Following sorting the suspension [see part 2], my next objective was to liberate some more power out of the M Power 3.2 straight six.
More advice from CA Automotive saw the ordering of an Eisenmann cat-back exhaust system, one of CA's own cold air intake kits and a set of Schrick fast road cams. Again, I entrusted the installation to Racing Technologies and I was really looking forward to driving the new, improved Godzilla 2, now with added oomph!

My first impressions were of the slightly "rocky" idle the longer duration cams imparted. And it needed a fair few revs and some throttle to pull away at low speeds, but the extra scream at the top end was fantastic; it did feel like a different car.
The intake system had a lovely induction noise and the beefy Eisenmann exhaust had a much more purposeful rumble without being unduly resonant at cruising speeds.

The Evo now felt like a sorted, special car and provided many entertaining drives. One of its most epic trips was not with me behind the wheel however. Regular readers of evo magazine will know that I have been participating in the London Ferrari Owners Club Easter trips to France for many years and in 2005 it was me and my wife's turn to organise it.
As I had recently joined Revo250 [www.revo250.com], a private members club (similar to P1 of which I was previously a member) I took their brand new F430 and my brother, Edward, and his wife, Jennifer flew over from LA and took Godzilla 2.

We had an incredible drive over to a fabulous Chateau near Epernay and the M3 had no difficulty keeping up with the multi-million pound Ferrari convoy. In fact my brother reported it had the legs to match an F355 if not quite a 360. Not bad for £11k! (Ok, plus a few extras…)
Obviously having the largest boot in the group meant Edward was very popular, especially come Champagne case buying time and yet on the return trip, despite travelling three up and with a very full complement of luggage, the Evo happily attained a GPS-verified 161mph!

However, the uneven idle, occasional stalling and relative lack of low down grunt still bothered me and eventually I took it to DMS Automotive in Andover, where MD Rob Young entertained me in his remapped Ferrari 360 Modena and BMW 535d whilst his technicians downloaded the appropriate engine software to suit the Evo with its cam modifications.

Once back in the car, I was finally happy as the idle was much stronger and more importantly, the low rev behaviour of the car was in a different league with smooth torque available straight to the top of the energetic power band. We decided for longevity to keep the stock rev limit of 7,600rpm, but the "155mph" speed limiter was removed even though, as Edward found out, it was pretty lenient anyway.

The M3 and I now got on famously, with fun outings at evo-active track days at both Brands Hatch and Donington Park where it behaved impeccably and I also attended an extremely informative and entertaining day with The Drift Academy [www.drift-academy.co.uk], also at Donington, but this time in their car park.
The day consisted of tuition in Mazda MX 5s but I also wanted to try drifting the M3 and it proved to be an instructor favourite as it has massive steering lock, a limited slip diff and of course, now the power to light up the rear tyres! I came second out of the class and won the appropriate prize of a donut. (Mmm. Donuts…)

Predictably, those rear tyres were a little past their best after that day and I decided to replace them with another pair of Dunlop Sport SP9000s as I was impressed with their overall ability.

Everything was going well in M3-land until a trainee HGV driver decided to reverse into the back of it whilst parked outside my house, despite having spent 15 minutes unloading cargo right next to it!
The boot lid, spoiler and bumper needed replacing and the rear wing needed repairing; I was gutted, but at least it was not coming off my no-claims bonus as the HGV company admitted full liability.
After getting a couple of quotes, it was off to be repaired at body shop Tony Western Motor Inc in Brentford (020 8569 9908). Whilst it was there, I asked Noel to respray the rest of the car at my expense as 76,000+ miles had begun to take a toll on the front half.

• £2,428 (CA CAI, Eisenmann stage 2 exhaust, Schrick cams)
• £760 (labour for fitting above)
• £595 (DMS remap)
• £1,400 (respray)

So now with fresh paint, new tyres, and done totally to my satisfaction (I had even bothered to transfer my personal plate onto it), the only obvious thing to do was: to sell it… The arrival of a certain American, 505bhp garage mate had sort of made the M3 a bit redundant.

Now E36 M3s are not exactly rare, even if Techno Violet over terracotta Recaro is, but I really didn't know how much to pitch the car at despite trawling through countless Auto Trader and Pistonhead adverts.
So I decided to try a speculative ad in Pistonheads at £8,500 and the phone started ringing almost immediately, with one keen prospective buyer turning up the very next day wanting to buy it as a second car to his M3 CSL!

However, I also contacted an ex-colleague from my City days who had always expressed an interest in my example and he begged me to keep it for him.
So it was, that nearly exactly 2 years after I had bought my first BMW, it was passed on to my mate Dino and thus introducing him to the wonderful world of correct (or rear) wheel drive performance motoring.

You'd better look after it, Dino! (His first auto-journal is already in the system, so this story will continue…)

Brands pic: Oliver Read Motorsport Photography (oliverread@yahoo.com)