clarkson's e46 m3 and previous cars - lots of pics

[clarkson22]

Got my bumper done , one little run on the underside , you can't see it so it will do! My new fogs came and indicators but I'm still waiting on my headlight lenses but did a bit to it today while sun was out
Wheel went to royal steering wheels on Friday

Got rid of the carbon wingmirror covers back to oem


Got rid of the angels eyes , one of the resistors was melting plus I want to go back to oem


Old indicators and Angel eyes wiring for the bin


Replaced both lower arch liners now everything bolts up good

Non broken lower arch liner

Bought a load of screw and fasteners to replace all the arch and bumper screws and clips not 're used one old bolt


Headlight bolts replaced both sides

Bumper ready to go on

Trying to align bumper

New fogs on




Will update once my headlight lenses arrive
Then I can sort the rear bumper , I'm thinking about a csl diffuser bit fully blended with the bumper I did find a picture with a red m3 with it done but can't find it now

[clarkson22]

Headlight lenses came...sent me ones for a prefacelift estate/saloon .God sake so I got on with making brackets for the indicators , the original brackets were both snapped off that hold the indicator at side of headlight, the indicators have always been siliconed onto the headlight (another reason for new covers) so some plastic welding some strong glue and u clip and boom it works
Ghetto but it works


Above the bracket with no clip

Otherside

Extra washer to clamp it all


Can still tighten and loosen through the oem hole and with it tightened

Otherside


Nice and tight and no sealant!
Sprayed my grill as it was fading grey


And it on after 3 hours baking

License plate holder back on getting new plates for the 'fresh' look

Then gave it a clean , it was full of bird crap and a fine tint of red dust from next doors work


When I finally get my headlight covers I can put the headlight washer trim back and time to move on to the rear bumper.

[clarkson22]

Well headlight lenses came today so fitted them and the headlight washer trim got my metal pressed plates ready to go just waiting on 3m sticky tape to arrive , and still waiting in my wheel from Jack at royal steering wheels any who
De tangoed


They are old headlights still

They look worse in person


New right, old left




Yes I have a black side grill I stood on my chrome one cleaning it


I have a new bonnet badge as that one has faded bad already, I'm going to give the new one a few coats of lacquer
Will update soon

[clarkson22]

It's just faded and looks st mate and is ever so slightly lifting the gel badge off the metal base you may aswell get some news one dude

[clarkson22]

You can get the cheap ones for £7 ish but put a few layers of lacquer on to stop fade

[clarkson22]

Yes mate I've done all the painting,I have been lucky with my mates booth and being able to use it and his equipment but he's moving soon so won't be able to use it but I will be paying for a colour change next year, hopefully.
I'd rather just pay for a brilliant job where I don't have to sand fill paint, realise I've fked somewhere and 're do, I'm thinking of having it done LSB as that is my favourite colour for the e46

[clarkson22]

Fitted my number plates and some new side repeaters turned up - forgot I ordered these!
Need to order some chrome bulbs for them and de tangoed the rear
Alu pressed plates

For some reason the rear looks wonky but I assure you my trusty tape measure helped

De tangoed rear







I'm not spending anything on it till next month payday the 15th I'm on a promise to the misses ....
'Next' month I'm going to paint the rear bumper before my mate with the booth moves away, get a csl diffuser some oem led rear lights new m3 badge and freshen the rear up .
Once the outside is done I'm going to finally replace the 2 front wishbones that cost a fortune then every single bush and balljoint have been replaced in the last 4 years with powerflex bushes where available , then I'm going to tackle the rod bearings....
Driving round in the e91 is saving me a fortune on fuel but it's bland as fk.

[clarkson22]

Haha small world , yeh the black one....it was so botched together it was untrue, it never ran right , when I got it it would only rev to 4 and half thou it still had a rev 1 igniter switched that over to a rev 3 and rev limit was back but always had problems then a rod snapped , i remember you asking me about it on ebay.I miss my green mr2 still when I've built my garage I'm going to rebuild one but yeh I love them.

Have you got a thread for your e36 dude ?

[clarkson22]

Got my steering wheel back from Jack at royal steering wheels, smooth kappa top and bottom , perforated sides , m stitching and extra thick
Really excellent work
Now i need new bits for the center of the wheel



I can drive it again

[clarkson22]

helix402 said:

As ever, good work. Rod bearings aren't too bad, just a pain on your back!

Hi mate I take it you did it on axle stands ? My mate is getting rid of his unit and ramp so back to good old axle stands , I'm just scared of scratching the crank or st being blown up from the wind, I suppose I could just flush it with some cheap oil? Then bang the good stuff in ? How long did it take You?

Cheers dude

[clarkson22]

I really need to build my garage and put a pit in it, but until then my poor back will take it lol
I must order some new axle stands
But what the misses doesn't know is that the empty space in the garage will turn Into a mr2 to rebuild mwhahaha

[clarkson22]

Cheers dude and the ebay item number is

351576516707

But I should of really bought some with captive washers on as I had to buy a box of washers sepratly but they were only 4 quid

[clarkson22]

Have you got a link to the cutters build dude?

I do like a good e36
Anyway put some clear resin on my new badge to stop it fading and lifting up

Sorry about it upside down


Much better

[clarkson22]

KNOCK KNOCK




Well cars been off road for year and half , my e91 320d brake vacuum pump blew off engine and emptied oil and replaced it filled with oil and it started to knock like fook and the inlet camshaft snapped in half and destroyed the engine , so the e46 m3 came out to save the day fresh oil and filter and ....6 weeks into daily driving I can hear a rattling at 2.5k upwards , vanos is rattling slightly, drive for another week on the way home decide to give it some beans come to some temporary traffic lights half a mile from my house and knock knock knock on idle give it a little rev and yep...rod bearing knock, decided to take engine out and sort it , will update over the few days I've got loads of pics from my whole drivers side respray i did in my garage and a few other things before it blew up.

I was going to purchase a supercharger kit in a couple of months and tackle the rod bearings then , st happens least I have lockdown to tackle this !!

Wish me luck

[clarkson22]

On a better note picked this e91 320d up for 650 to replace my e91 320d that blew up!! 2 snapped front suspension springs, and bald tyres just swopped the struts from my blown e91 320d and the alloys and mot'ed it last tuesday before lockdown happened and it passed with Few advisories ! And on another happier note(for me) my best friend had a e91 320d with m47 engine and he crashed it 2 weeks ago and has just bought it back from insurance, and for a few hundred quid the engine is mine to swop over to my blown black e91 320d and his heated black leather interior
Silver lining and all that...


The front wasn't even sat in springs it was so low

[clarkson22]

fastbikes76 said:

Ouch... now there is some st luck !

Look forward to the updates though

Tell me about it lol !

I'll sort it though mate

[clarkson22]

This was around September 2018 water pump started knocking so replaced that with a circloli one from euro car parts been fine tup till now,




Fitted trw arms they just had the bmw logo ground off



Last drive before it was tucked away for a year and a half in the garage while I did jobs on it.

Then sprayed the drivers side one by one to minimize the spray in the garage all panels had the same amount of coats , the rest quarter had lacquer peel bad and chunk missing from jet washing front wing had rust coming through so decided to do it around june 2019 turned out ok but will be getting a proper respray in a few years.


Needs new wings so bodge it with fiberglass filler till I buy some .



Bought this

Got all the water filters and bought a sealey gun for 45 quid and a cheapo 20 quid for clear coat they worked ok.
Wing done

Colour on door

Clear coat






Vanos solinoid pack failed
Cleaning with magnets and degraser


They were cracked cold joints

So re soldered glued and working again.

Out the garage after a year ish Jan 2020




Then rod knock happened will update soon

[clarkson22]

So decided fk it engine is coming out so started 3 days ago.




Knocked over the bucket I caught all coolant in







Just bought myself a engine stand tonight off ebay so when that turns up I'll whack it on and have a look, it's been ok to be honest considering I've done it on my own , managed to get it out over the past 3 days .
Got the e91 320d engine to remove in a few days aswell should be easier lol

[clarkson22]

Well got the piece of st apart tonight and its fked , first rod cap I took off the bearing was missing a bit and the piston side was complety fooked the crank is fooked aswell....I've decided to break the car ...nah joking I'm going to get a replacment bottom end or engine in a few months but when I took the sump off 3 things ,
Got it on the stand

1st - there was a ton of silicone on pickup bmw had the sump off last at 36k , there was more but I'd I'd abit off thing wtf is that.

2nd - the oil pump chain seemed loosish not the reverse threaded nut but the chain seemed stretched and had been rubbing on the oil pickup pipe .

3rd- 2 oil oil pump nuts had the Allen key part rounded to high heaven had to bash 12mm multipoint socket to get them off.

Yeh the other 5 cylinders look ok but the rod and crank is fooked I'll sort it.
Bad one



A few of the Ok ones







It was just cylinder 4 rod,crank journal are both toast.

I'll sort it in a few months

[clarkson22]

Milage was 106k mate , I'm going to either get a bottom end or a complete engine and rebuild that either way theres a working engine going back in it lol!