E46 Mountain Revenge

[Schaidhammer]

My first car:
I got my E46 in 2012. I was looking at V6 Mustangs, but wasn't finding any so I expanded my search and ended up with this.





2002 BMW 325i w/ Sports, Premium, and Cold weather packages, ~120k miles at time of purchase. Clean record and all maintenance done by a reputable NOVA BMW shop. It's a great car, never given me any problems. A joy to drive, enough power for me for now even with the 2.5 liter engine.

My vision for this car since it was in such nice condition was to tastefully mod it to make it OEM+. My first mods were switching the corner lights and side markers to European clear ones and plastidipping the outside of the kidneys.



I went ahead and bought an M3-style trunk lip spoiler off of ebay as well for extra downforce. :lol:



Mods done:
- Clear corners and side markers
- Trunk lip spoiler
- Black grilles
- New $30 roundel after the damn car wash tore the paint off... First and last time I pay for a car wash.
- Debdaged 325i

Future mods:
- Seat time
- Magnaflow exhaust
- RCR tail lights
- Re-do black grilles
- Retrofit AUX input
- Speakers and subs
- New front bumper
- Tow hook license plate bracket

Maintenance done:
- Replaced rear subframe and differential bushings (I have the tools if anyone needs to borrow them)
- Replaced tie rods and control arms

Future maintenance:
- Replace clutch
- Replace rear wheel bearing and shock mount

Autocross:
Back in October 2014 I drove in my first autocross in Verona. It was the most fun I have ever had in a car and I plan on doing many more. I improved ten seconds over my first four runs.



I was planning on autocrossing in the April autocross, but...

A slight setback:
My brother Joey brought the bimmer up for the weekend. On a drive up the mountain we hit a spot of gravel in the middle of a turn and went off into the ditch, hitting the side of the mountain.



Thankfully none of us were hurt. After rolling it back down the mountain we got it towed back to the garage. Back tire was shredded, front tire had rocks all up in the bead as well as the caliper. Lost my side skirt and the frame got bent in right by the rear passenger side door, making it not close all the way. It's all fixed now and I even gave that mountain the finger when I got my revenge in the Frog week mega cruise. :finger:





_

[Senor_Taylor]

Wait, you were thinking about a V6 Mustang? That doesn't sound like the Sam I know! Glad you made a build thread. You'll fit in just fine with the other million MM'ers with BMW's.

Now just convince Aubrey and Lucy to make their threads

[BLINGMW]

Bummer. Well hit me up for any further E46 325 4DR battle stage events because I am IN. Or if you want to buy mine you can. :dunno:
I have another set of wheels for one if you need them but they're 16"

[Schaidhammer]

Wait, you were thinking about a V6 Mustang? That doesn't sound like the Sam I know! Glad you made a build thread. You'll fit in just fine with the other million MM'ers with BMW's.

Now just convince Aubrey and Lucy to make their threads

Yeah! I was fixed on making my own Terlingua haha. Now I'm all about Bimmers, VWs and Volvos.

I think both of them are gonna get working on their threads soon!

[Schaidhammer]

Bummer. Well hit me up for any further E46 325 4DR battle stage events because I am IN. Or if you want to buy mine you can. :dunno:
I have another set of wheels for one if you need them but they're 16"

I think the wheels should be fine once I get new tires, repaint, and balance them, but thanks!

[*insertusernamehere*]

Future maintenance:
- Replace clutch

Holler if you got questions, there's 4 of us here who know how to do it now :lol:

[Schaidhammer]

Holler if you got questions, there's 4 of us here who know how to do it now :lol:

I definitely will, I'm sure all the experience here will turn out to be extremely helpful. Thanks!

[Jake]

Glad to hear the damage wasn't worse! And uh, yeah... we definitely have some people with experience working on these piles to help you out, whether it's wrenching or giving advice online

[Schaidhammer]

Glad to hear the damage wasn't worse! And uh, yeah... we definitely have some people with experience working on these piles to help you out, whether it's wrenching or giving advice online

Thanks, I want to be more active on here and because of last weekend I now have the perfect excuse!


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[SlimKlim]

I'd skip the LED tails and either do the clear sedan style lenses or just put the front & sidemarkers back to stock ambers since that's so hott right now. It looks good on dark colors too.

[Schaidhammer]

I'd skip the LED tails and either do the clear sedan style lenses or just put the front & sidemarkers back to stock ambers since that's so hott right now. It looks good on dark colors too.

I was thinking about the RCR tails since I didn't want it to come off as ricey, but I can't justify spending the money on almost the same set of lights. It's not very high on my list of to dos right now anyways and I've grown to like the eagle eyes, but we'll see!

As for the ambers, I can't get myself to take the $80 I spent on clears back off. Maybe just until I get some matching tails though... Might change my mind.


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[SlimKlim]

Full disclosure, I had the LED tails on my E46 sedan back in 2008.



Also had sweet ass LED angel eyes.



Both of them are kind of played out looks IMO. The tails work on a coupe because the later years of coupe got them stock, but they look out of place on a sedan I think.

In keeping with the idea of OEM+ I think i'd stick with the style of taillight that came with the car. You could always sell the clear fronts to make a little cash back and funnel it towards something else. There are lots of nice little cosmetic mods for E46s, sometimes you can get crazy good deals on aluminum pedal covers, or the little snap in gauge rings are always a nice touch on a 325i. Putting a bit of money towards a good paint correction will make the car feel a million times newer and nicer too.

At any rate, it's your car, do what makes you happy.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Full disclosure, I had the LED tails on my E46 sedan back in 2008.

Those look awesome! I Would do those to my race car, if it wasn't a race car. Its basically the M3 LED tails, tasteful

Also had sweet ass LED angel eyes.

I hate this. I am glad we all have differing opinions on what looks good. Otherwise life would be boring.

[SlimKlim]

Hey man, it was cool back then. I hung onto the AEs longer than most but I'm over them now, I wouldn't put them in car that didn't come with them again.

One benefit of them being previously installed in the M3 was I could jack the circuit for the city lights so that they fade on and off with the interior lights. Nice little touch.

[Schaidhammer]

It's awesome having people who have gone through all of this already, you'll probably save me from wasting all kinds of money! I'll see where I'm at this summer money-wise and taste-wise, I'm in no rush to spend money on more lights for now.

That's one beautiful sedan!


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[Lucy]

Very Nice!

[Schaidhammer]

Very Nice!

Thank you my friend!


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[Schaidhammer]

Also, I'm looking into getting a new exhaust over the summer. If any of you guys have suggestions/advice/warnings I'm listening!

[SlimKlim]

The most economical way to get more noise out of the car is have either the center resonator or the rear muffler cut out and replaced with a plain section of pipe. I did the center resonator and it gave it a very subtle increase in noise that could've been passed off for stock, but made you aware that there was an engine in the car. Removing the rear would be more aggressive.

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[95SVTCobra]

Future maintenance:
- Replace clutch

Holler if you got questions, there's 4 of us here who know how to do it now :lol:

:thumbup: