Martin's AW/Cinnamon 6MT Street/Track Build

[gabylonfive]

I've been wanting to start documenting my journey with this car since I picked it up in 2017 - 7 years, a pandemic, and two kids later...here we are 😂.

This is actually the 2nd E46 M3 I've owned. I picked up my first back in 2012: an 03 steel grey smg coupe with 30k miles. I loved the car but hated the transmission so I parted with it after a couple of years determined to find a clean factory manual (preferably white with an interesting interior) someday.

Fast forward to 2017 - I was browsing the m3f boards and found a very clean AW/Cinnamon factory 6MT coupe for sale and immediately reached out to set up a PPI. The following day the car was on a lift, checked out, and the car was mine.

The car did come with a handful of mods, but nothing too crazy:

JIC Cross Coilovers
Agency Power V1 Exhaust
Supersprint sec 1/2
18x9.5 et35 Rota Torques
CF CSL Style trunk
CF diffuser



Engine and drivetrain were all bone-stock. The car came with a decent set of service records, mainly showing vanos had previously been inspected/serviced (but not overhauled, so that was something I planned on doing immediately) and rod bearings had supposedly been done as part of a recall service 8 years prior (another thing I would be doing right away regardless.) PPI did show a couple of cracks at the driver side rear racp mount so I immediately ordered a Redish kit V2 to be installed as soon as possible. Otherwise the car checked out great - suspension/handling felt tight and engine pulled hard. Compression test showed 180-185 across all cylinders so I was pretty confident I found a good one.

The car had done 150k highway miles but it hardly looked the part. Paint was in great shape and the interior showed very little signs of wear. I had always wanted this color combo so to see it still in such great condition was a big, big plus for me. The PO obviously tried hard to keep the car looking nice, so I was super appreciative of that.

The day I picked her up:

[gabylonfive]

I wasn't really a fan of the black roof wrap so that was one of the first things to go as soon as I got the car home:



Also discovered the smoke on the taillights was just a film so I scrapped that as well.



About two weeks into ownership I experienced the tell-tale electrical issues of a failing alternator, so in went a refurb valeo unit. The windshield cowl was also pretty beat and a buddy of mine had a spare OE one so I swapped that in at the same time.

[gabylonfive]

At this point I had started piling up parts to tackle all of the big 3. First order of business was rod bearings as I didn't have a definitive answer on if/when they had been done. I didn't even bother with an oil analysis, I wanted a fresh start so I only put about 50 miles on the car before setting up some time at the shop to diy them. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I replaced as much as I could while I had the pan down:

WPC treated OE bearings
OE rod bolts
Oil pump
PS pressure lines, res, etc
Gruppe N motor mounts
Steering coupler
Gaskets, seals, etc etc.

I'm assuming this set of bearings had done at least 120k miles, so they looked about as I expected them to. A couple of cylinders were down to the copper, so I'm glad I did this immediately before I started driving the car as I intended to.







I also dumped the Agency Power exhaust for a Dinan muffler that I picked up off the forums. The AP exhaust was nice but awfully loud and with a brand new baby on the way I just needed something quieter that didn't wake the dead on cold starts 🤣



With the rod bearings done it felt great to finally get a chance to open the car up a little bit without fear of grenading the motor. The motor felt strong though there was quite a bit of slop in the rest of the drivetrain, so I started game planning the next phase of the build as I planned around subframe reinforcement.

My wife was also about 8 months pregnant with our first child at the time - a good opportunity for a family photo:

[gabylonfive]

As a new parent, it was almost impossible to find a window of time to tackle the subframe and other things I wanted to address while I had everything down for that job. I'd intended to do this right after the bearings but it ended up being another 6 months until I'd finally found the time.

Anyways, I ended up going with the following while I had the subframe down:

- Redish V2 reinforcement kit
- AKG 80A poly RTAB, diff, and subframe bushings
- Autosolutions 30% SSK
- Full diff reseal
- Turner rear control arms
- CSB/Guibo replacement

With the subframe off the car we finally got a clear view of the health of the racp mount points. There were a couple of cracks forming at driver rear and passenger front, which wasn't all that surprising given the mileage the car had seen. Those were stop drilled and welded and the rest of the repair was fairly straightforward/uneventful. At the time, the Vincebar solution hadn't been introduced - I wish it had as it would have been something I'd have done if available. If i have the subframe down again at some point I may add on the Redish V3 add-ons that address the same issue of tying the mount points to the chassis legs.

[Tbonem3]

Haven't seen this username in some time! Good stuff.

[gabylonfive]

Haven't seen this username in some time! Good stuff.

between having two kids and also rebuilding a totaled elise into a track car, i've had my hands full the past few years 😂. glad to be back though!

[karter16]

I love it when journals are posted as catch ups - it's like being able to binge a whole season of something on Netflix 😂

[gabylonfive]

Around the time I finished up the subframe (May 2018), Karbonius and a bunch of folks on m3f had finished up the details on a group buy of their first set of OE-replica CF airboxes. Seeing as I hadn't already spent enough money and time on the car that year, I went ahead and placed my name in the hat for a box with the OE style plastic trumpets. I figured I'd only do this once (wrong) so I went all in and went with the OE snorkel with flap, Kassel MAP adapter, spare h-bridged HP DME, and all new OE intake boots, csl dipstick, hoses, shut off valve, etc etc.

I even went as far as picking up the OE CSL ducting for an OE CSL bumper, with plans on eventually tracking one down (I don't think Mile End had started producing one yet) and running the ducting to the snorkel like a proper CSL. I hadn't done much on the cosmetic front up to this point, but I had plans to do an OE CSL trunk (I did not like how the CF trunk currently on the car fit, nor did I care for the trunk handle) and OE CSL bumper in the near future. In hindsight I wish I had just gone ahead and done it because prices were still somewhat reasonable and parts were somewhat available still. You live and you learn, i guess.

I remember waking my daughter up on accident as I ran downstairs to make sure I didn't miss the DHL guy. 🤣














It took me about a 5 days of working between naps and feedings to get everything in (so like, 30-45 mins at a time), but man was it worth it. For the most part, everything went very smoothly - the wiring was pretty straightforward and everything fired right up on the first try. Needless to say for anyone that has done this mod, the sound is fkn glorious.





Both TPS replaced since I'm already in there:

For what was essentially v1 of their carbon airbox, the fit and finish of this box was great. Install was a breeze, the quality and placement of the weave was awesome and everything just felt super high quality. Very impressive first take - it's no wonder they’ve become one of the go-to brands for this platform.








Also coded the cluster to display the oil reading with the CSL DME now installed:




Hell yeah:

[gabylonfive]

I love it when journals are posted as catch ups - it's like being able to binge a whole season of something on Netflix 😂

that's so funny, that's exactly how it feels as I type this up and go down memory lane with these photos 😅

[gabylonfive]

As I wrapped up the airbox installation I noticed a small oil leak at the vanos line / accumulator and what appeared to be the start of a coolant leak at the lower rad host / temp sensor. I decided I might as well refresh the entire cooling system so I went with a CSF radiator and oil cooler, bw vanos and coolant overflow lines, SPAL electric fan and fan controller, expansion tank, and new OE upper/lower hoses,






Knowing what I know now about how this setup has held up for other folks, I'll probably go back to an OE rad and mechanical fan whenever the time comes to replace this. It's mostly been fine for me but on hot days here in the Bay I've noticed coolant/oil temps get uncomfortably high when sitting in traffic and I would rather just stick to the simplicity of the mechanical setup .

[gabylonfive]

Time jump to the beginning of holiday season 2018 - I was browsing craigslist for an oil cooler for my Elise project when I somehow found a set of TE37SLs for sale for the wrong car (this one.)

Needless to say, I met the guy the following day on the way to buy the Elise cooler and came home with the oil cooler and a set of wheels 🤣.

My personal favorite Volk/Rays finish is Mercury Silver, especially on a white car. At the time though, that finish was nigh impossible to find as the OG wheel was already discontinued save for some one-off group buys and the SL was not offered in that finish yet. These pressed graphites were a nice consolation though.

[gabylonfive]

The rest of 2018 was pretty uneventful. Decided to throw a CF front lip on to cover some of the battle scars the bumper had built up over the years. I figure it would be a nice short term solution until I could find a CSL bumper. Spent most of the rest of the year just driving the car and spending time with family.









2019 ended up being a bit of a slow year for this car, but that's not to say there isn't a whole lot more left to share.

[gabylonfive]

With my daughter almost turning 1 and getting ready for day care, I was on the hunt for a suitable baby hauler / daily / tow rig for us.

In typical BMW guy fashion, I made a quick trip to the P-car dealer and nearly traded the M3, the Lotus, and all my earthly belongings for this:



Alas, it was not meant to be - we settled on a '16 Cayenne S E-hybrid and don't regret it (I guess.) We absolutely love this car and it's been amazing for the 6 years we've owned it.




I spent most of my free time in 2019 working on restoring the Elise, which was a very fun and gratifying project. It was essentially a total loss due to front clam damage from running over a curb and I got a crazy deal on it, picking it up basically for nothing. The original plan was to get it back on the road and sell it, but as you can tell I went a little overboard and started falling in love with the car.










The M3 wasn't getting much attention in 2019 so I actually entertained the thought of selling it and keeping the Elise as I'd promised my wife I would only keep one of the two. I started parting out some of the more expensive parts on the car - the airbox, wheels, and trunk sold fast.



Car was still looking pretty good though, and every time I'd drive it I knew I would never have the heart to sell it. I'd always ask myself what I'd possibly replace it with, and I'd always come up empty.

So I did the absolute worst job of trying to sell the car for 6 months before deciding I would just look for a house with a bigger garage instead LOL.

2019 came and went and we started house hunting right before the world went to shit.

[Loopyspec]

Happy you decided to keep the M3. I'm currently on the hunt for a AW slicktop, but they're all located in Cali (I reside in MA).

[gabylonfive]

Happy you decided to keep the M3. I'm currently on the hunt for a AW slicktop, but they're all located in Cali (I reside in MA).

I'm happy I kept it too, at this rate I'll just keep working on it and pass it to my kids when they're old enough 😁. I wanted a slicktop too but I settled for a clean sunroof car with plans to do a carbon roof down the road. Good luck on the hunt!