The Dark Side - Evolve Carbon Airboxed BMW E46 M3

FC PBMW 1012 24/08/2012 10:19 Page 1

E30 325i 3 Series on air-ride and split-rims M3 PERFECTION UK E46 of the very highest order

STANCE WORKS

E9 2800CS

OCTOBER 2012

£4.50

Full story behind the iconic BMW that everyone’s been talking about…

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THE

DARK SIDE Paul McCormack’s utterly perfect E46 M3 has been on the scene for a number of years, but the slow and steady overhaul he’s given it has really paid off.

Words: Ben Koflach Photos: Steve Hall

here are people out there who will buy a car and simply spec it up with almost anything that first comes up in Google: coilovers; wheels; styling parts – anything that can be delivered within the week is ordered and fitted without a second thought.

Paul McCormack is not one of these people. The 29-year old construction worker from Kent has owned this particular E46 M3 for around five-and-a-half years now, and he can safely say that not a single part of it has been rushed. “I don’t mind waiting up to a year for parts,” he told us. “I didn’t used to have much money to mod the M3, so I’d have to save long and hard but would only get genuine parts; that was my aim with this car right from the start.”

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Paul’s clinical approach extends to the maintenance of this M3 too. “It’s never been waxed. I’ve only ever used sealants,” he explains. “And it’s also been fully detailed and colour-corrected every year.” Indeed, this M3 wants for absolutely nothing – all replacement parts have been genuine BMW parts, and no area has been overlooked.

You may be surprised to hear that this car is one of the very earliest M3s, being a Y (2001) registered car, but it has just 74k miles on the clock. The often-criticised carbon black paintwork has really been looked after, and it shows. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not a dull black, there are actually countless other hues in there that come out in various light conditions. So one moment it’s a midnight blue, the next an

intensely deep purple. It just swallows up light and gently breathes it back out in an array of tones from black to blue. And the low, ultra-wide appearance of the M3 means it stands out like you wouldn’t believe, all the while looking like a creature that’s escaped from hell, swallowing up light like a black hole wherever it goes.

Although Paul’s owned the E46 for a while, it was the previous owner that started the aggressive theme he’s ended up following. Paul purchased it through Sussexbased Munich Legends, where it was advertised as a special car, due to the previous owner having spent a small fortune purchasing parts from AC Schnitzer. These included a carbon fibre front lip and carbon rear roof spoiler, which had both been

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colour-coded. The kidney grilles, too, were DTM versions in black, meaning the car had a tough look from the off.

It didn’t take Paul too long to add his own simple but well-thought-out touches, though.

Paul ordered a double-DIN Alpine headunit, as well as a double-DIN conversion kit. He wasn’t happy with the latter, though, as he’s a real perfectionist, so he worked on it himself, adding in a few OEM components ordered from his local BMW dealer. These allowed him to relocate his climate control and to make sure that everything looked and felt complete. A precise boot install and plenty of tidying up followed while a highgloss black trim package, along with several exterior plastics which were painted to match, added to the car’s mean-look, too.

Of course, some new rolling stock was always going to be needed, and this came in the form of 19” AC Schnitzer Type 3 Racing split rims. With the chrome gone from the car, they looked absolutely fantastic, and all the while Paul continued to add nifty details, such as a genuine AC Schnitzer rear diffuser and AC Schnitzer numberplate surrounds. The car was dropped over D2 Racing coilovers, and he also sourced some nifty yellow paint from the States which he used to get that cool ‘Frenched’ effect on his inner front headlight bowls and fogs, while some light tint Lamin-X and plenty of other trick touches meant that it was an M3 like no other.

The E46 was in this state when we first saw it, at one of the Bluewater meets that

Paul used to organise. It was one of the best E46s we seen on UK soil. Little did we know, there was more to come – much more. Once his genuine AC Schnitzer strut brace had been fitted, he was ready to take things to the next level. “The first strut brace I had actually turned out to be a replica part, so I immediately sourced a genuine one and sold the rep on. The coilovers needed modifying to allow the closed-top strut brace to be fitted, which I did myself,” Paul explained. By this time, he was also fast becoming known as ‘The Handyman’ on his home forum, M3 Cutters. This was thanks to the fact that before entering construction, he was a bike mechanic and racer, meaning that when it comes to spannering, he’s a handy bloke to know. He’s got contacts for paintwork and

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Thanks to the Evolve carbon air box, Paul’s engine bay looks fantastic and the noise verges on ridiculous under full throttle too! He was keen to add that the power delivery and throttle response are second-to-none

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I’d only get genuine parts;

that was my aim right from the start

machining, too (which we’ll come to in a moment), while one of his specialties is rebuilding and refurbishing big brake kits.

Because of this, the next step was to find a set of legendary AP Racing brakes. They’re by no means cheap, but a lucky eBay find got him a set of six-pot front calipers and 356mm discs. The only problem was that the calipers were red, which was a big no-no in Paul’s book – they had to be yellow to match his planned colour scheme. To that end, they were stripped and recoated in a hightemperature-resistant yellow paint. Paul then finished them off by hand-painting the AP logos in gloss black. The AP kit had come off an E92 335i, which uses the same calipers and discs as E46 M3 kits, so all that was left to do was to source the correct brackets to bolt the calipers to. This was no problem, as Paul’s aforementioned engineering contact, known as Alpina527 to many forum users, came up trumps,

machining a set of perfect copies, allowing the new brakes to be fully bolted up. To really add to the motorsport look, a set of Turner Motorsport wheel studs were also imported, setting the hubs off perfectly.

It was at this time, leading up to DC11 last year, that the M3 got perhaps one of its most defining features – the wheels. Not wanting to stray from the AC Schnitzer theme, a set of custom Type 1 Racing rollers were built

by Klaus at Felgenmann.de. Paul was keen to get the wheels absolutely perfect, so after endless measuring up, he submitted his specifications, and Klaus did what he’s so famously known for. The final result?

9.5x18” ET26 fronts and monsterous 11.5x18” ET19 rears, featuring gold bolts and details with polished dishes and silver centres. Gobsmacking doesn’t even cover it!

When it came to tyres, there was no way Paul was going to skimp, so you’ll find stretched quality Vredestein 235/40 and 265/35

rubber over the new rims, giving a nice amount of stretch without sacrificing the overall footprint too much. “I’d never go back to 19s,” Paul told us. “It drives so well on 18s – I was nervous about stepping down from the 19s but it rides and handles much better.”

After arch rolling guru Arch Enemy visited Paul to give him a little more clearance allround there was even space for him to include 5mm rear spacers and 10mm fronts, completing the low, wide look. The final touch before show season? An ultra-rare Dixis titanium rear exhaust section, which apparently weighs absolute peanuts and gives a perfectly raspy yet refined tone.

DC11 came and, as you may not be surprised to hear, Paul scooped up a trophy – second place in class, in fact, followed by another trophy at Bimmerflex not long after.

In Paul’s eyes, though, it was still far from over. It was time to get some more power out of the S54 engine, and this came in the form

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DATA FILE ENGINE & DRIVETRAIN: 3.2-litre straight-six S54B32, Evolve carbon air box, Evolve Alpha N map, Dixis titanium rear exhaust section, Evosport power pulleys. Six-speed manual gearbox, Rogue Engineering short-shift kit, Rogue Engineering transmission mounts with UUC Motorwerks enforcers, CA Technologies braided clutch line, ATE SuperBlue fluid adjustable clutch stop CHASSIS: 9.5x18” ET26 (front), 11.5x18” ET19 (rear) custom-made AC Schnitzer Type 3 Racing three-piece splitrims (using lightweight forged OZ Racing centres, gold bolts and custom centre caps), 235/40 and 265/35 Vredestein Sessanta tyres respectively, Turner Motorsport wheel stud conversion, 10mm front wheel spacers, 5mm rear wheel spacers. KW Variant 3 coilovers, Eibach anti-roll bars, Turner Motorsport adjustable front top mounts, Rogue Engineering rear shock mounts, Turner Motorsport rear trailing arm enforcers, genuine AC Schnitzer front strut brace.

AP Racing front big brake kit consisting of 356mm discs and custom-painted six-pot calipers, AP Racing rear big brake kit consisting of 328mm discs and custom-painted four-pot calipers, braided hoses all-round, EBC BlueStuff pads front and rear, ATE SuperBlue fluid EXTERIOR: AC Schnitzer carbon fibre splitter, AC Schnitzer carbon fibre roof spoiler, AC Schnitzer rear diffuser, genuine CSL bootlid, pulled and rolled arches, smoked front and side indicators, OEM-style angel eyes, genuine LED rear lights with Lamin-X covering, yellow tinted high beams and fogs, black and white roundels, custom M3 badges all-round INTERIOR: Recaro SPG seats with Recaro runners and frames, genuine CSL centre console custom painted Piano black, Piano black interior trims and double-DIN bezel, custom Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel with yellow stitching and oversteer marker, custom Alcantara gaiters with yellow stitching, Waylen gear knob, retro-fitted boot release button, AC Schnitzer pedals and footrest, AC Schnitzer mats, LED interior kit, Alpine Double-DIN setup, JL stealth-box sub setup THANKS: My other half Katie (she actually found the car for me), best mate Bruno for always helping out with car and the detailing, Sal and Imran at Evolve, Phil at CA and Dips at Custom Cars

of a CSL-style air box from Evolve. Now if you know anything about the guys down at Evolve, you’ll know that they don’t do anything by halves – much like Paul. To this end their carbon fibre air box has been extensively developed to be as good as, if not better, than BMW Motorsport’s efforts. Paul opted to have it finished in matt lacquer, although the box was later swapped out for Evolve’s revised version, this time in glossy carbon. And what better build number could they save for the Valentino Rossi-fan, E46driving Paul other than number 46?

Along with the Evosport power pulleys that Paul had fitted along the way and Evolve’s special Alpha N mapping, the M3 put down a 62 PERFORMANCE BMW

very respectable 343bhp; while the number geeks out there will immediately be saying that this is only the standard figure, you have to bear in mind that this is a ten-year-old car with over 70k miles on the clock – so to have a proven figure like that from rollers known to be critical is impressive to say the least.

Thanks to Paul’s low ride-height, the M3 couldn’t actually be run on the rollers in the proper manner, so who knows, it may well have a little more anyway…

So that’s it, Paul’s M3 was complete, right?

Wrong, Paul still had a huge ‘to-do’ list to get it to exactly where he wanted it. As you might expect, various parts of the carbon black paintwork have been refreshed over

the time that Paul’s had the car, and thanks to the various other components that have been painstakingly sourced and added, the exterior was pretty complete. What Paul wasn’t so sure about was the chassis setup.

“I loved the D2 coilovers that were on it before, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with them – they were brilliant, but I felt they were one of the only things on the car that wasn’t an absolutely top-notch name,” he explained. “I got the KW Variant 3s second-hand and spent a day cleaning them up before fitting them.”

Not long after, Paul was also lucky enough to scoop up a set of rear AP Racing calipers, which he’d been seeking for months. Of

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The interior will be getting some serious reworking in the future, but for now Paul’s simple but effective makeover looks outstanding to us!

course, a full refurbishment was in order, and he also ordered AP rear discs (which are the same dimensions as standard discs, but Paul didn’t want mismatched items), as well as new hardware and seals for the calipers while they were away being painted. With those fitted, his brake setup was complete, and, as you can see, looks pretty stunning.

Next up was a new OEM clutch and flywheel, as Paul had been experiencing a small judder. Not one to take shortcuts, he replaced the transmission mounts with Rogue Engineering items, which were fitted with UUC enforcers. At the same time a new OEM flex-disc was added, making for a thoroughly refreshed transmission, as he’d

already filled the gearbox and diff with Royal Purple fluids and changed the clutch hose for a CDV-deleting braided hose.

Finally, a Rogue Engineering short shifter and a Waylen brushed stainless gear knob finished the setup off.

Finding that he could do with a bit more front camber to aid clearance, second-hand Turner Motorsport adjustable front top mounts were fitted – not before Paul had given them a clean-up, mind. The rear lights were also split apart and resealed, thanks to a small leak, while being covered in subtle tint Lamin-X film for that stealthy look.

What could possibly complete the exterior of his car, you may ask? Well, there was only

one thing for it – a freshly painted genuine CSL bootlid. E46 bods will no-doubt know that genuine CSL items don’t have any kind of boot-release button, so Paul accompanied its install with the retro-fit of a CSL bootrelease button, which is found in the cockpit by his right knee. As well as that, Paul had custom M3 badges made in the colours of his car – black for the paintwork, grey for the wheels and yellow for the brakes and other details. All that was left was to get the paintwork looking absolutely pristine, once and for all, and that’s where Paul’s paint contact came in handy. There was a tiny bit of rust coming through on one of the rear arches, so that was cut out and new metal OCTOBER 2012 63

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It looks like a creature that’s

escaped from hell,

swallowing up light wherever it goes welded in, while every part of the car was repainted where necessary, resulting in the image of perfection you see before you.

The last part of the car to get Paul’s full attention was the interior, which was completed just a couple of weeks before our shoot. The first addition was the Recaro SPG seats, which fit perfectly with the motorsportinspired theme that Paul’s gone for. His only problem was with the subframes, but thanks to fellow M3 cutter Baris Sahan (PBMW 08/10), who had a couple of genuine Recaro sliding subframes going spare, he soon had it sorted. To go with the new seats, Paul also had a fire-damaged genuine CSL centre console sitting in the cupboard. Having been

contemplating getting the carbon fibre repaired, in the end he bit the bullet and had it painted Piano black instead. It’s an inspired move that has certainly paid off.

The final touches, that left Paul rushing around just days before our shoot, involved perfecting the interior’s details. Jack at Royal Steering Wheels retrimmed Paul’s steering wheel using Alcantara, with yellow stitching to match the brakes and badges, along with a grey oversteer marker to match the wheels – much like his exterior badging.

The gaiters were done in matching Alcantara, too, with yellow stitching once again. It’s all in the details, you see.

Paul’s M3 may have taken half a decade to

The perfect but useable stance is something that took a lot of measuring up, but it’s spot-on

build, but the result is undoubtedly one of the best E46 M3s in the country. What makes it even better is that, although he’s undoubtedly piled a pretty substantial amount of money into it, he’s been clever about doing so. Thanks to the contacts he’s built up over the years and the fact he’s mighty handy with the mechanical bits, Paul’s managed to build it without accumulating a huge credit card bills – it’s just taken patience, exquisite taste and an eye for a bargain. To top it off, Paul’s one of the nicest chaps around and is always willing to help out a fellow modder. He’s a BMW nut at heart – if his M3 isn’t proof enough of that, then we don’t know what is… l