Thom's bagged E46 saloon/sedan - Airlift, BBS RF - UK Build

[NathanE-94]

thank you man!

i totally agree.

No worries, dude! Shall keep an eye out for updates!!

[Thooooom]

funny how us dudes always want euro spec ambers and euro dudes always want us ambers. dig it man. very clean.

yeah ive had a lot of people from the US saying 'why the hell do you want the amber corners?!' haha. i love them though, really make it stand out. thanks man

[Thooooom]

First of, been a follower of yours on IG for ages...Love your photography and the e46 is ballin'...it's killin it, love it so much

But also everything that you posted above is so true, I couldn't agree more with everything that you've just said! More money doesn't necessarily buy you character, less money forces you to think outside the box... #FvckYourChequeBookBuilds hahahaha!!

thank you man!

i totally agree.

[presidentialbaptist]

funny how us dudes always want euro spec ambers and euro dudes always want us ambers. dig it man. very clean.

[NathanE-94]

im only 19, so this is my 3rd car. My first car was a VW Lupo, which ended up like this



Then my VW 6n2 Polo which i posted at the start of the thread.

and finally my E46.

i lupo was on coilovers before id even got my license, and sat on the driveway while i messed with it, changed the wheels to Ronal R15's. then just did what i could to the arches etc to get the car fairly low (although looking back now it wasnt low at all. haha) i did some interior work such as a rear seat delete and an audio install, nothing fancy but i really enjoyed making it. then just little things like black masked headlamps,

Lupo mods:

• Coilovers
• Ronal R15 wheels
• some arch work to get the car lower (although looking now it wasnt low at all)
• Black masked headlamps
• rare 'cambridge' edition rear lights
• rear seat delete
• basic audio install with custom build sub install in the rear, really enjoyed making that.

Polo Mods (i did less to this car, and spent most of my time just trying to get it as low as possible.)

• coilovers with extra hard bumpstops cut to size allowing for no travel in the damper
• Bullet wheels 15 x 7/8
• GTI front grill and splitter
• again a basic audio install, not the the same quality as the lupo one though.

i lost money on both cars, not loads, approx £400-£600, maybe slightly more on the Polo. but im not in it for the money haha.

Im only a student, so dont have the budget to be constantly buying parts to keep me enjoying the car. I always see something else i want and feel the need to move on. i am hoping to make things different with this car though.

Another reason for moving on so fast would be due to my age, if youre familiar with the Lupo then it should be quite obvious its quite a childish car, i didnt want to be driving round in that little thing while friends of mine are driving VR6 corrados and such (as they were at the time). The polo was bigger and a lot nicer, i really really loved that car, getting the splitter close to the floor wasnt too difficult and for that reason theres quite a few people in the UK who drag them around ruining the underside, its good fun haha.

Ive recently taken a huge liking to the US scene, im not sure if youre from the UK or US or somewhere else, but the UK scene isnt really what im into anymore, people build cars to be perfect in every aspect, including spending 10's of thousands on interior retrims, new paint jobs, wheels, air ride (which is significantly more expensive over here than it is in the US) and engine work too. I just dont have the money to do that, and im tired of seeing the same few rich people kill it everyyear because they have the money to do so.

obviously there are exceptions, but the US scenes a lot more interesting, cars are less perfect all over, people just like to run really low, and make their cars look undrivable, which is what i like. the 'fitment' scene over here isnt as extreme as it is over there, there are people over here that are doing it, but its the minority. Far too many people are perfectionists on every aspect of the car, which i cant afford to be. id rather focus on getting the car sitting right and having fun with my mates, not stressing out because my retrim isnt finished for a show or because i didnt win a trophy. The E46 lends itself well to having a low, wide, cambered set up. which is what i wanted. i also wanted something that wasnt a VW, as its being over done and every man and his dog has a lowered VW now.

sorry for rambling, i hope that answers your questions though haha.

First of, been a follower of yours on IG for ages...Love your photography and the e46 is ballin'...it's killin it, love it so much

But also everything that you posted above is so true, I couldn't agree more with everything that you've just said! More money doesn't necessarily buy you character, less money forces you to think outside the box... #FvckYourChequeBookBuilds hahahaha!!

[Thooooom]

i havent updated this in ages!

spent a fair bit of time polishing my wheels yesterday in preparation for Edition38, one of the biggest UK shows which is this coming weekend. They dont actually allow anything non-vag into the show area but i'll still be there in the camping area and carpark.

went and grabbed some photos last night just because the wheels were looking so good.










as a kind of side hobby, im also into urban exploring/urbex/place hacking (whatever you want to call it) recently found this derelict factory not too far from my home where you can actually open the shutter and bring a car in, so i had to grab some photos.





couple more on my flickr too: https://www.flickr.c.../106876584@N05/

[Thooooom]

How are the bags doing? Considering getting some for my e46.

theyre doing fine, had no issues really. tank seems to be leaking sometimes over night but i have a feeling its actually the V2 manifold.

[jaywood]

How are the bags doing? Considering getting some for my e46.

[Thooooom]

Sweet vid! I love watching it air out, the wheels meeting the fenders is awesome! Also props for sticking to the OEM bumper!

Now I want another 46

thanks man! yeah i love the SE bumpers, suit the 17's well. much prefer them to the mtech's

awesome video !

kinda makes me wanna get bags for mine...but its pricey as fuck to get a proper setup here.

haha man theyre expensive here too! the US get it easy!

good stuff in here, touche Mr. Thooooom

Sadly I wont be able to attend anything this year but my plan has been to get a camera towards the end of the year and start attending shows from the start of next year

damn that sucks, well i'll definitely be around next year too, not sure if it'll be this car though!

Nice video man! You're making me want an E46 in the worst way

haha do it! thanks man, really appriciate it!

[Alex@BagRiders]

Nice video man! You're making me want an E46 in the worst way

[Mehowski]

Sadly I wont be able to attend anything this year but my plan has been to get a camera towards the end of the year and start attending shows from the start of next year

[glisfl]

good stuff in here, touche Mr. Thooooom

[MadMax]

awesome video !

kinda makes me wanna get bags for mine...but its pricey as fuck to get a proper setup here.

[DER E30]

Sweet vid! I love watching it air out, the wheels meeting the fenders is awesome! Also props for sticking to the OEM bumper!

Now I want another 46

[Thooooom]

yeah that was pretty fuckin dope. what camera and equipment did you use?

thanks man! i used my Canon t4i body with an 8mm fish eye borrowed from a friend and a 17-70 sigma lens for the rest of the shots.

all the shots were filmed on a jib i built, it looks very similar to this.

http://dslrdevices2.dslr-devices.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/inst-10.png