Robs E46M Rosso Corsa Street Build

[robgill]

Finally motivated to re-start my build thread from M3Forum (RIP...). The goal/theme for this one is to build my perfect OEM+ street car with no track compromises. So in Sept 2019 I started searching for a donor car and ultimately found a pretty good one right here in NYC. It's a 2003 SMG with 84k miles and some bolt on mods. The body is clean with no previous work and it had a lot of maintenance records. Interior was a little rough but I'm replacing that so win all around. I also specifically wanted an SMG because I want an auto option and I think its a pretty cool period technology, plus my wife can drive it.





I planned to completely strip the car so I could do a full interior/glass/engine out repaint. So first big decision was color. I've always wanted a Red E46M but never really liked Imola Red. While at the 24H or Nurburgring last year they had a Rosso Corsa Red M5 on display and I knew that was the color I wanted:



I also really like the all gloss black trim, bronze calipers, and of course the carbon fiber roof 😉.

[robgill]

First step was to get it into the garage for some basic maintenance and reversing some of the mods. I wanted to get the car back to mostly stock and make sure everything was working correctly before I took it apart. Tight fit in the garage with the track car!



I replaced the custom headlights and taillights with new stock BMW.



Replaced with



Also completely changing the exhaust. Off comes the Euro headers/cats and Borla exhaust. Will be replaced by Supersprint V1s, SS cats, SS oversized resonated section 2 and a SCZA muffler.



Some mods all be keeping, including plates already installed and a CSF radiator and oil cooler 👍





I also swapped the OE CSL trunk from my track car onto this car. Very convenient they are both Tiag Silver!!

[robgill]

With the car back to stock and running well, time to strip it down and install the first major upgrade, carbon fiber roof!! Interior and glass out. Windshield broke but it was aftermarket and I'll be replacing with OE:





Step one for the roof was to drill out all of the spot welds, 50+ of them....



Then was able to pry it off from the front and back, and from below on the sides:





Welded in the cross bar and then removed all of the glue and cleaned up the spot welds with a dremel and flap wheel. Also decided to keep the captive nuts to help hold down the roof a little better.



After a lot of dry fitting and adjusting added the glue and clamped it down for good!



Preview with the CSL rails:

[robgill]

Last major item before its ready to send to the body shop is removing the drivetrain. I've done this a few too many times so knocked this out in an afternoon. Also removed all accessories and the chassis wiring harness from the bay.



Done! Marked all the unused holes I want the body shop to weld up. I'll be installing an airbox and relocating the headlight ballast on the driver side so all of these can go!



Ready to roll

[robgill]

I considered a couple local body shops and ultimately decided to go with Mamaroneck Auto Body. Mario the co-owner is super cool and very flexible to work with. So in mid Nov of 2019 the tow truck showed up take the car!





When we started researching the color it turned out there were a bunch of different variations of BMW "Rosso Corsa". There are different base colors that change the tone. I decided to go with the one on the top that has a white base and is a little brighter:



And to make it official, the boys a getbmwparts.com hooked me up with an OE paint code decal 😛

[alexM3Chicago]

Dude, great work! Can't wait to see what it looks like all painted!

[heinzboehmer]

Nice! I was hoping you were gonna bring this journal back, I remember following it closely on the old forums.

[ClevoCapri]

Awesome car! Its taken you long enough to post it up! Haha

[robgill]

Dude, great work! Can't wait to see what it looks like all painted!

Nice! I was hoping you were gonna bring this journal back, I remember following it closely on the old forums.

Awesome car! Its taken you long enough to post it up! Haha

Thanks! Spoiler alert: car is back from body shop and I've got it 80% back together. I'll have this journal caught up to present day this week!

[robgill]

With the car at the body shop I started to focus on the motor. Had a big list of items I planned to refresh/upgrade:

• Rod Bearings
• CSL Cams
• Full Beisan VANOS rebuild
• Replace all sensors
• Replace all hoses
• Clean everything!

First I stripped down the block and got the oil pan off. The bearings looked decent for a 84k mile car (I'm not sure if they are original):



Next tackled the VANOS rebuild, as always quality product from Beisan!



Another item I upgraded was the cams. I currently run 288/280 in my track car and I wanted something a little more mild for the street car. So went with the CSL spec 280/272 Degree 12.5mm Lift from Cat Cams. I'll be using the existing lifters and valves.



Also sent the injectors off to RC Fuel Injection to be cleaned and calibrated. I prefer this over new injectors as I know 100% for sure they are all correct!



What took the most time was cleaning. I touched basically every part with the bigger items getting a soak in Simplegreen.





Short block all back together with the valves adjusted and timing set!

[robgill]

Mario started work on the repaint in late Jan and made steady progress over the winter. I wasn't in a huge rush to get the car back so he was able to take his time. Once they got the paint stripped down it was nice to see that body was exceptionally clean. Other than rock chips on the hood and fenders there was really no body work needed. I replaced the front with a new euro version and the rear bumper with a new no backup sensor version (hate the way they look and I'll be installing a backup camera). Also deleted the headlight washers for a cleaner look up front. Steady progress pics from the shop:





The first things to see red paint was all of the interior edges and the engine bay. You are going to have to take this car apart to know it been painted!!! We are trying to keep everything as original as possible, so if it wasn't painted by the factory it's not painted here. For example the under hood isn't fully painter and same with the inner trunk area.





At this point it was late February and needless to say everything was about to change... New Rochelle had the first big outbreak of Covid-19 and the NY State created an exclusion zone that basically included the shop, so all work on the car stopped and we went into lockdown 🙁

[Sharocks]

Everything was going so well until I read the last part.

Sorry bro. At least you have your silver track car to mess around with.

[robgill]

Everything was going so well until I read the last part.

Sorry bro. At least you have your silver track car to mess around with.

Keep readin, it get's better 👍

[robgill]

After the first couple weeks of lock down and the car still in quarantine zone I started to venture out and focus on some sub projects. A big one is refreshing all of the suspension. This included replacing all of the bushings and installing a set of coilovers. For the bushings the front is pretty easy, just replace the control arms tie rods. The rear is a different story... To try and speed up the rebuild I sourced a used rear subframe and control arms. That way I could rebuild everything off the car and then just swap the whole thing out in one go. Not pretty but they will be soon!



I stripped these down and took them up to Westchester Coatings in Verplanck NY. Chris from WC blasted them and powder coated them satin black and silver. Through in some other parts while I was at it.

Before:



After 🤤:



Next I re-installed all new bushings. Went with OE for everything except the RTABs which are the Turner Motorsport Sealed Monoball. Consensus seems to be these take out a lot of slop with very little to no NVH.



The right tools made this all pretty easy





All done!



Preview of the coilovers. Ohlins Road and Track RTR with Dinan fixed camber plates:

[BMWahba]

Can't go wrong with the Ohlins. Great choice