Hello Everyone,

As some of you already know, I sold my beloved Dakar M Coupé last year. But the life without a M Coupé was so unbearable that a few months ago, I bought another one The new car was turbo'ed by the PO which I admit was part of the charm for me although I am a die hard NA man. I just wanted something different then my Dakar MC. But after a few months of ownership the novelty of Turbo setup wore off and I missed the driving characteristics of a strong NA engine.
So as off last month, I have started work on reversing the car to NA and doing other bits and mods along the way.

I had a similar thread for my Dakar MC last year which was fun to create, here it is,

Z3M Coupe Semi-Restoration ! Progress with PICS !

I know many of us like these build threads so I decided create another one for the new ride.

Here is a list of things we did so far,

-Turbo Kit taken out
-Extra Gauges and control units (EVC,AFR DEFI etc.) taken out
-Engine Cover stripped of cheesy paint theme
-All the fluids replaced (TWS for Engine, FM Booster for Diff, SRT for brakes and OEM Trans Fluid)
-Alu look door trim installed ( To match the exterior color )
-New Floor mats put and leather bordered
-Custom Pedal Set designed and installed
-Engine taken out for NA rebuild and stripped of boy racer paint
-Hamann Roof wing replaced with ACS piece.
-Replaced painted grills with OEM chrome parts.
-OEM Short Roof Antenna put in.

What is next ?

-Full NA engine rebuild
-CF Airbox
-Repainting every engine part to stock colors
-Polishing stock headers before install
-Removing Hamann Side Skirts and maybe rear side diffusers ?
-Leather reconditioning of the interior
-Adding red stitching to door grabs and center console L pieces
-Replacing aftermarket headunit and cd changer with OEM parts
-ECU tune to run the airbox
-Replacing worn BBS center caps with new ones.
-Major detailing including underbody to finish everything off.

and as always taking care of little surprises and hiccups along the way

So, lets begin,

This is her, aka " Junior " the day I bought her with po's plates,



First things first, we replaced all fluids, (TWS for Engine, FM Booster for Diff, SRT for brakes and OEM Trans Fluid)
Old Diff oil. This so called lifetime oil was literally black,





New OEM Diff Oil with FM Booster put in ($$$$!)



Before moving in to engine rebuild, I made some cosmetic enhancements,
Replaced the black door trims with alu look trim to give a little contrast to the cabin and reflect the exterior color.

Before,



After,



Then got some new floor mats and leather bordered them in red to highlight them a bit,





Then replaced the Hamann pedal set with custom pedals made specifcly for my car by bmwpedals.com, Model-Specific Aluminum Pedals Anaheim, CA Home

Hamann set before,



Custom Set,







Last thing for the interior was to remove the turbo control units and replacing the ashtray,

before,



after,

 

And then I moved to the engine. How the engine looked when I got it. With lots of custom paint and F&F colored hoses and etc..





And then the engine came out for the rebuild,





First I wanted to attend to the engine cover. Removing the old paint and preparing for repaint to OEM black.

Used a fair bit of paint remover,



Paint remover working its magic,



Lots of scrubbing with sand paper and wire brush,



Almost there,



Then I let it cool down a bit and moved to the engine block for the same process,

Terrible red theme





Paint remover applied,



Spray washed,



Almost there,



I'll have another go at it with gas and alcohol before the paint this weekend.

Super glad with the cleaning stuff, I set my sights on the throttle bodies. Since those are a little complicated to dismantle, I left the job to my mechanic and then I started.

Before,



Almost two hours of scrubbing, washing and brushing with various stuff,



I believe they turned out pretty good.

So that's it for now, I plan to do more work this weekend and I'll post every update here as much as I can. Thanks for looking.

 

Awesome thread ! Keep it coming !

 

killer thread my friend, this is a great rebuild and keep the pics coming of the progress.

 

Deja vu anyone?

I'm so happy you decided to purchase another M Coupe... we get to relive the "resto" experience all over again

 

So much win! I ordered the pedals before finishing the thread

 

Another great thread from my favourite poster, keep them coming!

 

Great Build bro! looking forward to the resto

 

Thanks. Will do...
Thanks. They will keep coming till the end.
hahah. Deja vu indeed. Second time is even more fun now that I know the car even better.
bmwpedals.com produce great stuff and the guys there are amazing to work with. Highly recommend it. I use the same set on my M3 too.
Thanks my friend.
Thanks. More pics to come !

 

After yesterday's clean up, I put the first coat of black paint on the block.

First I masked all the necessary areas and heated each side before paint,



Then the first coat of black was sprayed,



I want this paint to stick so I am taking my time with it. Will put the second coat on monday before we start the rebuild. Keep watching !