I thought I'd share some (a lot?) pictures here in hopes of helping anyone else out in the market and to gain some inspiration to any modifications they want to do to it. A lot of these pictures are posted within the many threads of this forum.
Eight years ago I found this car after looking a whole year for it before. I had to find a 2003 330i ZHP which was only an American model. Luckily someone traded it in at a local BMW dealership in Vancouver and the price was decent enough for me to snatch it up 6 hours after seeing it one Sunday morning during a BMW Club of BC meet. It's been 8 years of learning many things that make a vehicle's personality and to explore the fine edge of fear, question, and excitement. So now...pop your popcorn, put your pajamas on, turn the lights out because it's time to see a picture story of my car's journey...
I new I needed to get clears so I started with a craigslist ad for clear front corners and side markers:
Then halos for Christmas from my sister:
I knew I needed dedicated snows so I thought I'd get 17" E39 M5 replicas which served a great purpose....fun in the parking lots?
I then ventured into creative use of photography...
Then it was time to bring the car to advanced driver training to explore the limits of the vehicle.
The tires (modded Toyo T1S from previous owner) just turned to jello at Mission because of the cornering and braking hard:
The infamous rolling shot of course:
Then the 1st violent episode of my car's life and my patience happened:
The awesome thing that came out of it.....clears!!
Getting more into the car scene I got to meet many other enthusiasts:
One memorable moment was when my friend was riding shotgun and I was cornering so hard he was nearly imprinting his fingerprints on the outside of the door. :laugh2:
Went to a dyno meet at Miller in Abbotsford:
For ten years I've been taking performance driving classes from local friends/instructor/race drivers. They said it was time for me to step into a higher performing vehicle so I made the decision to head out to Phoenix, Arizona for more training with better equipment and facilities....the legendary 505HP, Corvette Z06, which is an awesome performing machine.
Hydraulic lifters to simulate any surface to no surface and learn how to handle a RWD vehicle:
Thank god after all I learned and being timed, I came in at the top of my class and now it was time to go home for more plans to my car:
I came home being inspired by this trip trying to find a way to justify more vehicle upgrades....LOL. My justification came and this is what I splurged on:
After having everything adjusted, mounted, and installed, I still thought I was dreaming...
But I knew I wasn't after a couple more weeks...LOL
Then it was off to Santa Barbara for Bimmerfest:
Buddies came along too which made it an even better trip:
Caught myself in a nice shiny detailed semi-truck wheel:
The wheels are only a couple months old and just loving the look:
Taking pics downtown Vancouver has always been fun:
One day it was time to get the ECU tuned by well known tuners in the LA area who flew up here for a weekend of tuning fun:
My ECU was taken out of it's protective casing and programmed:
A friend's car with (I believe) in excess of 600hp was getting tire ripple when being tested on the dyno:
One day at the office I decided it'd be cool to find places close by and on the way home that would make a good shot:
During one of the first snow falls I decided to freeze myself for an hour making this shot turn into something more creative which came from a previous LED light experiment in the summer:
One thing I love are the yellow highbeams that cut through all the nasty weather if I need to see that far during the night. It also looks menacing!
This alignment reminds me of kids with headgear to straighten their teeth...LOL
Yes this rubs on large dips....
Luckily the fronts have no problem...
Then I got to a special point in my car's life....150K miles...LOL:
I also changed out my M5 replica wheels for sport package equipped 330's which are easier to keep clean in our wet winter:
Or sometimes frozen...
So there you have it.....if you haven't already fell asleep....some of the many pictures I have captured in the 8 years of owning this car.....and here's to another 8!! I hope these pictures may serve some of you E46 owners if you have questions or were waiting to find a certain look you want. My car is still pretty stock looking compared to some but if you have any questions about the E46, I will try my best to answer as I have done a lot of my own work on my car. It's been a great 8 years of learning DIY's! Thanks to the army of E46 DIYs who have helped me afford this car over the years. Without you guys I'd be thousands of dollars less than now...
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Originally Posted by ejp2fast
