E46 M3 Touring Project

[E91M3]

Not content with having one build underway I now have commenced another M3 Touring project. This build will use a Silver Grey 2005 320d as it's basis that I purchased fairly cheaply due to an engine fault.



The plan is to replicate the E46 m3 touring concept as much as possible as I am going for another OEM build. Genuine CSL alloys rather than the 18 inch alloys that the factory concept wears will be the wheel of choice and an S54 engine with manual transmission will be used.



The car will remain Silver Grey as it was an original E46 M3 colour . Also it has enabled me to obtain an E46 M3 bonnet and rear bumper that matches.

Over the next month or so I will try and acquire quarter panels and a boot floor so that the bodywork phase of the project can commence.

Thanks

Edited by E91M3 on Monday 26th September 21:34

[E91M3]

Kitchski said:

We built one of these a while ago at work. Got featured in a BMW mag recently. Lots of work, but quite satisfying when it was done.

We used a donor car though (M3 CS), so pretty much EVERY 'M' stamped part could be transfered over (dirt shields, sound deadening - the lot). Converted the touring from 2001 320i auto to 2005 M3 SMG. Wanted to make it look like it came out of the factory like it.

I think we achieved it:



Here's the text from the feature:

https://drive-my.com/en/social/stream/item/7475.ht...

It was A LOT of work. The bodykit doesn't fit.

At all

I remember watching your build and the amount of effort that went into it. The E91 M3 I have was the same in that nothing really fits and lots of changes were required in the end. I am also going to try and get a CAT C/D car when it comes to the mechanicals as I wasted far too much time sourcing individual parts for the E91.

I did contemplate keeping this one stock as I like the facelift lights on the touring however I want it to look like an M3 and that means the using the arches and bodywork from the coupe.

Finally I am going to trial fit the bonnet and rear bumper this weekend (which won't fit correctly) out of curiosity. I will post some photos when done.

Edited by E91M3 on Tuesday 27th September 20:08

[E91M3]

Kitchski said:

To prepare you, the rear bumper needs widening by about 35mm (from memory) but it has to be done in the centre, so then the exhaust cutouts don't line up, and they need moving.

The bonnet isn't *too* bad. The front wings are the big headache, if you want to make them look OEM!

Thanks for the advice. I assume the bumper was widened as the rear is more square? What did you do with the bumper carrier as I have the carbon version attached to the M3 bumper and wanted to use that?

[E91M3]

Sf_Manta said:

Might have missed it, but are you re-enforcing the floor on the touring too?
Could always go with the Porsche Brake upgrade too.

Yes I will need to check the floor to see if there are any cracks. Fingers crossed it will be ok but I do plan on doing a floor re-enforcement when I get to swapping the mechanicals over.

I'm probably going to go with CSL/Z4M brake discs and callipers.

[E91M3]

crisp packet said:

Counted £14k of receipts for the conversion of mine (previous owner). Second one done (in the UK) and first with SMG. Not a huge fan of the box but kind of suits the touring, especially given the pace is nothing that special these days. Son in law has an M3 saloon and virtually identical pace - touring surprisingly a small fraction quicker - probably down to the gearbox.
Drives like factory. Don't under-estimate the work involved though. Great having the practicality when needed. Split commuting between this and a 997 turbo and never feels like a downer taking the touring. Had an e36 M3 Touring too but they're possibly getting a bit old for everyday use.
Hope you do it. The more of these knocking about the better!

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm going with a manual as the other project has a DCT installed. This will hopefully simplify things.

Edited by E91M3 on Wednesday 28th September 00:00

[E91M3]

crossie said:

http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=413...

Maybe worth a look

been discussing this myself!

BMW have just released quite a few photos of the M3 Touring Concept to commemorate the 30 year anniversary of the M3.



What's interesting is how they have approached the rear arches as most conversions use part of the coupe arch on the rear doors. I'm guessing they did it like this to keep tooling costs down if it went into production so that standard doors would be used in the same way as the E90/F80 M3.

[E91M3]

Kitchski said:

All things considered (donor cars, bodywork, mechanical conversion etc.) probably more in the region of £30-£35k. You could break the remainder of the M3 donor to claw some funds back, and sell the original engine etc from the Touring if you started with a 330i or something, might get you a grand or two back, but most of the good M3 stuff goes on the Touring!

You could also do it for less, but it depends how good you want it to be.

The challenge will be keeping my OCD in check in terms of trying to make it all perfect. Also you are right in terms of using either a leggy donor car with lots of miles or something that's been looked after but might be damaged. I have my eye on a 2005 cat c car with rear panel damage but had less than 70k on the clock. Hopefully by using something like this I will recoup some money when breaking it.

[E91M3]

MrwReckless said:

You could look at this thread for inspiration:
http://bimmers.no/forums/topic/642409-jeppe-e46-m3...

Regards

I remember that thread. That guy really went to town and had an interesting approach to the rear of the car in terms of using the coupe tail lights. Car does look amazing and is a great colour.

[E91M3]

Kitchski said:

The donor we used only had 55k or so on it, and was a 2005 CS. But it was only a repaired Cat C (someone tried to pull an ATM out of a wall with it. lol.) So the shell was cack, but the mechanicals were good (except the SMG bit....that was also cack, but it was cack from the factory). It was an idea donor though, and in fairness ours was made more difficult as we used a RHD donor and had to fit it all to a LHD Touring. Also the Touring was a 2000MY, and was an automatic, so short of being a diesel it couldn't really be much more different. If you started with, say, a 2003 M3 and a 2003 330i, then you'd be able to shave a fair few hours off it. The DSC systems are oddball though, but remember exact details. There are three types (one was ASC though) and the M3 used the more simple version of the DSC even after the normal E46s had switched to the latest types. That's why some have blue ABS sensors, and some have grey. Could be getting muddled, but I remember DSC was a stumbling point.

I bet that was loads of fun!

I'm expecting to junk absolutely everything in the touring other than the shell, doors, carpet and dash and use everything from a single M3 donor so all the modules match and not going anywhere near anything SMG related! The only wiring I want to do is splicing in the rear doors and tailgate.

[E91M3]

I decided to trial fit the M3 rear bumper this afternoon knowing that it wouldn't really fit due to its shape but I still wanted to see what it would look like. Anyway it also allowed me to check the condition of the bodywork around the bootfloor and if I could retain the carbon bumper carrier (which looks like it will work).







After mocking up the original touring bumper is back on. I will let my bodyshop friend work his magic on this as he will make it all look OEM. Also I have now booked the car into the bodyshop in late November so need to collecting body panels

Edited by E91M3 on Saturday 1st October 19:54

[E91M3]

To continue the momentum on this project I have now purchased a set of my favourite E46 Alloys.



They should be arriving later this week :-)

[E91M3]

Kitchski said:

Getting the important stuff out of the way first then?

I wasn't going to get the wheels just yet but could not resist as they were a good price!

I will focus my attention on body panels now so no more frivolous spending! :-)

Edited by E91M3 on Tuesday 4th October 20:04

[E91M3]

Thanks for the link.

[E91M3]

Not sure at the moment. I'm probably going to use this one for a while.

Also I'm going to have a look at a salvage car tomorrow with a view to purchasing if I can get it for the right price. Have done some man maths tonight and should be able to purchase and break the parts not required to make it fairly cost neutral.

Edited by E91M3 on Wednesday 5th October 22:09

[E91M3]

The CSL BBS spin-cast alloys arrived today. I could not resist fitting!

The fronts are E46 M3 CS spec (as they are 8x19 rather than 8.5 x 19 of the CSL) and are fitted with 235/35/19 tyres. The fit is reasonable and a set of 4 in this size would be a nice option for anyone who fancies this style wheel on a non M E46.

[url]

I will post some more photos tomorrow showing the fit of the rear wheels (with the 265/30/19 tyres) against the standard touring arch.

Edited by E91M3 on Friday 7th October 11:15

[E91M3]

Apologies these photos are sideways. Unsurprisingly the rear wheel slightly protrude although not as bad as I had expected.

Edited by E91M3 on Saturday 8th October 17:26

Edited by E91M3 on Saturday 8th October 17:28

[E91M3]

As mentioned in an earlier post I acquired an E46 M3 bonnet a couple of weeks ago.

Out of curiosity I decided to have a go at fitting it to the touring this afternoon knowing that it would not be a straight swap with the original item.



The bonnet bolted up to the original hinges without any issue however when I attempted to close it the rear edges near the a-pillar interfered with the wings. After removing a couple of fixings from each wing I was able to adjust the wings to allow the bonnet to close on the latch.



I was expecting to remove the facelift headlamps to get the bonnet on due to their shape however this was not necessary.

Edited by E91M3 on Wednesday 12th October 21:19

Edited by E91M3 on Wednesday 12th October 22:17

[E91M3]

Kitchski said:

He hasn't got to the wings yet

I'm going to let the bodyshop deal with that challenge. These are some of the photos that I've sent to them to assist with their fabrication.


[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/

Edited by E91M3 on Thursday 27th October 14:13

[E91M3]

Locating a decent E46 M3 front bumper for this project has proven to be a challenge. I have now managed to obtain a complete bumper assembly from a supplier in Germany. Hopefully this will be appearing this week and once it arrives I will fit to the car.





I have also managed to acquire some used front wings over the last few weeks but not sure if they will actually be used as they are suffering from the usual corrosion that eventually afflicts the lip of the arch (due to the design of the wheel arch liner). I will consult with the body shop to see if they are still usable if not I'm going to have to bite the bullet and purchase new items from BMW.

Edited by E91M3 on Sunday 30th October 09:13

Edited by E91M3 on Sunday 30th October 09:17

[E91M3]

The front bumper has now arrived and I managed to pick up the required carbon bumper reinforcement so that it can be fitted. Hopefully I will have a chance to fit it this weekend if it stops raining...

To help with the bodywork phase of this project I have picked up some E46 M3 wing mirrors in the required Silbergrau. The mirrors were removed from an 05 car and are in good condition bar the n/s mirror base which has some corrosion. After doing a quick search on the inter web it would appear that this is a common issue with these cars (like the front wings). It's not the end of the world and I'll address when the car is in for the bodywork.

I have also purchased the E46 M3 side skirts from the same car and will fit these when the bumper goes on.

Edited by E91M3 on Friday 4th November 16:57