I had to swap my ride OEM (elephant ear) miror to M3 mirror because it was not a straight plug and play due to M3's come with 12 pin plug connection. So the new M3's mirror motor needs stripping out and replaced with the OEM 6pin plug connection motor which is a pain in the hole as the motor mounting bracket on the M3 mirror is different.
I'll try my best to describe what I've done to share it with all of you and to people who want swap their existing side mirror (Non M3s) motors into M3 one. This DIY is for the 6 pin connection (mirror without seat memory option) not 12 pin but principal shoud be same.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: The connection cables are EXTREMELY delicate! Use very delicate hands when pushing and ESPECIALLY pulling on the cables. If you are pulling on the cable you BETTER be pushing on the other end. These things will snap in a heartbeat and then...well...your gonna have to source another motor.
The pics on this DIY is for the passenger side. the driver side will be almost same.
Tear down your doors and remove the stock mirrors. The easiest way to do this is with the window DOWN. That way you can have one hand holding up the mirror while another loosening up the screws from the interior.
Ideally you need to remove the door panel and its so easy to do it but becareful for the door panel holding pins while u pupping out. you can check this thread which is self explanatory :)
http://www.e46fanatics.com/howto/how...hp?howto_id=27
With the mirror out, find a flat space for dissmanteling and assembly (i used these tools (Large (flat) screwdriver, Small (flat/cross) screwdriver, Sharpie, electrical tape)
push in the pins on the 6pin plug connector and slightly pull on the connector as you push in on the pins
then start to dissmanteling whole mirror by flip the entire thing over and pop off the mirror. Its held in there with four plastic clips. If you have heated mirrors then pull off from the OPPOSITE SIDE to avoide breaking the cable connected to the mirror.
With the metal frame pulled apart from the body, i have to pull out the cable through the "spring" & Slowly push the cable in from one side while pulling it from the other till it is completely out.
NOTE: It might be necessary to pull off the existing OEM tape and kinda rework the cables to get it straight enough to fit through the spring
Once the cable is free, i removed the OEM motor from the metal frame with the three screws. Once those screws are removed i had only motor and plug connection. then grab the new housing and feed the wire or pull string into the base hole and pull it out the mirror part Tie/Tape up the plug connection cable on the mirror side and slowly push it through from the mirror side to the base side. The hole that the wires go through to the base are a lot smaller than they really should be, so i tried and wiggled them as i push from one side and pull from the other. then i moved the motor into place & fasten it to the housing. i didnt reuse the old screw set, may look identical but they aren't, i used the new one.
then i re-install the whole things with door panels and re-connect the plug and tried the mirror function to be sure b4 i tight everythings and finally it was great :yuhoo:
now remaining the paint jop which soon ll be done (by paint shop) :)
I'll try my best to describe what I've done to share it with all of you and to people who want swap their existing side mirror (Non M3s) motors into M3 one. This DIY is for the 6 pin connection (mirror without seat memory option) not 12 pin but principal shoud be same.
---------------------------------------
IMPORTANT NOTE: The connection cables are EXTREMELY delicate! Use very delicate hands when pushing and ESPECIALLY pulling on the cables. If you are pulling on the cable you BETTER be pushing on the other end. These things will snap in a heartbeat and then...well...your gonna have to source another motor.
The pics on this DIY is for the passenger side. the driver side will be almost same.
Tear down your doors and remove the stock mirrors. The easiest way to do this is with the window DOWN. That way you can have one hand holding up the mirror while another loosening up the screws from the interior.
Ideally you need to remove the door panel and its so easy to do it but becareful for the door panel holding pins while u pupping out. you can check this thread which is self explanatory :)
http://www.e46fanatics.com/howto/how...hp?howto_id=27
With the mirror out, find a flat space for dissmanteling and assembly (i used these tools (Large (flat) screwdriver, Small (flat/cross) screwdriver, Sharpie, electrical tape)
push in the pins on the 6pin plug connector and slightly pull on the connector as you push in on the pins
then start to dissmanteling whole mirror by flip the entire thing over and pop off the mirror. Its held in there with four plastic clips. If you have heated mirrors then pull off from the OPPOSITE SIDE to avoide breaking the cable connected to the mirror.
With the metal frame pulled apart from the body, i have to pull out the cable through the "spring" & Slowly push the cable in from one side while pulling it from the other till it is completely out.
NOTE: It might be necessary to pull off the existing OEM tape and kinda rework the cables to get it straight enough to fit through the spring
Once the cable is free, i removed the OEM motor from the metal frame with the three screws. Once those screws are removed i had only motor and plug connection. then grab the new housing and feed the wire or pull string into the base hole and pull it out the mirror part Tie/Tape up the plug connection cable on the mirror side and slowly push it through from the mirror side to the base side. The hole that the wires go through to the base are a lot smaller than they really should be, so i tried and wiggled them as i push from one side and pull from the other. then i moved the motor into place & fasten it to the housing. i didnt reuse the old screw set, may look identical but they aren't, i used the new one.
then i re-install the whole things with door panels and re-connect the plug and tried the mirror function to be sure b4 i tight everythings and finally it was great :yuhoo:
now remaining the paint jop which soon ll be done (by paint shop) :)
thanks for the process :D 
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