Immaculate low mileage 2004 Silver Grey CSL Inspired Build

[1bluemcm]

Cool project. That's some dedication to the parts search. Love the silver greys. Nice!

[Avedis]

I have been in a "gearing up" mode for the past few months and have been slowly ordering major components, small parts, doing research, and prepping for future installs.

As I mentioned prior, the seats and custom seat-mounts are the last components for the interior phase of this project. I bounced back and forth between fixed buckets and more street/passenger friendly seats. After seeing BBB's seats, I decided to order a near identical set.

The specs are Recaro Sportster CS, custom leather upholstery, ///M logo embossed in the headrest. I also wanted to somehow tie in the tri-color, as I did with the seatbelts. Some of the examples of tri-colors integration on the AMX website were a little loud for my taste. I wanted something more subtle, so I asked Marek at AMX if he could create a small woven label (clothing tag) with the ///M logo and stitch it into the bolster seam. BBB provided me with some photos of his seats, and I used the photos to do a small mockup for AMX. Marek quickly took my mockup and designed the woven tag.

Although this is a mockup only, I expect them to look exactly like this.



With the interior nearly complete, I have been able to shift more time and money to other areas of the build. I've probably looked at the CSL intake 100 times on the Karbonius website. Today, I finally ordered the full carbon CSL intake, carbon CSL snorkel, and carbon M-Performance style strut brace from Karbonius.

I again chose to deviate from the original CSL design, ordering all the parts in 1x1 matte finish carbon. Just as I did with the interior components, I will ceramic coat them which will give a satin sheen to the parts. Really excited for the install. In my opinion, a CSL intake is the biggest enhancement to the driving experience and character of our cars.





Prior to ordering the intake, I had already ordered and received all of the necessary parts, accessories, and tools for the installation.



In addition to preparing for the intake, I also ordered a ton of parts for the CSL trunk I posted on page 5


I’m big on doing as much research as possible prior to doing any installation. Just as with the CSL interior parts, I found the lack of comprehensive tutorials for the genuine CSL trunk lid surprising. Because the DIY I did for the CSL interior components was received so well, I will be creating a comprehensive DIY for the CSL trunk lid as well.

[Avedis]

Love the details on the battery. Do you need to keep the charger on it most of the time?

Per Braille and discussion with forum members, it does not need to be kept on a charger all the time.

slavik1988 informed me he left his car in the garage, undriven and uncharged for 3 months. He stated it fired up with no issue. This was one of the main reasons I went with the i48cx over other batteries.

[bavarian3]

Love the details on the battery. Do you need to keep the charger on it most of the time?

Also love the dedication on the seat bracket covers. I had the same dilemma and opted for pick n pull and some careful application of trim paint 😁

[0-60motorsports]

Nice update! I emailed braille about shipping the battery to Bahrain, let's see if they can do that lol

Update: They couldn't ship to Bahrain which is a shame.... so I think the Antigravity will work out better in my case and a few hundred dollars cheaper shipped too....

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/h7-group-94r-lithium-car-battery-w-restart-antigravity-agh740rs

[Nate047]

Right on, car is coming along so nicely.

[Avedis]

Couple of small updates:

The battery that came with the car was an O’Reilly unit dated 2017. I’ve been wanting to replace the battery for quite some time, and finally decided to pull the trigger on a lightweight battery. After doing research here and speaking with a few forum members, I chose to go with the Braille i48cx battery. The i48cx weighs 10.75lbs, is a direct drop in part, and is fully compatible with the NOCO Genius 10 charger that I already have in my garage. While weight loss isn't priority one for this build, shedding 40.5lbs while swapping out a part that needed to be replaced anyways seemed like a no brainer. If anyone is thinking of going this route, I highly recommend Braille as a company. They replied to every email I sent almost instantaneously, and picked up the phone immediately the one time I called to clarify info.

Here you can see just how light the Braille battery is. I am able to fairly easily hold it up with one hand. It was so light that I couldn’t weigh it on my regular bathroom scale, and had to use a more precise food-grade scale instead.



Compare that to the boat anchor that I pulled out of the car (51.4lbs)


Installation was essentially drop in. The only thing I had to do was move a small white plastic spacer over so that the battery did not slide to the front or rear of the car. While the battery was out, I vacuumed, wiped, and inspected the battery tray. Everything looked perfect.


Battery was hooked up to my NOCO chager and it was set to Lithium maintenance mode without issue.



I’m still fairly new to the E46 M3 platform, so it took me a while to notice that my car never came with the ISOFIX covers in the rear seat. After seeing the price (~$75 shipped) for two tiny pieces of plastic, I put off the purchase for a long time. Unfortunately, once I knew they were missing, I couldn't unsee it. It bothered me every time I looked into the back seat of the car. My attention to detail is both a blessing and a curse I suppose. I caved and spent the $75. I took them out to the garage to ceramic coat them prior to installation.

Is there a final weight for the Mile End bumper vs stock, including fog lights etc…?

It is going to be quite some time before I get to removing the bumper for paint work. When I do, I will make sure to weigh both bumpers with all the hardware and accessories.

[Arlen4369]

Beautiful build

[Gt4]

Is there a final weight for the Mile End bumper vs stock, including fog lights etc…?

MEC bumper are around 7.5lbs

[Nate047]

Is there a final weight for the Mile End bumper vs stock, including fog lights etc…?

[Avedis]

Looking good. How/where did you get the seatbelts done with the M3 colors/accents?

Thank you. See post 48 and 51 for seatbelt info LINK

Do you have the part number for the blind plugs?

Absolutely. Part No. 51718170298

They are a little snug so sometimes a tiny portion of it will pop up. You can stop this by putting a little slit in the circle portion on the underside. This will allow it to be more oval shaped and follow the contour. When you see the plug, you’ll know exactly what I’m referencing.
If there’s anything else you need, feel free to reach out.

[Projecte46m3]

Everything reinstalled. Along the way, I broke some clips which will need to be replaced at a later date. For now, I will be leaving the headrests out as well. The headrest holes were plugged with a rubber BMW blind plug. Thank you to Casa de Mesa for the idea. I will update once the new speaker grills and replacement clips arrive.

Do you have the part number for the blind plugs?

[0-60motorsports]

That Looks beautiful. I still need to get the seatbelts done.

[Advorsor]

Looking good. How/where did you get the seatbelts done with the M3 colors/accents?

[Avedis]

I'm now at the point where the interior is nearly done. There are a ton of really fun details in the interior, and I acknowledge I have done a really poor job of properly sharing them with you guys.


I had an unexpected and rare day off of work today. To top it off, both of my kids were in daycare for the day. This gave me an opportunity to do a maintenance-detail on the interior and exterior, and take it out for a coastal drive. While out, I took some detailed photos of the interior.















The front seats are the last major component for the interior phase of this build. I will go into detail once they are ordered/received, but the current plan is to go with Recaro Sportster CS, with custom upholstery by AMX Performance. I owe a huge and public thank you to Bry5on. He was incredibly patient answering all my questions about his bespoke Recaro mounting setup. He even helped me order the mounts via Send Cut Send since CAD is far out of my skillset. I am genuinely appreciative of the help, generosity, and the knowledge-base of this community.

Here are the custom mounts and momentary power switches to move the seat backward and forwards: