Keith’s E46 M3 build log.

[Keith_MN]

Hi. Not going to get too deep here, just a place for me to post the story, specs, maintenance & upgrades of my dumb car.
I had been out of the game for a while and had the itch for a real car. Needed to be a true sports car but functional enough for family use. Weekend driver, stored in the winter. Anyways went a few directions and decided on the E46. Shopped casually for about a year and then grabbed my ’04 off BAT in Oct ’24. Delivered at midnight, the night before Thanksgiving halfway down my block because the semi couldn’t clear the trees. He cleared the trees.

Spec as purchased:
2004 TiAg black leather
Build date: 11/03
SMG, sunroof, 77k miles
Bilstein coils, Meisterschaft exhaust, Carbonio carbon intake, TMS shark injector tune
Been kept in good maintenance but ye ole grande 3 had not been done. The horrors!

My plan at the time of auction win would be to address subframe/vanos that winter, find a wheelset and take it from there.

What I bid on:


Delivered Nov '24:


Rinsed the transport grime off.


And the beginnings await.


More coming...

[Keith_MN]

I had thought about doing a fly & drive as the experience through AZ/UT/CO would be amazing...or catastrophic with weather, a severe mechanical, etc. Rational thinking quickly prevailed. It was a good thing too as the first thing I saw when I popped the VC was a broken exhaust hub. As I got into the car I quickly realized the cooling system needed an overhaul, and so on...

Full vanos service minus the rattle thing.
Valves adjusted.
Spark plugs.
Full cooling system replacement.
Tensioners/idler/belt
All seals, o-rings, etc

The whole process was pretty smooth just following the Beisan guide and tips from here.


I had been putting off some long due garage upgrades, now I had more motivation.

Additional lighting
Rubber mat flooring around the perimeter
Emptied, cleaned, added new liners & trays for both tool cabinets
Bought more tools.



Got the car back together and on the trailer for subframe work.




Floor looked great, no cracks or sign of degradation. My friend welded in CMP plates, updated bushings and did the usuals. Got that wrapped and found a break in the weather to drive it home the end of Jan. First actual drive of the car on cold MN roads in Jan, not exactly a welcoming entrance but fun nonetheless. Was reminded quickly what rock hard Pilots do when pushed.

Gave the wife a quick ride before it sits for the rest of winter.

[Keith_MN]

Navigating imgur to post vertical photos is enough to make me delete this whole thing. Fuck I hate technology.

Back to late winter/early spring '25....
Bought a set of Apex ARC-8s and a fresh set of Pilots. Don't care for 19"s and the OEM 67s were curbed up pretty bad.

18x9 +30
245/40/18
18x10 +25 & 5mm spacer
275/35/18
Stud conversion as well.

Would have done the "race silver" finish but they were sold out at the time. Did "hyper black" which works well for me. I bought the car thinking I was putting TE37s on it right away, but it just didn't look right to me so these will hold me over for now. I'm keeping an eye out for something unique.

Took a few pics with the wheels and it made a few things evident.
Rear needed to be lowered.
Tint is ugly.
Calipers needed to be refinished.

[Keith_MN]

After a lot of adjustments, got the ride height much better L to R & F to B. With those adjustments, a set of SPC camber arms put in and the new wheelset, it was time for an alignment.
I'm lucky to have Orr fairly close to me, a well respected BMW shop.

[Keith_MN]

Meanwhile...I'm plotting about this car's future.

I wish I would have bought a slicktop but I'm not losing sleep. Not sure the premium is worth it for my use case, I'm far more functional than anything else.

Grabbed a few parts here and there over the summer. Trying to chart a realistic plan for the upcoming off season.

Rod bearings
Euro headers & sec 1
Guibo, center support bearing
...but if I'm doing that, I should just do the full manual swap.
...and if I do that, I'm taking the intake manifold off...so let's just do that swap too then right?
The snowballing never ends, but I do hate repeating the same work.

So I continued to accumulate parts & tools over the summer and tackle a few light diy projects. Added bluebus and bavsound. Redid the side finisher & frame seals. Replaced a few worn interior pieces. Had the tint redone too which really made the car look nicer, old stuff was too purple and dark.














Don't care if it's the most common, LOVE TiAG. Such a good color.



And that's mostly the last year. Here's a pic from late summer.



Next up, I'll post a few updates on the disassembly process.

[sbay]

Meanwhile...I'm plotting about this car's future.

I wish I would have bought a slicktop but I'm not losing sleep. Not sure the premium is worth it for my use case, I'm far more functional than anything else.

Grabbed a few parts here and there over the summer. Trying to chart a realistic plan for the upcoming off season.

Rod bearings
Euro headers & sec 1
Guibo, center support bearing
...but if I'm doing that, I should just do the full manual swap.
...and if I do that, I'm taking the intake manifold off...so let's just do that swap too then right?
The snowballing never ends, but I do hate repeating the same work.

So I continued to accumulate parts & tools over the summer and tackle a few light diy projects. Had the tint redone too which really made the car look nicer, old stuff was too purple and dark.














Don't care if it's the most common, LOVE TiAG. Such a good color.



And that's mostly the last year. Here's a pic from late summer.



Next up, I'll post a few updates on the disassembly process.

Last pic is beast…gotta love TiAg

[Arclitgold]

Gorgeous car and those wheels look fantastic!

mind if I ask where you got the euro headers?

[Keith_MN]

Gorgeous car and those wheels look fantastic!

mind if I ask where you got the euro headers?

Thanks!

Headers & sec1 from the one & only bmwfnatic

[samthejam]

Looks like you're making a lot of progress with it! Looks great! Great score on those headers!

[kgeee]

Sick find man! Love the color. I'd love to get you on as a tester on Buildsheet Studios so we can showcase this build!

[Sharocks]

Man I really hope you didn't pay SSV1 money for Euro headers that will look like used Euro headers in a few thousand miles.

I pray that you got a deal.

[Keith_MN]

Man I really hope you didn't pay SSV1 money for Euro headers that will look like used Euro headers in a few thousand miles.

I pray that you got a deal.

Super Sprint headers look to be going for $3k+. I'm not a sadist so i don't track car expenses, but these were less than $1500 to my door in early/mid '25.

[Keith_MN]

Christmas break was supposed to give me at least a few full days that i could wrench on the car, instead we all got the flu and it knocked us down for about two weeks. No bueno. So feeling behind "schedule" but at peace with whatever pace this goes.

Decided to do rod bearings first. Did disassembly an hour or two at a time over early Jan. Got #1 done but started having issues with rounding the head on #6 which lead to this thread. So awaiting a few more con rod bolts, couple tool changes and then will get a friend over for a little leverage help. In the meantime...

Bought an ultrasonic cleaner last year with the intent to use it during the vanos/cooling system teardown, but I didn't really need it. For this project that wasn't the case. It looks like the SMG reservoir had been leaking for quite some time, leaving a very dense grease behind on the intake side of the engine.

My setup: Vevor 6L. Filled with distilled water, parts cleaned in glass jars. I use a solution of ~50/50 Zep HD citrus degreaser & water, seemed to be the most recommended that wasn't overly harsh on metals. Especially greasy parts get a heavier ratio and/or a second pass. Been using a cycle of 55*C and 8 minutes with good results. Earplugs are a must, yikes.


Oil pan and assorted hardware before an 8min session.


And after.



With the upcoming exhaust & intake upgrades, it seemed silly to not check out the health of the injectors. I reached out to gheorghe based on this thread and had him perform a full service. Results looked good before & after, good peace of mind. Got those back last week and just got them installed, felt good to actually put something back together.



I also got the "Race German" injector clips after losing one of mine. Will order some of the OEM ones now that I know the part, but good to know that these worked out too. OEM on the left, Race German on the right.




Little tip for anyone getting the fuel rail back on. I had a hard time getting the retainer clip to engage, as if the fuel line had pushed down and I couldn't get it close enough to meet the rail. I loosened the 10mm next to the screwdriver, used the screwdriver to leverage the line up just a little and *snap* the clip engaged. Nice.



Still waiting on parts... Got the RH engine bracket replaced, noticed mine was broken after the first inspection of the car. Got this swapped over with the heat shield transferred over. Luckily I had the right size rivets on hand. This stays off for now as I'm almost ready to drop the headers.


...and we wait some more...



And one more from last fall because I like this pic and haven't posted it.

[Loopyspec]

Love the progress and it is motivating me to start wrenching on my E46. The winter cold is soo discouraging!

[Keith_MN]

Love the progress and it is motivating me to start wrenching on my E46. The winter cold is soo discouraging!

Aww I love the cold. 😄 I know I'm in the minority on that one, but I enjoy the seasonal changes that it forces on life and being outdoors in all of it.

Posting a few pics of my former FJ just for fun. Sold this last fall with a heavy heart but ready to move on. '86, repainted, lifted and I imported some 15" Watanabe clones from Up Garage for it. Otherwise stock. Fantastic truck.