The Broken E46 M3 Project

[Chromatic]

Hello, and welcome to my first post on BimmerForums. The other week, I bought a wrecked 2004 M3 from an insurance auction. when I first saw it, I knew - This car WILL be mine.I thought the car looked beautiful. It looked like someone tried to paint it Yas Marina Blue, which I like a lot. The interior looked mint - Cinnamon interior, everything looked good in the pictures. I thought that just the front end had to be fixed up and good to go. When it arrived, this was not the case. First off, the paint job is absolutely atrocious. The paint is chipping in all sorts of places and they even painted over the rubber bumpers on the door handles. They didn't even bother with the engine bay. They left it Imola Red, the original color of the car. For the interior, it isn't that bad, except for a broken window button, vent, and a small tear in the driver's seat (I get a little OCD when things aren't perfect). My plans for the car are to fix the front end (obviously), repaint it, and fix the minor interior problems. My purpose for this thread is to show you guys the process of restoring my M3 to it's former Imola Red/Cinnamon glory. I hope you guys are excited about this as I am. Also, if any of you know someone in Mid-Michigan that could repair my seat, a reference would be greatly appreciated.

Front and Side view of the car

Rear view and interior

Engine Bay and a fender I got on eBay

More updates to come when I make more progress on the car.
With that, I bid you all adieu.

- Chromatic

[MauiM3Mania]

Welcome to Bimmerforums and E46 M3 ownership. The question which begs to be asked, what did you pay for the beast? Miles, any service records? Ooops... thats' several questions.

[Chromatic]

I got it for a steal. The winning bid on it was $3,200, and with auction fees and everything it came out to $3,728. It has 116,136 miles on it, and as for service records I haven't checked too far into them.

[MauiM3Mania]

Wow! That sounds like a buy, I hope it all works out. You might want to browse this stickie. A good number of solid discussions are listed which may help out.

[Chromatic]

Thanks for the support! Sounds good

[Missviam]

apexi doesnt offer a muffler like that...the have the ws2 but that is a straight through center/center design....would you be interested in a Magnaflow or such?

[JasonGM3]

Best of luck to you! I just picked up an e36 m3 at the insurance auction and its not quite as bad as yours, but theres alot more wrong than i thought😀😀

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Chromatic]

UPDATE:

Hello all, It's been quite a while since my first post on this thread. Many updates for the M3. It has been painted Imola Red and we fixed up the front end (for the most part). It has been a long process of slowly acquiring parts over the course of 9 months while also paying off the car. It is very close to completion and I am very excited to finally get it on the road. We will have it done in about a week or two.


Once again,


- Chromatic


M3 about to be scuffed for painting

Freshly painted side shot

New paint front shot

Trunk deck put together, door panels in

Rebar, Grilles in

Headlights are on, but still need to be sat flush with the hood

[Eaglesail]

As PT. Barnum advocated...there is a SEAT for every ass...or was that: a sucker born every minute!

I enjoy your dream too...and impulse always hangs you out...eventually you dry! .....Anything is possible...so never give up!