Phantom Mark Posted February 15, 2010 Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 I think the pics do all the talking but a couple of important points. 1. Jack the car on the rear sill point, rear tyre a couple of inches from the ground will suffice. 2. The large upright box section is the captive nut housing for the subframe mount, in my case this was entirely detached from everything which meant simply undoing the 18mm bolt on the underside and sliding out the long bolt, the captive nut section simply pulled out the way allowing me to grind off the old metal and clean and prep for later, if yours is not completely knackerd like mine you will need to cut around this from the inside out, sounds extreme but its nothing to worry about. 3. Cut and shape your outside peice of metal to slide between the subframe bush and the body of the car on the outside, drill your hole etc, put the bolt back into the hole and gently lower the car back onto the wheel, this will trap your new metal in the correct place. 4. Weld the new metal from the INSIDE, as in pics. 5. Jack the car back up and remove bolt, now create a peice of metal for an upper inside metal skin, mark the bottom of new upper plate from below, drill and then carefully put back in correct place with bolt as a locator, weld new plate in place. 6. Place the captive nut tower back in place and place bolt back in hole and tighten finger tight, make sure your captive nut tower is square and in correct place, now seam the tower to your new lower plate, this will stop the tower spinning around, you will notice BMW relied on 3 tiny spot welds on the outer top skin (which all fractured on mine), this means it will never break free !!! The pics do far more talking.......... I will fiinish this project with a little more seam welding on the outer skinds, and grind it up nice and smooth, then I will use some white stone chip type coating all over the top half of boot floor so it matches, then spray in red, you will hopefully never know it was done The above repair is more than twice as siginificant as the original BMW floor plan !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Mark Posted February 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 The other pics.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Mark Posted February 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 All that now remains is some tidying, grinding, painting etc to make it all look pretty again........will update with those pics when thats complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringy93 Posted February 15, 2010 Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 Good job Mark, glad its getting sorted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonlpearce Posted February 15, 2010 Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 Mate it looks like you did a top job there, did you do it yourself in the end? Looks much better than the welding Marty did on his sunroof although he was upside down at the time so im sure we can let him off, lol. Now do you fancy doing the jacking points on the E34 for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted February 15, 2010 Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 Well done bud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Mark Posted February 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 I would actually be quite happy to have a go at those jacking points Simon, just a shame your so far away mate Cheers again guys, hopefully this will inspire someone else to save their car from the knackers yard eh !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonlpearce Posted February 15, 2010 Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 I was actually thinking about having a pop myself but i havent even the first clue about welding, dont even know what sort of welder i would need. I did find a DIY though which was quite useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Mark Posted February 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 We used a Clarke 151en Mig, gas'less (but can use gas) Preperation is the key, welding to dirty old uncleaned metal is a no no, cleaned up the little MIG was just about able to do the thin stuff, ideally it needed different wire and some gas so it could weld the thin stuff easier, thicker metal with this welder is a breeze, so the re-enforcing plates went straight in no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted February 15, 2010 Report Share Posted February 15, 2010 Looks like a top job there mate! Glad its getting sorted! Looking forward to seeing the finished pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aly Posted February 16, 2010 Report Share Posted February 16, 2010 Wow... Great skill so far mate! itsmark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Mark Posted February 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2010 Hope to make a start on the final stage in the coming weekend, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimzimmer46 Posted February 16, 2010 Report Share Posted February 16, 2010 top job mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
///Marty Posted February 19, 2010 Report Share Posted February 19, 2010 I doth my cap to you Mark, it certainly isn't something i would take on! It does look better than my sunroof welding but as Si says it was my first time and i was trying to weld upside down! Look forward to seeing the finished pics with paint etc. Are you gonna use that seam sealer stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richsaunders Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Cheers guys, really interesting topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aterro Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Nice guide. Wondering why you didnt take the whole rear subframe off instead of ripping out your boot floor? & what welder did you use? Do BMW take no consideration for this and taking the blame?(whatever the age of the car)? Are the re-inforcement kits still available in the UK? revj 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIg ODP Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 This may be a daft question but what's the likelihood of this happening? Is it inevitable that all e46's will eventually rust here or just the unlucky few? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kai Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Fantastic effort! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blair Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 This may be a daft question but what's the likelihood of this happening? Is it inevitable that all e46's will eventually rust here or just the unlucky few? I'd think most will suffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 I thought the later models were beefed up a little? I've not heard of any later facelifts with these issues.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32pee Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Thanks for this DIY!! I repaired my 99 323i using this as a guide about 2 months ago. Mine had gone on the same side and in the same way as yours. Saved me hours of work stripping the sub frame out. All in it took me about 5-6 hours to get back to good with new boot floor blended in and resprayed. I had access to a plasma cutter and mig welder for this repair. The plasma cut through it like butter. Tip. Dont forget to spray underseal underneath of the car around the new welded in area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Mark Posted August 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Cool, well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richardcs Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 hi, would you consider doing this repair for others (ie, me!) and at what cost? im assumign mines gone - it clunks when putting into gear,coming off the clutch etc!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gazb Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 (edited) hi, would you consider doing this repair for others (ie, me!) and at what cost? im assumign mines gone - it clunks when putting into gear,coming off the clutch etc!? This could also be the prop doughnut or guibo as its know check this also Edited May 6, 2013 by Gazb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
