Hello from Cairo

[///Mahmoud]

Hi guys, glad to find this forum. Hoping to make new friends and help others if I can.

[SSense]

:welcome2: Aboard

Would be great if you share some info or pics about your car..

[ahmad.alkhalil]

welcome to our humble home :D

[eoudeh]

welcome to the club :)

[Hasan Shaikh]

Welcome the the club!

Another E30.

[///Mahmoud]

Thank you all for your warm welcome guys!

Ok here's my story and car pix...sorry for the long story :P

I've always wanted an ///M3 ever since I saw the E30 M3 in a motor show in
Cairo. I was in high school then. Car prices are a bit high here, so whenever I
saved up, I was always a few tens of thousands short....I missed the E30,
and almost bought the E36 M3 (taxes/customs were crazy) and I actually put a
down payment on a 2001 E46 M3 when I was in New York. Unfortunately I was
in Manhattan when the 9/11 events occured. So I stayed a few more months
hoping things would get better but it only got worse so I left and came back
home...

Years later, in 2006 I bought a 318i E46 sedan with the goal of converting it
into an ///M3. Through a friend I got a 2003 ///M3 with SMG from FabDirect of
the UK. Lots of reading and preperation. Followed by many days & nights
sleeping under the car at my home garage. At first I had some friends visit
and help out. Once the engine & harness were out, everybody was scared and
nobody wanted to help. They started treating me like a mad scientist who had
once owned a nice BMW, and converted it into a pile of scary junk. Nobody wanted
to get involved in this crime. Even my own parents lost hope. I still
remember my father saying: I just wish to see that car run some day. I
promised him I will never tow the car to any shop, I will drive it out of my
garage with the S54 tranny.

Working alone, my only companion was a list of mp3s that kept running repeatedly
for many days. First task was to convert the wiring harness from Right Hand
Drive to LHD. I had to study the ///M3 wiring diagrams, tripple checking
everything. For the mechanics, I bought some nice hydraulic tools to help
(swapping engine, rear suspension, very tough job to do alone sometimes
required to use arms and legs like when installing the exhaust pipes). I was
progressing slowly but surely as they say. Every bolt was torque tightened as
per BMW specs (even the non critical bolts) using high quality Hazet torque
wrenches and an angle torque gauge. Many purchases of parts, plastics,
oils...etc. All BMW's recalls and SIBs were done by myself also and at
home. Things like: rod bearing replacement, SMG relay harness (switching the two
red wires as BMW decided it was better for the SMG pump), and updating
software of SMG and DME, even the differential oil with friction modifiers
(SAF-XJ + FM booster) and then doing the 20 turns to the right, 20 to the left
and 20 eights to bed the diff's clutch. For the body work I got a skilled
auto body workman to do the fender flares, and install the ///M3 trunk floor
that I bought brand new. Other enhacements include UUC lightweight clutch
and flywheel, Vorsteiner carbon fiber hood, CSL carbon fiber trunk... When the
body and paint preperation was done I drove the car straight from my home
garage to the paint booth. I was also involved in the paint process, as I
researched and found that BMW uses materials/paints from Glasurit. So I bought
the raw chemicals myself, and instructed the guys how to apply it on plastics,
metal..etc. The technical documentation from Glasurit is very detailed and
specific, the hard part was convincing the guys donig the work to follow
instructions. With some tough love I managed to convicne the guys and got the
results I was after :)

The car's been sheer driving pleasure ever since. My goal was to build a
reliable, trouble free, as good as new ///M3. For 3 years now my hands only get
dirty for oil changes, brake pads. Here's a link driving it (shot by phone cam
so movie quality sucks): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE7tqlbL3cc

Recently I got me a 1989 E30 320i convertible that I'm hoping to convert
into a monster....would like to throw in the S65 V8, or the S85 V10 (if I can
get a bargain on an engine management system for the V10). Will post pics of
the new babe as soon as I finish the paperwork.

The end.

[Hasan Shaikh]

Glad to know you better.

You have come to the right place.

We have excellent people in the club. You shall find them very helpful and more knowledgeable than most BMW enthusiasts.

[Bruno]

i salute you for the hard work... job well done there. i'm sure many people have let you down during the process, it comes with the package. great that you over turned that and continued the project.

what have you done to the brakes and suspension?? i see it a bit off?

[///Mahmoud]

Suspension, brakes, everything including the entire Steering wheel column with its steering angle sensor are ///M3. The only thing left from the E46 sedan is the outer body and the Dashboard.
At first I bought a Koni kit with lowered springs, I loved the slammed look & performance was nice but this doesn't suit our bumpy roads. I ended up being slower than the worst cars, taking bumps diagnoally while Hyundai drivers honk and curse...etc. After a few weeks I decided to get 4 ///M3 shocks with springs from the States and those are the ones in the pix.
The brakes and rotors came with the UK 2003 ///M3 so those were on from day 1. A year later I got new Euro spec rotors from Germany which are basically the same as the ones that came with the car. If there's something I'm missing let me know.


Well, people weren't letting me down intentionally, they're ones who cared and got scared...I can't blame them. Problem is, when your parents start worrying, that makes you doubt yourself sometimes hahahahaha.

[Bruno]

and they're like sell sell sell or my son has a junk car :P

glad it all worked out.. but i think it can be lowered even more from the back no?

[///Mahmoud]

Actually it was: What happened to what used to be a car? You can't even sell now! lol
I'm sure it'd look and even perform better if lowered. The roads here are tough and full of surprises (trust me). If I am to do any mods to the suspension I'd consider getting BMW's rough road package for ///M3 which would raise the car even more.

[RAFiK]

Welcome aboard and great job there !!!

I hope I didn't miss anything reading the essay above :rofl:, one question though.. Have you made any adjustments to the drive shaft length? What work have you done to reinforce the chassis ?

The is a well respected project.

[///Mahmoud]

Drive shaft length remains intact (no changes just use ///M3 driveshaft).
The chassis reinforcements are all bolt-ons with the exception of a C pillar enforcement in the E46 ///M3 chassis itself, which regular E46's don't have (neither does mine). This is from reading a pdf explaining the differences (read it 3 years ago so excuse me if it's a A or B pillar, but if my memory is serving me well it should be C, if not then those who know please correct me).

Thank you all.

[eoudeh]

Very well done man...i respect the ppl who try to achieve the hard goal as they want it to be, one question came to my mind coz I was planning to do the same project but the only things let me down that the traffic department here, they reject my request of swapping the engine from 4 to 6 cylinders :( wht about in ur country? Is it allowed such transform, is it registered?

[///Mahmoud]

Thank you. It's registered. Such transforms are allowed as long as the car and engine are of the same brand regardless of cylinders or engine capacity (both BMW in my case).