The front of the M3 was bothering me and I needed it lower. So I disassembled the coils and removed the lower collars and cut down the sway bar mounts. There was some pre-load I removed. This plus the additional camber has it pretty much where I want. I just need to swap the tires next.

It looks better than the pictures. Probably because of the shadows.

I’ve known Ray for over 20 years. We met because of drifting/cars and both of us are still doing the same thing. We both ended up in NC from the North East. Today we linked up to do Cars and Coffee and a quick photoshoot after. Thank you Ray.

As with any project there are some things you have to revisit. The front left fender was catching the tire and it broke the bottom corner of the fender, the starter was grinding, oil was leaking from the drain plug, the car needed to go lower, the rear toe needed addressing, and it needed more front camber.

I started with the fender.

I used a two part epoxy and a piece of metal on the back for reinforcement. I’ll fill and repaint this later. Maybe just some touch up paint.

Then I did the drain plug. No pictures but I switched to a longer magnetic one and added Teflon to the threads. No leaks.

Next was the front camber. The top coil bolts were about an inch away from maxing out in the hole of the strut towers. So I used a drill press and hole saw to extend the slot.

Now I can put bigger tires up front.

The starter was grinding because the bottom ear broke off and the starter was misaligned.  I’ll have to pull the intake manifold an install a new one.

Then I installed rear toe plates and lowered the back. I also installed stronger trunk struts for the metal trunk and wing.

After getting the car together I had to focus on moving for the next few days. I was actually living as the new house and had to come back and book end some of the outsanding parts. Topping up the trans fluid, securing all he panels, biltong the exhaust up etc.

Then came the nerve racking but highly anticipated part of putting the car on the ground. I wanted to lower it but I didn’t have the time or the energy.

Backing it out the garage for the first time was amazing. It was dusty but it looked insane. However the starter was grinding. It seems the metal plate between the trans and engine was misaligned. I’ll get to the later. After it burned off the grease and grime I attempted to flip the car around in the driveway to load it on my trailer. In the process the front passenger tire caught the inside of the glass fender abd broke it at the bottom. I was so angry but I tried not to let it dampen the progress.

I sprayed the car off and loaded it very carefully on the trailer.

I got back to the new house late so I left it on the trailer over night. The next morning I pulled the first car onto the freshly epoxied floor.

I sent pictures to Musk Customs. He looked and didn’t respond. Maybe he wing or ride height is not his thing. But clearly I can’t get enough. It will be lowered more. Less rear camber and more front. I also plan to add a gurney flap where I was going to add the Musk sticker, but I don’t want to rep it if he’s not feeling the car. Don’t want to be bad advert. 

Once we get a little unpacked I will put the car back up to figure out the starter and pull the passenger fender to glass it back togehter and trim it so it doesn’t break again. F

Fin

Paint time.

Sanded as much as I could with the panels on the car.  Then took them off to get the areas missed.

Used my tent with tarp on the sides to make a booth and sprayed the grass with water. I put 4 tiki torches at each corner to keep bugs away and used wire hangers to steak the tarp into the ground so the wind didnt blow it.

I pulled the trans. My shifter had been flopping so badly I was breaking the trim and wore a hole in the shift boot.

The Rogue engineering selector rod had a bolt snapped off in one end and the linkage was rotating around it. Had the broken end fallen out I would have been stuck bad. This was 50% of the play so I kept going.

Detents replaced. I didn’t change the top ones because the fore and aft shifting felt fine. The side ones were so cooked the plastic had melted off the metal caps and it was seeping tranny fluid.

Knicks won. Some guy at auto zone convinced me to buy this James Dean model.

I noticed a lot of oil in the bellhousing so I pulled the clutch down. Oil was seeping past the flywheel bolts. So I ordered a rear main seal. I picked up the paint and clear as well.

Rear main replaced. Flywheel and clutch torqued. The disk could be replaced but I don’t have the time right now.

Shifter pulled down to replace shifter elements.

Trans up. Exhaust and ds as well. I need to add engine oil, change the filter, bolt up the under brace, and pull the panels for paint but it keeps raining randomly.

I did also fill some indents on the overs that I did not use for bolts.

I had to trim more off the rear quarters to give enough room for the tire.

I’m blown I went too high on the passenger side but it really doesn’t matter since it’s getting covered. A lot of the paint is peeling up with the tape. Time for final welding and seam sealer.

I added well nuts to the rear and widened the holes for bolts. Also test fitted the old lip. In going to have to trim the edges to get it to fit.

I’ll probably order paint this week.