As a kid I had always loved BMWs.. My father had them and I loved the styling and general presence. When I was younger and first starting really getting into cars, the E46 M3 caught my eye straight away, with its wide guards, bulging bonnet, quad exhaust and high-revving motor. The car was perfectly proportioned – wasn’t too big, wasn’t too small and just an overall great looking car. That’s where the dream began.
My first car was an E46 330Ci with all the typical P-plater mods – big stereo, 20″s. I quickly moved away from that and wanted something more serious. I sold the 330Ci and began my search for my dream M3.
After about 8 months of searching, this little gem came up. White, manual, low kilometres and after a bit of bargaining, it was mine.
It didn’t take me long to start modding, starting with Ebay parts that never fit properly, I quickly learnt the phrase “you get what you pay for”. I removed all the ebay parts and started again.
The second time, I started with the basics: coilovers, angel eyes, wheels, front lip, exhaust and a tune, but with most of the effort going into maintaining the car. This involved replacing door rubbers, weather stripping, etc.
The car stayed like that for a while with minor tweaks here and there, while I started doing track days, gymkanas, and a few drag days, just enjoying the car for what it was.
The interior features Recaro Sportster CS seats retrimmed in red nappa leather, a Muse Design steering wheel, Awron vent guage, so it’s already a nice place to be.
Midway through 2015 I decided I wanted something a bit different and take the car to the next level. I stripped the car back to pretty much door panels, and and so began the most expensive 10 months of my life haha.
I kept all of the body parts on my car OEM-based, as aftermarket body panels I’ve found never fit 100% and generally are just a pain in the ass. A lot of custom work went into the car with some parts being one-off and limited to my car.
The bodywork consists of M3 GTR style vented bonnet, front and rear guards, the OEM CSL ducktail bootlid, a custom diffuser, SGT front lip, custom front splitter, AGT side skirt extentions, and a custom front bar and roof wing.
Suspension and handling-wise, quite a bit of work went into improvements. The entire subframe has been reinforced to protect against the notorious E46 cracking issue, with solid and poly bushes replacing older rubber pieces throughout the rear end. The car is suspended by Bilstein PSS10 coilovers, that are tied together with a Mason engineering strut brace, custom boot brace and TMS swaybars. Many other bolts/Caps were repainted or polished for a high gloss finish.
There are also light mechanical mods, with a CSL carbon fibre airbox, SuperSprint race exhaust, Brembo BBK 6 piston front calipers biting 380mm rotors, and 4 piston 355mm rears.
The wheels are Rays Volk TE37s measuring 9.5″ +22 on the front, and 10.5″ +20 on the rear.
Future mods will include a bigger rear diffuser and oil cooler (already purchased), and possibly a more aggressive cam. Future plans are mainly to track it and just enjoy the car for what it is.
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Where did you get the roof spoiler with the fins on them at?
If you could let me know that would be awesome cause it looks really good