Was finally able to work on the M3 on Saturday. I took it to a shop this morning to have it looked over as well. Things are looking pretty good, but I'll know more later today or tomorrow.
I pulled the old bumper, underpanel, and wheel well liners out on Saturday. I also installed the new kidney grilles (brand new.. nice & shiny) and passenger corner marker. The driver's marker needs to be replaced as well, but it'll work for now. I replaced the trunk gasket with a brand new piece as well. The door gaskets are next
I test fit the new bumper (ordered an aftermarket bumper kit from DDM Tuning a few weeks ago. I'll still need to get it painted, but I'll at put it on temporarily until then.
Now that the bumper and liners aren't rubbing the wheels anymore the car drives nicely. It feels like it did before.. the engine revs nicely.. etc. I do hear a whooshing sound, but I'm wondering if it's just the intake that I'm hearing. The clutch's engagement point is definitely changing though... it varies almost every time I use the pedal. So, it'll be looked at, and hopefully it's just the master cylinder (or slave cylinder again).
I also found the old rear diffuser piece in the marsh area... before it started raining again recently. The marsh was almost completely dry.. so I found the diffuser, which is still in great shape, and I saw a bumper trim piece that I couldn't quite get to. I'll have to get to it once it dries out more
So right now the car is missing everything forward of the wheels and below the headlights. It looks weird.. but it drives again.
- - - Updated - - -
new bumper kit from DDM Tuning
replacement fog lights and some other bits
bought a rear diffuser from someone.. then found my old one in the marsh. It needs to be cleaned up though
the jack pads I ordered a couple of months ago. They're OEM.. but they're not at all useful for most floor jacks. They're a hard plastic and will just slide off of most floor jacks.. grr. The car is a pain to jack up safely.
replacement passenger corner lamp and brand new kidney grilles
before shot..
removed the busted Motion Motorsport underpanel. This is likely what ensured that only the bumper cover was damaged
so the bumper rebar can be unbolted from the chassis easily.. just unbolt four bolts that are accessible through the bumper cover. In this way the whole bumper assembly can be removed quite easily. However, if you just want to remove the cover you have to pry out (destroy) 8 plastic rivets. Nothing else holds the bumper cover onto the car.. except a few small screws on the back side. I have new plastic rivets coming today, but I only ordered 4 because it sounded like that's all I needed from what I read online. Now I need to make a dealer run
old busted bumper off. I also found a fog light I thought was missing jammed up inside the car.
decided I needed to remove the fender liners as well.. easier to do that than to temporarily install the new cover so the M3 could be driven. I drove the car to the shop today with no bumper or fender liners.
new bumper test fit.. cracked one tab and broke another minor piece off as well. Going to have to be careful with this thing. It fits nicely though.
installed the new grilles.. so shiny
replaced the trunk gasket as well. Old:
new..
everything in the garage for now