BMW E46 M325i Touring Project

[Kaiv]

Car started out as a bone stock automatic 325i; now it's basically a bone stock M3, in a Touring’s body ^_^
Fully CA BAR legal and certified.
It's a blast!
Just wanted to share ^_^

[LSxDreamer]

Nice! Did you do a rear-end swap as well, or just the engine/trans?

[stealthbeam]

Sneaky Wagon I love it!

[propcar]

that is fantastic!!

[BimmerBreaker]

My dream is to build one of these someday including the bodywork.. Yours looks really great, and a very nicely done swap. OEM style like it should be done. You have any plans to add the widebody? Fronts should be easy, the rears though is where it gets messy on the 4 doors.

[Mdanko]

Man......You've made me jealous! That engine looks fantastic; extremely clean. nice work!

[Kaiv]

It's fully converted! Front end, rear end, suspension, brakes, steering, you name it. There's literally nothing left to replace underneath, it's all M3 (and drives like one too!)

M3 bodywork would be awesome but not in the plans. Half the fun of this car is how stock it looks

Thanks!

[cr2596]

That's awesome. I remember reading about a similar wagon in Bimmer magazine when I was a kid. Always something I've thought about. Props for making it happen.

[m3j0n]

i have 2 tourings that I was going back and forth between swapping s54 or lsv8. looks like a nicely done swap. did you do a write-up?

[525iT_Feen]

Looks like a ridiculously clean swap. Those s54s sound a whole lot better with single exhaust too.
I'd shadowline the chrome trim but hats off otherwise for leaving it stock. I can see how that makes it more fun/unique.

[oekundar]

Awesome work, possibly one of the best swaps I've seen. Nicely done!

[RRH]

It must be fun just knowing what this car can do while you're driving alongside other people and they have no idea!

[Compactive]

Wow, very clean install. Any process pictures?

[Kaiv]

Looks like a ridiculously clean swap. Those s54s sound a whole lot better with single exhaust too.
I'd shadowline the chrome trim but hats off otherwise for leaving it stock. I can see how that makes it more fun/unique.

Already done





I do have a full journal over on M3forum.

Thanks everyone, glad y'all like it

[Ragnorak]

Clean swap, looks great!

[M3Alpine99]

Lovely

[m3j0n]

just curious why a sulev was a dealbreaker if you were swapping the entire drivetrain.

[Kaiv]

just curious why a sulev was a dealbreaker if you were swapping the entire drivetrain.

Well, the way I see it, if it's already "illegal" for example to replace the sulev "ozone" radiator with a regular one, or the sealed fuel tank with a regular one; then by deduction it would be illegal to replace the whole motor with something else that's not sulev. I could be wrong, but I wasn't willing to try it to find out ah. Starting with a non-sulev was just a safe bet I guess.

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Looks like a ridiculously clean swap. Those s54s sound a whole lot better with single exhaust too.
I'd shadowline the chrome trim but hats off otherwise for leaving it stock. I can see how that makes it more fun/unique.

It's funny you say that because it's absolutely true :-) Cf. Z3M S54 and Z4M.

My S54 E36 sounded great with no rasp whatsoever.

On my E46 Touring, I'm running a custom one off Stromung muffler on anotherwise stock E46 M3 exhaust (stock headers, stock section 1, stock section 2) and guess what: not a hint of rasp either!

For anyone doing an S54 swap into an E46 sedan or touring, I highly recommend you hit up Scott at Stromung Exhaust Engineering. You won't be disappointed.

I worked with him to develop the first and only 100% bolt-on muffler solution and the end result is a work of art. Scott is both an enthusiast and an artist and really knows what he's doing. I couldn't be happier with the exhaust.

Full stainless steel construction, hand welded, perfect pipe diameter, laser cut flanges, straight through design, rolled perforated tips etc etc It's perfect!

Sound levels are classic "sport exhaust". Just right!

Here's some pics I took of the first production unit installed on my car:

[LSxDreamer]

God damn that's beautiful.

[Kaiv]

Built a couple more since I last posted

[bmw325e30]

You are a god sir

[m3j0n]

awesome...

[Joey30]

Nice! Wish I had the funds to swap mine.

[yoshioka90]

i wish i could just "build a couple".... awesome work man!

[Brandjas18]

I am very jealous. Would love to swap my E91!