[Nosewheelie]

Some pieces of the old chassis harness (rear hatch & rear door looms come to mind) will get separated from old harness and incorporated into the new one from the donor.

I’m going to have a lot of stuff to sell when I’m done with this.. 🤪

 

[Nosewheelie]

Got a chance to put a couple of hours in today on the Touring.

I pulled the majority of the fuel system out - all that remains is the charcoal canister system. A little bit of surface rust in spots, but thankfully no issues.

I’m planning to delete the battery box and hopefully run a LiPo battery in the drug bin up front. Then I can have that area for the charcoal canister setup along with some heat shields 😉 and then the RH leg of the exhaust - I’m keeping the spare tire well, so last part of the exhaust will custom. I’ve got a set of euro headers I’ll be using and I’m going to weld in some cats into section 1.

Meeting with body shop tomorrow to discuss plans, pick up some dollys so it can be wheeled around the shop and then I need them to look at spots of rust popping up at the lower seam on the door of my M3.

 

[Nosewheelie]

Also working with CMP to look for lower and upper RASP reinforcements. Will post what I end up going with.

 

[George Hill]

Also working with CMP to look for lower and upper RASP reinforcements. Will post what I end up going with.

I install ALOT of CMP RACP kits, it's really the only one I had recommended, but I'm really liking what Weld Tech Bristol is putting out and will likely give their kit a go when I run out of CMP kits.

WeldTech Bristol (@weldtechbristol) • Instagram photos and videos

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WeldTech Bristol

At WeldTech we aim to repair/reinforce your BMW E46 to a standard better than it was originally... Ridings Farm, BS41 8JP Bristol၊ UK

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[vtwagon]

Forgive the amateur hour question, but are these factory fittings? Or was a brake line repair done at one point? Seems like a tight spot for a repair if so.

Let me know if you want to feel better about your rust, I’ll send pictures of mine hahaha!

 

[Nosewheelie]

Looks like somewhere along it's life and multiple prior owners - they replaced the rear brake lines as I found a repair coupling up in the engine bay as well. I am going to inspect the lines out of the donor car to see their condition - but likely I am going to replace all the brake lines with new.

 

[Nosewheelie]

I install ALOT of CMP RACP kits, it's really the only one I had recommended, but I'm really liking what Weld Tech Bristol is putting out and will likely give their kit a go when I run out of CMP kits.

WeldTech Bristol (@weldtechbristol) • Instagram photos and videos

1,095 Followers, 805 Following, 359 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from WeldTech Bristol (@weldtechbristol)

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WeldTech Bristol

At WeldTech we aim to repair/reinforce your BMW E46 to a standard better than it was originally... Ridings Farm, BS41 8JP Bristol၊ UK

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Thanks George - CMP just put a post up on the NAM3Forums site - so I'll have to see what they've got going on. I'm emailing back and forth with them and will put up links to the products they recommend.

 

[Nosewheelie]

I pulled the rear bumper and the remaining fuel system components. Would love to delete the charcoal canister when I rebuild, but haven’t been able to find any good DIY’s and what coding I’d have to do. Not a weight concern - just more of a packaging challenge with the dual exhaust and the spare tire.

Almost became Darwin Award contestant…. My son climbed into the touring to help me remove the trailer hitch. Once he got to the rear of the car the front end lifted off the jack stands. 💩🤪 I had him slowly go forward and it came back down on the stands & then had him climb out through the front door and I strapped down the chassis so that doesn’t happen when I start pulling the harness. Scary but we were lucky.

Here’s the shell now strapped down.

 

[Nosewheelie]

Pulled headliner out today - being a slicktop, I was nervous/careful and got it out with no issues. I’ll need to get the goop off it before I send it to get recovered along with the pillars.

Interior of roof getting prettybare!

Yesterday I finished with the underside of the chassis. I didn’t get a picture, but removed remainder of the fuel vent lines, rear brakes and all the heat shields and clips.

I pulled the ECU box & wiper assembly and pulled the wires into the cabin.

I’m saving the worst for tomorrow - trying to figure out how to get the harnesses out of the hatch…. If anyone has seen anything or can offer advice on this - please pass along. I’m seeing a little rust inside the hatch - so I’ll work with the body shop to figure out if I need to get a new one or if it’s all superficial (which is what it looks like to me).

 

[Nosewheelie]

This is giving me a brain cramp…

 

[Akkord29]

Ive got some cmp plated for sale if they end up being the same ones recommended. They are the ones CMP pointed me too when I was looking but never used them.

 

[Nosewheelie]

OK - thx, they've gone on radio silence for me, so send me what you've got and how much you are asking for it.

 

[Nosewheelie]

Found hatch removal!

That'll help with part of the harness - next I'll have to look at rear glass replacement and see what's out there.

 

[Nosewheelie]

So looks like I need to jump 12V across the pins of the hatch glass lock to pop it & then remove the side trim and that'll expose the harness for the hatch lights & closing mechanism. I haven't found any DIY's on the hatch glass but from some of the UK forums it doesn't sound "too bad" - I hope there is a connector in there from the harness to the defroster on the glass itself... Stay tuned!

 

[George Hill]

Its been awhile since I fully de-wired a hatch but start by taking the body colored trim off the top and then go from there, I think it becomes obvious at that point.

 

[Nosewheelie]

Success! As George stated, once I removed black trim behind the glass and the 4 bolts holding the top trim with center brake light it was all pretty self evident.

 

[Nosewheelie]

Harnesses are out!

 

[Nosewheelie]

All stripped and vacuumed.

Next is to get to work on the dolly so I can get this on wheels and off to the shop.

 

[Nosewheelie]

Back from Thanksgiving break & took advantage of Black Friday to score some new wheels for the wagon!

Apex ARC-8, 9.5”x18” ET35 square setup in Hyper Black rolling on 255/40-18 Michelin PS 4S’s.

Needed to pick these up for the body shop for when they (eventually) get to splicing in the M3 front & rear fenders.

 

[Nosewheelie]

A good friend came over today and we modified the dolly so it will pick up the jack points on the chassis. I had probably 1.5 good weld & my buddy did all the rest (and fixed mine).

My buddy who used to be a welder for an aerospace company before he became a machinist on the TIG.

Finished product. Going to put T bolts into the jack point slots and then bolt thru the pads on top of the dolly

Hoping to get the car of the dolly this week and then pick up a trailer and get it to the shop.