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Trial fitted the Harrington rear bumper today. The rear section is easy to mount onto the body and I've fitted the off side quarter bumper. Only needed a little trimming and it looks reasonable. Going for a 10mm gap between the bumper and body.
Oh and the Z3 filler looks neat too. I went that way with mine due to lack of experience and not wanting to use a big old filler. They keep the lines of the car clean though.
Hope the fit and finish is good with regard to alignment etc.
How thick are the door skins ? I shy away from them (again lack of experience/confidence/competence.
Trial fitted the Harrington rear bumper today. The rear section is easy to mount onto the body and I've fitted the off side quarter bumper. Only needed a little trimming and it looks reasonable. Going for a 10mm gap between the bumper and body.
Good fit and really look the part. Major improvement over bumper-less.
Finished off the tapered rear light mounts. I ended up modifying the ones supplied in the kit, only a small mod but it goes along way. Offered up the rear lights too, fitted with with temporary fixings.
The front side repeaters have been frenched into the bodywork like the original, I'll do the same with the bonnet badge. Also fitted the front indicator recesses that are supplied, simply trimmed and bonded into position.
The original Z3 hinged flap unbolts from a bracket in the Z3 wing. I marked out and cut the circle from the GRP body in the same relative position as on the Z3 wing.
The Grp disc was then bonded onto the Z3 flap. A simple bracket was made to hold the hinged flap which was first carefully aligned, then bonded onto the inner body with PU adhesive.
Once that was set I checked it opened, closed and still aligned, I glassed over the bracket.
No other mods were done, the opened flap is right in front of the filler cap.
The original Z3 hinged flap unbolts from a bracket in the Z3 wing. I marked out and cut the circle from the GRP 275 body in the same relative position as on the Z3 wing.
The Grp disc was then bonded onto the Z3 flap. A simple bracket was made to hold the hinged flap which was first carefully aligned, then bonded onto the inner body with PU adhesive.
Once that was set I checked it opened, closed and still aligned, I glassed over the bracket.
No other mods were done, the opened flap is right in front of the filler cap.
Thanks for making that clear - I had a vision of having to reach 'down a rabbit hole' and avoid dropping the cap into the void . Knowing the filler doesn't need to be altered is (to me) reassuring, because getting a seal on a pipe carrying fuel would appear to be difficult!
Front end is nearly done, a fair bit of fettling and fitting required. I'm happy with the headlight bowls and the indicator recesses are finished. The front quarter bumpers have been fitted, they simply required an angled spacer behind the respective mounting brackets. I'm making up an aluminium infill panel for the grill, that will replace the GRP one supplied in the kit. That was used as a template and saved a fair bit of time and effort. My boot hinges have turned up so that will be on the list for this week. I also want to get the door skins done too and that will see the bulk of the build finished. Gone back on my thoughts for a silver / grey paint job, I'm thinking dark metallic red again !
Paperwork sent off to the DVLA today. I thought it might be wise to get it in to re register the car before the end of the month ! Could be that the DVLA will be inundated with Brexit related license issues, who knows !
Boot and hinges trial fitted, a little trimming around the edges and its looking good. I've decided on an authentic central boot lock rather than adapting the Z3 locking system. I moulded up a tapered lock recces which has now been glassed in place. So the boot is now locked manually and won't be part of the central locking system.
I've made a start on removing the moulding flash lines around the car. The mould was obviously aligned well during manufacture as it has only taken minimum of sanding so far.
Moved onto the door skins today. The drivers side has been offered up, marked out and the door handle fitted. The hole in the Z3 door was made to access the internal mechanism. Easy enough just measure twice and cut once ! I'm going to make use of the Z3 key lock so I don't have to rely on the remote central locking totally.
The alignment of the skin looks good, both the front and rear edges, I'm aiming for an even 4mm gap all round.
Managed to progress the door skin a little further today. I've built up the back edge of the front wing area by around 5mm. After a little trimming I've got the desired panel gap and the door opens fully. I just need to do the same along the bottom of the door and the rear edge, but they should be easy !
Progress continues but not much worth a photo. Spent yesterday and plan to spend most evenings this week getting the body just right before I hand it over to the paint shop. Nothing major just fettling and a little filling here and there.
DVLA have returned my updated V5. Make is still BMW and model now reflects the body, so its correctly registered !
Bodywork is now pretty much sorted and the paint shop will soon have the car . I wanted to get it done this side of Christmas to avoid the really cold weather. Looking forward to a long hot summer and a trip to the LeMans Classic.
I've spent a few extra evenings on the bodywork before the paint shop gets the car in the week. Door gaps being the main area of work, mostly happy with them though the drivers side front edge has been a bit of a challenge. The near side sill turned out to be out of true by a fair amount. Skimmed and fettled a bit more than I would have liked but its done now. There are a few subtle bits for the painters to prep, they will be ok with that. I managed to smash the drivers side quarter window ( don't ask ! ) so I'll have to swop that out now ! Other than that I'm happy with the build so far. I'll get some photos up when its back from the painters.
I tried fitting 225/75x15 but found the 75 profile too high and they locked on the underside of the front shock spring pans. You might clear it with narrower 185's but I would check with one type before paying out for a full set.
My MOT tester warned me strongly against coilovers, he said they give a very harsh and unforgiving ride. I have tried Aspex and pro sport springs, the pro sprot springs collapsed after a week on the rear and the Aspex are not much better. Both of these springs are linear (whatever that means), I have been told by an expert that I need progressive springs so have bitten the bullet and bought a set of Eibach springs.
The 250swb does sit so much better on lowered springs, amazing what a small difference makes.
Linear springs have evenly spaced coils, progressive are wound with large space one end of the coil and shorter space the other end. The idea is the closely wound end is softer and becomes coil bound as it compresses and then large spaced area takes over which is stiffer.
. Knowing the filler doesn't need to be altered is (to me) reassuring, because getting a seal on a pipe carrying fuel would appear to be difficult!