Rebody Oh no. It's not another 507 Rebody. Oh yes it is!
- Thread starter Duncodin
- Start date
Yes. I do like the pepper pots. But they're only available as 15"
I haven't given up on something similar though
You need to decide what look you want to end up with then find some wheels that will give you that look.
The above wheels scream 1980s and the fake spinners make anything look cheap and comedic IMHO.
Style 34s or 36s are as near as you will reasonably get to the originals from a 507, if that is what you are after.
The wire wheels with real spinners and hub adapters are 15". 65 profile tyres and a set of lowering springs and job's a good 'un.
The kit from Tribute Auto comes with GRP grill surrounds and metal grill pieces a bit like BBQ mesh/shelf. I think the idea is that the mesh will be clipped, glued, fixed to the grill surrounds. I've changed the shape of my bonnet and grill intakes and still not happy with that but today I wanted to fit the grill mesh. I don't want to fix the mesh to the grill surrounds so decided to fit the mesh to the car like this:
The grill/mesh supplied with the kit is too small to work the way I want so I got some of the alu mesh from Halfords. Easy to shape and cut.
When the bonnet is closed it kinda looks OK.
Excuse the grill surrounds. still bodging/shaping the bonnet and the grill intakes and just stuck em in there to see what it'll look like
Eventually I do want to use the same kind of mesh as that supplied with the kit but I've searched everywhere and just can't find a BBQ shelf big enough. I'll mail chris at tribute and ask him where he gets his from - and how big is it before he chops it up.
The grill/mesh supplied with the kit is too small to work the way I want so I got some of the alu mesh from Halfords. Easy to shape and cut.
When the bonnet is closed it kinda looks OK.
Excuse the grill surrounds. still bodging/shaping the bonnet and the grill intakes and just stuck em in there to see what it'll look like
Eventually I do want to use the same kind of mesh as that supplied with the kit but I've searched everywhere and just can't find a BBQ shelf big enough. I'll mail chris at tribute and ask him where he gets his from - and how big is it before he chops it up.
Hadn't even considered the mesh being fitted to the lower section....Nice idea.
How have you fixed the aluminium bonnet trim to the bonnet. I'm thinking a couple of bolts tapped into it secured with a locking nut underneath. Don't fancy it flying off into the windscreen at 60mph. Don't want metals to react so maybe some aluminium threaded studding
I've managed to get a hardtop that I plan to trim out to fit the rear tub like yours. Did you need to take much off.
Looking great @Duncodin
How have you fixed the aluminium bonnet trim to the bonnet. I'm thinking a couple of bolts tapped into it secured with a locking nut underneath. Don't fancy it flying off into the windscreen at 60mph. Don't want metals to react so maybe some aluminium threaded studding
I've managed to get a hardtop that I plan to trim out to fit the rear tub like yours. Did you need to take much off.
Looking great @Duncodin
It's just easier this way. But I must confess that if/when I stop bodging about with the bonnet I may go back to the original idea and put the mesh in the grill.
Two short lengths of threaded rod. Drilled into the bottom of the trim piece and tapped. Nuts under the bonnet.
Quite a bit came off. First cut really was just a guess. Needed to get the roof on and clipped down so I could then run a pencil around the edge to mark the shape. Then lots of adding material back in to bridge the gap between the inner and outer skins of the roof.
Sorry I didn't take any measurements at the time but I have a few pictures that you might be able to use to guestimate your first cut. I'll also take some more pictures showing a tape measure in strategic places which might help.
Chopping the Hardtop. ie what to chop off
I measured it in 4 places thinking this ought to be a good guide of where your first cut should be.
1.
2.
3
4.
On a normal z3 this bottom front corner of the hardtop is maybe 3-4mm above the top edge of the door. I have my door skin off so you can see there's 2.5 - 3cm chopped off here
Don't bother too much about getting it right on the first cut. The first cut is just so you can lower the roof on to the car - not bolted down. Just gently resting on the mounting points - and you'll see where your curves need to go.
The roof has a steel strip around the bottom holding the rubber. You need take that steel strip out. The roof is double skinned around where you're cutting. Just cut the outer skin and leave as much of the inner skin as you can so that you have a, kind of, step. Here's some more pictures showing what I mean by the step. You can use this step to set your rubber sealing strip into the corner of the step.
I measured it in 4 places thinking this ought to be a good guide of where your first cut should be.
1.
2.
3
4.
On a normal z3 this bottom front corner of the hardtop is maybe 3-4mm above the top edge of the door. I have my door skin off so you can see there's 2.5 - 3cm chopped off here
Don't bother too much about getting it right on the first cut. The first cut is just so you can lower the roof on to the car - not bolted down. Just gently resting on the mounting points - and you'll see where your curves need to go.
The roof has a steel strip around the bottom holding the rubber. You need take that steel strip out. The roof is double skinned around where you're cutting. Just cut the outer skin and leave as much of the inner skin as you can so that you have a, kind of, step. Here's some more pictures showing what I mean by the step. You can use this step to set your rubber sealing strip into the corner of the step.
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That's a great help..many thanks.
When are you planning on getting it sprayed.
Be a while. Still body work to fiddle with.
I'm not keen on the flat slab sided look of the body kit. Chris at tribute said that he started the 507 body using the mould for a ferarri-ish body kit. I assume that's where the almost vertical slab sides came from.
I wanna do something like this. See the way the bottom half of the body curves under.
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The curve on the underside sills are governed by the position of the structural Z3 sills. So there isn't much room for manouvre. Unless you re-design the whole body to stand off more from the top of the doors down, you can't get any more of a curve.
If you look at my sills, they only have a small curve from the bottom of the doors and are hard against the structural sills. The two lumps in the sills where the jacking points sit are a problem aswell.
Edit: just looked again at the sills of the 507. It looks like the GRP sills sit completely 'over' the Z3 ones?
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The 507 kit brings the bottom of the doors - and the sills - around 2 inches out. See the bottom of the door skin.
Loads of room down there to reshape that door skin
Just following the curve of the original z3 body shape would achieve the look I want.