Z3 Wide Body

[Gofast]

I forgot about the new sizes! I wonder how they look on a coupe.

Like this
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ring-Group-Buy

[Itsablurr]

Multipiece, no spacer.

[Calaway16]

Yeah... I'm not thrilled about spacers, or the fact that they weigh 20+ pounds.

[LAWLence]

How much do the multi piece wheels weigh?

[Calaway16]

From Weld Racing... 17x11 is about 19.5 lbs. But I can have any offset I wish. Still trying to negotiate some of the other details with them. The EC-7 in 18x11 is 24 lbs. ARC-8 in 17x10.5 is only 19 lbs but the offset is way too high. ARC-8 in 18x10.5 is about 21 lbs but once gain, I would probably need to run a 15+mm spacer. Not diggin' that.

What a tangled web we weave...

[Jaze]

I sense CCW, Fikse or joengbloed are in your future.

[Calaway16]

The dirty deed is done. 18x11 Apex EC-7s in black. Heavier than I would have liked, but reliable and inexpensive. The group buy did me in. 25 mm offset should give me room to play with spacing if I need something in the front or back, but not require anything outrageous.

[jakermac]

[LAWLence]

Can't go wrong for the price, considering you can buy almost 3 sets of them for the price of 1 custom 3-piece set.

[vrtymfg]

Awesome Nick! Can't wait to see them.

[MikeLenoch5]

You sir are an inspiration. I will be making front fenders for my E36 coupe by following yours and these guys' methods/practices:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKvDw1E60E

Question: When you vacuum bag the doors with the 1/2 foam, how thick does the foam end up once the vacuum is removed and the resin is cured?

Be sure to share when you end up making those!

[Calaway16]

I'm pretty excited about the apexes (apices?). A little about Weld racing:

I called them one afternoon before I ordered anything and told the sales lady on the phone what I was looking to do: road racing, BMW Z3, endurance maybe etc. Turns out they aren't designed to be hubcentric.... They weren't willing to work with me, either. I thought surely since they were custom wheels they would be willing to help me out and machine a set with my hub bore and all that stuff. Nope. Not a chance. I said to her "that's a deal breaker," and her reply was "OK." I sent them an email afterward explaining the situation in greater detail. No response.

What a shame. Maybe I'm a little naive but I thought they would be a little more open to expanding their market a bit. Unless their milling machines are running 24/7, I don't really think there's a good reason not to. For all they knew I could be starting an ALMS team that's going to run 3 cars and needs 15 sets of wheels. Oh well. Glad to be with Apex. The guy I talked to at Fikse was very nice, FWIW.

Anyway, I popped the rear bumper mold off. Looks pretty good, though it needs a few small repairs here and there.



I got the right front quarter panel pieces glued together and have mounted some small aluminum brackets replacing the large steel brackets. By doing so, I save 7 oz off each side (that's almost a pound total, people) for just this tiny piece of bodywork. The aluminum brackets are epoxied in place using the marine variety of JB weld. I know JB weld sounds a bit ghetto but it works. Just make sure it's not the traditional steel-reinforced JB weld. Direct steel to Aluminum contact will cause premature corrosion.

Prepping the aluminum/steel joint goes as follows: Grind with 120 grit sanding disk on air tool. Hand sand with 80 grit. Scour with scotchbrite soaked in acetone. Sand once again with 80 grit in cross-hatch pattern. Blow off dust. Apply epoxy immediately so you don't apply it to Al203.



Here's a better picture of my epoxied aluminum mounts coated in primer. I could stand on these before the epoxy fails. I will be epoxying aluminum door hinges on as well.



As I type this the gelcoat on the left rear quarter panel mold is setting up. I need to head out to the shop and start laying up the glass.

[yokoseiki]

I'm pretty excited about the apexes (apices?). A little about Weld racing:

I called them one afternoon before I ordered anything and told the sales lady on the phone what I was looking to do: road racing, BMW Z3, endurance maybe etc. Turns out they aren't designed to be hubcentric.... They weren't willing to work with me, either. I thought surely since they were custom wheels they would be willing to help me out and machine a set with my hub bore and all that stuff. Nope. Not a chance. I said to her "that's a deal breaker," and her reply was "OK." I sent them an email afterward explaining the situation in greater detail. No response.

What a shame. Maybe I'm a little naive but I thought they would be a little more open to expanding their market a bit. Unless their milling machines are running 24/7, I don't really think there's a good reason not to. For all they knew I could be starting an ALMS team that's going to run 3 cars and needs 15 sets of wheels. Oh well. Glad to be with Apex. The guy I talked to at Fikse was very nice, FWIW.

Anyway, I popped the rear bumper mold off. Looks pretty good, though it needs a few small repairs here and there.



I got the right front quarter panel pieces glued together and have mounted some small aluminum brackets replacing the large steel brackets. By doing so, I save 7 oz off each side (that's almost a pound total, people) for just this tiny piece of bodywork. The aluminum brackets are epoxied in place using the marine variety of JB weld. I know JB weld sounds a bit ghetto but it works. Just make sure it's not the traditional steel-reinforced JB weld. Direct steel to Aluminum contact will cause premature corrosion.

Prepping the aluminum/steel joint goes as follows: Grind with 120 grit sanding disk on air tool. Hand sand with 80 grit. Scour with scotchbrite soaked in acetone. Sand once again with 80 grit in cross-hatch pattern. Blow off dust. Apply epoxy immediately so you don't apply it to Al203.



Here's a better picture of my epoxied aluminum mounts coated in primer. I could stand on these before the epoxy fails. I will be epoxying aluminum door hinges on as well.



As I type this the gelcoat on the left rear quarter panel mold is setting up. I need to head out to the shop and start laying up the glass.

Looks good !

I think you're brackets are fine. JB weld is pretty standard AB epoxy and will work. Just remember if you need more strength just increase the bonding area.

Great luck with the wheels. I use an 18x10 et 25 and have a 15MM spacer in the front. You have non M rear hubs right? So your spacer in the rear will be similar to your fronts. I use a 25MM in the rear but I would imagine you'll use a similar one to the front 15MM. Back when I had TCKline's I could use a 5MM spacer but when I switched to BFG's and current shocks it went all the way to 15MM. Honestly I don't notice the difference in scrub so you shouldn't worry about that.

Have you ever used slicks before? You might want to try something a bit narrower first but if you get 11's you'll have to start with the 285. You'll want to stick with the short tires like the 235, 265, 285, and 305. All of those come in 645.

Keep going !

[Massive Lee]

Very surprised that a wheel supplier that specializes in custom fitments pretends the wheels are not meant to be hubcentric. But hey, perhaps they catter to a different crowd that only does left hand turns and couldn't care less about vibrations and safety ... ;-)

[3xxtiMZK2]

great work...

[Calaway16]

Looks good !

I think you're brackets are fine. JB weld is pretty standard AB epoxy and will work. Just remember if you need more strength just increase the bonding area.

Great luck with the wheels. I use an 18x10 et 25 and have a 15MM spacer in the front. You have non M rear hubs right? So your spacer in the rear will be similar to your fronts. I use a 25MM in the rear but I would imagine you'll use a similar one to the front 15MM. Back when I had TCKline's I could use a 5MM spacer but when I switched to BFG's and current shocks it went all the way to 15MM. Honestly I don't notice the difference in scrub so you shouldn't worry about that.

Have you ever used slicks before? You might want to try something a bit narrower first but if you get 11's you'll have to start with the 285. You'll want to stick with the short tires like the 235, 265, 285, and 305. All of those come in 645.

Keep going !

I've only run DOT Rs. I'm probably going to stick with them, too. Yeah non M rear end. I used to use a 25mm spacer on the front with some style 42s for racing and never had any weird feeling. I would feel very comfortable running anything up to 20 mm with these 18s. My measurements indicate that a 15 mm offset is just about where I need to be for the front so I should be a-ok.

Very surprised that a wheel supplier that specializes in custom fitments pretends the wheels are not meant to be hubcentric. But hey, perhaps they catter to a different crowd that only does left hand turns and couldn't care less about vibrations and safety ... ;-)

I don't even understand lugcentricity. It makes no sense.

[jbrannon7]

I don't even understand lugcentricity. It makes no sense.

That's OK, in the old days all that mattered was the bolt circle diameter, wheels had a large opening in the middle so they could fit lots of different cars.

I saw a weld racing wheel come apart at an autocross at about 45mph. The wheel and tire had a lot of energy and went 50 or 60 feet in the air when it hit the curb. Luckily everyone was was paying attention.

Joe

[Calaway16]

Wheels should arrive on Thursday. Very exciting.

Even more exciting is the fact that I have finally figured out a door hinge system. I was scratching my head for a while wondering what I could do that would be easy, look good, and be strong. I had figured I would replace every hinge component with aluminum, until I had a closer look at the stock gudgeons which appear to be structurally integral to the chassis... Ok maybe not but they aren't going anywhere and they probably don't weigh that much.

What I decided to do was drill out the guts of the gudgeons and press in some nylon bushings that I got from the hardware store. I had to epoxy in the bottom bushing to hold it in place because that particular hole is a fraction of an inch larger than the upper one (the OEM hardware for the upper and lower gudgeons were different). I'm lucky enough to own a metal lathe so I machined some new hinge pins which are threaded and go through some aluminum pieces bent and epoxied onto the door. The pictures tell the story pretty well...











I'm going to trim the aluminum door pieces to make them neater, then I'll embed them in a few layers of fiberglass before continuing work on my impact attenuation. I'm also going to drill the hinge pins for some cotter pins so they can't be lifted out.

Overall I'm very happy. This is a huge step because it's been on the back of my mind for quite a while while I worked elsewhere. Now I can proceed with other parts of the project without losing any more sleep. I'll put some pictures of the door mounted soon. I need to wait for that epoxy to cure and I have to get some burrs to put in my dremel tool so I can elongate the holes in the aluminum brackets. I'd like to have a little bit more adjustment.

[jbrannon7]

Bump, anything new?

[traumawolf1]

I seCond that bump. ... would Love to see more pics of the progress of your build. And would you me able to make additional pieCes you would sell since you made the mold. I'm sure there would be considerable interest in a quality, widebody z3 kit.....

I'm first in line

[Calaway16]

It's been slow lately because of school. But now I'm back to working on it more frequently. I've made the rear bumper, left rear quarter panel, and passenger door mold since I updated last. I'll post pictures tomorrow. Thanks for the interest, everyone!

[Pat Gautier]

This is a very cool project. Forgive our impatience but it is like waiting for Christmas morning.

[Calaway16]

Haha yeah I'm more anxious than all of you combined! School is finished. Helmets are coming along nicely (Check out NRV Sports Graphics on Facebook ), and I'm getting some time to work on the car.

Here are the promised photos. Left rear quarter panel was vacuum bagged..... somewhat unsuccessfully. The breather fabric adhered to the part so I have to grind all that off. The rear bumper was done without bagging since it's a very big part with lots of compound curves and corners. It's looking like i'm going to do the rest of the body parts without vacuum bagging. It's just such a huge hassle when you're trying to put all the bagging materials on after doing a wet layup. It's fine for parts like the doors which are flat, but bumpers, quarters, and sideskirts are a nightmare. What I lose in fiber/resin ratio will be gained in terms of time and simplicity.

Anyway, onto the pictures.

Wheels! Apex EC7. 18x11







Rear bumper and left rear quarter panel. Need a little filler here and there for a couple small dimples and weave print-through, but should be pretty straight forward. Both still need some trimming.







I look forward to getting these mounted. Lots of work yet to be done but i've got a system now.

[z3papa]

I'd love to send my car to you, have you do the parts and hard top, and then figure out what to do with FI to justify all the work elsewhere.

[BlackHawkRacing]

Very nice work man, keep it coming as you progress.