Karter16

For what it’s worth bmw.com now have a page on this topic with a bunch of commentary and info from the archives, including mention of the possible “Texaco” origins of the red, and the shift from purple to dark blue, etc. https://www.bmw.com/en/automotive-life/bmw-m-logo-and-colors.html

Wow, more than two years since my last post… *trigger warning - children/babies & medical stuff* A few weeks after my last post my son fell extremely ill. After several long hospital stays he was diagnosed with post transplant lymphoproliferative disorder, in his case caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. At his sickest there were 16 million copies of the virus per millilitre of his blood. He thankfully completed a course of Rituximab (kinda like a chemo drug that wipes out all the T cells in your immune system). By August he was home, and after a couple of blips he has been largely okay since. If things stay good for another few years his doctors will declare victory over the PTLD. In September of 2020 we found out my wife was pregnant with #2! Our second son was born in April 2021 at 32 weeks, following a rough pregnancy. He spent 5 weeks in NICU before joining us at home. 4 days later he was rushed to Starship with respiratory issues. He got a tracheostomy about a week later (which has been amazing) and then spent 47 long days in PICU battling infections and myriad issues that couldn’t all be tied back together. He finally made it up to the ward, and then a few days later started having seizures. Over the course of a few days we watched our little man lose all ability to move, turn his head, hear, and interact with us. Since then it’s been a long slow journey of improvement for him. After a couple of weeks he started looking at things, and us, again, another few weeks later he started responding to sound again, by the time we got him home at the end of September he could turn, but not support, his head. Another 8 weeks later and he could fairly well hold his head up, and today I took a photo of him sitting, propped up, in his hospital cot (he’s been in this week fighting a nasty virus) playing with a toy. The teams at Starship have been incredible. The head consultants from a bunch of different teams have been heavily involved in my son’s care, and their skill and the wonders of modern medicine have been life-saving for both of my children. I’m forever indebted to them, our public healthcare system, and, by extension, taxpayers of New Zealand. Wow. That was cathartic to write out. Not very on-topic, but cathartic. Thus concludes the explanation of why it’s been two years since my last post… I only drove the M3 a couple of times in 2021. For most of the year I wasn’t even sure if I was going to keep it (hard to make plans or think about what’s fun when you’re constantly in crisis mode). But the last few months as things have trended towards our “new normality” I’ve been enjoying driving the car on occasion and making some more plans for it. A couple of days ago I ordered a new OE steering wheel. The current wheel is quite badly cracked along the top, and the paddles and trim are in very poor condition. I looked at options like getting my current wheel rewrapped and buying new trim, etc. but for what that was going to cost it made more sense to order a brand new wheel. I found one for a good price, and, importantly, cheap shipping and pulled the trigger. It’s coming snail mail (hence the cheapness) so, given the current state of global logistics it should arrive sometime between the beginning of April and the end of time. I have a bunch of other items I want to get as well, but they’re all significantly cheaper, so I figured it was best to buy the expensive thing first, so I don’t keep putting it off! I also have a couple of little projects in mind to keep me busy as well so will hopefully be posting those up here soon! Matt

Spotted in AKL CBD last night.

drove past this again the other day - can confirm that the logo in the top left says "Turbo"

You may already be sorted but I strongly advise against trying to replace the bushes in the lower control arms. Tried and gave up and just bought complete new arms. They’re basically a piece of folded steel with a bush in each end so given the low price it’s not worth messing round

Welcome and congrats on your new ride! Were 2001 318i’s still the M43 motor? I think they were - solid iron block - mine was great!

Sorry for the potato quality but saw this 650i/105i/Carina/ICantQuiteReadTheBadgeOnTheTopLeft the other day. Very rare.

I have this problem too - always in the Prius when I see nice cars

Yeah I agree with what Dave says - all comes down to whether anything's being hidden or not, a good inspection would be worthwhile. Key things IMO to think about are: - RACP (as in actually drop the Subframe, clean the RACP and look for damage, it's the only way to know for sure). - VANOS (pretty easy fix with the 3rd party options available now, but would be surprised if it wasn't a bit noisy) - Rod bearings, no mention of them having been done (although depending on when in 03 it was made it might have had the recall done, although that was probably a lot of k's ago) best to assume they need doing. - interesting that it says the clutch and SMG pump are pretty new, seems odd that clutch would need replacing being an SMG as the SMGs are usually lighter on the clutch than a person (having said that it's more than 200k so who knows). There's no mention of other running gear, bushings, suspension, etc. if it's all original it's probably pretty tired after 200k, would be good to get the list of invoices as to what's actually been done. Re vert/coupe. Honestly my opinion is to buy whichever you like. As others have said the verts are usually valued heaps lower in the States, I'm not sure to what degree that carries over to here though, there's not been a lot of throughput of E46 M3s on trademe in the last year so a bit hard to gauge prices.

Laguna Seca Blue interior for my E46 M3 ? ?

Karter16's Totally Legit and Definitely Not at All Biased Guide to Buying an E92 M3 Step 1: Buy an E46 M3 instead. The End ?

Yeah TradeMe suggests that too:

I'm lusting over this so much. I love the nostalgia value and period-correctness. Very cool. GLWS!

The advert looks great. Good luck with the sale. Phew these prices recently!!! Need to bump up the insurance on mine!

Far out, nearly 14 months since the last update! Well not a lot of progress has been made on the car in the last year. My son deteriorated quite quickly from the start of last year, to the point that by June he was a long term admission to Starship. He had his liver transplant on the 24th September (I was the donor), and he was home 9 days later (a record). It’s totally changed our lives. The last few months have been spent recovering (for me) and getting our lives in order. Last week I cleaned the car, did oil and filter change and this last weekend my wife and I did a day trip to Coromandel for my wife’s Granny’s 80th. We took the long way round (via Clevedon and Miranda) and had a great time. Few photos from the trip attached.

Appreciate it's not going to be quick enough for you to get by the 20th, but as a backup option there are a couple of sets on the to BMW Parts For Sale Or Swap UK Facebook page. Being a UK page they'll be RHD sets. Cheers, Matt

I don't think that "S2BA BMW LA Wheel Double Spoke 88" refers to something different to the "standard" style 88's. If you have a look at the below that's the exact description applied to the style 88. S2BA is just the option code that describes the style 88's. http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E46-Sedan/Europe/318i-M43/sep1998/browse/wheels/bmw_la_wheel_double_spoke_88/

Totally got the context wrong when I first read this ?

Hiya, Having done the VANOS myself I would say that the most complex/fiddly part of the whole exercise is getting the position/timing right when re-attaching the VANOS unit. I point that out, because if you purchase a whole replacement unit from Dr VANOS or similar and plan to install it yourself it's worth pointing out that the installation isn't a complete walk in the park (I'd argue that reinstalling the unit is more complex than the disassembly and rebuild of the unit). Good luck with figuring out the best option ?

I went Koni Yellows with stock springs, didn't want to really lower the car given NZ's roads. The Koni Yellow's at full soft are equivalent to OE. I've firmed mine up slightly and am very happy with the setup.

Every time I see a new post in this thread I hope it's me that's been spotted. Then I remember I never drive it ?

They're not Style 359. 359 have 8 segments and those have 7...

Yeah there's quite a lot of evidence on overseas forums that would suggest that it's prudent to replace rod bearings at 100,000mi/160,000km. Not all cars need them replaced at this mileage, but there are enough that do that make it not worth the risk to not. I replaced mine at 140k and I'm glad I didn't wait any longer. Yep completely agree that if you're buying an E46 M3 you need to be budgeting for more than the cost of the car. Can confirm from first hand experience that your $35k total figure is pretty accurate ?

Man what a great video!

At the risk of being told again that I'm being too harsh about this car I think that the following probably counts against it. 1: Being a UK import it would need to be checked very carefully for rust. A quick watch of Redish Motorsports Youtube channel shows what salt on roads does to cars. 2: At 170k it will need the rod bearings done. 3: As above it likely also needs VANOS done. 4: I know that in the Q&As the owner says that the shops its been in haven't raised any RACP issues, but unless you drop the subframe and clean the RACP and inspect it in detail you don't actually know what condition your subframe is in. Unless you know your E46M3s you wouldn't really know that the CS was "special". If you did then you'd probably be concerned about the above things. I'm surprised at the number of comments about the Imola red interior counting against it. I think the red interior is pretty cool, but I realise that's completely personal preference. I think probably the fact that it's a CS is offset by the mileage and the fact it's a UK import. I think it would be a cool car for the right person who was willing to spend some money on it/had checked carefully what they were getting into. Certainly a pretty special spec to own in NZ.