Obioban's 2004 JR/Black M3 Wagon

[Obioban]

Roof rack deleted (makes the car quieter at speed, improves high seem fuel efficiency, lets you run a functional, cross bar roof rack more easily if you actually need a roof rack for stuff):








Converted to a black headliner/pillars/accessories. I did this buy buying an entire kit from a euro M sport car, other than the headlight itself (shipping was cost prohibitive). Side perk: no airbag warning stickers on the sun visors (also have this in my M3 coupe). The headliner itself I dyed with a product the braymond suggested, and it came out remarkably well. You can feel the difference, but rarely do I touch my headliner. Inside the car, the color difference is pretty imperceptible.







Interesting discovery on this front. The euro A and B pillars are lower profile than the US ones. I found this out because they don't exactly line up with the US spec headliner I still have. You can only see this if you're looking for it, and I'm not going to change them for US parts because I like the extra visibility (A pillars) and shoulder clearance (B pillars) that these provide. If it was the M3 coupe I wouldn't stand for it, but standards are different here :roll:. Best pics I could get of the mating interface not being 100% spot on:







And, as previously mentioned, I'm temporarily running a Recaro Profi SPG XL on Brey Krause side mounts using OE BMW e46 power sliders.





They do improve practicality in the form of back seat leg room. This is the space behind me (6'4) in my default driving position with these seats:

[Obioban]

I've done a couple of projects that I haven't gotten around to taking pictures of or posting about-- namely roof rack delete, huge brake light output upgrades, and black headliner/pillars. Hopefully I will soon.

Until then, I installed this today. Belongs to a friend of mine, but I'm "storing" it for him for a couple of weeks in the wagon. Previously I've only had Sparco seats in track cars, never a Recaro or in a street car. This thing is definitely on a higher tier.



Recaro Profi SPG XL with a Brey Krause R-9222 seat mount on a BMW e46 power slider.

Initial impressions:
-getting in and out of the car sucks
-once seated, it's remarkably better (and comfortable)
-the stock 3 point belt receiver with the pre tensioner isn't great in either of the two ways you can run it (over the seat or through the hole). One way it digs into you, the other way it's too high for good contact. If I was going to run this long term, I'd likely use a rear seat belt receiver up front to get it better positioned, though it would be a shame to lose the pretensioner in the process.
-the headrest feels too far back (likely for helmet clearance) and a bit too little padding to be safe without a helmet
-the seating position is completely wonderful. This must be what it's like to be a normal person height. I can fit an entire fist above my head, and this car has a sunroof! I also don't have the steering wheel in the highest position. Traditionally I have to recline the seat a bit to fit in the car with a helmet on-- sub optimal.

All told, gives me lots of things to consider for this winter's seat project in my M3 coupe. :hmm:

[Obioban]

Stockpiled some LT2, because Pentosin discontinued it (which also means BMW is no longer selling it) and I don't feel like there's a proven alternative yet.

This should be a ~10 year supply, by which point hopefully there will be a known, proven alternative.

Called the local NAPA and had them ship all the MTF2 from all the stores to my local store, and bought it all

Every car I own and every car I plan to own uses this fluid!

[Obioban]

Video with the e36 M3 muffler. I tried to get a variety of driving types, coming and going, inside and outside of the car. I'll do another once the euro headers and cats are on.

[Obioban]

Picked up the car, with the e36 M3 muffler installed, from Bimmerworks (West Chester, PA), who did kick ass work (as always).

The result was EXACTLY what I was hoping it would be-- as quiet as the stock e46 m3 muffler and zero drone, under any conditions. It actually seems to have a bit less rasp, too! (better, imo). Will post a video at a later date. Not sure if it'll be before or after I do euro headers/catted section 1/tune.

My request to them were...
-stock tip location
-stock section 2 merge point retained
-bolts up to stock section 1 like stock
-if possible, retain the stock section 2 resonator
-use OE hangers for future serviceability

Pictures of the process...

Test fitting





Stock e46 m3 cut off after the resonator. Fun how the e46 M3 doesn't use round pipe while the e36 m3 muffler does :P. They had to reshape the e36 pipe to match.





e36 m3 muffler with the necked down portion cut off. The e36 euro (s50B32) and US (S52B32) muffler are both the same, other than the necked down portion where it joins with the mid pipes. My thought going in this project is that if it flows well enough for the 321hp 7600rpm S50B32, it should be okay with a 343hp, 8000rpm S54B32. Butt dyno says that assumption was accurate.



e36 M3 muffler welded up to the e46 M3 section 2, with e46 non M hanger mount points added. The muffler body was painted black to minimize the saggy muff/full udder look that e36 M3's sometimes have from behind/side.



And installed!





The muffler body is above the line between the tip of the exhaust pipes and the tires, so my departure angle shouldn't have been adversely affected.

[Obioban]

Quiet muffler going on!


e36 m3 muffler-- the US muffler is the same as the euro (S50B32) muffler, other than necking down where it meets the mid pipes. The necked down portion is getting cut off. My thought here is that if it flow sufficiently for the 321hp, 7600 rpm S50B32, it shouldn't restrict the S54's 343hp/8000 rpm overly much (euro headers/cats/tune getting flashed on shortly).





For sure it's not as cool looking and going to be way more visible. But, shouldn't impair entry/exits more (muffler doesn't hang lower than the line between the tips and tires) and I want the car to be quiet
__________________

[Obioban]

Front suspension is in. I'm MUCH happier with the car now than with the Eibach coilovers. It was constantly busy at high speed before-- this setup it much better at absorbing the bumps and getting back to business.

Doesn't feel like I've given up anything in exchange, either.

Every time I drive a car with TCK valved Konis, I'm blown away by how good they are. They punch so far above their price point!

I was finally pushed over the line on doing this project because I drove my friends 600 lb front, 700 lb rear TCK car 150 miles the other day, and it rode better than my Ohlins equipped 400/620 M3 coupe or the Eibach coilovered M3 wagon :roll:

[Obioban]

Swapped out the rear eibach coilovers. Doing the fronts this evening. Already MUCH happier with how the car rides/handles. Eibach coilovers for sale, soon :roll:



Switched over to rouge RSMs/reinforcement plates, largely because it means I won't have to disassemble the rear of the wagon (pita) for future shock replacements-- can do it entirely from the wheel well. Plus it gave me an excuse to do the ECS hybrid monoball RSMs on the M3 coupe! Got new bushings from RE, because zero effort swap currently. Moved from the "track" bushings I had on the M3 coupe to "street" bushings for this application.



Looks to sit ~1cm higher than the Eibach coils at max possible ride height:



And got the new black trunk carpeting installed, plus holes for shock adjustment. Looks SO much better than the old grey. Going to get some black plastic caps for the adjustment holes to clean it up a bit.

[Obioban]

Finished off (got rid of) the rest of the grey interior (trunk area, back seat)!

[Obioban]

Fun part:



Not fun: dropped $1500 on a cooling system refresh, head gasket, head bolts, valve seals, pre cat 02s, and a new maf.

Nothing is failed, but I'm going to do euro headers/cats, and that's half the work of taking the head off, so, "while I'm in there" has taken me over again...

[Obioban]

Wood trim is looking much better





Radio trim isn't fully seated because the right side of dash trim isn't installed yet.

Attempting to capture the color/texture:



Interior is coming along on the wagon.

Came with the car: blackgrey carpet, center console, dash

Changes already done:
M3 steering wheel
M3 shift knob
grey sport seats to black M3 seats

Just completed:
Changed from Grey leather door cards to M sport/alcantara door cards
wrapped the wood trim in 3M "brushed titanium" vinyl

Owned and will be installed shortly:
M sport Anthracite (black) pillars and headliner
M3 center arm rest (nicer leather)
black dead pedal

Still need to find:
Black wagon back seat. I'm indifferent between vinyl and leather for that.

Door cards didn't come with speaker holes, which I didn't realize was an option (I got the door cards from Europe). So, had to dremel my own:





But it cleans up nicely with the speaker in place:

[Obioban]

Going to summer tires on this car. Will probably regret it.



This is why the m3 wagon would be a better track platform



New dog. First wash of the year, to get the salt off. Dog is... not helpful.

I'm working on sourcing an e36 M3 US muffler I can borrow to test fit. I really want to quiet this car.

In a perfect world, I'd like to do euro s54 headers to s50b32 e36 m3 mids/muffler. The Euro e36 only made 22 hp less than the euro e46, so presumably that exhaust track wouldn't be too much of a bottle neck.

Been looking at e36 M3 pictures-- looks like most of the extra muffler storage space is accomplished by hanging lower.... which I find unfortunate-- my current (stromung) muffler can't be see at all, besides the tips, because it fully tucks up behind the bumper (which I like).

[Obioban]

Finally got around to installing the Alpine switch and second KCA-420i. Now my wife and I each have an iPod in this car, with key memory.



New parts that I'll be putting in as soon as I have the M5 back together (I try to limit myself to one car apart at a time, and I'm replacing all the front end bushings/bearings/ball joints and the steering system on the M5 right now).

M3 steering wheel:






And OE BMW front and side clears:



And doing the M sport (anthracite) headliner/visors/pillars soon, too.

Still haven't found good condition black leather door cards (sedan or touring, as they're the same) or black back touring seat in leather...

Finally got some snow to play in!



And leatheriqued the steering wheel, to get the previous owners cooties off



Decide to break my own "one project at a time" rule, because this is super simple and M5 parts are taking forever to arrive.

M3 steering wheel in. Astounding how much this changes the driving experience for the better.



And OE clears installed. Fits like stock :roll:. They're entirely too clean compared to the rest of the car right now, though.

Also, snow wheels/tires are mounted (have been for a bit):





Thanks to nick to linking me to this!

[Obioban]

Bunch of small projects today...



Rebadged it to 332i (used an e46 323i badge to get the font right).



Bolt on license plate bracket instead of the previous double sided tape system.



New oe rear wiper blade, which should allow it to... function...



Rear OE BMW clear tails



No front plate bumper trim. Need to do some cleaning under it...



Anchor style floor mats. My driving style seems to constantly detach the Velcro style mats that were in it.

Did an extremely hack job intravee install. Didn't bother putting effort into to doing it cleanly yet because I still need to add a bluetooth module, alpine switch, and second iPod/KCA-420i (I want to set it up like the M5, so that if I unlock the car with my key it goes to my seat position, climate settings, mirror position, radio presets, and iPod, while if my wife unlocks it with hers, it goes to all hers).

So, for now, I just threw it all in the hole to make it function in the short term.



Alway amuses me to finally use wiring that's been sitting idle and unused for over a decade.



Jam it in there.



Up and running



And playing music.

Interface is not nearly as intuitive as the nav interface in the M3/M5!

Halogen highs with xenon highs, fogs on with highs, and the alternate 4 way flasher pattern coded on.





ZHP knob off, M3 knob on

[Obioban]

Did some ecu tweaks this morning...



Put on the more conservative CSL warm up light values, disabled top speed limiter, disabled dyno rev limiter, enabled sport mode memory, and enabled the smg shift lights on my 6mt wagon.



Set comfort mode throttle mapping to be more linear.



Made sport mode a valet mode, in case I have to let someone drive the car.



Used paffy's mssflasher to reflash it when done, which was crazy fast. <10s to flash it, for sure. I bought it to reset the flash count on my M3, but will be using it for all future flashing on all 3 of my MSS5X's!



Second M3 seat in!



M3forum stickers on