Nextel's Imola Sedan ZHP thread (another imola sedan?)

[BMWCurves]

i know elitist will still say:

- the VIN doesnt say WBS so it will never be a real M
- the car didnt come with NaturBraun interior, PDC, Sunblind from the factory etc so its not worth or any more rare since its unofficial....

Well they can shove it. Almost any E46 M3 is drool worthy to me. It's a shame BMW never made one from the factory.

[ZHPizza]

no, im the guy you all love to hate. building car for reasons other than tracking it or driving it hard lol. I dont drive hard, i dont race, I just like driving a car that looks nice, and know that the power is there if I need it (in theory with proper traction )

I can appreciate that. I went with 235's as well and am perfectly happy with them. My driving is mostly relaxed with some instances of "spirited" mixed in. I'm not about endangering others, so I figure if I ever reach a point where I don't have enough grip, it will be on the track and I should invest in a set of track tires anyway.

[nextelbuddy]

I sourced an M3 AUX fan.. since I wanted to run the S54 mechanical fan.. surprised it bolts right up to the core support and plugs right into the e46 body harness and the pins math up as well. PnP


also the coolant reservoir brackets are very different in M3s i guess some people probably zip tie or fabricate new custom brackets but I wanted OEM so I went to another M3 shell and cut out the panel that had the brackets and had them welded to the wheel well in the proper place. just need to repaint the brackets and welds red to match the engine bay.



IMG_20170424_194908-01 by Shawn Robertson, on Flickr

IMG_20170414_190933-01 by Shawn Robertson, on Flickr

[ZHPizza]

Love the angle grinder selfie with hot sparking action

[nextelbuddy]

Love the angle grinder selfie with hot sparking action

i had forgot to get pics of the brackets installed, went back the other day to get some. Also sold silver cube trim and installed Black cube trim.

I got the trim from a Euro recycler and the trim was only $94 and was in good condition, no broken tabs etc.. BUT the shifter surround is slightly different than the US version or maybe its a pre LCI vs LCI thing...the driver side window switch hole was smaller than mine, it came with its own switches which is fine but mine would not fit because mine has a 3rd button for Locking the windows... the euro one just has 2 buttons for front and rear window function but no lock button. it still plugs in and works fine. I flipped the shifter surround and under neath it DOES give the outline to cut it out longer so ill have to do that later with a dremel and steady hands lol.


Wiring is complete, ill have an updated list of the wires that need to be done 100%. I want to make an actual S54 into ZHP thread that details a list of parts required, parts that would be nice but arent completely necessary and can be worked around etc... and little things like some misinformation on things like the fuel pump relay... several threads on e46 fanatics mention that you HAVE to use the E46 m3 S54 fuel pump relay which is located near the trunk area.. well i made sure to grab it but when I went to install it into my fuel pump relay location which is behind the fuse box.. it would not fix.. the pins didnt line up with the receptacle etc... after going after wiring in the TIS for BMW, it seems the fuel pump in both cars is connected the the BUS system...

we are going for an engine start either today or tomorrow to check for wiring and fault codes etc and once that is fleshed out, we can complete the welds on the exhaust..currently everything is tacked together for fitment checking etc...

Right now exhaust is stock S54 manifolds with cats, S54 midpipe with factory resonators, NO mufflers... just straight pipe to the quad tips.. i am pretty sure i am not going to like it, it will be too raspy and too loud for my tastes but i want to get the car running and complete then redo the exhaust later.

ordered and installed some AKG FCAB for M3 control arms, very solid lol at this point i dont think there are any more bushings I can replace...

FCAB - AKG Solid
RTAB - AKG Aspherical
Subframe - AKG
Diff - AKG


here are some pictures of the M3 reservoir brackets welded into the sheet metal as well as some black cube trim pics. and the center console back together with the nicely fully loaded option switch bar.

with the black cube and NB seats, car is starting to look eerily similar to someone elses car on here


Also got the PDC completely wired in and installed along with the sunblind stuff too. ill be adding some info to the existing PDC thread from Terra regarding wiring i found out. Will code PDC once the car is up and running.


IMG_20170425_210543 by Shawn Robertson, on Flickr

IMG_20170425_210507 by Shawn Robertson, on Flickr

IMG_20170426_145016 by Shawn Robertson, on Flickr

IMG_20170425_211614 by Shawn Robertson, on Flickr

IMG_20170424_193241 by Shawn Robertson, on Flickr

[BMWCurves]

Nice progress! Must be exciting to turn the engine over today/tomorrow.

The center console trim you have is probably for a coupe. Coupes don't have the window locking button that sedans do. Verts also have a different control switch for all up/down for windows. Not sure if their console trim is unique or is sized like a coupe or sedan.

[nextelbuddy]

Nice progress! Must be exciting to turn the engine over today/tomorrow.

The center console trim you have is probably for a coupe. Coupes don't have the window locking button that sedans do. Verts also have a different control switch for all up/down for windows. Not sure if their console trim is unique or is sized like a coupe or sedan.

interesting, the trim set was marked as from sedan and had all the pieces including 4 doors but i guess its possible that a coupe shifter trim piece was substituted. in any event its fine and can focus on enlarging the button switch hole larger later.

it is exciting for sure! cant wait to finally drive it. im crossing fingers its ready by Saturday and can be washed and cleaned for a new photo shoot.

[nextelbuddy]

Engine start was yesterday, fired up first time and held idle. pretty excited, just have a very short low quality facebook video that was sent to me. ill get better ones when im there today.

[Stigissimo]

Uhm, how the hell was I not subbed to this. Just unreal. I love me an S54 swap.

Looks fantastic and I can't imagine it would drive anything less than spectacularly.

Really jealous

[Sockethead]

Awesome! It must be hard to contain your excitement!