BMW E46 M3 Performance BMW 14/6/10
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Despite many setbacks along the way, Baris Sahan has persevered and ended up with a car that would look just as much at home on the show circuit as it does on track; and all without handing over a blank cheque… Words: Louise Woodhams Photos: James Lipman
hen I got my first car at 17 I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, I just wanted the best model of the manufacturer I could afford. So out of the Fiat Uno Turbo, Fiesta RS Turbo and Peugeot 205 GTi, I went for the Renault 5 GT Turbo. It was that motor which sparked my enthusiasm for performance cars – it’s where the bug started,” explained Baris Sahan with a smile. Sure enough, ten years later Baris has finally realised his dream with an E46 M3. But as well as igniting a passion for unrivalled power and handling, the little French hot hatch (a limited edition Raider nonetheless) was also responsible for getting Baris hooked into the modifying game. Fitting uprated suspension and wheels, a bigger turbo, Group A carbs, an exhaust system and dump valve (which he still apparently misses!), you can begin to see how his M3 got on to these very pages. “The Renault wasn’t the easiest of projects – something went wrong every week,” Baris laughed. Fortunately though, that wasn’t the case when he switched over to the German school of motoring, although he did make one fatal faux pas with a Mk3
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Golf GTi. “It was a good solid car, but I really didn’t like it. It was too heavy, not very quick and horrible to drive. The driving position doesn’t lend itself to tall people,” he says. As such, Baris wasn’t inspired to spend money on modifying it, which gave him the perfect opportunity to save up and trade it in for an E46 330Ci Sport. He explains: “I always had a soft spot for the E36 328i Sport and I figured the 330 would be a nice upgrade… or so I thought. Unlike the 328, the 330 lacked two important factors. Firstly it didn’t have a limited-slip diff, which in my opinion is a must for rear-wheel driven cars. Secondly the difference between the 330 and M3, was too much, like the bigger arches and quad exhaust system for starters, whereas the 328i was not much different, styling-wise, to its larger engined sibling.” The 330 went up for sale after just nine months in property manager Baris’ hands, and the hunt for an M3 was on. As he so rightfully points out; what’s the point of a RWD car if you can’t drift it every now and again? After scouring every online classified he eventually found what he was looking for. Previously owned by a 55-year-old enthusiast, it had been looked after pretty well and only had 44,000 miles on the clock
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with plenty of history: “It was an absolute minter, and still is three years down the line,” Baris says. “I had both cars at the same time for a while and the difference is like night and day.” Baris still felt the handling could be improved, but despite all his good intentions, he didn’t make the best start. Baris takes up the story: “Being new to the BMW scene and not being too clued up, I went for Eibach springs and anti-roll bars, which turned out to be a complete mistake. Coupled with the standard shocks, whenever I’d drive over a bump the car would jump around. It was dangerous. The ARBs did their job, but just like all the posers out there, I fell for the cheap way of lowering a car.” Having completed a few track days both abroad and on home soil, Baris’ need for better suspension became ever more urgent and after a bit more research, he plumped for KW Clubsport coilovers. As you can imagine, having had the car stripped in preparation, Baris was rather excited about the arrival of his new kit from Thorney Motorsport. However, when it arrived the drop links were missing. After apparently inferring he was a liar, the company eventually offered Baris the option of either
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paying for the drop links or having Thorney fit the suspension, even though he had just paid someone to take all his suspension off! As it happened, once Baris was up at the company’s Milton Keynes premises, the guys managed to persuade him to ditch the Axxis brake pads he’d previously fitted for a big brake setup from AP, and Baris left Thorney a happy man… for a while at least (more on that later). A few months down the line, Baris started to hear what every M3 driver dreads; a knocking noise from the engine. Our north London resident took it down to Bakers Autos, which diagnosed the fault as a dodgy oil pump that BMW forgot to change in the Service Action Campaign (recall, to you and I). You see, the connecting rod bearings installed in M3 coupé/convertible vehicles produced from February 2001 through to May 2003 were not manufactured to BMW quality standards. As a result, the connecting rod bearings are susceptible to overheating and subsequent premature failure if vehicles are driven at higher engine speeds over an extended timeframe. The car was left at the aforementioned garage for six months, while Baris searched for a replacement engine,
which had to be post 2004 with low mileage. “Finding one was very stressful, as pretty much none of the breakers would give proof of where the engine came from and seemed to give me the mileage and year off the top of their heads,” Baris explains. It was an EvoTechnik forum member that finally came up trumps with an engine from Charles Trent, who was able to give Baris a chassis number confirming the engine was a 2005 with full service history and just 30k on the clock. “With all new bushes and mounts, the car is now running better than it ever has; so much smoother and stronger than the previous one. You could even balance a pound coin on the block! And unlike the other engine it doesn’t drink excess amounts of oil, I just change it after every 3000 miles or every track day,” Baris reveals. Soon after, he noticed that one of his rear shocks was leaking, lucky for him he was only halfway into his 12-month warranty from Thorney… which, it turned out, was obsolete as it was track suspension, genius. Using the power of the forum, to get a more satisfying solution to his problem, Thorney agreed to refund him the money. This time he went for Bilstein PSS10s, purely as they
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allow for easy adjustment of damping and rebound. Baris’ only complaint so far is the ride height, which even on its lowest setting as it is now, is still too high for the track. “Intrax was my second choice, but I went for a less hardcore setup. The roads in London are bad enough as it is, without proper track suspension. I plan on getting them fitted eventually though,” says Baris with a grin before adding, “along with a half cage and short-shift.” When it came to corner weighting and suspension tuning (and fitting the Turner Motorsport rear trailing arms he’d also purchased), Baris decided to bite the bullet and – after not getting the result he wanted from a few other BMW specialists – embark on 300-mile round trip to Simpson Motorsports. “Its mechanics are seriously the best out there, especially for the price. The knowledge and efficiency of Simpson’s work is second to none, as is its attitude towards customers. My car had never driven so perfectly until I left its garage. I would definitely use those guys every time for a geometry setup,” explains Baris. With the option to now have the car toed out for track driving, there’s plenty of camber to help him
“With all new bushes and mounts, the car is now running better than it ever has; so much smoother and stronger. You could even balance a pound coin on the block!”
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DATA FILE ENGINE & TRANSMISSION: 3.2-litre straight-six S54 with Evolve ECU remap, Rogue Engineering pulleys, Supersprint lightweight racing muffler and Milltek 100 cell hi-flow sports cat. Custom UUC ClutchStop, Rogue Engineering transmission mounts CHASSIS: 8x18” and 47mm offset (front) and 9x18” and 26mm offset (rear) standard wheels with black centres, red lips and carbon centre caps shod in 235/40 (front) and 265/35 (rear) Toyo R888 tyres, 12mm spacers all-round. Bilstein PSS10 coilovers, Turner Motorsports front top mounts, Rogue Engineering rear top mounts, Turner Motorsports limiting kit with CSL rear trailing arm bushes, Eibach anti-roll bars. AP Racing Big Brake Kit including 355mm discs and six-piston calipers (front) with standard discs and four-piston calipers (rear) EXTERIOR: CSL bootlid, front bumper and diffuser, black kidney grille, carbon fibre side vents, Depo indicators, LED headlights, smoked indicators INTERIOR: Recaro Pole Position seats retrimmed in Imola red leather, matching arm rest, brushed aluminium trim, CSL steering wheel, 330Ci Sport gear knob THANKS: Bakers Autos (020 8883 8001) for all their careful and outstanding work on my car, and for a great service, Evolve (01582 573801) for their great knowledge of remapping M3s, Simpson Motorsports (01594 841299) for their excellent knowledge of cars and for the best geometry setup I have ever had, The Nürburgring Experience (07967 385572) for awesome trips to the Nürburgring and Spa with my mates, Capital Seating & Audio (0116 266 4112) for my Recaro seats
zip through the corners better, and Baris can easily adjust it himself, simply by undoing three bolts (thanks to Simpson, which has marked the Turner Motorsport top mounts). With a Supersprint lightweight racing muffler and Milltek hi-flow 100 cell sports cat finding its way on the car next, the ECU had to be recalibrated, which was entrusted to Evolve, where power was upped to 353bhp and 275lb ft of torque. “It’s made such a difference. The acceleration has improved, and is very smooth, but the Sport memory button has to be the best mod. I’m hoping for high 12s down the strip at Santa Pod’s BMW show later this year,” smiles Baris. With new readings of 104dB at 6000rpm, unfortunately he is restricted as to which tracks he can take the car on, but with a fully sorted chassis and 355mm front discs clamped by six-pot calipers, with standard discs and four-piston calipers at the rear, Baris has not been deterred one bit. With the pipes a little longer than standard, Baris had a perfect opportunity to buy a CSL diffuser to better accommodate them, which he managed to find on eBay of all places. And, of course, it would be rude not to have the matching CSL bootlid and bumper from Vorsteiner, which were painted by a close friend who owns a garage. Baris also made some updates to the lighting, including LED headlights from his 330, Depo indicators in place of the Projector items he previously had and wasn’t keen on, and smoked side repeaters. A colour-coded grille and carbon fibre side vents round things off nicely. Playing on the OEM theme again, you’ll find that the standard 18” wheels have benefited from the classic Time Attack combo of black centres with a red lip, which Baris did himself, first sanding them down before adding primer and then painting them. “I actually have another two sets for track days” he adds. “One finished in silver and the other powdercoated.” Inside, however, things didn’t come 44 PERFORMANCE BMW
together quite as easily, as Baris explains: “Deciding on what seats to get for the M wasn’t a quick decision. The OEM seats are heavy and don’t do any justice round the twisties, and after feeling what difference they make in a track-prepared E36 M3, I drove around the ’Ring last year just to confirm it. They were in the pipeline anyway but got delayed due to the engine swap.” He eventually went for the Recaro Pole Positions, which he sourced from Capital Seating & Vision. “There was a three-month wait for black leather, so I took up Capital’s offer of retrimming them in Imola red leather to match the rest of the interior,” says Baris. That wasn’t to prove simple either though, as BMW had stopped making it. Fortunately, a US forum member knew of a leather supplier in Belgium which still had enough hide in stock. Together with the brushed aluminium trim (bought brand-new from a forum member for a very reasonable sum), the CSL steering wheel from eBay, which is lighter than the standard item, and a 330Ci Sport gear knob, which not only matches the trim but sits a lot lower, it’s very nice place to be indeed. The only upgrades Baris has yet to get are sixpoint harnesses for additional control and support, as the standard belts are apparently a nightmare under heavy braking. So there you have it; for someone who never intended to go this far and with no forward planning whatsoever, Baris has created a car to be proud of. Impressive on the show circuit with its subtle but effective mods, and even more so on the track with its chassis enhancements; it may not be a daily but when Baris does take it out, he can drive it the way it should have been built from factory. “The CSL has the whole package already, but at the end of the day it’s an auto, or if you prefer to use the proper term, an SMG,” he says. And it’s a good job they never made a manual version as this car may have never materialised ●
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With no forward planning whatsoever, Baris has created a car to be proud of. Impressive on the show circuit with its subtle mods, and even more so on the track