Why not grab a sawzall and head to the local salvage yard. They are only going to crush the donor car anyway so they will probably won't charge much for it. Your going to have to weld it anyway so...

 

That guy - Valcas - seems to have the goods. I’ve done Euro orders - I have not used him, but I might for the e39.

 

Why not grab a sawzall and head to the local salvage yard. They are only going to crush the donor car anyway so they will probably won't charge much for it. Your going to have to weld it anyway so...

That’s plan ‘b’ if I can’t find new or easily fabricate one myself. There’s a high probability that any salvage E46s in my area (Northeast) are going to have as much as, or more, rust than mine so I’d probably be very lucky to find a clean one.

 

What if the metal you are welding the kit on is rusted as well? Have you assessed the damage and is repairable with this kit?
If you'll need "more metal" i think it makes more sense to follow the sawzall route

 

That looks like a MOT/TUV replacement part,
as in, in countries where structural integrity matters, and you have to repair it 'as built'

For a US car, where 'structural' counts as 'no holes bigger than a quarter' (PA)
or similar, I'd be far more motivated to fabricate something myself. Not to say I'm
a master fabricator, but it really just needs to be strong and not rusted,
which isn't hard to do.

And yes, a 'partial cut' from a junkyard is always the 'right' way to do it, if you can find
the cut you need for a reasonable cost.

t

 

Finally got the rocker work done… Put together a short vid for anyone interested in the process…

 

i’m impressed, looks nicely done 👍🏻

one can tell this wasn’t your first rodeo with welding/fabrication.

 

This actually was my first fabrication project on the car. I’ve done other small things, like the wrench I made for removing the starter bolts, but nothing this big. Cutting into a body panel was a little nerve-racking, but because it is an area hidden by the trim I figured any fabrication sins could be forgiven. And it’s FAR from perfect, but I’m ok with it.