Robs E46M Rosso Corsa Street Build

[bigjae46]

Wow!


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[ZHPizza]

I always said if I could buy a new e46 from the dealer I would. This might be the closest thing.

[8000RPM]

Thanks for posting! This is awesome!

[ClevoCapri]

Coming together real nice mate!

[robgill]

Looks stunning and excellent progress. Can’t wait to see it finished

Love the attention to detail. Engine-out is definitely the right way to go about a paint job. Looking forward to the final product!

Wow!

Thanks for posting! This is awesome!

Coming together real nice mate!

Glad you made it back. I loved your old threads on m3f and happy you decided to come here as well man. As always ludicrous attention to detail, inspirational skills with all this diy youre doing. Looking forward to the rest of this amazing build.

Thanks guys, needed this thread to keep me motivated to finish it up! I've almost got this thread caught up to present day.

I always said if I could buy a new e46 from the dealer I would. This might be the closest thing.

Exactly! I just want to have one that is perfect, even if only for a few weeks. I plan on driving this one a lot and enjoying it.

[robgill]

Next up was the cooling system and steering/front suspension. For the cooling system I replace all of the hoses as well as using the o-ring set from WOLFN8TR (highly recommended!). Had a hell of a time tracking down how the heater hoses are routed but got it figured out:



Front clip with radiator, a/c condenser and aux fan back in.



Pressure tested the cooling system and everything checked out first try 👍, so on to steering. Debated swapping in a tighter rack but ultimately decided to keep the standard (no compromises...). I did install Turner rack limiters to keep the bigger wheels/tires I plan on running from rubbing. Also new hoses, coupler, end links and boots.



Finished off the front suspension with new OE control arms. Did I mention I love my Quickjacks!



Then spent like 3 hours getting this headlight level sensor reinstalled. First had to rewire the plug and then took forever to get the freakin mount to clip onto the control arm 😐

[robgill]

With the motor pretty much back together it was time to give it a test fire and makes sure there were no major issues or leaks. That ended up being quite a challenge... First I triple check that all the wiring was correct. Not easy as the harness has been modified in the past:



As expected there was a ton of SMG and DME codes and a persistent cog of death light. My plan was to just work through all of the bleeding/adaptation procedures one at a time. In the past I have used DIS for service and coding but I got tired of keeping that running in virtual Win XP instance and all the BS that causes. So put some effort in this winter to get ISTA+ running on a Win 10 machine. Glad I did that, much easier to work with.



I was able to bleed the SMG pump and run clutch adaptation with ISTA+. After a couple rounds of that and a lot of code clearing I was finally able to get the car to crank. I had kept the fuel and ignition off so I could crank it using the starter to build fuel pressure first. Then hooked it all back up and it fired right up with no issues. Let it warm up then changed the oil.

I then came across this SMG bleeding thread from Irhase46m3 and based on his experience did a couple more bleeds using INPA as well as taking the pump out of its relocation bracket so it was horizontal. At this point I'm pretty confident all the air is out!

[robgill]

Next major milestone is going to be taking the car for a test drive. To get get it road worthy I needed to install all of the glass, headlights/taillights and mirrors. For glass Mario had had the windshield and rear window installed at the shop. I went with a new full feature BMW windshield with "green windscreen, green shade band, climate comfort windscreen and rain sensor". Props to Westchester BMW for letting me order this from Germany:



The rest of the glass took some work to clean up. Used a steamer to get the old tint off and then polished everything up and added some Rainx anti-phog to the interior.





The side windows took some time to figure out, should have taken more pictures when I took them apart 😂, thanks you YouTube! Went ahead and got the vapor barrier and and airbags back in as well.



Also got the new gloss black trim installed:

[robgill]

I had been waiting on the headlights because they needed to be installed at the same time as another modification, Karbonius airbox and non-flapper snorkel 👍👍.



Test fit. I used the Turner IAT kit that plugs into the MAF plug and OE everything else. The oil dip stick tube fit nicely against the shock tower with some minor bending:



I wanted to re-locate the headlight ballast of the drivers side to clean up the engine bay a little and show off more red, but wasn't sure where it could fit until I got the box on. Turns out it was pretty simple, using the existing bracket I was able to modify it to bolt up to the cross member tucked under the snorkel.



With lights back in I fitted the front bumper for the first time!!



I also got the driveshaft and the rest of the exhaust installed. Currently I'm using the Supersprint catted section 1, Supersprint 63mm resonated section 2, and SCZA muffler taken off of my track car. Love the way it sounds and hoping it will be a little quieter with a full interior and sound deadening. If its too loud I will likely try a different muffler.

This pretty much catches the thread up to present day (Aug 10th). Goal this week it to take it our for a test drive!

[BMWahba]

If money were no object, I'd be building my car just like this. Incredible work as usual Rob!

[0-60motorsports]

Nice update. Going to look stunning under the sun.

[ClevoCapri]

Looks like you have achived your goal of the perfect street car to me! Perfect!

[Inizes]

This is awesome Rob. IF you ever sell it, let me know because I’m in love with it.

What’s the plan with the interior?

[Gt4]

You can relocate the driver side ballast under the headlight, same as passanger side. It will look better IMO.

[Nick_P]

This is turning into an awesome build!! So tempted to get a 2nd M3 and turn it into a street car lol