Immaculate low mileage 2004 Silver Grey CSL Inspired Build

[bran.stum]

Man this is turning out excellent looking. Almost exactly what I'd like to do with mine.

Looking forward to watching the rest of the progress!

[bavarian3]

Love that you're knocking out these updates this week. Keep them coming! I hope the front bumper is next 😀

[D-O]

BMW does not make one for the E46, unfortunately. Only options from BMW are the imitation leather and alcantara.

Now, you can get the one piece F10 M5 or F80 M3 shift knob and boot (ZHP style knob plus real leather boot, both have the illuminated shift pattern as well) and transfer an E46 shift boot frame (glue) to either of them to make a ZHP and real leather shift boot combo. DIY here - https://chrisparente.com/2017/05/30/...b-replacement/

I went with the F10 M5 knob/boot and glued it to the frame. Looks perfect.

[0-60motorsports]

Very nice progress and it looks beautiful.

[Avedis]

Took the family to SoCal Vintage today. We have been to this annual meet a few times now, and every time I am stunned at the amount of vintage BMW builds in the SoCal area. The shear number of cars (around 600) is wild, but the quality of many of the builds is even more impressive.

A lot of really unique cars like this Alpina themed E30 M3 (my son had to go take a peek), and an Alexander Calder Z3 M coupe homage.




The best car of the day wasn’t even part of the meet. E46 M3s aren’t old enough to partake, and I found this gem parked on the street across from the meet. LSB E46 M3 with all genuine CSL parts, including roof and interior? Yes please. I hear it belongs to a forum member…..


After the meet, I was feeling inspired to finish my M3. I knew I wouldn’t finish the whole rebuild that day, but I could at least continue to chip away at it. I jacked up the rear end, removed the wheels, then reinstalled all the plastic wheel well liners with new hardware.




If anyone is looking for the jack pad adapters, these Burger Motorsport adapters are the best. Manufacturing quality is super high, and they have a slight trapezoidal shape with beveled edges that matches perfectly with the factory jacking point.




Couple more adjustments to the trunk. This seems to be a never ending process based on compromise, not perfection.




I then moved on to the rear window seal. I’m not going to lie to you guys, this literally took two hours. What was described by many as a “just press the new one into place” type of job, was an absolute pain in the ass. I’m assuming these seals are installed when the windshield adhesive is still wet. When I tried to install the new seal, it was getting caught up on the old dried silicone adhesive and would not go in properly. This required me to carefully cut the adhesive with an x-acto blade, soak the area in tar/adhesive remover, then use a combination of scraping tools to clear out the channels without damaging anything.







In the process, I sliced my finger open and got melted silicone adhesive all over my workspace and the paint.



The seal was finally in! Ignore the streaky look of the seal, I was soaking it in a rubber conditioner/protectant. Passenger side and rear of the car complete! Time to move onto the front end and wrap this project up.



First up for the front end was the CSL front bumper. Before the bumper could be installed, I had to glue in the intake vent mesh grill. I dropped the mesh grill onto the alignment notch in the bumper, then used one of my kid’s heavy toys tied to some string to keep downward pressure. I got this trick from another member who said he tied a bag of coins, really good trick and it worked great. With the grill in place and being held down, I used some black RTV silicone and put a nice bead all the way around the mesh grill. I then used my finger to smear the bead, similar to how you would caulk a bathroom. I put one extra blob of silicone onto the alignment notch for extra peace of mind.




Next up was the main bumper mesh grill, which was extremely tight and harder to get in than I had anticipated. I think is this because the carbon bumper has almost no flex.




With the silicone drying, I removed the factory bumper mounts and installed the Trinity graphics mounts. Just like the rear, they are a much beefier design, and have greater adjustability. I knew the alignment on the factory mounts was decent, and I didn’t want to start completely from scratch when I removed them. I hung some tape as a reference point, then removed the factory mounts and installed the new mounts.





Next I removed the brake duct bracket, then the brake duct with modified CSL intake tube I made a few months prior. The bracket was reinstalled, then the genuine CSL intake tube was installed





That's all for this update. The next step is to fit the front bumper, which I will need a second set of hands for.

Are those exhaust tips still available? They look great.

The seller is a UK based guy who makes the exhaust tips in small batches. I purchased them from eBay, but they don't seem to be listed anymore. Reach out to bavarian3, I believe he bought them from the same seller, but through a Facebook group. Here is a LINK to an expired ad.

[Flow]

Your car is just so clean... Love seeing all your pictures
Also, thank you for sharing a couple of pictures from that meet

But...

[...]
and an Alexander Calder Z3 M coupe homage.

[...]

That huge typo on the windscreen is a shame haha.
Orignal BMW Teile and not tiele !!

[AWE46M3]

The best car of the day wasn’t even part of the meet. E46 M3s aren’t old enough to partake, and I found this gem parked on the street across from the meet. LSB E46 M3 with all genuine CSL parts, including roof and interior? Yes please. I hear it belongs to a forum member…..

Arlen4369

[bavarian3]

The seller is a UK based guy who makes the exhaust tips in small batches. I purchased them from eBay, but they don't seem to be listed anymore. Reach out to bavarian3, I believe he bought them from the same seller, but through a Facebook group. Here is a LINK to an expired ad.

Kipjames3 Here is the seller's FB seller profile: link He's probably out of stock but I'm sure will be creating more.

That is indeed Arlen's criminally awesome build with all genuine csl parts. He's very down low about it and his IG is mainly Rolex+ pictures 😂. I missed out on that event. I was actually in SoCal this week but way too far from Van Nuys.

[Arlen4369]

Kipjames3 Here is the seller's FB seller profile: link He's probably out of stock but I'm sure will be creating more.

That is indeed Arlen's criminally awesome build with all genuine csl parts. He's very down low about it and his IG is mainly Rolex+ pictures 😂. I missed out on that event. I was actually in SoCal this week but way too far from Van Nuys.

Spotted ! 😉

[Arlen4369]

Great build thread Avedis I’ve been admiring your posts. Glad you got to see the car, with the help of good friends and a lot of sourcing I was able to acquire pretty much every csl part. Has rear lightweight glass/ polin filter 1:1 engine etc list goes on.

[Avedis]

After my battle with the rear window seal, I procrastinated on the front. One night when the wife and kids went down, I committed to ending the war. I told myself I wasn’t going back in the house until I got the old silicone adhesive removed, and new windshield seal installed. The removal took an hour, but I got the job done.




Once the seal was in, I could install cabin filter, cover, rubber gaskets, windshield cowl, and wiper delete caps.




Roof rails went in and tucked nicely under the new seals.



Next, I routed the wiring and tubing for the windshield washer nozzles.




Last up was the front bumper. Again, I got some help from my neighbor. We took the bumper off approximately 15 times, each time making an adjustment to the bumper mounts. We got in a really nice work groove and I forgot to take photos as we worked. After the bumper was on, I jacked up one side of the car, the installed the wheel well liners and splash shields for that respective side.


At one point stepped away to get a few parts, and when I turned around I had a moment of gratitude. Just seeing the whole project come together, a nice workspace to be in, Penny the loyal companion, etc. I thought “life is good” as I took this photo.



I took the car out for a small drive around the block just to settle in the suspension in and listen for any small rattles of potentially loose parts. Afterward, I pulled the car into the garage and took a couple of photos.






Although the exterior portion of this project is still not complete, it’s going to be a while before I post any other significant updates, like the carbon fiber roof which still remains. We have a lot of life and family changes going on at the moment, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to justify spending money on project cars. I will continue to update this thread with photos from meets, scenic drives, and detailing/cleaning, but there probably won’t be any build related photos for a while.

[Bry5on]

Looks great! How does the CSL air duct fit with the Karb snorkel? After scanning a couple cars, I found that the Karb snorkel is positioned differently than the factory flap. Curious to see how that manifests with the OEM duct versus the non-CSL ducts.

[bavarian3]

Well you finished this off with a bang! It looks amazing. Penny is very regal.

[0-60motorsports]

It looks great! Just need to sort out the suspension and lower her a bit.

[Kipjames3]

Whenever you get a chance I'd love to know the spacer set up on your current wheels. Looks perfect. Just bought a set of ZCP wheels and looking to push them out a little bit.