CMDA17’s E46 M3 Laguna Seca Blue Build Journal

[Cmda17]

Probably like everyone else on this forum, I fell in love with this car at first sight. Unfortunately for me, in 2001 I was fresh out of high school and there was no way in hell I could afford one so I settled for a red 97 Acura Integra as my first car. As the years went by and I owned several other cars I always gravitated back to owning one in Laguna Seca blue, but throwing tons of money into a car was not the best use of capital in my eyes.

Nevertheless I drove my beater (97 Lexus ES 300) through the last couple years of college, after I bought an investment property and got the hell out of my moms house, and still while my career has gotten settled ;despite being financially stable enough to lease a new M3. All the while I was lurking this forum and kept the dream alive until I said **** it and officially started looking for one.

Since I live in a congested area (North Jersey) and park on the street I decided I was going to target a car in the late to mid teens and stay away from the garage queens. Made much more sense, based on my situation, to spend less on the purchase price, and use the money I save to put into maintenance items and build the car into the one I always dreamed of.

After seeing 2-3 cars that were a disaster, I saw a 2003 SMG in Laguna Seca Blue with 81k miles pop up on Craigslist. I ran the vin and saw it had 5-6 owners!! Nevertheless it was priced below KBB and it wasn't a far drive away so I went to check it out. After looking it over and taking it for a test drive I decided I had to buy it!! The issues with the car were minimal in my eyes and the relatively cheap price gave me some wiggle room to address them.

first things I had addressed on the car were:

- Purchased a new battery

- Replaced the driver side door cylinder

- Purchased a new key

- Had the airbag recall done

- Ordered Beisan goodies!!

Despite changing the damaged cylinder and key, the driver side door would not open with the key fob or by hitting the unlock button. The dealership told me the actuator needed to be changed so I put that on the list of stuff to do. Meanwhile I ordered stuff for an inspection two as well.

When the Beisan stuff came in I took the car to Dan the vanos man (xM P0W3Rx) Based on his reviews on the regional threads. He was awesome to deal with and luckily not too far of a drive.

Dan addressed the following:

- Valve adjustment (17 valves out of spec)

- New spark plugs

- Oil pump disk

- Rattle repair kit
- Vanos coil pack, seals, & sealing plate.

- Vanos bolts

- Chain guide

[Cmda17]

Then I began with the inspection 2 and a couple other things at a local shop called Hybrid Motors. The previous owner told me that the differential was leaking so that was one of my main concerns. When I had to make sharp turns I would get a sound coming from the rear that sounded like rubbing against the fender so I was hoping we didn't have to change out the whole diff. The diff was leaking profusely due to the front pinion seal so that was replaced. Another issue the car has is the infamous M clunk. I was hoping that changing out the center support bearing and guibo would address that so i purchased those as well...

The following was done:

- Change diff fluid

- Front pinion seal

- Oil change

- Change transmission fluid

- Transmission mounts

- Guibo

- Center support bearing

- Break fluid flush

- Belts

Luckily the diff leak was fixed but that was about it. Despite changing the diff fluid I still had the rubbing sound coming from the rear....I tried to do a bunch of figure 8's in an empty lot to work the new fluid into the diff but that didn't help. I read on the forum that using OEM fluid fixes the problem so I ordered some.

My belts were shot so I had to change them but then it caused another problem... An annoying belt squeal!! On top of that I still had the M clunk from the rear when shifting and for some reason now I was getting another clanking sound coming from the transmission when shifting between 2nd & 3rd. I never noticed the issue when shifting between 2nd & 3rd until having this work done. Unfortunately I had only owned the car for like 2-3 weeks before this so I didn't have enough seat time to really notice I guess, but I think that's something that would've stood out before. Nevertheless something is off and hopefully it's not a synchro issue

[Cmda17]

So at this point in the saga I still have to address the following....
- M clunk (most likely due to my shot diff bushings - see below)
- Transmission issue when shifting between 2nd & 3rd. I also noticed it struggles to get into gear when downshifting from 4th to 3rd.
- Rubbing sound when making sharp turns
- Driver side door actuator (according to the stealership)
- Belt squealing

I decided I was going to try a different shop this time so I scheduled a visit to Auto Couture motoring since they're close by, and are known to work on a lot of M3s. I ordered the actuator and OEM diff fluid to address those two issues, and was hoping they knew what to do to fix the squeal.

The following was done:
- diff fluid with OEM fluid
- driver side actuator
- AC belt tensioner
- Main idler pulley
- Drive belt tensioner

I arrive to pick up the car and to find out that the squeal is not gone because it was not do to the parts listed above, the alternator needs to be changed. The door issue wasn't fixed either, apparently the stealership missed diagnosed the issue and my module needs to be changed.

But luckily after 5.5 hours of labor one of the problems was solved.... The diff noise is gone!! Apparently changing the fluid from redline to OEM did the trick and I no longer hear the noise when making sharp turns. One problem down and 98 more to go....

Parked outside of Auto Couture:

[Cmda17]

Despite having a whole bunch of maintenance items to take care of I started taking care of a couple cosmetic things:

- Apex Arc 8 (square setup) for the spring
- Square OEM 18’s powder coated in silver on Michelin Pilot Alpines for the winter (hated the black plasti-dip look)
- 72mm turner studs & 90mm in the rear
- Kics Iconix R40 lug nuts
- New side markers

- Purchased painted reflectors and Vorsteiner CSL diffuser

- Smoked Depo corner lenses

- OEM LED tail lights

- Black fog light cover (the gray one that came with the car was horrendous)

[MrClutch55]

hi for the BS oil pump disk, did u replace both or just one? also, the 2nd to 3rd, will that be a syncro problem?

[Cmda17]

I just replaced the BS oil pump disk because the hub was intact. It was definitely a synchro issue.... I’ll get to that later unfortunately lol

[Cmda17]

I also did a couple things with the interior:
- Upgraded the speakers to the Bav sound kit (totally worth the money)
- Added the Xtron head unit
- 20% tints all around
- Painted the interior trim. It was a huge pain in the ass to do because of the material the trim is coated, but I love the way it came out. I could not stand looking at the scratched trim and I didn’t want to go OEM yet because I daily the car so it would end up getting scratched again anyway. Makes the interior look really clean and most people won’t know the difference anyway.

[M GmbH]

Lookin really good!! LSB paint looks like it’s in great shape. Did you do any paint correction or just a wax?

[Cmda17]

Thanks!! The pictures above were after a polish but it was my first time ever doing it so wouldn’t say it was a correction. The car actually needs a paint correction pretty bad... swirls really stand out on LSB but when I apply a sealant after a wash you can’t tell as much.

[gohdunlam]

Nice LSB!

[SeñorEnglish]

LSB is best