My Slow Burn (E46 M3)

[Inizes]

Was the part number 51217002277? I figured trimming would be needed to get around the lock.

[eforty6_m3]

What kind of shaving did you have to do on the inside of the key hole cover near the door handle?

None whatsoever. Popped right in, no problems.

[Inizes]

What kind of shaving did you have to do on the inside of the key hole cover near the door handle?

[eforty6_m3]

I'll be honest, I clicked the thread because you called it "Slow Burn" and that's the name of a great Nashville Hot Chicken place near me...and wouldn't you know it I've already ordered takeout...

Pretty car. I don't blame you for paying up for those ZCP wheels. I would LOVE to find a set for a $1000 premium for my car. I also have test driven those Accord Sports (2.0t) and was VERY impressed with the driving dynamics and especially the powertrain tuning. Hopefully yours is still treating you well.

I also have those graphic prints of the headlight and taillight charts. My wife found that artist online and bought both as a Christmas present for me. Very cool artwork.

HA, that's fantastic! I mainly titled it that because I'm not building a race car or a drift car. It's a second/weekend car that I plan on having for a long time to come. And I plan on slowly adding to it, trying to make it OEM+ and keep it clean and driveable. Slowly, but surely!

But that is an awesome name for a chicken place.

Yeah, knowing $1000 for ZCP wheels in great shape with good tires was essentially a STEAL, I had to pull the trigger. And man am I glad I did!

I really do like the Accord. Though the CVT tranny is starting to wear thin on me. The 1.5T is a tiny motor but does move somewhat OK. My lease is up in February, so I'm already trying to think of what's next. By that point, the M3 should be paid off, so I'll have more money to spend on the daily. As of now, I think I'm between an F80 M3 and a G20 M340i. Would love an E90 M3 DCT, but I would prefer something newer with modern amenities and a warranty. I can't have all 3 vehicles in my household out of warranty. Plenty of time to make a decision, though. Hopefully life can get back to normal sooner rather than later so I can test drive some other cars.

Yeah, I got in on those prints early when they popped up on Kickstarter. The're pretty sweet and you don't see them very often. Thanks, again!

[eforty6_m3]

Oh man I loved Legos that's awesome!

I have a feeling that us here, besides mostly being INTJs & ENTJs, also played with legos!

Haha, fair enough!

[eforty6_m3]

Beautiful M3. Quite the garage you have as well

Thank you on both counts! 👍

[eforty6_m3]

Nice car!

That Lego S54 is super cool. Too bad they're not sold anymore. I wonder is Replica Motorsport will sell/give me the instructions and then I can source the parts myself.

Thanks man! And yeah, when I first saw they were releasing it, I HAD to have it! You should reach out and see what they say. Good luck!

[MrClutch55]

need to be more quick. the reserved post is expiring soon haha.

[Albino09]

I'll be honest, I clicked the thread because you called it "Slow Burn" and that's the name of a great Nashville Hot Chicken place near me...and wouldn't you know it I've already ordered takeout...

Pretty car. I don't blame you for paying up for those ZCP wheels. I would LOVE to find a set for a $1000 premium for my car. I also have test driven those Accord Sports (2.0t) and was VERY impressed with the driving dynamics and especially the powertrain tuning. Hopefully yours is still treating you well.

I also have those graphic prints of the headlight and taillight charts. My wife found that artist online and bought both as a Christmas present for me. Very cool artwork.

[Tbonem3]

Oh man I loved Legos that's awesome!

I have a feeling that us here, besides mostly being INTJs & ENTJs, also played with legos!

[Titaniu//M]

Beautiful M3. Quite the garage you have as well

[heinzboehmer]

And here are some misc parts I had accumulated for the car, waiting to get installed:





And because I'm the nerdiest 36 year old ever, I stayed up until midnight so I wouldn't miss out on the second (and final) release of the S54 Lego set from Replica Motorsport. This is one really cool set that I will proudly display in the garage:

Nice car!

That Lego S54 is super cool. Too bad they're not sold anymore. I wonder is Replica Motorsport will sell/give me the instructions and then I can source the parts myself.

[eforty6_m3]

March 8, 2020

The M3 is officially ready for her suspension overhaul:




March 14, 2020

FINALLY had some free time to start the suspension over the weekend. My neighbor let me borrow his Milwaukee M18 Fuel impact driver, as my smaller 20v Porter Cable impact wasn't cutting it, as well as his Snap-On pry bars. This was my first time ever doing suspension work on my own, but with the help of YouTube and some DIY threads I found on various BMW forums, I plugged away.













And as luck would have it, because just about anything I do that involves my cars, it can never be straightforward and I always run into a snafu. This time, that snafu ended up being the LAST bolt I needed to tighten up to be 100% done. The rear, driver-side bottom shock mount where the shock bolts to the trailing arm. I ended up getting a little too M18 Fuel impact driver happy and ended up stripping the threads on the bolt:



Also, I got around to ordering a keyhole delete for my driver door. My buddy painted for me at no charge (he's done lots of side work for me in the past, and I've always taken care of him):




March 17, 2020

Suspension is done! I still need to make some minor adjustments, but man, what a night and day difference:





Spacers making a huge difference. Rears are nearly flush and the fronts should be close once I adjust height & camber:





Fresh, new (OEM) center caps make a big difference (disregard the wheel orientation):





Before and after shots. And yes, I realize the newly painted delete doesn't match the 15 year old paint perfectly. But honestly, other than me and anyone I explicitly tell about the delete will really notice. So I'm not too worried about it.








March 21, 2020

Cool birthday gift from my wife (the band, not the watch!):



Also trying to finish the interior refresh on the M3, but before I do that, I need to decide on a better bluetooth streaming option. Currently, I have the following setup:

BMW Glove Box Black Flashlight Auxiliary Power Adapter:



2 in 1 USB Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter/Receiver



And a flush mount USB charger.

The main issue with this setup is that the flashlight isn't switched, so it's always on. So if I was to run to the store with the M3 and connected to bluetooth, I shut the car off and run into the store. All this time, the bluetooth receiver is still on and trying to maintain connection with my phone. But I found that when returning to the car, more times than not, my phone wouldn't be able to reconnect to the device. And any sort of toggling bluetooth on/off or forgetting the bluetooth device and reconnecting to it typically wouldn't work. I found that unplugging the USB charger that powers the bluetooth device would sometimes fix the issue.

Needless to say, I've had enough of that. And I don't want to go the route of aftermarket stereos. I know they've got some really nice OEM-looking options (Dynavin comes to mind), I just don't feel like spending that kind of money and don't want to switch from my current single DIN setup.

After some research on various forums, I've settled on the following solution which checks off two boxes for me: 1) affordable and 2) well reviewed:






March 24, 2020

Lastly, the bluetooth module for the M3 arrived today, so I'm going to try and get in the garage tonight after my youngest goes to bed tonight and get that installed and finally swap out all the center console pieces sitting on my workbench.

Oh, I almost forgot. I got the angel eye's installed. Still need to hide/clean up the wiring, but here is a sneak peek from some awful photos I took on my iPhone:






March 28, 2020

Angel eyes are finally installed, after they've been sitting on my workbench for about two months. Install was pretty straightforward, other than the occasional hiccup (which really goes for anything that you're doing for the first time). Light output is excellent! I didn't take many photos during the install process. When I'm in the middle of something, I typically just want to get it done. But here are the photos I did take:







I also swapped out all the beat interior bits for all the fresh OEM parts. Here are some shots:





Again, just wanted it done, so didn't take many pictures. I'll take some interior photos of the car when it's nicer out and she's not in the garage, so I get some better lighting. But the interior definitely feels refreshed. Once I can vacuum the interior, I'm also going to put in the new OEM floor mats I picked up. Then the interior will just about be complete.

Oh and I got the bluetooth module installed. Talk about a gigantic PIA. The biggest issue was figuring out a spot to hide the module. Since it was decently sized, I couldn't just tuck it behind the radio. I had to remove the center HVAC vents and controls before I could figure out the best way to mount it. A few busted knuckles and scratches and scrapes later, I can finally easily stream music to my car and use the steering wheel controls, as well. The only thing I forgot to do before buttoning up the interior was to plug in the microphone for the bluetooth calling. Not sure I'll do this, because I don't make that many calls on my phone (I HATE phone calls...text messages suffice 99.9% of the time, am I right?!), but I'll hold onto it in case I decide to do it down the road.

After I finished all the above on Saturday afternoon, I backed the car out of the garage and let it get to idle, while reinstalling the Swisstrax that I had removed for the suspension install. My 4 year old helped me out with stepping on the tiles to click them back into place while my 2 yr old napped and my wife sat on the neighbors lawn and drank wine while socially distancing with 2 of the lady neighbors!

Here are some photos I took outside the garage. Man, I am loving how this front end is coming together:













As you can see in that last photo, the rear driver side still needs to come down a bit. I'm going to do some measuring this week and tweak the ride height. It's close, though!

Since the car was already in the driveway, once my wife returned from her afternoon beverage sampling, I took the M3 for a quick romp down the road. Let her get up to normal operating temp, then returned home before the rain came. After sitting for basically 4.5 months, she ran flawlessly. Man I absolutely LOVE this car!



Next up for the M3 (aside from the suspension tweaking) is removing and reinstalling the front lip. If you recall, I wasn't 100% happy with how I initially mounted it. It can definitely be better and more flush, so in addition to using fishing line to remove it, I bought the following to hopefully get rid of all the leftover residue/tape before remounting it:







April 3, 2020

Wanted some more induction noise, so after some discussions with a buddy of mine, I opted for the aFe Magnum Force Stage 2 intake:




I'll swap out and sell the Bimmerworld elbow once the intake arrives to recoup some dough.

Also ordered a set of black anodized pedals (Pedal Haus) by way of IND-Distribution:




April 15, 2020

Since the kids were at my in-laws for the day, I FINALLY got around to installing the aFe stage 2 intake, as well as the aFe "Dynamic" air scoop I had ordered separately:











One last photo I took after finishing up my interior refresh recently. I guess I forgot to share it here, but it is on the "Gram". Car feels newer and cleaner inside with no more scratches on the interior compartments/center console/etc, along with brand new OEM floor mats:



April 19, 2020

We had a rare child-free evening. My wife dropped them off at my in-laws yesterday afternoon and met up with some of her childhood friends for social distancing wine and cheese, so I had some me time! Took the M3 for a run through one of our favorite nearby coastal towns, Bristol,RI (you may have heard of it...their parade is the oldest 4th of July celebration in the country). It was starting to cool off and the wind was whipping, but I managed to take a few photos:









And with that, I think I'm just about caught up. I'm sure I missed some things, but I'm not too concerned. Hope you enjoy what I've put together thus far and what is yet to come. Cheers!

[eforty6_m3]

January 30, 2020

Been moving at a snails pace lately. Winter and kids have taken over. But if I had to provide any updates, I guess I do have a few.

About a month ago, I used some of my fantasy football winnings to grab a few things I've been meaning to pickup. Some directly for the car and others indirectly for the car. First off, after much research, I decided to go with a set of opaque angel eyes from the Angel Eye Guy:





Very much looking forward to getting these installed, but not much of a rush since she's not leaving the garage until April the earliest.

Continuing with my Coby Wheel trend (steering wheel, shift and ebrake boots), I picked up a black Alcantara ebrake handle with red/navy/blue stitching.





I also took Matt's (Obsessed Garage) advice and picked up a set of Future Classic 15mm spacers. Haven't installed them yet, but I will be putting these up front and my 12mm spacers in the rear.



Oh and I snagged these sweet BMW M-Tech inspired socks:




February 7, 2020

And yet another pair of BMW-themed socks:



February 17, 2020

First photos of the M3 in the garage with the Swisstrax flooring:






February 24, 2020

I may or may not have just ordered some new toys for the M3. Most notably:



February 28, 2020

Now, the focus will temporarily shift to the M3. I've been stockpiling parts over the winter, including replacing a bunch of the center console parts to give the interior a refresh. You can see here just how beat up some of these pieces are:



Here is a sampling of the parts I had picked up:

[eforty6_m3]

September 2, 2019

1) I installed Homelink:










2) I also added a 2x2 weave carbon fiber front lip:













September 25, 2019

I swapped out the chrome ///M3 badge for an IND Industries gloss black version:











I won the championship in one of my fantasy baseball leagues, so I used the winnings (my play money) to purchase a 2x2 weave carbon fiber rear diffuser:










September 30, 2019

We had some nice weather, so I found a quiet road nearby with some nice fall colors and had myself a little photo session, courtesy of my (at the time) new iPhone 11 Pro Max (this thing takes ridiculous pictures):








October 7, 2019

I figured I would take this opportunity to finish vinyl wrapping the interior trim that the previous owner hadn't gotten around to. That being just the two rear armrests. As I got into it the other night removing these bits, I realized that there wasn't much more I needed to remove in order to refinish the rear deck. So might as well take care of that, too.

So out came the very faded rear deck. Here are some photos detailing just how much you really have to remove to even access it:













And some clear shots of the horrible fading:





After the first light coat of Dupli-Color Vinyl & Fabric Paint - Flat Black:



After the second light coat:



After the 3rd coat, this one, fairly heavy:



And the finished product (I used the entire can...2 light coats, then about 4 or 5 heavy coats):







I am very happy with how this turned out. That faded deck had really been eating away at me, so I'm looking forward to everything going back together and looking new again.

I haven't forgotten about the vinyl wrapping. I ran out the other night, mainly because it was my first ever time vinyl wrapping. The previous owner had put the rest of the vinyl wrap that he hadn't used in the trunk of the car prior to shipping it, though there wasn't a ton. Those of you who have done it before know there's definitely a learning curve, so I had to order more and it only came in yesterday, but I am hoping to get back to it tonight or tomorrow. I'll probably start buttoning the rear of the car back up tonight, as well.

Rear window seals are up next. I've had the parts since about March, but have been putting it off long enough.


October 25, 2019

Busy couple of days in the garage for me, finishing up the rear deck, wrapping the rear armrests and replacing the rear window seals. I took a personal day on Friday to get more time to finish everything up.
I started buttoning the interior back up at 9am and didn't finish the window seals until 4:45pm.

Very happy to no longer be seeing dry, cracked seals and kudos to the DIY threads on the window seal job. Like many others, I went with the 3M 08650 EPDM HOLLOW RUBBER WEATHERSTRIP 7/8" THICK x 3/4" WIDE x 8':

https://www.amazon.com/3M-08650-EPDM...ct_top?ie=UTF8.

To help with the kinking around the hofmeister kink, I used some 3/8 vinyl tubing that I picked up from Home Depot that I then inserted into the seal.

Additionally, I had to replace the driver-side lower gasket (the seal below the rear window, part # 51368194741).




























November 20, 2019

Scored a fantastic deal on a brand new OEM BMW car cover for the M3 (Noah fabric). Been scouring craigslist/facebook marketplace for the past few months, as I didn't want to spend the money that a brand new cover retails for ([COLOR=var(--darkreader-inline-color) !important]$180[/COLOR]). Found one up near Boston earlier this week. Ended up timing it perfectly so that I could grab the cover after my father and I checked out a 1998 Jeep Cherokee (would be my dad's winter ride) in a nearby town.

Sure enough, the cover was as advertised (which almost never happens these days). And the guy selling it was only asking $59 (odd number?!). I ended up giving him $60 for meeting me at a police station not far from the Jeep.

So now the M3 is properly tucked away and protected for the winter :