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I'm starting a build thread for my z3 m coupe to document its progress throughout my time owning it. since the car will undergo many modifications, id like to have a place where i can post its updates for myself and others. many of you may not like this car because to my understanding it's a "performance oriented" forum and for the time being it isn't a performance build. i consider my car a z3, so it belongs on a z3 forum.
To start, ill share my experience getting the car
Ever since i was 14 years old, i found out about m coupes and it quickly became my favorite car out there. the day i found out about them, i researched to see how much one could go for and after i found some 2.8's on the buyers guide and thought "I can do this".
I got many jobs, saving all my money, and pooling it together in order to get it by the time i got my license.
Originally i wanted a z3 coupe explaining my name, but after seeing my first m coupe at a local car meet, i changed my mind and decided i needed the ultimate expression of the clownshoe.
after over a year of saving, a friend helped me come across a nearby imola red m coupe with 68,000 miles on the odometer, super clean, and had no issues.
I needed this car. the problem was i didn't have enough money ($15,000) for the ($19,000) car. after a week of badgering my parent to shell out a loan, they caved. I talked to the seller and soon he would be on his way.
August 29th 2014, at 17 years old I became one of the youngest m coupe owners with my 1999 Z3 M Coupe in imola red/imola red.
Car needed: front and rear brake pads and rotors, an oil change, throwout bearing, and a reverse light switch
Only known issue was that the odometer was 12,000 off due to it breaking early in the car's life.
So...the car has 80,002 miles.
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Existing mods include: BC Racing Coilovers, Magnaflow Exhaust, and an Alpine radio with Bluetooth.
The car sat in my driveway for 6 months while i payed off the loan.
my first mod to the car was a replica "American international Racing" rear hatch spoiler that i love so much for these cars. along the way i acquired a few other things like a new rear trunk roundel, a 70's bmws shift knob, clear side markers, Air conditioning Blower capacitor, and a cupholder.
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My second major thing i bought for the car were my 3 Piece Oz Breytons in 18x8.5 and 18x12. these wheels were a pita to get because the front lips poked too much and didn't feel like running ridiculous camber. The new front lips took about 3 weeks to come. after spending an absurd amount on wheels, they were finally done.
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When dialing in the camber/height/dampening i came to realize the coils i had would not go low…at all. So i was going monster truck status haha. But i was still in love with how the car looked.
The next issue i ran into was a quite common one that I’m sure many of you have come by. My strut towers were cracking!due to my fairly stiff coils and no reinforcement plates my towers began to spider crack and were in need of welding. luckily my good friend who has impressive e30’s is great with welding and finished the job and put the plates in for $40.
Ive only owned the car for a year now and its been really wonderful. many more updates to come with this car. id like as of this moment, get new suspension, repaint the car (the paint is awful), Do some custom body work and swap a euro S50B32. Im sure my taste will eventually change but thats the plan for now…
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Last edited by moupe54; 06-19-2017 at 12:59 AM.
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Looking good, I like that armrest
-Phil
Member
For an update on the car, Through the months of October - December my car decided to crap out on me multiple times. First all pulleys and belts went, squeaked terribly and belts had many cracks. oil filter housing gasket started to spew oil all over the bottom of my car, caking onto everything in the undercarriage. once that was fixed about a week later the starter went, as you all know the starter is a pita to do for a noobie like myself, so that was a project. once the starter was changed the car would not hold idle. the pintle cap of the first injector flew off while removing the fuel rail the take the intake manifold off. took everything back apart to check all hoses for vacuum leaks and changed the injector. A mere 2 minutes after the job was done for the second time..the car started smoking from the other side of the motor. changed valve cover gasket and that seemed to do the trick. as many say about BMW's...when it rains, it pours.
As for mods I've gathered parts through the winter to go on all at once in the spring. A Renown 130r with nrg short hub, rear strut tower reinforcements, angel eye headlights, new center console piece since mine cracked and for the last thing, i went for air suspension. as air suspension destroys handling for cars i was skeptical about buying it. airlift has new suspension that is actually meant for the track. they're pretty much a nice expensive coilover with adjustable camber and height with a very strong air cup. this is experimental, if the bags suck, i'm selling them and buying better coilovers. living in New York and daily driving my m coupe, they make sense because i can still have a comfortable car and be low all in one. can't wait for spring...
Last edited by moupe54; 06-19-2017 at 01:02 AM.
Member
most of my spring plans are complete. renown wheel, air suspension, halo's, and a bunch of little things added. As for the air suspension, I don't understand all of the hate it usually gets. As for the setup that i bought goes, it handles great! So much adjustability including height, dampening, camber etc. This was an experiment, to see if it would work on an m coupe without ruining its ability around corners. Im not going to try to convince all of you who hate it, but Already showing someone in the community with a strong dislike for bags, he was impressed by its abilities. Living around Long Island, the comfort of the ride an adjustability works well, especially doing 12,0000+ miles a year on the car. I would love to throw my roadstars back on and see how it handles in autocross.
As far as whats left on the car, I recently got a great deal on auto flex, a similar product to dip but looks and behaves like oem paint. Will be going steel gray soon within the month, but for now..this is how it sits. Screen Shot 2016-04-07 at 11.14.05 PM.jpgScreen Shot 2016-04-07 at 11.13.40 PM.jpg
Grumpy
BMW CCA Member
Most people do not understand how air suspension works. They think beachball physics, and only see pictures of kids dragging parts on the ground everywhere. For me, air suspension has a lot of potential when *properly* engineered for the specific application. The problem with the available aftermarket stuff is a lack of resolution on spring rates. imagine if TCK only offered light, medium, and heavy springs, each being a different size
/.randy
Member
Haven't updated this in a while, but so much has happened to my m coupe since last time I posted on here. My year was going great and I ended up ripping through my rear shock towers...i know fantastic. my car was out for a few months and sat while I planned my next move with the car. Eventually things fell into place and and i had a plan to put the car back on the road. My friend Tom and I welded the shock towers for a temporary fix while I drove the car around to various shops, reason being I planned on painting the car in the new autoflex material. I'm sure a few of you know him, but Andrei Spirin opened up dynamic wraps pa, specializing in liquid wraps such as autoflex. Before I brought my car in to do the autoflex, body work had to be done so I shaved my side markers, took all my dents out and finished all of the body work myself to finish preparation for it. The shock towers were to be welded by Andrei's friend Pete who has done this job before to an m coupe, so I was in good hands. Finally dropped the car off and came back two weeks later to a freshly "painted" steel gray m coupe. I am extremely happy with the end result, slowly I am building the dream coupe I've always wanted...
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Last edited by moupe54; 06-19-2017 at 01:05 AM.
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looks good. quite the change! I'm going to have to research that autoflex some. I've not heard of it before.
Member
I'm new on hear and I have a 2002 M coupe, S54 engine. Only 6500 miles, mint!! Imola red with black interior. Anybody have an idea of the value?
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Start a new thread and ask the question again.Originally Posted by Bsimmons75
Member
love it bro!!! Andrei did an amazing job! No you can't have hartges... k bye
Member
Sorry I'm new to this Autoflex stuff so pardon my ignorance - is it basically like a gloss Plastidip? Or is it actually paint?
Cyrus Mistry
Member
Its alright, no need to appologize. Autoflex is applied like paint, but has similar characteristics to dip. It has 3 layers, the base (plasti dip like material that is called spray wrap pro, which gives it the ability to peel off when wanted), there is the pearl (the layer applied to give the color you have chosen in this case steel gray) and the autoflex gloss (the final coat which is an extremely thin layer which gives the product a finish that is sandable, buffable, scratch resistant, looks like oem paint, gives a hard to the touch feel and completes the process.
If anyone is interested i can give them a discount at andrei's shop in philly. Being a sponsored car i cant give out prices starting at 1750 for the whole car. If anyone is interested, pm me.
Member
Nice looking paint, did you do all the door jambs as well?
@cblock406
Been following you recently on Instagram, car looks awesome man, love it!
CBlock
Sim Simma
Moderator
Still way too low for my tastes, but the new wrap/paint looks really cool. What is the cost of that compared to a wrap? I've been toying with the idea of wrapping one of my coupes in matte white... I looked around locally for some quotes on the autoflex but nobody has even heard of the stuff around here
Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!
PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!
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quick little update. Sold the Oz Breytons and found my dream wheels.
17x9.5 18x11 double staggered, Chrome plated Oz Hartge's.
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and here they are mounted on the car at H2Oi
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The car has come to a point where i am aesthetically pleased with the way it looks. now, comes the fun part. Now i can focus on making the car drive as good as it looks
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As of right now the cost of this liquid wrap is actually less than a traditional vinyl wrap. most companies now are charging up to 2700 for a wrap on a whole car. for us z3 guys, having a small car makes for an easier job. through me, andrei can autoflex your car for 2k which is a great bang for your buck. autoflex looks a hell of a lot better than vinyl wrap and costs less. pm me if you are interested.Still way too low for my tastes, but the new wrap/paint looks really cool. What is the cost of that compared to a wrap? I've been toying with the idea of wrapping one of my coupes in matte white... I looked around locally for some quotes on the autoflex but nobody has even heard of the stuff around here
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Appreciate it!
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of course. red door jambs with a gray exterior i don't think so haha
OEM+
Not my style but those wheels look pretty dope on it. That wrap also looks really good. Nice job!
Have you tried a stubby antenna? That tall stock one stands out .
db
[oo]|[||][||]|[oo]
'95 M3 Cosmos Schwarz Metallic on Dove Grey: AA CAI, AA bump up kit, Euro HFM, JC chip, AA track pipe, AA Gen III exhaust, AA ltw flywheel and clutch package, X brace, front strut brace, Koni SA shocks, H&R sport springs, GC RSMs, 71 deg T-stat, aluminium housing, JT-D underpanel, Hamann black out grill kit, oem euro lights all around, 18" BBS RC 10s, UUC motorwerks pulley kit, 3 spoke steering wheel, silverstar H1s fog light bulbs, ZKWs w/CCFL, Prolumen 4300k HIDs, Powerflex RTAB and LCAB
(<oo\(||][||)/oo>)
'00 M Coupe Oxford Green II Metallic Sunroof Delete on Oregon Beige: (under construction)
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Time to update that sig, buddy!!!
"You don't win silver....you lose gold."
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Some things have been happening with my m coupe that leads it in a different direction.
I am growing tired of the whole stance/bagged/stretched tires thing so I have decided to part with my air suspension and got myself a decent set of coilovers. On the way I just ordered Ground Control coils with hybrid camber plates that they offer. Spring rates I went with are 650 rear and 450 front which is common among m coupes.
The second thing I did this winter was put a little love into my hated S52. I decided to do this because a good friend of mine in Georgia named Andres worked with his shop and somehow put down 252whp out of a stock S52. these number convinced me to spend a little money on it until I swap it out.
So with this new set up I got:
M50 manifold with conversion kit supplied by m50manifold.com
new spark plugs
new iat sensor
Markertmotorworks tune
full exhaust with headers, vibrant 3" mid section out to the stock 2.5" rear section with my existing magnaflow 14815 mufflers
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These upgrades were definitely worth it. From the brief amount of driving I've done I can tell a substantial difference from how it used to be. if you don't already contact markertmotorworks and speak to Andres and I recommend doing this to your S52 cars.
Finally, I have decided to deal with the inevitable, The subframe reinforcement job all of these cars eventually need. Although my rear end is in decent shape, I have had one spot weld popped for a while now so instead of waiting for it to get worse I am just going to get it out of the way. I am sticking with single ear diff cover for now since mine is fine and shows no signs of failure. still shopping around for shops to do it but will be starting the process in a week or two.
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Here is the small amount of damage I'm experiencing at the moment. as far as I've seen thats the only issue I have.
If anyone has any suggestions on good sound deadening that doesn't cost too much or weigh too much I would appreciate it.
Some stupid other things I have done are chrome door handles, light bulbs for cluster lights that went out, and peeled off the black autoflex on my grills.
will update in a few weeks when the car is all set up
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Probably the last aired out picture I'll take of the car. its been a good run.
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Nice, I have the m50 manifold swap as well and I love it. Wish I threaded my IAT sensor though... Did you end up threading yours and placing it in the manifold or just sticking it in the intake boot?
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I ended up threading mine directly into the m50 manifold. For some reason it still throws a code which I still have to address.
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It was clear when starting the subframe reinforcement my car needed a lot more maintenance than anticipated. After a long look under my car on a lift I made a list on my phone for everything needed in the next few weeks. This list contained UUC stainless clutch line, tie rods with boots, sway bar end links, control arms, power flex control arm bushings, rear subframe bushings, trailing arm bushings, hood latch, those bastard window regulators, and flushing of all my fluids along with other things I’m sure ill forget to add.
The welding below was done at Hardlines by Swoops in Oceanside, NY who did a killer job by taking his own approach at the reinforcement Inspired by randy’s ideas. He was great in the sense that he let me be very involved in the project. I did all of the prep work and finished it all up. Half way through the process I stopped by the shop and took my Dif and subframe home to work on while the welding was going on. In all of a matter of 2 days the entire job was done, incredible time, the man was a machine.
I am extremely happy with the work done. Most of the squeaks and rattles gone besides for one I’m still in search of. Besides that last rattle the car feels brand new!
Prep work done all ready to start welding. Yes those are holes…
Top section done by swoops
Only a few hours after getting the car back I got to work. Seam sealer/paint/sound deadening done
Final trunk set up done going all out by replacing every clip behind the seats along with a nice trunk mat to tie everything together.
Underside of the car showing swoops actually replacing the weak piece of metal provided by BMW. Instead of saving that piece an entirely new piece was made along with a custom Dif bracket (decided not to do the dual ear right now since not necessary).
Rear subframe looking brand new after replacing bushings, cleaning, and paint.
For those wondering I ended up paying around $2,500 for everything. The more I decided to replace the higher the total got obviously haha.
On a completely unrelated note, some deals scored along the way are too good to not share. Got these new Recaro SRD’s from my buddy just getting rid of them. Originally close to $2,000 new picked up in mint condition for a mere $400 with brackets from an E30!
Test fit in the M Coupe
This is how the car currently sits on the new suspension set up and new exhaust tips I am loving. Definitely up next is to rebuild these wheels and get some new tires to suit the new ride height along with a good alignment needed after replacing literally everything.
Until next time
Member
Those rear coilovers are just the reason the trunk floor fail!! Do yourself a favor and buy a set of normal lowering springs for the rear.
Member
Subframe failure is common among all of these cars whether its on stock suspension/coilovers/bags. the damage was done before I even had any issues so you're already wrong. Its pretty unavoidable if you drive these cars often on rough roads.
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