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My 323i build thread. Update 23/1

61K views 289 replies 81 participants last post by  777eThOd* 
#1 · (Edited)
So, a little history. I got this car last April from my grandparents because my old car just seriously quit on me. haha. Everything in the world seemed to go wrong on it, and it was just a lost cause. My grandfather owns an auto repair shop, so he has first access to salvage yards and everything, as well as first access to his customers' cars when they're thinking about just junking them out when all hope seems lost.

An old woman owned this before me, was the original owner, and took impeccable care of the car. It had 122k on it when I got it, and there's now 148k on the clock. 8) She always had it serviced regularly, but around 115k, her transmission finally gave her the dreaded No Reverse. She didn't feel like fixing it and wanted a new car, so she just gave it to my grandfather for $1500. Using his connections, he got a new transmission for $1500, and voila! $3k for an e46 Sedan in near-perfect condition for me!

Here's the car the day it was transferred to my name on my birthday last August 11th:


First mod was clear corners and sidemarkers:


After that, I polished my halogen headlights since I couldn't afford projectors yet and swapped out all the roundels for monochrome ones:


Next came LED tails and projectors, for which I was sent coupe lenses at first:



Soon after, window tint to 15% all around and Eibach Sportline Springs:


Then I started working on my interior, slowly converting to original grey leather to black/grey two-tone. This is still in progress:




In between all this, I'd been installing random little sound system things like a Dynavin, but that's not relevant at the moment.

And just a few days ago, I got my new wheels and matte black grilles:
ESR-4 F:18x8 et32 R:18x9 et25
I'm getting a little bit of rubbing right now, but I'm waiting on my friend to get his fender roller back so I can use it. Until then, it's driving like an old woman. :D







EDIT: HOW COULD I FORGET THE MONEY SHOT?:



UPDATE: 23 JANUARY
I got bored today and blacked out my headlight housings!



UPDATE: 5 FEBRUARY
I'm almost done with my interior! I started wrapping my trim in black and grey houndstooth today. :)


I'll tell ya, wrapping that long piece on the dash was a B!TCH.
Also, smoked sidemarkers and corners are on their way.

And that's my build so far! Thanks for reading!
Also, I'd just like to thank this forum in general for being so awesome. Before I got this car, I was pretty much afraid to work on my own cars and everything, but with the wealth of information you can find here, I've become much more confident in myself and my work. I'm on my way to being a real DIYer. :) All work so far has been done by myself with the help of these forums.
 
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#5 ·
Thanks! And yeah, I was thinking about switching to smoked corners. I don't like how the Depo clears appear almost white. And I'm going to do the interior trim in black suede when I find another messed up set to wrap. The current wood I have is in really good condition, and I don't want to cover it, so I'm on the lookout for a junked up set of sedan trim for anyone reading! haha.
 
#10 ·
Steel Grey FTW! Nice stance brotha. Working on one similar myself :excited::thumbsup:
 
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