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Thom's bagged E46 saloon/sedan - Airlift, BBS RF - UK Build

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  • Thom's bagged E46 saloon/sedan - Airlift, BBS RF - UK Build

    Hi guys, not had a thread on here before but have been a longtime follower of stanceworks. up until now ive used Edition38 UK forum for my builds but now ive come away from VW's i thought id move over to here.

    heres my previous car, a 6n2 polo tdi.


    i wanted to stick with german, and have been fancying an e46 for a while now after seeing so many guys in the US make them look unreal. i managed to pick up a 320d saloon from a dodgy garage for a fairly good price.

    the car is a 2002 BMW 3 series e46 saloon 320d in steel grey (which from what i can tell is fairly uncommon). its an SE model with parking sensors, cruise control, climate control, 6 disc changer, but its fairly basic inside.

    i use the car to commute to and from uni 3/4 days a week so i needed something fairly modern, reliable and affordable to run.

    heres the car once i got it home.



    and a shot with it next to my friends new b5 s4



    first thing was to remove the swirl flaps as ive heard a lot of horror stories. luckily mine were fine but replaced them for blanks anyway

    was a bit worried about doing this job but it was suprisingly easy.



    changed the front badge as its taken a beating over its 146000 mile life time.



    managed to source some US front indicators from german ebay for a bargain price.



    and then ordered my coilovers! HSD dualtech model with camber topmounts and 16 way adjustable dampening. ive never had anything other than stupidly cheap 'ebay jobs' before so these are a bit of a treat to make it more bearable for me on the drives to uni.



    also picked up some wheels. although most people run 18's on e46's i decided i wanted to go 17's, mainly because ive had a long term love for BBS RF's. picked these up from a guy on here. 17 x 8/9 5x120 fully polished including centre nuts. sadly at some point in their life theyve been sprayed by some nasty wheel cleaner and the faces are now all hazy and nasty, but im planning to paint them so this isnt a problem.



    and a photo of my coilovers. amazing quality for the price.



    before splitting the wheels i wanted to test fit them to get an idea of how they would sit and what size dishes i wanted to buy (as i knew the 8's were too skinny) i tried both 9's on down one side of the car to see if i could fit them up front. on standard suspension it didnt look good.



    but i test fitted again after fitting my HSD's with the camber top mounts set to maximum negative, and the tyre just tucks giving the perfect look i was aiming for.



    sits perfectly upfront and theres plenty of room to come down on the coilovers now that ive cut out my ARB and taken off the drop link sleeve from the coilovers.

    another photo of the front.



    then pulled the tyres off..



    heres a better photo i got today of one of them.



    im now in process of splitting the wheels down for painting and bigger dishes, ive decided to stick with the 9's up front and run 9.5 out back with camber arms (yet to be bought). im undecided on colour for the faces as of now, grey/silver most probably. ive just ordered some 2.5 inch dishes for the rear from felgen fuch in germany and my front 1inch lips will be up for sale if anyone is interested!

    so far ive split 2, this is my first time splitting wheels so its a bit of a learning curve.



    planning to be on the wheels and running a fairly decent fitment for Ultimate dubs which is the first big show in the UK, March 9th.

    hopefully ill keep this up to date as i go, and get some photos a bit better than all these crap ones.
    Last edited by Thooooom; 02-26-2014, 08:30 AM.
    Bagged E46 saloon/sedan build thread --->>> http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=55964

    Instagram: thomwilliams_

  • #2
    Interested to see where this goes! Looks good so far!



    Comment


    • #3
      Can't wait to see more... 👌
      IG- @NickyD_69
      photo by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/77947560@N07/]

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by NeilP View Post
        Interested to see where this goes! Looks good so far!
        thanks, i've got high hopes haha. bit worried its not going to be as good as im seeing in my head but we'll see.

        Originally posted by nickyd View Post
        Can't wait to see more... 👌
        thanks dude, hopefully ill have some progress on the wheels soonish.
        Bagged E46 saloon/sedan build thread --->>> http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=55964

        Instagram: thomwilliams_

        Comment


        • #5
          Looks promising. RF's are always nice

          Comment


          • #6
            No side shots with the wheels on?

            Comment


            • #7
              very interested to see what you do with this car.
              so happy to see deep dish wheels on this car.
              what will your new specs be once you get the wheels re-barreled? offset and all?
              i ask b/c i have an e46 wagon on 17's and i'm looking for new wheels and want them to fit perfectly.

              what are your plans for the car before the end of 2014?
              E46 Touring Build Thread http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=56076

              Comment


              • #8
                Can't wait to see this fitted, Ive got something for RF's, havent seen alot of facelift sedan with them.
                IG@valentinoduplan

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Minuki View Post
                  Looks promising. RF's are always nice
                  im hoping the same thing!

                  Originally posted by dylan. View Post
                  No side shots with the wheels on?
                  i got a few, but im not happy with the way it looks height wise so dont really want to post. the car wasnt anywhere near the height i want it to be so looked pretty crap, but from the angle i posted it doesnt look so bad and is a bit of a teaser

                  Originally posted by austinscottphotography View Post
                  very interested to see what you do with this car.
                  so happy to see deep dish wheels on this car.
                  what will your new specs be once you get the wheels re-barreled? offset and all?
                  i ask b/c i have an e46 wagon on 17's and i'm looking for new wheels and want them to fit perfectly.

                  what are your plans for the car before the end of 2014?
                  yeah i cant wait for my new dishes! taking far too long to come from germany.

                  new specs will be:
                  17x9 et 19 up front
                  17x9.5 et 13 rear

                  doesnt look like the rears will sit in the arch before ive pulled them out a bit and put camber arms on. but its all in my plans.

                  plans by the end of 2014, errr... i dont really know, to be honest i havent thought much past getting the stance right to be honest. the interior is light grey so i feel like changing seats and things will look a bit odd unless i do the carpets and lower dash too. theres a small chance that ill be running it static for this year and then maybe bagging it over next winter, but theres also a chance ill sell it in the winter and get something else to ruin. so its hard to say just yet.

                  Originally posted by Tino21 View Post
                  Can't wait to see this fitted, Ive got something for RF's, havent seen alot of facelift sedan with them.
                  ive always loved them so have been set on them for a while, to be honest most of the e46's ive seen run 18's, especially in the UK, so i think thats why its not been done that much, im a bit worried about if ill get low enough to pull it off, but if i do its going to look pretty awesome i think.

                  thanks for all the kind words guys.
                  Bagged E46 saloon/sedan build thread --->>> http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=55964

                  Instagram: thomwilliams_

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Looks great. Those wheels will pull off an excellent look with larger dishes.
                    2013 Shelby GT500 on AirLift and Rotiforms - Build Thread
                    Instagram: @gallopingford

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Thooooom View Post
                      theres a small chance that ill be running it static for this year and then maybe bagging it over next winter, but theres also a chance ill sell it in the winter and get something else to ruin. so its hard to say just yet.
                      i'm making a detailed install thread for my wagon with bags so feel free to use that as inspiration to bag your sedan instead of selling it.

                      why would u want to sell it and what would your be interested in working on next?
                      E46 Touring Build Thread http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=56076

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by austinscottphotography View Post
                        i'm making a detailed install thread for my wagon with bags so feel free to use that as inspiration to bag your sedan instead of selling it.

                        why would u want to sell it and what would your be interested in working on next?
                        as of yet ive never owned a car for more than a year. by the end of the show im always wanting something different, hopefully that wont be the case with the e46 though.



                        UPDATE:

                        got all the wheels split down and the sealant off too, hopefully taking them down to the body shop tomorrow
                        Bagged E46 saloon/sedan build thread --->>> http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=55964

                        Instagram: thomwilliams_

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          looks awesome with those wheels...

                          how much of a task is it to remove the swirl flaps ??

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by MadMax View Post
                            looks awesome with those wheels...

                            how much of a task is it to remove the swirl flaps ??
                            easy! i was put off by guides that i saw online, but its basically just moving everything out of the way so you can unbolt the inlet manifold and then just replacing the swift flaps with blanks that i bought from ebay for about £10. theres a few fiddly things to move out the way but i wouldnt say it was difficult. took me around 90 mins
                            Bagged E46 saloon/sedan build thread --->>> http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=55964

                            Instagram: thomwilliams_

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Wheels give it a nice touch for sure
                              Insta: @pantiesmores

                              Build: http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...hlight=versace

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