I figured I'd take a crack at starting a build thread for my M3. I enjoy reading so many of your build threads, perhaps I can give something back.
There is a bit of a backstory to this car. I bought the car in 2017 (am writing this in 2021 for reference). I was a few years out of university and I was living in an apartment, I also owned a 1984 Z/28 Camaro (and still do). It was the first car I ever bought when I was 15, built an engine for it as a kid with part time money and the story of it has probably landed me more jobs than any class ever has. The last car my father worked on with me before he died. Very high sentimental value for me. nevertheless, I was on the hunt for space to start wrenching again. It was cheaper to buy a house+garage all in than to rent an apt and shop space (especially if you rent the basement!). So, I put my savings into a house. My plans for that Camaro were grand and I knew it was going to take me years to finish and I didn't want to enjoy nothing for years so I decided to get something to enjoy while I undertook that project. After much deliberation I decided I wanted an E46 M3. NFS Childhood dream car. I nerded out on the S54 engine, I wanted to know what it felt like to drive one of the "best drivers cars". It took me two years to figure what combo I wanted, and to find one. An Oxford Green 6sp Coupe with a Cinnamon interior 🤤. Eventually, I found one for sale in Virginia - I'm nowhere near Virginia. It was a continent-wide search for this thing. Bought it "sight unseen" but with much correspondence between the seller and had it shipped to me in Detroit where I would import it to Canada.
Here is the car as it showed up to me. a 2003 OG/Cinnamon 6spd coupe with ~95k miles.
And here it is next to my daily at the time, an R50 pathfinder (also green!)
To import a the car to Canada, it cannot have any outstanding recalls. Well, this M3 had an outstanding recall for the airbag - so I took it to my nearest BMW dealer to get the recall done. While it was there, I told them that I just bought it sight unseen and asked them to do an inspection at cost to me. This is where things go downhill. You see, when the car arrived, it already had a bunch of flaws. BMW informed me that it had been converted from an SMG (ooof), among other things, and that their estimate to "repair" it *starts* at 25k. Considering I was about to import this car into Canada this put me in quite a predicament.
Long story short, I ended up importing it into Canada (obviously) despite its .... dissapointments.
The car was converted to an manual - presumably because the pump failed judging by the mess on the underside. The interior had been taken apart, many clips broken, "wrapped in suede", custom "show car trunk with 12" subs". it was a mess.. BUT! the car was clean! No dents, no rust, low-ish mileage. it was solid foundation. You have to remember, i'm in rust-belt territory here.
SMG Mess:
Here is the M3 home in Canada. with the Z/28 in the background.
You may have noticed something in the picture above.
You see - the seller failed to disclose that this car has a remote starter installed. Moreover, the clutch lockout and EWS have been bypassed. ... So, one day, while working on a friends car we were rolling around on the ground when the Lock+Unlock combo on the keys in my pocket were pressed and the car started while in gear. The more unfortunate part is that it drove forward into the car we were working on, while it was on jackstands and knocked it off. I got out but my friend got badly injured. This is where the name Bad Om3n begins. Without getting into details - the car was effectively off-limits for the next 3 years for legal reasons. My friend has made a miraculous recovery given the context in the meantime. you may have noticed the damage to the hood/grilles in the picture.
Over this time, I wasn't allowed to work on the M3. I wasn't allowed to sell the M3. I wasn't allowed to do anything and so I researched and researched and researched. I learned about INPA and NCS. I learned how to perform the SMG conversion and went over his work. I learned about the M3's weak points and how to address them. What parts were available. I looked at all of your builds for inspiration while I hoarded my money and got deals on parts where I could. Here's the thing; this M3 was supposed to be what I enjoyed while I worked on the Camaro. Now the M3 has become its own full blown project.
I'm sure some of you can relate 😂😈😲
Here are some pics from the brief time the car was actually on the road.
It turns out I'm kind of into both Photography and Detailing and I started getting into them more over the course of my ownership. You'll see both improve over the course of the thread 🤣
Eventually, I was given clearance to work on the car. After getting this, and selling a different project that was effectively plugging up my garage I was finally able to work on this car! For some context: The whole point of buying a house was to have a shop to work in, and for the last 3 years my hands had been tied. I was ecstatic. I felt liberated!
Considering everything that happened, I went out and picked up a set of 7000lb heavy-duty quickjacks for a vast improvement in safety. Nothing is rocking these.
Now. this is happening just as the Pandemic beginning. We're maybe a month or two it at this point when I finally get everything set up and ready to go. I'm fortunate in that I get to work from home. So, this meant I got wayyyyy more time to get elbow deep in this car. I went and did small things here and there on lunch breaks and stuff. I was home "instantly" after work. a bit of a silver lining.
At this point, I've resolved to re-enforce the rear subframe. And, since this thing is so buried, it has spun off a bunch of other small mods and upgrades which sent me down the rabbit hole as you'll see. But then again, I suppose thats all relative. Some of your builds are unreal.
At this point, I think I've built a good lead up to the build. Moving forward I'll try and be a bit more "sectional" with my posts and more focused on certain aspects. The wealth of knowledge on forums like this was critical to me persevering through the obstacles that this car presented. Coming out the other end of this experience, I've grown dramatically in my skills and confidence. Perhaps my experiences can help someone else. My goals with this car are to primarily to build a "clean" car. with quality, subtle mods. I appreciate the E46 for what it is and would like to put emphasis on how it "Feels" to drive. To refine the experience it provides. I have my Camaro to run wild with custom ideas, I recently bought an NA Miata to take to the track. And a literbike makes a Lamborghini feel slow. so, I welcome you to join me on my adventure full of bad om3ns and look forward to your input!
There is a bit of a backstory to this car. I bought the car in 2017 (am writing this in 2021 for reference). I was a few years out of university and I was living in an apartment, I also owned a 1984 Z/28 Camaro (and still do). It was the first car I ever bought when I was 15, built an engine for it as a kid with part time money and the story of it has probably landed me more jobs than any class ever has. The last car my father worked on with me before he died. Very high sentimental value for me. nevertheless, I was on the hunt for space to start wrenching again. It was cheaper to buy a house+garage all in than to rent an apt and shop space (especially if you rent the basement!). So, I put my savings into a house. My plans for that Camaro were grand and I knew it was going to take me years to finish and I didn't want to enjoy nothing for years so I decided to get something to enjoy while I undertook that project. After much deliberation I decided I wanted an E46 M3. NFS Childhood dream car. I nerded out on the S54 engine, I wanted to know what it felt like to drive one of the "best drivers cars". It took me two years to figure what combo I wanted, and to find one. An Oxford Green 6sp Coupe with a Cinnamon interior 🤤. Eventually, I found one for sale in Virginia - I'm nowhere near Virginia. It was a continent-wide search for this thing. Bought it "sight unseen" but with much correspondence between the seller and had it shipped to me in Detroit where I would import it to Canada.
Here is the car as it showed up to me. a 2003 OG/Cinnamon 6spd coupe with ~95k miles.
And here it is next to my daily at the time, an R50 pathfinder (also green!)
To import a the car to Canada, it cannot have any outstanding recalls. Well, this M3 had an outstanding recall for the airbag - so I took it to my nearest BMW dealer to get the recall done. While it was there, I told them that I just bought it sight unseen and asked them to do an inspection at cost to me. This is where things go downhill. You see, when the car arrived, it already had a bunch of flaws. BMW informed me that it had been converted from an SMG (ooof), among other things, and that their estimate to "repair" it *starts* at 25k. Considering I was about to import this car into Canada this put me in quite a predicament.
Long story short, I ended up importing it into Canada (obviously) despite its .... dissapointments.
The car was converted to an manual - presumably because the pump failed judging by the mess on the underside. The interior had been taken apart, many clips broken, "wrapped in suede", custom "show car trunk with 12" subs". it was a mess.. BUT! the car was clean! No dents, no rust, low-ish mileage. it was solid foundation. You have to remember, i'm in rust-belt territory here.
SMG Mess:
Here is the M3 home in Canada. with the Z/28 in the background.
You may have noticed something in the picture above.
You see - the seller failed to disclose that this car has a remote starter installed. Moreover, the clutch lockout and EWS have been bypassed. ... So, one day, while working on a friends car we were rolling around on the ground when the Lock+Unlock combo on the keys in my pocket were pressed and the car started while in gear. The more unfortunate part is that it drove forward into the car we were working on, while it was on jackstands and knocked it off. I got out but my friend got badly injured. This is where the name Bad Om3n begins. Without getting into details - the car was effectively off-limits for the next 3 years for legal reasons. My friend has made a miraculous recovery given the context in the meantime. you may have noticed the damage to the hood/grilles in the picture.
Over this time, I wasn't allowed to work on the M3. I wasn't allowed to sell the M3. I wasn't allowed to do anything and so I researched and researched and researched. I learned about INPA and NCS. I learned how to perform the SMG conversion and went over his work. I learned about the M3's weak points and how to address them. What parts were available. I looked at all of your builds for inspiration while I hoarded my money and got deals on parts where I could. Here's the thing; this M3 was supposed to be what I enjoyed while I worked on the Camaro. Now the M3 has become its own full blown project.
I'm sure some of you can relate 😂😈😲
Here are some pics from the brief time the car was actually on the road.
It turns out I'm kind of into both Photography and Detailing and I started getting into them more over the course of my ownership. You'll see both improve over the course of the thread 🤣
Eventually, I was given clearance to work on the car. After getting this, and selling a different project that was effectively plugging up my garage I was finally able to work on this car! For some context: The whole point of buying a house was to have a shop to work in, and for the last 3 years my hands had been tied. I was ecstatic. I felt liberated!
Considering everything that happened, I went out and picked up a set of 7000lb heavy-duty quickjacks for a vast improvement in safety. Nothing is rocking these.
Now. this is happening just as the Pandemic beginning. We're maybe a month or two it at this point when I finally get everything set up and ready to go. I'm fortunate in that I get to work from home. So, this meant I got wayyyyy more time to get elbow deep in this car. I went and did small things here and there on lunch breaks and stuff. I was home "instantly" after work. a bit of a silver lining.
At this point, I've resolved to re-enforce the rear subframe. And, since this thing is so buried, it has spun off a bunch of other small mods and upgrades which sent me down the rabbit hole as you'll see. But then again, I suppose thats all relative. Some of your builds are unreal.
At this point, I think I've built a good lead up to the build. Moving forward I'll try and be a bit more "sectional" with my posts and more focused on certain aspects. The wealth of knowledge on forums like this was critical to me persevering through the obstacles that this car presented. Coming out the other end of this experience, I've grown dramatically in my skills and confidence. Perhaps my experiences can help someone else. My goals with this car are to primarily to build a "clean" car. with quality, subtle mods. I appreciate the E46 for what it is and would like to put emphasis on how it "Feels" to drive. To refine the experience it provides. I have my Camaro to run wild with custom ideas, I recently bought an NA Miata to take to the track. And a literbike makes a Lamborghini feel slow. so, I welcome you to join me on my adventure full of bad om3ns and look forward to your input!
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