A purists nightmare - E46 drift build

[Tkuhn]

Update.

Been busy with some personal stuff but finally got some time to get to the shop.

Pulled out the main hoop and got it completely welded. 

Which was a daunting task for me leading up to it. I can weld and do fab work but when it came to something this permanent I got nervous about my welding skills.

But it went well so confidence re-instilled.

Then I cleaned up all the seam sealer under where the rear box plated for the main hoop will be and re-tacked them in. Forgot to take a pic but it wasnt much of anything exciting.

Before putting the main hoop back in we "clearanced" the rear seat area with the good ole attitude adjuster. Aka hammer. The idea was to make room for the chassis harness to slide back down next to the bottom of the main hoop. Really excited on how that little detail turned out.

Next we threw in the main hoop and tacked it in place again, then I got the rear down bars properly aligned and squared up and did a final weld on them to the main hoop.

Hoping to make more progress next weekend!

[YoungCR]

Fitment looks perfect

[B C]

Very nice fab work

[Tkuhn]

YoungCR said:

Fitment looks perfect

B C said:

Very nice fab work

 Thanks guys! Cant take all the credit for myself but we definitely are striving for getting as tight a fit as we can.

[Jdesign]

Looks damn good. are you just making a 4 point or are you planning on taking it further?

[Tkuhn]

Jdesign said:

Looks damn good. are you just making a 4 point or are you planning on taking it further?

Thanks! And it's going to be a 6 point with door bars. So yes much further haha

[Tkuhn]

UPDATE!

Got some really rewarding progress done this weekend

Had the windshield removed during the week.

Then moved on go making my CAD rocker boxes a reality.

Next was the A pillar bars. Notching them was a real trial and error process but again super grateful to Sam for the help on these as well.

They fit really well and I'm happy with them.

Then I moved on to the door bars on the passenger side. Which turned out exactly how I envisioned them! Theres pleanty of ways to do a door bar but from day one this was what I wanted and I couldnt be happier.

Just need to add the verticals for more support.

And to further my excitement the door closes and fits perfectly with the seat and door panel!

Things are moving along so hopefully the other door bars go smoothly then final welding can commence.

[Tkuhn]

UPDATE

Started the weekend off with running down to a buddies in Waukegan to pick up a set of DonMusk M3 over fenders. Which I have wanted for a long time and timing worked out plus I saved huge not having to ship from Poland.

going to take some work to get them fitted right, more so on the end of opening up my wheel wells. The overs themselves fit great.

Then I moved onto passenger side door bars.

 And after that was getting the gussets in for the door bars on both sides.

With the gussets being completed that was the final touches of the true fab work. 

Then on to final welding!

Only pic I really took of final welds. Turned out ok.

The next step to finish final welding was to remove all 4 rocker boxes and drop the cage down to get to the tops.

That was about it for the weekend. Next weekend I am hoping to get the cage back up and in place, then weld the boxes to the car and the cage to the boxes and finally the daunting task of painting. Lol

[Tkuhn]

UPDATE!

Started the weekend off on Friday night by getting the cage back up on the rocker boxes and welding them in for good then welding the cage in for good as well.

That task took all night and was definitely frustrating. But it's done . Then I hit everything with some sandpaper in preperation for painting.

Saturday morning I got to taping and making off the entire car. Which took alot longer than I planned lol.

Pro tip: tin foil is a lifesaver and cheaper than tape and easier than plastic.

Wiped the cage down with some prep solution and then played down 2 coats of self etching primer.

"Pro tip #2" : I used my shop vac to try and keep over spray to a minimum and it did seem to work decently.

Obviously next came color! I did 2 coats of color and then a third to finish off the last can in the areas that will be "higher traffic" like the door bars and a pillars. I do plan to put down clear vinyl on the door bars to keep them from scratching as well.

I will spare you the repetitive photos and jump right to the ones with clear which I did on sunday afternoon. 

I am super excited at the way this turned out. 

Every aspect was daunting for me just because I wanted to do it as well as possible, since we pride ourselves on good looking and also functional drift cars haha.

I chose to use rattle can for a few reasons. With this tight area and the fact that I wasnt doing the entire interior a actual 2 stage paint with a gun would have made a huge mess with the air pressure and the hose.

Secondly if it does get scratched, which I'm sure it will, touch up will be easier if necessary.

And thirdly I do like to pride myself on tricking people to think that it was done with a gun but it's just spray paint lmao.

Super excited to un-mask everything and get rolling on putting the interior back in along with a few other projects for the season yet!

[KaiserRolls]

Looks good. Could always toss some 3m clear vinyl on the high wear areas. 

[Tkuhn]

KaiserRolls said:

Looks good. Could always toss some 3m clear vinyl on the high wear areas. 

Thanks!! And yes that was my plan. Specifically on the door bars.

[Tkuhn]

Weekend update!

Started by getting the passenger and drive carpet buckets in. The carpet I bought from my part out guy was cut in the front because it goes under the heater core. So having them in 2 pieces works out better honestly.

Next up was cutting the dash in the upper and lower corners to fit with the cage.

I did cut more than I would like on the top so maybe down the road I might buy another dash and trim it better.

I also had to trim a little off the defrost vents for the sides.

Then trimmed the vents to fit.

Driver side. (Its also worth noting that usually the LCM does not fit, although I have some e46 buddies that figured out how to make it fit because the thing is GIGANTIC behind the face. Somehow mine barely fit without modifications. But I'm not complaining lol)

Here is the passenger vent trimmed to fit along with the airbag cover. I have another airbag cover that I might trim a little tighter since I know how it needs to be cut now.

Next I installed the rear carpet piece and trimmed it to fit around the cage.

I then installed the center console and arm rest I found in a junkyard awhile back. 

In this photo you can also see the prototype v1 of the window switch insert Sam made me.

Pretty excited with how it looks and will function.

Then I moved on to trimming the glove box. Some say you cant make it fit. But with some info from another e46 friend and some thought it worked out great! 

Here's the clearance with it down

And some final photos of the interior for the weekend.

I was able to order my sunroof delete and the new handbrake set up so hopefully they dont take too long to ship thanks to this pandemic. 

I will need to extend the window switch wiring so that is one of the things on the docket for next weekend.

Until next time!

[Rekpoint]

Your soon to have m3 hood hinges !!

[Tkuhn]

Rekpoint said:

Your soon to have m3 hood hinges !!

You had a e46M partout!?

[Rekpoint]

Tkuhn said:

You had a e46M partout!?

No. But a guy has a set across town from me had one and Im picking up some other things for earl. He requested them for you.

[Tkuhn]

Rekpoint said:

No. But a guy has a set across town from me had one and Im picking up some other things for earl. He requested them for you. 

I appreciate that! I wish the dude had the door and rear quarter moldings. And the gas door lol

[Tkuhn]

UPDATE

Decided to bite the bullet and chop up the rear quarters.

Now it is worth mentioning that I did feel bad after looking at how clean this thing is lmao BUT it was only for a half hour and after I asked some friends to tell me to stop being a bitch  

So here is the last photo of the rust free quarter hahaha

And setting up to cut.

Chop chopped

Bent up and welded the folds.

Then filled all the gaps.

Then moved on to the other side. Only 2 photos of this side.

And finally finished off the day sealing them up with seam sealer.

Also the new chase bays handbrake set up arrived

Thats it for now, next up will be undercoating the wheel wells and hopefully mocking up the overs.

[B C]

love the updates man! Cant wait to see the overfenders on and wrapped

[Tkuhn]

B C said:

love the updates man! Cant wait to see the overfenders on and wrapped

Thanks! Staying as active as I can and me too haha

[Tkuhn]

Not an update but excited to have another part come in!

S2rTuning sunroof delete!

Definitely seems like another quality piece to add to the car. Excited to see how the fit is this weekend. Really love that this is the only one I have found on the market that uses the existing mounting holes from the oem cassette to mount. 

Fingers crossed that it fits well!