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BMW E36 prep for FP, XP, & HPDE

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  • #16
    Re: BMW E36 prep for FP, XP, & HPDE

    Spent 8 hours on Saturday and 2 hours Sunday working on the flares, and got all 4 cut and welded in place. Big thanks to McCall (8 hours) and DaveB (4 hours) for the help! Made 2 extras as templates, as these can work on the back with only one minor cut. We ended up going a bit bigger than that for the rears on our Alpha car, as it has some big holes from previous bolt-on flares and I was trying to cover a 305mm rear tire. The rear flares stick out a good 1.5" from the rear bumper edges but I've seen where those can be re-drilled and "pulled out" so it should match up fine when we're finished.


    Paint prep with 60 grit then a scotchbrite pad makes a total mess. I had ear and breathing protection, but only glasses for eye protection (should have done better but I couldn't put on my face shield with all that other crap on!!)


    I ended up just MIG welding them on, as another poster (and our fabricator) had suggested. Series of tack welds, spaced out to avoid overheating the metal.


    A simple solution for the E36 trim "gutter"...


    More hands always helps. Lots of tack welds later.


    I gave up on the elaborate safety apparatus but eventually did use a face shield. Welds can be ground pretty smooth.


    Dave and McCall were both a huge help in cutting, shaping, measuring and holding the flares while I welded. Thanks!





    Left: The LF flare would have worked well enough for a 285. Right: We instead went "bigger" for the rear flares (used more of the E46 metal, then it took some tricks and forcing of the flare into place) to cover 305s out back.


    Sheet metal nibbler worked well on 80% of the cut. The rest (near seams/bends) had to be done with other tools








    Right: 6 fenders with 2 templates left over.

    Still needs a lot more weld grinding and then (gasp!) some bodywork to make them pretty. Could never charge enough to do this on a customer's car, that's for sure. Its messy, loud, and tedious work but I'm happy with how it has turned out so far and it looks 10X better than the old set-up. After measuring on other references points the car is only sitting a 1/4" to 1/2" higher than I'd like but there's LOTS of bump travel left so these should work out nicely in use.
    Last edited by Fair!; 02-04-2008, 01:14 PM.
    Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
    2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
    EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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    • #17
      Re: BMW E36 prep for FP, XP, & HPDE







      Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
      2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
      EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

      Comment

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