As engines age, they inherently become more attention-demanding as their parts wear. Some engines, though, are simply considered unreliable due to common failures even during their lower-mileage life. That doesn’t mean they are worth writing off, however. The BMW N54 and Audi 2.7T are both regularly called ‘unreliable’ but their performance potential outweighs any fears [...]
Engine swaps are fairly common, even among the non-enthusiast crowd. Whether you’re simply swapping in an identical engine to replace a completely broken one or trying to stuff the biggest thing you can into your little VW for all the power, the fundamental principles are roughly the same. In this article, we’re going to cover [...]
If you’re a car enthusiast of any kind, you’ve probably seen countless YouTube videos or programs where the host pulls some junky old car out of a field and brings it back to life. Due to the rising cost of 'cool' cars, it has become increasingly popular for enthusiasts to search for broken or forgotten [...]
The new G80/G82 platform is quite polarizing, to say the least. One of the most common requests we’ve received since its release is to create a front-end conversion kit. Naturally, since many of our upgrades and retrofits are ideas that you, the community, express a need for, we listened and feel that our latest [...]
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of returning to reality after a weekend you’ve anticipated for months. Every year, I look forward to my return trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the Riverside Spring Meet where I catch up with all my childhood friends, make new ones, and enjoy some of the best builds the East [...]
Warm weather is already here for much of the country. After we survived that nasty polar vortex, the rising temperatures are certainly welcome, especially for those of us itching to get back to enjoying our cars. Shows will ramp up soon, the first one on our schedule is next weekend at Riverside 6 in Chattanooga, [...]
The BMW E46 325i was one of the more popular options when it was new, but as the chassis is now twenty years old at its oldest, these lower-trim 3-series examples have fallen from favor. The 330i and M3 tend to attract more attention, but that means these less-desirable versions are more affordable than ever. [...]
We have a lot of love for the E46 chassis here at ECS. Truth be told, it used to be a black sheep, of sorts because it sat in the middle between beloved classics and contemporary performance models in BMW’s lineup. The E46 was a drastic change in visual design for BMW, with a rounded [...]
The BMW E46 330i or 330Ci is perhaps one of the most ubiquitous BMWs. It straddles the line between being an enthusiast’s performance car and a normal commuter. These are the BMWs those of us in our late twenties and early thirties remember as the ‘new’ BMW, and what nearly every ‘hip’ mom drove back [...]
The E46 M3 is considered the last analog M3 and is still used today as the benchmark quintessential sports car. With a celebrated history, massive enthusiast community, and astounding aftermarket support, it has maintained relevance and still commands a premium price, even for SMG-equipped examples. Despite all those positives, and the 333bhp S54 power plant [...]