Another E46 Build

[slamitall]

Well, I'm back, I scrapped my last project (foxbody) after reaching limitations with ride height and honestly desire. But I started a new build, so we'll get right to it.
Foxbody-


The new car, a clean little 323i sedan, got it bone stock with a thrashed cooling system so that was the first order of business after I towed it home, and there it sat until this past Friday when the fun work started happening.




Copped a set of BC BR Coilovers, CATuned camber arms, 15mm wheel spacers, a set of square 19x10 Style 63's


some Achilles ATR Sport 2 225/45r19 came in, wishing I would've gone with a 225/40 though, but these will work for now



These CATuned camber arms were really nice quality, and although they advertised up to -1 degree of camber, I think you'll see that was an extremely conservative estimate


Finally after searching frantically for spacers when the wheels wouldn't fit (hitting the shock body) a buddy of mine gave me a set of 15mm spacers and extended wheel bolts, we got everything on



Some fancy jack work with 3 different levels of wood, the car was rolling, and drove it the 20 miles home late Memorial Day night, and it rode surprisingly well




This morning I came out just to look at the car, and it settled a little more than I anticipated, but still looks great, and also found a set of clear corners I ordered and completely forgot about sitting on my porch, more pictures coming tomorrow. Still waiting on the new shifter, custom Grip Royal wheel, and cherry blossom satin fabric to make a shift boot and door card inserts, hoping everything comes in this Friday, but my birthday is the following Friday, so if parts come in by then, that would be a great gift to myself.

[Fruttolo]

I am always in for bmw projects, this being a "basic" silver sedan on silver wheels needs to have all the focus on the stance and fitment, I suggest you go with 225/35s or 235/35s as anything taller is way too big for the e36/46 platform

[hinrichs]

Dig the wheels, but the amount of rear camber kills it for me.

[Graphitemk6]

I'm always in for 4 door beemers. So far it looks pretty dope a bit less rear camber would be cooler though imo

[slamitall]

I am always in for bmw projects, this being a "basic" silver sedan on silver wheels needs to have all the focus on the stance and fitment, I suggest you go with 225/35s or 235/35s as anything taller is way too big for the e36/46 platform

Honestly I thought it would stretch more than it did, but when it’s time to do tires again, I’m definitely going with a 225/35, I agree totally that basic builds need more attention to detail, but mind you I just got the car running this past Saturday, and it saw road for the first time on Monday. I promise there’s more to come, bumpers and mirrors and the like. But for the next few weeks a lot is gonna change on the interior to clean that up a bit

[slamitall]

I'm always in for 4 door beemers. So far it looks pretty dope a bit less rear camber would be cooler though imo

Yeah the rear camber is out of necessity, but if I could get the front to camber a little more and drop the front a bit with some custom springs, I think the camber would look great if the front was around -5ish

[slamitall]

Dig the wheels, but the amount of rear camber kills it for me.

Honestly out of necessity, but I’m gonna try to get the front to camber some more so it’ll match better, front also needs to come down like .5-.75” also

[slamitall]

Quick little update, got the clear corners put in, and had to roll the rear fenders a bit more, and pull the front fenders just at the corners, got it all finished just in time for killer lighting after the storm, and with a buddy. Hopefully the next update will be a bit more substantial

[slamitall]

Well, there’s bad news and worse news. First, I got an alignment done (-8.5 rear, -3.6 front) the rear has too much toe in (.4) so I had to order offset trailing arm bushings, and we are going to notch the trailing arms to have more adjustment, I also have offset CAB’s coming to give me more caster in the front. And time for the worse news, like every e46 my coolant tank decided it didn’t want to hold coolant anymore, I limped it home and had to buy a new tank, but in an effort to keep the car as cool as possible, I have 2 16” 2000cfm Spal fans, and a dual fan controller from ChaseBays on the way, as well as some bushings for the subframe, hood vents to get stagnant air out of the engine bay, and an M3 style bumper coming. Hopefully I’ll have a good update with pictures by next week.

[Asshole Bicycle]

I have pretty much an identical car. It's pretty boring-looking stock, so it's nice to see what can be done with one.

What do you think the range of camber is from those arms? Are you at max camber? I'm looking for a little more than stock but not THAT much, lol.