BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket

There are some great points you raise there pseudonymous, and it does remind us why we love the cars that we do, and how evening having an example in our garage makes a quite lucky TBH.

Anyway, apologies for a very late update! The year frankly has been a blur. But now that I am settling down into attempting to relax, let’s see where the path of the M3 has taken me, and what mischief I’ve been up to.

Firstly, another vehicle joined the M3 in the garage, in the form of a motorbike. A Yamaha XSR700. I never saw myself as a biker but I did always have a passing interest in them. I figured it was time to dabble, as it seems many retro enthusiasts are doing now.




Was that the only thing I did? Of course not. My friend with the S54’d E36 was in need of a lift to places far away, to get an E91z it seems he was gutted that he sold me his old car. But at least we both had a pair now

Both M57’d cars, except his was an LCI, mine a pre-LCI, with only months separating the two cars. Both however, are 325ds, despite both being 3.0i cars, albeit detuned.







I would, however, take the M3 to the local DubClub event near me. It was good to see it out again, and TBH, it excites me
To see the car about and brought some
mojo back, both for the car and myself.














It was then Retro Rides time. I wasn’t banking on having a collection of 90s and 00s BMWs and an Alpina all in one spot!

























It was great, and I adored the convoy down.

I enjoyed it so much, that I started using the car again after quite a slumber.







Which is why a shame this is what resides around the car now. But that will probably be Xmas’s holiday’s task. Sort out the garage and crack on with the M3 once again. I've not forgotten completely about it however. I have, for instance, had it on the trickle charger quite a bit.

Still mis my 325d LCI E91. One of BMWs best 3-series imo. Definitivly better than my current F31. The 325d was chipped using ess tuning stage 1 and had birds b3 springs and shocks which transformed the car.

How could you forget about Bird's!




Please don't forget about your M3 as well.

Personally, I think you should sort out the bodywork first.


It’s pointless having all kinds of fancy suspension if you don’t have anything to bolt it to because the body has rusted away.

Good luck with it, however you go about it.

Fit the parts you already have. Then do the suspension. Get the paintwork done when energy costs hopefully come down.

I had to look up LCI.

John

I’d put a cover on it and come back to it in 5 years, in the meantime start collecting parts for its rejuvenation and start putting £200 a month (will come to nowhere near the budget needed but a start) into a separate account. Look at teaboy and the colossal amount of work his M3 is consuming in chasing out the grot, I suspect you do not have the skills to do that?.

As the prices of these are no longer dropping I’d be looking to revert it back to factory which the purists will pay for if you decide to sell it in 10 years. I can guarantee you will not be interested in Cars now the weather is getting warmer and you have the bike, maybe sell the 325 and invest the money in the M3 and keep that Merc estate.

Well, since the last before one post, a few things have happened and changed, with more of a plan. I'll say more shortly.



I was quite tempted to throw a cover on, I'll be honest. It has been garage stored for some time.

In theory, I've already started collecting 'bits'. Outside of this, I've also started off a pot for my house and the car, thanks to some luck regarding re-mortgaging etc.

I can weld, but not as well as teaboy, no chance. Luckily, my car isn't too bad, or it does not seem so. It's a far more solid girl underneath than it is on top. Maybe me garaging it since 2017, and trying to not use it over winter since around then, and then more rigorously since 2019 has helped. The jacking points are very good on this car, and the sills look good from what I have seen. The arch rust has started due to the arch liner rubbing on the edge annoyingly, but that's life. The front wings were never this bad, but they got worse and worse after I had the front end resprayed in 2017, at quite a rate. The battery panel strenghener is surface rusty, but again, pretty solid. The arches, bar the rear bleb, look good, but I won't know until we get more into that.

The original parts I've kept for the very reasons you've said. Standard cars will always sell better, but that's not to say I won't have fun . Airbox and lights are in the attic.

I did debate keeping the W124, but it was a little too old for me to daily (regarding rust issues), and it was too nice for that. It was also a little too slow, and the KE-Jetronic setup on that can be a nightmare to sort (mine wasn't problem free ; I managed to cure a power problem, but the idle issue was tricky to deal with), enough for W124 folks to have memes of folks hanging themselves over diagnosing M103 and M104 units. Think K-Jet with EFI bits attached (ICV and Lambda being 2 items), but no way of really knowing why they won't play ball. My friend who was a 124 enthuasiast and serial owner gave up trying to solve it. It was only for 1 or 2 years the Lambda-KAT version of KE-Jetronic was on these cars to make matters worse. But they will run in a fashion without an ECU, so there's that I suppose ; i.e it will always run.

The 325d will stay, but that's going to be a 'stock' daily.

I suspect you're right about the bike. I suppose the good news is I did buy 'well' on that. In that it won't need much more than just maintenance, which is still time, but it's not a project, which the M3 very much is. Maybe I should buy a daily like I bought the bike. It's just a shame 'new' dailies with a proper history and from an agent are so dear now!

It does seem prices have firmed up. One thing which stopped me putting in cash (and probably most principally), was seeing the car slated at shows. Why put cash into something that no-one will ever appreciate ; You may as well put all of the money on black in the casino hall or blow the lot on a few lines . While it's not my thing (on both counts), I think we know what will provide better vale. Usual comments were:

"Oh, it's got a sunroof"
"Oh, it's an SMG"
"Oh, it's got grey leather"
"Oh, the wings are rusty"
"Oh, a shame about the car and spec ; I bet it's awful to drive : Oh look, there's a lovely M3 there"

Truth be told, the comments did make me consider fragging the car, and donoring the engine into something else, an engineless JDM car, an old Triumph, who knows? M3s do now break well after all. But I annoyingly enjoy driving it, and like the car for what it is, inclduing the spec, and it has alot of history with me now.

This may sound stupid and nuts to you, I can appreciate. But given that I've rarely more than £1.6k on cars until very recently (average price I bought cars at is still £1.8k), you can see why I'm reluctant to sometimes pursue things on cars. I blame my dad being tight on buying cars for years . The ST220 I fixed up (OK, that was poor when I got the car) wasn't even £1k, but then it's not an M3. I can probably count on one hand, how many cars have cost more than £1.8k for me.




Maybe we're old. For me, less than £5k got me into a 944 Turbo with a superb spec (KWv3s, new wings and sills), but that was 10 years ago, even if it doesn't seem it. Spending that much to repair a car just seems mad. But then, times changes, and £5k 944s are less commonplace, with Turbos being non-existant at those prices anymore. That, and any car needs cash really, when you dig deeper.

The values seem to be heading back up it would seem, but they did dip over Xmas quite considerably.


So, what plans have I made?

I took it out for a drive last bank holiday, and enjoyed it ; it's surprising it's still quite a fun and joyeous thing in the corners. The plan was to go to London in it, but I had a delivery for a fellow RRer to pickup, so that didn't happen. What did happen, was that I took it to a number of recommended bodyshops, from mates, and a fellow specialist.

I was expecting prices of £3k+ for the car, and that would have led to me deciding what to do with the car at that point, for the aforementioned reasons above (spec of the car and perception from the wider publuc, and the level of cash to sort it out. I was frankly, surprised at the prices. I was a little more surprised to hear the chaps saying 'it's worth sorting it out, the car warrants it', albeit I was on the fence. Long and short of it is, the car will get sorted out.

That's going to be the car getting repainted on both sides, the rear arch done, and the wings fitted. Granted, I'll need to get my hands dirty, with stripping it down, to make the work easier, but it's fine. The price is still pricey, but nowhere near as much as I thought. Dare I'd say it, I'd say it's reasonable. So this year, the car's the bodywork done, and new metal let into the rear arch. The other arch looks good and will be checked on as the car is being worked on.

The garage floor also had a plan since Christmas. I'm epoxy flooring it. I know it's not M3 related, but it's nice to make the place of work nicer to work in . It's time I updated the garage thread.

Over the next 18 months, the car now has a plan:

-Bodywork : I have the wings after all. The fixings I've started buying
-Suspension : The pot Battenberg mentioned, I technically have for the car from the W124 seale, and it will have that pot. Rear end I'm doing in 1 hit. That's balljoints, dampers, driveshafts, and whatever else I find down there
Front, I'll do probably over winter. That's going to be springs, dampers, top mounts, and Lollypop bushes. An assessement will be made on the lower arms and the tie-rods at the same time. I suspect the tie rods will be changed. Steering coupler will also be checked.
Seats : They will not be re-trimmed, I think for a while. However, I'm going to buy a base, to see if I'm happy with the Recaro as a driver's seat and if I can live with it. I could in an E36. That will probably be bought towards the end of this year.

Oh, and I finally gave the car a wash. Some 'barn-find' images to it looking smart are coming soon...

Cheers bud. I suppose when I've grown up with little cash until around 5(ish) years ago, I've always tried to squeeze the value out of any car, and had those considerations. It's not always worked out well, but it's a hard habit to shake, especially as the sums get larger. So to a degree, what others think will always play a small part, as, it will guide your decisions on what to do with the car, come a potential resale time. I've almost sold this car twice, both for mortgage related reasons, hence the thoughts .

However, the above has taken a turn on its head! Fear not, the car is still staying!

Basically, I asked a mate for some prices on Koni dampers, expecting not much discount on them. I also expected to buy them an axle at a time, so as to make the spending more palatable. However, that didn't go to plan.

He couldn't get a great price on the Konis, or the supply of them via his contacts. On one set, he could however. Bilstein B16s. I got offered them for a price which frankly, I'm still surprised at, and almost comparable to the Konis, and cheaper than genuine BMW.

Since I was surprised, I Googled all sorts of information about them. All sorts of thoughts went through my head, including
-Will they be too low (I'm sure I'll try an RR slammed look at one point!)
-Will they be too firm
-Is the adjustments OK.

Luckily, I had folks who tried enough setups, to put my mind at ease about all of the above. In short, the B16 setup is very good. And so I agreed to buy it.

Another bonus is, I planned to set the rear of my car on spring pads of varying thicknesses, this won't be necesary with the adjustable rear spring platforms.

The problem now? I had it in my mind that I was going to get the car sprayed and the rust remedied. Obviously, some of that cash has gone. I suppose a few more things will be sold, and any bike buying plans have well and truly been put on hold . That said, it's nice to get the two cars I have that little bit nicer .

Pics will come as goods arrive.