15x16 - 2004 BMW M3

[bunniefuu]

Once in a generation,
automotive lightning

can strike, creating a
true motoring unicorn.

Power, precision, performance,
probably some other P's as well.

The BMW E46 M3, the perfect driver's car.
See, told you there'd be another P.

I love it!

But only if you get a manual.

The paddle, nothing happens,
and now that you've changed gear.

Get rid of all this nonsense, put an extra
pedal in, and we'll have a proper car.

Miracles can happen.

Converting one to the
other without changing

the gearbox is
actually a viable option.

Then the open road, then
open checkbooks beckon.

In 1972, somebody at BMW
come up with a genius idea.

They said, why don't
we take some of our road

car engineers and some
of our race car engineers

and put them in a room together, let them
bang heads, see what they can come up with.

They call themselves the BMW
Motorsport Division, or M for short.

Their first car was the legendary BMW M1.

That in turn led on to the amazing BMW M3.

Now the car that I'm on my
way to go and see is a BMW M3,

and it's one of the best
ones that they ever produce.

It's a 2004 E46 M3, and the known
issues are with the SMG gearbox.

That gearbox at one time was
state of the art, it was fantastic,

but nowadays they've just got a
little bit worn out and a little bit tired.

The other one is because
it's got a powerful engine

and it's got a load of power going through
that gearbox, it cracks the rear subframe.

Now if it's not had any
of those issues fixed,

it means that this car
could be quite cheap,

and if it's cheap and I
can fix them on the cheap,

it means there'll be a
healthy profit for me.

The guy I'm going to see is called Gary.

Gary unfortunately is
going to be at work today, but

he said he's going to leave
me the keys, very trusting.

When I spoke to Gary, I asked
him about that rear subframe repair,

and he said that he
doesn't know if it's been

done, and he's going to
talk to the previous owner.

So there's plenty of customers
out there for an E46 M3.

As long as the car is up together,
we should sell it, no problem.

That is one beautifully
presented BMW E46 M3.

Looks like it could be
on a showroom forecourt.

The paintwork looks exceptional.
There's no stone chips whatsoever.

We're in a mountainous region, and up
here there's plenty of rocks and boulders,

and there's not one
stone chip across the front,

so I gather it's had
a little bit of paint.

If it's had a bit of paint,
why has it had a bit of paint?

And this is where that
private investigator comes in.

You need to start looking
at other things on the car.

A couple of little
telltale signs with these.

If it's had some kind of ingress,
some kind of accident at the front,

for some reason the front
windscreen drops down,

and sliding it back up
always leaves a little

annoying gap at the top,
but this one looks okay.

So I gather it's just stone chips.

Inside, wow, a sea of
deep, rich, black leather.

Double stitched, nice carpets as well.

The headliner looks fantastic.

The rear seat, look at this. I don't
think that's been sat in, that rear seat.

There's a little bit of perishing going
on in that rubber, which shows its age.

Nice and straight down the back.

There's twin pipes coming out, very nice.

Ooh, yes, looks better than perfect.
I love this.

These are receipts and invoices for
money that's been spent on the car.

Finding stuff like
this, a little treasure

trove, because that really
helps come sow time.

Very nice and deep, nice and
straight round here as well, all good.

There's another little
thing that I always

want people to do when
they go and see a car,

is open the door and
just give it a shake.

If this glass has been popped, or the car's
been stolen, or it's been in an accident,

and the glass is broken, the
glass falls at the bottom of the door,

and when you open
the door it rattles, and

if it rattles you need
to ask yourself, why?

Why was the glass broken?

And that's where you need to start digging
into the investigation a little bit more.

Right, nice inside, electric memory seats.

It's got everything across the
dashboard, everything looks really nice.

That famous SMG automatic gearbox.

Let's see if it fires up.

And there it is, fired into life.

Sounds really nice.

Let's get under the bonnet.

Oh wow, that's fantastic.

Look how clean that is.

Some aftermarket air filter on there,
I'm not too sure I'm a big fan of those.

Almost factory fresh.

This is what this car is all about, it's
this engine with that famous M badge.

This is one exciting car.

Now, I can tell you, although this
car has had paint, and I can see it,

it must have only been
painted because of stone chips.

Because it's never, ever been taken apart.

And I can tell that by looking at some
of the marks on the inside of the panels.

The factory at BMW, they
put this nice seam line down,

and that seam line is all factory fresh.

Well it's ticking over, I've got the keys.

The only thing is, where I'm going, it
looks like there's a bit of weather ahead,

so I apologise Gary, I'm not going to bring
your car back as clean as I'm taking it.

It wasn't until 1985 that the
M badge became reachable

to the everyman, and
that was with the BMW M3.

That wonderful shape with its flare
wheel arches, that dog-leg gearbox,

that wonderful 2.3 litre, 16 valve engine,

that paved the way for every
successive BMW M3 thereafter.

And then we end up with this.

Oh look at that, I love it!

In between every gear change
there's this deep guttural boom.

It's a rather sluggish
gear change, but it is there.

Why I've become a fan of the E46 is because
BMW were the engine supplier at the time,

to Williams, the Formula One team,

and some of that Formula One technology
filtered its way down into the road cars,

and therefore into the hands
of the masses, people like me.

This wonderful flappy paddle gear shifter.

BMW called this the SMG, which
means sequential manual gearbox,

or as it's known these days,
send us money Gerhard.

Your gearbox is broken.

Over the years, the SMG
system gets a little bit tired.

Well, this car's 14 years of age now,

and have you ever
tried to get a 14 year

old out of bed and get
going in the morning?

Ready? Hit the paddle, nothing
happens, and now we've changed gear.

Why not do away with
all this electronic nonsense

and reveal what this car
should have always been?

Because underneath all of this is
a perfectly good manual gearbox,

all we need to do is take all
this stuff off, put a clutch pedal in,

and we'll end up with
a car that could be up to

30% more valuable, and
that's why I'm chasing it.

So this M3 is $11,000, and to be
honest with you, that's not a bad price,

but that was before I knew
about the sloppy gear change.

I'm going to go back and
see if I can get it a bit cheaper,

but if I can't, it's still coming
back to the workshop with me.

Gary!

Alright, well then for
me it's just that gearbox.

Would 10.5 buy it?

To your firm at 11.

Um, yeah, okay, yeah,
I agree, I'll have the car.

Thanks Gary, I'll do the
paperwork and be in touch.

Lovely!

Alright, wonderful.

Well there you go, I've just gone and
bought myself a BMW E46 M3 for 11 grand.

And I'm delighted with
that, it's a cheap car.

LAUGHTER.

An E46 BMW M3?

Yeah, but not just any old E46 BMW M3, it's
the ultimate, ultimate driving machine.

Love the colour.

It's carbon schvartz.

What?

Carbon schvartz.

I know it sounds like
something you'd rub a cream on

at the doctor's, but
basically it means dark blue.

Plop yourself down into what will
become your office, the passenger seat,

it's got lovely carpets, door cards
are nice, carbon fibre effect dashboard,

yep, the headliner's good,
everything about this car is tip top.

Yeah, it's one of those, isn't it?

One of what?

You know, one of those cars
where you list of all the great things

and then all of a sudden you punch me in
the ribs, back door me with the bad stuff.

Don't do that, no the car's not
bad, actually the car's really good.

Yeah, it's really good.

There's no real bad news,
I mean there is something

that we could do to this
car almost immediately.

Right, here we go, just let me
hold my breath for a second.

You don't need to hold your breath.

One of the jobs is the SMG gearbox.

Right, that's okay because
I know what that means,

if we change the pump
on it, it'll give it a zip back,

you'll be able to go through the
gears like bang bang like a driver.

Yeah, I thought exactly the same as
you until I looked up the price of a pump.

$4,000 for a pump.

So I was thinking, why don't we
do away with the pump altogether?

So you're thinking we go manual.

Manual, yes, now we're talking, right?

Because underneath there is a
full six-speed manual gearbox.

All we need to do is get
rid of all this nonsense,

put an extra pedal in,
and we'll have a proper car.

So we're going to end up
with an E46 BMW M3 manual.

Yeah, count me in.

And the car will be worth
30% more straight off the bat.

Done, boom!

Doesn't take a lot to convince me.

And also, when it came
in I heard it was a little bit

throatier than normal, do
you want to change that?

It's got an aftermarket
exhaust and it sounds amazing.

Would you change it?

No.

But it's still an E46, which means it's
got a tendency to have Van loss problems.

Right, but before we get to that.

Oh, hello.

Yes, hello.

That engine, that, 333, fine
horsepower, straight six, beautiful car.

It's got some tricky bits on it as well.

It's got this cross brace, which I
actually like, gives a bit of rigidity.

It's got an aftermarket
air filter, which I don't like.

It's just gulping in the hot air.

It looks brand new.

It does look new, doesn't it?

Yeah, it has got a serviceable thing that
we can do, which is the Van loss bearing.

Right, well it's an E46,
it's due to Van loss.

Right, that's it.

John, I'm looking at this car,
and I'm very rarely speechless,

but you've absolutely blown it away,
you've smashed it out of the park.

Thank you very much.

You know, if sales figures
were a measure, the

E46 3 Series would be
the king of BMW World.

I mean, they built and sold over three
million of these cars between 1997 and 2006,

and each one of them carried that BMW
reputation for quality and performance.

And of those three million,
85,000 were the cream of

the crop, because they
were BMW, E46, Series 3, M3.

For BMW owners, this car is the
ultimate, ultimate driving machine.

This car has SMG, that's a
sequential manual gearbox,

and it works both as
an automatic and a

manual, which on paper should be pretty
good, it should feel like a race car.

But the truth is, in reality it's
actually quite compromised.

And what's interesting is
that over the last 15 years,

the second-hand car
market has actually dictated

that manual cars are
worth a little bit more.

When you think about it,
that kind of speaks volumes.

Using compressed air, I'm
emptying the SMG fluid reservoir.

Now if you own a BMW
E46 M3 with paddle shifts,

you're going to want
to pay attention to this.

Because those chaps at BMW
have done you guys a favour.

Now whether it's a
manual or an automatic,

the gearbox in this
car is exactly the same.

Just let that sink in for a second.

The gubbins that shifts
the gears are different,

but the gearbox
itself, it's identical.

Converting one to the
other without changing

the gearbox is
actually a viable option.

There's a heck of a lot of steps, but
all of it's pretty straightforward stuff.

It might seem strange tackling
a gearbox job from up here.

But before I raise the
car, I'm removing the parts

that my future manual
car simply doesn't need.

Things like the SMG pump, the
reservoir and shift to block off plate.

And behind all those steps is this.

Now this is the SMG pump. This is
the bit that costs $4,000 to swap out.

If this car was a regular 3 Series E46, the
pump would be just a few hundred dollars.

The M3 has an expensive unit.

Now we could have just
bitten the b*llet, swapped it

out, kept the SMG and
gained some performance back.

But for Mike and me, a
manual car wins every time.

With the engine support in place, I can
finally lift the car and tackle the gearbox.

For this conversion to manual, I need
to remove the gearbox from the car.

This will give me the space and
room to remove the bell housing,

check the clutch and remove the
SMG parts from the gearbox itself.

And finally, after all those steps, this
is the item I was actually aiming for.

The gearbox.

So now the gearbox is out, you have
a better understanding of how it works.

There's those four hydraulic lines.
One of them is dedicated to this unit here.

That operates the clutch.

When that's gone, I'm
going to have to replace it

with a clutch pedal and
do that with your left foot.

The rest of them join the back of
the gearbox to these two cylinders.

Now inside each cylinder is a piston.

This piston here operates the forward-backward
movement that the gearstick would do.

And this piston here
does the left and right.

So between the two of
them, they do every movement

needed in a standard H-gate
that you do in a manual car.

Now I'm going to keep this original gearbox,
but it does need some modifications.

So to get that done,
I'm going to call in a

little favour and pass
it off to Mr. Brewer.

Mike's already
mentioned it, and looking at

the mileage on this BMW,
the Vanos is past due.

Now this is the Vanos unit
here, and its name comes from

the German translation
for variable camshaft timing.

Now I already know that's
pretty tricky for me to translate.

So I'm going to call on the assistance
of a little friend of mine and use this.

Check this out.

Varyagen, VA, Nochenstrelen,
NO, and then the S-word.

Hello! How are you doing?

Don't sneak up on people like that.

Well, I'm a man bearing gifts.

Oh, what have you got?

I've got the Vanos rebuild kit.

Ah, perfect timing.

See what you've done there,
Vanos, perfect timing, very clever.

Okay, listen, listen to this.

Yeah, it's German for Vanos.

That's what that means. Why?

Yeah, so I've been
working really, really hard,

but it is a job and a
half getting this done.

I didn't realise you had
to remove half the engine.

Yeah, I had to get rid of all
of that to get to that pump.

Half the job was up
here before I could even

get underneath and
sort the gearbox out.

Ah, the pump, the expensive bit.

Oh, I've seen that look before.

Well, I'm thinking the pump,
right, because when I bought

the car, I looked at buying a
pump and they were four grand.

So if you've taken
the pump off and I can

clean it, maybe I can
sell that for a few quid.

However, we just focused
on the job in hand and if

you look over there,
you'll see that bell housing.

That needs to have a little bit of
engineering done, a bit of modifications.

I'm a step ahead of you. Actually, I've
found a company who can help us out

and I'm happy to take the heavy
lifting away from you and get it sorted.

Well, I'm going to leave you to crack
on, I'll go and sort out that bell housing.

See you.

Now, from the moment I
clapped eyes on our BMW E46 M3

SMG, I knew there was a
way to add value to that car.

And that's ripping out that SMG
gearbox and turning it into a manual.

Now, that's a big undertaking and it's
going to cost a pretty penny, but every

single penny I invest in that gearbox,
I know I'm going to get back in droves.

So I'm off to see some friends
at Lang Racing Developments

and Andrew, who owns a
company, reckons he can help me out.

Andy, I see you're still busy looking
after people's road cars and race cars.

Yeah, we're just doing spark
plugs and oil change on this

newer M3 and then carbon fibre
underbody on this race car here.

Fantastic. And is that
Andrew? Andrew, how are you

buddy? Good to see you.
Not bad at all. Good to see you.

So Andrew's taking off the
SMG part of our gearbox.

SMG means sequential manual
gearbox and it was developed in

the late 90s by the likes of
Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and BMW.

It was that Formula 1
technology, that paddle

shifter technology that
filtered down to road cars.

It was BMW that really took
it to the masses with the M3.

Unfortunately though, over time, it
just sort of gets tired and it wears out.

So the way to make the car better is to
use somebody like Andrew who can take

all that SMG stuff off and unleash that
manual gearbox that's hiding underneath.

It's looking really good, isn't it? I
can see now we've got the holes

drilled, they've been reamed out
and they've been tapped with a thread.

So are we almost there
then? Halfway through.

Halfway through. So what
do we need to do next?

We're going to insert the
detents and take measurements

of the threads so we
can get the depths correct.

Now Andrew back there is
machining a standard bolt and

he's going to machine it
down so it looks like this.

And he's doing that for
a reason, it's to accept

the spring, it's going to
be the same diameter.

The spring gives tension
and it's that nice little

bit of tension you get
between the gear changes.

So there's a magic number that's
inside the bellhousing that creates

the same amount of pressure on
the spring as a factory measurement.

So Andrew, I gather where we are
is all the fabrication, the engineering,

all that's now done and it's now
time for assembly, yes? Correct.

The shift arm simply bolts in.
Once I mount the spring into place,

setting the spring pressure is
just a matter of adjusting the plugs.

This simulates the shift shaft here.
Not really.

That's your reverse gear.

And that's five through six.
That's fantastic.

Well I've loved watching
Andrew change our gearbox from

what was a semi-automatic
into now a proper manual.

But the work here isn't done. I've
got to come back and visit these

guys because the brain of our
car still thinks it's a semi-automatic.

And these guys are going to
unlock the power of that ECU and turn

it, thanks to the work that
Andrew's done, into a proper manual.

Right, back on it, the Vanos.

Now variable timing adjusts the position
of the camshaft while the engine's running.

So at lower engine speeds
the camshaft's altered

so that the valves open
slightly later than normal.

This helps with idle and also
a smoother delivery of power.

As the engine speed increases,
the valves are opened earlier.

Now this helps with
torque and also with fuel

consumption which in
turn helps emissions.

Now this is the actual cam cover itself.
The black one's purely for aesthetics.

Now our engine is a twin-cam engine
with one cam here and one cam there.

And both those cams are
rotated by this timing chain.

Now what's critical about
this engine is the camshafts

themselves aren't solidly
mounted to these two sprockets.

Now if this was a standard
engine, the sprocket would be

simply bolted to the camshaft.
They'd just turn as one.

The difference is here, this splined unit.

This Vanos unit uses hydraulic
pressure to move these pistons

in and out and those
pistons are joined to that shaft.

The thing is it might look like a straight
spline but actually it's a spiral spline.

So it takes the in and
out movement of the

Vanos and converts it
to rotational movement.

It alters the position of the cams.

But what's most remarkable
about the whole Vanos system

is it does all of this while
the engine's running.

Now it's a simple and reliable system
but, and of course there's always a but,

inside here there's some tiny little
o-rings that maintain hydraulic pressure.

And of course over time they wear and they
break so that hydraulic pressure is lost.

The variable part of our
variable timing is then gone.

This is a tiny little piston
that has these two seals on.

One on top of the other.

Now Mike's kit, this little bag of bits
here, will have in it some new ones.

It's so flexible.

Now the next seal, this
one, this is the tricky one.

It's very very tricky getting this one on.

You have to really take your time.

Now this material exhibits a
phenomenon known as cold flow.

That means if I stretch it,
it stays slightly stretched.

So you have to really take your time.

Now that's the second seal done.

But BMW doesn't make it that easy for
you because there's seals also inside here.

Now the problem with this
harder Teflon o-ring is that

the circle is bigger than
the hole it's going into.

Reinsert the piston, but I'm
going to need a little bit of lube.

And then the other
side is exactly the same.

Now next up on the unit is
this, the hydraulic fluid return.

One small one.

Lube.

And that is the Vanoss unit done.

This is a service item.
You do it about every 70,000 miles.

If you get it done at a garage,
it's going to be expensive.

It's going to cost around $1800.

That's £1300.

Now the kit that Mike
bought had everything that

he needed to do the
job and it was only $230.

About £175.

So if you have a bit of Patience,
my advice is have a go yourself.

And finally, I can get on
the manual conversion.

I'm going to start by
removing the SMG gear stick.

And if I do that, it reveals
the chassis structure below.

You see, the thing is, BMW
builds thousands of cars.

So the shell that I'm
sitting in, this monocoque,

which is made up of a
load of pressed steel panels,

is the same. This is great news because all
I've got to do is drill out the spot welds,

remove that plate, and
then open up the hole.

Perfect.

Now the rest of it I need
to tackle from underneath.

But I'm not going to
go up just yet because

of course a manual
car needs a clutch pedal.

Now the good news is the shell is
already made to accept a clutch pedal.

It's a bolt-in unit.
It pivots off this top bolt here.

The master cylinder is
held in a fixed position.

So when you push the pedal,
it pushes that piston in and out,

sends hydraulic fluid down a pipe,
and operates the sl*ve cylinder.

It makes the clutch work.

There's the little pivot, which BMW
have already handily fitted in the car.

And then this pedal simply slides on.

And then it's all held in
place by this tiny little clip.

The master cylinder
itself needs to be secured

in place with these
tiny little nuts and bolts.

BMW make it easy, but not that easy.

And that's the pedal side of things done.

The fluid supply for our
clutch master cylinder is here,

the same reservoir
that's used for the brakes.

And what BMW have done is
they've added this extra outlet,

which if you think about
it, makes total sense.

You might as well have one
part that deals with all options.

Cut that off.

Put our new pipe on.

It makes commercial sense to have
just one reservoir that fits two cars.

BMW not only saves some cash,
but it makes my job easier too.

And while Mike tackled the
bell housing modifications,

I've done a simple modification
myself to the gearbox.

This hole was already here, and all
I've done is tap it out to accept this,

a gear position sensor.

This wire sends a signal back to the
ECU and tells the car what gear it's in.

This little hydraulic
unit here actuates the

pressure plate and
disengages the clutch.

And if this was the SMG
car, which it was before,

it would have had that
huge solenoid in its place.

And this hose here joins on
the back of the sl*ve cylinder

and goes all the way up to our new
clutch pedal where that master cylinder is.

The gear lever itself comes in two halves.

This is that lower section.

And it bolts very simply
to the top of the gearbox

via a single pin, which
just clips down like that.

Now this replaces those two
solenoids that were in the SMG kit,

one that deals with the forward back
and one that deals with the left and right.

And that's it.
This gearbox is now dressed and ready.

I just need to put it in the car.

I haven't actually changed the clutch.

That's because I've inspected
it and it's in really good shape.

But what it does do is it highlights
that everything that you need

to do this conversion
is already in the car.

The clutch on the SMG is exactly
the same as the clutch on a manual.

All we've done is alter the
way the gears have changed.

We've put the gearbox
back into place, just

as it was before the
conversion was started,

securing the bell
housing bolts to the engine

and bolt the cross
member back to the chassis.

And that's the gearbox in.

I need to hook up this hydraulic
line from our new sl*ve cylinder

through the footwell here and join it
up to the new clutch master cylinder.

And then I've got a few
bits to do underneath.

And then on to the top.

In a very typical BMW manor,
this trim panel has the marks on it

all ready to cut out for a clutch pedal,

which is going to save me bags of time.

That's the hydraulic hose
connected to the master cylinder.

And now this little trim panel.

And that's what it's all about,
a manual H-Gate gear lever.

That's a really nice touch.

That feels so good.

I mean, it has been an awful lot of work,

but if, as Mike says, it raises
the value of our car by 30%,

that hard work's been worth it.

This conversion might
seem like genius from BMW,

but actually it's mostly down to
how modern production lines work.

You see, it's about economies of scale.

The South Carolina factory
on its own is knocking out.

1400 BMWs every single day.

So if you think about it,
if you just have one body

or one pedal box with the pin
or one reservoir with the outlet

or one clutch or one gearbox,
you're going to save money.

And we've saved a load of
cash too with me doing the labour,

but we're done in this
workshop because the

car has to go out to get
the ECU reprogrammed.

And for that, I know a guy who knows a guy.

Now thanks to the fantastic work
that Ant's done to our BMW M3,

we've done away with the SMG gearbox
and now we've got a proper manual.

The thing is though, the
car doesn't know that yet.

See, this car's got a
computerised brain, the ECU.

And when I put this car into reverse
gear, a number of things should happen.

This mirror should tip down so I can
see the kerb and not damage the wheels.

The rear parking sensors should fire
into life so I don't reverse into anything.

And at the moment, this
car is in limp home mode,

only 30% of its power.

All these problems can be resolved

and that's why I've come
down to see my friend Jonathan

at Lang Racing Developments
and he's going to help me out.

So Jonathan, my M3, where is it currently?

Where does it think it's at?

Now it's really confused because it's
looking for all those SMG components

that were removed and
it's not getting a signal back

so it thinks there's a major
problem with the car right now.

Right, so what is the cure for that?

The cure for that is to reflash it.

So we're going to flash it to
think it's a factory six-speed

so that it drives well and all the
bells and whistles work with it.

Gotcha. Right, now reflashing it means

that you're going to
plug in your computer into

the car to reprogram
the car's electronic brain

and turn it into that much
needed manual six-speed.

Yes, sir.

You got this, didn't you?

I got it.

Don't screw it up.

Now I'd love to take you
over there and show you what

Jonathan's been up to but
actually it's a bit of a trade secret.

We're going to take the car
from what was a semi-automatic

into a full factory
fresh six-speed manual

gearbox and that is
just going to be brilliant

and when it's finished
it's going to drive

amazing and I can't wait
to get behind the wheel.

Motor in dreams do come true.

Drive in heaven in the
shape of a BMW E46 M3.

Oh, look at that. I love it.

It was already great inside and out but
suffered from an unforgivable automotive sin.

It's one of those, isn't it?

You know, one of those cars
where you list of all the great things

and then all of a sudden you smack
me in the guts with the bad stuff.

It was not a manual.

Manual cars are worth a little bit more.

Me and Ant knew we had to rescue this car
and give it the third pedal it deserved.

Simply slides on.

Now we truly have what
many think of one of the best

sports cars in history
and cheap at half the price.

That feels so good.

The car itself was just $11,000.

Energy to manual swap kit, $1,279.

The Vanoss rebuild kit, $238.

Bell housing work, $500.

Second hand air box was $180
and to reflash the computer was $250

which gives us a grand total of $13,447.

Just over £10,000 in 33 man hours.

Watch our open road. Here we come.

Second gear in this car is absolutely mega.

Why, because you've not gone to third yet?

Not quite yet, no.

Oh, look, another red light.

I've got a really good idea.

What?

Next time we finish a car, why
don't I book where we go and drive?

You're just sort of taking away
everything that I put into our lives.

What are you talking
about? I put a manual

conversion in an M3
and we're sat in LA traffic.

We are stuck in traffic.

We are stuck in traffic.

Again, in an M3, it's not good.

He's not happy.

Oh, hold on, I've got a text message
coming. Would you get it for me?

It's a guy saying I'll meet you at the
parking structure in a couple of minutes.

Who's this?

I've forgotten. Right,
I'm meant to meet a guy

called Paul and I'm
going to show him the car.

What, this is a buyer?
This is a buyer for the car.

For this car? Yes, I've forgotten.
It's only five minutes away.

We can go round there, can't we?
Just do it to pit stop on the way.

Let me show him the car.

Right, here we go.
This is the place I'm looking for.

Here?

Why wouldn't we just meet him here?

Trust me, the top of
the garage is the perfect

place because it's open,
you get a 360 environment.

Plus, it's got really nice
upstairs. This car park is lovely

and we can go up there and
show off the car on its best light.

Can you imagine finding
this space in downtown LA?

See, I can't believe it.
You've managed to find the

only parking structure in
LA that actually has spaces.

It gives me and you a chance to appreciate
the lines of the beautiful E46 BMW M3.

It is beautiful, isn't it?

This car is so worthy of its advertising
slogan, the best a man can get.

Isn't that roses?

Is it?

Yeah.

Yes, you're right.
It's because you're worth it.

I'm pretty sure that's shampoo.

Is it?

Yeah.

If we're going to play this game then, what
about what's the worst that can happen?

That's a drink, isn't it?

What about I'm loving it?

That's a burger.
Now I know what that one is.

Oh look, it's Paul now. He's come to see
them. It's the ultimate driving machine.

That's what it is.

Let's hope he likes it.

I advertised to have BMW
M3 out there on the Internet.

It's an Internet generation car.

And this chap behind me,
Paul, was first on the phone now.

I've arranged to meet Paul
at the top of this parking

structure because it was
convenient for both of us.

And he is going to love this car
with all the work we've done to it,

including the Vano-sparing and changing
that SMG gearbox into that proper...

Come on, boy. What are you doing?

Don't take him for a...
Where are you going?

You know how this works.
I do the test drives.

You just sit quietly in
the background, okay?

Now, Paul, you'll find your seat belt.
It's over there.

So let's strap yourself in.
And the seat is really comfortable.

I think you can feel that, can't you?
Really nice leather seat.

And it's electronically adjustable.
You can go, like me,

I can go in infinite positions.

The steering wheel is
multifunctional, double-stitch leather.

If you'd like to just turn the key in the
ignition, you'll hear it firing to life.

I think you'll be quite happy
with that nice sound of that BMW.

Look at the smile on his face here.
I knew he'd like it.

Obviously, you can adjust your mirrors.
They're electric as well.

You can do that on the door.
That's it. Lovely. See, very nice.

We can go for a nice little cruise down.

That's all new, mate.
Tell them that's all new.

And it makes the car more valuable.

Yeah, but the manual
makes it more valuable.

I know. I got this. I know what I'm doing.

So the manual car makes it more
valuable because that's what people want.

More desirable.

That's what people want.
They want a manual car.

So just nice and gentle.

It's lovely, isn't it?

Suspension's good.

The other thing that's really good as well
is the way that we've just finished it off.

You know, we've been really
subtle with the little things we've done.

We didn't go over the top.

You know, most people would
think this is a midlife crisis car.

You're definitely not having
any kind of midlife crisis.

I can see that this is the kind of
car that you would absolutely love.

Nice, yeah. Apply the brakes.
See, the brakes are good, aren't they?

That's because it's got discs all the way
around for parts, you know, really nice.

Ooh, you're going to try and reverse.

I always recommend, if
you buy a car, you should try.

Hello? Yes.

Mike? What?

Yeah, nice.

Why are we going back in?

So you've decided to give
it another go inside the car.

I think you want to hear the
sound of that tuned exhaust pipe.

But I understand because
it really is a lovely sound.

Mike, am I the only one concerned by this?

Okay, okay.

No, no, this is...
Yes, you can feel it.

I mean, you can feel every one of the 330.

What the hell's going on?

Still, I say, Paul, you
are a wonderful car.

And as you can see, the
brakes work an absolute treat.

I think that test drive, personally,
I think it went really, really well.

Let me out of the car.

You want to discuss it with me at
any time, we can just discuss that.

He's just not... He's actually going.

Where's he going?

I mean, is that it? You're just going?

What just happened?

I don't know, to be honest
with you, but don't worry,

I'll get somebody down the
workshop to come and buy it.

Trust me, I've got plenty of
people who will be interested in this.

It's the best a man can get, isn't it?

The market for BMW M3s
at the moment is on fire.

Now, I advertise it out there
on the Internet, and of course,

I got lots of interest. I had calls
from the four corners of America.

But this young lady behind
me, she's called Jenny,

and she's come all the way from Texas.

I told you, the market's that hot,

this lady will jump on a
plane to come and buy a car.

She's had a drive of it, I'm asking 18.5.

Let's see if I can put a deal together.

So then, Jenny, what
do you think of the car?

I love it. You do? You love it?

Now, this wouldn't be
your first BMW M3, would it?

You're an M3 girl.
You've had a few of them, have you?

What do you like about them?

I like how twerky they are.
I like how fast they go.

I like the manual.

You like the stick?
That's really nice to hear.

That's particularly in America, where
everyone wants to drive an automated car,

and us converting this into a manual
car has made such a difference to it.

That's what I wanted.

Well, good.
So if you like the way the car looks,

is it the car that you want to drive
all the way back home to Texas?

Yes, it is.

Okay, that's good.
Well, I've asked $18,500 for it.

I've actually got quite a lot of interest.

What did you say? Want to buy it?

Yes. Yes? Simple as that.

Congratulations.
You just bought yourself a cracking BMW M3.

This BMW M3 is the
perfect Wheeler-dealer car.

We literally built profit into it.

We took what was an SMG automatic, and
we turned it into what it should have been,

and that is the fully-fledged
six-speed manual.

Jenny is going to be
delighted with this car.

when she drives it around in Texas.

And we can't say fairer than that, can we?

Now, if you want to see
more iconic cars like this,

BMW being turned around by me and Ant,

then join us again soon on Wheeler Dealers.

Ta-la.