Round 3....another M3 build

[Quillhill36]

I dig the way the rears look with the flares, much more aggressive and track prepped look. Keep up the good work man!

+1, but didn't you know it was ruined as soon as they put a roundel on it? lmao. Your car is making me **** coupes even less. flares look awesome. anyone ever mold those in? They follow the oem lines pretty damn well.

[xxcody2130xx]

I dig the way the rears look with the flares, much more aggressive and track prepped look. Keep up the good work man!

[hinrichs]

Love those NT03s along with everything else you've been doing so far. The car looks like a blast! Keep it up

They are actually Hoosier A7



Stayed kind of busy over the weekend test fitting, installing, and cutting up the car more. Only really worked on it a little Friday night and Saturday morning due to having other plans, but feel like I got a lot done.

Friday night I decided to tackle the rear 1/4 windows. I went with the hard motorsport cup style with vents. They fit great but I think I need to find someone locally who can copy the 3-d printed mounts so I can add some more. They are kind of flimsy on the corner. I kind of wish I just called them and ordered the windows without hardware and just the vents since I will probably end up having to rivet them on or something. I do have to say tho, its nice being able to kind of quickly get into the back seat area with them pulled out rather than crawling through the trunk for certain things I drop.

hard window 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
hard window 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Next up was the dive planes. They are probably pointless but I think they look cool and they were on sale. To me it finishes off the front bumper compared to the rear with the diffuser. Very easy to install and fit well.

hard bumper aero by minthinrich, on Flickr

Saturday morning I was feeling really ambitious and decided to tackle the driver side rear fender and flare. Super fun knowing if you mess up, the shell is basically destroyed. I forgot to take pics after it was cut and then the steps to get it welded. I will get some on the passenger side once I work on that which should be tonight. I also plan to space the sides of the rear bumper to meet up with the flares.

rear driver fender 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
rear driver fender 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr
rear driver fender 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr
rear driver fender 4 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[19birel]

Love those NT03s along with everything else you've been doing so far. The car looks like a blast! Keep it up

[Steven_318ti]

LOVE these phat wheels, I'm a big fan or fender flares and this car is gonna look killer when finished, the approach to this is amazing.

[hinrichs]

Cutting the passenger side rear is a PITA, so much weird shaped metal and there is at least 3 layers you have to cut through. Car looks killer with the flares, excited to see it with all four flare and the new wheels and tires on

I still havent had time to cut, but I dont think these need as much cut out as the typical overs. Either way I dont really think I will have much trouble, I just need to make myself start on them already.

Just caught up on the thread, love the car! Makes me want to get an E36. How close are you to Philly?

Im about an hour away I think. Wouldnt mind seeing that S5 someday and doing a shoot....but I have to trailer my car haha

I love those wheels, wish they made them in a more aggressive 17 5x120. Going to look sick once you get them fitted with the flares. Usually I'm all about stock body but this will look like the biz for sure!

I didnt want to cut it up, but its hard to get a lot of tire under these with the stock body. I could have extensively rolled and pulled the fenders, but when this deal came up it was hard to pass on. I really didnt want to switch over to an 18 either, but once I get it sitting right I think itll look even better than it did before. New front springs are deff on the short list however so I can get down to a 5mm spacer.

Great thread, I miss hillclimbs.

Thanks ! I only was able to race in the one this past year since the 2nd was canceled but next year I will be at as many as possible.


Just got a few notices of things being shipped/ready for delivery. Not sure when the passenger flare is going to arrive however but I dont really need that yet. I can mount the damaged flare if It doesnt show up before december 2nd. I do have some hardmotorsport dive planes coming, a new driver side fender trim, rear 1/4 windows and also a lexan rear windshield. Hopefully I can get the stock glass out myself.

[zoolander]

Great thread, I miss hillclimbs.

[cblock406]

I love those wheels, wish they made them in a more aggressive 17 5x120. Going to look sick once you get them fitted with the flares. Usually I'm all about stock body but this will look like the biz for sure!

[Kyrin]

Just caught up on the thread, love the car! Makes me want to get an E36. How close are you to Philly?

[xxcody2130xx]

Cutting the passenger side rear is a PITA, so much weird shaped metal and there is at least 3 layers you have to cut through. Car looks killer with the flares, excited to see it with all four flare and the new wheels and tires on

[hinrichs]

Met my friend saturday to get the wheels and flares. I ended up getting 4 enkei NT03+m wheels wrapped in 285/30/18 Hoosier A7, 4 extra tires with about 50% life, and the hard motorsport flares.

picking up the tires by minthinrich, on Flickr

After grabbing some dinner with him and his wife, headed back home and unloaded everything and started to get working on the fenders. Had to see how wide these tires were next to my extra wheels. This is with a 225/45/17

size comparison by minthinrich, on Flickr
hands by minthinrich, on Flickr

Taped the drivers side, marked my lines and then started to cut.

cutting 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr
cutting 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Grabbed the drivers flare and riveted it on. Fits really well after some minor trimming around the side trim which I need to go back and mess with more. Learned a lot from this side for the passenger.

mounted 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
mounted 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Cut the passenger side which went much faster, but I need to order a replacement flare. The one I got which was in a crash, is a little beat up and twisted. Its also cracked worse than I originally thought. Not a big deal however. Hard to see, but its crazy how wide the wheels are and how silly it looks with out the front bumper on. Cant wait to see the rears. Bumper isnt adjusted properly on this side and it also doesnt have a side mount to hold it up.

cutting 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr
no bumper by minthinrich, on Flickr

Driver side looks good, but I need to loose my 12.5mm spacer. Might need some shorter springs or something and pull the lower shims out.

mounted 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Should be working on the rears tonight hopefully which I am really going to take my time with. Kinda nervous about cutting it.

[hinrichs]

Mmmmmm. Tasty carbon fiber. Do you have sturgeon near you? Or just for novelty?

Any sneak peeks of next year's ideal wheel setup?

That sunroof delete panel looks sick!

Thanks guys, I love the look but might end up painting over it IF the car gets painted over winter. Thinking about colors...itll stay some shade of silver but not 100% sure yet since its a race car. I really need to pull the panel tho and seal it since it got a little wet over the weekend.

Was bored the other day so decided to order the hood pins that I kept eyeing up for a few months. Went with the flush aerocatch. Install really is not too bad, but it was kinda tedious and the one side I had to keep trimming a little. This was due to my template I made and also that I used hole saws on the ends I think. One is slightly off but they work perfectly.

AEROCATCH4 by minthinrich, on Flickr
aerocatch3 by minthinrich, on Flickr

I decided to use the stickers so I can see them flipped up if I forget to latch them before driving. Read about that on some forum and honestly I kinda think it looks better with them on...time will tell.

aerocatch 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
aerocatch2 by minthinrich, on Flickr


Over the weekend I helped my SCCA chapter setup for an autocross at the Classic Auto Mall in morgantown PA. I highly suggest anyone local or not too far to check the place out when they are open. Lots of awesome cars inside. Truck got to do truck things which made me laugh taking 150+ cones.

tuck cones by minthinrich, on Flickr

Had the koseis for sale for about a week or more, figured no one would really want them locally so didnt think much about them. Then I get a message from a guy who wants them really bad saturday night.....I kept saying I kinda need them for the autox but he insisted on buying them and had cash. I had another person lined up but never really heard back and the offer was only a little less than that guy and he would be local and I didnt have to drive 2 hours to meet up. I decided around 9 at night to finally sell them and at 10:30 they were gone. So that left me with a decision about the autox which I was already registered for. Luckily I saved my old wheels and tires from the red E36 I built 3 years ago. 2 are red, 2 are silver, fronts have 500 tread wear hankook ventus v2 tires which are basically brand new. The rears I have no idea what the tires are but they are almost bald and the same 500 tread wear. What an interesting setup to race on. It also was wet so yeah...I had no traction but it was a hell of a fun time.

autox by minthinrich, on Flickr
AUTOX2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Best part tho was getting to have passengers. Gf went along for most of the day which was fun for her to see the car in a different perspective than just the side lines. Now to get her a helmet of her own.

autox3 by minthinrich, on Flickr


Friday I am picking up the new to me wheels and flares. Depending on what I have going on this weekend, they will get installed and I will have a lot more pictures and possibly a video.

[malik0272]

That sunroof delete panel looks sick!

[Quillhill36]

Mmmmmm. Tasty carbon fiber. Do you have sturgeon near you? Or just for novelty?

Any sneak peeks of next year's ideal wheel setup?

[hinrichs]

I haven't checked this in a while and this escalated quickly.

But I like it. A lot.

Thanks, I feel like no one ever sees this anymore.

Looking properly racecar'd.

Thank you, its sure interesting to drive on the street anymore. This winter will change that even more.

Ended up finally weighing the car, with prolly 3/4 tank of gas just to see where I am at after the cage and stuff. Have some ideas on where I can pull weight after talking to some guys, and there is a lot of extra wiring yet to pull but not too shabby on weight. I will also be pulling the rear 1/4 and rear glass soon. 2840 which I am not too sure how accurate the truck scale is.

SCALE by minthinrich, on Flickr

So the other day I was able to get my sunroof removed. Lets just say, I really should have pulled it before I welded in the front cage section. Its not impossible but wow what a royal pain it was to pull. I ended up having to cut the cassette 3 times to get it out of the car. Dropped prolly 40 lb which makes me happy.

SUNFROOF DELETE by minthinrich, on Flickr

Glad I pulled it however since I missed a weld in one spot, and over winter ill get the cage paint stripped and done better. I couldnt really paint a lot of it anyway so from above it kinda looks like crap.

Got my CF delete panel in. Was going to order from S2R tuning again, but I was so annoyed dealing with them for my headlight deletes I didnt want to do business with them again for a long time. I mean come on, how hard is it to give a customer tracking information. End rant....I ended up going to bimmerworld this time, could even be the same panel, but they had it in stock so thats where I went. Had it in 2 days like usual and got it installed asap. The last race of the year however was canceled so I rushed to get it in and I didnt really need it. Oh well its super shiny and looks kinda cool.....Also I made a rookie mistake while screwing in the back of the panel with a self tapper. Used one a little too long and made a pimple looking thing with a tiny hole in my roof. Hammered it down and threw on a big dogfish sticker I made for the upcoming autocross that I should be attending. Depending if I can make the drive to pittsburg area this weekend...I might have a big update to share.

CF PANEL by minthinrich, on Flickr
CF PANEL 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr