E46 m3

[SXRORY]

I never did a project thread for my 200sx and i had it nine years .
Roll back 3 months ago i had itchy feet for something else. The 200 was getting old and to keep it on the road it will need the underside doing in a couple of years. I spent so much on the car getting it to 3a and it was an excellent car and I will miss it but no more money was going to be spent (apart from upkeep) and started putting some aside for a replacement a couple of years ago.
After much deliberation I kept on coming back to m3's. Love the shape, the sound and the fact that BMW did a pretty good job, good service intervals, makes great noise, an engine that you cant really get much more out of, the same mpg as the sx and pretty reliable....mad grasp for wood...
here she is 2005 reasonable spec not every option but it drove nice and had good history few stone chips but pretty good for the price i thought.



darth vaders bathroom


had a week then got on the bay for some cosmetic touches lol. I swapped the chrome side vents for some black ones. Pretty cheap came with in a week and took five minutes to fit not the best photo cars dirty they look better on the flesh.


my front and rear badges looked a bit sorry for them selves so to continue the black theme I got the chav spec back and white ones. Divide opinion these, but i like them so thats all that counts


next up was the gearshift, if you look at the interior shot earlier the stand shifter is really long. I looked into short shifters to tighten up the throw, and M tax came into play £300 for a kit and it was a pig of a job to fit so that was cancelled. searched a bit and a common thing is to replace the knob for one from the e46 330 clubsport. It shortens the lever by an inch and looks better as the old one was starting to show its age.


next when cleaning the car i was not happy with the front lights they were cloudy


I looked at kits to sort it out but they seem like hard work and 26 quid, a bit more searching revealed that bmw made the lens replaceable. GSF stock them £50 delivered for both, Ill do that then.

bit fiddly as the washers mean you do it on the car or else it gets even worse. magnet on a stick is you freind for this job!
dropping bolts


the results


happy with that

also updated the sat nav for not a lot of money with the 2013 maps

so thats were I am now hope its not bored you too much,
I have some smoked indicators coming they were cheap at £21 quid, and K sport brakes are coming on the slow boat from china as the standard ones are plop and I'd like to track it now and again. After that Its going to be wear and tear.....well probably not we will see.......

[SXRORY]

Huge update time smokers in!!!

better!

[Davus200]

The beemer is looking smart, you've already popped now so I'm expecting next year is going to be a turbo'd monster!

P.s. I hope your still going to come along to shows

[SXRORY]

still coming to the shows dude. Thought you might like the murdered out look im going for

Update
So I picked up a nail in the tyre. You don't get a spare in the m3 so went to my local tyre place, and you guessed it, unrepairable. It was right on the edge. We pulled it and it was only a tiddler yay!, so he was just about to send me on my way then said "hang on" got the soapy water out. "every day im bubbling!" doh! to be fair on the wear markers now so two new rears needed went for goodyear f1 on a 19 255 35. Camskill did soften the blow a little!

The car felt fine at nsl road speeds but on the motorway it had started to feel wandery over cats eyes. If you booted it coming off the throttle did not feel quite right, RTABs were suggested as a culprit. I took it into FCM to check bushes. The result, rear alignment out badly(suggesting rtabs) and the m3 problem of a cracked rear spring. On a positive note the subframe got the all clear

OE £100 a pop and you need to replace two really. Eibach do a lowering spring kit which seems popular. They don't crack and come in cheaper than two oe springs. Needs aligning after, so I wanted the the rtabs doing as well, although he could find little play. If i got it back and it still felt shit I'd be gutted, went for poly items. John suggested if the front suspension is coming out might as well do some polys up front. That seemed like a logical idea to me. So a bit of a mini suspension overhaul. Should tighten the bugger up. Once the brakes are done thats it no more.......wear and tear...........well maybe an alancatra steering wheel refurb.....then thats definitley it
Pic posted soon when i pick it up

[SXRORY]

bit of an update

rtabs were done as well as front wishbone bushes with powerflex items with a full alignment done, car is now solid as a rock, very happy. broken Springs were replaced with eibach lowering springs 25m front 15 mm rear. Close to standard ride but a bit stiffer.
I also purchased some harley canubra paste wax off ebay £20 a tub. Heard good reviews. Its so easy to use its unreal slides on like butter and really easy to buff off. cant comment on durability just yet as only slapped some on today.
this is the stuff


the results and pics of the slight drop. Camera phone is not really picking up how shiny it is and it was getting dark




i also bought some new wheel badges of ebay

unfortunatley these are the only two i have left after the first journey out, bag of shite!

[Chavbo]

Looks good man, but then I would say that

Do you have any full front facing photos with the black kidneys and smoked indicators? I was planning on doing that with CSL rep corner splitters, and smoked/red LED tails. Not 100% on the black side grills, I quite like the way they break up the blackness along the side...

[SXRORY]

No I have nt but ill get one for you, the depos are alright not a great fit on one side but for the money they are pretty good ill get a proper snap up for you. Problem when yo wax it you realise how badly these get chipped up. Very square and takes and a hit or two. Most I saw were like this

[SXRORY]

in 9 years with the 200sx it never failed a MOT. German piece of shit failed on rear brake pads!

K sports are here but they are going to be ornemental for the time being as a new kitchen and a holiday to iceland (saw the northern lights) has soaked up all my cash. Couple of months and Ill get them fitted

[Rich_M]

Looks good rory, shame the sx is gone though
I have a beamer spec obd2 lead and software if you ever need to borrow to reset airbag lights or check sensors.
Cheers
Rich

[SXRORY]

Thanks rich I hope i dont have to ever borrow it off you lol. Tis a shame that the 200sx went was a good car spent my time worring about rust (it did not have any really but it needed someone a bit keener with spanners to really look after it with the age it was getting), but onwards and upwards.

[Chriscooke]

Failing on rear brake pads is nothing.. Have you gone for rear ksports as well as the fronts?

[JBP]

At least my spanners won't get Rusty now I have the 200

[SXRORY]

Failing on rear brake pads is nothing.. Have you gone for rear ksports as well as the fronts?

i know i know, but I was feeling all cocky going in "its like brand new" compared to the 200 , and came out... "bollocks"
No K sports for the back just upgrading hoses and pads ran the 200 like that and did not really notice any balance issues.
Going to fit the bbk in a bit, its not doing any track stuff for a while

At least my spanners won't get Rusty now I have the 200

I don't mind bolting things on simpler stuff tinkering etc but taking subframes and stuff out is a bit beyond me. I leave that to you sir

[Ross.]

Really really great cars. I think its a shame people modify them, they're a great car from standard.

IMO the headlights and black and white badges are pretty tacky, and the side grills. But it's not my car :P

[SXRORY]

I'm a closet chav at heart Ross, but its as far as its going I could get the car back to standard looking in under half an hour. Springs were only done as OE springs crack, and the brakes is just about being able to stop. Its finished once the K sports are on Then its just look after it

[zeppelin101]

I know how you mean. I've had mine since Saturday and I've already managed to fry the brakes a couple of times on road with mildly exuberant driving

Going to get some Stoptech's for the front (maybe APs given the minor price difference) and be done with it. Have very little desire to do much else to do it, it's just ridiculously good out of the box. With the obvious brake exception

[SXRORY]

other than brakes they are great cars. 8k awesome sounds! did you buy phils? zep?

[Chavbo]

Aaah another one on board

[zeppelin101]

other than brakes they are great cars. 8k awesome sounds! did you buy phils? zep?

Nah I was looking for one with lower mileage on. It's my only car and I'm doing quite a lot of miles at the minute and wanted to avoid getting over the 100k mark in the first year - 18 months if possible.

Ended up with an Individual model in Estoril Blue with 70k on the clock and some CSL wheels thrown on!

Gratuitous photo whore opportuntity presents itself...

[SXRORY]

Oh I do like estoril looks nice mate. I did nt really want carbon black wanted imola red (love red cars) but the more I saw the more I realised I would have to compromise on colour and get the best I could. My only remit was not a silver one. Every car you see is Silver!