New Member - Awesome Car E46 M3

[E46 Liam 2]

Hi Everyone, I recently purchased my 2002 BMW E46 M3 6 speed manual (Proper manual with a clutch pedal). I absolutly love it, great car, drives great, and im looking forward to really get to know it through Track Days and Gymkhanas.

Currently the car is very stock, only mods are,

- BMW M6 19inch Wheels

- Cup holder center console

- I did fit a K&N Cold air intake kit but I was not that pleased with it so I have gone back to the original air box.

I live out in west auckland so hopefully I will be able to make it to some meets.

Future plans for the car is to leave it fairly stock, Over time I will look to add Bracing, Suspension upgrades, possibly change seats and thats about it really.

I already have two spair sets of wheels sitting at home for this, one for gymkhanas with disposable tyres, and another for track days which I will eventually get a set of Semi Slick tyres fitted to.

Some photos,

Edited December 4, 2013 by E46 Liam

[Phil-540i 166]

Well ok, that's a bit of a HUGE upgrade from your Lexus!! Well done, & welcome to the site. Awesome car..........................

[E46 Liam 2]

Thanks, how do you know I had a Lexus prior to buying this?

[Gaz 1058]

He camps outside your bedroom window at night.

Can't say I am a huge fan of the M6 wheels but the car looks great.

Welcome to Bimmersport

Edited December 3, 2013 by Gaz

[Phil-540i 166]

Thanks, how do you know I had a Lexus prior to buying this?

Umm - you told me..........Small world sorta thing...........I'll PM ya later.......

He camps outside your bedroom window at night.

Awesome - I'm sooooooooo not wanting to be a part of that fantasy that a E36 owner is having...........

[M5V8 337]

stalky, stalk, stalk......

nice car mate, welcome.

I'd say; away from running slick tyres on a road car, you are asking for trouble.

Soft performance tyres are in most cases still very good, usually half the price and whilst you might not get the cornering G forces of race tyres your oiling system will be able to keep up.

I've seen plenty of performance car's breath their last breath after a few hours hard track work on race rubber.

Edited December 3, 2013 by M5V8

[Haitoman 110]

Proper manual...LOL just like they fit in CSLs. Great way to introduce yourself and make new friends...

[E46 Liam 2]

I would only be looking to run something along the lines of Nitto NT01's or similar, Ive found running these on previous cars gives you great grip on the track, but it was still within the capabilities of the car.

Generally its not too hard on the cars as you are only running 10 to 15min sessions at most track days anyways.

Im going to be running road tyres on the first few track days anyways so I will see how things go.

Edited December 3, 2013 by E46 Liam

[Neal 540]

Same colour ..... nice car. Did you notice the re55s run out are around half price at the moment ? roughly 1400 per set. Cheaper and stickyer than re11 s !

[E46 Liam 2]

Same colour ..... nice car. Did you notice the re55s run out are around half price at the moment ? roughly 1400 per set. Cheaper and stickyer than re11 s !

Hi Neal, no I haven't seen that, I can't really afford another set of tyres at the moments anyway as I have just purchased to set of wheels, I will be looking for deals on tyres at some point though once I have worn out the Potenzas on the rims I just bought.

[E46 Liam 2]

Wow looks like i have accidently started somthing here. All i meant by my OP was that i was stocked to be back in a car with a clutch. Ive had tiptronic cars in the past and they are still great to drive, but they are not the same.

[Michael. 2313]

Welcome Liam.

What kind of Lexus did you have before this BMW?

[E46 Liam 2]

Welcome Liam.

What kind of Lexus did you have before this BMW?

Hi Michael, it was an 2001 IS200, Yes it was slow, but it was fun to own, easy to work on and modify, and I could give it absolute death on the skid pan and track and it never missed a beat. It also hardly lost any value over the 3 years I had it which was awesome.

Edited December 3, 2013 by E46 Liam

[Neal 540]

I've been known to give non smg owners a bit of education. Hard to go back to cars with a manual clutch after owning one.

[E46 Liam 2]

I've been known to give non smg owners a bit of education. Hard to go back to cars with a manual clutch after owning one.

Oh i dont know about that, I think there is a place for SMGs but there is also a place for cars with a manual clutch, all depends on your driving style, and what your personal preference is. My last three cars were Auto's so I wanted to go completely the other way and get a "manual" car with a clutch pedal.

[Phil-540i 166]

Ditto^^^^^^^^ Proper manuals have a clutch pedal - simple as that IMO too ..............

[Apex 693]

Welcome. Nice car, love the E46 M3.

I had a IS200 back in the day, back when there were only a few on the road and cost a bloody fortune, mine had the full TTE treatment including the supercharger, was actually active on the forum that predated the Altezza forum most of the members started.

Proper car's have a clutch pedal

Agree. +1.

[Phil-540i 166]

Not hard to imagine 3pedals wading in here & getting super excited..............

Edit - BTW Graham, remember this absolute gem of yours..........I just re-found it.........!!!! Bloody funny...........

http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/46356-considering-buying-this/page-2

Personally. Maunal > Walking > Automatic > crawling through glass with cock out > SMG

Edited December 4, 2013 by Blue-540i

[E46 Liam 2]

Thanks Graham, You would have know Diane, and Keith back before they started the current forum then. I wish I could have gotten a TTE version, I did consider a conversion but it just was not worth the money considering I would only get around 140ish kW at the wheels. I think I made the better choice to buy the M3

[Neal 540]

Don't mention tyres then ...... d'oh ..... to late.

[Apex 693]

Thanks Graham, You would have know Diane, and Keith back before they started the current forum then. I wish I could have gotten a TTE version, I did consider a conversion but it just was not worth the money considering I would only get around 140ish kW at the wheels. I think I made the better choice to buy the M3

Yes, I remember them, went on a cruise with them way back.

You would be lucky to get 140kw at the wheels TBH, best thing you could do is fit a 1/2JZGTE... or just buy a M3!

[E46 Liam 2]

Yes, I remember them, went on a cruise with them way back.

You would be lucky to get 140kw at the wheels TBH, best thing you could do is fit a 1/2JZGTE... or just buy a M3!

Small world haha, they are both still active members in the club who still own there cars, Keith now lives in Australia though.

I did also consider a 1/2jzgte conversion, a few of the guys in the club recently did this, One of them is putting out 280 - 290 kW atw with a 2jz on a factory tune, however the cost of doing this was too high. I also looked to buy an Altezza which already had a 1jzgte engine in it which I was going to run up to over 300kW atw, but just before buying it I found out that it had been in an accident at some point in its life so I walked. After all that I decided I wanted a car that had reasonable power from stock and was comfortable to drive, but could also handle a bit of stick. So I bought an M3 and havent looked back.

[CSET 580]

Welcome, and congrats on your purchase, it looks to be an awesome machine!

There's a wealth of knowledge & experience on the M3 here, which you'll no doubt pick up by searching on the forum and talking to members.

I recently spent a fair amount of time looking at good 'streetable' tyres, and decided on the Nitto Invo's. Very pleased so far, a ton of grip, quiet & imo definitely one to consider. Also I'm keen to hear why you un-installed the K&N intake? I actually went the other way (stock to K&N) - and most certainly haven't considered going back!

Have you replaced the standard clutch stop yet...? Makes a world of difference...

[E46 Liam 2]

Welcome, and congrats on your purchase, it looks to be an awesome machine!

There's a wealth of knowledge & experience on the M3 here, which you'll no doubt pick up by searching on the forum and talking to members.

I recently spent a fair amount of time looking at good 'streetable' tyres, and decided on the Nitto Invo's. Very pleased so far, a ton of grip, quiet & imo definitely one to consider. Also I'm keen to hear why you un-installed the K&N intake? I actually went the other way (stock to K&N) - and most certainly haven't considered going back!

Have you replaced the standard clutch stop yet...? Makes a world of difference...

Thanks man, Im sure I will work my way through the forum over the coming months.

I ran Invo's on my last car and have no complaints, in terms of bang for buck I cannot think of a better tyre, They can also be sourced for very reasonable prices if you know where to look. Im currently running Falken FK452's which I love, being directional they are awesome in the wet too. Ive heard good things about the Falken ZE912 tyres aswel.

The guy I bought the car off gave me the K&N kit, I thought I would fit it and see how things went. The truth is a cold air intake will not provide any extra power over stock unless you tune the car with the kit fitted and remap the ECU, that being said unless it makes a 5 -10% increase in power you will never feel the difference. I found that it just made it alot louder. Also K&N filters are meant to be oiled and cleaned regularly. I did not have any of the oil, or couldn't be bothered cleaning it so I bought a brand new panel filter and refitted the factory air box.

In terms of cold air intakes on the car It would be interesting to measure the inlet temperature on a car running the stock air box, then compare it to a Cold air kit. In terms of design the "Heat shield" would actually do very little to deflect heat as it is made out of a conductive material. The factory airbox is plastic, has two air intakes from the front of the car and I honestly believe that this is as good as it will get without doing some serious mods. When you look at where they draw their air from too the stock system draws air in through the grill and next to the fog light, where the pod filter draws hotter air from the engine bay. So my thoughts on it are unless you are fitting a turbo or supercharger there really isn't a need to replace the factory air box.

Check this out for more info on the topic, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCi2yo4UqPI

No I haven't done anything to the clutch, What does removing the factory clutch stop do? is there any threads on this forum about it?

Cheers

Edited December 5, 2013 by E46 Liam

[central3 31]

Welcome Liam - mine's a manual too - I avoided the SMG due to the amount of chatter on forums and an unpleasant experience in an E36 version - if you ever get the chance hook up with Tom for a ride in his CSL - the speed and directness of the shift under acceleration and the blip on downshift is to die for - given the choice again I may well have gone SMG