Saving an E46 M3

My first M!! :rollsmile:

As some of you may know Andy1 had a M3 that needed some attention advertised at a good price. http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=78244&page=1

I thought this will be a good car to pour my attention time and money into and enjoy as we go along. The plan is not to"flip"the car but rather to take my time doing a few things as money and time allow while learning as much as possible as this definitely isn't my last S54!

The car is rough and needs quite a lot of things done, but I thought I might as well try and save the car as it was most likely being parted out soon.

All comments are welcome as I'm going to need all the help and info I can get, but at the end of the day it's still my money and my car so I'll do what I believe is best.

This will definitely not be a DIY but I'll still share the things I've done and learned along the way. Progress might be slow, but I'm not giving up on this car just yet!

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Pics of the Caravelle raise:

Good luck man! Its VERY easy to cosmetically restore an E46 , Take your time , buy original new parts or good second hand parts and keep us updated! The guys here are very helpful! A lot of stuff on the E46 "cosmetically" can be DIY , don't be afraid to try . I now remove my bumpers and mouldings just to clean it haha

Mechanically , im not to familiar with the M3 , but if its anything like the Normal sedans , it shouldn't be complicated at all .

Always nice to see an E46 M3 saved . Was this car in an accident at some point in its life? The breakers love to grab these cars , those vultures . :RedNo:

Congrats and all the best with the project

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Marked
Remember , I'm round the corner if you need a hand

Keep us posted on the progress. Keen to see how this car turns out.

Goodluck.

A worthy and honorable cause. A true fanatics car.

zippy320 said:

Good luck man! Its VERY easy to cosmetically restore an E46 , Take your time , buy original new parts or good second hand parts and keep us updated! The guys here are very helpful! A lot of stuff on the E46 "cosmetically" can be DIY , don't be afraid to try . I now remove my bumpers and mouldings just to clean it haha

Mechanically , im not to familiar with the M3 , but if its anything like the Normal sedans , it shouldn't be complicated at all .

Always nice to see an E46 M3 saved . Was this car in an accident at some point in its life? The breakers love to grab these cars , those vultures . :RedNo:

Click to expand...

Not on a M3, everything is more expensive if you do it right. Normal bmw plastic leather is for lessor models so if you need to fix some leather it's the expensive nappa stuff at 3/4 times the price.

Same goes for pieces of trim, a worthy but foolhardy cause (but then we do it for love not for accounting reasons). Lots of time and scrapyard hunting and ebay trawling.

Last bit, is it my car sitting to low or is your M3 looking slightly offroady?

Congrats and Good Luck with the restoration!!

:clapper::coolShake:

Congratulations!
You saved me having to build a S54 touring.
Enjoy the project but don't let it bleed you dry, these cars have a habit of emptying their owner's bank account.

Congrats bud. Looking forward to following this thread.

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Fantastic :clapper:

Good luck :coolShake:

Honorable cause.

Thanks for the comments guys, I will try to keep a tight hand on the spending.
The car was jacked up to have a look at the power steering, that's why it seem a bit high. I believe she is on normal suspension.

Speaking of the power steering, while I was parking I went full lock left and things got a bit stuck, the wheel was very difficult to rotate and it had a click like motion as if it had preset angles it locked into. That's when I lifted the car to take weight of the wheels and to investigate. After a few turns both ways things were back to normal, then it got "stuck" again when I went full lock left. When I tried to "loosen" the wheel again I heard a squirting sound and shortly after the fluid dripping on the floor. Turns out when quickly turning the wheel (the car was off) the power steering fluid would squirt out of the reservoir cap. The car was checked by BMW before my purchase and apparently the power steering pump has a broken shaft so hopefully this is the problem.

I will be removing the pump this Tuesday to replace it. Someone mentioned taking to ZF as a part exchange for R2500? What are my other options? Will a pump from any other BMW models work?

LoL didn't mean it would be cheap ( though it can be ) , but it is easy to remove and replace cosmetic stuff on an E46 , its all plastic clips and small screws here and there .
I think he should buy the clips , and grommets n such new from bmw , Those are all standard pieces and its good to have these new , I notice that they crack or break over time .

Does the M3 not share much of its interior with the normal E46 2 door? The interior on this car does not look any different then a normal E46 coupe . His car does not have the extended leather package from what I can see in the pics.

I don't think M model cars are as complicated as people make them out to be . BMW shares so many parts across so many platforms and models , you have parts used on M cars in your standard car and wouldn't even know it . Real Oem shows many of the interior parts shared with cars as low as a 316i so im sure he could use coup and maybe some sedan interior parts as well which might be easier and cheaper to find at a scrap yard. Some parts may be M3 specific , like the speedometer and step sills but not the rest.

I do know that some unscrupulous scrap yards try and cheat the customer out of more money just because its from an M car and they think its special for some reason, where as the same part can be found on a standard car.

Rotinaj said:

zippy320 said:

Good luck man! Its VERY easy to cosmetically restore an E46 , Take your time , buy original new parts or good second hand parts and keep us updated! The guys here are very helpful! A lot of stuff on the E46 "cosmetically" can be DIY , don't be afraid to try . I now remove my bumpers and mouldings just to clean it haha

Mechanically , im not to familiar with the M3 , but if its anything like the Normal sedans , it shouldn't be complicated at all .

Always nice to see an E46 M3 saved . Was this car in an accident at some point in its life? The breakers love to grab these cars , those vultures . :RedNo:

Click to expand...

Not on a M3, everything is more expensive if you do it right. Normal bmw plastic leather is for lessor models so if you need to fix some leather it's the expensive nappa stuff at 3/4 times the price.

Same goes for pieces of trim, a worthy but foolhardy cause (but then we do it for love not for accounting reasons). Lots of time and scrapyard hunting and ebay trawling.

Last bit, is it my car sitting to low or is your M3 looking slightly offroady?

Click to expand...

Good worthy project.

All the best!!!

respect, its not easy taking on a project like this...

Ah lovely buddy, lovely!!

I was contemplating taking this car and doing the same but parking is an issue for me...good luck bud!

Congrats and good luck!