[jzx_andy]

Week 3 done and the flare/filler templates for the LHS rear quarter were sorted out. RHS quarter has also been stripped to bare metal. The process with making up the RHS flare/filler pieces should be a fair bit quicker, as we now have a working template that simply needs to be mirrored.

I went to check out progress yesterday and these photos do zero justice. I was absolutely floored with what Dylan from Committed Composites did so far. The custom bumper looks flawless and would pass off as something that BMW made from factory, and the quarters look awesome. While I was initially very hesitant about the job and took a "just send it" attitude, seeing it in the flesh has quelled all doubt and I am very happy with the way things are going.









Dylan has former experience working at a bodyshop that focussed on custom panel/paint, and currently works at a BMW accredited shop. He is an artist, has a proper understanding of my vision for the car and is a proper BMW nut - the guy knows his way around late-model BMW's in particular.

He ended up attacking the rear quarters with a different method to that described in page 5, such that they can be filled and rust-proofed properly using the same method BMW uses from factory, and utilises 3 larger pieces of metal that are cut and hammered/dollied to shape, rather than a higher number of small metal plates which are then hammered and welded.


The custom M3 rear bumper, side skirts and inner guard liners all bolt on like they should from factory

Next step is to weld the LHS quarter together and then fill the inner quarter panel cavitied by accessing them from the cabin.

Once that's done, filler will be applied to the metal and things will be smoothed out so the panel has smooth contours and lines up flush with the rear bumper/side skirts, and retains appropriate panel gaps.

[jzx_andy]

Another week has passed and we've made some more progress.



LHS flare all prepared and painted/coated on the inside. Ready for welding.









Made a lot of progress with the RHS. Just needs some minor work - should have everything welded on by the end of next Saturday. Then onto smoothing and prepwork.

[jzx_andy]

Week 5 done and some great progress. Both quarter panel flares have been fabbed, welded, smoothed out and coated. The most tedious and trial/error part of the job is complete.














Now onto filling the inside cavities and smoothing/prepping the exterior skins. Have been told the car will be ready for collection in early September, can't wait to have her back and rip into everything else.

[jzx_andy]

Another week and some more photos to share. Real happy with how it's looking.





Inner quarter cavities welded/sealed/coated.









We're on the home stretch now.

[Aus335iguy]

Any updates ?

[muney]

nice build andy..would you have a link to the metal fenders you used..ive been pulling my hair out trying to figure out a cheap way to do all this..the rear quarter panels are worth alotta money, so i understand now why your doing it this way..
also you on fb/insta? need to reach out to you and ask a few questions too
cheers

[jzx_andy]

Originally Posted by Aus335iguy

Any updates ?

It's back in my garage.

I would like to get a little more work done on the outer radius of the rear quarter panel flares, so they're a little more seamless with the rest of the bodywork. This is something I should have picked up on prior to welding being done, as it basically means a lot will need to be sanded back and more metal or some fiberglass will need to be added. We haven't worked out how to move forward with this yet, as the car was collected on the basis that it'd need to sit for a month or two anyway to let all the products cure before doing any sort of sanding etc.

In all honesty this has made me lose a bit of motivation to work on it, as it is looking all crappy (in my view) and has a heap of panels that aren't the same colour as the car. But hey building a car like this is a pretty big learning and character building experience for an amateur like myself.

Since then I've fitted the F87 front brakes, dropped the rear subframe, stripped it completely. The subframe and rear knuckles are currently waiting patiently to have a bunch of stuff swapped in by the boys at G-Spec Bassendean.

Rear axle will be getting:
Solid subframe bushings
New wheel bearings
Lemforder ball joints for the trailing arm links and outer m3 control arm joints (Vince organised these as part of a group buy a year or two ago)
New Lemforder oem ball joints for the outer camber arm links
M3 diff and axles
E9x M3 front diff bushings
F30 rear diff bushing
F87 brakes
Stainless steel brake lines
E92 M3 rear sway
CMP Engineering adjustable rear sway bar end links
CMP Engineering ball joints for inner camber arm links

The front axle will be finished off with GAS monoballs being fitted to the front M3 tension struts (in place of the crappy open bushings), and an E92 M3 front sway setup.

I'll also need to get the M3 DCT driveshaft modified so it's the correct length and has the right flange to mount to an N54 manual box. I have been recommended DBS Malaga as being the go-to for custom BMW driveshaft work here in the Perth area.

Originally Posted by muney

nice build andy..would you have a link to the metal fenders you used..ive been pulling my hair out trying to figure out a cheap way to do all this..the rear quarter panels are worth alotta money, so i understand now why your doing it this way..
also you on fb/insta? need to reach out to you and ask a few questions too
cheers

Thank you man. The widebody is a massive job. It would be easier if you can source the rear half of an E92 M3 shell and use those bits instead, or swap N54 running gear into an M3 shell with a cooked motor, but I do think the E92 M3 quarters are a bit strange in that the widest point is where the rear bumper meets the quarter panel, and not at 12 o'clock when facing the rear wheel / wheel arch dead on. I don't think the E90 M3 suffers from this issue, which sort of explains why I've always thought the E90 M3 sedan looks better proportioned than the E92/E93.

I bought a pair of flares from Ulterior Motives - https://www.umshop-store.com/

I am on insta (slowpoke_e92), but feel free to ask me anything via pm or in this thread.

[jzx_andy]

Recently sorted out a bunch of handling bits that I'd purchased over the years. This included a set of brakes sourced from an F87 M2, the rear section of an E9x M3 driveline and various ball joints and small odds and ends.

Exhaust, propshaft, and rear subframe all had to come out, after which the subframe and knuckles were disassembled. The M3 propshaft required some custom work in order to adapt to the 335i manual box.

I also took the opportunity to change the pesky gearbox selector shaft seal that is prone to leaking and ruining the foam piece that sits inside the shaft.

Unfortunately my stupid ass didn't realise that I'd need to cut out chunks of the rear e9x 335i knuckles in order to fit the F87 brakes with an adapter kit. Being a street car, I wasn't too fond with removing material from knuckles, so I found a bolt on solution for the calipers, which involved replacing the rear caliper bushings with eccentric ones, using a pair of e6x 35i/45i/50i rear rotors, after which they were a bolt on affair.


Front brakes in


Rear subframe out


Knuckles and control arms overhauled, m3 axles fitted to knuckles


Subframe sorted out with new mounts and ball joints


Suspension and driveline assembled



Back on the ground and ready for the next phase


Here's a summary of all the handling goodness that's been fitted:

1M/M3 rear arms with lemforder ball joints pressed in to the outer links with cnc adapters (these arms only have ball jointed inners from factory)

GAS monoball kit for 2x 1M/M3 front control arms

Solid subframe mounts

ST XTA coilovers

E9x M3 front diff bushings

F3x rear diff bushing

E9x M3 halfshafts, e9x M3 3.15 (DCT) diff and customised M3 propshaft

E92 M3 f/r swaybars

Adjustable/ball jointed endlinks f/r

Lemforder ball joints fitted to trailing arm links and inner spring arm link (cnc housing and spacers required for the latter)

New fresh outer spring arm ball joint and lower shock mounts

Manzo adjustable rear toe arms (I've had this one for a while, but should probably replace it for a fancy ball jointed arm at this point)

Stoptech stainless brake lines

F8x steel front calipers, pads and front rotors

F8x steel rear calipers and pads and large E6x non-M rear rotors

[jzx_andy]

Next up is a few small maintenance items and then onto removing the factory twins and doing some cool shit. I've also started ordering things to fab up a custom stainless exhaust, including these tips (will be keeping quads as I think they suit the car nicely) and a resonator.

The exhaust spec will be a single 3.5" pipe into the resonator, likely a 100cel cat converter, into the largest muffler I can possibly fit under the rear bar, and then split out into two pipes that end at the factory tip locations.

[jzx_andy]

Had the car aligned last week and dialled in nicely. Drives great. Wheels will likely need 5-10mm spacers all round, and some thicker rubber!



On to removing the factory twins.

[jzx_andy]

Started pulling stuff off as I decided to tackle the single kit and maintenance at the same time.

Boost solenoids, thermo fan, chargepipe, intake manifold etc all out. Changed the starter motor. Ended up unbolting the subframe and lowered the front of the motor about 70mm to give me room to tackle the upper starter bolt. Heaps of room that way.

Did most of the valve cover and realised I don't have a deep enough 10mm socket to undo the 3 grounding posts. So that will be put on hold until a proper tool arrives.

Will soldier on in the meantime. Drain fluids, remove subframe and get those twins off!

[Aus335iguy]

And then…….

[jzx_andy]

Managed to do the valve cover, plugged the head ports, and didn't look at it for a couple of weeks. Life always gets in the way of hobbies

Got back onto it today though. Front subframe and turbos are off. So much easier than the rear, that's for sure.

[Socket]

Quite a job you have on the go there mate... how long until ur finished?

[jzx_andy]

Originally Posted by Socket

Quite a job you have on the go there mate... how long until ur finished?

How long is a piece of string?

Will probably spend ages waiting for someone to be available to fab up an exhaust, and then again for the remaining bodywork and paint.

Realistically I will be lucky to have a painted car that's dialled in on a 98 tune by the end of the year. It's been a pretty big undertaking. Hope I don't blow a motor anytime soon

[EX0PIL0T]

New years progress?

[jzx_andy]

Well it's been a while since I last updated this.



Fitted the JMC tuning kit. For the oil drain, I opted for his revised oil drain fitting that routes toward the front of the engine.





I also plugged the old style pre-turbo o2 bungs and got a pair of bungs welded toward each end of the DP.






Sometime during this, I realised the included JMC hotside intercooler pipe could not fit my application (as room is tighter in the area where the chargepipe spirals down, due to my PPK lower radiator hose) and that bonnet clearance was tight with a 3582 and the compressor outlet pointed around the 2-3 o'clock position anyway.



I decided to sort all these problems by:



- running a smaller turbo (I went Pulsar 3576 and stepped down to a 0.83 divided housing)

- clocking the compressor housing outlet around the 6 o'clock position

- using a fabricator to mod the compressor housing so it could extend all the way to the fmic inlet



Mockup with the 3576




Plodded along and ended up doing a few small things like Turbosmart OPR, external PCV w/ dual VTT catchcans routed to turbo filter, m3 steering rack swap, Master JBE and servotronic retrofits.

Turbo hotside completed




I also had my fab guy make up a custom exhaust that suited the JMC downpipe, but retained my existing quad tip setup. The exhuast is a full 3" system that's split into 4 secttions after the turbo:



3" downpipe -> front section w/ 200 cell cat -> middle section w/ resonator -> back section w/ muffler and tips







Got the car back and started making a tune for it.


Obligatory sound clip (not full noise sadly, but I can confirm the screamer pipes open up around 14psi)

Cut up and fitted an M3 front subframe reinforcement plate and metal skidplate



Found an extended leather dash retrofit so fitted that






I ended up grabbing a pair of M3 quarter cuts from Brintech and had them grafted on to replace the outer skins of the previous custom jobbies. Used the same bodywork guy as he is just excellent.







Looks much more OEM now. This is basically how the car is currently sitting. I'll be getting it back next weekend, will sort out a few small things and then send it in for paint. Planning on going with Suzuka Grey.

[jzx_andy]

Just a few happy snaps after bringing it home from the body shop.

[jaffles]

Holy shit Andy......do you recall saying "I owned the Accord for roughly 8 years and did silly things to it. Bone stock other than suspension, sound system, kit and wheels. Looked sick but I went too silly with it."

I guess whatever makes your thing ping but you have done it again ol boy.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you are an excellent example for my 16yo son, because a son doesn't listen to his old man. What do you recon you have spent? What do you think you could get for it tomorrow if you had too? What will insurance pay if it gets slammed?

Not trying to put you down as we all have done it. I bought a car for 20k that had 60k dropped on it, but needs another 100K to land at a market price of 60k on a good day. So thinking garden ornament for the shell, and sell the rest.

In saying all this you have done very well and a beautiful job, congratulations. I have one suggestion for a mod however if I may, loose that bloody blue number plate.

[jzx_andy]

Originally Posted by jaffles

Holy shit Andy......do you recall saying "I owned the Accord for roughly 8 years and did silly things to it. Bone stock other than suspension, sound system, kit and wheels. Looked sick but I went too silly with it."

I guess whatever makes your thing ping but you have done it again ol boy.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you are an excellent example for my 16yo son, because a son doesn't listen to his old man. What do you recon you have spent? What do you think you could get for it tomorrow if you had too? What will insurance pay if it gets slammed?

Not trying to put you down as we all have done it. I bought a car for 20k that had 60k dropped on it, but needs another 100K to land at a market price of 60k on a good day. So thinking garden ornament for the shell, and sell the rest.

In saying all this you have done very well and a beautiful job, congratulations. I have one suggestion for a mod however if I may, loose that bloody blue number plate.

Just to clarify what I meant in my original post, I went silly with the Accord because it was my only car, and a very practical grocery getter that I turned into a very impractical car overall. I wasn't in a position to really play the modified car game back then, or build something that could go fast, so that was the best I could do to make something that looked awesome to me.

With that out of the way, I'd say I'm about 65k in the hole as of now including purchase of the car. Probably needs another five or ten to finish off the build. It's insured for 35k, but I am yet to add the ST kit to the list of mods, so I'd say it'd be insured for around 40-45k once the build is complete. Not sure how much it'd realistically sell for tbh. Depends if there'd be a buyer who'd be insane enough to want it for what I'd be willing to sell it in one piece. If I ever had to get rid of the car, it'd likely be best to remove and sell a heap of bolt ons, revert most of it back to stock and sell it as a stockish M3 clone.

Mind you, this is a build that has spanned just over 7 years. It's a hobby at the end of the day. I only do stuff to this thing when I am happy to spend the weekend getting dirty and contorting myself on my garage floor while throwing money away. That's sort of why this car has taken such a long time to get to where it currently is haha. I'd get sick of it looking like shit and it'd make me shelve this hobby for several months at a time, piss my time and money away on travel and other hobbies (much cheaper and easier than building a perfect BMW tbh ), and then I'd eventually go back to playing cars.

Fortunately I was in a financial position back then where I was happy to purchase this car specifically as a project car and drop a further 10-15k on. I suppose I am far more fortunate now, considering I have been able to widen the project scope dramatically and basically build my dream E9X.

I do want to change the number plate eventually. Would love a nice black and white euro style plate to be the finishing touch to this car.

[jzx_andy]

I'd been hunting for parts cars for a good couple of years so I could hang on to a spare engine, in case I blew the existing one or wanted to build one on the side. No deals ever came up.

Last month, a deal came up, courtesy of a local drifter who churns through BMW wrecks like they're nothing. For whatever reason, he bought a 135i wreck just for the rear end. Anyway, that left him selling a 6 bolt engine with ~180,000km, index 12's, turbos and a few other accessories for very, very cheap.

He sent me a video of it running before he got it out of the wreck, so I jumped and also bought an engine stand.

I brought it home, drained it of fluids and removed all the heavy junk and injectors, turned it over etc. Oil came out looking normal, the engine turned over good as far as I could tell, and it looks like it had tried to chew up a belt at some point in it's life, so it seems like I got a fairly typical engine.




I put it on my new engine stand, wrapped it up in cling film and am keeping it for a very rainy (or ambitious) day. About a week later I sold the injectors for what I bought the engine. Stoked with how this one played out.



Still haven't sent the car in for paint, but it'll get there... eventually. Bought a few small bits and pieces to make it less clapped - a guard liner that isn't fucked from crash damage, lci wiper arms, M3 underbody panels (the ones that roughly sit further in from where the side skirts sit), an air con vent that isn't banged up like one of my original ones. Really minor things lol.

Figured out an underbody panelling solution that secures in a factory way and works with my combination of M and non M undertrays (especially the non M belly pan piece that sits underneath the transmission). I swear there's only a couple of zip ties securing things underneath the car now HAHA

[jaffles]

What colour your thinking Andy? Full respray or blend?

Also get your opinion on lowered springs, recommended mm for front and back? Need to make it through the KFC drive through haha.

Any feeling on spring brands?