e46 M3 Community-designed CAD files Master List

[0-60motorsports]

Hi guys,

I'm an old acquaintance of Obioban and old friend of p0lar - back when I lived in Montreal, Canada.

I had a 2005 e46 M3 that tracked regularly at Tremblant and Calabogie. Terrorized the GT3s at the Tremblant Club. Had a lot done to the car before I found it submerged in knee-high water from a flood. 😥

We were a bunch of kids and we made this rear seat delete from 5051 aluminum and as I rekindled my interest in cars (actually, the Supra atm - sorry!) I came across some pics and this cad info. Maybe it'll be of use to the community. I think p0lar would like this shared. Should have done it sooner.

Love seeing the M community and the car community grow! 🙂

If you see some old guy heel-toeing, karting like a maniac, making kids cry in Vancouver, come say hi! 😎

https://tinyurl.com/e46seatdelete

Thanks for posting this. Man i haven't heard from p0lar in years, eben though i tried to reach out. Hope he is ok.

[ac427]

Thanks for posting this. Man i haven't heard from p0lar in years, eben though i tried to reach out. Hope he is ok.

MavJ
As above, i haven't heard from P0lar in years, a great bloke and instrumental in discovering the mysteries of the MSS54.

When did you last hear from him?

[0-60motorsports]

As above, i have heard from P0lar in years, a great bloke and instrumental in discovering the mysteries of the MSS54.

When did you last hear from him?

Years ago! I even sent him a few emails but never got a response.

[discoelk]

CSL inlet grille. Original part courtesy of ugaexploder. OE part on the right. Textured build plate creates a textured face but a smooth plate would create a smooth part like OE. You'd never know this isn't OE when installed though.

Double edit: step file attached.

[terra]

CSL inlet grille. Original part courtesy of ugaexploder. OE part on the right. Textured build plate creates a textured face but a smooth plate would create a smooth part like OE. You'd never know this isn't OE when installed though.

Can anyone host a step file? I can upload a STL but in my experience, quality is compromised.

Edit: it seems like I cannot upload an STL either.

You should be able to upload them as a part of a zip file if under 10MB

[Sid_E46]

Here is a little blockoff for the CSL center console mirror control switch.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6792742

[bimmerfan08]

Stickied this thread.

... now nobody will ever look at it.

I actually caught it because it was stickied. Great thread.

[Nate047]

Hey guys, does anyone have existing data for a stripped rear interior? My friend and I are thinking about trying to make a cosmetic rear seat and door panel delete panel set that would be modular and cover all the painted areas and wires etc…

[heinzboehmer]

Hey guys, does anyone have existing data for a stripped rear interior? My friend and I are thinking about trying to make a cosmetic rear seat and door panel delete panel set that would be modular and cover all the painted areas and wires etc…

Don't do this cause it's sketchy, but: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...348#post284348

But for real, only consider this if you're never gonna have loose stuff in the trunk and never gonna have rear passengers

[Nate047]

Don't do this cause it's sketchy, but: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...348#post284348

But for real, only consider this if you're never gonna have loose stuff in the trunk and never gonna have rear passengers

Right on. What we want to do would be just for track cars, or as a removable piece you can put in for a track day, so nothing is ever going to be loose in the back of the car.

There are plenty of panels out there and ways to block off just the rear seat, but notably, there is no solution to cover all the exposed areas when you remove the whole back seat and the door cards. I hate seeing the crappy paint and all the wiring, but I’m also not trying to fully gut the car and paint it. We are going to use my car and my friends car which is totally stock, to see if we can make something somewhat easy and reversible. Might not work out, but worth taking a look at.

[Cheeky]

Hey guys I removed my armrest and trashed my center console, so I've been working on a custom one to 3D print. (see Dropbox link). I'm looking for some help finalizing it. It needs a couple of things.
1 - Attachment under the shift boot.
2 - Attachment to the frame where the armrest was.
3 - Cupholder inserts (I'm working on)
4 - Anything else anyone can think of

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ne6m8efl8cvih1p9qscgm/AMiDrVWsHP0XsrlZSn2dXiU?rlkey=0zodtx4lksd89g19jifd22y54&st=6acagl81&dl=0

[badwax]

Perhaps someone can 3D print the inner flap doors for removable hardtops. They almost as rare as baby unicorns.

[karter16]

A little project I've been working on for the last little while is an adapter to help the Bosch 0261230101 MAP sensor fit better to the CSL air rail. For those who don't have the background, the original MAP sensor for the CSL is NLA. a few years ago NZ_M3 identified that the 0261230101 sensor was a good replacement option given it's characteristics are very similar to the original.

The key difference in it is the physical packaging - the original sensor had two mounting points, whereas the '101 sensor only has one:



Now it's a pretty close fit, but not ideal for the following reasons:

1: The nose of the sensor is a few mm too long.
2: The o-ring OD is too small.
3: It obviously only has 1 mounting point rather than two.
4: The mounting holes are deeper and therefore the OE bolts are not long enough.
5: The distance from the centre of the nose to the centre of the mounting hole is slightly less than the distance from the centre of the hole to the centre of the mounting thread on the CSL secondary air rail.

In general I believe others have used a craft knife to cut a little bit off the nose to make it fit, but I wanted to do a bit better.

So I made this 3D printable adapter plate.

The adapter solves for #1 and #3 above, #2 is addressed via a replacement o-ring, #4 is addressed via replacement bolts and #5 is addressed partly by the adapter and partly by modifying the sensor.

The adapter looks like this:



and here it is in printed form:



And here's photos of it installed:






Below are the details you need to know if you want to use this for your own install:

CAD File: The STL for the adapter is here E46_M3_MAP_Sensor_Adapter_v1_3.stl
Material: I printed mine in PETG-CF30 which is sufficiently heat resistant and hard wearing for the application.
Finishing: I printed mine with extra solid layers and ironing turned on to give a good surface which I then carefully wet-sanded to produce a very nice finish.
Affixing to the sensor: Once I was happy after test fitting I used plastic adhesive to glue the two pieces together.
Fitment: I used a carbide burr on my Dremel tool to thin out the metal insert in the sensor mounting hole to increase the wiggle room when mounting (hopefully it goes without saying to keep the sensor pointed down so you don't get bits inside it). Mine did JUST fit without, but I wanted to ensure the sensor was centered correctly and not being pulled to one side as well as prove the procedure out for others.
O-Ring: The correct size of o-ring to use is 14mm OD x 8mm ID x 3mm H Viton.
Mounting Bolts: If you wish to replicate the look of the original mounting bolts they are DIN7984 bolts (M6 x 18mm), I chose to get mine in stainless steel rather than zinc plated like the OE items.


A big shout out as well to davidinnyc who acted as guinea pig to try the adapter out before I did my install. He found on his rail that the fitment was too tight to get both bolts in, so it's a pretty close thing without grinding/filing of the sensor mounting hole, unfortunately this isn't something the design of the adapter can fix, given it's the sensor itself that is slightly wrong dimensionally for this application.


Hope this is of use to people - enjoy :-)

[0-60motorsports]

Very Nicely done! I don't understand why in the holy hell would BMW discontinue a vital part like this for any car.

[bmwfnatic]

Very Nicely done! I don't understand why in the holy hell would BMW discontinue a vital part like this for any car.

They didn't afaik, but they offer another sensor from some french car that fits even worse.

It probably went like this;

BMW Parts Employee: Oh we ran out of sensors, I must inform my colleage from Purchasing.
BMW Purchasing Employee: Oh we ran out of sensors, I must inform Bosch that we need some more, lets see the last 10 years we sold around 300 of these, so we will order 500 and we should be good for a while.
Bosch Employee: Ja we can make the sensor, but minimum 5000 units to resume production.
BMW Accountant: 5000 sensor is too much, we will not sell those in 100 years, etc...