E46 M3 Saloon Conversion

[storeys66]

So I've seen a few photos online of a conversion that a forum user called JeppeJ carried out where he purchased a 2-door M3 and a 4-door 318i ES in order to make a 4-door M3. He used all of the M3 parts where possible, with the exception of new M3 rear wings and a carbon M3 CSL bootlid. The conversion looked spectacular at the end, like a genuine BMW E46 M3 saloon!

Does anyone know whether it's possible to buy the body parts for a stock looking M3 conversion for the E46 saloon? It looked like the hardest parts of the conversion were the front and rear wings, as well as the rear tail light surrounds and mounts. I really quite fancy creating an E46 M3 saloon, perhaps even to CSL spec... ;)

[Jay Kay]

Sounds cool but an awful lot of work., I'd imagine expensive too. I have heard that the 4 door makes for a better track car for either the e46 or e36

[storeys66]

Yeah, in fairness it did look like a truly monumental amount of work went into it, especially for the body. The rest see,ed to be a pretty straightforward swap (running gear and interior). As for the cost, I suspect that having a perfectly good M3 coupe at your disposal helps keep part costs down (if you overlook the cost of buying it in the first place). Still, I bet it probably cost more to convert then buying a decent used M3 CSL... I'd still probably say it was worth it ough, as it's pretty much unique.

I've seen a few pics floating around the net of a silver E46 Ms estate that's claimed to be a genuine BMW prototype... Not sure how accurate that is, but it looks factory finish and it would make sense that BMW at least carried out a feasibility study to see what changes would need to be made for the saloon and estate body.