Kong’s Interlagos Blue E46 M3 Street Car Journal

[SQ13]

I’d been looking for an E46 M3 that would make a good long term car to replace my E36 M3. I really wanted to get into a nice example before they become too expensive. When this car went up for sale, I had to have it. The previous owner was one of my DE instructors, and I had seen the car previously at some track events. He actually bought this car after he instructed for me in my silver car. I’m really glad he was willing to hold the car for me while I attempted to sell my E36 to make room bc it would’ve been really hard to find a similar example for a good price. I picked up the car on March 29, 2019. My plan was to refresh the car and make it a good weekend car with occasional track use.

67k miles
Interlagos Blue
Black leather interior
Competition Package
Cold Weather Package
Premium Package
Xenon headlights
Navigation and HK audio
SMG (gross)

Mods/Maintenance at time of purchase:
Lo Jack
VANOS rebuild at dealership (40k miles)
aFe intake and Epic tune
RE header back exhaust
PFC DD rotors, PFC pads, BW SS lines, BW brass caliper guides
BW stud kit
Fresh RTABs and RTAB Limiters
CSM subframe reinforcement plates
Powerflex subframe and diff bushings
MCS 2WNR coilovers with Hyperco springs and Vorshlag camber plates and RSMs
Complete cooling system refresh
Recent replacement of motor mounts, trans mounts, giubo, diff and trans fluid, and extensive trans work for some reason
Fresh MPSS tires on ZCP wheels

Some extra stuff included in sale:
18x9.5 ET35 hyper black Apex ARC-8s
Brake pads and rotors
A lot of motor oil and oil filters
Schwaben scanner
Schroth QFP
Sparco Evo
VAC seat mount kit
BK seat mounts
ZCP suspension
OE intake

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Planned work:
High priority
- Beisan VANOS lockdown
- Vincebar (summer 2023 probably)
Medium priority
- A, B, and C pillar cover replacement
- Replace/refinish front ashtray cover
- Replace rear ashtray
- Pedal covers
- Avin Avant 4?
- 996 calipers painted yellow
- OE ZCP rotors
- Headlight lens replacement
- Fog light replacement
- Respray bumpers + touch ups
- PDR
- Paint correction with ceramic coating
Low priority
- Eventuri scoop
- Headers + catted sec 1 + sec 2 + SS Street
- Ohlins R&T coilovers
- Cobra Nogaro seats in cinnamon
- CF roof
- Replace windshield
- Slicktop headliner

Completed work:
Install OE chrome grilles and gills (03/2019)
Replace A pillar covers (03/2019)
Remove aFe intake and install OE intake (04/2019)
Oil change (04/2019)
80% Llumar ceramic window tint (04/2019)
Remove El Diablo muffler and install OE muffler (05/2019)
Eventuri intake (05/2019, sold 12/2019)
Misc. missing interior pieces (05/2019)
Repainted steering wheel trim and shifter trim (05/2019)
Armrest delete center console (05/2019)
OE alarm kit (05/2019)
Install PSS10 coilovers with Turner camber plates and RSMs (06/2019)
New tires for ARC-8s (08/2019)
Oil change (04/2020)
Brake flush (09/2020)
6MT steering wheel w/ black Alcantara and blue stripe (01/2021)
Install manual cluster insert to delete SMG gear indicator (01/2021)
Manual swap with AS 20% SSK (02/2021)
Replace rearview mirror with an oval mirror (02/2021)
Diff fluid (08/2021)
Install race seat (11/2021)
Karbonius CSL intake (11/2021)
HTE Alpha-N tune (12/2021)
Valve adjustment (02/2022)
Spark plugs (02/2022)
Karbonius CSL snorkel (02/2022)
Hardwire dash cam (04/2022)
Cinnamon interior swap (05/2022)
Tainik steering wheel in 9002 alcantara (06/2022)
OEM side markers (06/2022)
Coin holder (06/2022)

[SQ13]

March 2019
The car was officially mine at 67,684 miles.


Stopped at the gas station on the drive home


New home


First change I made to the car was installing OE chrome grilles and gills.




Replacing A pillar covers


Washed


And into the garage it goes

[SQ13]

April 2019
Installed the OE intake


Oil change


Had an 80% tint installed. I did it for the UV protection.


It likes to change colors depending on its mood.


Purchased an OE muffler. I loved the exhaust tips on the El Diablo muffler, but with US headers the car sounded terrible and the drone was unbearable for me.

[SQ13]

May 2019

Installing the muffler


Quieter exhaust now and no more drone. Love it. Tiny exhaust tips...eh. I still miss the El Diablo’s exhaust tips.


Bought an Eventuri intake mainly for the induction noise. It was a small increase in noise..nothing great.


Installed it the same day I received it


The air scoop thing is big dumb. It is a PITA to install and remove (was super worried that I’d break it), the Eventuri logo is under the clear coat preventing it’s removal, and it sits crooked. I never got over the crooked scoop.


Random pic


Removed the trim for refinishing by TexaZ3

[SQ13]

May 2019 Part 2

What’s in the box?


A kitty!! 🐈


Jk, just a few parts to make my interior more aesthetically pleasing.


TexaZ3 finished the trim. Looks good!


Parts delivery. The oval mirror was leaking so the plan was to send it to Radar Mirror for repair. The two other parts are for the OE alarm retrofit. Idk why the siren isn’t in the photo, but I did buy and install one.


Looks much much better now. But, the worn steering wheel, flappy paddles, SMG shift knob, and the lack of three pedals still need to be addressed. I would definitely like to have a Cinnamon interior, but the interior swap is low on my priority list.


Track car and street car

[SQ13]

Just some photos taken throughout June



Even looks good when it starts to rain while I’m working on it.

[SQ13]

June 2019

Swapping the MCS 2WNR and PSS10 coilovers between the two cars. The car rode super well with the MCS coilovers, but the rear shocks clicked and clacked constantly. It was way too much for a street car, so they had to go. I installed the PSS10s with Turner monoball RSMs and street camber plates. To make it more street friendly, I’ll be installing my spare set of Rogue Engineering street RSMs...someday.


The car needed an alignment after install. The shop knows I’m very anal about having the wheel perfectly centered, so they had me sit in the car to ensure it stayed in the right position lol. IIRC, I went with camber 2.4°F and 1.8°R and toe 0.0°F (or slight toe in) and factory spec rear toe (~0.30°).

Alcantara in piss poor condition. I’m not really a fan of the OE grey Alcantara but didn’t want my interior to stray from an OE/OE+ look, so I was stuck between sticking with OE grey, a darker grey, and black for a replacement wheel. Getting a new SMG wheel also didn’t make much sense, since I planned on swapping to manual.

The car came with PFC 08 pads installed. Not needed for a street car with occasional track use, so I installed street pads.

[SQ13]

In July 2019, I attended the COTA After Dark event. The track car was stored across the street, so I drove up to COTA in the blue car then brought the silver car over as well. The silver car experienced a brake failure during the third session, but I did not want my money to go to waste and really wanted to drive at night. Well, the blue car was at the track, so I said fuck it and drove it for the last two sessions. Drove it with M track mode on instead of disabling traction control completely bc I didn’t want to risk breaking two cars in one day lol.

[SQ13]

Vids from COTA After Dark

[SQ13]

Some track photos


Never would have thought that I could get the rotors to glow with stock brakes.

[Mike0032]

At first I thought the driveway photos were at a friends house. Same exact detached garage/house/fence combo.

So gorgeous in IB.

[SQ13]

At first I thought the driveway photos were at a friends house. Same exact detached garage/house/fence combo.

So gorgeous in IB.

The house is currently being rented by someone. Maybe that someone is your friend lol.

Thanks!

[SQ13]

Aug – Sept 2019

Not much going on. Just some car washes and new tires to replace the corded PSC2s.




Left the car parked in my apartments parking garage for about a month and came back to this.


All better now

[SQ13]

Oct 2019

More hard parking photos


Took the car to MSRH with a bunch of people from Track Junkies bc the track car was broken. PO of this M3 brought his blue GT3, which you can see in the background.

[SQ13]

Vid from the MSRH member day