George first installed the M3 rear subframe (with a 3.46 limited-slip diff, beefier half-shafts and Rogue Engineering adjustable control arms). Next, he retrofitted the M3 front suspension including steering rack, control arms and wheel spindles. Reinforced by Rogue rear shock mounts, Praxis air suspension was installed to give height adjustment. Ground Control sway bars completed the package.
In order to retrofit the S54 engine and SMG2 tranny, George had to tackle the electronics - the most challenging task of the entire project. He obtained wiring diagrams for the 323i and M3. "After digging through hundreds of documents and deciphering German codes and symbols, I realized the diagrams weren't always correct," he explained. "However, I was able to reverse-engineer a harness by tracing every wire and cross-referencing between the two cars."
Once the wiring was finalized, George saw an opportunity to improve performance. An Active Autowerke supercharger increased the power to 440hp, thanks to a kit that includes injectors, FMIC and cast intake manifold. In order to achieve the required fuel pressure, the M3 pump, lines, filter, diverter valve and pump relay were also needed.
The M3 fan shroud wouldn't fit the sedan, so George fitted an 18" Permacool electric fan. Then the stock auxiliary "pusher" fan wouldn't fit due to the intercooler. "To remedy this I installed two 10" fans to push air through the radiator, while two 8" fans pull air off of the intercooler," he said.
Once the upgrades were complete, George lifted the engine, transmission and driveshaft back into the chassis on the pallet jack.The process took 18 months to complete. The car was then towed to Century West BMW to be double-checked by technicians. "The moment of truth came when it all had to work," he exclaimed. "And amazingly, the car started with no problems."
Paint and Body
Immediately after the engine diagnostics, the car moved to Marco's Autobody for a coat of BMW Individual Interlagos blue. "They're one of the premier bodyshops for dealers in LA." George explained. "They don't do aftermarket work but I organized a one-time deal thanks to my relationship with Century West BMW."Marco's Autobody had the complex task of retrofitting E46 Coupe headlights. To do this, they grafted the front part of a Coupe fender onto the rear part of the Sedan fender. Five fenders were sacrificed before they found the best join, but the work is now seamless.To provide a more aggressive appearance, the sedan has a Rieger CS body kit. The front bumper resembles the M3 CSL's and is accompanied by a carbon M3 hood from Vorsteiner, incorporating blue and black carbon vents. Finishing the bodywork is a Hamann roof spoiler and OE trunk spoiler.
Computer Crazy
When George was in Boston, he demonstrated wireless technology and onboard computing with the car. He's since revamped it: "I evaluated power consumption, heat dissipation, shock tolerance and integrated features, then decided to use a Xenarc FL9 Car PC running Intel Pentium M 2.1Ghz and 1GB of DDR PC3200 memory. The FL9 comes with a startup/shutdown controller, so was an obvious choice. It allows the PC to start the computer 10sec after the car is running to give the voltage time to stabilize. Likewise, when the car turns off, it automatically hibernates.
"Typical hard drives don't last long with vibration from stiff suspension, so I used a solid-state M-Systems IDE 4GB flash disk," the computer-whiz explained. "It's rated at over five million write/erase cycles, which is ten times more than usual."
After sourcing the most suitable hardware, the computer was installed snuggly under the driver's carpet.