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      04-03-2020, 03:07 PM   #1
RoyalFlushness
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Cool RoyalFlushness's 2001 Imola Red E46 M3 Build Thread

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Having owned a variety of BMW's in my lifetime, it was always a goal of mine to own an E46 M3. My second car at the moment is my E90 M3 (pictured below). It has now been reduced to a more OEM + look as my E46 has now become my summer car.




Build Thread: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1255468

So go back to 3 years ago and I had began my search for the perfect E46 M3. Unfortunately many of the cars here in Toronto had been winter driven and had rust issues. So I took my search to Florida. Eventually I found my perfect spec (Imola Red / Pre facelift / 6MT / Coupe) and I gave a deposit and flew down to Florida to pick it up. From there I drove the car back to Toronto, imported it and embarked on the journey of bringing it back to my perfect version of OEM +. Pictured below is the car when I purchased it in Florida.




Enjoy my build thread!
Frankie​

Last edited by RoyalFlushness; 02-25-2021 at 10:21 PM..
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      04-03-2020, 03:10 PM   #2
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Once I got the car back to Toronto, it was time to start cleaning it up. Unfortunately the Florida sun had done it's work on the paint and there were also a number of stone chips/pealing clear coat/scrapes I wanted to address. Changing to 18's was definitely on my list of things to do, however for the time being, I wanted to get some fresh powder coat and semi slicks on the current VMR's and get some lowering springs on before switching to coilovers.


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      04-03-2020, 03:17 PM   #3
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Next, it was time to address the paint issues. Below is the condition the paint was in when I picked it up. Notice the pealing clear coat on the rear bumper from a previous paint job the front end being peppered with stone chips. Luckily, I have a relationship with a paint shop that works on German cars and uses only Glasurit water based paint that has done amazing work on some of my other cars. The next step was to paint the entire front end, rear bumper, all trims, door handles and roof rails.



In the shop:


Reflector shave:


Some fresh Imola on some small pieces:
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      04-03-2020, 03:27 PM   #4
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Paint finished and a nice wash:

Last edited by RoyalFlushness; 05-24-2020 at 11:09 PM..
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      04-03-2020, 03:49 PM   #5
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Next on the list was exhaust and cleaning up the headlight lenses and seals. I sourced myself an old AC Shnitzer exhaust (one of the best sounding exhausts in my opinion) and used the engineering smarts of my exhaust shop to get the outdated oval tips cut off and add some nice SS staggered tips. The original ACS exhaust looks like this:


Stunning work from my exhaust shop:


Installed:


Old Lenses:


New:


Last edited by RoyalFlushness; 04-15-2020 at 11:17 AM..
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      04-03-2020, 03:53 PM   #6
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Fast forward to the next summer and now it was time to tackle wheels / suspension / some additional paint work. I managed to source 4 OEM Rear 18's and had them refinished in my version of shadow chrome. Mixed with some fresh 265/35/18 AD08r's and here was the result:




Coby Wheel:

Last edited by RoyalFlushness; 04-10-2020 at 12:14 PM..
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      04-03-2020, 03:57 PM   #7
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Now it was time to pick a coilover. While price was not really a major issue, I knew I would not be driving this car daily and only tracking it a handful of times. After allot of research I decided to pull the trigger on a custom set of BC Coilovers with SWIFT Springs with the proper offset camber plates:



Some fresh AD08R's in 265/35/18


Tires and Coilovers installed:
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      04-03-2020, 04:02 PM   #8
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From here, it was time to go back in for some more paint work. There were a number of things that I still was not happy with on the body of the car. There was some peeling clear coat not he quarter panels and various chips and dings I wanted to have taken care of:

Prep Work:

[

Paint on:
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      04-03-2020, 04:03 PM   #9
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Great start to the build! Love Imola so much.
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      04-03-2020, 04:06 PM   #10
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Dialed in the suspension, added some spacers to the rear and added a stud conversion kit.
And... the result which is currently as she stands today: My take on OEM +
There are still a number of items that need to be addressed such as subframe, cut and polish, alignment etc... however those will be tackled this summer. Pictures:

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      04-08-2020, 09:56 PM   #11
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I got an E92 myself, but for some reason I want another street E46 M3.
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      04-08-2020, 10:53 PM   #12
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Wow bro great job
This thread gives me inspiration to pick up a E46 M3 to rebuild
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      04-11-2020, 07:39 PM   #13
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Great job from another imola owner!
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      04-13-2020, 07:22 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew View Post
I got an E92 myself, but for some reason I want another street E46 M3.
Do it!

Quote:
Originally Posted by m3rxn View Post
Wow bro great job
This thread gives me inspiration to pick up a E46 M3 to rebuild
Thank you!

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Originally Posted by geroz1 View Post
Great job from another imola owner!
TY. Nice Imola!
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      04-14-2020, 05:29 PM   #15
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Wow! You’ve got your hands busy!

Keep it up
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      04-15-2020, 10:48 AM   #16
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New wheels just arrived with some fresh center caps.

Apex EC7 - 18X9.5 ET22 all around

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      04-18-2020, 12:32 PM   #17
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Wheels and tires are fitted. A few teaser pictures from today.


Last edited by RoyalFlushness; 09-14-2021 at 03:16 PM..
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      04-21-2020, 04:33 PM   #18
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Finally got around to getting the rear end sorted. RMP Motors here in Toronto did the reinforcement. They found 3 hairline cracks. Welded all of them up, locked it down with Turner plates and installed Powerflex Black subframe bushings all around.
[

Last edited by RoyalFlushness; 04-26-2020 at 10:43 PM..
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      04-25-2020, 05:01 PM   #19
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Imola Red has so many personalities



Last edited by RoyalFlushness; 03-19-2021 at 10:23 PM..
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      04-25-2020, 09:56 PM   #20
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I love what you have done with the car, clean OEM look but just more aggressive with proper motorsport look. The stance is perfect. How much degree of camber do you run?
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      04-26-2020, 12:00 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MotorSportThree View Post
I love what you have done with the car, clean OEM look but just more aggressive with proper motorsport look. The stance is perfect. How much degree of camber do you run?
Thank you sir. Roughly 3.8 degrees up front.
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      05-05-2020, 03:49 PM   #22
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After having the car sorted mechanically and getting the paint where I wanted it, today I dropped the car off to my detailer for some extensive work. Although the respray job looks great on camera, if you look closely there are allot of imperfections in the paint from the prep work. Getting the old faded paint on places like the doors, trunk and roof to match the fresh Imola is also being addressed with some deep cutting and refining. Currently the car is undergoing:
- Complete wet sand
- 3 stage paint correction
- Ceramic coating

Beginning to wet sand on areas of the hood you can really tell the high and low spots from the prep work:


Wet sanding beginning on the roof:


Progress starting to show after wet sanding the hood:



Last edited by RoyalFlushness; 05-05-2020 at 04:08 PM..
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