[gazz1971]

And a manual gearbox red leather ?? hahaha

[achu]

haha thanks for the cybas and the encouragement

i actually love what you did with the e46... such a clean car!

and yup the wheels make or break the car! be wise i think if you do a custom finish on those wheels, they could look immense! but im not feeling the matte black....

[lolololol]

Originally Posted by old grey steve

Today's update

Fitted the BMW Performance back box today all I'd say is along with the downpipes she sound a little bit fruity bangs & pops on the over run sounds epic after 3500rpm.

So upside: Sound feel a bit livelier(though I can't confirm this), no boom noticeable cut cleanly it fitted like a glove

And the downside: In the morning I don't think the neighbours will be too impressed

You have PM

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by achu

haha thanks for the cybas and the encouragement

i actually love what you did with the e46... such a clean car!

and yup the wheels make or break the car! be wise i think if you do a custom finish on those wheels, they could look immense! but im not feeling the matte black....

I was really chuffed with the way the E46 turned out, the majority of people who wanted a CSL boot bought a plastic/carbon lid but when you saw these on the cars to me they never suited my aim and that was to create a look that the factory would of done and to me that meant using the standard boot and everything associated with it so that the average guy in the street wouldn't actually know it had been touched and modified to look different.

People thought I was mad to spend the time/money on grafting a in sword cheap spoiler on to a standard lid, where for say £500 you could buy a plastic/carbon boot, which was lighter and simply have it painted and bolted on. But when you look/looked at what gout there you see they don't fit or to the eye look quite right I saw loads hence the rote I took, but when people saw it in the flesh lifted the boot and saw everything looked and to the feel felt factory they changed their tune. To me the mere fact that menu didn't even realise it had been dine was the biggest complement.

The aim with this car will be to do something similar, the high kick rear spoiler if blended will look different, rather than just mounted the curve on the boot if I chose to do it will be progressive, however I'm 50/50 as I may chose a CSL spoiler(which one I dint know)and have this grafted to the tailgate. Who knows jury is still out on that.

As gut the dreaded wheels all depends in replicating the standard wheels finish, I'd like to see a set in the flesh, but subtly played with colour wise as you say achu, could look really smart

[old grey steve]

Sadly still no wheels. However the very wheel I'm after may turn up during mid to late August which is a shame as I'd of liked to of got something sorted by now but that's life I guess, but as I've been getting itchy fingers re the state of my 203's(kerbed by previous lady owner)I thought sod it and turned kerbed mayhem in to this









A very subtle textured matt gunmetal (difficult to photograph to show the texture as I've just found out with fading light)but I quite like it could of gone for the normal shiny wheel but thats been done and I wanted to experiment with the matt textured type finish to see what its all about and to look at how it lasts/ease of cleaning and these wheels lets be honest are about as good a set up as it gets to put that theory to the test.







and apart from the above little else to report as other things life wise have taken my time, all my bumpers and side skirts I hope should at last be ready now so just need to book the old girl in for fitting I guess

[KM79]

Steve that's a great colour,did you paint these yourself?Its the sort of colour I'm after for my mv4's

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by K_M79

Steve that's a great colour,did you paint these yourself?Its the sort of colour I'm after for my mv4's

I just about trust myself with a tooth brush let alone anything else, they were done by a local wheel specialist tyres off dipped checked for cracks(none)checked for distortion(none)then the magic took placce. Biggest hurdle is keeping them clean hence a quick trip over to Detailing World and Ultimate Finish for some decent wheel seleant and some advice but in the flesh even I was taken aback re how the colour works

[KM79]

Ah ok.It looks a superb job anyway.My local place is £250 for 4 wheels "drive the car there" service powder coating.Tempted to have a go myself and if I balls it up that's the backup.

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by K_M79

Ah ok.It looks a superb job anyway.My local place is £250 for 4 wheels "drive the car there" service powder coating.Tempted to have a go myself and if I balls it up that's the backup.

these wheels were powder coated I forgot to say mine was off the road for just 1 day, which was no hardship, price wise you've been quoted a decent price, mine were done by a good client friend of ours who we do work for, for a price that I was very happy with shall we say.

[old grey steve]

Progress has been well... slow very slow for me due to work, custoemrs cars coming first and other things but the other day a small corner has been turned.





The start of something subtle blending front corner splitters into an M Sport front bumper(mine's an SE). Its not the first time I've done this back in 2009 I done the very same to my old 330d where the standrd look below was OK



but a little more aggresstion was required without making it look non OEM. So some clubsport splitters were orderd and I opted to have them painted rather than leaving them black. The end result was




which gave me the lower front end look as you can see but the overlap where the splitter sat never looked right to me even though everyother E46 owner thought it was perfectly normal so this happened a week afterwards






the end result was this





smoothed look and you'd of though the car came like that from the factory which is how I wanted it to be.

And to follow perhaps with this car too is this, I bought one of the items above a CSL replica rear spoiler(typicaly poor fitting item which I'd seen pained and bonded on to the boot lids.



And they looked crap IMO, so this happened to a repalcement bootlid I purchased






the replica spoiler cut bonded then cut'n'shaved to blend into the boot lid so that you'd never know if you kncked to bood lid checked the underside you saw the OEM bootlid(I was very specific on this I wanted it to look/fell OEM)








If you're asking why I've bothered to show a CSL rear spoiler is simple, I'll either do the same again to my 335 or I'll buy a high kick spoiler and again carry out the same process.

Oh an M3 side skirts are being done as well. Hopefully next Saturday afternoon we'll be reunited

[gaza01]

oh can't wait for the completed pic steve. You's body work guy is SPOT ON!!!!

[Theivz]

lovely e46 mate did the same on the front bumper

rear csl style is my favourite type of rear spoiler for sure

looking forward to updates!

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by gaza01

oh can't wait for the completed pic steve. You's body work guy is SPOT ON!!!!

Shaun, the bodywork Chris and his team does at Finishline is very good indeed, the issue is he battles with everyday stuff a lot of commercial stuff plus his reputation goes to classic stuff where he does full nut'n'bolt restoration stuff(so very versatile)Chris knows I'm kinda fussy he's known me for 20+years, I consider him a friend so knows I want something different, subtle that'll actually not look bolt on, aftermarket or in yer face. It will be achieved the M3 side skirts I know they spent some time playing about with(I pre warned them that there's a bit of history re these not 100% fitting) www.finishlineukltd.co.uk/

I'll see the car during next week hopefully with the side skirts on so that the git can be visualised, it's the one thing in my mind that has a question mark as such over it if you follow me, I'm actually not expecting a 100% flush fit as I've never seen a car with them fitted with this being achieved(usually the rear of the skirts don't quite line up with the lower rear arch line)by 95% fit will leave me happy. If they've managed to get the line right on the arch and again comes back to me being fussy then I'll be blown away.... But like you can't wait Shsun.

Originally Posted by Theivz

lovely e46 mate did the same on the front bumper

rear csl style is my favourite type of rear spoiler for sure

looking forward to updates!

Dharman, the front bumper for me is key this should of all gone through months ago along with the other mods but several things over the last few months have put me on the backfoot which as you know has kinda of put me in no mans land re where I go especially re money as I've been caught out unexpectedly so Mr. Cautious is leading the way where I go next.

But re the CSL type look yes it is my favourite look as well but the blended high kick look could work too if and only if it's execution works. And I think it could if done right hence I'd probably purchase another bootlid like I did last time so that various options can be explored without disabling the car. One thing though I won't use a carbon/glass fibre boot lid it's either grafted on or it won't happen.

But re my old E46 that was a real peach, genuine BBS CH's plus the rare genuine red caps the body work was so subtle but E46 owners who knew always surrounded the csr expecting a plastic bootlid or fibreglass or whatever when the boot was opened and they looked they were amazed, the shut lines were perfect it was in terms of price about the same as obtaining a CSL bootlid and having it painted but the end result for me having a genuine bootlid bit with a difference was so much more satisfying and fir me it's the only way to do this sort of thing.

[gangzoom]

Cannot wait to see the results

[RajB]

Excellent bit of work being undertaken Steve. I do like these kinds of mods as it's just more individual than just paying for a replacement bumper or something. I've done these kinds of mods before and always been so worthwhile.

Look forward to the finished article.

[old grey steve]

Tiny update then it'll all come into place at once..... Seen the car twice since I took the last photo's(last time forgot the iPhone)but the belnds been going on as you can see





notice if you wil the use of expanding PU foam as seen below



its been used again(used it on my E46)to give the splitter extra strength and also aid if the bumpers moved flexibility so that it'll be able to withstand any little knocks.

Looks a little rough'n'ready as seen in the pics I've seen the bumper primed and it looks as good as my E46 did at the same stage, seen he M3 skirts and my M Sport rear bumper all primed they were painted during Thursday and are being fitted today/tomorrow ready I hope for a collection during tomorrow afternoon.

I hope

[AWBimmer]

Looks sweet dude!

[RajB]

Excellent progress buddy.

Will look good once all sprayed up.

[Sparky68]

Leave it just like that and go for the old rat look!

Looking good mate, looking forward to seeing it finished.

[Ess]

Can't wait to see it finished Steve! I've now bought Shaun's old corner splitters and was planning to do exactly the same as you when I got my front bumper resprayed.

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by Ess

Can't wait to see it finished Steve! I've now bought Shaun's old corner splitters and was planning to do exactly the same as you when I got my front bumper resprayed.

Seb: the difference is very subtle stand a car thus equipped next to a standard Sport spec bumpered car and you'll see the difference, its not attention grabbing which I kinda like however with all these 1M dudes around I could be converted later on

Originally Posted by Sparky68

Leave it just like that and go for the old rat look!

Looking good mate, looking forward to seeing it finished.

Its certainly had the rat look the last time I saw it the whole car looked very sorry for itself covered in dust and god knows what else

Originally Posted by RajB

Excellent progress buddy.

Will look good once all sprayed up.

I bloody hope so Raj. You'll never know until the finished articles done'n'dusted and you've had time to wander around an check everything the fit was my main aim to get everything looking factory. I hope I really do hope this has been achieved, I've been told its damn good, the side skirts worry me more than anything as they are obviously non BMW's creation but I've been told they fit sweet.... we'll have to see what sweet means

[old grey steve]

Sadly won't be ready until mid week still they've opted to re profile the sides slightly as they knew I'd moan

So more bondo






and just before I'd arrived they'd finished the off side



I didn't realise but was told the splitters as well as being bonded and filled with PU expanding foam were also fixed with a good few screws(which was done on my old E46 too) then these were taken down and smoothed over meaning the splitter is sold, flexable and will work with the bumper in terms of flexing should a kerb come into view.