TMK-001

Oh yeah, it is only fair that we mention the greatest M2 site in the world as well... www.m2bmw.com Check out the gallery for more inspiration than you can poke a stick at! There is some other technical information there also.

1. Budget - how long is a piece of string - many have done it on teh cheap - ie $3000-5000 doing a lot of work themselves, others have rebuilt their entire car when converting to S14. It all depends on what brake, suspension and other mods you want to do make it handle and stop in accordance to the performance of the S14 motor. 2. What year? Any S14 from an E30 M3 works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M3#E30_M3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_S14 3. What to chop? You have to chop the transmission tunnel to fit the top of the gear box depending on what gear box you end up with and what sort of car you started with. (Anything other than an Auto will require chopping with all gear boxes.) 4. Is it worth it? From all reports it is sensational - I plan on undertaking the build in teh next 12 months I hope - money permitting. 5. How long? A group of BMW Club members did the swap in a weekend... go to whoa... some people have taken a year. A pro will do the conversion in approx 6 weeks I would imagine. But that is not working steady on it the whole time. There is a few guides available. The one that is talked about most frequently is the Dave Varco's M2 guide from Aardvark Racing in San Diago. http://www.2002parts.com/html/m2_kit.html Good luck, Todd

I put a fan on teh front side of the radiator, out of the way in the front, I opened up a ehap o room int he engine bay - I thought there isnt enough room for a puller fan?

Is that steering wheel a turbo wheel?

Meow!! Go easy on Harv! He was devastated when it happened.

Nice work! Let the fun begin!

I said it looks like half eaten strawberries and cream

I drove my 2002 all through "College" (or university as we call it down here) and I am so glad to still ahve it. It was a great release from the wrold to jump inot the car at 6:30 at night, wind down the window and hit the road home after 9 hours of tutes and lectures... I couldn't imagine doing it any different! "...Brutally raped..." whatever! At least his car doesn't look like half eaten strawberrys and cream. It is a turbo body kit wth some modern rims. Someone will see it and love it if you do decide to sell it. Todd

A decent graphic designer ;-) could make you an insert for the front of the guages with ALPINA written on... Is there anyone here with a km/h speedo that would let it go for a reasonable price? Anyone ever priced up one of the Cahsel's 260/km/h guages?

Tom, I didnt think Blacky had strips at knee height... My rear trim was held on by small black plastic clips and kept in place by the taillights. Do you have a link to what you got? Todd

Start a blog... it sounds very cool! Todd

It's hard, but someone has to do it... Hey Dan, I got something for you... Target, it was on sale.

The car. That is what this thread is about. :-P

My kit is pretty similar - I paid about AU$280 for a complete alarm with microwave cabin sensors, tilt sensors, etc. plus door locks and boot release... all installed in a day. Todd

Thanks guys... I named my project "The Polaris Project" at day dot, so it was hard to paint it any other color than Polaris. The paint is PPG mixed to BMW Polaris 060. The pics make it look very dark and moody, but it actually has a slight yellow hue. I am very happy with the color as it is orignal and that is how I want it to look. There isn't as much depth to the metallic as there is in modern cars though. EDiT - these pics are straight out of the gun too... still got the final polish to do. Todd

I dare say there will be a few kilometres put on it in the first few months "Just getting reaquainted" I am up for a run in March - fingers crossed it is done... I will let you know as I dont want to show anyone the full car until I have all the interior sorted at least... I am still trying to organise the wheels, they are taking much longer than I thought... the brakes I hope will be here soon too and I will organise suspension shortly... I want to keep it all under wraps until its all done as I dont want to say "Imagine it with these wheels and a few inches lower and all the interior done" I want to say "This is it! I am happy it is all done! Lets drive!" Hehehe Tom, can you post a pic of those rear trims? When I pulled the old trim off the car, they had plastic clips on them (i cant remeber if they were the same as the upper trim clips or not though) but definitely not metal. I thought you got stainless mounts for the rocker trims..? Ash, I will be up to Sydney soon as it is done! A lot of my mates up there are hanging to see it! Todd

Cheers, thats what I was thinking... nice to clarify none the less. Todd

There are a few more over on my project page. Thanks for the hook ups on all the parts mate. I appreciate the high quality service and excellent turn around on all of my parts from you. I guess pics like these really gives you a buzz... I cant wait until it is all done and I can get it polished up and then head out on the road for a drive! Todd

Do Aussie cars have these stickers?? Todd

I updated My Polaris Project blog... make sure you check it out - bottom of page 8 - for more details. Cheers, Todd

I have not seen them... are you sure? I thought you used the same as what you use to attach the trims on the upper trims... then the tail lights held them in place. Tom and Ash, Yeah, that was what I was thinking - its just that to replace it with a flash new one is soooo appealing to have it all looking pretty. I will polish it up and see how it goes. If I pull it off, it wont appear anywhere else on the car. I'd prefer to leave it all looking stock. I fit the fuel filler as well and after f**king around with it for half an hour and fittign it, I realised I fitted part of it around the wrong way. I will fix that tomorrow. Shed temps have been reaching upwards of 50 degrees as well (over 100f) which makes it a bit unpleasant to work for most of the day! I think I am averaging about 6lt of water a day. I have also been fitting black bolts and screws on things as I go as well. I like the NiCa coating, but I dont think it looks too good on silver, so I have tried to keep a continuous theme of black bolts/screws where where I can... I am organising black and white TMK001 plates to replace the standard issue ones too. Todd

The car is currently in a state of final reassembly. It is still a fair way off as I have to organise many things before I can drive it - the motor is getting a single 45 weber side draught manifold and a few other little bits to make it sing that little louder. So here are a few update pictures... Lurking in the darkness All new headlights, turn signals, grills, wings, nose section... Turn signals are just sitting there for the moment - I snapped the drill bit fucking around with it on something else and had to pick one up this afternoon, but ran out of time. Nice and straight Polaris Respray... doors are yet to be adjusted, just hanging - we will put a bit more effort into making the panel fit and gaps nice and smooth in the coming weeks. Badger, badger, badger... this is the original badge, I think I might get a new one... what do people think about a new badge or keep the old one? Every other shiney bit has been replaced on the car... Tail happy - brand new rear lights - just gotta get some clips to fit the rear strip (yeah, I'll have to pull the lights out to fit that, but I wanted to get them in place to make it look a bit neater today... you can also see the centre exit exhaust and the tow loop that is covered in overspray... Still a long way to go, but its nice to be going through final reassembly rather than fitting and removing all the time like have been doing on and off for the past how ever long... I thought I would never consider another project after some of the headaches I have had with this car, but I've already started planning the next non-02 project. Todd