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Full story behindthe iconic BMWthat everyone’sbeen talking about…

E30 325i 3 Series on air-ride and split-rims

p66

E30 TURBOBrutal 3 Series built withSkyline RB25 power

1Series gets tasty supercharger’CHARGED E87

VermilionWheels

UK E46 of the very highest orderM3 PERFECTION

E9 2800CS

STANCEWORKS

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

DARK SIDEPaul McCormack’s utterly perfect E46 M3 has been on thescene for a number of years, but the slow and steadyoverhaul he’s given it has really paid off.Words: Ben Koflach Photos: Steve Hall

There are people out there whowill buy a car and simply spec itup with almost anything that firstcomes up in Google: coilovers;wheels; styling parts – anything

that can be delivered within the week isordered and fitted without a second thought.

Paul McCormack is not one of thesepeople. The 29-year old construction workerfrom Kent has owned this particular E46 M3for around five-and-a-half years now, and hecan safely say that not a single part of it hasbeen rushed. “I don’t mind waiting up to ayear for parts,” he told us. “I didn’t used tohave much money to mod the M3, so I’dhave to save long and hard but would onlyget genuine parts; that was my aim with thiscar right from the start.”

Paul’s clinical approach extends to themaintenance of this M3 too. “It’s never beenwaxed. I’ve only ever used sealants,” heexplains. “And it’s also been fully detailedand colour-corrected every year.” Indeed,this M3 wants for absolutely nothing – allreplacement parts have been genuine BMWparts, and no area has been overlooked.

You may be surprised to hear that this caris one of the very earliest M3s, being a Y(2001) registered car, but it has just 74kmiles on the clock. The often-criticisedcarbon black paintwork has really beenlooked after, and it shows. Contrary topopular opinion, it’s not a dull black, thereare actually countless other hues in therethat come out in various light conditions. Soone moment it’s a midnight blue, the next an

intensely deep purple. It just swallows uplight and gently breathes it back out in anarray of tones from black to blue. And thelow, ultra-wide appearance of the M3 meansit stands out like you wouldn’t believe, allthe while looking like a creature that’sescaped from hell, swallowing up light like ablack hole wherever it goes.

Although Paul’s owned the E46 for awhile, it was the previous owner that startedthe aggressive theme he’s ended upfollowing. Paul purchased it through Sussex-based Munich Legends, where it wasadvertised as a special car, due to theprevious owner having spent a small fortunepurchasing parts from AC Schnitzer. Theseincluded a carbon fibre front lip and carbonrear roof spoiler, which had both been

THE

058-064 PBMW 1012 22/08/2012 15:32 Page 58

colour-coded. The kidney grilles, too, wereDTM versions in black, meaning the car hada tough look from the off.

It didn’t take Paul too long to add his ownsimple but well-thought-out touches, though.Paul ordered a double-DIN Alpine headunit,as well as a double-DIN conversion kit. Hewasn’t happy with the latter, though, as he’sa real perfectionist, so he worked on ithimself, adding in a few OEM componentsordered from his local BMW dealer. Theseallowed him to relocate his climate controland to make sure that everything looked andfelt complete. A precise boot install andplenty of tidying up followed while a high-gloss black trim package, along with severalexterior plastics which were painted tomatch, added to the car’s mean-look, too.

Of course, some new rolling stock wasalways going to be needed, and this came inthe form of 19” AC Schnitzer Type 3 Racingsplit rims. With the chrome gone from thecar, they looked absolutely fantastic, and allthe while Paul continued to add niftydetails, such as a genuine AC Schnitzer reardiffuser and AC Schnitzer numberplatesurrounds. The car was dropped over D2Racing coilovers, and he also sourced somenifty yellow paint from the States which heused to get that cool ‘Frenched’ effect on hisinner front headlight bowls and fogs, whilesome light tint Lamin-X and plenty of othertrick touches meant that it was an M3 likeno other.

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

Paul used to organise. It was one of the bestE46s we seen on UK soil. Little did we know,there was more to come – much more. Oncehis genuine AC Schnitzer strut brace hadbeen fitted, he was ready to take things to thenext level. “The first strut brace I had actuallyturned out to be a replica part, so Iimmediately sourced a genuine one and soldthe rep on. The coilovers needed modifying toallow the closed-top strut brace to be fitted,which I did myself,” Paul explained. By thistime, he was also fast becoming known as‘The Handyman’ on his home forum, M3Cutters. This was thanks to the fact thatbefore entering construction, he was a bikemechanic and racer, meaning that when itcomes to spannering, he’s a handy bloke toknow. He’s got contacts for paintwork and

058-064 PBMW 1012 22/08/2012 15:33 Page 59

Thanks to the Evolve carbon air box,Paul’s engine bay looks fantastic andthe noise verges on ridiculous underfull throttle too! He was keen to addthat the power delivery and throttle

response are second-to-none

058-064 PBMW 1012 23/08/2012 12:04 Page 60

OCTOBER 2012 61

machining, too (which we’ll come to in amoment), while one of his specialties isrebuilding and refurbishing big brake kits.

Because of this, the next step was to finda set of legendary AP Racing brakes. They’reby no means cheap, but a lucky eBay findgot him a set of six-pot front calipers and356mm discs. The only problem was that thecalipers were red, which was a big no-no inPaul’s book – they had to be yellow to matchhis planned colour scheme. To that end, theywere stripped and recoated in a high-temperature-resistant yellow paint. Paul thenfinished them off by hand-painting the APlogos in gloss black. The AP kit had comeoff an E92 335i, which uses the samecalipers and discs as E46 M3 kits, so all thatwas left to do was to source the correctbrackets to bolt the calipers to. This was noproblem, as Paul’s aforementionedengineering contact, known as Alpina527 tomany forum users, came up trumps,

machining a set of perfect copies, allowingthe new brakes to be fully bolted up. Toreally add to the motorsport look, a set ofTurner Motorsport wheel studs were alsoimported, setting the hubs off perfectly.

It was at this time, leading up to DC11 lastyear, that the M3 got perhaps one of its mostdefining features – the wheels. Not wantingto stray from the AC Schnitzer theme, a setof custom Type 1 Racing rollers were builtby Klaus at Felgenmann.de. Paul was keento get the wheels absolutely perfect, so afterendless measuring up, he submitted hisspecifications, and Klaus did what he’s sofamously known for. The final result?9.5x18” ET26 fronts and monsterous11.5x18” ET19 rears, featuring gold bolts anddetails with polished dishes and silvercentres. Gobsmacking doesn’t even cover it!

When it came to tyres, there was no wayPaul was going to skimp, so you’ll findstretched quality Vredestein 235/40 and 265/35

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

After arch rolling guru Arch Enemy visitedPaul to give him a little more clearance all-round there was even space for him toinclude 5mm rear spacers and 10mm fronts,completing the low, wide look. The finaltouch before show season? An ultra-rareDixis titanium rear exhaust section, whichapparently weighs absolute peanuts andgives a perfectly raspy yet refined tone.

DC11 came and, as you may not besurprised to hear, Paul scooped up a trophy –second place in class, in fact, followed byanother trophy at Bimmerflex not long after.In Paul’s eyes, though, it was still far fromover. It was time to get some more power outof the S54 engine, and this came in the form

I’d only get genuine parts;

right from the start thatwas my aim

058-064 PBMW 1012 23/08/2012 12:04 Page 61

62 PERFORMANCE BMW

of a CSL-style air box from Evolve. Now ifyou know anything about the guys down atEvolve, you’ll know that they don’t doanything by halves – much like Paul. To thisend their carbon fibre air box has beenextensively developed to be as good as, if notbetter, than BMW Motorsport’s efforts. Paulopted to have it finished in matt lacquer,although the box was later swapped out forEvolve’s revised version, this time in glossycarbon. And what better build number couldthey save for the Valentino Rossi-fan, E46-driving Paul other than number 46?

Along with the Evosport power pulleys thatPaul had fitted along the way and Evolve’sspecial Alpha N mapping, the M3 put down a

very respectable 343bhp; while the numbergeeks out there will immediately be sayingthat this is only the standard figure, you haveto bear in mind that this is a ten-year-old carwith over 70k miles on the clock – so to havea proven figure like that from rollers knownto be critical is impressive to say the least.Thanks to Paul’s low ride-height, the M3couldn’t actually be run on the rollers in theproper manner, so who knows, it may wellhave a little more anyway…

So that’s it, Paul’s M3 was complete, right?Wrong, Paul still had a huge ‘to-do’ list to getit to exactly where he wanted it. As youmight expect, various parts of the carbonblack paintwork have been refreshed over

the time that Paul’s had the car, and thanksto the various other components that havebeen painstakingly sourced and added, theexterior was pretty complete. What Paulwasn’t so sure about was the chassis setup.“I loved the D2 coilovers that were on itbefore, and there was absolutely nothingwrong with them – they were brilliant, but Ifelt they were one of the only things on thecar that wasn’t an absolutely top-notchname,” he explained. “I got the KW Variant3s second-hand and spent a day cleaningthem up before fitting them.”

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

ENGINE & DRIVETRAIN: 3.2-litre straight-six S54B32, Evolve carbon air box, Evolve Alpha N map, Dixis titaniumrear exhaust section, Evosport power pulleys. Six-speed manual gearbox, Rogue Engineering short-shift kit, RogueEngineering transmission mounts with UUC Motorwerks enforcers, CA Technologies braided clutch line, ATESuperBlue fluid adjustable clutch stop

CHASSIS: 9.5x18” ET26 (front), 11.5x18” ET19 (rear) custom-made AC Schnitzer Type 3 Racing three-piece split-rims (using lightweight forged OZ Racing centres, gold bolts and custom centre caps), 235/40 and 265/35 VredesteinSessanta tyres respectively, Turner Motorsport wheel stud conversion, 10mm front wheel spacers, 5mm rear wheelspacers. KW Variant 3 coilovers, Eibach anti-roll bars, Turner Motorsport adjustable front top mounts, RogueEngineering 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 bigbrake kit consisting of 328mm discs and custom-painted four-pot calipers, braided hoses all-round, EBC BlueStuffpads 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 rearlights 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 Pianoblack, Piano black interior trims and double-DIN bezel, custom Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel with yellowstitching and oversteer marker, custom Alcantara gaiters with yellow stitching, Waylen gear knob, retro-fitted bootrelease 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 carand the detailing, Sal and Imran at Evolve, Phil at CA and Dips at Custom Cars

DATA FILE

058-064 PBMW 1012 23/08/2012 12:13 Page 62

OCTOBER 2012 63

course, a full refurbishment was in order,and he also ordered AP rear discs (which arethe same dimensions as standard discs, butPaul didn’t want mismatched items), as wellas new hardware and seals for the caliperswhile they were away being painted. Withthose fitted, his brake setup was complete,and, as you can see, looks pretty stunning.

Next up was a new OEM clutch andflywheel, as Paul had been experiencing asmall judder. Not one to take shortcuts, hereplaced the transmission mounts withRogue Engineering items, which were fittedwith UUC enforcers. At the same time a newOEM flex-disc was added, making for athoroughly refreshed transmission, as he’d

already filled the gearbox and diff withRoyal Purple fluids and changed the clutchhose for a CDV-deleting braided hose.Finally, a Rogue Engineering short shifterand a Waylen brushed stainless gear knobfinished the setup off.

Finding that he could do with a bit morefront camber to aid clearance, second-handTurner Motorsport adjustable front topmounts were fitted – not before Paul hadgiven them a clean-up, mind. The rear lightswere also split apart and resealed, thanks toa small leak, while being covered in subtletint Lamin-X film for that stealthy look.

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

one thing for it – a freshly painted genuineCSL bootlid. E46 bods will no-doubt knowthat genuine CSL items don’t have any kindof boot-release button, so Paul accompaniedits install with the retro-fit of a CSL boot-release button, which is found in the cockpitby his right knee. As well as that, Paul hadcustom M3 badges made in the colours ofhis car – black for the paintwork, grey forthe wheels and yellow for the brakes andother details. All that was left was to get thepaintwork looking absolutely pristine, onceand for all, and that’s where Paul’s paintcontact came in handy. There was a tiny bitof rust coming through on one of the reararches, so that was cut out and new metal

The interior will be getting someserious reworking in the future, butfor now Paul’s simple but effectivemakeover looks outstanding to us!

058-064 PBMW 1012 23/08/2012 12:16 Page 63

welded in, while every part of the car wasrepainted where necessary, resulting in theimage of perfection you see before you.

The last part of the car to get Paul’s fullattention was the interior, which wascompleted just a couple of weeks before ourshoot. The first addition was the Recaro SPGseats, which fit perfectly with the motorsport-inspired theme that Paul’s gone for. His onlyproblem was with the subframes, but thanksto fellow M3 cutter Baris Sahan (PBMW

08/10), who had a couple of genuine Recarosliding subframes going spare, he soon had itsorted. To go with the new seats, Paul alsohad a fire-damaged genuine CSL centreconsole sitting in the cupboard. Having been

contemplating getting the carbon fibrerepaired, in the end he bit the bullet and hadit painted Piano black instead. It’s an inspiredmove that has certainly paid off.

The final touches, that left Paul rushingaround just days before our shoot, involvedperfecting the interior’s details. Jack atRoyal Steering Wheels retrimmed Paul’ssteering wheel using Alcantara, with yellowstitching to match the brakes and badges,along with a grey oversteer marker to matchthe wheels – much like his exterior badging.The gaiters were done in matchingAlcantara, too, with yellow stitching onceagain. It’s all in the details, you see.

Paul’s M3 may have taken half a decade to

build, but the result is undoubtedly one ofthe best E46 M3s in the country. What makesit even better is that, although he’sundoubtedly piled a pretty substantialamount of money into it, he’s been cleverabout doing so. Thanks to the contacts he’sbuilt up over the years and the fact he’smighty handy with the mechanical bits,Paul’s managed to build it withoutaccumulating a huge credit card bills – it’sjust taken patience, exquisite taste and aneye for a bargain. To top it off, Paul’s one ofthe nicest chaps around and is always willingto help out a fellow modder. He’s a BMW nutat heart – if his M3 isn’t proof enough of that,then we don’t know what is… l

The perfect but useablestance is something that

took a lot of measuringup, but it’s spot-on

It lookslike a creature that’s

swallowing up light wherever it goesescaped from hell,

058-064 PBMW 1012 22/08/2012 15:36 Page 64