Waleed’s 200k mile JB/IR M3

[wildm333]

Well, after years of holding back on doing a member journal I decided to finally make it happen. A little back story first. The E46 M3 has always been one of my favorite cars and it was something I knew I wanted to get eventually. A few weeks after I sold my first car (March 2019), I came across this Tiag/Imola SMG M3 with 116k miles. Owner said it needed an SMG pump (big surprise haha) and most everything was pretty much clean. I went to check it out, put a deposit down that day and went and picked it up later that week.

The day I went to go see it.


Oh my my my.

Brought the car home and I was the proud owner of an M3 at the young age of 16. Car sat in my garage for about a month since I was busy with school and then finally came the day we replaced the SMG pump and also did the fuel pump as well, with the help of one of my good friend. Car started right up and ran great, gears engaged really well and it pulled strong.

About a year later, right after the first lockdown was lifted, I dropped the car off at a really reputable shop to have the rod bearings done. Been collecting the parts for a few weeks so I saved some money by just paying for labor. Glad I did it when I did because oh man did they need it bad. A few months later, November 2020, I took on the challenge of tackling the subframe thanks to my friend letting me borrow his lift and garage space. Parts included Clownshoe Motorsports Plates (epoxied in), AKG Subframe Bushings, E36 Diff Bushings, Syncro Design Works RTABs, along with a bunch of other stuff. Very minimal cracking thankfully which I had welded by a mobile welder. Got the car down after a few days and it drove amazing with all the new parts. Those were pretty much my big milestone moments and jobs I had done with the car but obviously there were many smaller upgrades and repairs that i took care of in between. This car had come a long way with me, and I babied it a lot. It was my daily driver for pretty much my last 2.5 years of HS and my first semester of college. Fast forward to the end of my first semester and I sell my other car so I have a decent amount of money saved up, so I put out a WTB for a new project and I was presented with what would end up being my new car.

[wildm333]

December 2021: This guy hits me up and he tells me he may be interested in selling his car, a 2002 manual E46 M3 with 225k miles. This car, fortunately for me, was previously owned by the owner of Technica Motorsports, who this current owner bought the car from barely 2 years ago. I talk to one of my friends who’s known this car for over a decade and was told that the Technica owner had it for about 10 years and took really good care of it. All the maintenance was done and a lot of the car was bulletproof and oil changes were done very frequently with Motul 10w60. Since the car was local I went the next day to check it out. It wasn’t too bad, definitely needed a little tlc. It only had about 7500 miles put on it in the last two years and this owner took it to the track and autocrossed it a decent bit. Headliner was out because he installed an S2R CF Sunroof delete panel to save weight, there was a battery drain apparently which would kill the battery if the car sat for a few days so he wired in a kill switch, and the biggest concern was the floor pan was cracked from the top, although the subframe was reinforced from the bottom. With that in mind I took the car for a drive and it drove pretty well actually, sitting on TC Kline coilovers, it was pretty smooth and oh yeah, it had a red interior too. I talked to a few people as I was inspecting the car and ultimately decided to pull the trigger, cause at the price we agreed on I would be silly not to take it. I was now the proud owner of yet another e46 m3.

[wildm333]

Not even 12 hours into owning the Jet Black M3, I had to do the necessary upgrade to LCI inner tails. Had an extra set so I put those on almost immediately.

First wash, it cleaned up real nice.


The not so eye pleasing cracks

The next few days were kinda hard. I had to make a decision on which M3 I was gonna keep. It was a hard decision, but after talking with many people and getting their opinions, I decided that it was finally time to let my Tiag go. I didn’t think i’d be selling it any time soon, but at 137k miles it was the best choice financially to sell it. I’m currently in the process of putting it back to stock (SCZA Muffler, Dinan Intake, MCS Coilovers) and in a few weeks I’ll be listing it.

I decided to swap interiors because the Tiag had lumbar/heat and the JB only had heated seats. Also went ahead and swapped over the Aluminum trim.

[wildm333]

Been collecting a few parts for the new car, and doing what I can do myself. Purchased a Weld-in Vince Bar from a local member and also scored a slicktop headliner from a 330ci. Decided that i’ll stick with the CF panel cause putting a sunroof back in is just a PITA, so i’ll be having this and all my pillars rewrapped in black alcantara. My drivers side roof trim for some weird reason was faded really bad and was starting to lift so I found one from a local 3 series partout and put it on. It’s not the best but it’s definitely a lot better than before.

[lastMleft]

Looks good 👍🏽

[wildm333]

Okay wow. So it’s come a long way since I last updated you guys. I decided to not drive the M3 as much because for obvious reasons, my 100+ mile daily commute would not have been good for the subframe at all. So while I had it in the garage, I decided to do some things that I could just do myself. Installed these MCS Singles that I took off from my Tiag and mounted a square set of 265/35 PSS on a rear square set of OEM 18s.


As the car sat for the next few weeks, I collected as many parts as I could do I could be ready to drop the car off as soon as my mechanic had an open spot. In that time I also did a few smaller things like the windshield cowl, cabin air filter, windshield wipers, and gutted the entire back seat area as well as the trunk.

[wildm333]

The day had finally come for me to drop it off. I planned to most likely do a full overhaul since everything was gonna be taken apart. So $4400 later, here’s what I got done to it.
- SDW RTABS
- Parts Max Aluminum Subframe Bushings
- OEM E36 Diff Bushings
- Full Diff Rebuild
- New bushings all over the rear subframe
- Eibach Rear Control Arms
- New Axle Boots
- Tie Rods
- Center Support Bearing
- Shifter Bushings
- Clutch Pedal Bushing
- LUK Clutch
- Weld In Vince Bar
- Guibo
I cringed as I heard the total but as soon as I took it for the first drive I knew it was worth it. I had also picked up some 513Ms and put my PSS 265/35/18 Square setup on there while it was at the shop so he could have the alignment done with the new wheels. After I got it back, I threw on some amber corners that I had ordered and just took a step back and admired the thing. Amber tails will be installed soon, just waiting for my buddy to have some free time so he can code them in.

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