E46 M3 fast road - track car

[PBMWsam]

Hello PH'er been meaning to stick up a thread on here for ages.

Im 25 and have had my M3 knocking on 2 years now, still enjoying every minute of it. You can also read about it in my rolling build every month in Performance BMW magazine

This 'should' be a full spec list

Engine:
S54
Secondary air pump delete
Vibra-Techics road engine mounts
Evolve stage 1 ECU tune
000 cell cats
AC removed

Transmission:
6 speed manual
AKG motorsport stage II gear shifter
Vibra-Techics road transmission mount
Powerflex differental bushes
CDV removed

Chassis:
HSD Dualtech coilovers
WP pro brakes 6 pot 360mm saw blade disc all round, with carbon cooling ducts front
ATE super blue racing fluid
Eibach anti roll bars
Flow-flex rear ARB droplink bushes
Powerflex rear sub frame bushes, RTAB & front wishbone bushes
Strongflex rear upper inner race bush
Redish Motorsport boot floor reinforce
Eibach rear camber arms
Ultra racing rear strut brace
Z3 reinforcement plates

Exterior:
Estoril blue paint
Face lift LED tail lights
Black wing vent grills
Chrome kidney grills with black slates
Rolled arches
Personalised number plate
HardMotorsport brake ducts/fog light delete
CSL style one piece carbon splitter
CSL style carbon rear diffuser
Headlight washer jets deleted

Wheels & Tyres:
M3 OEM 18” square setup 18x9 ET29 & ET26 on Toyo T1S
Apex ARC-8 18x9.5 ET35 on Nankang NS-2R Medium 265-35-18
CA Automotive wheel studs black

Interior:
Recaro pole postion front seats
Custom side mounts
Sablet 6 point harnesses
Stripped rear & carpeted over
Matt black trim
Sparco 330mm suede wheel
Go Race GT quick relese boss
Horn push in dash
Alcantara gear & handbrake gaitors
Plastic handbrake lever
Sound deadening removed
Hard Motorsport RS door pulls

Ice:
Audio-less

Plan was to build a Porsche GT3 styled car that is fast, enjoyable but still livable.


DSC_2316 by bigbossw, on Flickr






IMG_0439 by samratcliffe19, on Flickr

Future plans are:

Half cage
Evolve Automotive filter (when its released)
Delete viscous fan
Mishimoto ally rad, oil cooler, electric puller fan
UUC double sheer selector rod
Vibra-Technics transmission mount (to replace my current prototype)
Oil ccatch can
CSL boot lid


photo 2 by samratcliffe19, on Flickr

Edited by PBMWsam on Friday 21st November 12:15

Edited by PBMWsam on Thursday 11th December 12:11

Edited by PBMWsam on Saturday 3rd January 12:16

Edited by PBMWsam on Tuesday 17th February 15:58

[PBMWsam]

Thanks guys

deuchars said:

Looks brilliant, any more exterior shots?

Yes I do!

Use to have shiny BBS wheels till the lacquer started to cracked from too much heat. And were a right pain to keep clean

[PBMWsam]

AM7 said:

Well that is absolutely superb! What an incredible spec, I bet it's a right animal on and off the track. Any ideas how much £££ you've put into it? I'm guessing it's a keeper

Little bit of an animal if your silly with it, more built for purpose and can take the abuse very well. Wouldn't even like to think how much has gone into the car but is defantly a keeper.

StuntmanMike said:

Sam that looks awesome with the BBS alloys and ambers.

Thanks Wish could have kept the BBS's as miss them now, really wern't BBK friendly and only 8j up front.
Had to trim down all the front split rim bolts to only need a small amount of spacing to miss my brakes, you can see the lacquer starting to shatter from just the heat off OEM brakes

Beedub said:

nicely done car!!

whats your opinion of the nankang semi slicks??

The Nankang semis are good once you've got plenty of heat in them. May even be on par with R888, just go off half a lap or so eairler.

If there cold, wet and over pressured you'll understeer like a VXR!

This is my front after a day at Bedford Autodrome (bare in mind most of the morning was wet) still have lots of life in them.

e21Mark said:

Love it.

Looks better for having something a little different to the usual BBS.

Thanks Mark

Usual BBS I take it your meaning the 19" CSL wheels?

[PBMWsam]

Beedub said:

yeah i run them too, can't wait to swap to the soft compound.... so so so impressed with those tyres. Sadly the supplier sent the wrong compound as i actually ordered the soft, didn't think to check and eventually worked out i have the road versions, i find once really hot, they can be very slippy, but for the price, I'm absolutely convinced. I wish the tyre snobs wouldn't look at them and comment on how I've ruined the car by putting nankangs on.

Both a road/track tyre. Soft is 120 wear and medium 180.

But yeah I know what you mean once they get really hot can start letting go, usualy when your high up in the revs and some sawing at the wheel is needed.

I've also had people turn there nose up at the fact I have Nankang tyres, nothing to worry about. Like the E92 M3 wheels on yours.

Whatty said:

Marvellous and those discs are really quite something.

As is the dog.

Haha Thanks

[PBMWsam]

A

e21Mark said:

I like the square set up, over the BBS splits. Don't get me wrong, BBS crosspokes are a classic wheel, but they're just everywhere. I'd like to see my Compomotive TH or something else a little left field.

How have you found the engine mounts? I was thinking of fitting them on my e30.

Same here I really like the OEM wheels I'm square, would have been long replace if not. Do like the compmo TH's but I need wide 18 with a low offset so they don't work witout a lot of spacing which I'm not keen on doing. Plus I atleast want a wheel that can show off the brakes.

Yes! Vibra-Techins engine mounts cannot be beaten, I was amazed the differance they made. You will not be disserpointed with them.

[PBMWsam]

Thank you guys

LanceRS said:

Looking good, you've come a long way since the 328. How is it to live with?

The way my 328is went taught me a lot with this. It's okay to live with, shifter at times is a arm work out but all in all in keeps you on your toes.

Captainawesome said:

Is this the PBMW car? Been following this from the start if it is.

How much did the brakes cost if you don't mind me asking?

Lovely car

Yes correct, same car. Brakes from memory came out about 3k give or take as I added extras.

jelluzz said:

They only come in 18x9 et26.

Yes they do only come in ET26. I machined 3mm off the mounting face making them ET29 higher offset so they would sit further in at the front to avoid killing my arches with chunky tyres.

[PBMWsam]

Few tiny updates

Prodably the least I'm ever going to spend in BMW. This tiny piece of foam that goes in the end of the gearbox selector to reduce slop from the old worn out one.



UUC double sheer selector rod



Mock up of of how big I want a sun strip using tint, have ordered some vinly (photobomb from rocky too)

[PBMWsam]

Few more little updates:

Some HardMotorsport front bumper brakes ducts are on there way to me from the States.

http://www.hardmotorsport.com/hard-motorsport-e46-...

Removed Air Con, haven't used it in well over a year and turns out there was no gas in it anyway




Got some front track pads from WP pro. Can go harder for longer, just puts out a little more dust which is no biggy.



Pulled out all the audio. I had wide screen TV, sat nav, amp, bluetooth and a Ipod kit. All in perfect working order but when I found out how much the factory stuff was worth I pulled it all out straight away as dead money and weight sitting in a track focused car.







I did though keep behind/re-wire cables for the speakers and radio aerial if I were to one day return to basic audio, made a screen blank for time being.



Lastly a good bubby of mine over at Walton fabrication welded me in some nuts for harness eyes hocks to add a 5th and 6th point to my Sabelt harnesses.



If you can notice from the photo I've gone back to clear tail lights as I've upgraded to LED tail light.

As always there will be more to come. Wouldn't might getting it on weigh bridge again, before it came in at CSL book figure with audio and AC.

Edited by PBMWsam on Thursday 11th December 12:17

[PBMWsam]

LanceRS said:

Looking good, I've not seen this one around. I take it you're not still around Risborough?

Thanks man. No I moved out of Risborough 11 months ago now.

[PBMWsam]

joema said:

Good work.

Whats this?

And what size rear tyres? I have 12mm spaces on the rear and run 245s. Dont hink i can run 255s without increasing the height.

Any benefit to loosing the SAI?

Edited by joema on Thursday 11th December 19:51

Edited by joema on Thursday 11th December 19:52

Its a uprated prop shalf bush

Im running 265 35 and able to run a 20mm spacer on road tyres and 15mm on tracks.

Seconder air pump? Just frees up room and a pointless component.

[PBMWsam]

Gibbo205 said:

Looks good!

I tried putting rear wheels on the front, no chance wanted to take bumper off.
Running Z4M mounts which give more caster don't help matters.

How much did all the AC stuff weigh?

Have to run atleast neg 3d of camber up front to pull off the square.

Really more caster than the m3 mounts are anyway?

AC I'd say was around the 20kg figure.

[PBMWsam]

Had some 5th and 6th point harness mounts welded in. 4 point was good but this feels much safer now.



Also got a little care package from America on behalf of HardMotorsport brake ducts



Hopfully be fitting this tomorrow along with another little supprise.

[PBMWsam]

e21Mark said:

Just scanning through pics again and wondered what you thought of the AKG shifter?

It's very good. No CAE shifter but still good for aggressive driving.

[PBMWsam]

Had a little time Sunday so got the Hard Motorsport ducts in.

This is where the old fog lights and surround sat, that all needs to be cut out.





Also got my hands on a CSL style one piece carbon splitter



Next mod coming I am looking forward to... Thats all the info I am sharing for now

[PBMWsam]

Thanks guys

TheAllSeeingPie said:

That is one hell of a nice M3. It's great to see them being stripped back a bit and used as the original was intended.

On a side note, what's with the chrome kidney grills? Seems a bit at odds with the rest of the car which didn't appear to have any other chrome on it.

I've changed from chrome to black slats in the kidney grill.
Never been a fan of black grills. Stong beliver in the true BMW look of 4 round lights and 2 chrome grills.

[PBMWsam]

Now I love my M-cloth interior, but I was only making use of the door cards so to fund my new wheels around this expensive time of year I sold the lot and miss them dearly already.

Running no door cards just looks messy so to keep in tie with my gt3rs theme I brought some more.



Full black leather and swear they are heavier than my cloth set by a fair margin, weighing in at 16.5kg with speaker.
Anyway I will be putting my own twist on these before they get installed in the car.

[PBMWsam]

Door cards are done and installed

Cleaned up, matt black handles and Hard Motorsport RS pulls



Crudly cut the padding down on the arm rests to give them a slim line look



Flipped the nappa leather over to give a alcantara effect

[PBMWsam]

So even before I owned a e46 I wanted apex wheels.
Placed the order a few months ago and once the back orders cleared I've got them



Went for 18x9.5 ET35 in hyper sliver and had my Nankang NS-2R fitted



After reading a lot into what size and offset I was all prepaired to run a 5mm spacer up front to clear my WP big brakes. But I really don't know what all the scare was about! Can get my finger in the gap, I did though have to add a spacer as once the wheel was bolted up the tyre squeaked againts the tyre. All I had to hand was 5mm's so I will be replacing them for 3mm to get a little more purches on the centre bore.



This really shows how much the brake clearance you get from the apex's. My 360mm before were pretty much wedged into the oem square 18s now look at the room, plenty to run my WP pro carbon brake ducts.



Sorry for the crud phone photos wheels only went on last night then it snowed this morning.




Will be fitting the carbon ducts and ducting this Sunday, along with another little mod/part delete.

[PBMWsam]

Finilly mated up my WP carbon brake ducts to my Hardmotorsport bumper intakes









Deleted the front washer too

[PBMWsam]

Started off with no Carobn, now its everywhere



Few of the photos one of my buddys took last week


022 by bigbossw, on Flickr


028 by bigbossw, on Flickr


030 by bigbossw, on Flickr


034 by bigbossw, on Flickr


042 by bigbossw, on Flickr


044 by bigbossw, on Flickr


059 by bigbossw, on Flickr


062 by bigbossw, on Flickr

I've since swap from a 5mm to a 3mm spacer up front to get a litte more purches on the hub but still missing the tyre on the coilover.

An stepped up from a 15mm to a 20mm spacer on the rear to fill the arch better.

---

Also the time has come to upgrade from my Recaro pole position seats, there is nothing wrong with them bar the sholder harness slots being a bit too low for the overly tall folk like myself.

So if anyone has a or some Recaro SPA, SPG or even pro race that would be up for a PX let me know.