Jeppe

Cleaning the front suspension. Finished..

Got the fuel and brake lines under the car mounted. Took a lot of time cleaning the pipes but they came out looking like new. It almost feels like Im working on the factory assembling a new car, cause all the parts are like new and so is the car. Thats a good feeling. The undercoat is a special rust protection paint that leaves a thick and hard coat. It feels like powder coating. It's very nice Had to make some new mounting points for the lines here cause it was a slight difference from the coupe. Heat protection panels mounted. More brake lines...

Since the top of the car came out so nice I had to do something with the underside. So I have been using a couple of days to get it up to a acceptable level. Here is the result... Had to try on the wheels one more time.. Got some interior parts today. Most of the interior is going to be new.

Got some work done today as well. Started with the carpets. The front M3 carpets did fit, but I need to order new carpets in the rear. Got the heater mounted. Steel frame for the dash. Steering column mounted. After driving the E90 where you can adjust the steering further down/lower than in the E46, I used some time to see if there was a possibility to add some spacers on the steering column. This is possible and will not cause any problems. I will probably add that later to get a better driving position. Then the dash, finally! Now its starting to look like a car again...

Parts going into the trunk. Done. All parts are washed before getting mounted. Had to drill two holes to get the M3 brakes to fit. The holes are the other way around on the 318. Hmmm.. what is this?? It's the new wheels for the M3 This way I can easily move it around the garage by myself.

318 completely stripped.. I wanted to use the M3 sunroof because it was in much better shape than what was on the 318, and it had the black inner roof. Like all the parts on the M3 the sunroof was also like new. After disassembling the M3 I have really seen what a good car I bought, all the parts are in top condition. I didn't know if it was going to fit, but after placing them side by side the only difference was the front panel and the glas. (318 to the left, M3 right) M3 sunroof in the sedan. This was not a easy job on your own.... First part in the car!!! Wires on it's way into the car...hmm.. where to start.. After a while,.. mounted!

Yesterday was a big day for me. After disassembling two cars, and over a year of waiting and work to get to this point, it was a really good feeling to finally start the assembly! Mounting the first part in that freshly painted chassis was something special..! But first I had to empty the M3. Wiring harness is almost out. Finally got all the wires out, what a mess...****.. Got everything sorted and now it looked a little better, wire heaven.. Only the body left on the M3.

Removed the interior: Parts lined up.. Removing the dash. Parts filling up.. Only the cables left.

Got a lot done the last two days. Started with removing the brake lines in the engine compartment. Removed all the heat insulation. Out goes the fuel tank. All the fuel and brake lines on a e46: Nothing left.. Cleaning the boot.

Worked on the car today and got the rear suspension down: Almost there. Front and rear suspension:

I have used a couple of days just cleaning and organizing the new garage. It was a real mess and you don't want that when your working on project like this. So yesterday I started working on the M3, and the goal for the day was to get the engine and gearbox out. More painted parts. Car ready for disassembly. There are a lot of connectors that have to be disconnected. This is the right side. Got the exhaust and driveshaft out. The standard M3 exhaust is really heavy, there is a lot of weight that can be saved there. Front suspension. Starting to remove the engine. Almost out. Finally..

Had to try it with the CSL 18" wheels to get a better impression of how it would look, and it does look good... Had to but my friend into the trunk to get it lowered...hehe The more parts you install the better it looks. Im getting the other parts next week. Im really happy with how it came out, and now I'm really looking forward to start building. I have summer vacation for two weeks now, and I'm going to work on the car almost every day. So more updates soon...

It will be a scary job fitting the engine into this shiny engine compartment, without scratching the paint..

Picked it up at the painter today. And what a nice surprise I got there. The paint is absolutely perfect!! The painter has done a really impressive job. And now you can also see what an insane job my friend Per who did the bodywork have done. It looks like wet paint... To get it this good he painted the car then sanded it down again, then finished off with a second layer of clear coat. The result is amazing but also costly, so now I'm broke but it's worth it.. It would be stupid to get a bad paint job after all the work we have put into this car... Then some pictures!:

Got the slick tires mounted: More parts sanded down: Parts being packed. Tonight on the way to the painter. It's getting painted tomorrow!!

Since I wasn't 100% sure I wanted Le Mans blue, we painted the front fenders in Le mans blue and my second choice Space Grey. And now im 100% le Mans blue. The color is fantastic on the curvy shapes of the M3. All the lines and curves are highlighted, and the paint is so glossy it looks like the paint is wet... Pictures don't do it justice. Space grey is also really nice with lots of metallic in it. If I wanted a grey car I would for sure paint it in that color.

Got my track wheels today. They are CSL rep 9.5x18 et45. Im going to use a 12mm spacer on the front and 20mm at the back. Tires are Michelin slicks. Most of the car is sanded down after the primer. Paint is next week if nothing goes wrong.

I also got a good deal with a racingteam. I get to buy used slick tires from them. They use them just for one short race, so there is plenty left in them. I think this will stick to the track... I just need som track wheels now. Im thinking of some CSL rep in 9.5 18" all around. The car is now ready for primer! And it schould be primed this weekend. Car is primed Now we have to sand it down to get everything perfect.

Today I got both mirrors adjusted and they now fit wery good on the sedan. Also got them completely dissasembled. New holes for the M3 mirrors. Sanded down the parts around the windows. These will be painted glossy black. New parts for the doors. Here you can se how much the door has been widened. Testing with some e90 wheels. Need some spacers..

Today I started mounting the lock on the trunk. The lock didn't fit because the carbon used is thicker than the steel on the OEM trunk. So I had to grind it down to get the lock to fit. Also had to make a hole for the arm that connects the two locks. Then it was time to get the M3 mirrors to fit. Had the instructions from Rogue, but had to make som more modifications to the mirror base to get it to fit perfect. This takes a lot of time... Got one side almost finished. Taped and ready to cut. Have to get some new rubber seals because the OEM mirrors have left some marks.

Did some work on the car today. Started with sanding down the wheel well. Also made cuts in preparation for the subframe reinforcements. Then spaying it with zinkspray. One of the most important things to use some time on at this stage is rust prevention. So im using different products where its needed ecpesially around the welds. First coat under the fenders. I will take another coat here to hide and protect. Its slowly getting there We worked on the car today. Started the day with cutting the inside edge on the fender to make room for some wide tires. Taped the inside of the edge so it was easier to see where to cut. Fender cut and edge smoothed by hand with sandpaper. Removed all the windows. First we used a couple of layers of carbonfiber to build the edge on the fender higher so it would meet the trunk cover. Sanded that down. Then a small layer of body filler on top of that to finish the shape off. Its not finished yet but wery close. This takes a lot of time to get the shape exactly as you want and at the same time it have to fit together with the trunk. On this picture you can se the carbonfiber layers underneath some of the body filler.

Now after a way to long break we are finally working on the car again. Working on the inside of the rear fender: Putting on some zink spray before the undercoat: Sanding down the M3 style "spare tire well": Sanded down the M3 mirrors: And some other stuff: Sanding down the welds:

Removed the M3 mirrors cause im going to use them on the sedan. I also noticed that these two brackets for the water tank is missing on the sedan. So have to get them welded. Been really busy with other things in the past weeks. Used every night last week to get the BMW 2002 race ready for the race this weekend. It paid off in the end, got two 1. place! Here is a little update from the welder. He has welded the spare wheel well M3 style: Here with the M3 foam insert: And a little picture from my race this weekend, I think it was a really nice picture, just wanted to share with you guys. On two wheels! There is no progress on the car. But I got some new parts. Reinforced rear shock mounts: Matte black grill and gills: Parts are arriving, I just need the car now...

I have used this week to sand the car down for paint. This is much work! The welding job turned out to be a LOT more work than we thought as well, but it is coming along nicely. Welding the front fender. There was a lot of tension in the fender after it was welded, so had to split it up and weld it together to remove the tension in the metal. Welding the rear. Filling in the gaps. Front bumper sanded down. There was a lot of stone chips damage so had to sand it down to the plastic. The door openings sanded down. A lot of work.. A lot of stone chips on the hood as well that had to be sanded down. There is a lot of work to be done on the trunk. This is the part that we have to change the most to get everything to fit as it schould. The back plate on the trunk have been moved further back to get the angle againts the fender right, and we are working on getting the rear lights to fit. This is how the car looks like at this stage.

Got this today from jlevisw.com, KW V3 The car is still at the welder. But I got some parts today from turner motorsport. The stoptech brakes was bigger than i thought... And camber plates. Here is a little teaser pic I got from the body shop.