M3 Stablemates: What else do you have in the garage?

[George Hill]

I have notes somewhere but he trimmed and reinforced the front subframe. He said it was more rigid than factory and that he was able to use stock headers, oil pan and steering shaft. He banged the hood reinforcements flat

I'd be curious to see your notes if you want to share them.

After driving an S85 E46 I picked up an engine to build myself one, but in the back of my mind I also thinking about an S65 instead. At the end of the day "V" engines just don't fit well in the E46 chassis and both take considerable amount of planning to execute properly.

[YoitsTmac]

That just sold on builtforbackroads, right?

[Deen HK]

Actually just sold my 996t and got back into an E46. The Land Cruiser is my daily driver and I also have a cosmo turbo e36 m3 that I’m building.

edit: not sure why my photo quality got trashed upon upload

[repoman89]

Congrats on that ZHP. I’ve never owned or driven one but have a lot of miles in regular E46 330is, which are pretty much the same. Maybe the minority opinion here but I’d take one of those any day over an M3 for a road car. My E39 M5 fits that role for me now but even when I bought that I was looking for a simple 530i sport 5 speed, just couldn’t find a clean one. Lot to be said for that M54.

[Nate047]

Nice setup. I'm half disappointed E36 is not a Hellrot or Mugello....just kidding!

Yea a slicktop Hellrot E36 would certainly be sweet wouldn't it

[heinzboehmer]

There are lots of talks of the Golden Gate chapter hosting a Laguna track day - you should bring along your ride. I'm bias because I'm on the board, but we just had a Sonoma track day with a great response and we focus on maximizing seat time.

If you need help wiring a E9x swap into an E82, I can help you out with the electronics side.

Thanks! I need to go to one of those track days someday, have heard good thing from track friends.

I've never driven a 128 but have plenty of seat time in 135s (both N54 and N55) and IMHO the biggest issue with them was not the engine but the chassis. Way too much soft rubber absolutely everywhere, not to mention the open diff. I'd swap M3 subframes/suspension etc before I'd swap an S65.

Heinz > You can drive mine if you're ever down here.
And ya unfortunately the state requirements override the federal ones, we cannot put a "regular" engine into a SULEV car and register it legally here

Yeah you can tell BMW built this car as a comfortable daily and not a sports car. I just love how rigid the chassis feels and think the size is perfect.

And hell yeah! I'll reach out next time I'm down there! Likewise if you're ever up in the bay

[kaiv]

Heinz > You can drive mine if you're ever down here.
And ya unfortunately the state requirements override the federal ones, we cannot put a "regular" engine into a SULEV car and register it legally here

[kaiv]

I've never driven a 128 but have plenty of seat time in 135s (both N54 and N55) and IMHO the biggest issue with them was not the engine but the chassis. Way too much soft rubber absolutely everywhere, not to mention the open diff. I'd swap M3 subframes/suspension etc before I'd swap an S65.

[YoitsTmac]

I also kept the stock location steering shaft but looking at that photo and how low the engine sits, I'm guessing concessions were made elsewhere.

I have notes somewhere but he trimmed and reinforced the front subframe. He said it was more rigid than factory and that he was able to use stock headers, oil pan and steering shaft. He banged the hood reinforcements flat

[kaiv]

The person I interviewed years ago was able to do his with no steering shaft modifications. Very few parts were modified / most were OE.

Here's a pic of the build I saw: https://www.builtforredline.com/wp-c...3-s65-swap.jpg

I also kept the stock location steering shaft but looking at that photo and how low the engine sits, I'm guessing concessions were made elsewhere.

[powerbait]

Nice setup. I'm half disappointed E36 is not a Hellrot or Mugello....just kidding!

Thanks, it's really all dumb luck that I ended up with the barn, when I sent the listing to the wife I was 100% joking and had no intentions of moving... but here we are, she enable this obsession. I only had the e92 and f80 when we moved here. I've considered getting the e36 wrapped in an imola-ish red, 1. to match and 2. to protect the paint. but I've been more focused on the e46 lately. I just went through a full windows out respray, added the carbon panel, csl trunk and euro bumper. The whole front was PPF'd and the rest ceramic coated. I'm about to drop the rear subframe and reinforce it.

[YoitsTmac]

To be fair, I've never driven the car actually hard (i.e. not on the road). Was so close to sneaking it on track at Laguna a couple weeks back, but the logistics didn't end up working out. But I have to say that I really like the short wheelbase. Gives it a very lively character, especially at slower speeds. Dash (and armrest!) creak is super annoying though.

And you're right, I don't want anything to do with a turbo, hence the talk of grabbing my E82 and swapping all the E9X M3 stuff in

There are lots of talks of the Golden Gate chapter hosting a Laguna track day - you should bring along your ride. I'm bias because I'm on the board, but we just had a Sonoma track day with a great response and we focus on maximizing seat time.

If you need help wiring a E9x swap into an E82, I can help you out with the electronics side.

[heinzboehmer]

To be fair, I've never driven the car actually hard (i.e. not on the road). Was so close to sneaking it on track at Laguna a couple weeks back, but the logistics didn't end up working out. But I have to say that I really like the short wheelbase. Gives it a very lively character, especially at slower speeds. Dash (and armrest!) creak is super annoying though.

And you're right, I don't want anything to do with a turbo, hence the talk of grabbing my E82 and swapping all the E9X M3 stuff in

[Tbonem3]

Honestly, I hated the e82 chassis other than the increased front end grip from e46. The short wheelbase felt funny, the front cowl/dash creaks horribly. The e90 M3 is leaps and bounds better imo, but my e82 was a 128i (slicktop/6mt), not the 1m which has e9x M parts.

And I'm suprised either of you'd want anything to do with a turbo, but I know it's not the old days anymore. Just philosophically, N/A bmw engines were peak engineering. An engine to be used with a turbo is "dumbed" down. Total power output is increased, but the engine is worse, the feel, the sound etc. Cheap power. Like microwaving cold pizza instead of a hot brick oven.

Best thing you could do with the e82 would be an S65 imo.

[heinzboehmer]

It really is! It's quintessential old school BMW fun. Not too big, not too heavy, both ends of the car do exactly what you want with great feel/communication coming through. It reminds me of the E36 in some ways which is the car that made me fall in love with BMWs to begin with.

I have a lot of E9X M parts including a complete S65 I could be talked into selling if you're interested 😅

I really need to find a 1M to drive, they sound like a ton of fun. Even the 128i is a blast, that chassis is just so good.

And man don't do this to me. That thing is supposed to be the reliable daily that is never down because of projects!

No, but in all seriousness, it's an N51 car, so need to figure out how to make the swap legal. Which really means it either needs to become an unregistered track car or I need to exchange it for another chassis. Fortunately non-Ms are cheap, so it shouldn't be a big deal. But yeah, project for down the line.