Hey guys'! so I figured with the new things I am planning to accomplish over this winter that I should make a build thread to document the process. A little background on the car. It is a 2001 BMW e46 M3 which I bought in November of 2004 with 29k on the clock. As of now it is just under 50K miles which equates to me driving it around 2,625 miles a year since I've owned it. I started the project in 2006 and what you will see is from then to present day as well as my future plans. Lets begin.
And if you would like to see updates as I receive them follow me on.
Instagram: Drphantastic
10-13-05, My first exterior mod's VMR CSl reps 18x8.5 all around powdercoated yellow. (was suppose to be bronze) and a acs rep cf front lip. My first actual mod was a Kenwood KVT-815 multimedia system.
2-26-06, One of my first photoshoots I did with a point and shoot. Took of the wheels and front lip. Notice how horrible the pics were.
4-20-06, My first idea was to get Hamann front lip and Hamann gtr sideskirts but after consideration and seeing Craig Lieberman's Lambo blue Flossman I decided to pull the trigger and contacted EisenHaus for the Flossman Gtr widebody. Here it is after being painted and getting sanded and buffed.
5-14-06, Finally got the car back from the body shop and I decided to take some pics of it. To be honest with the crazy amount of wheel gap and oem wheels I was a bit unsure of my decision and did not like how the widebody looked whatsoever.
6-26-06, My custom Iforged Daytonas were still being built (took about 3-4 months) so I decided to ask my buddy Ryan Lee to photoshop a drop along with the wheels. Needless to say I liked where this was going.
8-08-06, Finally the wheels arrived and I couldn't of been happier. I decided to go with a staggered setup with 19x10f and 20x12r. This was well before concave, step lips were the big thing and fat flat faced lips was the thing.
8-30-06, Got around to getting some tires and decided on Continental Sport Compact 3's in 305/25/20 and 265/30/19.
2-11-07, After hibernating from the winter I decided to take the ///M out and do a little photo-shoot with my newly acquired Canon rebel xti. By this time I also got a ATR GTR race hood as well as H&R street coilovers.
5-12-07, Decided to work on my photography some more and took her out for a shoot. I don't believe any major changes were made at this time.
7-27-07, Met with Sergie a local enthusiast with a e36 M3 that was quite good at photography in Rockville, MD and did my first professional shoot.
Notice I got a CF engine cover.
10-12-08, Fast forward over a year and I attended my first car show. It was a last minute decision and was over 3 1/2 hrs one way to the event in Reading, Pa. Worse roads I have ever driven on even to this day but I won 1st place BMW and was ecstatic!!
6-04-09, This was the preparation and showing at the OC Car show held in Ocean City, Maryland. By this time I painted the outer portion of my hood as well as built my audio system. I also tinted my side windows at 5% and front at 35%. I showed my car with the fellas at DUB magazine outdoors and happened to win 1st place BMW. Awesome!
7-31-09, At this time I was getting a good amount of exposure for my car and my photographer friend Kevin Choi submitted it for Pasmag. Here are some photos from the photoshoot for that feature. "Bright Lights"
At this time I also added GC rear adjustable lower control arms, Umnitza led angel eyes, upgraded to oem led tails, race flow exhaust, and new front windshield to get rid of the rock chips from years of driving by the previous owner.
2-4-10, I attended the Revision Autosalon meet in Rockville,MD as well as dropped off my car to have my sponsor Asuka Designs GTR hood painted and installed.
2-6-10, Using inspiration from the AM from Casino Royale I decided to tackle on the interior. To start I decided to sell my imola red interior for a black interior.
I did a graffiti sharpie trim inspired by the sharpie lambo. Diamond stitched alcantara door inserts with Eurodyne wrapped door handles.
Trunk setup with all JL audio components.
After getting the car back from them (2 months) I decided to quit working on the car and just enjoy it until 7-8-10. At this time I was getting bored with the look so I decided to refinish my wheels as they badly need it anyways. The process took quite some time to disassemble and reassemble the wheels one bolt at a time. I did all the work from aside from the powder-coating itself.
hand sanded and repolished all the lips. Fuhhhh did that suck. Not shown but I also bought updated centercaps to replace the ugly chrome ones that the wheels came with originally.
7-10-10, I finished up the wheels and had the tires put on them and took it out to unveil its new look. This was around when StanceNation was starting up and I was able to land a feature with them as well.
6-18-2011, Attended Mpact East's first event in Baltimore, Md and came home with Best of Show! I was highly surprised and overwhelmed as there were hundreds of ///M's and a number of them I was drooling over.
Now that I've gone over some of the past of my M3 here is where I am presently. My style has changed alot in the past six years that I've been working on it. So for the 2012-2013 year I decided to work on finding ways to clean it up a bit. I shaved the front fenders, shaved the headlight washer trim and it has been painted Porsche slate grey.
Note hood and bumper was not installed or bolted down in these pictures.
I am currently in the works of getting new wheels as well so if anyone is interested in these shoot me a message and we can work something out. Finally I decide to join the force induction family as well perhaps sometime this coming summer. But until we get there I will be working on maintenance and smaller projects along the way. So subscribe and let me know what you think. I hope you guys enjoyed taking a stroll down memory lane of my M3 as much as I did. It has been a great journey and I've met alot of great friends along the way.
And if you would like to see updates as I receive them follow me on.
Instagram: Drphantastic
10-13-05, My first exterior mod's VMR CSl reps 18x8.5 all around powdercoated yellow. (was suppose to be bronze) and a acs rep cf front lip. My first actual mod was a Kenwood KVT-815 multimedia system.
2-26-06, One of my first photoshoots I did with a point and shoot. Took of the wheels and front lip. Notice how horrible the pics were.
4-20-06, My first idea was to get Hamann front lip and Hamann gtr sideskirts but after consideration and seeing Craig Lieberman's Lambo blue Flossman I decided to pull the trigger and contacted EisenHaus for the Flossman Gtr widebody. Here it is after being painted and getting sanded and buffed.
5-14-06, Finally got the car back from the body shop and I decided to take some pics of it. To be honest with the crazy amount of wheel gap and oem wheels I was a bit unsure of my decision and did not like how the widebody looked whatsoever.
6-26-06, My custom Iforged Daytonas were still being built (took about 3-4 months) so I decided to ask my buddy Ryan Lee to photoshop a drop along with the wheels. Needless to say I liked where this was going.
8-08-06, Finally the wheels arrived and I couldn't of been happier. I decided to go with a staggered setup with 19x10f and 20x12r. This was well before concave, step lips were the big thing and fat flat faced lips was the thing.
8-30-06, Got around to getting some tires and decided on Continental Sport Compact 3's in 305/25/20 and 265/30/19.
2-11-07, After hibernating from the winter I decided to take the ///M out and do a little photo-shoot with my newly acquired Canon rebel xti. By this time I also got a ATR GTR race hood as well as H&R street coilovers.
5-12-07, Decided to work on my photography some more and took her out for a shoot. I don't believe any major changes were made at this time.
7-27-07, Met with Sergie a local enthusiast with a e36 M3 that was quite good at photography in Rockville, MD and did my first professional shoot.
Notice I got a CF engine cover.
10-12-08, Fast forward over a year and I attended my first car show. It was a last minute decision and was over 3 1/2 hrs one way to the event in Reading, Pa. Worse roads I have ever driven on even to this day but I won 1st place BMW and was ecstatic!!
6-04-09, This was the preparation and showing at the OC Car show held in Ocean City, Maryland. By this time I painted the outer portion of my hood as well as built my audio system. I also tinted my side windows at 5% and front at 35%. I showed my car with the fellas at DUB magazine outdoors and happened to win 1st place BMW. Awesome!
7-31-09, At this time I was getting a good amount of exposure for my car and my photographer friend Kevin Choi submitted it for Pasmag. Here are some photos from the photoshoot for that feature. "Bright Lights"
At this time I also added GC rear adjustable lower control arms, Umnitza led angel eyes, upgraded to oem led tails, race flow exhaust, and new front windshield to get rid of the rock chips from years of driving by the previous owner.
2-4-10, I attended the Revision Autosalon meet in Rockville,MD as well as dropped off my car to have my sponsor Asuka Designs GTR hood painted and installed.
2-6-10, Using inspiration from the AM from Casino Royale I decided to tackle on the interior. To start I decided to sell my imola red interior for a black interior.
I did a graffiti sharpie trim inspired by the sharpie lambo. Diamond stitched alcantara door inserts with Eurodyne wrapped door handles.
Trunk setup with all JL audio components.
After getting the car back from them (2 months) I decided to quit working on the car and just enjoy it until 7-8-10. At this time I was getting bored with the look so I decided to refinish my wheels as they badly need it anyways. The process took quite some time to disassemble and reassemble the wheels one bolt at a time. I did all the work from aside from the powder-coating itself.
hand sanded and repolished all the lips. Fuhhhh did that suck. Not shown but I also bought updated centercaps to replace the ugly chrome ones that the wheels came with originally.
7-10-10, I finished up the wheels and had the tires put on them and took it out to unveil its new look. This was around when StanceNation was starting up and I was able to land a feature with them as well.
6-18-2011, Attended Mpact East's first event in Baltimore, Md and came home with Best of Show! I was highly surprised and overwhelmed as there were hundreds of ///M's and a number of them I was drooling over.
Now that I've gone over some of the past of my M3 here is where I am presently. My style has changed alot in the past six years that I've been working on it. So for the 2012-2013 year I decided to work on finding ways to clean it up a bit. I shaved the front fenders, shaved the headlight washer trim and it has been painted Porsche slate grey.
Note hood and bumper was not installed or bolted down in these pictures.
I am currently in the works of getting new wheels as well so if anyone is interested in these shoot me a message and we can work something out. Finally I decide to join the force induction family as well perhaps sometime this coming summer. But until we get there I will be working on maintenance and smaller projects along the way. So subscribe and let me know what you think. I hope you guys enjoyed taking a stroll down memory lane of my M3 as much as I did. It has been a great journey and I've met alot of great friends along the way.