My WIP

[rayray086]

Work in progress that is Mainly cosmetic stuff though, as that's all I can do.

I've been shaving bumpers and trying to get my set of Jap wheels to fit, in time for some of the events this month. I blame exams, ****ty weather and a lot of mishaps for not finishing in time, but I think I've only got my laziness to blame.

Front bumper
I have to give it to bombsquad21 for bringing this up before, and I was one of the people that replied that smoothing the indicator/dummy/foglight cluster deviated too much from the original Mk3 look. Well, after many months and a lot of foreign forum viewing, I finally gave in to the smooth look. I picked up a cheap soldering iron (came with a flat blade tip, VERY useful) and went away destroying a dented bumper I scabbed from Matt.



I had to cut the section out near the plate recess as my original bumper didn't have the indent in between. I checked bumpers of other Mk3s and they do :S So that was the first obstacle.



Welded it in place first.



But the hard thing was trying to get it to align properly so that it follows the curvature of the bumper. As you can see from the bottom pic, not perfect.

[rayray086]

So I welded a big bunch of plastic on the rear of the bumper, effectively pushing it out.



All good.



Then proceeded onto sanding (bought an electric sander for this) followed by filling.



It was far from perfect. I also filled the indent on the top of the bumper and dremeled it to shape. Up close you can still see my "artistic touches". And I didn't prepare the bumper for painting properly. Hence the satin black paint



I'll be refinishing it when I can be bothered again, going back to white.

[vwthunder]

Looks good rayray

I have always liked the smooth look

If I ever respray my car I will try to find smooth bumpers and loose all the textured stuff for a clean look

[rayray086]

Since I took off the front indicators, I had to retrofit a new pair to pass rego. Because I like the idea of OEM+, I got a pair of Mk1 turns and smoked them.



They're now sitting in the lower ducts, held on by none other than zip ties!



With Steve's VR6 grille, here's the result of the front.



The coilovers are set to the same height, it's just my driveway is uneven.

[rayray086]

Rear bumper

Not completed yet, but I basically smoothed over the exhaust cutout and towhook cover. Again, I used the scrap bumper for pieces, and welded everything in. It's sanded down now, but still needs filler and paint. Oh, and I stripped the white paint from the bumper, hence the black (it's actually raw plastic). I've sanded back some of the scratches so far, and there are some deep ones that I'll need to fill later on too



I also cut the exhaust tips off. It needs black paint to make it more inconspicuous. I've seen cut more off after the pic below was taken.



While doing the bumpers, my coilover sleeves came. Installed them during the Uni break and they go much lower than the Koni lowering springs. I can tuck rear wheels just slightly and eliminate wheel gap on the fronts. I've yet to give it a good drive though, as I've yet to get an alignment - more on that next post.

[BlackVr6ix]

Well done looks ace

[rayray086]

VR6 brakes and 16" wheels

I wanted to upgrade to VR6 brakes for the 5 stud hubs and of course for better stopping power (not that I needed it, hehe). I've done the rears, but am letting Matt do the fronts.

Wheel stats! They're BBS RS, factory on a Toyota Soarer. Measures 16x7 and 16x8, ET45. I put 195/45R16 and 205/40R16 tyres respectively on them. I bought 25mm and 33mm adapters to fit them on. I rolled the arches in anticipation.









I've got the 33mm adapters and 8" wheels on the rear, giving me an offset of ET12. The poke was actually what I was after, but the rubbing issues, slight lack of tyre stretch and minor arch rolling wasn't. I haven't got pics of the tyre carnage but it was bad. Definitely not what I was expecting... I don't know how some of the guys on Vortex do it. I'm looking into a slight fender pull or at least cutting the fender lip and smoothing it to get that much needed clearance. Also, I reckon a 195 would work better on the 8"!

I'm not looking forward to the front. If anyone has a spare set of 5x100 wheels with decent tread, PM me!!!!!!!!!!!

[Water Boy]

Ray is the man for bubbin his euro look Mk3... Steepin it up for sure

[rayray086]

Thanks for the comments Troy and James

I'm backing out a bit though... I'll go through with the VR6 brakes, but I think I'll stash the wheels away for a few months until I can get enough spare cash for a good fender pulling, or at least a more major fender roll. Might look into thinner adapters too... there's a company in US that makes 20mm ones, so that might be the go.

[Water Boy]

Thats a pity about the wheels scrapping mate... Just run some standard VR6 wheels until all is sorted...

[Lorenz]

Wow, nice work mate, love what your doing

Shaved bumpers look brilliant and the BBS wheels..... well they're just PORN!
Old school mesh Jap wheels suit the MK3's so well IMO, thats why im gonna be looking at a few sets of Jap wheels for mine!

Keep up the good work champ and look forward to more pics and updates soon

[peedman]

Far out im a lazy bstard compared with ray. Once uni finishes ill get my butt moving lol. If i find a new set of wheels ill sell ur old ones back to u hahaha!!!!

[rayray086]

I'm with you on the mesh. The old school Impul and Enkei mesh looks so good on AE86s!

Haha but I will be 5 stud now! Don't think I'll be turning back!

[MattyT]

This is a heck of alot of work, far more then I could really be bothered doing to my ride. Props!!

[vwthunder]

OMG

You have my fav wheels, I have been watching ebay for ages but not much comes up for MK3

Are the basically the same as the RS001's

They look hot

I want some