Robs E46M Rosso Corsa Street Build

[Exclusivs]

^Nice Rob! The rock chip anxiety is real looking @ those pictures lol.


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[Will]

To echo CrisSilberGrau, I'm glad you made it over from m3f and decided to start this thread. The color looks wonderful. Very interesting info regarding BMW's Rosso Corsa and how there's a brighter mix (with the white base). What was the base color for the darker mix? I looked into Ferrari's Rosso Corsa and it was predominately red pigment, with a little bordeaux and a splash of orange to brighten it - the shop used PPG.

Amazing build! Thanks for sharing with us; looking forward to the updates.

[robgill]

^Nice Rob! The rock chip anxiety is real looking @ those pictures lol.

Thanks! Yeah Im still debating paint protection. At most I think I would clear bra the front bumper.

To echo CrisSilberGrau, I'm glad you made it over from m3f and decided to start this thread. The color looks wonderful. Very interesting info regarding BMW's Rosso Corsa and how there's a brighter mix (with the white base). What was the base color for the darker mix? I looked into Ferrari's Rosso Corsa and it was predominately red pigment, with a little bordeaux and a splash of orange to brighten it - the shop used PPG. Amazing build! Thanks for sharing with us; looking forward to the updates.

I'm going to get the full detail from Mario when I pick it up but yeah this had a bit of orange. The lighter base color also makes a big difference. Very hard to tell in the sample pics but in the sun it is much brighter.

[robgill]

M3 is still at the body shop but should be ready this week. My goal is to have it done by the early Oct so I can drive it down to VIR for an SCCA race weekend I'm attending. Also the upcoming @46m.east meetup Nov 7th. In the meantime I have been working on interior sub assemblies including the seats and door cards. For the seats I'm using the Brey-Krause adapters with my OEM electric sliders.

First I had to get the old mounts off the Recaros, what a nightmare... Every bolt was loctighted in to the extreme. Even heat wouldn't break some of them lose and I had to drill them out. A little nerve racking on basically brand new seats 😐. Fortunately all good and got everything removed.




Next stripped the electric sliders and harness off the OEM seats. Brey-Krause instructions are pretty good so this was relatively easy.



The wiring not so much... Took a long time to trace everything a find the right wires. I think I've got it correct and wired up the the E30 switches. Guess we'll find out when I get them plugged into the car!



Moved on to getting the door cars reassembled. Finally got to install the Karbonius carbon fiber trim. Looks amazing, absolutely flawless!! Also got my black lower pieces refurbished/repainted by NAM3 member @TexaZ3, highly recommended! Door cards preassembly:



Back in one piece! Holding off on installing the arm pads (also tan leather) until I finish getting all the trim ceramic coated.

[e46mpwrd]

Car is sick, only color I have seen beside mine that I love .
I have a question if you don't mind. What was the process like getting the black lower pieces refurbished/repainted byTexaZ3? Did you have to ship the whole door card? Thanks.

[robgill]

Car is sick, only color I have seen beside mine that I love .
I have a question if you don't mind. What was the process like getting the black lower pieces refurbished/repainted byTexaZ3? Did you have to ship the whole door card? Thanks.

Super easy, just send him the individual parts (not full cards). I actually just bought some cheap used trim off of ebay and sent directly to him. Same trim for all e46 coupes so you can find a lot of options on ebay (or here).

[e46mpwrd]

Ooo I am an idiot. You got the bottom of the arm rest trim redone.
I thought you meant the black part around the speaker grill. Which I am looking to get redone since 70k miles of use has mine looking beat.

[robgill]

Ooo I am an idiot. You got the bottom of the arm rest trim redone.
I thought you meant the black part around the speaker grill. Which I am looking to get redone since 70k miles of use has mine looking beat.

Yeah fortunately my speaker housing was in really good shape!

[freshprince2421]

This thread is full of so much win 🤤

[robgill]

So yeah, red car is still at the body shop.... It's just not top priority right now so getting the last few items done is taking a lot of time. So in the meantime, track car update!

A few months back the hood got crunched. I headed over to Mpartswworld in Jersey and picked up a decent used hood for $350 👍. The custom hood emblem was a nice bonus 😂. I'm not sure what the previous owners plan was here but it has no dents so all good for me:



Figure if I have to repaint the hood, I might as well install hood vents! I've had a set of N15 Design hood vents for a few years so pulled them out of storage to install. Stripped down the hood and laid out the templates. I'm going to install from below for a cleaner look:



First drilled out the corners then cut out the sides:



Test fit from below, pretty close! Needs some clean up and tweaking and then I'll let the body shop do the final touches before paint. If timing works out I'll drop this off when I pick up the red car!

[robgill]

Friday was the day, finally got the car back in my garage! The paint looks absolutely amazing and big thanks to Mario and Marco for all the detail work. Well worth the wait. Unfortunately it decided to rain on pickup day but on the bright side no leaks from the roof or glass 👍



Once I got it home and on the quickjacks the first thing I did was give it a quick clean to get the rain and road grime off the car. I'm still debating what type of paint protection I want to use. Once its is 100% back together in the next few weeks I'll give it one more polish then either ceramic coat, enamel coat, or just wax it. I'm currently leaning towards Ammo Reflex Enamel Coat.

[Exclusivs]

Color looks insane! Proper job Rob!


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[robgill]

To get this thing done I have a couple project to complete; Install the new suspension, install the engine bay and front bumper trim, and install all of the new interior. Plan is to knock those out in the next two weeks so hopefully I can get some road time in before winter! During the winter I'll complete the brake upgrades and rear end subframe rebuild.

This weekend I tackled the suspension. Along with the OE control arms, bushings, tie arms etc previously installed I'm also upgrading to an Öhlins "Road and Track RTR" Suspension Kit from 3DM Motorsports. I also went with Dinan fixed camber plates and Fall-Line adjustable end links. Barry at 3DM was a huge help specing this out and delivered it completely assembled and ready to install. I decided to ceramic coat everything with CQuartz Dlux Trim & Wheel Ceramic Coating, hopefully that will make cleaning a lot easier.







Getting the OE suspension off was pretty easy. Had to use a spring compressor on the fronts to get a little extra space.



Install went fast and I stayed with the ride heights Barry had pre set. With that done took it for a test drive for the first time on proper wheels! I'll probably lower it a little more but I want to wait until I have a final wheel setup done. I really like the look of these square rear CSLs but I want to get a slightly larger tire for the road. Currently these are 265/30/19 Pilot Cups and I will be going with 265/35/19 PS4s. Also want to see how it looks with the TE37s.

[BMWahba]

Man that color is something else. Congrats, looking great!

[Will]

Car looks great! Fantastic progress!