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Finally got time to clean it today.

Well, the time has come. I'm keeping the BMW for the foreseeable future, so the only logical next step was to drop some dead weight, and pull out the subs. The decision to keep the BMW wasn't one I took lightly, but I'm not sad or disappointed to be stuck with it. I actually quite like the car. There are a few things that didn't suit me about the car though, and having a bunch of useless weight sitting over the rear axle is one of those things. The boot install looked nice, but it really killed my enjoyment of the car. It sounded bad, and had been hastily thrown into the car. The main issue was that the capacitor on the driver's side wasn't actually secured by anything and was just sitting on top of the battery. This meant that every time I cornered hard (like an M3 should), the damn thing would fall over and go for a scoot along the boot floor, until the power wires restrained it. It was sitting on a block of wood So out it all comes. I'll tell you what, getting the sub box out was a mission. First out comes the floor panel and amp from the spare wheel well. Then the side amp, and capacitor come out. This gives enough room to shoehorn the rest of the trim and the box out of the boot opening. Turns out the box wasn't secured at all and was held in with hopes and dreams. It's a big box, that's for sure. I forgot how big a coupe boot actually is! In goes the carpet from Pick A Part, after a quick vacuum Even though this spare wheel doesn't hold air (buckled and leaks at the bead), I still put it in the boot as it helps to hold the carpet up, and also helps with weight balance. I need to find another wheel at some point. The wheel and tire weigh about the same as the amp that was in there, it was a beast. The previous owner butchered all the standard wiring for the speakers, so unless I want to run a whole lot of new wiring, I'm stuck with running the speaker amp. Thankfully I actually like this one as it looks cool, and doesn't take up too much space. Even the wiring going to this is a mess though. Yes, that is the pair of RCA connectors (usually used as one pair for front, and one pair for rear), split out to fill all four channels, front and rear. I'll rejig the RCA cables that went to the sub amp, and use them for the rear speakers so fronts and rears are split properly. The final result isn't perfect. The carpet needs some fettling to tidy it up, and the battery is the wrong size so the plastic cover on it doesn't quite fit properly, but otherwise, it's now a fully functional boot. Driving the car to work yesterday and the lack of weight is noticeable. It's not major, but it doesn't feel like you're dragging the backside around anymore. I would've pulled a good 20-30kg out. The next steps for the car are in motion. I have a set of BC Gold adjustable coilovers to go in, and a nice Purple Tag E46 steering rack to replace the horrible 3.0 M3 rack, which is the dumpster fire of steering racks. I'll also be rebuilding the vanos, since I already have the parts to do it, just need the time.

Yeah as it always looks filthy...

Parked up behind this sparkling beast yesterday. So sparkly...well done @Jun

New Alcantara dash trim...

It was a enjoyable and productive weekend with the M3. Wife and I had a nice drive out to Raglan for some beach time and a drink at George’s (Good George APA nice). Love the extra power of the M3 and it’s sweet sounds when the vanos kicks in but still nice and torquey when you’re feeling lazy. Today I did a few detail jobs around the car starting with the gutter trim as it was faded and had polish residue and marks on it. So masked it up.. Rubbed it down with acetone then a couple of light coats of Trim&Bumper followed by a couple of heavier coats. Looks much better The headlights lenses had a lot of stone chips and pitting. So good condition pick-a-part replacements along with a cut and polish was the go. I thought I would have to take the bumper off to get access but no.. remove front intake cover.. Theres 6 metal screws and 2 blind rivets holding it down. Then once removed there are 4 screws holding headlights in, 2 along the top and 1 either side of light and using a socket extension you can get to them. These are also used to align the lights so be sure to hold the larger plastic aligning placeholder when undoing so you don’t lose the alignment. The indicator is just clipped on to the side of the light and using a flathead I levered it back and it just slides off then just turn and pull the bulb holder. The lenses are just held on by 3 clips top and 2 bottom and using the flathead easily detached. Replacement is the reverse. A lot cleaner and according to Realoem interchangeable between models.

These cars are designed to be city cars. FWD will not be noticed by most people who buy and drive them. Makes sense.

I'm sort-of glad you decided to keep it as you know how to treat it. I suspect your ownership will uplift the value anyway, so I don't think you'll lose from it.

I don't really think it's an issue... most people that buy these wouldn't even know what rwd or fwd is. For the people that value rwd that is what the M cars or top non M cars are for (Eg M3) Makes perfect sense if BMW is to make a newer generation product cheaper to compete with the global market.

4 years in and no looking back. There's a small blemish on one side where I rubbed it when it was really hot from the sun but that's about it and I'm the only one to notice it. I don't treat it any differently when I wash it either. So, still happy with the outcome.

@Creaver @zero Can you see it now?

Gorgeous pics as always! ?

Nice car, good luck with sale

God damn this is pretty, and at 85k seems more reasonable than others. Haven't checked the VIN though, seats should be fabric?

I've fixed the backlight problem. What happens is when the missing display pixels get "fixed" with strips of tape over the board connector, the display is bent upwards for access. The lighting connections are beefy metal tags, and bending them can separate the pads from the tracks on the board. I had desoldered them and done a really tidy resoldering job - to the pad. Previously there was a big blob of solder, which of course I removed.... Now it has solder going on to the track as well. So, now on to the film connector....

Bump for you.?

Hi Team Very long time and no post. Alot has been happening as to why i haven't posted. Today is a very sad day but also good and exciting. For you all that have been following this build know i was going to use the Green e46 sedan as my platform for the v12 build. After some serious thinking i couldn't give this opportunity up. I am the new proud owner of this rolling body M3 ( thanks paul ) Some of you may hate the bodykit but its slowly growing on me. Well see you how we go as i may convert it back to factory. which has meant that i am selling the green sedan. I have just sold the red coupe and have also purchased the v8 wagon ( thanks eddy) Great work horse as i have more space for parts now. So again ill be adding the wagon build to this thread just so i dont have a million build threads going. Wagon e46: currently has M60B30 v8 motor and auto in. Plans to convert M60B44 supercharged manual. I purchased a M62B44tu a few months back Also pulled the M60 heads of my spare car ready for the M60B44 build So thats pretty much what has been happened in the past few months. Now that the new M3 car has the whole rear end included, so I can now use the other M3 rear end for the Wagon supercharge swap which works out perfect. Now also all the parts that were intended for the green sedan will be used on either the M3 or wagon. I will be install the XYZ adjustables into the wagon tomorrow. Will post pictures if i get time. Thanks Richard

Eh I don't have any interest in these models of BMW anyway. I would never buy one new. I guess we will just hang onto the ones we like. Hell the E46 is seeing a huge bump here in the US at the moment. Especially the M's and ZHP's.

Most of it is accurate, but you know what they say about believing what you read on the internet.. Not really related to cabin and boot space, but emissions reductions and manufacturing costs. Latest industry predictions are that a number of major manufacturers will either fold or have to merge due to the level of costs and resources required to meet the next round of emissions targets. The industry is increasingly being driven by government legislation rather than customer demands unfortunately. Take one for a drive, and without any prejudice, see if you can tell which end is providing the grunt.

What a change from their marketing of only a few years back!

true but this series is about the best of each generation.

Hey John! Do you happen to have any pics of this installed? Also do you know if you can still install a CSL style intake alongside this or would they interfere with each other? Cheers

Spotted a red E39 M5 in lower Hutt today. Almost broke my neck looking at it. Mmm

IIRC the issue with SAIC was that they had done a deal with an importer, to bring in Great Wall and LDV vehicles, and then decided less than a year later they didn't need and importer and would do it themselves. Which didn't go down too well with the importer that had signed up as you would expect. This is the advert for MG... that Iconic British brand.. hmm.