Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Mar 2011
- Posts
- 11,096
I like this!Took a trip to goodwood and couldn't resist, also had a really good chat with Luke from the autoalex youtube channel, sound bloke!
Show Us Your Motors!
- Thread starter Lopéz
- Start date
Soldato
Going through some of the pictures of my trip to Switzerland. The scenery was absolutely stunning.
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I really want to do this next year @MrRockliffe. Did you combine it with any other trips? How long were you out there?
Soldato
I built a full agenda with stop overs in different countries en route.
SAT June 29th - Saturday Eurotunnel to Calais then Luxembourg city
SUN June 30th - Sunday - Freiburg im breisgau
MON July 1st - Monday - Liechtenstein - (Malbun) via konstanz
TUES July 2nd - Tuesday - Switzerland - Lucerne
WEDS July 3rd - Wednesday - Switzerland - Bern
THURS July 4th - Thursday - Drive Great St Bernard Pass and stay at Annecy via SS26 and D1090
FRI July 5th - Friday - France - Reims
July 6th - Saturday - France - back to Calais
Total trip cost was about £3,000 between 2 inc hotels, food and fuel.
We made sure to hit every squiggly road possible between each stop. In the car about 8am to 8pm every day with regular stops for photos, drinks, fuel. Don’t eat big meals while driving as it knocks you out for a while. We had Yfood for brunch and then nothing until dinner.
Absolutely cracking trip and would highly recommend. If you ever wanted to have a call to discuss routes/roads/passes/tips just drop me a message on here
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Thanks mate. Appreciate that! I'm a member of "BMW Performance Car club" and they are setting something like this next year! Anything you would have done differently?
I should really get round to posting my 21-year-old rot box on here. Slowly getting back into the forums after a long time away!
I should really get round to posting my 21-year-old rot box on here. Slowly getting back into the forums after a long time away!
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Soldato
To be honest I was really happy with how I planned it. I was going there to drive, and I did a huge amount of that.
Build in flexibility to your trip each day, and set the main objective to “be at the hotel before they close check in”. Then spend the day however you wish.
If I’d been strict on timings of “get to Bern for 4pm” or “Lucerne by 1pm” I’d have missed so many good driving roads.
We’d drive a mountain road, stop for a drink and work out if we're close to any other roads or scenic points we want to stop at.
I didn’t feel at all rushed and I didn’t feel I missed anything.
If I had to change one thing, I’d spend fewer nights in Switzerland. It was by far the worst country value wise we stayed in - food/drink/hotel. I think the 2 nights in Switzerland took up half of our entire budget hotel budget for the week, as finding somewhere with parking in cities was tricky.
Just make sure you hit Beer O’clock in Annecy if you pass it. It’s a killer pub.
Soldato
Lovely looking car - but those wheels look comically too large, almost monster truck/hot wheels esq to me.
Well, it's about time I posted the money pit...
2003 BMW E46 M3 in Silver Grey.
I've owned my poster car growing up for just over 5 years now.
I bought it as a project, and it needed considerable work. It's taken almost 3-4 years of pain to get to this stage, but we are almost there. I've built it for fast roads and tracks and managed to make some epic memories with it, including taking my three boys to the Ring for a few laps!
- Brands Hatch Track Day
- Spa Experience day
- Nurburgring Ring TF (5 trips to date)
- Nurburgring GP Track
I've raced Karts since I was 11 and over the past 5 years competed in some MSV Events, Enduro KA. I've stepped away from racing competitively and this seems to fill the void!
Engine Mods
Eventiuri Carbon Intake with cold air feed
PS Designs Carbon Fibre front air RAM
Full Headgasket completed in 05/24
DO88 Performance Engine Oil Cooler
DO88 Performance Aluminium Radiator
Vanos Overhaul 24/05 with VAC S54 UPGRADED VANOS HUB
VAC Oil Cap
Suspension / Handling
Vogtland Coilovers - To be replaced with full coilovers '25
H&R Antiroll bars front and rear
Tuner Adjustable rear arms
AP Racing 356mm 6 Pot Front Calipers Powdercoated in Silver
AP Racing 4 Pot Rear Calipers Powdercoated in Silver
Pagid RSL29 Brake pads all round
BMW Purple Tag Steering Rack (Shorter Clubsport Rack)
Solid Steering Coupler
Wheels and Tyres
18" Apex Racing ARC8 Staggered setup
Michelin Cup 2 Connect Tyres
PS Design Titanium Stud kit
Interior
BMW Imola red interior complete with OEM factory fit Tape unit (In use!)
OEM Steering wheel recovered in alcantara with red strip
Paint / Wrap
Silver Grey Paint
Bodywork
Carbon Fibre Front splitter
AGT Carbon Fibre side skirts
CSL Carbon Fibre Rear Defuser
Rear arches were cut out, replaced, and rolled in 2019
2003 BMW E46 M3 in Silver Grey.
I've owned my poster car growing up for just over 5 years now.
I bought it as a project, and it needed considerable work. It's taken almost 3-4 years of pain to get to this stage, but we are almost there. I've built it for fast roads and tracks and managed to make some epic memories with it, including taking my three boys to the Ring for a few laps!
- Brands Hatch Track Day
- Spa Experience day
- Nurburgring Ring TF (5 trips to date)
- Nurburgring GP Track
I've raced Karts since I was 11 and over the past 5 years competed in some MSV Events, Enduro KA. I've stepped away from racing competitively and this seems to fill the void!
Engine Mods
Eventiuri Carbon Intake with cold air feed
PS Designs Carbon Fibre front air RAM
Full Headgasket completed in 05/24
DO88 Performance Engine Oil Cooler
DO88 Performance Aluminium Radiator
Vanos Overhaul 24/05 with VAC S54 UPGRADED VANOS HUB
VAC Oil Cap
Suspension / Handling
Vogtland Coilovers - To be replaced with full coilovers '25
H&R Antiroll bars front and rear
Tuner Adjustable rear arms
AP Racing 356mm 6 Pot Front Calipers Powdercoated in Silver
AP Racing 4 Pot Rear Calipers Powdercoated in Silver
Pagid RSL29 Brake pads all round
BMW Purple Tag Steering Rack (Shorter Clubsport Rack)
Solid Steering Coupler
Wheels and Tyres
18" Apex Racing ARC8 Staggered setup
Michelin Cup 2 Connect Tyres
PS Design Titanium Stud kit
Interior
BMW Imola red interior complete with OEM factory fit Tape unit (In use!)
OEM Steering wheel recovered in alcantara with red strip
Paint / Wrap
Silver Grey Paint
Bodywork
Carbon Fibre Front splitter
AGT Carbon Fibre side skirts
CSL Carbon Fibre Rear Defuser
Rear arches were cut out, replaced, and rolled in 2019
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Well, it's about time I posted the money pit...
2003 BMW E46 M3 in Silver Grey.
I've owned my poster car growing up for just over 5 years now.
I bought it as a project, and it needed considerable work. It's taken almost 3-4 years of pain to get to this stage, but we are almost there. I've built it for fast roads and tracks and managed to make some epic memories with it, including taking my three boys to the Ring for a few laps!
- Brands Hatch Track Day
- Spa Experience day
- Nurburgring Ring TF (5 trips to date)
- Nurburgring GP Track
I've raced Karts since I was 11 and over the past 5 years competed in some MSV Events, Enduro KA. I've stepped away from racing competitively and this seems to fill the void!
Engine Mods
Eventiuri Carbon Intake with cold air feed
PS Designs Carbon Fibre front air RAM
Full Headgasket completed in 05/24
DO88 Performance Engine Oil Cooler
DO88 Performance Aluminium Radiator
Vanos Overhaul 24/05 with VAC S54 UPGRADED VANOS HUB
VAC Oil Cap
Suspension / Handling
Vogtland Coilovers - To be replaced with full coilovers '25
H&R Antiroll bars front and rear
Tuner Adjustable rear arms
AP Racing 356mm 6 Pot Front Calipers Powdercoated in Silver
AP Racing 4 Pot Rear Calipers Powdercoated in Silver
Pagid RSL29 Brake pads all round
BMW Purple Tag Steering Rack (Shorter Clubsport Rack)
Solid Steering Coupler
Wheels and Tyres
18" Apex Racing ARC8 Staggered setup
Michelin Cup 2 Connect Tyres
PS Design Titanium Stud kit
Interior
BMW Imola red interior complete with OEM factory fit Tape unit (In use!)
OEM Steering wheel recovered in alcantara with red strip
Paint / Wrap
Silver Grey Paint
Bodywork
Carbon Fibre Front splitter
AGT Carbon Fibre side skirts
CSL Carbon Fibre Rear Defuser
Rear arches were cut out, replaced, and rolled in 2019
Lovely!
Reminds me of my CSL and my track built M3:
When properly setup they are such capable track cars, rebuilt engine myself on it as well as it spun a bearing, car is in Ireland now and still going strong!
Lovely!
Reminds me of my CSL and my track built M3:
When properly setup they are such capable track cars, rebuilt engine myself on it as well as it spun a bearing, car is in Ireland now and still going strong!
Fantastic. Yeah, when set up - incredible cars on track, the connected feeling is something else! Photo looks great mate!
I had my Rod bearings replaced shortly after my subframe work! I Was worried about it up until then! The head gasket was done this year and took the opportunity to replace all of the cooling system at the same time. Getting to the age now, if it's not been replaced - it needs replacing!
Did the engine need much @Gibbo ? assuming full rebuild? How many miles were you at?
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108,000 I think from memory, think I’ve a build thread on these forums.
I got lucky caught it when it started knocking so stopped driving it, needs new bolts and shells, crank was good. So bottom end rebuild.
Man of Honour
If used regularly then money pit isn't even a baseline for costs lol, it's beyond money pit as far as E46 M3s go. 9 years owning one including an engine swap due to rod bearing failure and tracking every cost has been mind altering.
Can't beat the experience of the lightning throttle response, carbon induction and how planted and connected you feel with the road though.
Bearing shell failure is completely luck of the draw, you either hear some knocking and stop in time if driving around town, or hear zero knocking and you'#re at motorway speed and suddenly power drops massively and you coast to a stop which is what happened to mine. It was on original bearings on that engine which were recalled/replaced by BMW years later with an updated version. My donor engine with half the miles was installed by Redish and bearings and all accessories replaced on that whilst I also had a new clucth and flywheel + accessories installed.
It was cheaper to get a donor engine than to do a rebuild at the time due to the labour hours needed to get it done properly.
Can't beat the experience of the lightning throttle response, carbon induction and how planted and connected you feel with the road though.
Bearing shell failure is completely luck of the draw, you either hear some knocking and stop in time if driving around town, or hear zero knocking and you'#re at motorway speed and suddenly power drops massively and you coast to a stop which is what happened to mine. It was on original bearings on that engine which were recalled/replaced by BMW years later with an updated version. My donor engine with half the miles was installed by Redish and bearings and all accessories replaced on that whilst I also had a new clucth and flywheel + accessories installed.
It was cheaper to get a donor engine than to do a rebuild at the time due to the labour hours needed to get it done properly.
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This I could never recommend an E46 M3 to anyone, the list of issues is endless:
- Rod bearings
- Boot floors cracking / rear subframe
- Vanos issues
- Rear diff failing
- Poor factory brakes (expensive AP kits the solution)
- Oil leaks
- Head Gasket failure
The age they are at now any car with 80k plus miles really needs all the above sorting which is just on top of regular servicing/running cost which don't necessarily come cheap, worth it though they are fabulous cars and kudos to the owners still running them and keeping them going. Superb cars when running healthy and setup right.
Took the old E30 to the rolling road to see what was left in the motor.
As its the lower compression updated engine official output is 164-166HP, most owners reporting 160HP when healthy. Mine made 152HP on a leaner fuel mixture, I was going to experiment with adding some more fuel but the car nearly jumped of dyno, due to a previous bad install of the suspension.
I am happy with 152HP, was hoping for 150+, I even guessed 152HP prior to the run and it made 151.7HP.
The rear damper shot of the car as whoever installed them had not put large penny washers on them, those washer are to prevent what happened, the bolt been sucked through the bush, thankfully happened on dyno and not the road, Andy at Tegiwa had a penny washer from his Ford Puma which got donated to the E30 and was fixed in a matter of minutes but as the car had been unstrapped from dyno we decided to leave fuelling as it is because when it is richer it impacts cold running and idle, whereas where I have it set now the car runs silky smooth. I've done all major servicing, including new injectors, new plugs, new filters (every filter), 15W-50 oil so there is really nowhere to find more power apart from changing timing belt and checking timing and maybe doing some mods like panel filter, exhaust manifold etc etc. Still at most would probably only ever gain 15-25HP and is it worth it on a car that will never be quick compared to modern stuff and is more a cruise and enjoy car.
As a damper popped of we also tested it, totally knackered, squelching badly, so I've got a full B12 Pro kit en-route with B8 dampers and Pro kit springs, which will hopefully raise the height 10-20mm as its currently too low as is running an H&R Cup 60/40 kit which is dangerously low.
As its the lower compression updated engine official output is 164-166HP, most owners reporting 160HP when healthy. Mine made 152HP on a leaner fuel mixture, I was going to experiment with adding some more fuel but the car nearly jumped of dyno, due to a previous bad install of the suspension.
I am happy with 152HP, was hoping for 150+, I even guessed 152HP prior to the run and it made 151.7HP.
The rear damper shot of the car as whoever installed them had not put large penny washers on them, those washer are to prevent what happened, the bolt been sucked through the bush, thankfully happened on dyno and not the road, Andy at Tegiwa had a penny washer from his Ford Puma which got donated to the E30 and was fixed in a matter of minutes but as the car had been unstrapped from dyno we decided to leave fuelling as it is because when it is richer it impacts cold running and idle, whereas where I have it set now the car runs silky smooth. I've done all major servicing, including new injectors, new plugs, new filters (every filter), 15W-50 oil so there is really nowhere to find more power apart from changing timing belt and checking timing and maybe doing some mods like panel filter, exhaust manifold etc etc. Still at most would probably only ever gain 15-25HP and is it worth it on a car that will never be quick compared to modern stuff and is more a cruise and enjoy car.
As a damper popped of we also tested it, totally knackered, squelching badly, so I've got a full B12 Pro kit en-route with B8 dampers and Pro kit springs, which will hopefully raise the height 10-20mm as its currently too low as is running an H&R Cup 60/40 kit which is dangerously low.
100% this.This I could never recommend an E46 M3 to anyone, the list of issues is endless:
- Rod bearings
- Boot floors cracking / rear subframe
- Vanos issues
- Rear diff failing
- Poor factory brakes (expensive AP kits the solution)
- Oil leaks
- Head Gasket failure
The age they are at now any car with 80k plus miles really needs all the above sorting which is just on top of regular servicing/running cost which don't necessarily come cheap, worth it though they are fabulous cars and kudos to the owners still running them and keeping them going. Superb cars when running healthy and setup right.
You also forgot Rust! Most at this age now near the front/rear arches addressing. They are not as bad as the E36, but still need some love!
It's taken me 5 years to get to this stage, is it worth it? Yeah I think so!
The journey has been entertaining but meet so many good people along the way. The appreciation that the E46 M3 gets out is fantastic.
Associate
Finally changed the Focus, been looking since July, but only local Mustang that came up was a white one, which I did not really want (found our old Fiesta st a nightnmare to keep clean and not convinced white is the best colour for these.
Rubbish pic have no good ones yet,
GT, usual spec, plus climate seats, rear sensors.... feel like there was a third thing I am forgetting.
27 thousand on the clock, late 2017 so cheaper tax.
Auto box, some will see this an odd choice but I need an auto for health reasons, plus a comfy seat, which this most definitely has.
The bad, is just the chew on the dealers (main dealer but not Ford) were/are being, to be honest, much prefer buying unseen from ebay compared to the experience I had with this car. Some minor things, like valet a car = quick wash and hoover, its ok i've got the dog hairs out myself...
As discussed in the tyre thread, running Triangle Effexsport on the back.... dealer said the Pirellis were too low, said they would replace with Nexens, except they did not.
Also have brake pads on back order....
I have sort of made peace on the tyres and will change in six months, ultimately only other car local was a red one and that is over £30k, which for a pre facelift is too much in my eyes. Also that is running 4 Tracmaxx tyres, which seem to be nowhere near the speed rating they should be, so either way I would be replacing some tyres, at least I have paid a lot less and its a color I want.
Oh and its all OCuks fault, as although I have always lusted after one of these, I thought they were utterly unattainable, until a thread last year when someone was enquiring about them. So thank you! I added in my project car money which makes my wife very happy, she always feared coming home to another ebay special outside.
Probably find me around the detailing and what have I done to car threads a bit more.
Rubbish pic have no good ones yet,
GT, usual spec, plus climate seats, rear sensors.... feel like there was a third thing I am forgetting.
27 thousand on the clock, late 2017 so cheaper tax.
Auto box, some will see this an odd choice but I need an auto for health reasons, plus a comfy seat, which this most definitely has.
The bad, is just the chew on the dealers (main dealer but not Ford) were/are being, to be honest, much prefer buying unseen from ebay compared to the experience I had with this car. Some minor things, like valet a car = quick wash and hoover, its ok i've got the dog hairs out myself...
As discussed in the tyre thread, running Triangle Effexsport on the back.... dealer said the Pirellis were too low, said they would replace with Nexens, except they did not.
Also have brake pads on back order....
I have sort of made peace on the tyres and will change in six months, ultimately only other car local was a red one and that is over £30k, which for a pre facelift is too much in my eyes. Also that is running 4 Tracmaxx tyres, which seem to be nowhere near the speed rating they should be, so either way I would be replacing some tyres, at least I have paid a lot less and its a color I want.
Oh and its all OCuks fault, as although I have always lusted after one of these, I thought they were utterly unattainable, until a thread last year when someone was enquiring about them. So thank you! I added in my project car money which makes my wife very happy, she always feared coming home to another ebay special outside.
Probably find me around the detailing and what have I done to car threads a bit more.
Caporegime
Found a friend!
Soldato
Replaced the fd2 type r with an extremely boring daily driver.
Lexus RX450H
I was looking for something bigger to lug stuff around while we do house renovations, move car parts around for the S2000 etc and got bored of having to borrow big cars.
Wanted an interesting estate or similar but nothing really tickled me or was out of my budget. Randomly saw this for sale and as ugly as it is, it has a lot of kit to make it a very nice car to be in and get around in. Boot isn’t small at 1500 litre seats down and wife can also drive it.
I nearly got a CLS350 Mercedes but didn’t want a diesel as we do a lot of short journeys and it just made no sense.
Then I looked at Audi a6 avants and similar and while they’re better looking I just couldn’t spend 10k + for one that I liked.
Then I looked a Nissan stageas but dashboards crack and that put me off.
Looked at alphards, elgrands etc as something more quirky and Japanese but those again wouldn’t have done what I wanted due to weird seat configs.
This is a premier trim so has the :
Air suspension
Mark levison sound system with BT
Camera back/mirror
Sensors
Radar cruise
Double layer glass
Heated / cooled seats
It’s a hybrid so tax is £200/year but has a more interesting 3.5 v6
Etc
All in a very good comfy car to get around in. And all for under £7K.
I’m quite happy with it, wife likes driving it too. And it’s not black so a nice lazy blue/silver colour with gold flake in it that will hopefully not look dirty after 5 minutes.
Lexus RX450H
I was looking for something bigger to lug stuff around while we do house renovations, move car parts around for the S2000 etc and got bored of having to borrow big cars.
Wanted an interesting estate or similar but nothing really tickled me or was out of my budget. Randomly saw this for sale and as ugly as it is, it has a lot of kit to make it a very nice car to be in and get around in. Boot isn’t small at 1500 litre seats down and wife can also drive it.
I nearly got a CLS350 Mercedes but didn’t want a diesel as we do a lot of short journeys and it just made no sense.
Then I looked at Audi a6 avants and similar and while they’re better looking I just couldn’t spend 10k + for one that I liked.
Then I looked a Nissan stageas but dashboards crack and that put me off.
Looked at alphards, elgrands etc as something more quirky and Japanese but those again wouldn’t have done what I wanted due to weird seat configs.
This is a premier trim so has the :
Air suspension
Mark levison sound system with BT
Camera back/mirror
Sensors
Radar cruise
Double layer glass
Heated / cooled seats
It’s a hybrid so tax is £200/year but has a more interesting 3.5 v6
Etc
All in a very good comfy car to get around in. And all for under £7K.
I’m quite happy with it, wife likes driving it too. And it’s not black so a nice lazy blue/silver colour with gold flake in it that will hopefully not look dirty after 5 minutes.
Don
Nice. Always fancied one of those are a family wagon but the Mrs refuses to drive anything automagic.