Race Car Build Process

Process Step #: 1
Typical Time to complete: 3 days
E46 Donor Car

This is where we begin

Donor Car

Whether you have a donor car or are going to buy a donor car, your best choice is to purchase a chassis that is an exact match to the SPEC series that you are building for.

What do I mean - well for the SPEC E-46 series, the series is open to BMW E46-chassis 330 US domestic market (USDM) models. This includes 2001-05 sedans and 2001-06 coupes. ZHP, 330xi, wagon, and convertible models are not permitted.

So this means that you can buy a 323/325/328 chassis, but you have to make sure that all the components meet 330 specs, which means that you have to get a 3.0L engine, 5 or 6 speed transmission, and replace the rear trailing arms and bearings. The rest of the chassis is the same as the 330.

If you do not already have a donor car - you can contact us to see if we have one. Sometimes if we find a good deal, we'll go ahead and buy it to have one on hand for customers. Otherwise, you are going to have to go out to the search sites and look for one. You may have to look outside your local area to find one. The pop up every once in a while. We will do this for you, but we charge a premium to do it. We purchased and transported a car from Texas for a customer.

Do not think that you are getting a better car by buying one that is in pristine condition unless your going to drive is around a while before you transform it into a SPEC car. You do want a straight body and a running motor with a manual transmission. Wrecked cars tend to make bad race cars. 

Typical Parts for this Step