Harper

Thought I'd update with some info on this car. 1 of 10 worldwide, 1 of 4 RHD, in this spec (OG on m tex) according to production numbers. Probably a handful running around that have had the interior swapped in. But as far as factory optioned cars this would be one of the rarest combinations outside of individual spec cars. Safe to say we won't be seeing another in NZ.

This has been for sale for a while I believe so could be that it's priced a little high for what it is. But it is a special car. Also not the M3 interior, different seats and no m tex door cards. The clubsports standard option was an m texture interior but the majority of buyers paid for the cost option of extended leather. Wouldn't be surprised if this is the only clubsport with that interior in NZ given how few M3s came to NZ with it.

An old school mate of mine bought it. There's an instagram account for it https://instagram.com/raspym3?igshid=1nh9g5vk1o955

@Arronyes for coupe sorry should have clarified.

Digging up a 2 and a half year old thread but is the titan shadow interior trim available?

Has to be in okay condition, no big rips or anything. A little worn is potentially okay. Ideally powered not heated.

Freshly rebuilt motor went into the M3 over the weekend. A few days over 6 months since it came out. Never imagined I'd be undertaking this job when I bought the car but I do have a tendency to get carried away. Definitely much harder to get it in than out, was a wrestle start to finish. Did manage to get it in after about 4 hours of putting it in + a week of a couple hours after work each night putting everything back together (and no damages or casualties along the way which was somewhat unexpected!). First start up went flawless, not much more stressful than a first start up. Got a short clip of the intake bark once it had evened out a bit and things were warming up. 4.mp4 The first drive was unbelievable, couldn't smile wide enough. Would recommend Kayne Barrie all day long and would work with him again. What a difference fresh vanos seals and some nice sharp valve seats make and my engine was by no means in bad condition when it came out, yet it feels like the low end power has doubled (even without full load during the break in). Everything back together and cleaned up now, onto the 500km of break in for the rings and hone. Car is hopefully headed over to Ray's in the next few weeks once the break in is done to get the complete CMP subframe top mount kit put in (top bar and front mount extension). Oh and did I mention I bought a set of square 18s to go on, oops.

@KwS Yeah leaning this way

My E46 M3 went out of commission around mid September to rebuild the motor. Took longer than I had hoped given covid and other hiccups along the way. Hoping to finish up with the motor some time next week which puts the car at about 6 months of sitting with the same fuel it was parked up with. Probably a mix of Gull Force10 and BP98 as I use either depending on wherever I am closest to. Considering the motor going in is essentially completely refreshed (new rings, hone, bearings, refreshed head, cleaned and flow tested injectors etc) is it worth the time and money of discarding the 6 month old fuel and putting in fresh stuff? Tried to google what the shelf life of GF10 is but couldn't find anything concrete.

MK60 is considerably less invasive than the MK20 and can be coded for different rack ratios and brake bias. The ABS thresholds are also different and performance is better with the MK60. The MK60 allows for the use of M track mode which allows even more slip before traction control kicks in. The DSC interference you describe on track likely wouldn't happen with MK60/MTM while still retaining traction control for if it slipped too far, not to mention better ABS. Not an easy thing to convert over either as there are a lot of different sensors and wiring that needs to be retrofitted, not to mention the actual cost of the module/ABS pump etc. For a purely road driven stock car there is unlikely to be much difference but it really depends how aggressive you drive on the street.

@m325i Being a 2001 car also reduces it's value a bit IMO. Front strut towers are a little different and doesn't have the strut brace, older LCM (this might have been updated as it has facelift tail lights) and DSC system ETC. Some even claim more prone to rod bearing issues. Definite premium for a 03.5+ car. None of the big 3 addressed either. Positives being rare colour, factory manual, NZ New. I would say this is a pretty encouraging price for the M3 owners.

@KwS Oxford Green is my favourite available colour for the E46 M3, that car was dream spec for sure. Sadly according to @leichtbau that one was wrecked.

My M3 was factory specced with the F2AT M-Texture interior, however as far back in the ownership of the car as I can see it has had black leather installed. I always suspected it was retrimmed due to small inconsistencies (I can't imagine what moron would retrim such a rare interior rather than just replace it with a black leather set and keep the original??). Sadly today my suspicions were confirmed. I took the door handle off the door card just to clean it and the leather had literally just been stuck overtop the original m texture fabric. After seeing this I decided to take the whole door card off and take a closer look. There were loads of signs that it had the insert removed before to be retrimmed. There were a few stickers with October 2007 dated on them which is when I assume this was done. As I plan on retrimming the whole interior back to it's original M texture anyway (already bought ~2800NZD worth of fabric) I decided to look a bit deeper and see if the entire insert still had it's original fabric. Sure enough... There was quite a lot of some kind of contact adhesive holding all the leather on so I carefully pulled away at it and eventually got the entire panel free Sadly the original material is ruined. Completely gunked up with the leftover contact adhesive. Tried everything I had to clean it up but there was no saving it. I don't know exactly how many of these were brought into NZ but I don't imagine many, such a shame to ruin a really unique and rare interior especially given the areas that weren't touched by the adhesive appeared to be in mint condition. Would have been cheaper and better looking to buy a good condition black set, not to mention saving one of <10(?) original M-tex interiors in NZ. Oh well...

@paulo Thats a good point about the reserve, will be interesting seeing what it goes for then!

@zero not any hard evidence necessarily but there is anecdotal evidence of people still getting cracking after epoxy foam and underside plates. The issue is that it does not solve the problem and just redirects the load path to the wheel arches where there are spot welds that start to pop and separate the RACP from the chassis. The biggest dissuader for me is that the epoxy foam makes it incredibly difficult to weld any cracks or solve the issue properly because it catches fire when welding and creates toxic fumes. However, it's hard to recommend a full top mount kit on a non-m when the cost of the kit + installation could eclipse the value of the car. CMP has a chassis rail plate which works quite well as a midrange option (https://cmpautoengineering.com/collections/all/products/e46-subframe-racp-to-chassis-rail-plates) in addition to underside plates.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/2975843282?bof=2VsdqIap

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m3/listing/2933188536?bof=xMbcAq70 Not something you see everyday...

This is not really true, there have been cases of 2005 M3s spinning bearings despite no signs of abuse and all of them at least show some wear at around this mileage regardless of MY. Regarding subframe, if this car has any reinforcement it will only be underside plates which has been shown to only worsen the issue as it doesn't correct the load paths and just pushes the cracking further outboard to the wheel arches. This M3 is easily 5 or 6k (realistically more) from being a preventatively maintained at which point its definitely not worth the asking.

Currently having my S54 rebuilt by Kayne Barrie. Would recommend him if he does those earlier engines. He's definitely an authority when it comes to race engines.

Best way imo is through fcpeuro, shipping is fast, price is good, lifetime warranty if you ever need to send anything back.

Missing the M3, can't wait to get it back on the road again.

Yep, was actually my dad's plate. Had it on his series 1 E-type in the 90s but held onto the plate when he sold it.

A mate of mine was the one who bought it, has loved every second with it so far. Thought the plate was a good addition considering how absurdly loud that thing is ?

@M3AN Pretty sure it's this: https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-558783-turner-e46-m3-adjustable-short-shift-kit/?pdk=AQQH. So not particularly expensive or desirable. Just another ugly junk dildo shifter.

Pulled the motor from the M3 this week preparing for a full rebuild. Was a driveway job, never pulled a motor before either so was definitely a learning experience. Tried to take as many photos as I went, but in hindsight still not enough. Generally the process was look at what's hanging on, take a photo, rip it out, bag and tag. Struggled with fitting the headers past the transmission bellhousing when lifting the motor for about 20 minutes before I realized I could just take the headers off lol. Came out no problem after that. Overall, easier than I thought. Looking forward to having a freshened up engine. Tempted to go all in and get some bigger Schrick cams while its all being done, would go well with the CSL airbox... but then again maybe my eyes are too big for my wallet.