02/26/08 – Bodywork
Oh, the joys of bodywork...
There are a few things going on at the same time here, but this is how we are shaving the moldings. Here's an e30 with it's side moldings shaved. (never mind the terrible e46 body kit) I really like the look of leaving that little lip on the door.
So here's what we're doing.
Remove moldings and paint around moldings with rough grit to assure filler adhesion.
Weld closed holes and grind flat to prevent moisture from penetrating. (not ground in picture)
Weld in a strip of 16GA 304 stainless to fill as much of the cavity as possible and grind down welds.
Fill in remaining area with fiberglass reinforced body filler:
We will do this all the way around the car and sand smooth, it's going really well, but that's on temporary hold at the moment.
So here is some of the bodywork I have been putting on. I had to actually build brackets to mount the front bumper because the guy stiffed me, but I don't think that they would have fit anyway due to my IC being so far forward.
Rear bumper and valence:
Side Skirt:
Front Bumper is on. It's SMASHED on there because of the IC placement, in fact I had to actually PULL the sides back because of IC interference!
Front Mtech1 valence.... I am going to have to cut the crap out of this thing...
Here is a shot that illustrates just how much needs to come off... the very top of the valence bolts to the front of the metal bumper and is covered up by trim. If you look how far it slopes back at the bottom, it's apparent that at the bottom of the valence the Rear of the IC is probably going to be in front of the bumper. HAHA.
It's going to have a VERY JDM look. Similar to how those guys run oil coolers mounted to the exterior of their bumpers... I've also seen a number of ICs mounted that way.
This is aggressive:
