Euro Sheetmetal install - finally finished!

[dreiermann]

Over the winter, I put in a new euro trunk-closure panel as well as the two corners to match up with it. They had been sitting in their Walloth-Nesch box for too long! I made my own trunk-floor pieces to reach the new closure panel. The bumpers were from ebay.de. Epoxy primer but Rustoleum color (mixed the color myself so it doesn't quite match, had issues thinning and with the gun so there are runs, but will repaint the whole car in a couple of years). At the same time I dealt with the rust at the base of the rear side windows (POR-15). Enjoy the pictures!

[dreiermann]

Here are some more pictures.

[Manny G.]

wow, awesome... the custom trunk floor pieces, were those tough to shape?

*someday* I'll get around to doing this... I have the lower side panels, still hunting for a '80+ rear panel... also seen some Euro trunk floors pop brand new pop up for sale but sellers not willing to ship.

[dreiermann]

Manny, here is a link for the 80+ rear closure panel: https://www.wallothnesch.com/en/rear...-41-08-04.html
I think that they charge 50 euro flat-rate shipping, so if you bundle several items together it makes it seem less-expensive. They do a great job of boxing it so that it doesn't get damaged.
For the trunk floor, unless you were seriously concerned about originality, home-made pieces are the way to go. I used one 12x24 piece of metal from the hardware store, snips, a sheet-metal brake (a vise will do in a pinch), and a hammer. It took me most of a Saturday to make all the pieces fit right, but in the end it was probably less work than replacing the entire floor. I think that I divided it up into seven small pieces, plus two vertical pieces for that brace extension - using smaller pieces makes it easier. Speaking of the trunk parts, I still need to make a new spare-tire cover and mat to fit the newly-extended trunk.

[pofo]

Bravo man

I have the same pieces waiting for me to pull the trigger one day. But I think I will wait for a cleaner body.

[duuder]

very nice!

[bwesty]

very helpful, about to jump into this project myself

[Beam318ti]

Well executed--congrats.

[Yonkers320is]

Very nice, love that color

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[WantingAfunE21]

Very nice job! I need the parts, and skills to do this conversion
.

[Layne]

BMW also has the 80+ euro rear panel, but only with the single exhaust cut out, not the 323i dual exhaust. Price is roughly the same as W&N if you have a friendly dealership. For very large pieces, BMW is the better deal, if they have it.

[jaredmac11]

Ive seen people pick up just the rear panel for this conversion (sans the corners like you got) and i cant tell if its lack of foresight or if folks just fabricated the missing pieces. You really did it right.

[dreiermann]

Thanks for all the comments! Although I have to say, the only real 'skill' I had to bring to this project was patience. True to car-project form, it cost twice as much and took three times as long as I thought it would.

For the corner pieces, I thought about trying to fab them myself, but after seeing the 'real' parts I knew that the price I paid was money well-spent. I would have spent days working on it only to end up with something that looked like it was made out of mozzarella.

[jaredmac11]

If youre going to put in the time you want it to look the way youre happy with. Time and money well spent : )