Paul46's m3 project

[Paul46rider]

had a journal going for sometime on another m3 forum, so i've just C+P'd it from there

the start

Well i purchased my M3 just over 3.5 years ago. Spent alot of time trawling the usual places looking for the right one.
Had my Heart set on Black on Black (its abit of a running theme with past cars and bikes) The bit which was hard to find was this combo in Manual

It was actually my other half (Katie K) who found the car for me when i was down in the dumps after being let down on another one i had put a deposit down on.

lucky for me the original owner had spent a small fortune on a couple of genuine Ac Schnitzer parts from BMW when the car was ordered.
IT can with a full carbon front splitter and full carbon roof spolier(these had been coloured coded aswell) and not forgetting the black dtm grills (also colour coded)

This is how she looked on arrival





next came a set of Umnitza predator Chromium angel eyes from CA-auto, these have a remote wiring kit so they turn on when you unlock the car




I also got rid of the shocking ghost style number plates and order some LED rear light and a black badge kit





at this pint i was still missing the facelight boot lid inner lights

I always had my eye out for one exhaust in partcular and that was a Eisenmann. they are around £1300 new. A friend told about one on pistonheads.
So i got straight on the net to have a look, the ad was 60 days old and thought i had no chance of it not being sold, it was also a bargain at £450, i pm'd the guy anyway.
Had a result he still had it, though well he has had it for a while i'll be cheeky, i offered him £350. he took it and delivered it. It came with the reciept and it was only 3 months old. Result!!

its a race version with 76mm tips





Next was a Alpine IVA-W202R double din head unit



got my hand on a bezel for it and a dodgy fitting kit which didn't really work out so i ended up making my own



also had to order part number 12 to relocate the A/C unit



while i was doing the install i got abit of whoring of the car and race bike in






The install was a total pain in the arse due to having to butcher the heater box, but it all worked out in the end



next up was the missing boot lights


Before


After


how the car stood at the time


I then had the car detailed, follow the link to see the results, i'm well chuffed with ithttp://www.detailing...p?t=90003
couple of teasers




next came these,
Rouge Engineering Power Pulley Kit ( birthday Pressi from Kate)




Rouge Engineering Octane Short Shifter Kit


the SSK is awesome, works soo well, but was a total pain to fit. lost of swearing and cut fingers. At this time i removed the carbon induction and refitted the standard air box with a uprated BMC filter, the car ran soo much better

As time went by i was always keeping my eye out for wheels, i have always lusted after some genuine Ac Schnitzer type III racings but they are rare as rocking horse poo and pretty much gave up on trying to get them, i even bought a set of CSL's for the car, i did the deal and then these came up, So i went up with Katie and Dip's and bought them home




fitted







Install time
Directed audio subs and amp in a custom install, this is before i finished the carpeting



i fitted afew bits i had sitting around for ages
fitted eibach prokit, acs strut brace (rep), painted my caliper and sorted the rear bumper sag.few pics
my car also won best m3 in show at the bmwland MK09 meet, well chuffed








i managed to wear a hole in my drivers side mat. was about to bite the bullet on some oem bmw mats but instead hooked up a set of these genuine beauties, also in shot are my BMW performance pedal set. The mats are sooo plush, thicker than the BMW items aswell


also a pick of my boot release that i retro fitted. i believe only the yanky cars have these as standard


Next up. A new M3 steering wheel, brand new fresh out the box, can't beat the feeling of a brand new wheel



now back to the strut brace, I bought it thinking it was genuine, but it wasn't, it was just a ACS style brace, was still a lovely bit of kit, she went to a new home. But i now have the pucker item now along with a new rocker cover and oil cap

[Paul46rider]

still got more lol got the carpet sorted on my boot install




New rear plate surround, had the M surround on there for ages, then Chris on e46zone hooked me up with a ACS one which suits the car abit more.


finally abit of whorage of a dirty car, if you see this view in you mirror it means move out the way lol just joking



and some more





Next is abit of a marmite item, A Genuine Ac Schnitzer rear diffuser, some like it some hate it, i like it and it goes with the ACS theme







I got sick of the crap quality of aftermarket smoked corner such as depo's, my last set broke and fell out not happy.


I then went through the process of trying to find a set the same as the ones i had, my old ones had the slatted lines all the way across them like the OEM ones. i like this look and i'm not really a fan of the smoked depo's most people have with the big clear patch in the middle.So back to the drawing bored. i looking into window tinting film, but it just fell apart when heat got on to it. Then i ordered some lamin-xI went for the lightest tint. When first fitting them I imediatley wanted the darker, then after a few days had passed and i loved the slightly lighter look.



pics of the side repeaters



and some whorage


and finally just a couple of pics to ***** from a bluewater meet, i ditched the front plate at last. The paint is still looking pretty good.



There are a few other bits which have been done but haven't taken any pics, they are Genuine ACS pedals and deadrest and OEM Fire extingisher retrofit

I know its long but thanks for looking

[Paul46rider]

quick update, on my car i have the high gloss trim package

looking like this


i sent me bonnet grill and side vent off to paint aswell as a new m3 badge. I also had a good friend of mine make me some new badges for the side grills

bonnet grill


side vents with new badges (these are not the ones your order from mfest, these are custom made for me with a chrome line seperating the colours so the black doesn't get lost in the background)


and rear badge (the matching colours are going to be added this week)



fitted






And lastly my depo's from Smooth (cheers mate)


I will get the diffuser in to be painted the same at some point

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some pics from recent bluewater meet











i then went into overhaul mode during winter

few bits i'm stock piling till i get a chance to overhaul the car.

New Grills which are going to painted gloss black to match the other gloss parts



storm motorworks lighter plug, gonna anodize it black and maybe add another personal touch



and lastly some Rogue Rear top mounts, from the CA group buy, to fit to my coilovers

[Paul46rider]

well i got s few bits done tonight, i removed the front bumper and acs diffuser for paint, test fitted the new grills fro CPD, these are also going to paint with a few other small bits

I then gave the rear coilovers a quick over haul
drop the strut out


this strut has a years worth of use and about 10k on it, still looks like new and the d2 stuff is really holding up well


I then gave it a quick clean and protected the treads with scotoil 365 spray, i did the same with the spring and collar, i then stripped the d2 top mount and rebuit with the Rogue RSM's for the CA group buy




then got the reinforment plate fitted


fitted


i'll tackle the rtab'S and limiters next along with the new angels and lenses, then move to the front end.

Tonight i also inspected the subframe, and to me it looks like the car has already had the repair before my 4 years of ownership, the car is soooo clean underneath, am really quiet shocked how clean and tidy it is

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A quick update

Firstly a huge huge thank you to forum member KeithS. He picked up and delivered a few parts from BMW for me. Including front control arm bushes and RTAB's. Also have a e46 Genuine ACS footrest from Bruno's car. The one currently in my car is actually a e36 model which will now go into the M3 GT as that already has geuine ACS pedals but need the footrest to match



Got the car up in the air. Bumper is off for paint but still waiting to get it to the painters after bring let done on a paint job. Got another painter lined up and hope to get the stuff in this week.



Decided to tackle the front wishbone bushes, got the undertray and metal tray removed and drop the control arm down




Then started removing the old bush with a 3 prong puller, placed a oil drain underneath because these bushes are oil filled



Bush removed and clean with hd degreaser and then given a coating if fairy liquid




Add more fairy liquid to the new bush and forced on



Got it bolted back up, did the other side and then refitted all trays. I then though it replace the broken xenon level sensor arm with the new item that I got from stealer



Removed the old broken clamp and then. ..... The new one broke as I wa doing it up! Great. BMW quality parts!!!



Anyway hope to get more done this week

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Ok managed a couple of quick jobs to tick of the list before the light went tonight

Rtabs was the flavour of the day. So jacked her up, and dropped the control arms


The old bush had seen better days. Notice the cracks around the edge. Also it is a old style bush so it needed to come out and be replaced with the revised design from the csl


Started pulling the old out


Out and cleaned wish HD degreaser and sandpaper. I was also coated in copper grease before the new bush was installed


New bush started it's was in through the compression tube to squeeze the outta band together


Through enough to go in without the compression tube


Pusher in to leave 2mm of th collar exposed


Was given these a long time ago, just been waiting to fit new RTAB's to fit them. They are a rogue engineering bush limited kit


Fitted in the cradle. Preload set and torqued up


Bolted back up and repeated on the other side. Also got the mid pipe unbolted. Came off a treat due to me changing all the bolts under the car for stainless steel bolts about 2-3 years ago.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next installment

[Paul46rider]

Ap 6 Piston kit, collected this morning







Xbox game so you can gauge the size





The calipers will be off the body shop for stripoint and painting

M3 Vun also order these for both of us, he just sent me these pics





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Teaser of new paint



Ap logo will be hand painted gloss black

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Not finished but just a teaser. The blacking around the logo is just thinning out from White spirit and wipes off



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Parts are starting to flow in now.


RP gearbox oil and new oil separator. Will be picking up more service parts this weekend

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ok it starting to take shape on the parts front.

Picked up this little service order from KeithS (thanks Bro)


New McGard Lockers for my Lug conversion




and got these bad boys finished, just need to sort the new mounting brackets for them, (these are from a e92)






BIG THANKS TO MY LOVELY OTHER HALF FOR PAINTING THE AP LOGO'S

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more work done today.

quick shot of the ap disc with the new stud conversion, the discs are HUGE!!!



works soo well with spacer, no worried about hub centric jobbies now. Also putting wheels on is much much easier and you don't bash the brakes when doing it



then dropped the oil



its wasn't to bad, still had abit of colour to it, gave the car a dealership oil service, oil filter and pollen filter

also change the vanos filter which was still very clean, but i had taken it out, so i just changed it, this is the old one.



And lastly go the mid-pipe off, this will be replaced with SS section on sunday



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Well lots to do now.

All my parts are back from paint. They did. Great job. I'll grab some pics over the weekend

And the wheels have arrived. But I haven't seen them yet. So keep you eyes peeled for some pics being posted up

Ian Alpine527 has finished the brackets for the AP's and I have to say, what a amazing job he had done! Thanks mate



New heavy duty drop links, these things are solid and really top quality




Phil at CA hooked me up with a braided clutch line. I will delete the CDV when fitting this. Cheers Phil



And lastly u have the diff oil and FM booster from Opie aswell

[Paul46rider]

i sold the type III racings and bought these

went for 18's


start with the 11.5j rears









gold bolt set-up


and the 9.5j front





they are rediculously light, can't wait to get the masking tape off the rim to get a proper look at how dishy they are.

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collected my bits from the bodyshop,

had the bumper sanded down, smoothed and painted, aswell as another splitter which hidesh gave to me (thanks mate) needed alot of repair and the bodyshop did a great job.





not the best angle but you can see the finish better


and the rest of the parts, all done in gloss black to match the window surround on the car and the other parts already finished in this colour



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Thanks everyone. The wheels have spurred me on with the work on the car.

Got the front end put back together tonight. Fitted the new splitter to the bumper, then mounted the bumper





Also fitted my oem coloured angels from Forum sponsor CPD. They look spot on





Also fitted new lenses with clear laminX to protect from stone chips



And lastly new grills from CPD painted gloss black to match the window frames and other bits



i later went back and adjusted the eyes, i wasn't happy with how low the inners sat

thanks for looking

Paul

[Paul46rider]

got my rubber ordered on friday and they will be fitted to new rim on Saturday coming

I also went and collected the brackets for my Ap's that my friend Ian made.

MY calipers and discs came off a e9x non M. all that is needed to fit them is a new set of bracket, AP will sell you new brackets for a kidney a liver and 10 goats, instead i got a loaner bracket of a friend on m3cutters and then had them copied

he even found a AP box to put them in lol





After that i run my rims round to a friends to store them for a week till the rubber is fitted, he placed them in his "Wheel Room"



Brake will be fitted tomorrow along with what ever else i can get done. spent the morning working on my other halfs E36 M3 GT2, was overhauling Her AP BBK

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well the rain did stop and manage to get the last of the big jobs done
Stipped off the old brakes and fitted up the brackets Ian made for me, fitt was perfect



then the rest of the kit followed





i then jumped under the car and set about tackling this



replaced with a braided clutch line without the cdv fitted



I then bleed the brakes and clutch with a full flush of super blue, i also dropped the diff oil and replaced that to

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few quick iphone pics, i'll update with proper pics soon









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right here we go, this is what i got dome on saturday evening.



first off i dropped the eisenmann off the car, then i gave the next backbox a wd40 clean







its is a full Titanium Dixis backbox. it weighs nothing. i can hold the whole thing out horiztanlly with one hand holding the tips, its that light.



the welding is some of the best i have seen, i have dealt with alot of titanium pipe work with all the bikes i work on. and this is some of the best work i have seen.

















i then removed the rear bumper to replace a kncakerd PDC sensor, nice easy job











then i was time to finish modifiying the top on my front coilovers so i could fit a closed top brace, so back on went my genuine acs brace, love having this back on









time for the wheels and getting it back on the ground



























added a few layers off wheel wax and sealer






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dixis sounds great, still pretty quiet at a stand still which suprised me

got a few finishing touches done today

first up i tackled the new oil seperator, it had started using abit of oil so this was straight on the list for changing, stripped down the engine cover



and fitted the new seperator




they get very gunked up with old oil like this



next was a set of evosport pullies
the break down





fitted


I also fitted a new AC belt aswell
when fitting my angels i rushed the job abit and the inners were sitting a little low for my liking, like this



so i took them apart and now they look like this




while working on the lights i fitted 6000k bulbs from CPD







finally got the car out of the parking space to see how much i want to drop the back tomorrow

[Paul46rider]

Thought its about time i did abit of a update on the car since its been back on the road for a few weeks now.

well first port of call was getting the arches rolled from Paul at archenemy
he did a great job and actually pulled the arches so they are now a good bit wider than the standard set-up


about an hour after Paul was finished i headed in for a detail from the big man, he did a amazing job and there is a nice little write up here

http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=35470

From there i went to DC11. had a great time and scooped 2nd place in the show and shine











The car seemed to get alot of attention and got alot of nice comments from people about it and the stance

When i got back from DC i got the rear bumper into the bodyshop for a respray, i then get ready for bimmerflex








scooped another trophy there



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So was 6 months off the road and a huge overhaul worth it????
10000000%!!!!!!

The work gone in under the car has really paid off, it drives like new, my car has always been a tight number but it feels better than new now.

The brakes are unbelieable, the stopping power is amazing and very progressive.

The new exhaust is pure sex! the sound is like nothing else out there, i know there are plenty of titanium boxes out there, but none sound like this, on the motorway at around 80 its very very quiet, give it some rev's and it is like a banshy.

The Wheels?? well i was getting very nervous about stepping down to 18's, but i have to say its the best move i've made, its transformed the car!! properly transformed the car, not just looks, but the drive. is sooo much better, the ride is very very plush and bumps and holes are ironed out very nicely, the handling is yet another improvment, it turns in better and sticks to the road like glue.

The vreds have been a great change aswell, i would deffo use them again,

Thanks for reading


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few pics from santa pod





























looks like i should have my airbox next week, then once gaydon is out they way i will start getting the car ready for its PBMW feature



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its here at last, Evolve Csl airbox.

gonna get it fitted next week then drive up to see the boys at evolve for the software

I'll start with these pics





the bits i love you actually won't see when fitted by the work gone into the underside of the box is sooo tidy






flawless work on the truppet design






ITG filter fitted, its very snug lol




gonna get my engine cover sanded back and the laquar finished in matte.






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tonight i got on with the job in hand


just over an hour and a half later









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[Paul46rider]

Well its been a long wait for this but it now in the car and running.
no this is a Impartial review of the airbox, I'm not the type to blow smoke up people arse to make them feel good

firstly i would like to tell you about the quality of the airbox its self.
Well where do i start, its a dry dry carbon box, everything on the box apart from the fasteners are carbon, trumpets, supports etc the lot!!

it has to be some of the best composite work i have ever seen. (i have dealt with alot of performance parts like this from my days building race bikes)
the trumpets are flawless and structural work is so slick and detailed, my favorite parts of the box are actually hidden when fitted.

a few pictures to show you the quality of the work
















ITG filter fitted




I choose to fit the box myself, i would have been more than happy for evolve to fit the box but i like working on my own car, gives me the build rather than bought feeling.

so i tackled the job one evening, stripped out the old



and in with the new








now for those that don't know this airbox just like the OEM CSL running Maf-less. and also uses a different ECU software called Alpha-N, obviously because i choose to fit the box myself i would have to drive the car to evolve with the car still running its Original software and no Maf connected, so i had a engine light on and it was a little lumpy at low revs, but apart from that the car ran really well.

Time came to go visit Imran and Rizwan in Luton, i left a little bit of work for Rizwan to do, he wired up the new temp sensor to the Maf connection
And some proof that other people do work on my car


time to back her on to the rollers




now i was not really bothered about dyno figures, mainly because i know they are not really relevant due to the factors that can change the readings each time the car is run, but i was more interested in the change, now we could really do a base run of the car because the base run we did, i already had the airbox on rather than the oem set-up.

Another thing that effected the running of my car was the ride height and front splitter, basically when the car is running it need to ramp forward onto the dyno reading roller to read the power, this is done by placing a wheel choke in front of the front wheels, allowing the car to drive forward and the rear wheels to get up on top of the roller, due to the ride height and splitter it restricted the distance of the wheel choke to wheel, basically didn't allow the car to come forward enough, but it did come forward enough to get a good judge of what it is doing.

the base run with the engine light on, no Maf and a foreign airbox pulled a 319hp, which to be honest, I was really happy with (its a 10 years old car now)

the alpha N was loaded on to the ecu along with Evolve map to go with it and Imran had another crack of the whip pulling her to 343hp after a couple of runs (another thing to remember is it takes time for the ecu to adapt to the mapping changes, so by the time you get home it may be pull abit more power)

I was well chuffed with the figures, some people might think that the car should make that as standard, well they don't lol, and that was also with out being able to get the car correctly up on the dyno roller. So all in all well pleased

here is abit of dyno action for you, its a nice mix of airbox and dixis (click the image to view the vid)



time for the test drive, i jumped in the drives seat and Imran took shotgun.
First impression.... very very smooth, the power curve was silky smooth and pulled steady through the revs, tbh the extra power didn't really jump out at me but it still felt uber strong but the smoothness of the delivery was sooo crisp. I was a very happy camper indeed.

I heading home back to the smoke and had a good play on the motorway, i mean half a tank in 40 miles lol
by the time i got home it was different animal to the car that i test drove 45 minutes before hand, I'm guessing the ecu adaptions were still taking place, it feel like a real beasty now lol

it picks up a good thousand rpm earlier than it used to and the pull its continuously strong and doesn't fizzle away and the top end of the range, when i hit up that private road on my route home i got to play with some of the higher speeds and it just kept pulling and pulling.

The alpha N software to me has sooo much more feel to the driving experience, the electronic feel from throttle has gone as well as the lag that comes with it. It feels like a good old cable throttle again, that reacts in a instant when you touch the throttle.

now the airbox, what a bit of kit, at low speed with the window down you can here the whistle of the intake sucking the air in, its crazy, give it a boot full of throttle and the noise makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, the OEM CSL box sound pretty subtle compared to this lol.
Paired up with my titanium Dixis the noise from the car is something else.

The other thing that is great about the box, if you are just cruising around town driving calmly it stays nice and quiet and the cabin still remains a calm place to be.
Motorway 70-80mph cruising is the same as it was volume wise, so no crazy motorway headache, but then all it takes is a stamp on the throttle and the beast comes alive.

Basically to sum up the airbox and my whole experience with Evolve is AMAZING!!!

Imran, Sal and Rizwan you are a credit to our forum and the whole BMW community, you guys really do go the extra mile with your customers while keeping the whole experience very personal and light hearted while still retaining the professional part of it.:thumbs up:

And sorry for the essay

[Paul46rider]

well i was bored so i thought i'd pop down to bluewater and grab a few pics of the car, it got abit wet and dirty on the way down due to the rain, gutted

anyway thanks for looking












































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been sat at home sulking that i couldn't get to a local meet today, my car has developed a idle problem, gonna get the codes read later tonight

but i did abit of work on my new coilovers, they looked grubby so i stripped them down cleaned and rebuilt them. They are actually like new under the dirt



Damper cleaned and threads treated with some Gt85, nylon spring perch has been cleaned and treated with gt85 aswell, gives it a coat of protection and keeps them moving



i cleaned the dampers up with bilberry them a coat of autosol and finished with belgom Alu

The rear struts where treated the same way, spring perches and springs clean separately



finished




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well got the car up and running again, after looking for a airleak that pulled up nothing, so looking into it deeper and a faulty TPS was the culprit. it was the tps on the throttle actuator, car is still running a little funny cos the throttle values need reseting which david is gonna do for me.

Huge thank you to Phil at CPC for helping me out over the phone. thanks mate

Also got the Kw's fitted soooo happy with them, they are pure quality. I'm in no way shunning the D2 set-up, it is awesome and would happily of kept them and i do not a have a single bad word to say about them, just these came up and they are top draw if you know what i mean



went a little lower allround



Still playing with the settings at the moment but first impressions are very good so far



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Quick teaser. Hope to get them off to paint ASAP



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Well I finally found abit of time to get down to my firms plant yard and use the air tool and parts wash bins to strip and clean up the read AP's before I drop then to the painter

I popped the pistons out , stripped the springs, bleeds, rattle clips and rollers. Put the whole in a parts wash bin for a chemical clean

I left the seals in for now, and I'll remove them when they are painted and replace with new seals and bleed valves





They have now been dropped to my painter

I have also got a set of turner front top mounts, so i will get them cleaned up and on the V3's asap

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Just picked up the brakes from the painters. Need to hand paint the logo and wait for my new seals as bleeds to arrive. I also have a set of AP slotted discs coming my way in a few weeks to match the fronts




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Got abit of time on my hands so I thought I might aswell try and paint the rears aswell

Just got them all masked up. Need to pick up some paint tomorrow







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well they are pretty much done, need to clean them up a little and do some small fill in's when are completely dry





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well a friend of mine donated some parts to me today

some UUC tranny mount enforcers, one shown loose the other is fitted to the tranny mount



will we were looking around his 3 e36's (yes 3!!) i asked him how the weight shift knob's were like? he ran inside and came out with a Waylin gear knob (think that is how its spelt) Gave it to me and said see how you get on with that.