The carbon piece that comes in the middle of the bumper is ready The grille that’s in now, is one with big holes, and I sprayed it dark grey.
When I bought the car 2 years ago, I already knew I was going to make this some day....Now I purchased a M-tech2 rear bumper with pdc. This is an original bumper from BMW itself, because I didn't want to get the same sh*t, that I had with the front bumper. Once I received the bumper, I mounted it on, and it fitted perfectly! So I could paint it, and mount it on...but you know that's not my style :) /emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I want the back of the car, look more like an M3. What the comments will be about this, I don't know, but I think it's the most beautiful rear of an E46. This also means I'm going for quad exhausts in the rear. This won't be easy...but yet, another challenge. The original M3 doens't have a spare wheel in the back, but instead is the exhaust system. What maybe an even bigger challenge is that I'll try to make this work on the original exhaust. Because in Belgium, we have to go to a technical control every year with the car, I drove to the control-station and asked if this would be a problem. they told me that whatever goes behind the original exhaust is no problem, as long as they can messure the CO-output. After a long search on ebay, I purchased these pipes. The end pipes didn't look like that when I ordered them on the internet. The thing I'm pointing at, should have been straight. You can see on the picture, it looks a bit curved. I could do 2 things: Send them back, or tune it myself.... I did the last one I put in the disc an hour later after delivery . This looked much better according to me. Now it's the art of making these things fit descently onto the exhaust system. Because I knew that things of the exhaust will get very close to the rear bumper, I need to do something to keep the heat out of there. This is special material to go around the pipes, and can resist a temperature of 1200 degrees. Heath wrapping. Then I also have a heat-shield to put on the back of the bumper.
The hardest part of the exhausts is behind me now, and it worked out fine. I put a lot of measure-work into it, but I'm proud to say that it's perfect onto the milimeter. On this picture, the end-pipes aren't mounted yet. Going to measure this again when it's all finished. Cause I hate it when mufflers come out to far. The original plastic piece on the bottom of the bumper....it already made a one way trip to the bin. It didn't fit one bit anymore, and off-course I want to change the model to something more beautiful. Here you can see the building of it. First I glued OAZE on the piece with hot glue. This material rubs like butter, and so I got a model faster. Once I had this, I taped it all with paper-tape. Here you can see the original exhaust where the quad's are mounted on to. I put on 4 layers of fiberglass polyester so it's all a bit more robust.
Put some model into the polyester piece. Needs to be some more refining for the finishing off… Cause I’m convinced that everything fits 100%, I discovered something. If you look at this picture, it seems something is not 100% right somewhere. You see that the inner muffles are a bit higher then the outer ones. I already noticed this on several other cars too. This is one of my favourites, and I immediately noticed that the exhausts weren’t on 1 line. I never saw the car IRL, but I’m 200% sure that these are correctly placed too. It just gives you a distorted image cause of the rounding of the bumper. I for one, will think 2 times before I say that mufflers are placed awry. I also tried to make some pictures, exactly in the middle of the rear, but that’s not so easy. To make the polyester piece the same LEFT as RIGHT, I made a mold. Sometimes it’s quite simple….when you know it
This piece will connect nicely onto the exhausts. First, I taped the bumper. Put on 4 layers of fiberglass cloth. This will be the foundation for the piece. I glued some MDF against this, and put some model into it. Then I mounted it on the car, and you can see I'm working with great accuracy. The space between the tubes and the piece is not more then 2 or 3 mm. I want as little space as possible between there, but this is a bit TOO small. A child knows this will rattle after 5 kilometers. So I took a little slath of 6 mm, and drew it out nicely onto the piece. Then I defined the length of the tubes. You can see the line, that they'll come out about 10mm. The outer mufflers will come out a bit more. I determined this by the rounding of the bumper, when you look from above. Then I looked with a sway-hook to get them diagonal aligned. Here you can see how many space I have now. I sprayed the piece black to have a better view on it. Now I'm about to saw the tubes on the good lenght, and spot-weld them on 4 places, then again, making sure they are still on the same line. I made a mold of the black piece you see here. For the moment it is drying. Once this piece is ready, I'm putting it back in the mold.
This is the polyester piece that came out of the mold. You can see I painted it black...and you know what happens next... :) /emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I can tighten this piece with screws on the backside. IF the epoxy or the varnish would fall in after a while, maybe from the heat, I can reel it off, and varnish it again. The tips are customized, and I point-welded them on. On this picture you can see I sawed them af slantlng. I did this because it looks a bit more refined that way, but that's each for his own. You can also see that I only let them come out about 10mm During a test-drive I noticed that the mufflers came against the sides a few times. I fixed this by adding a bit more space in between, it's now 8mm This is a picture that makes you say: "it's ok, or no, put it in the bin" You be the judge, but I like it. Once I had all of this, I dismantled it all, and welded the tips completely. Afterwards, I mounted it all again, said some prayers that it didn't become awry from the welding. For the moment it's all at the painters shop. Because I don't have a line in the front bumper, I'm going to delete this with the rear bumper as well. I also bought some M-Tech II sideskirts, so they are getting painted as well. The end is coming near...and that's a good thing. I'm getting a bit sick working on that rear bumper, but already looking forward of messing with the ICE again. When you do something different now and then...you stay sharp :) /emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20" />
This is the polyester piece I covered in carbon fibre. This was a f*king nasty piece to cover, but it worked out pretty well. Here you see the front is abraded pretty smoothly. On the bottom I still need to begin the rubbing-process, and you can see how many epoxy is on there. I timed how long I did for making this nice and tight, and before I knew it, it was 2.5 hours later. Now it can be covered with varnish. I'll get the bumper and the rest back tomorrow. This will rest for a couple of days, till I have the time to mount it calmly. The exhausts I provided with a heat wrap, but I didn't get all the way with the 10m I had. I ordered another 10m in England, and this will arrive tuesday or wednesday...
the backside of the polyester piece, I provided with a heat refractored material. The carbon frame above the mufflers, I tuned some more. Here and there a little paint runner that needed to be fixed/ Started with a 1200, then 2000 and stop with a 3000. started with the polyshing...first with a hard pad. here the result. after this we used the fine pad, to get back the shine. end-result The I screwed the carbon piece tight onto the polyester piece. Most people would have glued this on, but I don't like that sort of work. So I think my way is a big asset to this. If I needs to come of for some reason, I can just screw this loose. Here is the front, like it'll come on to the car. Everything is for 80% finished, and is installed on the car. The design department did a fine job to draw out something to come in between the mufflers. Then there was some guy of the team here who started talkin' crap to make something that emerged electricly. I sacked his ass right away :) /emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20" />
This will be the piece that comes between the exhaust pipes. First I made a model out of wood. After that I covered it with a couple (4) of layers polystercloth. Once this was dry, I had a weird design. I managed to delude some friends by telling I was making a glove-compartment to hang under the rear bumper. You must admit, it really looks like one These are 2 hockeysticks I made out of MDF. If you can see what’s underneath them, it’s not hard to figure out what’s next…
These are the 2 hockey-sticks I sawed out of 12mm thick aluminium. Afterwards I taped them on to the MDF model, and milled them out with the copy-mill. You can see the lines in the aluminium, which indicates that the mill has had it's best time. Mounted-in another mill, to round up the piece. Once this was done, I polished it all with some sanding paper. Then I started milling the other piece. Stretched it all nicely, and let the mill do her job Here you see I left some of the aluminum there. I did this on purpose, so that when the piece cools down, it won't bend. Once this was cooled of, I milled the rest away, and tucked the rest away with the wood graver. Then I sawed out an aluminium slat from 4mm, and gave it the same rounding of the bumper. This slat will get underneath the frame.
