First-Time Euro Owner (text heavy)

[Azukamii 86]

April 2017.

The era of Gymkhanas had come to a close and it was time to sell the trusty STi. unbeknownst to the flat-4, my eyes set elsewhere. She was sleek, Italian, two wheels, absolutely insane, and I needed one. As 2017 progressed, my love affair took the form of two Italian two-stroke sports bikes, both of which exhilarated me, but as the months started to pass, I began to worry more and more about firing them off a cliff and not coming home. I remembered the thousands of kilometers i spent with my various cars, pushing each one and loving every second of it. I yearned for long twisty mountain runs, I desired the roar of high displacement engines, I missed air-conditioning. 

So I began the search, my requirements were simple; lightweight, high grip, and cheap to modify. This led me down the route of something akin to a Type R Integra, then my partner one day surprised me with his DC5-R, so it was back to the drawing board.
Should I conform and get some filthy skyline? Or perhaps sink all my funds into the 80's mr2 sitting around the back and embrace being forever poor? Then one day, my landlord visited in his E92 M3. AND HE GAVE ME THE KEYS.

I knew I could never afford an E92, but just as every car enthusiast should know, I too was very aware of her older, slightly unhinged sister. What I wasn't aware of, was how affordable they really were. A deep blue one popped up. I and the landlord went out and had a look. She was nice, but not worth the asking, then a yellow one popped up. Cheap, but had a very sketchy history. About 4 months later, just as i had given up and started looking for some RFB stickers, SHE popped up. and my goodness, was she something. 

I didn't hesitate, I contacted her owner and booked an inspection. YES! she passed with flying colours! Ok then, better tell the boss i'm not going to be in on Friday. Why? Because i'm about to make the biggest decision in my millennial life!

The plane landed and i stepped out of the shoebox of an airport. There she was. It was like i'd waited a lifetime to see an old friend. My eyes tinted rose. She really was as beautiful as they said. It took the whole of 80 minutes before her owner reluctantly handed me the keys, making me promise that should I ever decide to sell her, to get in touch with him first. 

If you made it through that essay of a write up, then congratulations! After the 7.5hr drive back to Auckland and consequent de-bugging, she's now settling into her new home. The whole household have made her very welcome! As have the small handful of friends she's already surprised!

So without further Adieu, here she is!
Imola red
Manual
145000ks
Fully documented and thorough servicing history, with photographed works including the vanos refresh about 30000ks back.
Aside from the K&N filter and Eibach lowering springs, Completely original (even talked him into including the OEM bits!)

I absolutely cannot wait to meet everyone and start taking her out. She does need a new set of tyres and brake pads, but really whats that in the grand scheme of things!!

[Jacko 2154]

Congrats, looks awesome.

 

I keep looking at AW11s on tardme... keep telling myself "no you do not need this"

[SmithyInWelly 212]

Very nice... both the car(s) and the story - congrats!

[Herbmiester 923]

Very pretty

 

[qube 3570]

imagine if the seller had some decent photos like this instead of the rubbish ones used in the advert...

[B.M.W Ltd 950]

Is this Dylan's old car ??

[Azukamii 86]

@Jacko i'm on AW11 #3. I don't learn! Though now the m3 is in the picture, some of the toys gotta go and there's NO chance in hell that the Italians will get the boot!

@qube He'd probably have told me to buzz off with the offer I made.

@B.M.W Ltd The guy I purchased it off was named Jason. He owned it for 5 years. There was an owner of 5.5yrs before him but he blacked out his name on most of the paperwork. I believe his name was Ben. Before that the car cycled through about 10 dealerships. Hope this helps!

Edited July 9, 2018 by Azukamii

[B.M.W Ltd 950]

What are the Italian's names ?? and capacities ?

[J~~ 0]

Ayy saw this posted on Euro Car Club, congrats btw if that subframe comes back fine then you're going to have a great time owning this

[Azukamii 86]

@B.M.W Ltd

2015 Mv Agusta F3 800 (180kg | 148HP)
2010 Aprilia RS125 (126kg | unknown HP - modified, yet to get on a dyno - Hoping for low 40's)
1998 Aprilia RS250 (150KG | 75HP) - ex-racebike
if you've been to any of the caffeine and classic meets on the shore you will have seen the mv and rs250 hovering around  the 125 has been awaiting a few rogue parts from the UK for a few months now

@J~~ Thanks! Been given a few names to call so will be getting onto that this week!

[B.M.W Ltd 950]

All heart beat and hold your breath material ?

[geords 1]

Wow!  What a stunner.  Congrats.

[Azukamii 86]

Took her to Bavarian Motors in Glenfield yesterday. Subframe is A-OK!

Now to start spending some money on her for the oncoming monthly events.
I know Euro Car Club have a few every so often, as do Caffeine and Classics. I've also recently joined the BMW Car Club so hopefully she'll be out in full swing shortly!

[Karter16 404]

Very nice - saw this when it was advertised - hope you have a long and happy ownership!

[Matth5 471]

Nice. I'd suggest getting the subframe re-enforced if it hasn't been. Much cheaper to do it before it cracks! And that'll give you some good peace-of-mind. 

[Azukamii 86]

@Karter16 thanks! Certainly looking forward to it!

@Matth5 Definitely looking at the subframe. Had been told by a couple of M3 owners that the reinforcement plates didn't always work. Alternative is getting structural foam pumped in. No clue who to go through to get that done. Work like that is WAY over my skill-set.

[Karter16 404]

35 minutes ago, Azukamii said:

@Karter16 thanks! Certainly looking forward to it!

@Matth5 Definitely looking at the subframe. Had been told by a couple of M3 owners that the reinforcement plates didn't always work. Alternative is getting structural foam pumped in. No clue who to go through to get that done. Work like that is WAY over my skill-set.

Yeah the RACP/subframe is definitely worth reinforcing. Also it's worth noting that unless the shop removed/dropped the subframe to inspect the RACP mounts it's still possible that you've got some cracking that isn't visible yet (like mine had).

In terms of reinforcement, there are different views, the prevailing view when I did mine 18 months ago was that the only way to really solve the issue was to move the load away from the RACP mounts and spot welds. The advice at that time was to use a "bar" approach to redirect the load, and I'd almost certainly have gone this route if I was tracking my car.

As it is I'm not pushing my car to the limits and I decided to go down the route of a combination of epoxied plates and structural foam. My car had had the structural foam injected into the rear points by BMW as part of the corrective action. My rear points have zero cracking in them as of ~150k. The front points had some reasonably minor cracking (one of which someone had attempted to repair previously). We drilled and welded the cracks and then epoxied reinforcement plates on all 4 mounts. I'll also be foaming the front two points (as soon as my 11 month old stays out of starship long enough).

Couple of general observations from my research.

• There seem to be very few cases of cracks appearing after the structural foam has been applied.
• There is a lot of debate around welding/epoxying plates, I opted for epoxy to ensure an even spread of load across the surface, rather than only around the weld edges. (it's worth noting that you can't weld after you've epoxied unless you want to risk setting fire to everything).
• The bar approach (e.g. Mason Bar, Vince Bar, CMP Bar) that redirects load appears to be a very good solution, although it's more intrusive in terms of installation.
• No one has the definitive answer as to what's best, as a lot of the newer methods haven't been around long enough to fully prove.
• There are definitely cases where welded reinforcement plates have failed/resulted in more cracks.
• It's worth being realistic about how bullet proof you need to make it.

 

I can't recommend where to go to get this stuff done as I did mine myself. I would think that the indy shops generally recommended here would be able to help, but happy to give you any other detail/info from my experiences if it's useful at any stage.

 

[Matth5 471]

I'd suggest asking the well known workshops for recommendations. BM Workshop, Bellars, maybe the dealers. I know HellBM does reinforcements. 
Welded or epoxied reinforcement should be fine, even if not perfect they still massively extend the time before cracks occur. Everything breaks eventually...

[Azukamii 86]

Definitely food for thought. Had a quick look online at that bar installation, does seem like a tonne of messing about for sure. 
perhaps my best bet would be to get in touch with BMW and see what they say first before calling around the other shops recommended. Seems a bit of a shame that 12+ years on, there's still no guaranteed solution.

id be very interested to see updates on when you fill the rest of your frame, @Karter16 heck, if it's a job you can tolerate, would you mind teaching/ assisting on how to do the same to mine?

 

[M3AN 4016]

You've probably seen it already but if you want a view of what an absolutely sorted rear subframe looks like see here...

I'm not suggesting that's necessary in your case but it's a great example of an 100% absolutely certain job, for street or track.

 

 

[Azukamii 86]

16 hours ago, M3AN said:

You've probably seen it already but if you want a view of what an absolutely sorted rear subframe looks like see here...

I'm not suggesting that's necessary in your case but it's a great example of an 100% absolutely certain job, for street or track.

 

 

Oh man why didn't I know of this car before... You think he'd consider swapping for my one? Everyone knows red goes faster!
Or I suppose I could just bolt in some PVC piping and rattlecan it black. same/diff  

In all seriousness, that is some comprehensive bracing. It's a shame he's having to sell it.

[Karter16 404]

On 7/24/2018 at 7:30 AM, Azukamii said:

Definitely food for thought. Had a quick look online at that bar installation, does seem like a tonne of messing about for sure. 
perhaps my best bet would be to get in touch with BMW and see what they say first before calling around the other shops recommended. Seems a bit of a shame that 12+ years on, there's still no guaranteed solution.

id be very interested to see updates on when you fill the rest of your frame, @Karter16 heck, if it's a job you can tolerate, would you mind teaching/ assisting on how to do the same to mine? 

 

Unless it's changed recently I think that BMW's response will be that if the cracks are less than 20mm (from memory) they advise welding repair and foam in the rear mounts if not already done (foam after welding, unless you want everything to be on fire ?), and if the cracks are more than 20mm I believe the official advice is a replacement RACP....

Will definitely provide an update here (http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/57571-karter-16s-e46-m3-journal/) when I do the foam on the front mounts - and sure, provided it's successful I'd be happy to pass on what I've learned!

 

Remember as well that although it's definitely something to be aware of and keep an eye on it shouldn't take away the enjoyment of the car in the mean time! The real danger is not knowing/assuming it's not a problem!! 

 

[M3AN 4016]

1 hour ago, Azukamii said:

Oh man why didn't I know of this car before... 

Red is better IMHO...