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

[clarkson22]

just going to paste over from m3cutters theres lots of pics, but first my previous cars:-

1.6 mk4 polo (1st)


red mr2 was my second, none turbo, black one is my third, was a turbo, had the red one a year sold to my pal.


black mr2 turbo had 4 months , piston decided to leave the conrod :S



mitsubishi twin turbo gto , 402 bhp had for 6 months , piston met the valves ha



then my mr2 non turbo for 3 months i then did a turbo swop on my drive and changed just about everything, i loved it so much ( man cry) finally the headgasket went i decided i spent to much money on a 20 year old jap car and get something differnt, i broke it and sold it for parts and finally got rid of the shell december 2013 (man cry again) to be honest i still miss the car and want to get another one soon and build it up slowly once if finished my m3 and driving it again (youll see what i mean soon) but heres some of my favourtie car ever, had it as a turbo for 3 years with about 240hp from a rev 1

day i got her:




swopping for a turbo




so this leads me to my e46 m3 i bought in december 2013 (did i mention i still miss my mr2) and i will just paste the next bits its long..

[clarkson22]

hi, just sharing my story, ive moved over from the jap scene , was gunning around in a mr2 turbo for 3 years had plenty of them before and few other jap wagons, never thought id see the day i got something german and new...ish (to me anyway).
i wish id of done it sooner, i do miss boost but i like n/a style of power as well, it finally came to replacing the head on my mr2 or getting something different, i had a look around , was going to settle on a r33 gtr skyline or a e39 m5 then i just kept seeing the e46 m3...well thats brought me to now picked up my titan silver, with 81,000 on clock full service history but thats going to stop lol, ill be doing it all my self , oil change is due in 8200 miles but will change that at 7500 with castrol 10w60
and probably change plugs, filters, vanos filter, etc at the same time.
well since ive had it from december 2013 ive changed RTAB rear busher(oh what fun) rear anti roll bar droplinks (pain) front droplinks, lowered it all round on apex springs( ride aint half as bad as what people go on about)
had it up on the ramps last weekend checked the subframe and floor for signs of cracking.....and nothing , ive sprayed dinitrol round all the mount areas to help with rust prevention, am going to order up the reddish kit and get it welded on for extra strengh and to hopefully prevent cracking in future, theres a headlight washer cover missing and the headlights jets dont work, i cant hear the pump so im going with that, oh and the front top strut brace is cracked...sigh other than that its the best car ive owned!!!!
plans:-
check valve clearences myself and oreder appropiate ones
full service in a week or 2
supercharge it
csl bootlid
sat nav/dvd/cd player
and relocate the heater panel
rear l.e.d lights

anyway pics













replacing the rear camber arms, who put a diff in front of the bolt.... what a job just to replace the camber arms....well that was a good excuse to take diff out and do seals and check floor and subframe



and read alot about the intake mode and will be doing the iat relocation soon

thanks alot for reading will update as i go along

[clarkson22]

[U]UPDATE[/U]

took the car off the road this month, going tackle all the bushes, steering and get everything mint been cleaning all the underside and going to seal it all up shortly , but came across some minor problems that i will sort but anyway some pictures!

otherside rtab done on the car this time.



the old hacksaw method

new one in

put copper slip on all brake pipe connections, aways helps!

arches nice and clean


sorting out the inner tie rod, can you see the bend!

how dirty the arches were :O

and the common power steering leak, will soon sort!

xenon level sensor snapped :O




deep polished alloys




well i got the inner tie rod off and gonna have to order new track rod ends totally seized in there , gonna get them done this weekend then sort out the power steering pipes, change steering couplers, and get it all tip top, will keep updating as i go along

[clarkson22]

got the rest of the stuff done, now I got poly bushes for up front, flo flex seen them on ebay most people say there ****e but going to give them ago, I used super pro poly bushes years ago on the mr2 when no one had heard of them and now a lot of people use them, to be honest my bushes wernt that bad but after putting the flo flex (orange poly) and new steering arms the car is so much tighter so well see how long the polys last..anyway pics











the only things is they seem to sit out the inner bit but I think the inners just slid up the arm with bashing them , car feels tight as so cant seem being a problem...we'll see haha









all sorted just waiting on the rear anti roll bar bushes and rear drop links
then going to order some goodyear eagle f1's all round and go get kds alignment done, cant wait

[clarkson22]

just some updates since last time, got the rear anti roll bar bushes swopped out for some poly ones, and changed the rear droplinks as one had snapped








forgot to take pics with new bits installed, goodbye knocking noise

next job up was the alternator and battery replacment, kept getting battery light flickering on hard acceleration, 270 for alternator , 90 back for my old one and 60 quid for battery with 3 year warrenty.



the crap after alternator removed


all degreased and cleaned up



the lights on the bootlid let the bacl end down so off they come and apart



scrubbed up bootlid and polished it...just for protection lol




all cleaned up and looking new





desereved a clean, claybar, 4 layers of polish and 2 layers of wax







thats all for now, still loving her, next plans are, full service on payday next week, porsche 996/boxster s brembo calipers, steering wheel retrim, retro fit heated sets, find a satnav/cdplayer, and change all vanos items , nothing wrong yet just want to get it done and ticked off!!

cheers for reading guys

[clarkson22]

[U]update[/U]

well ive found a crack on the rear passanger side mounting point, so decided to crack on with it and get it done , going to order plates from reddish soon and all powerflex subframe bushes and diff bushes and rtab's, been taking subframe off all day going to tackle the tank tomorrow.

let pics do some talking









going to dismantle the subframe and arms clean them all up and powdercoat or spray them not sure will update soon

cheers

[clarkson22]

its been red hot for past couple of days so its actually not as bad working outside lol anyway been stripping tank this morning getting all pipes off and got stuck with the exhaust brackets had to whip the bumper off and bash a socket onto the rusted/rounded nut lol, once i removed the tank i put bags on all conections and fuel lines and proceded to clean the living crap out of the under side!! lets get some pics talking




dirt


crap from 11 years







dont worry i cleaned up the black bits




all parts jetwasehd


lol forgot to undo driveshafts on the car had to wedge a bar!

• ** taking up my shed!!

tomorow im going to proceed to beat the **** out the diff and subframe bushes if my bearing puller dont hack it, but all in all hasnt been bad day, thanks for looking beer time

[clarkson22]

[U]update[/U]

been messing around with getting the subframe and diff bushes out , i tried my bearing puller but that might as well been made of cheese, so had to get ghetto on it...lol
anyway pics











and after a lot of sanding..



just waiting for my powerflex bushes to arrive and going to order the plates of pete from reddish soon just a waiting game now

cheers for reading

[clarkson22]

[U]Update[/U]

had time to weld the plates from redish what a ballache of a job being on your back, burnt to **** arms and back, so didnt get many pictures during welding , well the hardest bit is done, anyway pictures:


all welded up, seam sealed, and silver under body protection..**** u rust






tank, heatshield, subframe all on





even did under the arches


just waiting for powerflex diff bushes, rtab's and prop gasket and can finish it off

[clarkson22]

[U]Update[/U]

left my drill at my pals and hes gone on hotel...sooooooo. had to get real ghetto on the rtabs theve only been on a 5 months and the rubber was starting to crack, one i managed to smash out with a lump hammer, sprayed up the rest of my bits, lots of diff fluid leaked out where the prop joins so guess i need a new seal..
anyway pics



bottom camber bolt was stuck so cut it and smashed it out need a new bolt, also noticed all the bushes on the hubs have ridiculus play i could grab the arm and it would flop around in the bush so i proceeded to beat said bushes out gonna get new ones




onto spraying





will be getting braided lines so dont worry about overspray for you ocd guys:roflmao:


the bush that beat out, alot easier


bits fitted



not tightened the anti roll bar up need to put diff in wanted space in shed,




the rear light sensor was seized solid so bit of lube rotating,lube,rotaing it finally free'ed, sanded the balls lightly lots of grease and boom dont need a new one

not long now untill shes on her wheels wheres the best place to get the bushes for the hubs where the camber arms and spring carrier bolts go through?

cheers

[clarkson22]

had time to gut the backbox and weld it up with everything that i pulled out it should be abit louder..time will tell just a few pics



and a selfieeeee ha


oredered the hub bushes so will fit them when they turn up

cheers

[clarkson22]

[U]Update[/U]

when grinding down the boot floor and grinding down some welds i noticed where sparks have stuck all down one side of my paint , it rained and they all turned orange lol it was horrible , now ive wet sanded my mr2 i had last and it looked amazing so i thought ill try this, so after 2 washes, clay , and another wash i tackled the wet sand, with 1500, 2000,2500 with a light sand inbetween with soapy water used ALWAYS so you do not burn the paint, after was a machine polish with g3, with srays or water to keep cool and again not burn the paint and after that a layer of polish then wax, the results ..well were amazing , i know about testing the depth of the paint and all that but to be honest i didnt burn threw any paint didnt take any paint off the edges and its like super glass now so has been deffinatly worth it anyway some pics didnt get many but a few befores during and afters only done the passenger side..

nasty spots , actually alot worse than the pics shows




after a g3, no polish




completed with polish and a wax







my arms hurt and its beer time

[clarkson22]

sprayed up my kidney slats on thrusday added about 10 layers of lacuer to try and help stone chips, wet sanded between each layer , going to wet sand and cut then polish see how they come out anyway some pics

orange peel after first layer then wet sanded





after some lacuer





gonna finish these wednesday as im working till then

[clarkson22]

well got home from work at half 8 and couldnt be bothered waiting so hit the 1500 ,2500,g3and a quick polish on them and fitted them, not sure yet what you guys think?
before

after


well i get paid tuesday , ive blocked my boat in and as typical its been mint weather and i cant go out in it, so i need to get it finished this week , been dying to get out on boat but i made a retarded move and got excited ripping the subframe off i forgot to take boat out the spot


and for anyone intrested me and my pal built it up and put a yamaha 60 on a 13ft fletcher..lets just say it goes haha

build thread here if anyones bored
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=191&t=1315291&nmt=13ft+fletcher+speedboat+build+

back on the road soon

[aka_kerrly]

TOP WORK!

Fair play fella, if you're not a mechanic by trade you have some good skills to be cracking on stripping the rear like that.

Great to see everything that comes off is either replaced/upgraded/painted - best way

[clarkson22]

cheers pal, im not a mechanic no, i work at bae systems mate but dont work on the aircraft.
well had time today been between colour coding my borthers civic type s plastics on the outside and managed to put some of the car together after everything arrived
powerflex rtab
powerlex diff mounts
and all the hub bearings for spring carrier and camber arms




prop gasket

it was getting dark



going to get it back with wheels on tommorow then fill dff fluid and bleed brake with new fluid, then i can stop drving my stty focus and have fun

[joe_90]

Excellent work.. Did you get any issues with getting the drive shaft out the hub bearing? I assume you are going to do the rear wheel bearing at the same time..

Mine we just welded in and required huge amounts of heat+pressure to push the drive shafts out..

[pscl227]

Good skills, and well done for bringing a e46 m3 back from the brink!

[clarkson22]

cbeers lads didnt take the drivshafts out of the hubs replaced the wheel bearing as soon as i got the car when i had my mates ramps, so less than 800 miles old
finally nearly done just got to put calipers on ,exhaust, bleed brakes put new diff fluid in , get new tyres and get it all aligned , so thats going to happen next payday but then she will be ready to drive cant wait to feel how it handles after all the work ive done

[darreni]

That is some amount of DIY to do on axle stands on your driveway.

Impressive