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Dan's 2001 Titanium Silver M3

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    Dan's 2001 Titanium Silver M3

    I've been wanting to make one of these for a while now and what better time than now...

    I have been into cars since high school and the E46 M3 is what started it all. At the time, that was my dream car. I ended up getting my dad's hand me down 1995 Mazda 626, which was black and had a 5 speed manual instead. Definitely not the same caliber car, but it had me hooked on manuals and I loved it for what it was. I soon moved on to other "achievable" dream cars and the Acura TL Type S was next in my head. I thought about this car for 4 years and made plans to buy one when I graduated college and had saved up enough money. In 2010 after college, I bought a 3 year old TL Type S, black with a 6 speed manual.
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    I loved that car. I drove it until it had 175,xxx miles on it and it was time for something new. I hadn't thought much about M3's since high school, figuring they were out of my league but a co-worker suggested I buy one. At first the thought was a little crazy to me, but I justified the idea by telling myself that manuals were a dying breed and I better buy a cool one now while I could still get one. Also, I was planning to propose to my (now) wife around the same time, so it added reason to buy it now while I was still the sole decision maker (ha!). So, after a couple of months of waiting to get an allocation from the dealer, I ordered a 2015 M3 in Black Sapphire Metallic with Black Extended Merino leather and a 6 speed manual. I sprung for the extended leather dash and the Adaptive LED headlights, which are still two of my favorite features about the car.
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    I still have the F80 M3 and it is my daily driver, it is an AWESOME car! But, a few years ago I started yearning for that E46 M3 again. I spent countless hours looking at forums and Instagram pictures of different people's cars. I wanted some form of silver or gray with Imola Red seats and a manual. This was a hard combo to find. Then in 2018, my college roommate who lives in Kansas City (I am in St. Louis, MO) texted me that he knew a guy who was selling a "clean" 2001 M3. I looked at the Craig's List post and it looked pretty decent and the price was right ($12,000). It had 122,xxx miles on it and was Titanium Silver. Andrew volunteered to go look at the car for me and when he did, he said it was ok but his review wasn't glowing. I was disappointed because I had hooked myself on the idea. My wife suggested that I make the trip to go look at it anyway and visit my sister who lived there (how cool is that?). I figured I could at least drive the car and get a feel for what it was like on the road and I made the trip.

    When I got to KC, the car was parked right outside my wife's favorite store in the world, called the Painted Sofa. It's a 3 story home goods store and actually pretty cool. It felt like it was meant to be.

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    The car had some imperfections but I knew it was high mileage and thought I could look past that. Then I drove it and it was very underwhelming. It had no torque, but the seller said he knew the Vanos needed to be done. The tires rubbed in the rear and there were a lot of imperfections (dent in the side, curbed front bumper, badly cracked clear bra, gummed up interior plastic parts) and it didn't have the Imola Red interior I wanted so bad. BUT it was a Titanium Silver M3, with a manual, and it was right in front of me. I was pretty torn. I drove back to STL and couldn't stop thinking about the car. I spent all night looking up prices of parts that I knew I wanted to replace and came up with a an estimate of what I thought it would cost (which I would later find out would be a VERY gross underestimate!!!). I agreed to buy the car the next day and sent it to a local KC shop for the next two weeks to have an inspection and repairs (including Vanos and valve adjustment) done.

    Items repaired during visit:
    • New Vanos unit from Dr. Vanos
    • Valve Adjustment
    • Spark plugs
    • power steering hoses/reservoir
    • lower control arms/brackets
    • transmission drain/fill plug
    • rear axle seals
    • oil filter housing gasket
    • shifter/bushing replacement
    • straighten the bent exhaust

    Two weeks later and my wife and I drove back to KC to pick it up! My intention with the car was to clean it up and enjoy it for what it was and fix a few things. I was super excited.... but that excitement quickly faded when I realized there was more wrong with the car than I initially realized. I knew about all the cosmetic stuff, but a check engine light and misfire on the way home started to rain on my parade. My repair list was starting to get longer:
    • Sound system didn't make any sound
    • head lights flickered at night
    • aftermarket Angel Eye's had LEDs that were out
    • 5th and 6th gear felt squishy/soft when I would shift into gear even after replacing the bushing
    • dash showed a tail light error
    • Exhaust, which I initially thought sounded pretty mean and cool had a ton of drone on the highway
    • trunk struts were weak and wouldn't hold the trunk open
    • interior leather was in good shape but all plastic was nasty
    • rear headrests were missing
    • pillar covers were all falling off
    • all emblems were very faded
    • kidney grill tabs were broken and grills were secured with zip ties
    • Engine cover ///M3 emblem looked melted
    • Seat belt red buttons were faded
    • Car rode too low for my liking and I couldn't stand the rubbing
    • headlights were clouded
    • Key fob didn't work
    • Check engine light came on and car would intermittently misfire
    I got the car home and started to make plans to get it running solid first.

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    (note: I hope to catch up to present day through the course of several posts but this will take some time 😅)

    #2
    After getting the car home, I took it to a local BMW specialty shop who reset the check engine light codes and replaced the tail light bulbs (they were LED, replaced with the OEM bulbs) to clear the tail light error. They couldn't get the car to misfire again, but sure enough, as soon as I brought it home, it popped up again. I took it back and got the same story again. I could tell the specialty shop didn't want me to spend any extra money, which I respect, but I just wasn't getting anywhere fast with diagnosing the problem and the misfire was getting annoying and I could not get the car to pass an emissions test (which also meant I could not register it). So I ended up taking it to the dealer and they said the diagnostic reader was showing cat codes and said I needed to replace the catalytic converters. The service adviser called and said good news was I had new cats now but the bad news was the misfire was still present. Then they replaced the spark plugs and found three of the plugs were aftermarket and about 1/4" too short so it wasn't making a good spark. That did the trick! I'm not sure why we didn't start with that, but I was happy to be on the road to running smooth. After that, it was time to start doing some of the cosmetic repairs.

    I took the car to a local detailer called St. Louis Auto Detail who I have used a lot in the past. They do excellent work and the owner actually removed the cracking clear bra for free! They also removed the fake carbon fiber wrap on the rear diffuser and the emblem for the (no longer working) speakers.

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    Unfortunately, the clear bra had been on for a long time and took a bunch of paint with it. I was planning to have some body work done anyway, so I just added that to the list!

    Comment


      #3
      Next up on the list was giving the interior a refresh and ordering some cosmetic parts for the exterior. First though, I started with going to a local junk yard to pick up any parts I could and to practice taking things apart. When I got there, I found an E46 3 series which was perfect. I didn't find much I could use, but I did pick up some rear headrests and I took the center console apart. YouTube is amazing and I literally found a video for everything I couldn't figure out on my own while I was there at the lot. It was actually a lot of fun!

      When I got back home, I ordered a bunch of stuff from ECS Tuning. The great thing about these cars is there are so many parts still available.

      Parts ordered:
      • Shift Boot
      • ZHP shift knob
      • Leather parking brake boot
      • parking brake lever assembly
      • front cup holder insert
      • coin holder
      • center console
      • front armrest assembly
      • storage compartment
      • trunk gas struts
      • LED Tail lights (Eagle Eyes)
      • storage compartment cover
      • Radio mounting bracket / ash tray door
      • DEPO smoked corner assembly
      • Hood vent
      • M3 Trunk emblem
      • BMW hood and trunk emblems
      • Clear fender sidemarkers
      • blackout kidney grills
      • Airbag badge in Imola Red (I had future plans to switch to a red interior)
      • replacement steering wheel, rewrapped in black nappa leather from an Ebay user

      I forgot to mention that on my last trip to the dealership, they fixed my remote key fob issue, but I still didn't like how weathered the fob was, so I bought a second brand new key for every day use.

      On July 4th, I had some time to go through the car and install all the new goodies. For me this was the turning point in going from "what did I buy this junky car for" to feeling like the car could come back to life and be pretty nice.

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      After!!!:
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      After this step, I started getting really excited about the car again. There was hope!

      Comment


        #4
        Next up was the clear sidemarkers and new kidney grills.

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        Comment


          #5
          After taking care of all the little parts and pieces I could cosmetically on my own, I took the car to Pro-Tech Collision Center to have the body work done. I couldn't wait for this to be done. Pro-Tech came with very high recommendations and as a result, it took several weeks to get in their schedule. The work took a few weeks as well, so it was August before I got it back but I was not disappointed.

          The body shop list included:
          New front bumper cover
          new fog lamps
          re-paint hood
          install new hood vent
          install new emblems
          install new glass for both side view mirrors
          re-finish right rocker panel
          paint door handles on both sides
          repair left quarter panel
          re-paint bumper

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          (this was taken before the clear bra was removed)
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          The night I got it home (bad lighting garage pics):
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          Daylight shots:
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          Attached Files

          Comment


            #6
            Next up was updating the tail ights to the LED facelift style tail lights.This was a must for me and I chose to go with Eagle Eye brand look-a-likes.

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            I was thrilled with the way the exterior turned out looking, this mod really made it feel like a modern day car, but to be honest this was a pain to install. There was a resistor and a heat sink to install on each side and hide behind the carpet - not the end of the world, but the cover that goes inside the trunk did not mate up flush to the inside of the trunk and i could see the wires. Also, the left side didn't clip all the way shut so I had to fabricate a make-shift solution to hold it in. I wish I would have gone with the OEM lights instead. But there were no error lights on the dash for the LED's, so that was a win.
            Last edited by djrnmd; 04-11-2020, 07:36 PM.

            Comment


              #7
              Refreshing the center console plastic bits is the #1 way to refresh the feel of a car for sure. Nice work!

              Current:

              1997 BMW M3 - Boston Green/Modena
              2003 BMW M3 · Coupe · 6MT - Alpine White/M-Texture Alcantara

              Comment


                #8
                Thanks! The center console plastic really did refresh the feel. Although, after I did this it did highlight all the other old feeling stuff. Especially the seats. The leather was not in bad condition, but it was definitely showing its age after the new center console parts were added. Around this time, I replaced the windshield cowl and all of the pillar covers (I don't have any before or after pictures of this unfortunately). I also replaced the front seat belt receptacles to refresh the faded red plastic there as well.


                Unfortunately, the dealer pointed out that the transmission drain plug was leaking and wanted to replace it. Earlier in this thread I mentioned that the drain plug was replaced as part of my PPI inspection/repair visit and then again shortly after I owned the car (thinking maybe the shop in KC forgot to do it). This is now the third time so I knew something else was going on. We ended up finding a leak that could not be fixed, so I bit the bullet and put in a new to me, re-manufactured 6 speed transmission from Metric Mechanic. Bimmers R Us in St. Louis did the install and I have to brag on them for a little bit because they were very thorough and my advocate through that process. After I got the new transmission installed, I noticed it would on occasion pop out of 2nd and 3rd gear. Bimmers came and got the car from me and had it fixed and done right. Metric Mechanic was great about standing behind their product too. A new transmission was definitely not where I wanted to spend my money, but I came out of it with a new clutch, Guibo, and transmission and know that is one less item that might pop up in the future.

                Comment


                  #9
                  After the transmission, I had a few more projects I wanted to do.
                  1. Switching the leather to an Imola Red interior
                  2. Switching the trim from the glossy black trim to a silver color
                  3. Getting some performance parts put on (exhaust, Apex ARC-8 wheels, Eventuri intake)
                  4. Get the sound system working
                  For the interior, I spent a ton of time trying to track down a good used interior to swap out. I struck out on the seat swap and settled on finding an upholsterer to re-do all the leather. This took a lot of time trying to find the right company, but I finally settled on using leather from Relicate (amazing experience with them!!!) and having Kutting Edge Interiors do the upholstery work. They had several months of backlog, so more on this in a future thread...

                  For the trim, the glossy black that came with the car was in ok shape - the dash pieces were near perfect but the door pulls were maybe a 5 or 6 out of 10, but I also thought a silver color would look better with the red interior once I got that changed, so I started looking for a replacement. I really wanted the Titan Shadow trim and looked all over and could not find it. Then I stumbled on a SUPER nice set of Shadow Brushed Aluminum trim from an M3Forum member and pulled the trigger. This turned out really good.

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                  (installed pictures to come later in a post along with the red leather interior)
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                    #10
                    It blows me away how some trim, replacing the cup holder, a new gear shifter, and the center console trim, which isn't a whole bunch of money, makes the car look a million times better! Looking forward to seeing your Imola interior come together.
                    E46 324i k24/dct/turbo Build Thread
                    Phoenix Yellow e46m3 Build Thread
                    Melbourne Red e93m3

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                      #11
                      My next thing on the list was getting some audio working. I was really interested in getting an infotainment system put in that looked like it belonged in the car (i.e. Avin Avant 4). I wanted navigation and a backup camera (having the F80 and even the TL before it really spoiled me!) and I found a local company called JML Audio. Everyone told me their work was top notch. I took the car there and had them diagnose what it needed and what they could do. As with everything else with the car, this soon developed into a lot more involved ($$) of a fix than I planned on... They discovered all kinds of weird stuff - wires leading to nowhere, an extra cigarette lighter plug under the center console which I had noticed when I replaced the trim but couldn't figure out what to do with, blown speakers, missing amp, outputs from the head unit not working, etc... I found JML is a top notch but they won't touch anything that they don't feel totally comfortable with, so my only infotainment options were the eXcelon brand units, and I didn't think it looked seamless, so I opted to stick with a single din head unit. I did end up getting a great sounding system with a dual channel setup, a sub that was molded into the well where the spare tire goes, and all of the wiring run in a factory-esque fashion. Coincidentally (or maybe not) some of the random dash lights that would flash on and off all seemed to go away. I can't explain that but can only imagine the loose and non-terminated wiring was causing some of that.

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                        #12
                        Great read for my Saturday morning. Fellow St. Louis native here.

                        Scott at Pro-Tech is the absolute man. I used him many times over the years on some high-caliber cars for a dealership I used to work at there. They are nothing but stellar.

                        Have you ever checked out Kinetc Motors? He's the best Indy BMW guy in St. Louis, not to discredit Bimmers R Us or anyone else. Super friendly guy, incredibly knowledgeable, and fair pricing. Check him out, if you haven't already, next time you need some work done.

                        Looking forward to following along on your journey. Hoping to see more STL related photos too, I miss home a bit.
                        Past: '99 Hellrot/Dove M3 | '97 S14 1JZ | '06 Triumph Daytona 675 | '01 330I M-Tech I '99 Silvia S15 | Current: '96 Estoril/Black M3


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                          #13
                          Your starting point for the project Is roughy where my car is at. Need to do similar things such as replace console and look to tidy up paint on bumpers and front air dam. Thanks for the the inspiration.

                          HU wise have you considered the F series conversions and retrofitting the sat nav eNTB unit from 2013 plus models ?
                          Last edited by NealfromNZ; 04-25-2020, 03:21 PM.

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                            #14
                            Mike - that's a great recommendation on Kinetic. I actually just got another recommendation recently for them as well. Greg Stroud at Bimmers has been wonderful to deal with and his customer service has been top notch, so I don't have any reason to try anything different but glad to hear there are other options out there. Where are you now? Great idea on the local STL related photos, I will try and get some soon!

                            Neal - I hadn't considered this for my car, but I came across something similar for an E38 7 series (aka M7) that had that done and it looks incredible: https://petrolicious.com/articles/th...mw-never-built. Have you seen this done on an E46? I would be really interested to see this.

                            Regarding the audio work that I had done, I snapped a few pictures of this today to share.

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                            New carpet to cover wheel well (really makes the other carpet look dirty!)
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                            The new sub and amp underneath the trunk floor. They did a pretty good job of hiding this.

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                            Old setup with a bunch of gunk on the finisher piece around the head unit.

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                            New head unit with matching orange glow and a new trim piece that looks so much better than the old one with gunk on it (and a spoiler of new trim that hasn't been covered in this post yet)
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                            (Dirty) closed tray cover

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                            Open tray cover with a USB charging / audio connection where the cigarette lighter used to be.

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                            Close up of the USB port fabricated into the old cigarette lighter location.

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