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Thread: e36 M3 Track Car Prep. Making e46 Fender Flares. Pix. + More

  1. #1
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    e36 M3 Track Car Prep. Making e46 Fender Flares. Pix. + More

    Here we go, we got ourselves another project. My cousin recently bought himself 1997 4 door M3 to be used as a track car. Currently it is automatic, but this will change over the winter. We already have 5 speed out of 95 M3 waiting to go in. 5 Speed swap will be covered later though. He found this car with an r-title, but already reconstructed/repaired. It was hit to the rear, which ended up with a lot of bondo, etc… But for $3+K that he got it for is a very good price and a very nice candidate for the track. He also wants to later paint the car in camo scheme, but again, we’ll see on it later.

    Anyway, the first thing that he wanted to start with was to add fender flares to be able to run some nice sized track tires (He is thinking 285s square). The flares will be drafted from e46 fenders. After looking around some build threads, we saw that a lot of people, for some reason overlap the flares on to the fenders instead of doing it edge to edge. Our choice was to weld them edge to edge instead of overlapping. So we ordered our e46 fenders from rockauto for a whooping $27 a piece or so…

    Few days later we received our fenders and we went right to mocking things up. We outlined a rough shape on the e46 fender using a sharpie, leaving with some extras just in case and started cutting it out with a cut off wheel.








    Once the rough shape of e46 fender flare was cut out, we placed it against the e36 fender to see what we were dealing with. Then we marked the excess that we needed to remove and cut that off and smoothed it on a grinding stone.






    After few iterations, we had the shape that satisfied us. Next up was the cutting and grinding on the car. We placed the final shape flare against e36, outlined it with a sharpie, and then went on top of the sharpie with a grinder to make a grove. Using a small reciprocating metal saw we started cutting off the stock e36 fender flares.







    When the stock piece was off, we placed the new flare against the cut and it lined up perfectly.




    We then proceeded to smoothing the sharp edges and sanding the paint off in preparation to weld the new flares to the car.






    Casting to be in a new Hulk movie



    All lined up and ready to be tack-welded.




    Here is a short, silly video that shows how easily the BMW fender is cut with a jigsaw.

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl6f6JJUmr8[/ame]


    More to come.
    Last edited by bimerok; 10-12-2011 at 08:17 AM.
    - 96 328is 6.0L. (LS1 to LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ad.php?2098938)
    - 96 328is 5.7L. (LS1 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1289987)
    - 95 ///M3 6.0L. (LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1619249)

    - 97 ///M3. (e46 Fender Flares/track car build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1727098)
    - 96 328is (Dual Fuel Pump to Surge Tank thread: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...ad.php?1964025)

  2. #2
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    Green hands It will look nice once it is done and painted. Looking forward to more updates.

  3. #3
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    thanks for starting a thread for me
    we hope this could be educational for people that are interested in whats involved.
    Somebody stole my sig.

  4. #4
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  5. #5
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    awesome. I'm looking at doing this in the future. Can't wait to see the results.
    Alpha-N ///M - Youtube

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    Subscribed!

    Doug


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  8. #8
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    Ok, we got more progress on the fender widening, but before we dive into that again, here is a small preview of what the color scheme of the car might look like. We practiced it a little on a tool box




    After we finished sanding the edges of both fender and the flare, it was time to get it tacked in place. We aligned everything and start placing the small welds every 2 inches or so to hold it in place. Once it was done throughout the area, we used a very light hammer to knock some of the high spots in and make sure the edges were straight and ready for the complete weld up.

    We started welding and filling in areas between tacks, making sure to alternate from one area to the one far away. This will help to prevent the metal from being pulled too much when you weld continuously on one side and end up with a gap or overlap on the other side end.










    Well, it is a lot of fun making something for the first time and learn as you go. Things turn out to be very doable and not a rocket science. Anyways…

    Next up was to do the passenger side. Same drill; mark up the donor fender and cut out the flare, then outline the final shape on to the car and cut it out as well. Doing the passenger side was already a little bit easier after practice we had on the driver’s side. We ended up making the shape on the second fender much rounder and nicer. One thing you also have to ensure is that your flares have to be even on both sides. Here are few pictures on preparing, welding, and grinding the passenger side.


















    After the passenger side fender was completely welded, it was time to get on with the grinder to take off all of the excess welds and make it as smooth as possible. It is pretty tedious task, but has to be done to minimize amount of bondo that will be used.








    Next up will be applying some bondo and lots and lots of sanding.
    - 96 328is 6.0L. (LS1 to LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ad.php?2098938)
    - 96 328is 5.7L. (LS1 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1289987)
    - 95 ///M3 6.0L. (LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1619249)

    - 97 ///M3. (e46 Fender Flares/track car build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1727098)
    - 96 328is (Dual Fuel Pump to Surge Tank thread: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...ad.php?1964025)

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    House OF The swapped Compacts !!!! Mzk2built
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  10. #10
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    Looking good!

    Who the hell is wearing sandals?? Get some shoes on that mofo!

    Doug


    '97 M3/4

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by douglee25 View Post
    Looking good!

    Who the hell is wearing sandals?? Get some shoes on that mofo!

    Doug
    That's our buddy who is helping out. He must think he has steel toes!
    - 96 328is 6.0L. (LS1 to LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ad.php?2098938)
    - 96 328is 5.7L. (LS1 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1289987)
    - 95 ///M3 6.0L. (LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1619249)

    - 97 ///M3. (e46 Fender Flares/track car build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1727098)
    - 96 328is (Dual Fuel Pump to Surge Tank thread: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...ad.php?1964025)

  12. #12
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    steel toes

  13. #13
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    lol


    '97 M3/4

  14. #14
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    Nice work.

    Get the guy in sandals to do the welding. Then cue the mexican hat dance music.
    - Ian
    2000 M Coupe, stripped and DE prepped

    46mm wheel bearing socket for rent - $30 deposit + $10 fee. PM for details.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by osborni View Post
    Get the guy in sandals to do the welding. Then cue the mexican hat dance music.
    haha... We already have a guy who is welding in t-shirt and no gloves, so it won't be as impressive.
    - 96 328is 6.0L. (LS1 to LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ad.php?2098938)
    - 96 328is 5.7L. (LS1 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1289987)
    - 95 ///M3 6.0L. (LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1619249)

    - 97 ///M3. (e46 Fender Flares/track car build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1727098)
    - 96 328is (Dual Fuel Pump to Surge Tank thread: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...ad.php?1964025)

  16. #16
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    an instand uv tan

  17. #17
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    Thank you for the write up and pics! This is really cool to see. Looking forward to the finished product.

  18. #18
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    Well I dont think i have steel toes, however when kick ass it really hurts, not toes, ass

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by newbimerfan View Post
    Well I dont think i have steel toes, however when kick ass it really hurts, not toes, ass
    OK, looks like we have almost full house. Now that we are done talking about toes, ass, and hurts - we will return to our regular PG13 programming Welcome to the forum!


    A few cool items arrived; a set of brand new Hoosier R6 tires in the size of 285/30/18 for the total of $250 for all 4. You got to love craigslist for that. Also arrived is a set of wheels to put these monsters on. They are XXR 521 18x10 (et 25) wheels. Surprisingly, mounting these tires was pretty easy. I would say easier than some of the street low profile tires.









    - 96 328is 6.0L. (LS1 to LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ad.php?2098938)
    - 96 328is 5.7L. (LS1 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1289987)
    - 95 ///M3 6.0L. (LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1619249)

    - 97 ///M3. (e46 Fender Flares/track car build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1727098)
    - 96 328is (Dual Fuel Pump to Surge Tank thread: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...ad.php?1964025)

  20. #20
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    oh my goodness, nice find, those are some meaty tires will change the look and handling characteristics of the car completely,

  21. #21
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    i just can wait to test these bad boys out
    Somebody stole my sig.

  22. #22
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    where are the deals when i need them the most

  23. #23
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    Those wheels looks BA!

    Doug


    '97 M3/4

  24. #24
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    New pics with rear door and fender painted coming soooooon. It's gonna look awesome.

  25. #25
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    Yes, as soon as we finish with fronts, we'll start on the rears....
    - 96 328is 6.0L. (LS1 to LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ad.php?2098938)
    - 96 328is 5.7L. (LS1 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1289987)
    - 95 ///M3 6.0L. (LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1619249)

    - 97 ///M3. (e46 Fender Flares/track car build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1727098)
    - 96 328is (Dual Fuel Pump to Surge Tank thread: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...ad.php?1964025)

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