My m3: timeline, commentary, resurrection

[8380 Labs]

Overall the car looks great and its always good to see M3s getting love - the red accents on the interior and the non-OEM/mismatched pieces are a bit much for me, though.

[uofom3]

Thanks man - they don't look as flashy in person - the pics really made them look über shiny. I am not sure if I am going to keep them this way - thought about just painting them black to add depth to the cluster. Ill rock them like this for now and try it another way another time.

[MR 325]

Interior looks great! I think it pulls off the body color gauge rings well.

[uofom3]

Apparently I want quite done....

So. Ordered gauge rings that I basically forgot about them. So I painted them up and put them n:

Plain, primed, and painted body color:




Ready to go come out:


Be careful when removing the plastic case:



Use a precision flat head:



Rings in:


Cluster starting to come back together:


Dead bulbs out and replaced:


Another shot -upside down but in:



In:






And he lights work again:




Now the interior is done - for real.

[uofom3]

Finished!





Now to the exterior!

[archie]

Bbs RC - cant remember the size but I think they are 17x8. The offset is escaping me but I believe this specific size is NLA.

Very very nice,just left the bbs cap off. Looks good.
thank you.

[uofom3]

May have said before but what exact wheel is that and size?

Thanks

A

Bbs RC - cant remember the size but I think they are 17x8. The offset is escaping me but I believe this specific size is NLA.

[archie]

May have said before but what exact wheel is that and size?

Thanks

A

[uofom3]

Got the dead pedal in:

This thing is definitely too big from the factory:



Fit is off:



Fitting better after some cuts:



After some cutting of the excess on the pedal and the speaker cover - voila - we have an e46 dead pedal in an e30 m3:




It fits great and is sturdy! Pic of the dash with the delete panels in:




Love this angle of the engine:



Got some new wheel centers - need to have caps machines to accept them:



And then it's on to the f30 handle:



This will become a one piece boot/handle shortly. Time to learn to sew. Either way I am comfortable saying it will come out ok.

Cheers.

[uofom3]

Major progress today:

Got the harness back in for everything:



Replaced all the bulbs and verified that it works in the process. Glad to have it fixed.

Got the dash and everything back together:



Tried to fit both of these 7 series tool kits to the car - they don't fit the m3 trunk - didn't know - both are now f/s:



Got this e brake handle new from the dealer - off of an f30 body. Needs some more work to get it to fit but I like the style. Matches the m red well:




Compared to an e36 handle:



After some work - got it all in and test fitted. Final bolt down to happen shortly.




Also removed the a/c button since the a/c is gone:



Extra parts hanging out - many to be for sale soon. Most are NLA:



Also fitted the tool kit:



My biggest ? On the car right now is what to do with these mirrors:



Ill post more later about what my idea is for the alternative because I just can't decide. ,ore to come soon.

[MR 325]

Coming along nicely! I must say that black carpet looks pretty damn sweet.

[uofom3]

Started putting more of the car back together today - not a huge amount of progress but its starting to look good and complete - looking forward to getting this buttoned up so I can get to work getting the exterior completed.

Seat in:



Little details done - new headlight switch (before and after shots) and I took out the tweaters. I'm not a hude audiophile so I put the blanks in - the sound system I need is under the hood. That said I may put them back in at another point but for now it's blanks:





Getting it buttoned up in the drivers side:



Passenger side:



Just need a few more parts to get it done ....

[craiggroves91]

Dang, that was a fun read.

It's cool that you've owned the car for so long and never got rid of it. Most guys end up just parting with a car if it sits.

Thanks for sharing and keep it up. I envy your car collection!

[uofom3]

Here is a link to the engine rebuild story as well - glad that part is done!:

http://www.s14.net/forums/showthread.php?7265-rebuild-almost-done!!&highlight=

[uofom3]

S14 poweerrrrrrr!!

Absolutely - it's not a turbo s50 but it makes my smile pretty wide.

Progress today.

I finished the carpet instal. Here are my observations from using thus carpet supplier:
- the material is LWT - massive weight reduction.
- it doesn't take spray adhesive very well - it didn't help much
- fitment requires a LOT of trimming.
- it looks/feels/ fits more like a carpet from a 2002
- I like the look of it
- love the color
- probably would not buy it again and or do it differently next time and may still get an OEM carpet.
- you get what you pay for, and for the money, it's as expected.
- it looks a LOT better once the car starts getting reassembled.

So e pics have not made it to my photo stream yet so I can't upload them but here is the progress:

Rear deck and seats back in the car:





Some of the parts that are going in laid out:



Trim going back in:


In with new pedal covers:



The old pedal covers had maybe 2k miles on them and cleaned up would fine cleaned up but while I'm here I replaced them. The old ones are for sale and will be cleaned up shortly. 10 bucks plus shipping.

Got the accelerator pedal fitted properly:



Had to take a break but more to come this afternoon.

Per request - my friend Jacob K. Williams gets a shout out for the assist today.

And a sneak preview of something I am working on for the exterior: