Yet Another E30 Project Car---Unlike Any Other E30 Project Car---The M-Touring.
Part 4: Body Continued
The real challenge, and it was a big challenge, was with the rear quarter
panels. This was not a job for a mainstream body guy; it required a craftsman. We
are lucky enough to have such a person in Mauro Hernandez, a gentleman from
central Mexico who is much more than an insurance wreck fixer. First, he had to
cut the rear quarters off the donor car. Carefully cut them off, with straight lines
for edges, and with those edges in the right place so that they would fit up to the
Touring's rear quarters in the right place. That was NOT a simple thing. Then, of course, we ran into those extra doors. Have you noticed that the
Touring is a 4-door, and the M3 is a 2-door? Have you noticed that the rear fender
flares of the M3 come all the way forward to the edge of the door? That means that
when you try to put t
hose M3 rear fenders on a 4-door car, they come forward to
somewhere in the middle of the back door. Which further means that the M3 quarter panels on a 4-door Touring have to have a seam so the door can open. And
the seam has to have a perfectly even gap for its entire length. And then the flare has
to have an indentation for the outside door handle. And the door handle has to look
like it was done at the factory---it has to match the front handle and has to be
identical on both sides.
So next, the M3 quarters were fitted up to the Touring and lines drawn so as to allow the stock Touring quarter panels and part of the rear doors to be carefully cut away. Then the replacement panels were fitted and tack welded in place. A pattern was made from the rear door edge and the new quarter panel was cut at the edge of the back door. That was a scary step! The next hurdle was covering the newly created gap between the fender flare and the body where the open door exposed the normally hidden parts of the flares. Between the new sheet metal and the old there was now a gap of up to an inch or more that had to be filled. Mauro cut out cardboard patterns, transferred them to sheet metal, welded in the metal parts, ground the welds smooth, and filled in the details with a thin layer of plastic filler.
Finally, all the metal work was done and Mauro used small amounts of plastic body filler to cover the remaining minor imperfections. Then, hand sanding completed the preparations for painting. None of the steps undertaken to this point would count for much if they were covered with a poor paint job. Our choice for the paint job, as usual, was John McHenry Paint and Body because we are well familiar with his work, because he listens to what we request, and because he pretty much sticks to his estimated schedule. We were not disappointed. Now we know the true meaning of red.
Was it worth it? Absolutely! The car looks like it was meant to be. It gets attention and complements everywhere we go. I love it!!!
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