My Slow Burn (E46 M3)

[eforty6_m3]

After an excruciatingly long wait, the Euroconnex carbon fiber trim FINALLY arrived on Friday. Here it is installed:

















































And a few more of the wheels, because they are incredible:

[0-60motorsports]

Thank you!

And fair enough, but they've served me well. I don't track the car. I'm pretty happy with the BCs so they aren't going anywhere anytime soon! 😂

Well I guess if you are riding with 13.5”/13” ride heigh or even 13” all Around they should be ok

[eforty6_m3]

Looks amazing, now all you have to do is get rid of those coilovers LOL

Thank you!

And fair enough, but they've served me well. I don't track the car. I'm pretty happy with the BCs so they aren't going anywhere anytime soon! 😂

[0-60motorsports]

Looks amazing, now all you have to do is get rid of those coilovers LOL

[eforty6_m3]

Not a ton of updates to share, but here are a couple of things...

As mentioned in my last post, I went ahead and swapped on some fresh OEM fog light trim:





Got my window trim vinyl wrapped in gloss black:













Dressed up the engine bay a bit with Blackline Performance oil filler and oil filter caps:







Towards the end of June, I entered my car to be judged at the Boston Chapter BMW CCA Concours d'Elegance @ Prowse Farm in Canton,MA. Ended up coming home with a 1st place plaque:









Last but not least, the BBS RS2s I had ordered from ewheelworks at the end of February finally arrived!!











Had to remove the Motorsport Hardware stud conversion kit that I had only installed earlier last year to accommodate the center caps, but I'll take that tradeoff any day of the week:









I then removed the wheels and ceramic coated them, along with the center caps, with 2 coats of Armour Detail Supply Wheel Coating:















Now I wait for my Carbon Fiber interior trim to arrive from EuroConnex. Also ordered in February with an 8-10 week estimate...alas, it's been nearly 28 weeks. But it supposedly arrived at his shop end of last week, so hoping it gets here this week or early next.

Cheers!

[eforty6_m3]

In my continued effort to freshen up the front end, I also swapped out the indicator assemblies for new Magneti Marelli units. Granted, it took 3 tries to get me an undamaged driver side indicator; these are not very well packaged within the manufacturer box.











And after a failed attempt thru eBay (I would highly advise against AutoPartsGeek, who claimed to have the driver side ZKW non-fluted fog light in stock, then provided me with erroneous tracking info, which led to several phone calls to USPS and the seller), I found a seller in Lithuania selling the driver side fog light. I was able to source the passenger fog thru FCP (they do not stock the driver fog).







To help protect the new fog lights, I bought and installed some pre-cut Lamin-X film specific to these fog lights:









BEFORE







AFTER







Thinking my next purchase will be the fog light surround/trim. Now to put some more miles on it before she goes away for the winter.

[eforty6_m3]

Recently did something I should have done YEARS ago. Swapped out the lower headlight trim for trim without the headlight washer cutouts. Found a used set on eBay in silver grey in what appeared to be great shape, for a reasonable $60, I took the chance and was pleasantly surprised that they were in just as good shape as advertised:

[eforty6_m3]

Finally installed my Radium Engineering catch can:

[eforty6_m3]

Got a good report card from Blackstone Labs on the latest oil change:




Currently at Wile Motorsports...water pump/t-stat/radiator hoses/heli-coil/valve cover gasket. Picking it up this afternoon!

[eforty6_m3]

Got the M3 up in the air over the winter for some much needed TLC:



It was finally time to overhaul the brakes on the M3. New Powerstop drilled & slotted rotors, carbon fiber brake pads, Motorsport Hardware stud conversion kit, and painting the calipers black was next on the docket (excuse the blurry photos, not sure what is going on lately with what seems like 1/2 of my uploads from my phone to Flickr, but they look 100% fine on my phone, but end up looking blurry/grainy on Flickr and when sharing from Flickr):













I also threw on 20mm H&R spacers up front to try and get the wheel more flush with the fender. It helped, but think there's too much camber so I'll need to take another stab at adjusting that:



Also ordered the Radium oil catch can kit for the M3, which I have yet to install, but should help with any oil blow by with the CSL style intake:



Also performed my annual oil change on the M3 and this one was a bit more memorable than most, and not in a good way. Stripped the oil pain drain plug, which is a common issue on these and the E9x M3s. Luckily the bolt is in there good enough and the oil leak is barely a drip, but I'm hoping (weather dependent) to drive the car to a local Cars and Coffee 3/30 at a very reputable BMW Indy shop about 45 minutes north of me and then leave it there for the helicoil repair, which they've had great luck with in the past and have performed on many cars. After that, the next bit of service the M3 is overdue for is replacing the water pump and thermostat, along with the radiator hoses. I have all the parts, but not sure it's a job I feel like undertaking, so I'll probably be bringing it back to this shop later in the Spring to get that work done.



Took her out this past Sunday for the first official drive of the season, which also allowed me to properly bed in the newly installed brakes:







I also picked up this "E46 M3" brick (generic legos) set from Petrolbricks:

[eforty6_m3]

Just finished up a small project on the M3. The speaker cover/grille on the passenger door had faded and was a much different color than the driver door cover, and I found this DIY which seemed like an easy enough thing to do:

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/faded-bmw-330-ci-coupe-harman-kardon-door-handle-speaker-covers-dont-buy-new-ones-restore-in-30mins.1428348/?utm_source=pocket_saves

Passenger Door










Driver Door









Using Rit Black All Purpose Dye, I masked off the area and got to work:










I was able to achieve the following results:

[eforty6_m3]

Got my latest oil analysis results from Blackstone Labs:


Obviously puts my mind more at rest in regards to the bearing wear. Definitely going to keep an eye (er, ear) out for any unusual noises, but I was hoping this would be the result.

[eforty6_m3]

Fantastic update. Anything nerve related is a pain in the ass (literally) because of the time it takes to heal on its own. Glad you're past that and looking forward to more progress on the "Purist".

After the rain has stopped in California, I'll be updating my build thread as well. I've done a lot on the car in terms of foundational, so now it's the interior refresh (just need to install everything) and the installation of my Karb box which is due in 7 weeks!

You aren't kidding! But man, just over 4 months out, I'm feeling so much better now. Better than before my injury. Been focusing on strengthening my lower back/core/glutes and being more mindful of my posture, including when I sleep (always with a pillow between my knees, as I'm a side sleeper), or when I lay on the couch (a pillow under my knees to alleviate pressure on my lower back).

I'm going to go check out your thread now! And I get it with the rain. This has been the wettest (non-snow) winter I can recall here in MA in years. It's grey and rainy every day. Didn't realize we moved to the PNW, or England. Super depressing.

Karbonius?!?! Hell yeah...can't wait to see that bad boy installed! Absolutely love mine. The BEST upgrade I've made to my car, yet, without a doubt. The sound is gloriously intoxicating....

[WestBankM4]

Fantastic update. Anything nerve related is a pain in the ass (literally) because of the time it takes to heal on its own. Glad you're past that and looking forward to more progress on the "Purist".

After the rain has stopped in California, I'll be updating my build thread as well. I've done a lot on the car in terms of foundational, so now it's the interior refresh (just need to install everything) and the installation of my Karb box which is due in 7 weeks!

[eforty6_m3]

Phenomenal work brother 👌

Appreciate the kind words, and glad someone appreciates my "build"! Cheers!