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

[Thooooom]

These showed up yesterday. 17x2.5" lips from felgen fuch in Germany. not the widest in the world but wide compared to what im used to! 9J and 9.5J should do nicely.








hopefully collecting my faces from the body shop tomorrow or Monday to start building. cannot wait!!

[chrit.]

no it made sense! haha I've read somewhere before that taking out the end links makes the car sit a bit lower because the links pop? i can't really remember it was a while ago. but thanks! ill prob look into taking the ARB out this summer

[Thooooom]

very interested in the ARB mod, how does it ride without the sway bar connected? and does it make it so u can put the strut down into the knuckle more?

i went directly from the standard suspension to the coils with not roll bar, so i couldnt really speak on the difference between with or without, as i never drove it with the coilovers on but ARB still attached. on my coilovers (HSD Dual Tech) there is a collar that is used to attach the drop link, now that i have taken this off ive gained the extra 50mm (roughly) of thread that it was taking up. it wont allow me to wind the strut into the base anymore as i could already max that out, but i can now lower the spring seat platform (which will reduce travel, but still get me lower)

ive just read that back and its quite hard to make sense of. haha. i cant think of a better way to explain it.

Looks good bud, Any pictures from the side with the rims on??

thanks man. i have a few but nothing i want to post just yet... waiting for the wheels to be on properly first.

[Thooooom]

very interested in the ARB mod, how does it ride without the sway bar connected? and does it make it so u can put the strut down into the knuckle more?

i went directly from the standard suspension to the coils with not roll bar, so i couldnt really speak on the difference between with or without, as i never drove it with the coilovers on but ARB still attached. on my coilovers (HSD Dual Tech) there is a collar that is used to attach the drop link, now that i have taken this off ive gained the extra 50mm (roughly) of thread that it was taking up. it wont allow me to wind the strut into the base anymore as i could already max that out, but i can now lower the spring seat platform (which will reduce travel, but still get me lower)

ive just read that back and its quite hard to make sense of. haha. i cant think of a better way to explain it.

Looks good bud, Any pictures from the side with the rims on??

thanks man. i have a few but nothing i want to post just yet... waiting for the wheels to be on properly first.

[Nuts]

Looks good bud, Any pictures from the side with the rims on??

[chrit.]

very interested in the ARB mod, how does it ride without the sway bar connected? and does it make it so u can put the strut down into the knuckle more?

[Schism]

Looking good bud, been tempted with a E46 as a daily for a while now. Be good to see where this leads

[Queef|Chief]

Wheels give it a nice touch for sure

[Thooooom]

looks awesome with those wheels...

how much of a task is it to remove the swirl flaps ??

easy! i was put off by guides that i saw online, but its basically just moving everything out of the way so you can unbolt the inlet manifold and then just replacing the swift flaps with blanks that i bought from ebay for about £10. theres a few fiddly things to move out the way but i wouldnt say it was difficult. took me around 90 mins

[MadMax]

looks awesome with those wheels...

how much of a task is it to remove the swirl flaps ??

[Thooooom]

i'm making a detailed install thread for my wagon with bags so feel free to use that as inspiration to bag your sedan instead of selling it.

why would u want to sell it and what would your be interested in working on next?

as of yet ive never owned a car for more than a year. by the end of the show im always wanting something different, hopefully that wont be the case with the e46 though.



UPDATE:

got all the wheels split down and the sealant off too, hopefully taking them down to the body shop tomorrow

[austinscottphotography]

theres a small chance that ill be running it static for this year and then maybe bagging it over next winter, but theres also a chance ill sell it in the winter and get something else to ruin. so its hard to say just yet.

i'm making a detailed install thread for my wagon with bags so feel free to use that as inspiration to bag your sedan instead of selling it.

why would u want to sell it and what would your be interested in working on next?

[gallopingford]

Looks great. Those wheels will pull off an excellent look with larger dishes.

[Thooooom]

Looks promising. RF's are always nice

im hoping the same thing!

No side shots with the wheels on?

i got a few, but im not happy with the way it looks height wise so dont really want to post. the car wasnt anywhere near the height i want it to be so looked pretty crap, but from the angle i posted it doesnt look so bad and is a bit of a teaser

very interested to see what you do with this car.
so happy to see deep dish wheels on this car.
what will your new specs be once you get the wheels re-barreled? offset and all?
i ask b/c i have an e46 wagon on 17's and i'm looking for new wheels and want them to fit perfectly.

what are your plans for the car before the end of 2014?

yeah i cant wait for my new dishes! taking far too long to come from germany.

new specs will be:
17x9 et 19 up front
17x9.5 et 13 rear

doesnt look like the rears will sit in the arch before ive pulled them out a bit and put camber arms on. but its all in my plans.

plans by the end of 2014, errr... i dont really know, to be honest i havent thought much past getting the stance right to be honest. the interior is light grey so i feel like changing seats and things will look a bit odd unless i do the carpets and lower dash too. theres a small chance that ill be running it static for this year and then maybe bagging it over next winter, but theres also a chance ill sell it in the winter and get something else to ruin. so its hard to say just yet.

Can't wait to see this fitted, Ive got something for RF's, havent seen alot of facelift sedan with them.

ive always loved them so have been set on them for a while, to be honest most of the e46's ive seen run 18's, especially in the UK, so i think thats why its not been done that much, im a bit worried about if ill get low enough to pull it off, but if i do its going to look pretty awesome i think.

thanks for all the kind words guys.

[Tino21]

Can't wait to see this fitted, Ive got something for RF's, havent seen alot of facelift sedan with them.