"It's a "Porch-uh"" (ikazuchi)
12/17/2015 at 11:49 • Filed to: M3
3
11|
"It's a "Porch-uh"" (ikazuchi)
12/17/2015 at 11:49 • Filed to: M3 | 3
| 11 |
My quest to build a “cheap” E46 M3 race car for NASA GTS3 has come to an end. After a year of minimal progress, I got tired of this thing taking up space in the garage, finished stripping the shell, and drug it out into the street (then onto the trailer).
The joker who owned this car before me decided to go the opposite direction from the owner before, who did all the subframe reinforcement this car needs (the E46 M3 corners so hard it likes to tear itself apart), and sold the “useless” front upper strut tower brace. This, combined with the lowering springs and larger anti-sway bars resulted in the front strut towers flexing and pulling themselves apart. This may or may not have contributed in him “suddenly losing control all of a sudden” and putting the front-right wheel into a curb and pushing the strut tower about 5” inboard.
The car was then towed into my friend’s shop and quickly written off. I was in-between race cars, having sold !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! so, of course, he sends me a text. “Dude. There’s an E46 M3 down here that’s going to get totaled. It’s totally salvageable if you want it.” After hemming and hawing, I picked up the car for $5K. If anything, the motor is worth that much so it wasn’t a huge risk.
Took it home and the slow strip began. Gutted the interior. Sold most of it (some was garbage) and traded the seats and door cards for some wheels. Paid one of the guys at the shop to pull the engine and transmission (I don’t have a lift at home and really didn’t want the aggravation).
I pulled the front subframe and suspension off first so I could get a good look at the damage and start getting estimates. Apparently you should not do that with the car on the standard jack points and a bunch of parts in the trunk without supporting the back.
Finished yanking the rest of the parts off the shell, gutted the doors, bought a few parts (more wheels, strut tower brace, tow hooks), and got it ready for the body shop.
Then... nothing. I talked to a few shops about fixing it. Priced out suspension. Planned out the cage design for a month. But no progress on the car. Every time I went into the garage it was taunting me. “Come on. Take some time away from the family and work on me,” it would say, but I couldn’t do it.
Then the talk about moving. Oh crap. I don’t want to move all this and there’s no way I’ll have it even close to rolling soon. Plus, the cost of moving is going to eat into my race car budget. Ugh. Defeat. I can’t justify this perpetual project.
So sadly, no bites on the shell yet, so this once mighty E46 M3 might go to the scrap yard, but it’s guts will live on in another car. Maybe even one of my cars. My wife’s E46 touring is looking like a good candidate for an engine swap. Does the M3 rear subframe bolt straight in? How much for a custom driveshaft?
No! Stop! No more projects for a while!
Maybe...
TheHondaBro
> It's a "Porch-uh"
12/17/2015 at 11:56 |
|
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/a-viper-for-15…
iSureWilll
> TheHondaBro
12/17/2015 at 11:59 |
|
There we go!
Justin Hughes
> It's a "Porch-uh"
12/17/2015 at 12:08 |
|
Ran when parked.
|
It's a "Porch-uh"
> TheHondaBro
12/17/2015 at 12:18 |
|
I’ve seen those before, but not sure what I would do with it. The motor is the only thing there I’d really want.
Baskingshark
> It's a "Porch-uh"
12/17/2015 at 12:18 |
|
Probably time to cut your losses man.
If I had the $$$ and the time I would drop that drivetrain in an E30!
|
It's a "Porch-uh"
> Baskingshark
12/17/2015 at 13:02 |
|
We run an E30 318is in LeMons, and the guys keep saying we should swap it in and hide the M valve cover. Soooo much work to swap it in. You need to fab a custom subframe, swap over the oil pan and pickup from an E34 M5, custom driveshaft, and lots of chassis reinforcement.
Also, I’m not donating a $6K engine/trans to a LeMons car, even if we’re still one of the non-cheaty E30s out there.
|
Baskingshark
> It's a "Porch-uh"
12/17/2015 at 13:08 |
|
YeahI know of the work involved as I lurk on the R3vlimited boards often and drool over some of the build threads.
Droppingit in your wife’s touring as you said would make for a great sleeper.
|
It's a "Porch-uh"
> Baskingshark
12/17/2015 at 13:14 |
|
She keeps talking about a new car and I’m thinking of getting rid of our Tahoe, so that just might be my new daily.
|
Baskingshark
> It's a "Porch-uh"
12/17/2015 at 13:26 |
|
I know I would daily an S54 swapped touring for sure!
Ghost Vardy
> It's a "Porch-uh"
08/12/2018 at 14:41 |
|
How much do you want for the shell?
|
It's a "Porch-uh"
> Ghost Vardy
08/14/2018 at 22:34 |
|
$50