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So after holding onto my Bora for way too long through uni, I decided to sell up and move on to something different. I had a million ideas for cars to go for, but after putting together a photoshop of a pretty special idea, I had my heart set on an 330D E46 touring. The bora was sold in April, and it took me until the end of July to find a decent 330d touring that ticked all the boxes - manual, black, M-sport, leathers etc. Luckily one popped up just over an hour away and we made the trip that night to do and see it, everything checked out and drove it home that night.
The car had full BMW service history, lowish mileage for one of these and was already on coilovers which made my life easier, and some terrible BBS LM reps. Also has an awesome Ipod/satnav/dvd player headunit which I spent the whole drive home playing with.
First thing was to give it a good clean, polish and wax:
IMG_20140719_212151 by hydeh, on Flickr
Natty's paste was is probably the best smelling thing ever.
After that I pretty much drove it around as it was for a while making a couple of little changes and fixing a few small issues.
I bought some poverty spec rear lights to replace the red/clear outers that were on it, and then used some red tint spray to make the inner rear clusters all red. Such a simple thing to do but I think it made such a difference to the rear end. I also got some orange side repeaters and scoured ebay for some amber corners but still haven't managed to find any yet.
I did a photoshop of what I had planned for the car at the start of the year, and from then on new I had to make it happen. Because of this, I ended up buying the wheels for it before I'd even sold the bora :lol:
Made a trip to London and bought these bad boys for a really good price:
IMG_20140828_182806 by hydeh, on Flickr
I did a lot of googling to see if these wheels had ever been put on an e46 before, and except for one terrible photoshop of some on a saloon, there was nothing else anywhere, which made me want to do it even more! Spent a while working out offsets and then ordered adapters from TT Tools. Ridiculously fast turnaround on these, and really good quality! Put the order in on Thursday and had them at my door the following Tuesday.
Did a couple trial fits to work out what kind of work i'd need to do:
IMG_20140823_181432 by hydeh, on Flickr
IMG_20140823_180020 by hydeh, on Flickr
Rears were pretty perfect for the overall plan, but pretty much sat on the standard rear arch because of how beefy it is! Ended up cutting out the rear bumper mount among other stuff, and shaved some stuff down to stop it rubbing. Fronts were a little but further out than I'd hoped, but it was the thinnest adapter I could get away with. The 205/40 up front was wayyyy to big though, so ended up swapping that out for a 35. But couldn't get them fitted until Thursday night before edition.
Cue a last minute effort to get the helpers out in the rain in the dark, and get the wheels on and get it sitting right. The fronts turned out great, but the rears despite my best efforts just weren't playing ball so had to raise it a bit to stop it from rubbing for the time being as I didn't have time to cut/roll them before edition.
So for now, this is the finished product:
IMG_20140829_194540 by hydeh, on Flickr
IMG_20140830_064237 by hydeh, on Flickr
IMG_20140830_172557 by hydeh, on Flickr
IMG_20140831_083552 by hydeh, on Flickr
Terrible pictures I know, but I forgot my camera so had to use my phone. Didn't really have time to take any pictures in general of the build as I was so rushed getting it done!
The plan now is to get it sitting better. Needs to go lower all round, the rear arches need some attention to give me some more room to do so, need to source some amber corners for the front, thinking of exhaust options, definitely needs a remap and just a general tidy up!
Oh and some decent pictures.
The car had full BMW service history, lowish mileage for one of these and was already on coilovers which made my life easier, and some terrible BBS LM reps. Also has an awesome Ipod/satnav/dvd player headunit which I spent the whole drive home playing with.
First thing was to give it a good clean, polish and wax:
IMG_20140719_212151 by hydeh, on FlickrNatty's paste was is probably the best smelling thing ever.
After that I pretty much drove it around as it was for a while making a couple of little changes and fixing a few small issues.
I bought some poverty spec rear lights to replace the red/clear outers that were on it, and then used some red tint spray to make the inner rear clusters all red. Such a simple thing to do but I think it made such a difference to the rear end. I also got some orange side repeaters and scoured ebay for some amber corners but still haven't managed to find any yet.
I did a photoshop of what I had planned for the car at the start of the year, and from then on new I had to make it happen. Because of this, I ended up buying the wheels for it before I'd even sold the bora :lol:
Made a trip to London and bought these bad boys for a really good price:
IMG_20140828_182806 by hydeh, on FlickrI did a lot of googling to see if these wheels had ever been put on an e46 before, and except for one terrible photoshop of some on a saloon, there was nothing else anywhere, which made me want to do it even more! Spent a while working out offsets and then ordered adapters from TT Tools. Ridiculously fast turnaround on these, and really good quality! Put the order in on Thursday and had them at my door the following Tuesday.
Did a couple trial fits to work out what kind of work i'd need to do:
IMG_20140823_181432 by hydeh, on FlickrIMG_20140823_180020 by hydeh, on FlickrRears were pretty perfect for the overall plan, but pretty much sat on the standard rear arch because of how beefy it is! Ended up cutting out the rear bumper mount among other stuff, and shaved some stuff down to stop it rubbing. Fronts were a little but further out than I'd hoped, but it was the thinnest adapter I could get away with. The 205/40 up front was wayyyy to big though, so ended up swapping that out for a 35. But couldn't get them fitted until Thursday night before edition.
Cue a last minute effort to get the helpers out in the rain in the dark, and get the wheels on and get it sitting right. The fronts turned out great, but the rears despite my best efforts just weren't playing ball so had to raise it a bit to stop it from rubbing for the time being as I didn't have time to cut/roll them before edition.
So for now, this is the finished product:
IMG_20140829_194540 by hydeh, on FlickrIMG_20140830_064237 by hydeh, on FlickrIMG_20140830_172557 by hydeh, on FlickrIMG_20140831_083552 by hydeh, on FlickrTerrible pictures I know, but I forgot my camera so had to use my phone. Didn't really have time to take any pictures in general of the build as I was so rushed getting it done!
The plan now is to get it sitting better. Needs to go lower all round, the rear arches need some attention to give me some more room to do so, need to source some amber corners for the front, thinking of exhaust options, definitely needs a remap and just a general tidy up!
Oh and some decent pictures.
. Still so much more to do to it to get it to where I want it to be, but i'm happy with how it's started off.
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