Watch as I simultaneously improve and ruin my E46 M3

[Nate047]

Midway through the plate installation…

[Nate047]

Update: WELL... As we all know, life can throw curveballs sometimes. Turns out, we are moving into a new house, which is great! But the timing is shit. Now I basically have to haul ass and get the car back together, I do not have any spare time to do any "optional" cosmetic cleanup or restoration type of things. This is good overall but not what I was originally planning. Welder is coming Saturday. I will post some updates after the plates are on there.

[Nate047]

Minor update, got the underside cleanup finished today. It's too dark to get a video, but I will do that tomorrow. Couple things I wish I had know or thought of before all this:

1. The top coating material is super dusty and powdery, it fucking gets EVERYWHERE as you grind it off. I'm glad I have a proper N100 mask and a face shield
2. This whole thing takes quite a lot of time, it's not like 2 hours and you're done. Maybe I just had an unrealistic expectation but I was surprised at how long this took.
3. Related, change out your wire wheels with some frequency. They wear out and don't work as well after a while and I lost some time needlessly by trying to use worn out tools. I was getting super frustrated, not being able to figure out why it wasn't working anymore, then I had a facepalm moment and swapped them out for fresh ones and bam, easy work again after that.


Things look pretty good TBH, no cracks (reminder: my car has already had the RACP replaced) but there are two failed spot welds. Need to refresh on the best way to repair those.

Next I need to prep the wheel arch seam for welding, drill and inspect the topside welds, address as needed, and then I can schedule my welding appointment.

[heinzboehmer]

Excellent progress!

I would suggest drilling and tapping up into the trunk for the vincebar while you have everything apart. Also make sure to use the long vincebar studs when putting everything back together and not the stock BMW bolts. This will allow you to put the car back together and drive it around without finishing the vincebar install right now. After drilling, tapping and installing those studs, the rest of the vincebar work is done from the top.

[Nate047]

are you in OC or LA? looks like dana point harbor

Marina Del Rey

Minor update, I have removed the old plates, here is a thread with my initiaal findings:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...s-what-i-found

Since then, I have only had an hour or so here and there to continue removing the leftover epoxy and paint to bring the panel down to bare metal. Right now I am about half done and I will just say, this job sucks pretty bad LOL. It's so tedious and dusty and dirty. One thing I didn't expect was, how long it would take to carefully get paint off of the areas with weird curves and angles. Also I just didn't expect the black bottom coat to be at all difficult to remove. I don't know if original RACPs vs replacement RACPs are any different, but this black paint is pretty annoying to remove. Or maybe I'm just impatient and don't have a realistic expectation for how much time this should take.

Anyway. I have since that first thread, indeed found some issues. At least one failing spot weld, and some other issues on the panel that look like damage from the previous owner going too hard with the grinder or whatever he used to strip the panel. I can extrapolate this because I have also, unfortunately, gone too hard with the wire brush in a few areas, realizing indeed how easy it is to damage the panel. Nothing is THAT bad but I will probably need to have my welding guy patch an area and maybe fill some marring marks. Or maybe the plates going on top is enough? I will post up some pictures and gather opinions on that once I have the panel fully stripped and ready to repair.

BTW I am not stripping the whole panel of course, just the areas needed for the plates, and the seam area on the left edge in the wheel well. Is there a guideline for how much of that seam needs to be welded? Like how much do I need to strip off of that area?

[gashby]

are you in OC or LA? looks like dana point harbor

[Nate047]

OKAY... Got the tank out yesterday.



Thanks again to Gt4 and George Hill for the tips. Something seemingly simple and obvious had been evading me, I was attempting to disconnect the lines on top of the fuel tank, struggling with tight spaces and awkward angles, getting frustrated needlessly and nearly breaking expensive lines and necks on the tank.

What seems obvious and clear now, I hadn't even thought of. Disconnect the lines in the wheel arch near the tank filler neck. Then just gently pull the lines through the body cavity and take the whole tank and line setup out as one piece. You do need to still disconnect the lines from the fuel pump and fuel level sensors from where they connect to the body, but those are easy to access. Now after it's all said and done, nothing is broken, but I did cut a few clamps that I could have saved. Small price to pay, and now that I can have easy access to everything, I can get those off and replaced.

What seems simple to those who have done the job dozens of times, is not always clear to a first timer, and I really appreciate the help from not just these 2 guys but everyone on the forum and FB groups who share little tidbits like this.

I did not discover anything worrisome around the areas the fuel tank had been covering. Some of the line fittings are pretty crusty, but TBH I am going to leave them. I'm not made out of money and this thing has snowballed a lot already haha. I have about $1200 of hardware and other "while you're in there" stuff already on order. SO yea, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm not trying to replace $600 worth of fuel lines just so something I'll never see is shiny looking.

Next (maybe this afternoon after work) I will put some heat on those studs and keep going on the stripping down of the RACP.

[Nate047]

Your thread has been a joy to read. Excited to see more progress.

Thank you! I don't really have much new to report, t I'm trying to get the fuel tank out today. I struggled yesterday with the lines but I think I can get it done this afternoon.

After that, I can use a blowtorch to help get the stuck subframe mounting studs out, (the two front mounting points I believe are held in with epoxy from when the PO put the plates on, hopefully that's what's making them hard to remove, not rust or something) remove the coating, remove the old plates, and reveal the condition of the RACP under there.

BTW I'm filming crucial moments along the way of all of this, because even though there are loads of videos about RACP repair and reinforcement out there, I didn't see any about this type of scenario.

Also I would love to somehow locate some information about when and where the panel replacement was performed, insight on that would be helpful. Not that it would do much except put one piece of the puzzle in place in my mind.

[Nate047]

The photography 👌

Thank you, trying my best to make something interesting haha.

[Cronenberged]

Your thread has been a joy to read. Excited to see more progress.

[AntRyv]

The photography 👌

[Nate047]

January 1, 2024

Small updates, I've been chipping away at a few projects over the last few weeks, I don't have THAT much time to dedicate to the car as it turns out. Shocking right?

Since the last entry, I have removed the front suspension, hubs, brakes, all of that, and the rear end is out of the car. Turns out, my helper wasn't that helpful.



So I borrowed some tools from enjoy_m3 and another friend came over and we dropped it out of the car.




This is the first time I have really seen the RACP reinforcement plates on the car, as the previous owner did not provide me with documentation of what they did other than saying they used BimmerWorld plates and the adhesive method to fix them in place. This is what it looks like:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x7emi2bbapvemnr898wfb/e46RACP.mov?rlkey=r4eyxc3nc94zqyh5n5zlkhxjv&dl=0

I made a thread about this and asked a bunch of friends about what they would do, and after much hemming and hawing over the past 2 weeks, I have decided to redo the RACP reinforcement plates on the car. The job the previous owner did is just a bit too suspect for my liking. I have some time, and the stuff is mostly off the car anyway, so yea. No time like the present. I have ordered Redish Motorsport V3 plates, and I found a well qualified mobile welder who has done a few of these cars and has agreed to do mine as soon as I am ready. So now I have to just get down to the nitty gritty and actually get this stuff off the car. I know it's going to kind of suck, but I will feel better in the end knowing it's done correctly.

Big takeaway here, I've said this a lot in the last few weeks. If you buy a car with 1 or more of the Big 3 done, get proof of the job being done properly!

Also, I have installed the sunroof plug. Estoril was very helpful explaining his method of masking, and advising which adhesive/sealant to use. Right now, the plug is still sitting in there with the tape on it.



The plan is to use an exacto knife and take my time removing the tape. In hindsight I should have taken it off when it was still fresh, but I will trim and clean up the excess sealer and try to get it as clean as I can while maintaining expectations. I applied sealer from the top and the bottom sides. I'm going to sand the top layer down a bit before I trim and remove the tape, so it's smooth and nicer looking.



My wife got me a pressure washer for Christmas so I had to test it out. This will be helpful to clean off the subframe and all that stuff.



I'm just doing a reasonable cleaning, not refinishing any of this stuff. I'm leaving the wheel bearings alone since they are not dead and that would just be extra work and cost for no reason. I can address those later. I have to buy some new hardware, and I need to got some small items for the RACP prep, but otherwise I am in pretty good shape over here to move forward this week and next. I want to get this car back on the road within the next 4 weeks give or take. Sounds like a lot of time, but I do also have a job and I can only dedicate so much time to this on any given day.

Another note, I had forgotten that my exhaust kind of fits like shit under the car. Basically I got some of that bad batch of SuperSprint products where they don't line up properly. Instead of going to war and waiting a hundred years replacement parts, I decided to cro-magnon it into place with the help of an exhaust shop, they used some generic gaskets and hardware and to be fair, it works and doesn't leak. From the outside, the tips sit about half an inch off center. I would really like to be able to line it up better but I'm not going to worry about that now. I took it off all in one piece so I have minimal hardware to replace. Theoretically it should go back on about the same as before. I will probably replace these two center hangers, though.





Maybe I should ask my mobile welder if he can cut and extend these mounts on the exhaust so they line up better with the factory bracket/brace. The mounts are like, too short. So that is I believe, why the rubber hangers are stretched. Interested in hearing your guys thoughts on this.

Other than that, I haven't discovered anything too bad. Small oil leak from where the engine meets the trans (rear main seal?) and some general grime and crust around the brake lines and fuel filter, and of course a bunch of crusty east coast garbage on fitting and lines around the whole car. I'm going to replace the rusty fasteners and anything vital, but the stuff that is just kind of gross looking but is "fine," I'm leaving for now in the interest of putting one foot in front of the other, and getting the first phase of the project finished. I have not dropped the fuel tank yet, obviously that needs to happen for the RACP plates, and I'm just hoping everything behind there looks okay.

Onward and upward for 2024!



Thanks for looking!

[Nate047]

I have a soft spot for ACS wheels and those type III look amazing on the E46 M3!

I really enjoyed the initial story, mishaps, and your decision to stick with it and to deep-dive into the restoration. Someone once posted in the forums "Be a good custodian" and that’s exactly what you're doing. Keep up the work and documentation, I will definitely be following along. I'd love to see the car in person one day.

Thank you! This is a really good way of thinking about it. I'm trying to do my best to not be that guy who lets the car just waste away. It's in better shape now than when I bought it, that's for damn sure lol. I'm also trying to manage expectations though, because I'm not made out of money and I'm not a BMW master tech. I'm trying to do as much as I can in my home garage basically with help from forum members, friends of mine, and youtube.

[Nate047]

I ain't gonna lie, I wouldn't buy a car from the Tri-State area if you paid me.

IDK how Rob does it, but he literally has a formula for spending on money on these heaps.

Nice to see the journal bruv.

Yea man trust me, I won't do it again either LOL. This car has been a HUGE learning experience for me in many ways. It's like the polar opposite of my first BMW, which over the years has just proven itself again and again to be an absolute miracle of a find.

[Nate047]

excited to see the build progress! thanks again for the rear interior bits

Hey man, glad to have them go to a good home! Share some pictures once you have it all set up.