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View Full Version : A brief (read: sporadic) history of my ///M



sketchyd
04-04-2013, 12:10 PM
So i haven't really posted many pictures of my car, since i didn't really have any current ones. But i mounted my new rims and tires yesterday and snapped a couple of quick shots, so i figure it's time to tell the tale of B.Mirelli

I bought my car ('99 ///M3 AW/Dove) private sale from northern New Jersey with 86,006 on the clock in september '09. Drove it ~300 someodd miles home, behind my dad, with a friend and a huge smile on my face. Stopped at the beach for a few quick pics. I'm not a good photographer, but they get the point across. Here are some the first day and first week i owned the car:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC06701.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC06702.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC06697.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC06703.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC06705.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC06706.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC06707.jpg

my original lic. plate is the one in my sig..

one of my first projects was blacking out the few pieces of chrome on the car: kidneys and rear badge. apparently i don't have any "after pics" so i will have to get some i suppose. black out grills from BavAuto and black spray paint, masking tape and double sided tape for the badge.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/xmas1.jpg
short shifter came at christmas that year. Z3 lever, and UUC DSSR. ///M valve stem caps in the stocking! shortly thereafter followed a Z3 intake boot and ASC delete (stupid 5 lb restriction got me stuck more than it helped). complete set of tools used:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC06738.jpg

somewhere down the road...
DISASTER STRIKES!!!
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/IMG_0298.jpg
clutch pedal felt wierd one morning. stuck in the down position once, then when i was at my friend's to pick him up, the pieces fell out and it no go. broken master cylinder forced a call to AAA to tow it back to my parents driveway.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/IMG_0300.jpg
repaired with a new MC, new pedal and new bushings.

this next bit, i'm not sure really classifies as "mods," but more "personalization." all my friends loved the car, but always bitched about climbing in and out of the back seat of a 2 door. well, removal of the back seat solved that problem, as no i only hear them whining till i drive away:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC07016.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC07018.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC07022.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSC07028.jpg
my dad's a crafty hands on kinda guy, so one weekend we were both around with nothing to do, and he just said "let's build something for that hole in the back of your car." so we did. Inifiniti BassLink was installed by PO along with Audiobahn speakers all the way around the cabin. great sound quality, and the bass isn't stupid loud and won't overpower the rest of the music. factory H/K headunit/amp.

Oh dear.
Look familiar?
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/IMG_0297.jpg
well, this time the water pump decided to selfdestruct while i was picking up lunch for the shop, and took the fan and enough radiator with it that i deemed it time for a full cooling system overhaul. (second lic. plate and origin of earlier refference in this pic) i was working (within walking distance thankfully) at a Chrysler/dodge dealership at this time, last name Norelli. thus my nickname at the shop became Bimmerelli.

no pics of the cooling system work (must've lost them), but it consisted of a Mishimoto all aluminum radiator, metal impeller water pump, fan delete kit (lower temp t-stat, lower temp fan switch for aux fan basically), aluminum t-stat housing, new belts and hoses. while i was waiting for some internet ordered parts, i began another project while it was sitting in the garage anyway. something i had been roughing out since i bought the car, i dove in on a whim and tore out the interior for a swap.

i love the Dove gray leather in the car (seats/door cards), but the rest of the interior is split between black (cluster and shifter surround, roof liner) and a very boring nuetral gray (rest of door/side panels, most of dash, carpet). my plan was to nix the darker gray of the plastics and carpet in favor of black and a true 2-tone color.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/Image06012011071624.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/Image06012011071613.jpg

with the interior completely gutted, and all the foamrubber sound insulation removed (~30lbs worth probably), i hit a wall, and couldn't get my hands on a carpet within driving distance. after putting the dash back in along with the seats, i drove about 3 hrs to conneticut for a black dashboard. i taped off the leather in the door cards and side panels and painted the plastic black, painted the rest of the interior plastic black too. since the dashboard gets the worst of the sun, i didn't want paint fading and just did a straight swap with a black one (and glovebox).
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/IMG_1306.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/IMG_1303.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/IMG_1307.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/IMG_1305.jpg
glovebox accent strip, b-pillars, shifter and e-brake boots painted with a vinyl/leather paint that was actually coded "BMW Dove" at Robbins. hopefully i'll eventually have a couple extra hundred laying around soon so i can have the boots actually made of dove leather.
few weeks later, black carpet found, again about 3 hrs south in connecticut. purchased, and reinstalled interior in new 2-tone. faint smell of paint for a few days, but the love of the look still remains. good riddance to the ugly gray.

also lacking in pics is my suspension work. done in 2 major installments, i've overhauled almost everything but some of the more PITA bushings. first was done at sometime up to this point in the timeline:
Koni yellows
Turner reinforcement kit for some of the weak points
new strut/shock mounts front and rear
some other stuff i'm forgetting.
well alignment done, and i've got trouble. right front camber is waaay to negative. oh hey, here's a trick people use: swap strut hats up front for more negative camber. 2 right side strut hats installed to bandaid the issue and give me a slightly more aggressive alignment.

last spring, eibach pro-kit went on sale at bav. i'm local so no shipping makes it WAY cheaper than anywhere else. this is what i've been waiting for! over the next couple months, i collected up more needed parts:
Turner rear camber arms
Vorshlag camber plates
2 new rear ball joints
again, some more stuff i'm forgetting

my housemate is also a mechanic. so after getting to my shop on a saturday, we proceeded to completely forget about the camera i brought, and forget to take a "before" height measurement. we tore into it, and had it lowered, with many new balljoints and bushings, and aligned in about 5 hours. well, mostly aligned. the camber plates replaced my camber bandaid. they got set maxxed in opposite directions. a bit confounding, because the front ball joints weren't moving at the time, and the direction of the lean was the wrong way for a bent control arm to be likely. well, shortly thereafter, a ball joint did go, and destroyed one of the 2 new front tires we also installed that day. a couple months ago, i finally got around to replacing both front control arms, and bushings.

(space reserved for picture of ball joint shank)

took a little extra effort to get the right side out of the subframe (that was the issue side). when it did, that (future picture) is what i found. where the shank is supposed to be straight, it most certainly is not. alignment done, and proper!

this was very exciting, as last september i bought new rims on sale, and stashed them till i could fix the control arms and get new rubber for this summer. which brings us to this week:
mounted Bridgestone Potenza RE760 sports, 235/45R17 and 255/40R17 on flat black D-Force LTW5 17x8.5 and 17x9 respectively.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSCN0401_zps5d0a1b2f.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSCN0402_zpsb05ea1be.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSCN0404_zps08c9d61f.jpg
rubber that came off the M-Contours (close one is a rear tire- >20k miles)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSCN0405_zpsd316289c.jpg

and a couple shots taken today with the new rims and tuck
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSCN0406_zps846c0e72.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSCN0407_zps10dc6768.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSCN0408_zpsb8af6541.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/mambutu/M3/DSCN0410_zpse8376323.jpg


next up is exhaust repair for my midpipe, followed by 4 wheel brakes as soon as i have money. which may be soon, since i recieved a Turner email while writing this informing me that brake components are on sale all month.

thanks for looking,
SketchyD
aka
B.Mirelli
aka
dan

:cigar

danewilson77
04-04-2013, 12:24 PM
Love it!

Looks Sketch to me though :shifty

Sent from the HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA and USA

Avetiso
04-04-2013, 12:27 PM
Looks awesome! Love the two-tone interior thing.

Mtnman
04-04-2013, 05:13 PM
In for all the pics!

JupiterBMW
04-04-2013, 10:06 PM
Looks great man, loving the two tone work, I always appreciate people stepping outside the box and making something unique!

Ryans323i
04-05-2013, 06:14 AM
Great read. I had no idea you had put so much customization into your M3. Mad props! :thumbsup And it looks fantaticz.

M3TA5IN
04-05-2013, 06:20 AM
Looks awesome man! Can't wait to see more.


Sent from my fancy city machine.

sketchyd
04-05-2013, 08:54 AM
Great read. I had no idea you had put so much customization into your M3. Mad props! :thumbsup And it looks fantaticz.

Yeah,i didn't really either lol. It's crazy when I list it all out at once.

Thanks everybody. I guess that became not so brief lol. I still have pictures from a 4000 mile roadtrip and my trip to bimmerfest 2011, I'll track them down and post some this weekend.

Tapped on a talk device



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sketchyd
04-07-2013, 08:00 AM
Heres the ball joint I took out. That shank is sipped to be straight.

Edit: maybe? I can't tell on tapatalk.

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johnrando
04-08-2013, 10:13 AM
Good stuff!

bcleaver
04-17-2013, 05:43 PM
Nice work. The car is looking good.

nike001
04-17-2013, 05:50 PM
Damn.

Something about white M3's just get me....

sketchyd
05-16-2013, 06:32 PM
yeah, it grew a mustache
8387

danewilson77
05-16-2013, 06:44 PM
yeah, it grew a mustache
8387

Hehe.

HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA

sketchyd
09-20-2013, 02:49 PM
So over the summer I slowly painted a couple pieces on the car. I asked joop if I could copy his grill, and he graciously said "Of course!"

I had lowes color match a printout of the stripes, and the purple, wet, was reeeeeeeeaaallllly purple, but dried up nice and dark.
Testing the colors
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/ute2uge7.jpg

The grill
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/asahyru7.jpg

And on the car, with the kidney surrounds repainted black
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/e2yjypyq.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/avydusad.jpg

Then I painted my coil cover for something to do
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/by5adage.jpg
I like it, but not sure how I feel about keeping it, without anything matching in the engine bay.


Then a couple weeks ago I picked up this
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/sebenete.jpg
I'm having way too much fun on it, so the ///M has been parked for 2 weeks, not gaining miles.


And some pics from work:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/verazyge.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/pamumaha.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/e3u7ehaj.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/dy2anepu.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/21/jujuryzy.jpg

Sorry for the terrible quality, all phone pics.

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johnrando
09-20-2013, 03:29 PM
:like

Avetiso
09-20-2013, 03:34 PM
Wow, that's really purple when wet...

Finish product looks great, though!

sketchyd
09-20-2013, 05:28 PM
Wow, that's really purple when wet...

Finish product looks great, though!

Yeah, the black helps mute it a bit a well. Btw, the last pic is a shifty knob from a 198(6?) Maserati biturbo. Dog leg is why I photographed it.

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JupiterBMW
09-21-2013, 03:54 PM
Hey man, looks really good. And if it makes you feel better, you didn't completely copy me. You used the older M stripe colors (purple), while I used the newer colors which has the dark blue for the middle stripe. Looks great though... I see you brushed your stripes, that would've been way easier, mine are all spray paint.

Car looks good.

danewilson77
09-21-2013, 04:23 PM
Hey man, looks really good. And if it makes you feel better, you didn't completely copy me. You used the older M stripe colors (purple), while I used the newer colors which has the dark blue for the middle stripe. Looks great though... I see you brushed your stripes, that would've been way easier, mine are all spray paint.

Car looks good.

Why is brushing harder than spraying?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4

JupiterBMW
09-21-2013, 04:43 PM
Why is brushing harder than spraying?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4

No I think brushing would've been easier. No need to worry about masking off the other parts you aren't trying to paint.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro!

sketchyd
09-22-2013, 03:35 PM
Hey man, looks really good. And if it makes you feel better, you didn't completely copy me. You used the older M stripe colors (purple), while I used the newer colors which has the dark blue for the middle stripe. Looks great though... I see you brushed your stripes, that would've been way easier, mine are all spray paint.

Car looks good.

I like the history/meaning behind the purple. I think it came out well.

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sketchyd
10-06-2013, 10:34 AM
Poor quality but a shot of my car st the bav show, and one of the car to see there..

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/07/2a7abyju.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/07/vy3adypa.jpg

If I can figure out how to post it, I have a short video of the second car. It's a z3 that put a ford 302 into with a t5 manual trans. It turned a lot of heads each time we fired it up.


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az3579
10-06-2013, 05:19 PM
^ I saw that car... I was so excited to see that one! Sounded really badass!

sketchyd
10-09-2013, 05:50 PM
https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10151714975578099

embedding, can't figure it out right now. my housemate got this clip, and posted it right to facebook. nobody else was ready with their phones, lol "wait, wait, wait"