Ryan's Hennarot 318is (s54, slicktop conversion, MT2)

[rjmcdermott81]

Last push. I think I will still have lots of buffing/polishing to do but I'm aiming at getting it presentable without rushing it and making mistakes.


I don't know why I hadn't bought one of these to start. Best $35 ever spent


You can see it's progressing but still a lot more work to get all the sanding scratches out


I also had to ditch the 3D printing idea for the sidemarker surrounds. Just ran out of time. I bought thin sheets of ABS on Amazon. It is easy to cut with a box cutter and you can form it with a heat gun. I cut it into the right shape, painted it with SEM black, and then used 3M tape to mount them. I would love to have the OEM pieces but these will do...and it was only $20.

[rjmcdermott81]

Wing install

[rjmcdermott81]

are the quarter panels being sanded in the photos?

I see orange peel and a dull finish which seems like you’re correcting some of the paint.

Oh ya for sure. I sanded all the orange peel and I’m slowly polishing it back. I’m prioritizing getting it all back together since that process is pretty straightforward but crazy time consuming...

[Jokester]

are the quarter panels being sanded in the photos?

I see orange peel and a dull finish which seems like you’re correcting some of the paint.

[industrious]

Hennarot, one of the best red colors out there. nice work!

[rjmcdermott81]

I got the skirts and door pods mounted this weekend. Honestly, without drilling templates (I searched everywhere and couldn't find them) this wasn't easy. My lack of experience probably didn't help, but I'm happy with the way they turned out. It took me about 9 hours to get these things buttoned up.

Doing some test fitting:




All mounted up:

[rjmcdermott81]

I've been thinking about have something like this done for the side markers. A side marker delete:

http://www.modbargains.com/body_color_painted_reflectors_bmw_e92_3series.htm

Seems easier and cleaner than making a holder like OEM. Also which 3D printer did you end up buying?

I purchased an Anet A8 printer on Amazon. It's cheap ~$170 but it is completely DIY. It shows up in a hundred pieces and then you watch youtube videos with zero words to build it. If you are serious about it reach out to me and I can give you the full rundown on what to get. You really need to add a raspberry and other parts which bring the price up to $250. I still don't have it completely set up. Too focused on other parts of the car.

[Erik]

Insane work! 👌

[Erik]

Insane work! ��

[kid8]

Looking good man, can't wait to see it on the streets!

[Mike36]

Progress is moving forward. 3D printer is up and running so next I need to design the mt2 sidemarker surrounds.

I've been thinking about have something like this done for the side markers. A side marker delete:

http://www.modbargains.com/body_color_painted_reflectors_bmw_e92_3series.htm

Seems easier and cleaner than making a holder like OEM. Also which 3D printer did you end up buying?

[rjmcdermott81]

Knocked out some big ones. Pushing really hard to get this prepped for Radwood next weekend.

All windows are in, headliner is totally buttoned up.


The last big hurdle is the mtech 2 skirts and door pods. Hope to knock that out this weekend.

[rjmcdermott81]

I scored a few critical parts from Patrick George's (Jalopnik) old e30 that got wrecked here in town. That car was in crazy good shape...but someone had already stripped the whole interior. The most important pieces I got were the weatherstripping for inside the windows.
Patrick's from Jalopnik's e30


Prepped the side windows:


Dropped the front and rear glass in and now I'm working on the dang locking strip. This thing is a PITA.

[rjmcdermott81]

I got the carpet in today and finally mounted the e46 gas pedal. I remember agonizing over that in the early days of the swap but once it all came together it was really obvious and easy.




Hopefully this week I'll have the interior buttoned up and get the front and rear glass in.

I figured out today that I screwed up with the headliner on the b-pillars... It is covering the holes for the nuts to secure the rear side windows in. I figure I have two options. I'm going to see if the shop can peel the headliner back and then re-glue it without totally messing it up. If they say that's a no-go then I'll just drill holes in the headliner and then plug them with black trim caps or something. That's probably something I'll have to address next week.

[rjmcdermott81]

Stereo time. Nothing terribly special, but at some point in this cars life someone cut a huge hole in the parcel shelf and stuck a 6x9 in there. I figured what the heck, I'll just stick a slim sub up there and see how it goes.