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!