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Hi all,
I thought it was about time I introduced myself.
We’ll BMW’s have been in my family from the early 80’s and I was pretty much brought up on BMW’s I guess you could say. BMW is one of my all time favorite manufacturers with my favorite model probably being the E30 M3. I’ve pledged allegiance to BMW and **** the dreaded enemy that is Mercedes lol.
My parents went through quite a few different BMW’s growing up such as E30’s, E28’s, E34’s, E36’s and currently E60 and E92. Growing up I couldn’t wait to be old enough to drive and save up to get one of my own. In the mean time I used to just buy BMW magazine and lust over the cars and talk my dad into buying little mods for his car like a rear spoiler and M tech wheels. Talking him into it wasn’t very hard as he was a petrol head in his younger days too which is probably where I get it from. He was into his modified Ford Cortina’s with engine transplants etc.
My first car was a Mk 4 Ford Escort in white with non-color coded bumpers. During my 6th form days I got the bumpers color coded and a rear spoiler with an LED and replica Ford RS side skirts fitted to make it look more appealing because before that the car just looked like it had a nappy on it lol. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that car but that’s not necessarily a bad thing lol.
It was however with this car that I also got my first glimpse into the world of ICE. I was running Infinity components all round and an Alpine S type 12” Sub mated to an Alpine V12 Amp and a Alpine Minidisc headunit.
In my 2nd year of Uni I saved up enough money to finally afford to buy a BMW. I remember going to an independent dealer down in Bournemouth to check it out and I instantly fell in love with it. It was an Arctic Blue E36 320i Auto SE. I was adamant I wanted a black BMW but once I saw the color of this and how the sun shined off it I just fell in love with it and to date I’ve yet to see another BMW in the same color. Its pretty similar to Silverstone Blue found on E46’s but other than one in the US I’ve seen online I’ve never seen another Arctic Blue one in the UK, only Arctic Silver or Samoa Blue.
So after a couple of months of ownership I got the itch to get modding. I wanted to make sure that I made the right decision when it came to parts to order and the first thing I did was spend time going through back issues of PBMW Mag and getting a short list together of parts I liked and then narrowing it down based on what I could afford.
I decided I wanted to make the car an M3 replica as much as I could afford and then add one or two other things. I opted for genuine M3 bumper which I struggled to locate new and ended up having one ordered from Germany via Autovogue with front splitter, genuine M3 sideskirts I sourced from a BMW specialist scrapyard, replica m3 wing mirrors, replica AC Schnizter rear roof spoiler, Genuine M3 rear bumper including rear diffuser which my local bodyshop owner had in his garage, ACS Type II replica 17” alloy wheels which I sourced from Top Gear, a Powerflow twin exhaust, pipercross induction kit, replica front and rear M3 light clusters and indicators, genuine M3 door rubbing strips which I had my bodyshop color code as well as an E46 rear boot spoiler. The car already had been lowered on some sort of springs by the previous owner so the drop was perfect already. Im not sure what make they were though.
On the ICE side I have a friend who is very handy with this sort of stuff so we both got to work on having a stab at our first custom install including 2 Alpine V12 Amps, 2 Alpine S type 12” subs and upgraded Infinity components all round with Infinity Kappa 6x9’s in the rear. Also we installed a 6 disc Alpine CD changer and an Alpine D310RB DVD headunit.
I treated the interior to ACS replica auto gear knob and handbrake. The car was also chipped by ChippedUK. Please see pics below. The pic of the install is off an old phone of mine which is why its so tiny as I didn’t take any better pictures of the install.
BMW E36 320i Arctic Blue
After a few years of ownership and saving up I thought it was time to sadly part ways with the e36 and step up to an E46 M3. However insurance quotes quickly saw to that being a pipe dream and I settled for a 330ci M Sport, Saphire Black, Manual.
Again I set about going through all my issues of PBMW Mag and making a shortlist of what I wanted. This time as I had gone the M3/ACS route on the E36 I wanted to go for the Hamann route as much as I could afford. After joining some forums I started sourcing parts which included:
CCFL gen 2 angel eyes, Gruppe M replica Induction Kit, Hamann replica gear knob, handbrake, steering wheel rondel, replica Hamann pedal set, Carbon fibre boot and bonnet badge, replica M3 folding mirrors, Eibach Coilovers and ACS replica rear window roof spoiler which I all sourced from Teddy at SSDD Motorsport. I sourced Genuine Hamann Floor Mats which were like brandnew from a fellow forum member and also had Tints fitted.
The wheels were my most important choice as I thought they would really make or break the car and I wanted some that stood out and looked really cool. After a lot of investigation and driving people on the forum up the wall with wheel threads lol, I settle on the 19” PG3 Hamann Reps with Black Centre’s from a guy in the US and there probably my favourite mod.
With regards to the exhaust I wanted something loud and that sounded very raspy so I went for the Eisemann Twin 83mm Race Exhaust with mid Cats removed from CA Automotive and now everytime I turn the car on and blip the loud pedal it puts a smile on my face to this day after 6 years of ownership. I also upgraded to facelift LED rear light clusters with smoked indicators sourced from Ebay.
With the ICE I enlisted the help of my trusted friend again and we set about making another custom install which would be a step up from the one we did on the e36. The install included 3 Alpine R type subs, 2 Alpine Headrest screens, Alpine motorized dvd headunit, 2 Alpine amps and focal components all round which were all sourced from Car Audio Security. I was really pleased with the way it turned out given we built it in my friends back garden and it was only our 2nd attempt at a custom install. Credit to my friend who had to do a lot of calculation to make sure that we could squeeze in the 3 subs and still run good depths on the boxes so that the sound was still good.
The car has also been chipped/remapped by BW Chiptune. I also sourced Radenergie engine cover and strut brace from Jlevi Streetwerks Pics below:
BMW E46 330ci M Sport
About 4 months ago i fulfilled a boyhood dream and bought my first M3. Its a 2002 E46 M3 SMG II in Carbon Black.
Spec:
Ok, so heres a few details of the car:
2002 plate
80k on the clock
SMG II
Carbon Black
Black Leather interior
BMW Widescreen Sat Nav
CSL Reps
AC Schnitzer Front Splitter
AC Schnitzer Rear Diffuser
AC Schnitzer Rear Boot Spoiler
AC Schnitzer Rear Window Spoiler
AC Schnitzer Pedal Set
Depo smoked front indicators
Depo smoked side repeaters
4 previous owners
Planned Mods:
CF Silver or Normal CF interior trim including SMG Paddles and Upper and Lower Steering Wheel Cowel
Monochrome Badges all round
D2 Coilover Kit
Eisemann 83mm Exhaust with SS non resonated X pipe (or possibly Eisemann Y pipe) and 100 cell cats
ACS Type 2 Alloy wheels in maybe 10j/9.5j front and 11j rear with colour coded gloss centres
Hamann fog light ducts
6000k headlight bulbs
LED interior light swap
Angel Eyes
Swap ACS Spoiler for CSL possibly or Vorsteiner
LaminX Front headlights and rear light clusters
Carbon Bonnet badges
Install my custom sound install from the 330 into the M3 along with a new W202r. However to compromise on weight and given that I think my attitude towards some things is changing I will be sticking with 1 sub through the ski hatch instead of 3 that I had in the 330 . Head rest screen will be swapped over and I am hoping to go for some Rainbow or JL audio components. I had focal ones before which were great but I thought i;d try some different ones out this time.
Anyways I better stop there before otherwise i'll go on for ever. Look forward to contributing to the forum and hopefully great a great stance when the cars finished worthy of the forum
I thought it was about time I introduced myself.
We’ll BMW’s have been in my family from the early 80’s and I was pretty much brought up on BMW’s I guess you could say. BMW is one of my all time favorite manufacturers with my favorite model probably being the E30 M3. I’ve pledged allegiance to BMW and **** the dreaded enemy that is Mercedes lol.
My parents went through quite a few different BMW’s growing up such as E30’s, E28’s, E34’s, E36’s and currently E60 and E92. Growing up I couldn’t wait to be old enough to drive and save up to get one of my own. In the mean time I used to just buy BMW magazine and lust over the cars and talk my dad into buying little mods for his car like a rear spoiler and M tech wheels. Talking him into it wasn’t very hard as he was a petrol head in his younger days too which is probably where I get it from. He was into his modified Ford Cortina’s with engine transplants etc.
My first car was a Mk 4 Ford Escort in white with non-color coded bumpers. During my 6th form days I got the bumpers color coded and a rear spoiler with an LED and replica Ford RS side skirts fitted to make it look more appealing because before that the car just looked like it had a nappy on it lol. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that car but that’s not necessarily a bad thing lol.
It was however with this car that I also got my first glimpse into the world of ICE. I was running Infinity components all round and an Alpine S type 12” Sub mated to an Alpine V12 Amp and a Alpine Minidisc headunit.
In my 2nd year of Uni I saved up enough money to finally afford to buy a BMW. I remember going to an independent dealer down in Bournemouth to check it out and I instantly fell in love with it. It was an Arctic Blue E36 320i Auto SE. I was adamant I wanted a black BMW but once I saw the color of this and how the sun shined off it I just fell in love with it and to date I’ve yet to see another BMW in the same color. Its pretty similar to Silverstone Blue found on E46’s but other than one in the US I’ve seen online I’ve never seen another Arctic Blue one in the UK, only Arctic Silver or Samoa Blue.
So after a couple of months of ownership I got the itch to get modding. I wanted to make sure that I made the right decision when it came to parts to order and the first thing I did was spend time going through back issues of PBMW Mag and getting a short list together of parts I liked and then narrowing it down based on what I could afford.
I decided I wanted to make the car an M3 replica as much as I could afford and then add one or two other things. I opted for genuine M3 bumper which I struggled to locate new and ended up having one ordered from Germany via Autovogue with front splitter, genuine M3 sideskirts I sourced from a BMW specialist scrapyard, replica m3 wing mirrors, replica AC Schnizter rear roof spoiler, Genuine M3 rear bumper including rear diffuser which my local bodyshop owner had in his garage, ACS Type II replica 17” alloy wheels which I sourced from Top Gear, a Powerflow twin exhaust, pipercross induction kit, replica front and rear M3 light clusters and indicators, genuine M3 door rubbing strips which I had my bodyshop color code as well as an E46 rear boot spoiler. The car already had been lowered on some sort of springs by the previous owner so the drop was perfect already. Im not sure what make they were though.
On the ICE side I have a friend who is very handy with this sort of stuff so we both got to work on having a stab at our first custom install including 2 Alpine V12 Amps, 2 Alpine S type 12” subs and upgraded Infinity components all round with Infinity Kappa 6x9’s in the rear. Also we installed a 6 disc Alpine CD changer and an Alpine D310RB DVD headunit.
I treated the interior to ACS replica auto gear knob and handbrake. The car was also chipped by ChippedUK. Please see pics below. The pic of the install is off an old phone of mine which is why its so tiny as I didn’t take any better pictures of the install.
BMW E36 320i Arctic Blue
After a few years of ownership and saving up I thought it was time to sadly part ways with the e36 and step up to an E46 M3. However insurance quotes quickly saw to that being a pipe dream and I settled for a 330ci M Sport, Saphire Black, Manual.
Again I set about going through all my issues of PBMW Mag and making a shortlist of what I wanted. This time as I had gone the M3/ACS route on the E36 I wanted to go for the Hamann route as much as I could afford. After joining some forums I started sourcing parts which included:
CCFL gen 2 angel eyes, Gruppe M replica Induction Kit, Hamann replica gear knob, handbrake, steering wheel rondel, replica Hamann pedal set, Carbon fibre boot and bonnet badge, replica M3 folding mirrors, Eibach Coilovers and ACS replica rear window roof spoiler which I all sourced from Teddy at SSDD Motorsport. I sourced Genuine Hamann Floor Mats which were like brandnew from a fellow forum member and also had Tints fitted.
The wheels were my most important choice as I thought they would really make or break the car and I wanted some that stood out and looked really cool. After a lot of investigation and driving people on the forum up the wall with wheel threads lol, I settle on the 19” PG3 Hamann Reps with Black Centre’s from a guy in the US and there probably my favourite mod.
With regards to the exhaust I wanted something loud and that sounded very raspy so I went for the Eisemann Twin 83mm Race Exhaust with mid Cats removed from CA Automotive and now everytime I turn the car on and blip the loud pedal it puts a smile on my face to this day after 6 years of ownership. I also upgraded to facelift LED rear light clusters with smoked indicators sourced from Ebay.
With the ICE I enlisted the help of my trusted friend again and we set about making another custom install which would be a step up from the one we did on the e36. The install included 3 Alpine R type subs, 2 Alpine Headrest screens, Alpine motorized dvd headunit, 2 Alpine amps and focal components all round which were all sourced from Car Audio Security. I was really pleased with the way it turned out given we built it in my friends back garden and it was only our 2nd attempt at a custom install. Credit to my friend who had to do a lot of calculation to make sure that we could squeeze in the 3 subs and still run good depths on the boxes so that the sound was still good.
The car has also been chipped/remapped by BW Chiptune. I also sourced Radenergie engine cover and strut brace from Jlevi Streetwerks Pics below:
BMW E46 330ci M Sport
About 4 months ago i fulfilled a boyhood dream and bought my first M3. Its a 2002 E46 M3 SMG II in Carbon Black.
Spec:
Ok, so heres a few details of the car:
2002 plate
80k on the clock
SMG II
Carbon Black
Black Leather interior
BMW Widescreen Sat Nav
CSL Reps
AC Schnitzer Front Splitter
AC Schnitzer Rear Diffuser
AC Schnitzer Rear Boot Spoiler
AC Schnitzer Rear Window Spoiler
AC Schnitzer Pedal Set
Depo smoked front indicators
Depo smoked side repeaters
4 previous owners
Planned Mods:
CF Silver or Normal CF interior trim including SMG Paddles and Upper and Lower Steering Wheel Cowel
Monochrome Badges all round
D2 Coilover Kit
Eisemann 83mm Exhaust with SS non resonated X pipe (or possibly Eisemann Y pipe) and 100 cell cats
ACS Type 2 Alloy wheels in maybe 10j/9.5j front and 11j rear with colour coded gloss centres
Hamann fog light ducts
6000k headlight bulbs
LED interior light swap
Angel Eyes
Swap ACS Spoiler for CSL possibly or Vorsteiner
LaminX Front headlights and rear light clusters
Carbon Bonnet badges
Install my custom sound install from the 330 into the M3 along with a new W202r. However to compromise on weight and given that I think my attitude towards some things is changing I will be sticking with 1 sub through the ski hatch instead of 3 that I had in the 330 . Head rest screen will be swapped over and I am hoping to go for some Rainbow or JL audio components. I had focal ones before which were great but I thought i;d try some different ones out this time.
Anyways I better stop there before otherwise i'll go on for ever. Look forward to contributing to the forum and hopefully great a great stance when the cars finished worthy of the forum
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