[kidrobot]

Car is finally coming together, so I decided to start a mod journal of my journey here on m3forum. Since I've fallen in love with the e46 M3, this place will probably be my home for a long time Btw all pictures can be clicked for a larger image.

September 2009:

Former 350z scene. 2008 5at purchased brand new. The car was a blast, but I regretted getting the automatic and simply got bored with the car before I was able to do most of what I had planned.

March 2010:

Sourced a 2003.5 Alpine White 6mt in Houston, Tx. with 38k miles. Previous owner took a very 'VIP' approach to the car which admittedly drew me to it in the first place. He also was around a group of great photographers which made me and convinced me I needed it...NOW.

Following morning after being delivered via enclosed trailer.

Wasn't exactly as pretty as those other pictures, but I had my own plans for it...

May 2010

Bilstein PSS10, ZCP brakes and rotors, Bimmerworld SS brake lines, TMS Rear shock tower reinforcements, RE spring bucket reinforcements, adjustable endlinks, new wheel bearings...complete overhaul.

August 2010

I love VOLK. If I had to give a favorite wheel of all time, ce28's hands down. They are just plain sex, and look good on almost any vehicle to me. Purchased them for the Z,...did it again for the M3 So I sourced a set of 19x8.5 et30 and 19x10.5 et25.

December 2010

HPF Subframe reinforcement(preventative, as no cracks were found), TMS control arms, OEM RTABS with TMS limiter kit, and OEM FCABS.

[kidrobot]

January-March 2011

Happy New YearRedid a lot of miscellaneous things. New CSL rep diffusor, removed Strassentech lip, replaced AFE intake with OEM/Mach Shnell (make haste!) elbow and filter.

My rear seat sound dampener was disintegrating, so I picked up a new one. This one was a large one piece hard cloth/foam version, which I actually prefer. I also replaced the front kidneys with matte black, replaced side grills, hood grill to black with new nozzles.

April 2011

Redid the sound system to drop the 10" sub in the trunk, but wanted good sound still soooo..complete overhaul redoing everything, including the wires. Alpine INA-900BT, Rockford Amp, Polk component 6.5" speakers, new center console, euro tray. This was my least favorite job, as working INSIDE a car in FLORIDA heat SUCKS. I also took the time to add some vinyl tape to take away any squeaks and rattles.

How I did the new speaker wire through the doors.

Alpine double din head unit. I purchased all new BMW wire harnesses and spliced disconnects in case I ever wanted to reuse it.

[kidrobot]

June 2011

Time for some gofast mods. Supersprint V2 headers, CPI euro200r, Active Autowerke tune, all new 02 sensors, 6 spark plugs, 6 coils, and all new hardware. (btw since I have the privilege of being local to Miami, I stopped by to check out the shop. Everyone raves about AA's customer service, and its all true. Very nice group of guys, Viral gave me a tour of all the projects they had going on and it was just a blast) All in all, car sounds nasty and pulls just as fierce. Oh and shift lights are fun!

I was also cleaned out the throttle bodies and ICV while I was there.

Can't forget a valve adjustment

August 2011

Finally got around to doing the front bumper. The original one was pretty beat up with screw holes all over the bottom from the strass lip. I went with an OEM euro bumper and originally planed to use the iconz 1piece lip. I scrapped that and instead went with some CSL splitters from autocarbon.

Hmmm..decisions

Also added EAS Aurora angel eyes, new smoked corners and bulbs, new headlight lenses, and DDM 3000k slim ballast HID fogs.

September 2011

Finally got around to installing the SSK by Autosolutions. I opted for the 30% reduction. Installation was a total b*tch. Thanks again to madrussian for another awesome DIY guide. My prior SSK was from UUC and really only included the shifter. The Autosolutions kit along with the carrier and selector rod, makes for some CRISP shifting. I also went in there and changed out my flex disc, with all new bolts and locking nuts. I attempted to replace my CSB, but I had no idea how to properly split the driveshaft, so I opted to pass on this part. (looked fine anyways). One thing to always remember when working on the driveshaft is to mark which flanges on the tranny mate with the driveshaft. This wasn't such a big deal since I never did the CSB, but its good practice. Last but not least, finally got my Volk CE28n sold, and slapped on some staggered 18" 9.5et35 10et25 Apex in Hyberblack with some Rays aluminum valve stems.



Up next, Dr. Vanos cryo treated hub and cam bolt replacement

[kidrobot]

Jan 2012

So the last Friday before new years day was spent attacking the vanos exhaust hub that I previously bought. The cryo treated hub from Chris(Dr. Vanos) comes etched with a "C" as you can see in the first picture. My original intention was to simply swap the hubs and be done with it...wasn't quite so simple. I found my hub broken, like many others. I also found my vanos actuator oil pump severely marred. Reusing this would create more slack/added stress on the new hub, there was simply no way I could salvage this. To add to this, I dropped the broken tab piece into my engine block while I was pulling out the Vanos unit. Needless to say, I was without a usable actuator, new years was 2 days away so everything would be shut down, and I have a $&^@) piece of metal somewhere in my engine. FAN-F*CKING-TASTIC. I stopped by my indie shop telling them what happened, fully expecting to tow the car Tuesday morning, when they suggested I first try fishing it out with a wire magnet.

It worked...I was also able to get a hold of Chris and overnight a new actuator for Saturday delivery. Back in business! I do everything leading up to this step, replace the cam bolts with the updated torx, time the cams, get the splined hubs set, etc. Saturday morning the new unit arrives, that's less than 24 hours from Austin, TX to South Florida. Thanks UPS for not F'n this one up! Finish as much as I can Saturday before its off to celebrate the new years.

Sunday I get around to starting it up for the first time..and it went off without a hitch. There was aprox 5 seconds of 'rough' idle but it soon smoothed out. No CEL, nothing. Let it run for 10 minutes to warm up, make sure I bled the coolant properly, topped off the power steering fluid, did an oil change, drove it around and its solid. So 3 days and almost $2,000 later...Done.




You can see how tore up the holes were on my old unit. The new unit had smaller holes with tighter tolerances. I test fit the hub in these new holes and there is very little play.



Other tips: Make sure you lock the engine at TDC when working on this. DO NOT TURN THE ENGINE. Keep the locking pin there the whole time till you have your vanos unit back on to create the proper preload tension.


I bled my coolant using a little tray and keeping the bleeder valve submerged so it wouldn't suck in air while I squeezed the tube multiple times till I saw no more air bubbling out.


So in the end, at 53,7XX miles the car feels better than ever. Oh and I also left out the driver side fan shroud cover. Easier to remove the fan, and now that I've gotten this car bullet proof its time to supercharge this thing.

Standing back and seeing this...it's worth it. This car is beautiful!

[AP3X_FTW]

I also came from the 350Z scene. Actually I had 3 lol (timeattkz)! I hated how the whole forum started going Hella flush... And I mean stupid poke to where it's not functional. Take a look at my journal and see if you recognize my pics of the Z. Yours was looking quite clean, loved TE's and CE's on those cars.

The M progress looks great thus far, I'll stay tuned to this one

[M3ANMACHINE]

Nice build. Car looks clean! Good job going with the subframe reinforcement!

[Toby22]

Looks good! great progress with quality parts

[suaveflooder]

That is a GREAT looking car, my friend! I'm excited to see where it goes!

[kidrobot]

Originally Posted by AP3X_FTW

I also came from the 350Z scene. Actually I had 3 lol (timeattkz)! I hated how the whole forum started going Hella flush... And I mean stupid poke to where it's not functional. Take a look at my journal and see if you recognize my pics of the Z. Yours was looking quite clean, loved TE's and CE's on those cars.

The M progress looks great thus far, I'll stay tuned to this one

I spent so little time with the 350z I hardly recognize anyone, though I did drive to GA and visit forged performance. Sharif was super cool and did an excellent tune on it. Your blacked out M3 looks sick...sometimes I wonder if AW was the right choice...then I remember how easy a color it is to maintain I'll deff keep an eye out on your progress.

Originally Posted by M3ANMACHINE

Nice build. Car looks clean! Good job going with the subframe reinforcement!

Originally Posted by Toby22

Looks good! great progress with quality parts

Thanks guys

Originally Posted by suaveflooder

That is a GREAT looking car, my friend! I'm excited to see where it goes!

Thanks Brian, have you reconsidered staying with the M3 yet lol,...I always appreciated your posts, even in FOT I just did my diff bolts yesterday using your guide, and I still might hit you up for that cam bolt job if I ever get around to it. BTW PM inbound.

[m32]

Looks great... nice job on taking care of the car and changing things up

Edwin