You had yourself a typically almost-worn-out starting point there. Looking forward to your updates!

 

Welcome. Also looking forward to updates.

 

Day 2 of keeping this build thread up to date. We obviously had to wash the car and assess the condition.

With as beat up as the paint was the coin op car wash was a good solution to just get off the majority of the gunk.

The car has a complete set of wheels. This wheel was clearly the spare though as the condition was much better then the rest and it came with the factory tire that was as old as the car!

After an eventful day I obviously has to take a cool sunset photo. Over all this day was lots of fun. Keep following for an update tomorrow.


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If that is Silber Grau, my car is almost a twin of yours (mine does not have the Sports Package).

 

It looks like mine is Silber Grau metallic too

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Today I started looking into the codes for the CEL. At the moment the car has a variety of lights on the dash, CEL, traction control and ABS lights and the air bag light are all illuminated.

These are the codes that came up for the CEL

The rest of them were just random misfires on every cylinder. I reset the codes and only 4 came back. 1. Misfire on cylinder 1, 2. System too lean bank 1. 3. System too lean bank 3 and p16a7 which I didn’t know what it was for.

Started by changed the spark plugs and this is what I found on cylinder 1

Nothing left of the coil pack boot on cylinder 1. Got a new one and the misfire was gone. Still have the lean codes though.

Stay tuned for an update tomorrow.


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Next update. Developed a coolant leak. Thought it was coming from the coolant reservoir but it was actually coming from where the reservoir plugs into. Look at the coronation on the plastic!

I also found a Mtech 2 front bumper in the junkyard and put it. On the wagon! Looks great !

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update!


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Next update. Developed a coolant leak. Thought it was coming from the coolant reservoir but it was actually coming from where the reservoir plugs into. Look at the coronation on the plastic!

I also found a Mtech 2 front bumper in the junkyard and put it. On the wagon! Looks great !

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update!


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Stock 400 wheels-18 in.? Any rub or clearance issues? Great look I must stay.

 

Looks like a great project you have there! Looking forward for the updates.

For the MTech II you'' will need new brackets for the side of the bumper to align properly. Here is the Part #'s

51-11-7-895-415
51-11-7-895-416

I do believe there is someone who 3D prints them, which are cheaper then the OEM ones!

 

Thank you so much for the info! I was able to get the oem brackets from the car they came off of and it lines up really well so far !


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Today’s update !

Got a new hood from the junkyard to replace the damage hood that came with the car from the fan clutch exploding.

Old hood off!

New hood on!

It was at this point with a black front bumper, black hood, and chipping clear coat from the roof that I decided that I was going to paint the wagon. And there’s not better place to start then with the hood.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update!


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I did the same build! Same color, though I had to transplant a black interior. Yours looks great.

Touring rebuild with interior swap

Due to a series of events I now have 3 more E46s in addition to my 03 330cic: 2002 325ci convertible - black with two tone tan interior 2002 330ci convertible - black on black 2003 325i touring - Stahlblau with grey The first was running but interior soaking wet and rear seat covered in mildew...

www.e46fanatics.com

 

I love my black interior! And thank you I’m sure yours looks great! Any pics ?


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Update!!
Since deciding to paint the car I have made some progress.
There was what appeared to be a large dent in the driver door near the handle that was in a spot that couldn’t be take care of by pdr. Fortunately I have a great LKQ near me and found a complete driver door with regulator, glass, locking mechanism for $50!

The door fitment was great and everything works! Quick question though. In my stupidity I trashed the other door before I had the chance to grab the driver mirror off of it. This door is from an older e46 and no longer communicates with the passenger mirror. Did they update the modules?


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Great project and progress so far!

Yes, the mirror memory setup changed along the way. The early cars used a door module for the mirror and seat memory. The later cars moved all of that into the GM5 module and the mirrors and wiring in the door changed. You would need the mirror and the entire door harness from the later door.

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Ohhhh so I’d basically need to grab a door harness and mirror from a facelift car and replace it in the current door and then I should have the mirror capabilities again? Very cool that should be a relatively easy task.


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Today’s update!
Started to put a guide coat on pieces of the car to make sanding easier. I’m going to be painting the car in a barn so I’m hoping it comes out ok.

Here’s a few other pictures of the car fully primed!

I also decided I wanted to have gloss black shadow line trim so I made it happen. Next time around I’d like to actually remove the trim itself!

Trim is off the car. Need to sand everything down now and get it ready for it’s first actual stage of primer.
Stay posted for tomorrow’s update.


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Man, you go hard! Love seeing all this progress so frequently. Wheels look nice too, I assume from an f30. What are their specs?

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The wheels are stock from my f30 m sport. Not sure if their specs specifically. And the reason all of the updates are so frequent is because all the works already been done. Just putting it in a build thread


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Another SGM touring here, keep up the good work.

 

Another SGM touring here, keep up the good work.

View attachment 920679

Smg touring? Any pics of the interior?


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Oh boy!... this build is starting fast! Keep it up! I just have to get a bumper painted and Im lagging, meanwhile you sanded down an entire longroof E46 in that time... wait, are you sanding it, or just priming over the old stuff?

 

Car was sanded before this was sprayed on it. This is more of a guide coat for the cheap primer to block sand the car to make it straight.


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Today’s update!
More disassembly. I removed the front bumper, rear bumper, door handles, trim and pulled the car in to block sand the car to get it straight

Ended up finishing the block sanding and got the car into primer today!

And another pic after finishing the second coat of primer.

Not a bad way to end the day! Tomorrow will shoot some color onto the car. Super excited !!


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Wow, you move quick! ... Want to paint my MR2s front bumper? lol

 

Got the same color wagon. My 2nd one... You're gonna have overspray everywhere if you didn't bag the car...Did you use foam tape on the jams?

dlm ny country

 

The unmasked tail light openings are a concern, too. The overspray will sneak through all the cracks and joints in the interior panels and you'll wind up with overspray on the interior.

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Since the car is already finished, I'm sure we'll find out quickly enough. Personally, I cannot wait to see the finished project.

 

Today’s update. Reading through some concerns about the tail light bucket we did have the inside masked with paper.

Here is some preliminary pics for you guys with color

Looks pretty good after the clear coat. I decided to go with Estoril Blue for the color. Partly because I love the color and that there were only 33 made from bmw in that color. And partly because I have a F30 in the same color and who doesn’t want a matching fleet.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update


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Looks pretty good after the clear coat. I decided to go with Estoril Blue for the color. Partly because I love the color and that there were only 33 made from bmw in that color. And partly because I have a F30 in the same color and who doesn’t want a matching fleet.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update

Love the project so far. Estoril is such an amazing color on an E46...can't wait to see the end result.

 

Today’s update is reassembly!

Not too bad of a look for a barn paint job.

Emerging from the barn for the first time.

My F30 and wagon. Eventually I will get apex arc8’s for the wagon too.

Some how got my dogs to sit nice in front of the car. Beau (on the right ) with his matching blue harness

Stay tuned for the next update


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Dang that looks great. You really lucked out with the body parts from the junkyard

 

Nice job, turned out great!

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Splendid. Love it.

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Fantastic build, I'm going to get my car wrapped later into the spring/summer LSB is what I'm aiming for, finding a color as close to LSB with wrap is hard though.