2001 M3 Journey: Laguna Seca Blue Edition

[bavarian3]

You can swap the LCM face to get rid of the auto lights setting. Also, even without the windshield sensor, the auto setting is useful as it will turn your headlights and parking lights off automatically when you shut the car off, preventing an accidental battery drain.

Thanks for the tip I had no idea. Since I don't want my headlights on when driving in the day I think I'll go the faceplate swap route.

[Bry5on]

You can swap the LCM face to get rid of the auto lights setting. Also, even without the windshield sensor, the auto setting is useful as it will turn your headlights and parking lights off automatically when you shut the car off, preventing an accidental battery drain.

[bavarian3]

Lighting and trim reinstall


I started with reinstalling the refreshed wipers, hood vent, and new windshield cowl. SEM trim paint is ever so slightly satin, but if you want you can apply a matte clear for additional flatness. I think it looks perfect.

Don't mind my dog's toys they're everywhere.





The csl parts were still at the body shop, but they were able to turn around the grills promptly. These are genuine grills professionally sprayed gloss black. This is the same as what IND does.

I know the chrome grill purists will rage, but this is the way to go on lsb imo. Easily changeable anyways. Also had some new grill badges laying around but it looks like they're knockoffs.





In they go along with new side markers. What a difference.





Next up the headlights and new corner lights, and fogs. The fog lights were tough, as the price for new is ridiculously expensive. I first tried to sand and polish the existing ones without luck. I ended up taking the plunge on "TYC" brand.

The TYC(right) lenses look great, no discernible difference on look, but they do weigh less.





Because it is a hassle finding these, and they get beat up down there, I decided to have them PPF'd. Perfect timing as I took my girls Alfa Romeo in for tint and they owed me a favor.

PPF is so good now days you can't tell it's there. Fitment was perfect, and the refreshed trim went in place without issue. Nothing loose.





Headlights as shown in the previous post, looking mint with new corner lights.





Tackled the tail lights next. Early models require some mild effort to install LED tails properly. There's nothing worse than seeing those aftermarket LED tail lights with the black outline. The process is really quite simple.

First acquire a newer version LCM. Unfortunately this does add a useless auto headlight switch state without the proper windshield.




Then a couple easily sourced adapters to mount the early model harnesses to the led lights.




Then just follow the coding process(also easily sourced) to rewrite the new LCM using PA soft 1.4. Actual process took like 2mins.




Now enjoy your new genuine taillights with no dash lights or flickers, and go get a smog.

Inner lights will come with that whole csl trunk thing.




Will grab some proper pics soon. Gas cap and reflectors were still at the shop.





Soon...

[Grey Phox]

Grey Phox I went back and forth on this. They're easily replaceable lenses, so FCP warranty(and not tailgaiting semis) is the answer. I wasn't sure I could effectively apply PPF, it degrades, and you have to buy the material. With that said, look out for my next post where I'll cover what I did with the fog lights.

Fair enough. Luckily I got the pre-cut stuff, less hassle imo.

Looking forward to see what you did there. I'm not the biggest LSB fan but the car looks great and seems to be in more than capable hands. Nice work.

[bavarian3]

0-60motorsports Sharocks Loopyspec Rokoz appreciate it guys!!

Grey Phox I went back and forth on this. They're easily replaceable lenses, so FCP warranty(and not tailgaiting semis) is the answer. I wasn't sure I could effectively apply PPF, it degrades, and you have to buy the material. With that said, look out for my next post where I'll cover what I did with the fog lights.

[Rokoz]

This thread makes me want to ACT UP. Stunning work... Glad to know I can save all those crusty plastic bits with a good cleaning and SEM

[Grey Phox]

Being you replaced both headlight lenses, are you putting on Laminx or something similar over them? Is that even a thing for the E46's? I did it over a decade ago at least to the ZKWs on my E36 and it absolutely saved them many times.

[Loopyspec]

Love the progress. It's giving me motivation to start working on mine

[Sharocks]

Man is spending cheddar and time.

Commendable.

[0-60motorsports]

Looks so good.

[bavarian3]

Paint correcting.

This is the first time I've gone into the a deep invested paint correction. I was a little surprised by how long it took, but I got used to it and took my time. The process took 1-2weeks working when I had time, and not too late to avoid pissing off my neighbors.

I would say about 20-30hrs invested. The results were dramatic.



First step was stripping off all the old.





Griots DA polishers were used with orange pads paired with Sonax CutMax, then black pads with Sonax Perfect Finish.





Prep was easy with all the lighting and trim removed.










Perfect time to do the LED tail light swap too.







First pass. The CutMax is crazy good and practically looks finished already. It does haze over though which is normal.

A good tapeoff comparison.





So much glosss.











And "just like that" days later we're all done. I went back and forth on sealant, but decided on Collinite 845. Have to stay period correct amright.

Pictures uploaded here don't do it justice.








I'll post more pics in the next post where I'll cover the lighting and trim installation. Before that, I prepped the LED tail lights that would replace the old stuff.

These take to polish quite easily.










Bangin.






While this was all in-progress, OEM grills, reflectors, and "some other goodies" went off to the paint shop. Stay tuned!

[bavarian3]

Starting the exterior restoration.

Focus is now getting the exterior restored. All the faded plastic bits, front clip parts, yellowed lighting, roundels, paint correction. Everything had to come out.


Faded cowl and wipers.








Yuck






Headlight dissassembly is a paint for those with headlight washers. So much dirt.




All lighting is getting replaced/restored where needed. This gave me an opportunity to restore the inner trim.






Front bumper had to come out to get to the grill. Front clip trim, and front aux fan had to come out for cleanup.








I'm trying to be less wasteful on replacing parts that function well as is. So I decided not to mess with the condenser as it was it fine condition.

Got creative.


You all laugh, but it worked great on the oil and ac condensers.





Looking much better. Lot's of degreasing and trim restorer.





Trim parts went through the same process as previous trim. Lots of SEM trim black.




Re-assembling the front clip trim




No more dirt or faded parts. Might seem crazy to do this, but these parts show through the grills and bumper. It's all in the details!





Reassembling the headlights with freshly restored trim.




New new






Crazy difference.







Lighting install will have to wait however. With most of it and external trim still removed, I realized it made sense to take care of the paint correction.

I had a lot of this equipment around but hadn't set aside the time for it yet. Little did I know how much time I would spend on it. I'll get into this in the next post.

[M3Garand]

Very nice build

[0-60motorsports]

Great review on the battery

[bavarian3]

Another update.

After driving my car so little and neglecting the battery it was all but gone even after charging. This was the perfect opportunity to shed some weight. While some of the OE sized lithium solutions were nice, the price not so much.

After finding good feedback on the Antigravity ATX-30RS I found one for a deal($350 on Amazon direct from Antigravity).

Additional parts required:
-Adapter posts: link
-Battery hold down: link
-J hooks(will double check length): link







First test fit the battery to see where to mark the holes for the J hooks.




These trays are common across non-M's. So no need to feel bad drilling and hacking it up. I decided to also remove the hold down bar. These are assembled with, go figure, more spot welds!






I found my spot weld bits from the gusset cup reinforcement and had it off without any fuss.




Test fit again, then trim the J hooks so the battery beauty cover can fit.



Full assembly weighted.



Old weights minus the battery tray.







Very clean installed, and the beauty cover/tray fits no problem.


While I was in the mood I also removed this goop dispenser for some bonus weight.



I'm able to use my Noco Genius 10 to charge on Lithium mode. This was approved by Antigravity. Too soon to tell how long it will last, but this is pretty good weight saving for the $.


Afterwards I got an alignment on New years eve, and took it out to the mountains the next morning to find many others with the same idea. With the new wheels and junk out of the trunk the car really flys. The Ohlins are the real deal.




Stay tuned as there is much more to come!