E46 M3 Project

[mwstewart]

Caveman said:

I love the work you have done on this car and it inspired me to do several of my mods including the sat nav retro fit.

Where did you source the reversing camera as I'd like to do the same but cannot find a BM retrofit kit?

Thanks,

David

Thanks David. The kit came up eBay and unfortunately I've never seen another like it. I recommend one of the generic cameras that replace a numberplate light; I've had one fitted to my Golf for three years and driven in all weathers, and it still works perfectly.

[mwstewart]

I never did get around to an advert...I'm sending the car to BMW for an oil service - not that it really needs one, but it's the schedule! - and an MOT. I also had the diff inspected by GSR and new oil, just to be sure - all is as new. I also expect the BMW health checks to be green.

PH ad to follow when it is back from BMW.

Edited by mwstewart on Monday 25th December 03:41

[mwstewart]

sc0tt said:

Good luck with the sale.

Thank you.

[mwstewart]

The car is back from its oil service at BMW and everything is green except for an amber on the rear brake pads, which are at 4mm, so I've ordered some Brembo pads and will fit them once they arrive.

BMW also MOT'd the car.

EDIT: Photo removed and added to for sale summary.

Edited by mwstewart on Wednesday 17th January 08:42

[mwstewart]

Haha thank you. I haven't yet gotten around to writing the advert - I want to fit some new rear pads first. The whole thing has been a bit lackadaisical as at first I don't think my heart was in it, and later I was just too busy with the other cars.

The Golf sold earlier this year - A fellow PHer contacted me about it

[mwstewart]

Additional details post 1 of 2 (this won't fit in a standard advert!):

2004 '04' E46 M3 Coupe, Manual
37k miles. Titanium Silver, black leather.

1 year's MOT, and just serviced at BMW.

The car is in excellent condition. I keep it stored in a dark, humidity controlled environment. The parcel shelf and other black fabric parts are original and unfaded. The rear lights are original and still sparkle - ditto the headlights. The interior is spotless and smells as it did from new.

There are two former keepers:
1) The original owner is a retired chap from North Shields. He traded in the M3 for an XKR because he wanted something more GT like with an automatic gearbox;
2) The second owner was a quantity surveyor from London. He was setting up his own consultancy in the wake of the credit crunch and the M3 was sold to fund his endeavour. The car spent most of the time in his underground car park.

It has never been on track. The engine and gearbox are crisp and tight - the gearbox in particular is the best it gets in an M3, which is not perfect in manual terms, but not recalcitrant like an abused example. The car has led a charmed existence.

I have owned it since March 2013 at 27k miles.

Specification - OEM

• Aux in;
• Bluetooth;
• Boot release button;
• Digital TV;
• Electric lumbar support;
• Electric rear blind;
• Extended storage pack;
• Folding mirrors;
• Glovebox torch;
• Harmon Kardon;
• Heated seat pre-wiring;
• High gloss shadowline;
• Professional sat nav (Mk4 DVD);
• Rear centre headrest and additional seat belt;
• Reversing camera;
• Silver Cube trim (all brand new);
• TPMS;
• US market OEM boot carpet (embroided M3 logo);
• Warning triangle.

Service History
Pre-delivery check | Mill BMW (now Cooper BMW Sunderland) | 17/06/2004 | 0 miles
Running in check | Mill BMW (now Cooper BMW Sunderland) | 23/07/2004 | 1,610 miles
Inspection 1 & micro filter | Mill BMW (now Cooper BMW Sunderland) | 20/06/2006 | 11,547 miles
Inspection 1 (oil, filter, air, pollen) | GB Motor Engineers | 21/12/2009 | 24,013 miles
Oil service (Schrick cams, DLC followers, air con regas) | Geoff Steel Racing | 30,054 miles
Inspection 2 (plus passenger airbag recall) | Soper BMW | 02/12/2015 | 36,722 miles
Oil service (plus driver airbag recall) | Soper BMW | 27/12/2017 | 37,222 miles

Recent maintenance:

• Air filter;
• Brake fluid;
• Brake discs, front and rear (OEM);
• Brake pads, front and rear (Brembo);
• Coolant;
• Diff removed and inspected to ensure new CWP fine - all OK, and new oil;
• Engine oil and filter;
• Gearbox oil;
• Microfilter;
• Power steering fluid;
• Suspension bushes replaced to ensure the car drives as new (OEM).

Inspection 2, Christmas 2015:


Oil service, Christmas 2017 (rear pads now also new!):


RACP
There were no cracks whatsoever on the rear subframe but I beleive cracks are only a matter of time with a standard car, so for peace of mine I fitted Redish Motorsport Rear Axle Carrier Panel (RACP) plates, seam welded the rear wheelarch joins, and drilled the rear subframe mounting points into the boot floor and fabricated load discrete load-spreading plates on the inner boot floor.

The underside finished with 3M underbody sealant and painted. At the same time I coated in Dinitrol the (perfect) rear brake lines that run under the petrol tank. At the same an underbody concourse retoration was completed which I'll cover in the next post - all bolts were re-plated and sprayed silver zinc to match OEM.

Please see the photos in this thread for details of the work completed.

Edited by mwstewart on Wednesday 17th January 13:00

[mwstewart]

Additional details post 2 of 2: a long list of brand new parts and all are OEM unless stated otherwise.

Brakes

• Discs - front and rear;
• Front and rear calipers stripped and painted;
• Pads - front and rear (Brembo);
• Rear brakes cleaned, adjusters greased, and components sprayed.

Drivetrain

• CSL carbon airbox (Karbonius);
• CSL dipstick, IAT, map sensor (OEM!), vaccum lines, rail, air duct and everything that is specific:

• CSL Microfilter housing top and bottom parts;
• CSL wiring in factory colours, trunking, and plugs;
• Exhaust - CSL rear silencer;
• Exhaust - clamps and fastening hardware;
• Exhaust - Supersprint resonated centre section (section two);
• Gearbox mounts;
• ITG air filter;
• MSS54HP CSL spec, with additional changes performed by the originator of the CSL conversion:

- Deletion of codes for non-operational flap;
- Disable post-cat o2 sensors;
- Manual gearbox conversion on CSL software;
- Permanent Dyno mode;
- Retention of the correct current VIN and build date etc.;
- SMG Shift Lights adapted for manual gearbox;
- Sport Button Memory;
- Top Speed Governor Removal.

• Propshaft UJ (BMW);
• Schrick 272 Degree Exhaust & 280 Degree Intake cams. Standard 11.6mm lift;
• Schrick DLC followers.

Exterior

• Boot badges;
• Carbon front splitters;
• CSL boot lid (genuine) and the M3 tool kit has been maintained;
• CSL front bumper (Vorsteiner), bumper brackets, and washer tank;
• CSL rear diffuser;
• CSL wheels (genuine). Lepsons refurb with new centre caps and 'M' gel badges.

Interior and Electronics

• Alcantara CSL steering wheel;
• Alcantara handbrake trim with CSL stitching;
• Alpine KCA-420i iPod Interface with iPod cable in glove box, and Ai-Net cable run to the rear (no cutting/drilling of any trim);
• Any trim that had evena small scuff has been replaced with a new OEM part and fasteners. From memory this included a new drivers side window, sill trims, boot trim, etc.;
• Audio and video in for the OEM TV module;
• CSL warm up sequence;
• F10 M5 illuminated gearknob and gaiter;
• Mirror John replacement mirror glass;
• Navigation software update with 'M' splash screen;
• Upgraded speakers and subwoofer for the HK system, and additional anti-vibration dampening material;
• USB charger and aux in mounted at rear of Bluetooth eject box.

Miscellaneous
All parts shot blasted, etch primed, and powder coated. Some parts such as the diff brace renewed with new BMW parts. All fixings and fastenings new OEM.



The car has covered circa 7k miles since the above photos and still looks great.

Suspension and Steering

• 10mm rear spring pads;
• 3.91:1 BMW Motorsport Ring Gear & Pinion;
• Ball joints and bushes for the rear - everything that wears has been replaced:

• Convertible front ARB (27mm) and new OEM hardware;
• CSL king pins;
• CSL suspension, mounting hardware, bump stops, drop links, spring cups etc.:

CSL Front suspension
2 x 31332282631 (Front spring with air con)
1 x 31312282505 (Front strut left)
1 x 31312282505 (Front strut right)
2 x 31332283038 (Front Support)
2 x 31332282508 (Front Additional damper

CSL Rear ARB
2 x 33556780707 (STABILIZER SUPPORT/ARB brackets)
4 x 07119904295 (Self-locking collar nut - ARB bracket nuts)
2 x 33552283743 (Stabilizer link - ARB links)
2 x 07119903076 (top link mount bolt)
2 x 07129964655 (Self-locking hex nut / top mount link nut)

CSL Rear Suspension Arms
2 x 33322283074 (CSL rear arms)
2 x 33171090824 (Hex Bolt with washer / inner bolt)
2 x 33326760364 (Lock plate / inner bolt lock)
2 x 33321095102 (ECCENTRIC BOLT / outer camber bolt)
2 x 33306786186 (ECCENTRIC flat washer / outer camber washer)
2 x 33326760668 (Self-locking collar nut / outer lock nut)

CSL Rear Suspension Struts
2 x 33531136387 (Spring Pad 10MM2)
2 x 51718413359 (Reinforcement plate)
2 x 33522282507 (Rear CSL Shocks)
2 x 07119900402 (Rear shock lower bolts)
2 x 33532282509 (Additional damper, rear)
2 x 33532282503 (Rubber adapter with disc)
2 x 33526772864 (WASHER-GASKET / strut top gasket)
4 x 07119905374 (strut mount top nuts)
2 x 33526773882 (strut piston top nut)

• Differential bolts (later type with collar);
• Differential built and checked by J C Racing;
• Differential cover with mounts;
• Differential front bush;
• E86 Z4M 12.8:1 Steering Rack (used, but same mileage as car!);
• Rear wheel bearings;
• Rogue Engineering rear shock mounts;
• RTABs - later 'slit' type;
• Solid steering coupling (aftermarket);
• Steering rack bolts;
• Subframe bolts and load spreaders;
• Track rod ends;
• Track rods;
• Turner RTAB limiters;
• Turner solid subframe mounts;
• Z3 rear damper reinforcement plates.

[mwstewart]

A few pics.

[mwstewart]

Out and about.








Got talking to the driver of this Z3M. We didn't speak the same language, but we managed to get across that we liked each others' car

[mwstewart]

Cool. I have to say I much prefer the BMW's above. The Nissan is huge!

[mwstewart]

For sale ad now live in PH classifieds.

Hopefully the car finds a new (PH) owner this year!

[mwstewart]

Thanks both!

£90k - wow.

[mwstewart]

Oops! Corrected - thank you.

[mwstewart]

The car sold today, to the first person who initially got in contact last week. He's a very nice chap who has some further plans for it, so it'll be nice to see it develop further.

[mwstewart]

dom9 said:

Would you ask him to continue this thread? Would be a shame for it to disappear from PH!

Will do

[mwstewart]

I still have this car. The buyer's wife was diagnosed with a serious illness so understandably he decided not to go ahead. I've had too much on my plate to re-advertise it. Maybe next year!

I think the extended storage pack is about the only thing I didn't document. All I remember is a green two pin connector.

[mwstewart]

E36Dan said:

Hey Mark, did you sell the M3 in the end?

Just had another read of the thread, spotted a comment of my own from 4 years ago saying I'd like one at some point. Had mine just over a year now.

One thing that grabbed me on this read through was when you decided to begin daily driving the car. This is a thought I'm battling with at the moment, I rarely use mine instead opting to daily a shed. I said during winter that I'd daily drive the M3 in winter, but I still fear too much about using it to dart around town.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to create these threads.

It's always a struggle at first but just keep using it. Eventually you relax and enjoy it.

I never did with the M3 though as something else came along, but I've just gone through the same with my CLK.

[mwstewart]

At the rear I recommend swapping your spring pads with 2 x 33531136387 - those are the 10mm pads.

[mwstewart]

leglessAlex said:

That's an unbelievable bargain for anyone that wants the driving experience of a CSL but without the absurd cost of buying a 'real' one. God I wish it was SMG, I'd be all over it. Of course, I realise, the fact that it isn't SMG is a huge part of the appeal.

Thank you!

Deposit taken - it's being collected in April.

[mwstewart]

I'll leave the new owner to disclose the price if he wants to. I may be old fashioned in considering it private, but suffice to say I don't think it would be a surprise