Pete's already digging into Fastback, Ashley's rolling on the body kit for F10, I saw the latest version in 3D, looks mega cool. And my E46 has been sitting this whole time.

Design's been ready for a while. Can't show it in full yet, part of it is still in paperwork. Sad footnote of doing design today: everything needs patents filed, it eats time and money, but that's the reality.

Small printers freed up, Pete and Felix are on the big one, 2 by 2 by 2. Plenty of filament. So it's time to print my E46.

Starting with the front fenders. They drop into the design easiest, nothing to fuss over there. And more importantly, it immediately tells me what wheel width I need up front.

Sliced, printed, glued. Glue here is just a base, fiberglass goes over it anyway. Been doing this 8 years, the pipeline is dialed.

Grab the power tool and a sheet metal screw, set the extension on the fender. Driver's side, quick.

Set it. And a few things surface right away.

Molding has to go. Where the extension and the molding meet, there's a swell. I'm not touching the extension, that line is the whole flavor. The molding I can hit, not the whole thing, just where they cross.

Lots of space between the fender and the extension. Needs a skeleton out of rod, one eighth inch, welded into a mesh under the extension. It sits on 10 bolts, and even sealed up it'll move under load. The skeleton has to go in, and that's not bad, the strength will be way up.

Wheels. TE37-themed 19s went on great, offset 35, 10.5 wide front and rear. They're already on thick spacers and still need to come out further, about an inch.

The panels don't get fused to the body, everything goes on bolts, like Nakai. My changes here aren't as radical as Pete's or Ashley's, they're precise, they'd fit any E46 in principle. Not a production version, a prototype, but a whole line can be rolled out of it later if I want. The E46 is such a smooth car that it needs a little aggression. Like any 911, except maybe the latest ones, they've gone angular, sharp lines, none of the classic flow left.

Now the rotors. Not keeping the natives, I'll order custom, 6 piston front, 4 rear. The problem is big rotors float deep inside the wheel and it doesn't look great. I'm running deep dish and the offset is deep, so the rotors carry a lot. I don't like a rotor sitting more than a finger, finger and a half from the wheel lip.

The plan sounds insane: the spacer goes under the rotor. Not behind, under. The rotor sits on top of it and gets pushed out.

Logic's simple. When the car brakes there's no strong centrifugal load on the disc, it just clamps together. Push it out a bit and there's no drama, especially since I'll reinforce it. Needs a custom caliper bracket, but that's a small thing: scan it, design it, cut it on the CNC, we've got one here. People run this all the time under a Big Brake Kit on any car. Ashley's is exactly that setup: 420mm rotors, 6 piston, two big bolts and a bracket. Works great.

Tomorrow, the other side and fiberglass, so the plastic doesn't move. The guys are already printing PPS, I'm still on PETG, plenty of it left here and I've got a feel for it, I know what works.

Also bought myself a small present, new steering wheel. Aftermarket, adapting the stock one probably isn't happening. Just waiting on the airbag, both are two stage, so a stock one will do.

This weekend I'm moving to the rear, starting on the quarter panel extensions. The front bumper is ready for slicing, but a bumper is a delicate thing and takes a lot of time. Anyone who's built one knows. Quarter extensions and front fenders are absolutely trivial next to it.

The E46 scan was long overdue. The design has been ready even longer. But it's built on a reference model, and our car has different geometry. With 3D printing this shows up: parts don't sit.

Evening, FL backyard. Three days of rain, mosquitos out on the third. I stand with the scanner, dodging a cloud that finds the soft spots. Quick pass, 3mm accuracy.

Why 3 and not finer. The model is already done, the scan is just to fit it. Hand-fitting will happen anyway. The project is one-off. Parts from this scan probably won't go into production. 3 millimeters is enough.

Processing, cleaning. The model isn't perfect, but good enough. We can start.

The E46 won't let designers go. You can count the icons of the early 00s on one hand, and the E46 is one of them, maybe the only one.

I've carried it in my head for years, but you can't approach it head-on. There's too much weight on it for any car designer.

The fool goes straight at it. 99 out of 100 burn out. The hundredth makes it through. The thinker sees the risks and stays put. To avoid burning out and getting stuck, you have to lower the stakes and trick your own caution. I look for a car on the cheap and tell myself it's just an exercise. That way you can start. That way you can later cut.

$60. Yes, I found an E46 for $60, in perfect condition except for a salami slap to the snout. Like a car parked in a garage all week, driven only to church on Sundays. Nobody believes me. My family laughs. But it's true. $60.

E46 325Ci, facelift, 100k miles. Glancing hit up front on the passenger side, most likely a truck. Hood touched lightly, bumper off, right headlight missing. Inside, like new.

Bring it home, walk the front. Right fender, headlight, lower control arm. Arm looks bent. Took it out. Yes, bent.

The E46 is cheaper to maintain than Corolla. Cars like this don't exist. This one exists. New control arm $18. Swap, 30 minutes.

The car flies.

Not an M3, not a 330. A 325. That's the brief: an M3 you'd hate to cut. This one you wouldn't.

Back in the shop. Mustang at the back wall, living out its days. Organs went to the 68 fastback, interior to the 69 chopped Beetle, another body growing on the same bones. On the old one, only the wheels left. 19-inch Volks-like wheels. 10.5 ET+35 Square.

Walking by, I stop. And it hits me: these will work on the E46.

Pattern's different, I know. But an adapter-spacer solves the pattern, and we need spacers anyway: this car is going wide body. E46 bolts into the adapter, Mustang bolts into the wheel. Set the wheel, lower the car. Half a centimeter to the arch. I stand looking at the wheels: nobody would put these on an E46, and there they are.

The Mustang gives. Bread and wine.