24 May Bar None
Occasionally, we’ll make something that’s not entirely composed of stainless steel or aluminum. We like to throw a little carbon fiber in the mix every now and then.
This week, we’re finishing up the design for a rear strut tower bar for the E46 M3. It does provide a bit extra rigidity in the rear, but above all else it looks pretty damn trick.
The center bar itself is made from — you guessed it — 100% genuine carbon fiber. The mounts are CNC-milled from a single block of aluminum. Here’s the driver’s side:
And here’s the passenger side. You’ll notice the mounting points look slightly different. In BMW’s mind, it makes no sense to mount both rear shocks the same way, so the passenger side is cocked a bit, in relation to the driver’s side. We’re redoing this side to incorporate that side-cocking, so what you see here isn’t the final design.
The carbon fiber bar is attached to the two ends by way of this aesthetically pleasing nut-and-bolt setup:
Originally, we planned to make this piece only for a single customer, but given the ease with which these are made, we are offering them up for sale to the general public, as well. Shoot Andrew an e-mail (andrew [at] fluidmotorunion [dot] com) for pricing and other information!
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