2002 E46 M3 // Build Thread
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Not exactly car related but I knocked out the first step of the garage build - insulating the walls. Such a pain in the ass removing the shelving system the previous owner had. Half was built with nails, at least 1000 of them. After getting all shelving removed, I went with R15 in the walls and eyeing up R38 for the ceiling. My plan is to just finish insulation and vapor barrier this summer and drywall / paint next.
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Noticed a little spot of oil on my garage floor after not driving the car for a bit. At first I thought it was coming from the oil drain plug, but a closer look made me suspect the center oil pan gasket. Sucks I didn’t choose to replace it while the rod bearings were done recently - feels bad dropping fresh oil. Also deep cleaned my reinforcement plate while it was off and it looks pretty darn good!
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Small change - I swapped all the interior lights to LED a while back and just never really liked it. Feel like it modernized the car in a way that didn’t feel right. I’m an idiot and threw away all the original bulbs, so I recently had to go through realoem and gather each bulb part number to buy them through FCP. Feel like the standard bulbs just fit the car better and pair nicely against the cinnamon interior.
Heres a few crappy pics of LED vs standard
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Small change - I swapped all the interior lights to LED a while back and just never really liked it. Feel like it modernized the car in a way that didn’t feel right. I’m an idiot and threw away all the original bulbs, so I recently had to go through realoem and gather each bulb part number to buy them through FCP. Feel like the standard bulbs just fit the car better and pair nicely against the cinnamon interior.
Heres a few crappy pics of LED vs standard
I love the LEDs with my black interior because the car is so dark anyways. But I can agree, the original bulbs are the way with Cinnamon.
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Fish tank mod
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Getting pretty warm out here and the snow is nearly gone! Fired up the M3 to bask in the sun and do a speaker system overhaul. The factory HK system was pretty toast and rattling like a mf so I bought a bavsound kit from @wasnt m3. Installed and sounds pretty good, can finally listen to my tswift without getting a headache
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Current mileage: 136,136
Is your ODO broken?
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Bought a new wheel setup finally! Sorry to disappoint they're just arc 8s. Just hard to argue the price and weight factor of these things.
Apex ARC 8 18x9.5 +22
Continental ExtremeContact Sport 265/35/18
Edit: I noticed the contis have a much more rounded side profile than the more square PS4S. Doesn’t look quite as good as the PS IMO, but makes clearance a bit easier.
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Looks great man! They are popular wheels for a reason

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These are much better than our collector plates. The blue and red is horrid.
Doing a vanity plate with a collector plate is also a nice option that we also do not have.
This is a great color combination as well.
Agreed, the Wisconsin options are pretty ugly IMO. I am already kinda regretting not trying to get “E46” with collectors. Maybe in the future!
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Agreed, the Wisconsin options are pretty ugly IMO. I am already kinda regretting not trying to get “E46” with collectors. Maybe in the future!
I might do it in the future and go the @Partiallypurple route and paint it.
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Agreed, the Wisconsin options are pretty ugly IMO. I am already kinda regretting not trying to get “E46” with collectors. Maybe in the future!
You can do that in MN? We cant do vanity on collector or hobbyist plates in Wisco. I painted my hobbyist plates about 5 years ago and never had issues. (Joking because my car never leaves my shop)
From what I understand, its illegal to alter the plates in any way (hell a license plate frame is considered illegal). On the other hand, any cop I have asked always says its NBD as long as its legible. Its in line with most modifications, be honest and polite when cops ask questions, you are more likely to get a warning.
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