Immaculate low mileage 2004 Silver Grey CSL Inspired Build

[Kipjames3]

Avedis is that the stock shift boot or did you change that out as well? I'm assuming that's a OEM ZHP weighted shift knob also? I'm asking because I might be doing a manual swap soon and want to keep a leather interior so I don't want the ZHP alcantara shift boot + weighted knob combo that only seems to be available. I have read the OEM broomstick leather shift boot doesn't fit the ZHP knob due to the shortened height of the ZHP knob.

[BADCLOWN]

You have a link to the hardware on that magnetic plate setup you rigged together? I like that a lot

[AWE46M3]

Remember that F40 getting clipped by a big rig and wondering when I’d see it again - nice to know it’s in great hands (along with your car). Love this build! Thank you for the write up to kick off the weekend

[Avedis]

Went to Premier Motorsports today to check on the progress. As expected (and disclosed to me) there was not much movement on the project. They had some really big projects that they needed to wrap up for Monterey car week before they could get to my M3.

Again, when I arrived the lobby was full of different supercars. I went to the body shop area and was happy to see my car was in the queue and was protected with plastic wrap. Dave unwrapped the car and went over all the little details on how they had to prep the CSL trunk. A lot of work went into the corner area and the sides that meet the rear quarter panel (shut lines). It still needs alignment after paint.








Dave also showed me the prep work needed for carbon parts. They were in the early stages, but the carbon parts were rough sanded, and the inside taped off to retain the carbon look and prevent overspray.





When Dave said he was going to do some testing, he wasn't joking. They used multiple paint manufacturers, spray guns, air pressure settings, etc. He explained each change, and how those changes affect the final product. Dave then went over every color sample they sprayed and we held them up to the door, which was our point of reference. I appreciated how technical all of it was. Of the ten samples shown, we narrowed it down to two that were near perfect.




Dave also gave me a mini tour of all the individual work areas which are dedicated to bigger projects. This one in particular had a F40 LM with some serious damage. This gives you an idea of the level of work they are doing there.

The lineup of cars in there is wild. Did he say what kind of work the Senna was getting? I wouldn't even want to touch the original panels and paint, but stuff happens to even supercars I guess!

It looked like it hit something soft at high speed, like a traffic cone. The impact was hard enough to crack the epoxy on the carbon, but not enough to do real damage. Dave said he repaired the epoxy and was prepping the panel for clear. Pretty high level stuff.

[simon_c]

Once again the level of detail here is next level. I thought I was meticulous about things but nowhere near this

[bavarian3]

The lineup of cars in there is wild. Did he say what kind of work the Senna was getting? I wouldn't even want to touch the original panels and paint, but stuff happens to even supercars I guess!

Hopefully your car won't be gone for too long.

[Avedis]

I finalized my drop off date and time and got to all the little last minute details to prep the car for paint. I then removed the hood and found some heavy duty plastic seat covers to protect the Recaros while in the shop.



I’m really fortunate to have a neighbor who is a Nissan master-tech, GT-R owner, and 240sx track car driver. He is infinitely knowledgeable and experienced with cars and was generous enough to help me load up my M3 on his trailer.




We arrived at Premier Motorsports and were greeted with a new group of ridiculous cars, including this fully exposed carbon McLaren Senna





Dave came out and went over every little detail of the job (for the third time). I really appreciated his willingness to listen to my wants, point of view, and concerns. He has a lot of big projects going on, so it’s going to be a while before I get the car back. I will continue to order parts and prep for the return of the car. I will keep you all updated along the way.

[Arlen4369]

Very surprised Dave picked up your car knowing he doesn’t work on non OEM parts. That aside you found yourself the best paint shop congratulations hope to see your build sometime on the road .

[Avedis]

Continuing where I left off, prepping for paintwork. Lots of little loose ends, last minute removals, and notes added. My goal is to do as much as possible prior to drop off. Even though I genuinely believe Dave is one of the best painters in California, I have an inherent distrust in body shops. I’d rather remove the extra exterior trim piece or interior panel than risk accidental damage while the car is out of my hands.

The passenger door will be getting removed by Dave just prior to paint. I disconnected the wiring harness, removed the CSL door panel, and reinstalled the interior door pull onto the bare door. Again, the goal is to make it as easy and safe as possible for Dave and his team.





Here is the passenger’s side prepped and ready to go.



Next, I prepared the CSL diffuser for paint. Most of you know this already, but the factory CSL diffuser has a valley line that separates the painted portion and unpainted portion of the diffuser. If you look really closely, you’ll see that the valley line is actually painted. I know it’s a small detail, but I absolutely hate how this was done from the factory. It looks like someone just did a really poor job masking, especially in the top portion. Below is an image I stole which shows what I’m rambling on about.



Again, my build is CSL inspired, not a CSL replica. I’m going to make a tiny (but in my eyes substantial) change by purposely not painting the valley line. Essentially I’m doing the opposite mask as the factory. I special ordered some super thin masking tape just so that I could show Dave how I wanted it masked without there being any assumptions or misinterpretation. I have issues, I know.





In the back of my head, I always had the idea of putting a German plate on the car, but I had no hard plans. In 2015, my wife did a European Delivery of her F30 335i. The car came with the German Zoll plates with Munich marking (first letter M), and tourist registration stamp. I thought it would be a fun idea to play off of this. I put one of her plates on the car then did a few digital mockups. I always tell my son that the M3 is going to be his car one day, so I settled on the plate M 3246 E. The letters being his initials, the 3246 for the displacement of the S54. The registration date is 10.11.21 which is his birthday.



While I was at it, I mocked up the a digital version of the plate, and the placement of the ///M3 badge on the trunk. This is what I settled on.



I also toyed with the idea of doing an ///M3cs badge. Thoughts?


After the renders, I ordered the real version


I wanted a quick and easy way to change plates between the California and German versions. I found a set of rubberized magnets with a M5 sized stud built in. They fit perfectly in the license plate mounts that get pushed into the CSL trunk.



Cool idea except the plates are aluminum and don’t work with the magnets. I initially purchased some magnets to glue onto the plate itself. It didn’t work out, as the connection was weak, and the magnets were too thick. I settled on the thinnest piece of galvanized steel I could find. It was significantly stronger and more low profile. I epoxied them to the plate so that I could simply snap the plate on and off. I might end up just bailing on the whole idea and just using double sided tape so that it's even more low profile. Either way, it was a fun mini project.




Last step is to schedule the exact drop off date, remove the hood, then trailer the car over to Dave's shop. This will be in the next post.

Here is another random project I was working on. I recently got a new bookshelf/console in my bedroom, I was looking for artwork to fill up the 5 shelves that the console has. For one of them, I purchased a bunch of used $5.00 BMW books on eBay, stacked them up and threw an old roundel next to it.

Crazy impressive work as always! Looking forward to the next update.

Did you talk to the shop about paint brand? Glasurit yielded better(color match and clear coat quality) results than PPG in my recent experience and is what bmw factory uses afaik. If he's as good as you say then I'm sure you're covered either way!

BTW this seems like a good time for a CF roof just sayin =)

When I initially brought the car to Dave's shop, he walked out and said, "Ok, so, Glasurit, we'll do some testing." Thats about as far as the conversation went. I will discuss more details with him on drop off. Carbon roof is coming, I just couldn't justify it right now, lots going on with work and family at the moment. It will happen, probably sometime in 2026 though.

Were there any issues or concerns with the MEs front bumper? I'm getting mine installed soon and just wondering if you found anything wrong or that needed corrected with it.

No concerns, it was uneventful in the best way possible. One thing to note is that with the top weather stripping on the bumper, it was a bit hard push in. Without the weather stripping, it was significantly easier.

[slavik1988]

In preparation for the return of the car, I purchased a ton of new clips, grommets, seals, screws, expanding rivets, etc. Sadly, this is what $400 of new genuine BMW hardware looks like, most of it you’ll never see.
[/QUOTE]

Damn, I can attest to that. Hardware is not cheap for these E46 M3s. I am just glad mine was garage kept since new but even then, these cars are getting old and the hardware is breaking.

[D-O]

Were there any issues or concerns with the MEs front bumper? I'm getting mine installed soon and just wondering if you found anything wrong or that needed corrected with it.

Mine fit like a glove right out of the box.

[0-60motorsports]

Crazy impressive work as always! Looking forward to the next update.

Did you talk to the shop about paint brand? Glasurit yielded better(color match and clear coat quality) results than PPG in my recent experience and is what bmw factory uses afaik. If he's as good as you say then I'm sure you're covered either way!

BTW this seems like a good time for a CF roof just sayin =)

GLASURIT is top notch.

[Kipjames3]

Were there any issues or concerns with the MEs front bumper? I'm getting mine installed soon and just wondering if you found anything wrong or that needed corrected with it.

[bavarian3]

Crazy impressive work as always! Looking forward to the next update.

Did you talk to the shop about paint brand? Glasurit yielded better(color match and clear coat quality) results than PPG in my recent experience and is what bmw factory uses afaik. If he's as good as you say then I'm sure you're covered either way!

BTW this seems like a good time for a CF roof just sayin =)

[Avedis]

After a year of researching body shops in my area, I found Dave at Premier Motorsport in Carson California by pure chance. Dave focuses on high end restoration of vintage and modern Ferraris. I dropped into his shop unannounced and he not only welcomed me, but gave me an hour of his time to discuss the project. He even gave me a tour of his shop, which was unreal. Behind the showroom stacked with supercars is a paint production area that’s even more impressive. It was ridiculously clean, sterile clean, with plastic curtains separating the different areas of the workspace. It seemed more like a science lab than a body shop. Multiple F40s, F50s, and a slew modern and vintage Ferraris, it was mind blowing. I wanted to take photos of the production area but it just didn’t seem appropriate. I did take some photos of his waiting area though.





Although Dave doesn’t normally work on BMWs, he agreed to take on the project. He cited my level of enthusiasm and how well kept the car was as the main reasons he wanted to work on it. After picking his brain for an hour, I could tell that he is probably one of the best painters in California and was absolutely the right man for the job. Dave is such a perfectionist that he wanted to do all of the fitting of the components to ensure it was to his standard. I advised him of this build project, build thread and my desire to work on the car myself. We came to an agreement where I would do all of the disassembly and test fitment so it could be documented, then I would bring it to him for sign off prior to paint. Dave would handle the paint, wet sand, and finish work, then hand the car back off to me for reassembly, final polish and ceramic coating.

We agreed on a price and start date a couple weeks out. This expedited my disassembly and preparation process.






You are probably wondering why I’m disassembling the entire passenger side of the car for a CSL front bumper, trunk lid and diffuser. When I first bought the car, the seller was transparent about the passenger side quarter possibly being painted by a previous owner. From what I could tell in photos and videos sent by the seller, the paint work was done incredibly well, and I was okay with it. Texture, color match, etc were all done with great attention to detail.

When I received the car, the paint was as advertised. Zero masking lines, orange peel was super accurate and the color match was about 90-95% accurate. Whoever did the paint did an outstanding job. That said, I found a tiny burn through in the clear coat where the rear arch meets the rear bumper and another one on the edge where the quarter panel meets the taillight.

Based on what I know about detailing and finish work, it appeared the body shop mowed down the entire panel with the massive rotary machine and wool pad. While rotaries make quick work of defects, especially in large areas, they can be incredibly risky on edges and adjoining panels. While 99% of people would never notice the burn through it bothered me and I wanted it fixed. It was also a good opportunity to go from 90-95% color match to near 100%.



After discussion with Dave, we decided to paint essentially the whole rear: trunk lid, rear bumper, rear diffuser, passenger’s side rear quarter including door jamb and a-pillar, and side skirt. This was the only way we could ensure perfect color match with the new components, while simultaneously repairing the rear quarter panel. In order to do this right, the front fender, front door, side glass and trim would need to be removed.

My little gremlins had some serious morning energy. I put them to work and made a 30 minute job of cleaning the wheel well liners into a 2-hour job. This of course included playing in the mud, and bath time.



I then moved on and pulled the windshield seals. The rear came off really easily and gave me false confidence for the front. The front was extremely difficult to get off. Parts of it came off without issue, but many parts of it required numerous tries and f-bombs to get it out. It came out in 10+ pieces, and I had to take multiple breaks in-between, but the job got done.





Afterward, I cleaned the channels really well and flushed them with hot water.




Up next was the rear quarter window and shadowline window trim. This required some interior panels to be removed, but overall the job was pretty easy.




Once the window was out, I could remove the rubber window seal, then the shadowline trim.




Next the lower rubber trim that sits on the quarter panel itself. The trim came off really easily but the adhesive was stubborn as hell. It required multiple rounds of adhesive remover soak then scrape with a plastic razor blade.





Here is the car almost fully stripped and ready for paint. I left a lot of little notes around the car for the painters. For example, how I wanted the CSL diffuser painted, how to remove the bumpers, and little areas that I felt needed extra attention.






In preparation for the return of the car, I purchased a ton of new clips, grommets, seals, screws, expanding rivets, etc. Sadly, this is what $400 of new genuine BMW hardware looks like, most of it you’ll never see.