2001 M3 Journey: Laguna Seca Blue Edition

[bavarian3]

Nice Build, love the attention to detail.

Appreciate it!

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

Lol she is quite patient for a limited time.

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

There's always dry ice or steam cleaning!

[bavarian3]

I'll cover one more, somewhat crazy task before showing everything assembled. Restoring the factory exhaust parts.

Now, I have no idea how long this will last, but we can try.

Starting point...









I did some research on how to go about this. Turns out typical polishing compounds work quite well, but you're in for a bad time if you don't have an electric polisher of some sort.

Here's an example of Autosol with a little elbow grease.





I scored a couple Griots DA polishers on sale for Black Fri, which I'll need down the road anyways, and went to work.

My process simplified:
-first clean the pipes parts with degreaser and scotchbrite, hose down
-let dry then scrub down with bar keepers friend in a little water. this further cleans and actually polishes the easy parts.
-autosol or heavy cut compound with da polisher to actually polish everything out
-add Dr Beasleys Metal Coat

results...








as mentioned I added Dr Beasleys Metal Coat. No clue whether it makes a difference but I used it in hopes it'll make this all last longer.




Then of course all new gaskets, muffler and section 2 hangers before assembly.

Not bad eh! We'll see if it can handle some heat.

[bavarian3]

Let's go over how I handled the topside reinforcement. This car is going to be babied, but it's all about bulletproofing things to be worry-free.

After researching a bunch of solutions, I decided to go with a combo of an x-brace and Vince front gusset cups. I had no interest in cutting into the floor to the degree the vincebar requires.



Starting with the x-brace. I went a unit from puretech. They ship pretty darn quick and have decent support via IG. The price is ok too, around 550 I think I paid. Similar to vincebar, neither have websites so just reach out to them on IG.

Install process is not too bad. Most difficult part is trimming the carpet panels to let the brackets pass through. You basically take a provided drill bit on the bottom side of the rear subframe mount hole and drill up through the floor panel. Do this with the carpet floor in place to pilot holes through it as well. Then use a hole saw on the top side where the pilot holes came out to cut holes in the racp for the xbrace.

Mine ended up not fitting perfectly.




Despite trying every which way to install, the holes from the brace to the tower brackets wouldn't line up perfect, so I did a little trimming. No big deal in the end.





As I mentioned, trimming the side carpet liners were difficult because it's hard to get a perfect starting point. I went at it with a dremel trimming out slits for each bracket.

Final product looks great, and so much less intrusive than other solutions

.











On to the gusset cups...installing these is more involved than you might anticipate. The process involves drilling a pilot hole from the underside till it goes up through the floor, then using a hole saw where the pilot hole came out on the top. After creating the hole you will reveal the state of your front mount. Mine were free of cracks, again showing the great care this car has had.

Next you have to grind down the welds, and flatten the area out with a punch. After creating a flat surface, the mating surface has to be cleared of any paint and roughed up for epoxy.

I didn't document too much of this, but here is what it looks like all prepped before epoxy.



gusset cups also have to be prepped on the backside. Some time is also spent forming them to the floor with a hammer.





I used Ardalite 2014 w/ caulk gun adapter, and a rivet gun from harbor freight. All worked great.






Epoxy was applied and I quickly went to work on the rivets. Start from the middle out.

Don't mind the funny color. I painted them with an LSB spray can I had which turned out to not match even somewhat close, so I rubbed it off with some acetone.




Here is a completed shot. I wanted to finish it paint wise like factory, but that proved out of reach. I don't know about other colors but LSB racp panel is painted in a unique way that is impossible to match, at least at home. I tried all kinds of variations of base color with lsb on top and couldn't get it close.

Eventually, I'll take it to a body shop, but for now the leftover control arm paint looks pretty good.

[0-60motorsports]

Nice work. I really need to do the topside reinforcement too.

[bavarian3]

Update time. I hadn't updated this after completing the rear suspension.

I ended assembling each individual piece on to the car one at a time. This allowed me to properly torque the control arms and other bits under load/ride height.

Some challenges to name a couple, cmp bushing raises the subframe, therefore making the rear diff bolts more difficult to get to. I highlighted solving this in this thread. I found getting the diff in and getting the bolt started a huge pain. It's very heavy and awkward maneuvering it into the subframe while trying to thread the front bolt.

I regretfully changed the diff fluid to castrol, yes it groans now.








With the diff in place I could install the driveshaft. I used the OE butyl tape + mineral oil on the CSB per TIS guidance.









Here are a couple shots before mounting the swaybar links.










Torquing the swaybar links at ride height was a challenge. Perhaps there's a better way to do it, but this involved using a stubby wrench in a very tight space. Don't want to have to do that again.







With all the major bits torqued in I was able to get the heatshield in along with the freshly restored exhaust and plastic beauty covers.










Wow what a huge project. I never intended to go that far with it but i'm glad it's finally done. I won't get an alignment till I complete the front suspension & rod bearing overhaul, but initial driving impressions are pretty amazing. It feels like a completely different car.



Next up, I tackle the interior. I'll give a sneak peek as there was a change in plans along the way =)

[heinzboehmer]

Torquing the swaybar links at ride height was a challenge. Perhaps there's a better way to do it, but this involved using a stubby wrench in a very tight space. Don't want to have to do that again.

Next time try with the spring (and damper if necessary) removed

[bavarian3]

Next time try with the spring (and damper if necessary) removed

noted! thanks.

[bavarian3]

Next update: Interior swap and restoration complete. I'll separate the stages into different posts.

First we'll look at the A, B, C pillars. This was not a fun job. Not nearly as easy as it seems but by the end of it you get the hang of it.


The original cloth was falling off or completely gone as shown in one A pillar.





Stripping the backing material is probably the worst part. Unless someone has some tricks I don't know about, the residual adhesive is impossible to fully get off as you'll melt the plastic before removing it completely. I used a nylon wire wheel on a drill and angle grinder. Metal wire wheel was too strong.





It makes an absolute mess too.





For replacement fabric, I purchased BM3109 from veteran co in LA(went in person). Yes they're a real establishment! I actually brought the roll home on the plane.





I used 3m 90 spray adhesive to install. Here is the finished product. 8/10. It's not perfect especially the A pillar inserts, but I saved around $800 it looks like. Let's hope it lasts.

Applying the fabric wasn't easy either.

Protips:
-Buy more fabric than you need, if you haven't done it before you'll mess up a few times.
-Use heat to stretch the fabric when applying on curvature like the bottom of the c pillar. This was the hardest piece.
-Wait for the adhesive to set so it doesn't bleed through.

.



For the rear deck, I noticed the thickness of the backing doesn't seem like it would turn out right. You can also see how different the color is from the faded and unfaded parts of the deck too.





I opted to go with VHT spray paint for this piece.






As it turns out, the results were great. I used a nylon brush to rub it in per the directions. I will say the finished texture/feel is different than OE, but it's fine honestly.





I refinished the grills with SEM color coat. Great stuff for interior. SEM products have been exceptional all around.





Nice




Before installing I got the tint done while the interior was stripped. I went with 75% ceramic so the interior has protection, but keeps most of that fishbowl look =)

The pieces installed...




Then the C pillars could go in




B pillars A+ result.





A pillars pretty good, but the screw cover strip not so great. Probably will just purchase this piece separate later on.





Next I'll cover all the other parts I replaced in the interior before the cinnamon set went in.

[0-60motorsports]

Great update.

[bavarian3]

Carrying on with the interior.

I love the look of the ZCP steering wheel, but they're too expensive new and I wanted to retain my factory buttons. So I had TexaZ3 repaint the trim on the steering wheel. Then purchased a retrimmed wheel from Royal Steering wheel. I went with them because they offered the exact spec I wanted with a fair price. Core shipping cost wasn't too bad to UK.

The spec I requested included alcantara with tri color stitching, and to have it completely recovered like factory thickness, not covered over existing like other sellers.

No telling the longetivity, but the results are phenomenal.




Continuing with the alcantara bits I went with Coby wheel for e-brake boot + handle, and shifter boot.

Contact cement was used on the original trim bases.





Pretty easy to mount the boots, kinda tricky to install the handle.





Before they could go in I installed a new armrest delete center console. This fit a little weird against the carpet at first.





Realoem also doesn't account for proper size screws for the slot size. Added some washers, no biggie.





Everything getting fitted with a new weighted broomstick. Also fittied the carbon trim that came with the cinnamon set. Sneak peek of those door panels.










Lastly, I bought a set of pedalhaus pedals to spice things up.

Install is pretty easy, but the included hardware was lacking. I ended up buying new hardware, 4 screws per pedal which seems to be a little different than others do it.





Gas and deal pedals used self tapping screws. I dremeled them shorter and flat to not damage the surface behind, or limit the gas pedal from full travel.





The feeling on the look is mixed. It certainly looks great, but I recognize it's pretty non-OE. Over time it may end up looking tacky. Keeping em' for now!





Next I'll show the seats, door panels all installed.

[liam821]

Fantastic job on the interior pieces! Having done this before myself, it's a lot harder than it looks. Nicely done!

[bavarian3]

Fantastic job on the interior pieces! Having done this before myself, it's a lot harder than it looks. Nicely done!

Thank you, agree it was not easy, but saves something like 900 bucks excluding the rear deck!

[bavarian3]

Interior install time. As mentioned there was a little change of plans. Earlier in this journal, I showed an impulse cloth set which I intended to swap in, but recently forum member enjoy_m3 posted a mint cinnamon set and I had to have it. LSB on cinnamon is something special, so I drove down to LA to pick up.

Tinkering around the door panels as I couldn't decide what trim to use. I like the piano black, but for some reason it wasn't sitting right with the cinnamon armrests. I went with the carbon fiber trim that came with the set.




Looking good





Something annoying I went back n forth on was re-installing the sound deadening below the rear bench. At first I thought to just throw it out, but utlimately I decided why not just install it to keep things as OE as possible. Amazingly, it went back together pretty nicely. Just had to discard a few crumbled pieces.





Rear bench installed with headrests and seatbelt buckles all tidy.





I also picked up some new floormats from a dealer on ebay. I saw some crazy thread here about floormats, I don't know or care if I got the "right" ones, but these look good to me.







Front seats and everything finally in place. It's looking like a car again.











...and I actually drove the car! It still has no alignment from the rear suspension overhaul, but already it's crazy how perfect everything feels.

[0-60motorsports]

Looks great

[liam821]

Looks great! LSB on cinnamon is always a great combo.