I haven't posted on Acurazine for awhile since I gave my CL-S to my youngest brother as a graduation present from college. I posted pics of my old modded 330Ci and I got great feedback. I've since sold that car (i've got pics of it still if you guys want to see it), and I have an 06 E55 AMG and an 04 M3 as my current project. I'm posting up some pics of my M3 to see what you guys think.

I JUST got the car out of the paintshop, someone keyed it up in a parking lot and wrote a bunch of profanity deep into the paint. I have a CSL trunklid and a carbon fiber front lip that aren't installed yet (this weekend!). Also, don't make fun of the 4x4 look too much, I have JRZ coilovers and a Supersprint catback exhaust still to install -and next month a HPF turbo kit

It's a custom blue from House of Kolors with a blue pearl ice in the paint. You can't see the pearl ice since it wasn't bright enough and i'm not good at using this new Olympus E500 digital SLR camera. (pearl ice, for those of you who don't know is finely crushed glass..a dust, thats blended into the clear).

7 layers of paint and 5 layers of clear went on the car. You can really see the pearl ice in action between the light and shade...the car really changes color!

Well, here ya go, what you guys think so far.

When I first bought the car: (Beater M3)


95% finished, still some wet sanding/buffing to be done and a few things to be installed:

 

Sweet......

Now I wish I had the problem of having an E55 and a "beater" M3...

 

mr mako ain't lying...you got good problems an e55 with a beater m3....that blue goes hard

 

Very nice pictures. The Mods are very clean and subtle. Can we have a picture of the AMG as well

 

nice wheels and car.

ps. i hate you.

 

lol

guys, when I bought the M3, It had so many rock chips, door dings, and a dent on the fender flare. I bought the car from a woman who drove it as a daily driver in Pennsylvania--even in the snowy winters. She drove through car washes and used the back seat for her two-year old twins. The stock wheels weren't supposed to be that black, that was the gunmetal paint peeling off.

lol, she took good care of the car mechanically though, always dealer serviced and all that and I got a good deal on it. She moved on to an X5.

I'll get you guys pics of the E55 in a week. I'm moving to Seattle from Atlanta and the shipping company has already picked up that car along with my 240's.

Thanks for the compliments, i'll post more pics up when the trunklid and the front lip are installed on saturday!

 

sick wid it!

 

Damn that new color looks nice. Sorry about the keying ... Poor rednecks be hatin' on ze Gerrrrrrrrmans

 

rednecks don't usually key cars

 

No? Did they get together and vote to stop at some point and no one told me?

 

You got great taste in cars

the paint job looks GREAT!!!! If you don't mind me asking... how much did a paint job like that cost?

 

M3 goodness!! +1 to is300eater's comment on great taste!

 

thanks And no, I don't mind. Consider a few things here:

Number 1: The body work involved in getting rock chips, dents and dings out.
Number 2: Detrimming the entire car- removing all the windows, all weather stripping, mouldings, front and rear bumpers ,headlights, tail lights, etc etc
Number 3: Removing and sanding down the entire car and repriming and sealing the car including the door jambs and trunk jambs
Number 4: Respraying the car with a House of Kolors paint that is $500.00 per gallon and requires over a gallon...not including the clearcoat cost, the pearl ice cost, and the other materials involved.
Number 5: Installing a fiber-reinforced plastic trunklid and installing a carbon fiber front lip (which he is doing tomorrow)...that trunklid took a WEEK to prep since just painting it would have made it look wavy...like a cheap body kit
Number 6: Reinstalling everything and wetsanding and buffing.

A custom paint shop charges around $10,000 for this type of paint job. I got the entire job done for $3000

Here are some pics during the painting process...if you guys want, I can post some more of the entire project! Sorry about the quality of these..this pics were taken with his RAZR camera phone so they suck.

 

wow ...the M3 is my favorite car of all time. Love the mods and paint job very sleek and subtle.

 

WOW!!! that's a deal!!! How many days did they keep the car?

 

I really, really, really like the blue.

Good choice man!

 

lol...way way too long. Since my paint guy is also one of my friends, he was doing it away from the shop on his own time and on weekends. I gave him the car the weekend before Thanksgiving and I didn't get the car back till January 14th. He was not working on the car during the Thanksgiving week or the week of Christmas. So in essence it took about 2 months. A normal shop job would take about 2-3 weeks.

 

that sucks that you had only the E55 to drive

 

lol..shush...the E55 is much, much, much faster than the M3 (well for now) but not nearly as fun to drive.

Imagine driving an S2000 around a road course then trying to do the same in the CL.

Not nearly the same fun.

 

good paint job

 

 

See, I am finally at a stage in my life where I could afford to have an older M3 AND a A8 in the garage (think your model M3 and a 2004 A8 or S8).

But living in Japan, all costs are exorbitant for imported vehicles. An older BMW or Mercedes can be had, but the cost of anything is sick. I digress.

Love the color (always fond of blue), and hope all goes well with the move to the NW.

 

Nice!

 

damn thats one fine m3

 

gorgeous M3! Good luck with the move! I can't wait to see more pics of your progress and pics of the E55 as well!

What are your 240s like? (how many, what years, mods)

 

a) You are nice older brother to give you car as a grad present
b) Your car is hot
c) 7 coats of paint and 5 coats of clear??? It must shine like nothing else
d) $3000 is absurdly low for that much paintwork, congrats

 

my intuition says....

1990 Nissan S13 240sx, SR20DET swap, Jun 2.2L stroker motor, Precision GT35RTurbo, AEM EMS, 600+whp
1998 Nissan S14 240sx currenty a GReddy KA-T car, but soon to be an RB26 swapped beast.

 

OMG yes....finally...a M3

Very very very nice! I've been looking for a decent 2005 with low miles but they want wayy too much. Hopefully the price will drop after the E92 comes out.

 

Very nice mods! looks clean! I like that the wheels aren't overkill.

 

Sweet! I like the stance a lot. The after color sorta reminds me of Laguna Seca Blue but a darker, nicer shade of it. The pearl is seen in the paint booth pics and it looks great!

Not to be nosey, but if you can disclose it, how did you get such a good deal? Did you know the shop owner/sprayer personally or what?

 

I used to own a speed shop in Omaha NE, and then one in Atlanta. One of my customers worked at a high end paint shop in town and I traded him labor for labor. I gave him a break on my labor and he gave me a break on his.

I am by training, a Research Geneticist (my degrees are in Biotechnology and Chemistry) and my love for the lab is greater than my love for owning a shop. I got a job with a Biotech company in Seattle so that is the reason for the move.

A lot of people have commented on how much it looks like Laguna Seca during the day, but a tad darker. I like Laguna Seca, but it's too loud of a color for me. This color turned out to be a great compromise.

 

Thanks The wheels are Rays Engineering 19x8.5/19x10 ITC SD..they are a 2 piece wheel--pretty rare and only made for BMW fitment. It's like a BBS CH but with a lip. The offset is perfect, +35 in the front and +22 in the rear. Pretty light too for a 19" multipiece, the rears are 25 lbs and the fronts 21 lbs.

 

lol..thanks..and to everyone else also for the compliments.

My brother has worked hard, he's studying International Business and works for Hyatt Corporation (the hotels). He graduated from high school in 2004 and my parents had bought him a Prelude for graduation. A friend of his took it without asking a few months later and totalled it. After that, he drove this old old 92 Legend and I figured since he's working hard--instead of selling the CL (which I love and couldn't bring myself to do), I gave it to him. He babies the thing..it stays spotless always and he only drives it a few days out of the month. It's an 03 with only 27,000 miles on it.

 

lol...the sig tells you a little bit, but not a lot.

The S13 is putting down 623 whp and 472 wheel torque at about 30 psi on Pump. I cant get traction in any gear on boost since I'm basically only running a 255 in the rear. Since I have coilovers on the car, I'm extremely limited on wheel selection. There is no front clearance with the suspension for higher offset wheels, so with coilovers, I have to be at lower than +20. I have to more than likely get fender flares for the front and rear to allow a 245 in front and a 275 and up in the rear. On a shakedown last summer, I ran an 11.7@138 mph...I was spinning throughout the first three gears. The car is capable of 10s if I can get traction.

On the highway, with my 3.69 rear end (stock is 4.10) I can pull away from a C6 Z06 from any roll above 70 mph. Any slower and I have to catch up a bit from the wheelspin. from 70 to when I hit 150 mph, the Z06 is no where in my rear view mirror.

The 98 I bought last year to build into a show car. It super super aggressive looking with the Origin Body kit. When I bought the car, it was initially supposed to be a simple GReddy Turbo kit (20G turbo) that I could daily drive. I installed it and the car made 300 whp and 275 wheel torque at 8psi. No other mods other than the turbo kit/fmic, and injectors. After a few months, the ring lands went out so I said screw it and bought an RB26 to swap in. The car is going to be finished in time for Nopi this fall.

 

Have you thought of an S15 front clip and rear? Here's what that looks like:







This is a true JDM Silvia, but it's the same underpinnings as the 240. Just a thought.........

 

lol...

it's funny you mention that, I almost bought an S15 silvia from a friend of mine. An 02 Spec-R. I just couldn't bring myself to purchase basically another 240 for $25,000. The only difference is the RHD and nice interior.

I thought about the S15 front end, but I'll post pics of my 240 tomorrow and you'll see why I didn't.

 

Can't wait! Love threads like these.... would've gotten a 240 if I didn't get my Camaro, and I still want one.

 

Guys, like I said, my E55 is being shipped as we speak, however, I found a couple pics I took late last summer to Florida. What ya think?

 

thanks...I'm a little slow sometimes (the one time I don't look, the Sig owns me)

I've always been a fan of 240s and it sounds like you've got a couple sexy ones. Maybe some day I'll be able to get my hands on one Your S14 sounds inredible and I'm sure that S14's going to be one hell of a beast when it's done as well. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing pics of both. Nice pics of the E55, btw, it's looking nice as well. It looks like you've got yourself a nice garage going!

 

Thanks I'll get the rest of the pics up soon. You know, nothing beats a speedometer that goes to 200 mph. lol