Beardymats M3 touring on hold, Got me a real M3 to S50

[beardymat]

Hi guys, its time to make a start on the new project ive been planning for a while, its been mooching about in my mind for a couple of years to build something a little unique with a two door touring being something i thought would be fun, however i needed something a little more so then i came up with the two door touring M3 idea which i think will satisfy my creativity but the need for speed still needed to be addressed, Enter a for sale ad for an S50 powered car and that was all i needed, The project is a goer.

The S50 in question is busters old car and believe it or not it is rather tattier than the pictures of it show, Andy knew this and also knew what i have planned before he agreed to sell it to me so at least im comfortable knowing he wont be coming after me for pulling apart his creation

I had already purchased a touring which was on ebay, a zinnobar pink 325 auto with plenty of miles air con and an obc and a couple of free dents too. upon stripping it appears okay with a little rust to the inner wings under the abs unit and washer bottles and the bits on the floor where the so called jacking points are, a walk in the park for me eh! I love rust

The victim





It was complete when i bought it but pulled it apart before i thought about photographing it.





OOH M3 arches and bottletops





And now the rust

















The new panel was only £20 so it seems pointless making it up from bits. Got the M3 bumper slide to weld on too when im happy with the positioning plus an airbox mount to make for the S50 airbox when i can figure out how it will fit best. Thats all for now but ill update as it progresses, im sure you will all want to see how i convert it into a two door probably more than doing all this mundane stuff but you will have to wait, as will I.

[Jhonno]

2 door B Piller and door?!

[he30]

Looking forward to watching this progress

[bss325i]

Subscribed!

[e30topless]

I heard a rumour about happening this some time ago, should be epic

[bmwe30mtech]

I look forward to seing another fantastic thread unravel Matt. Good luck with the project!

Paul

[oakey]

I will be eagerly following this thread!

[beardymat]

2 door B Piller and door?!

yup, proper two door and proper steel M3 wings, will get new inner arches to suit along with early rear panel (heavily modified) to fit smaller pre facelift lamps to complete the look. You would be surprised how easy it appears to be to convert the shell as the inner sills and inner arches are the same, however i may also be surprised at how much of a pita it is lol.

on the lookout for sideskirts and a front bumper, not putting any fibreglass tat on this one but the front bumper is huuugely expensive new.

[Rav335uk]

Watching

[gooner1]

This is going to be very interesting.

[Alex]

looking forward to progress, your bodywork certainly looks top notch

[Rav335uk]

Which Shi77er is Pauls??? on the floor or in the air??

[Ollie_bwoii]

Looking great Matt. Will definately be one to watch turn into something awesome.

This is going to be very interesting.

Ah looks who's awake.

[beardymat]

Which Shi77er is Pauls??? on the floor or in the air??

Pauls is the orange one in the air , the one underneath is a sport which has just had a resto, nice fresh brilliant red paint.

Thanks for the interes guys, Looks like id better not let you down.

[Alpina99]

Really looking forward to watching this one unveil,

[Sanchez]

Eggshellent as

[andrew320i]

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

[Kedge]

Can't wait to see this coming together. Sounded so easy to convert the touring to 2 doors when we were chatting earlier

Will you be sticking with a standard touring rear bench so you can still fold the seat down?

[beardymat]

The rear bench is one area ive not yet made my mind up on, the whole idea is to build so it looks like BMW could have made it. I want to keep the fold down seats as im sure they would have if it had been produced and i also have a set of M3 rear bench sponges to sacrifice and see if i can get to work so we shall see. long way off mind.

[The_Diddler]

Count me in on the spectators bench for this one, great project

[jbh]

as you know I had planned to do something along these lines my self but lack of space and to many projects I never managed to progress on it but would be good to see this done and hopefully once I've got the sport done and a bigger garage i might do one my self but minus the M3 arches. my plan was to go tech1 style so would be good to see how you do the rear lights as ill need pointers when i start doing mine

[jaistanley]

Matt,

Good to meet you (again) yesterday. The new project sounds freaking awesome!! I shall no doubt be picking your brains at length about building an M3 replica soon enough.

As for S50 questions you'll find a load on my build thread in the S50 section of engine swaps, but I have loads more pictures and part numbers here so fire any questions via PM if you want.

Regards,

Jai Stanley

[winx]

extralente! This should be a very good read in the months to come

[dan-t-man]

hi matt i have an m3 bumper and foam inserts but no carrier let me know if your interesred im in leeds cheers danny

[E30BeemerLad]

Good work you hero

[tomson]

This looks a good project, will it stay zinnobar?

[beardymat]

This looks a good project, will it stay zinnobar?

Nah, will go brilliant red as i find it contrasts nicely with all the black bits and will look good with the style fives with nogaro centres. never been a fan of zinnobar for some reason. I was after a white touring initially as white M3`s look minty but im not prepared to colour change from red as it looks a tw@t if you chip the paint.

Danny, im interested in the bumper, just want to make sure i can get hold of the reinforcer, does it need the sliders for the sides too? got myself a rear bumper and found out today that the little fillets that go in the arch are NLA Anyhoo PM me some details please.

[tomson]

Agreed, I've never been a fan of zinnobar either, not considered Misano? Thats better again IMO

[davpkav]

In my humble opinion.....I think it's a terrible idea....you aught to abandon the entire project......and sell me those M3 Legs! Just kiddin honest Matt!

[FMH]

Danny, im interested in the bumper, just want to make sure i can get hold of the reinforcer.

If you can't get hold of a reinforcer, you can modify the e36 ones to fit, they slot into the bumper perfect.

You can cut your front bumper shocks, weld a threaded bolt onto them, drill 2 holes into the e36 reinforcer and bolt it all up.

[beardymat]

well ive had a misano and brilliant red together in my shop and tbh i prefer the brilliant red but dont tell the diddler, just find misano looks a bit erm orange.

[The_Diddler]

well ive had a misano and brilliant red together in my shop and tbh i prefer the brilliant red but dont tell the diddler, just find misano looks a bit erm orange.

Oi, i heard that

[beardymat]

well ive had a misano and brilliant red together in my shop and tbh i prefer the brilliant red but dont tell the diddler, just find misano looks a bit erm orange.

Oi, i heard that

sorry dude, but its not all bad, at least its not pink

[Rav335uk]

well ive had a misano and brilliant red together in my shop and tbh i prefer the brilliant red but dont tell the diddler, just find misano looks a bit erm orange.

Oi, i heard that

sorry dude, but its not all bad, at least its not pink

It is

[e30topless]

have you got a plan for the rear window ?
IMO this looks a bit like a hearse, or similar to the old escort mk3 combi estate