z3 install
- Thread starter Kamikaze
- Start date
I'll let you know tomorrow. Mine came in the mail yesterday, and I sanded and painted one last night. Going on once I get home. Already took the old fender off (to put on new door hinges) and it went off and on again in about 20 minutes, so I imagine the Z3 will slap right on. That is assuming the fitment is pretty close to factory fenders.
I haven't yet messed with the mesh grill though. Just putting the inserts in now w/o grill because the whole car will be getting sprayed in Feb. I painted the one last night just so it will sort of blend in with the rest of the car until then, and because that primer is very very thin!
~K
I haven't yet messed with the mesh grill though. Just putting the inserts in now w/o grill because the whole car will be getting sprayed in Feb. I painted the one last night just so it will sort of blend in with the rest of the car until then, and because that primer is very very thin!
~K
should not bee that hard what you need to is put the fender on then put all the bolts in loose next tighten them an equal amount, like 7 turns on each one untill they are all tight this way you can line the fender up as you put it on dont rush it and you will be fine
yea, shouldnt be too hard. only problem i ran into when installing my 99-00 fenders were the sideskirts.... man.. who knew they just slide off? took me an hour to do the first one, and then 15 mins for the second... fun
ha that is funny i had a friend have that same problem
no the stock ones do this a side skirt is bloted ont your car if it isnt it waves into the wind. but on the stock sides there are huge arrows that show how to take them off so that is why it is so funny
haha. yea, apparently they have clips and i was trying to pull the fender right off or actually just the front half so i dont have to take the whoole thing off. but yea, all i had to do was unscrew the bottom of the sideskirt and push forward and off it came 
OK, got the first fender on last night. I'll give you a couple pointers as you say you have never done this before. I worked in a body shop for a few years before switching to computers, so here are some tips:
Pretty easy other than bending the front bolt mount back in place from the fender bender, then drilling the broken bolt out. That was due to an accident tha car had been in, so you shouldn't have that problem. The front bolt would have been reachable from under the fender well skirt, had it not been broken off and all bent to hell!
First thing- take the door hinge limiter pin out, pretty evident when you can't get at the bolt heads, but figure I'd say it anyway. The side skirt on the 92-95 is has two screws up in the fender well, the the rest (along the rocker panel) are clips. They are misleading, as the clips have screw heads showing. They do nothing! They are plastic and strip if like mine the side skirts have been on for the past 9 years without ever coming off!
The new fender fit great, put the fender in place without tightening the bolts. Then slide the fender as far forward as possible, close the door of the vehicle. This is to make sure the fender doesn't contact the door when closing (and scratching any paint). When the door is closed, position fender so the gap between fender and door is nice and even, and the gap is small (about 2-3mm I'm guessing) if you have to, look at the other side! LOL. With fender in place, tighten the bolts along the top of the fender and the bottom one (the others you can't get to with the door closed). Note also the curve of the fender in relation to the door. On my fenders, they were curved out about 1/4" more than the doors. Flex the fender in so the curve matches the door before tightening the bottom bolt. Everything should line up nice and pretty. Open door, tighten the rest of the bolts. Then put the hinge pin and the fender well skirt back on. Carefull when closing the hood- make sure there is no contact with the fender. They fit perfect on mine, as there is the channel along the top of the fender for it to sit in, but you do want to take care!
Hope this helps. If I went into too much detail, screw you! LOL.
~K
Pretty easy other than bending the front bolt mount back in place from the fender bender, then drilling the broken bolt out. That was due to an accident tha car had been in, so you shouldn't have that problem. The front bolt would have been reachable from under the fender well skirt, had it not been broken off and all bent to hell!
First thing- take the door hinge limiter pin out, pretty evident when you can't get at the bolt heads, but figure I'd say it anyway. The side skirt on the 92-95 is has two screws up in the fender well, the the rest (along the rocker panel) are clips. They are misleading, as the clips have screw heads showing. They do nothing! They are plastic and strip if like mine the side skirts have been on for the past 9 years without ever coming off!
The new fender fit great, put the fender in place without tightening the bolts. Then slide the fender as far forward as possible, close the door of the vehicle. This is to make sure the fender doesn't contact the door when closing (and scratching any paint). When the door is closed, position fender so the gap between fender and door is nice and even, and the gap is small (about 2-3mm I'm guessing) if you have to, look at the other side! LOL. With fender in place, tighten the bolts along the top of the fender and the bottom one (the others you can't get to with the door closed). Note also the curve of the fender in relation to the door. On my fenders, they were curved out about 1/4" more than the doors. Flex the fender in so the curve matches the door before tightening the bottom bolt. Everything should line up nice and pretty. Open door, tighten the rest of the bolts. Then put the hinge pin and the fender well skirt back on. Carefull when closing the hood- make sure there is no contact with the fender. They fit perfect on mine, as there is the channel along the top of the fender for it to sit in, but you do want to take care!
Hope this helps. If I went into too much detail, screw you! LOL.
~K
Thanks, just trying to help!
The install time was actually about 20 minutes! That includes whacking the bent metal back into place! :-) Granted, I used to work in a body shop doing this sort of thing for a couple of years (I was and am not much of a body man, I was the resident mechanic, doing installs and removal of parts for painting).
There really wasn't much to it, and as I stated before, I had just taken this fender mostly off a few days earlier to get at the door hinges. For now I only have the plastic Z3 louvre in place without the mesh screen. Waiting for my body kit to make sure all the mesh is the same and will install it after final painting (and under louvre lighting is in place).
There's a How to section? LOL! n00b here, haven't been there yet!
The install time was actually about 20 minutes! That includes whacking the bent metal back into place! :-) Granted, I used to work in a body shop doing this sort of thing for a couple of years (I was and am not much of a body man, I was the resident mechanic, doing installs and removal of parts for painting).
There really wasn't much to it, and as I stated before, I had just taken this fender mostly off a few days earlier to get at the door hinges. For now I only have the plastic Z3 louvre in place without the mesh screen. Waiting for my body kit to make sure all the mesh is the same and will install it after final painting (and under louvre lighting is in place).
There's a How to section? LOL! n00b here, haven't been there yet!