2001 M3 Journey: Laguna Seca Blue Edition

[bavarian3]

Like many of us, an LSB e46 M3 was my dream car since they came out. They were always a little out of reach, but after 10+yrs of e36 M3 ownership I was ready to make it happen. Sadly I got serious about purchasing one after covid prices inflated, but here we are.

After 1-2yrs of actively looking all over the country, some failed BAT auctions, I finally found a clean example LSB with reasonable mileage on a small LSB FB group. I immediately purchased it remotely. A few days later I took delivery from Idaho(to CA).

The car certainly needs the proper treatment to get it where I want, but it has exceptional bones, driven maturely/unmolested, and was clearly garaged its life.

Follow my journey to see what I do with it!

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Basic Details
MY 2001
95k miles
2 previous owners
Factory Laguna Seca Blue
Factory 6spd(not swapped)
Grey interior
Sunroof
Mostly stock outside of a Koni suspension kit and unknown wheels


Taking delivery:

[bavarian3]

First step before anything was to get the tires swapped onto the stock wheels, and get a smog. Registering the out of state car in CA was a slight hassle, not to my suprise.

[bavarian3]

I don't have the time or space for two fun cars, so the e36 had to go. I purchased this in rough shape around 2011, and slowly made a clean example out of it. It went back to the original/first owner making for a great story.

[bavarian3]

The first projects are all around bulletproofing the big 3, and restoring everything that needs it along the way.

First, I started with the vanos and valve adjustment.


Valve adjustment was easy work. No issues using the Wiseco shim kit, the proper magnet tool, and a micrometer.






On to the vanos...

Breakdown of parts replaced:
-Beisan oil pump disc (my hub tabs were all good)
-Besians coil pack
-Beisans rattle kit
-Beisan seals
-OE s62 diaphrams springs
-OE cam bolts with loctice
-OE timing chain guide


New bolts threadlocked. Don't worry I had towels below during the process =)


















Everything was buttoned up with all new:
-OE valve cover gasket
-OE spark plug tube seals
-OE spark plugs
-OE ignition coils.

[Tbonem3]

Tasty cars!

[bavarian3]

Update time. I've been hard at work, working patiently and meticulously as possible. I'm quite a bit behind on this journal as you may see me around the main forum working on other things.

The next build stage started with getting rid of the grey interior. After lots of searching, I was extremely lucky to come across a set of seats and door panels in speed cloth local to me. Sourcing the rest of the bits was a pain but all is in hand now.

More on that later, but first some dismantling fun.












Getting the dash out was relatively hassle-free to my surprise.








The hardest part was to get the front carpet out of the heater hvac piping. This basically requires a little cutting unless you want to get crazy.








Fully stripped. To my satisfaction, the removal unveiled all mint flooring.







Last step was to strip the existing tint which was much to dark for my liking. I'll get some lighter tint done so the interior will have some UV protection.







Off to storage...not sure if the bits are worth anything but if anyone needs anything you know where to find me.

[bavarian3]

On to starting the installation of the black interior. First step was to give everything a deep cleaning.

Protip: get you a girlfriend with a steam cleaner.















Once all dried up, I got started on bringing some of the pieces in.

First up was the front carpet. What was hard to get out was equally hard to get in if you want oe like results. Without getting into too much detail, you'll have to cut two slits to pass through the crossbrace bars, and get a helper to lift the hvac while pushing the carpet forward.






Per another request to the girlfriend, have her stitch up the previously created slits (1 and 7 o'clock on each end of the vent). Keep in mind these will not be visible once the dashboard is in.







Next I worked through the dashboard, glovebox, radio, storage trays, and other trim pieces. All the little things take time, especially when you want to replace worn or outdated parts with new or upgraded.

I'll give a sneak peak of the current state of progress as it actually sits today, and go into details as I pick back up this stage.









I decided to halt the progress on the interior makeover as I came to a realization. The next big job will be around the rear suspension overhaul. This involves
Vince gussets and Puretech x-brace. It made no sense to install everything when I had a messy job involving the cabin/under the rear seats to do shortly after.

So on to the Quickjacks we go and I started removing stuff...to be continued in the next post

[bavarian3]

Tasty cars!

TY 😀

[AntRyv]

I’m eager to see that E36 build!

[bavarian3]

Moving on, I started dropping stuff...






Pretty easy process honestly, just forgot to completely pull out the e-brake lines so I bent those into needing replacement.

As with the rest of the car, super good bones, just soo much dirt accumulated over the years.






Original plans were to clean all the parts, replace all bushings, and send it all back up there, but after seeing this post from BMWahba on his undercarriage resto I couldn't unsee it. So I got to work...



First I started removing all bushings and prepping parts for paint...lots of work and not fun.

The subframe bushings came out easy with some heat and a wack.




It was nice having proper tools around.




I sanded things to a reasonable degree, was unnecessary to get bare metal.










And on to some paint work. I went with Spraymax 2k primer for durability and protection, then VHT Roll-bar and chassis rattle can for top coating.


I kept it simple by keeping parts intact where possible.

Don't worry, new diff cover going in here.











I looked high and low for a quality spray can that would mimic aluminum. Found literally a paint that is marketed as aluminum with actual the actual metal in it, interesting. Came out great.




To give myself even more work, I decided to have fun with the swaybar color. Clearcoat was later added to this.




Oh and last but not least, can't forget about all the trim pieces. I was running out of room at this point and parts starting spilling into the house.

These received SEM Trim paint over some adhesion promoter(probably unnecessary)

[bavarian3]

I left the parts to dry for a week or so. Then moved on to getting fresh bushings in. This took a collection of kits to get this done, but this bushing kit helped alot. I also had an RTAB specific tool, and autozone balljoint press kit rentals to fill in any gaps.


I opted for CMP solid bushings for the subframe. Mainly because they look cool of course.





Getting these in were a breeze. I used a circolight alternative to aid pressing.




And the front diff bushing. The kit really helps here.





Press it till it hits your backing plate, translation from TIS rough guidance.





Looks good.





On to the trailing arms...

The kit really helps here so you remove and press these bushings with the brake shield in place.





Unlike all the other bushings, the RTAB's were crazy tight going in, even out of the freezer with P-80 lube added. Impact wrench or real hydraulic press needed here.












On to the upper arms, these bushings go in by hand tool very easily. Keep in mind the kit alone won't service these coming out. To get them out initially I had to take my bushing to the hardware store and get an appropriate socket that fit.





Lastly the diff


Bushings are only sold with the cover, and this thing was filthy anyways so out with it...




nice seeing it all together





When your parts are so clean they can go on the carpet.



don't mind the overspray and dirty brake shields n hubs, these will be addressed when i redo the brakes.

[bavarian3]

Still lots to do before everything can go in.

I started with probably the worst job, attempting to clean the undercarriage. I tried a whole bunch of products with a pressure washer, and I could only get so far but it helped.

Especially with these wheel wells....had no idea LSB was under here! Wish I had a before shot.





This fuel tank was also filthy. Got to clean it up along with a new filler neck hose from @mpower22








On to the RACP inspection.

My car came with existing subframe plates, but I kinda wish I could've done this all myself. Upon initial inspection, the plates were not sealed and painted well so there was some surface rust forming around the plates and under the seam sealer.

I threw a wire wheel on and went to work. The spot welds were clean and intact everywhere. I can't believe how well babied this car must have been.






I'll cut to the chase here and show the finished product to reseal the plates.

The products I used:
-first spraymax 2k primer(most important) to seal everything
-then 3m urethane seam sealer on top to avoid any moisture being trapped on the bare metal
-top coated with SEM EZ coat
-coated with Transtar chip guard

It's a lot of products, but IMO the 2k primer is the most important. Spraymax makes it easy with a 2 part in a rattle can and no nasty Isocyanates.





"While I was in there" and everything apart, I worked on some other things around the drivetrain.


The picture speaks for itself.






The car also came with a UUC short shifter which I found unbearable. I'm new to the getrag as I came from an e36 m3(as shown earlier) with new detents and other bits and it shifted like butter.

In effort to find smoother shifting I decided to get all new oe bushings and go back to stock.






In with the new shifter and guibo. Note: do not install the guibo this sequence before the driveshaft. I had to reinstall it on the driveshaft later on.






I gave the paint and myself some time to rest and did some other fun stuff.

[0-60motorsports]

Nice Build, love the attention to detail.

[bimmerfan08]

I left the parts to dry for a week or so. Then moved on to getting fresh bushings in. This took a collection of kits to get this done, but this bushing kit helped alot. I also had an RTAB specific tool, and autozone balljoint press kit rentals to fill in any gaps.

When your parts are so clean they can go on the carpet.

Looking good. What has your GF said to all these parts in the house? Lol

[Ubaderb]

I regret not taking the extra time to clean and paint all the parts during my refresh. Makes it look brand new.