E21 316: More Open Arch Surgery! Wheels finally on...

Got the grinder out again today and tackled the job I haven't been looking forward to - cutting away the other rear wheel-arch. Progress was quick and smooth for a change, I guess because I had an idea of what to do now, but I think the lower profile tyres played a part. If only I'd bought them first time round I wouldn't have had to butcher the n/s quite so much. A good notch had to come out at the bumper shut-lines as these were the main bits sitting on the tyre, but less of the outer lip had to be cut away and the arch looks a lot smoother than the last effort.

The main problem with scrubbing was coming from the inner skin of the arch and the best way to get that off was still to peel it back, cut wide flaps in the metal using tin-snips and work them with grips until they snap clear.

It's been quite a bit of effort and hacking away at the car was heartbreaking, but at last the super fat wheels are on and no scrubbing whatsoever. Now to see about neatening up those arches...

E21 316: Front wheels fitted - the easy part.

No fouling on the pulled arch-lip with these skinnier tyres, but the front valance was still just about catching so, with the arrival of the new spacers, I thought I'd get the fronts boxed off before starting the arduous task of the other rear arch. Sadly, my camber-plates have yet to arrive, I guess they must be stuck while Customs & Excise figure out what they are.

Thankfully, the amount of valance that needed cutting away on the n/s was only about 8mm and I didn't have to remove the bumper after all. I did my best to follow a natural curve, not sure if I took a little too much near the bottom. Interestingly, the o/s of the front valance didn't contact the new tyre at all and the fender does not extend past the bumper. I wonder if the n/s wing has been replaced at some point giving a slightly proud line. I matched up to that line when repairing the lower-valance last summer, so that would explain why it was catching the tyre too. Either way, the o/s/f arch required no grinding at all, so a little more pulling and the fronts will be ready for smoothing in.

I've also been driving round the last day or two with NASCAR style staggered wheels - 16s on the n/s and still 15s on the o/s. The car steers great to the right, but is a bit recalcitrant going hard left. I must find time to wrestle that other rear arch on Monday or it'll be like this for a while.