip (above the drains and below the license plate) as a common plane and measured down to the lip in the valence.

In other words,



From there to there. So the car being level has no affect on it's fitment.

oh duh.

Good job guys...keep on rockin!

Luke