BMW E46 M3 CSL - CONVERTED TO MANUAL! | Carfection 4K 

Do you think putting a manual gearbox in this legendary car was a good idea?

Made by a British bloke, in a shed, with a cup of tea. Classic.

A 142,000 mile E46 M3 CSL, that's proper. Forget all the ones locked in collections with 3,000 miles on them, this is the best one!

This is what the E46 M3 CSL should have been in the first place! Enough said.

Had No idea the CSL never had a manual option. Looks like you couldn’t have got a better guy to put a manual in it. Amazing work and nice story carfection.

That car looks so happy after being converted to Manual.

With manual gearbox, this car can age with dignity. I think this conversion is a brilliant idea.

The perfect BMW doesn't exist, it can't hurt you. This M3:

Dont forget, the CSL is the lighter than a normal M3, but after that conversion it is a lot more lighter, which means more fun :D Best conversion ever done nice job.

6MT & a 4.1 diff on a CSL, I’ll have a cup of tea as well. Stay safe everyone 🍵

I think the conversion is perfect! Also, the benefit of a lower geared differential in these cars cannot be underestimated. It was the single best change I made to my old E46 M3, and it was one of the first things I did to my current E92 M3. It feels like you’ve added about 10-15% to the torque on these N/A M-car engines

Never been a big BMW fan, but this car, with the manual and shorter final drive, is absolutely a dream car of mine. It's the perfect all around enthusiasts daily driver

Doing exactly this has always been my dream. If I ever win the lottery I'm instantly buying a E46 CSL and a F360 Challenge Stradale and both convert them to manual.

No one in their right mind would take the smg over a manual. If they made a manual csl, all the smg versions would not hold value

The E46 M3 CSL with the manual gearbox is perfection Props to the owner for doing this swap🙌

That CSL does sound a bit like the McLaren F1, love it!!

As someone with a manual e46 m3 if I was to change it for a Csl I would have this done. Value is what someone is prepared to pay for it and for this reason I don’t think this would make this car less desirable then the smg. Put the two cars together at 35k I know which one I would walk away with!!!

I love that the guy drive it and not just keep it as a garage queen

It’s good to know converting an SMG to manual is pretty straight forward. Let’s say you find a mint E46 M3 in your Dream spec, But it has SMG... now you can change it. Maybe ad a 3.5 stroker kit overhaul the subframes and you’re golden. 😀🤩

A year in and I´m still watching this once a week.

The BMW M3 is near perfection the perfect track car! It's like Lebron James not the GOAT but the all round the Best Balanced player ever. That's the same for the likes of the BMW e46 M3!

Now this is perfection! 😍 it would be cool to see someone swap a manual trans into an M4 GTS as well.

My boss in my previous company actually imported a CSL from they UK to Malaysia to use as a daily.

E46 M3 might be one of the best proportion cars of all time. From every angle. It stands the test of time. We're talking about a 20 year old shape and it still looks fresh. Not a single awkward angle or curve.

I've looked the CSL a few times to buy it but always been put off by the gearbox. Now I know, it won't be a problem anymore. Next time I get the chance, I will buy it.

lol nice to see darah again . he was a good chap helping our litle race team . very nice chap good humor

I think the E46 M3 was the peak of sports saloons, and the M3 CSL was the cherry on top. Even though BMW didn’t fancy the idea of a manual option for the CSL, it should’ve been an option for customers. 🤔 Oh, one last thing: I do like the E30, E36 & the E92 but I think the E46 is the best all rounder. 👍

Now that's BMW perfection.

Just wait till all those E60 M5 owners see this!! They will be queuing up !! (Great vid 👏🏻👏🏻)!

this is an amazing idea !! why BMW never did this i will never know. i still think this was the last proper m3

Very cool. Pretty sure I saw this at Caffeine & Machine last summer (there can’t be too many high mileage CSL’s converted to manual). Still one of my favourite M cars; it’s so pretty, well proportioned and makes a glorious noise.

No doubt it affects the value from a collector point of view - but i can't think of a car where by this mod would be more popular, and perhaps that will be reflected in re-sale value in years to come, especially when people are longing for a real driving experience away from the disposable electrified box they've been forced into for the majority of the time.

Really admire the passion. Wish my wife saw this...

Loved the courage of the owner and the skill of the mechanical engineer. Great story and review.

I still enjoy remembering the M3 i had. Great conversion. May be one day I can afford the one plus the conversion. Will be on the My Wish List!

The diff tweak is simple yet sublime.......best modified E46 M3 I've seen.....factory spec upgraded.......love it

Converting an M3 from SMG to Manual is been done for years.It is actually pretty easy, can retain the original gearbox with few modifications to the bellhousing, clutch assembly and coding.

Watching this has made me regret selling my E46 M3, miss rowing through the gears and hearing the raspy exhaust. Will own one again some day hopefully. CSL manual conversion is just amazing, hope more high mile CSLs come up for sale cheap enough to tempt me

David, Good for you! I had a 125K SMG e46 M3 ZCP in interlagos blue over black. I loved it, but was thinking about switching cars because I need more driving engagement and the SMG was also getting long in the tooth. A Clorado shoppe (BimmerHaus Performance) carefully converted my M3 to a manual and the car I own now was reborn, just like yours.

You are correct Henry because the two pedal box is the three pedal box with a pedal removed. I recently stripped an SMG car to find that

Unicorn. Manual CSL will be remembered long into the future as one of those near perfect cars.

One of the best induction/exhaust sounds ever

Me: Shut up and take my money Bank: Error Me: Time to sell my organs

Darragh has absolutely smashed it with this build! Well done dude, once again

Gorgeous !!! I converted an SMG to the manual, then put it into an E30. I couldn't finish the project, sold it. Now drive an E46 325i...don't you wish I had that motor and gearbox. Still fun. 46M3 CSLs are $140,000 in Australia.

Exactly what this machine needed!!

The regular m3 manual is such a good car this just feels like so much effort for a tiny bit better of a car

Bigger problem than the conversion itself is actually finding a CSL for sale with that kind of mileage for a reasonable amount of money. Never seen or heard of one with more than 120k miles on it until now.

I see carfection, i see the e46 M3 csl m/t!, i see henry. Perfection.

A BMW SMG is one of those cars you end up mastering from temptation to expertise. At that point you wonder how much more you could wring out of it if it were manual.

Great insights to a legend Henry

Some of the enthusiasts altered the weak brakes but not so much the SMG. In dual clutch times the thing seems to be really odd, but it was not that bad. At least it was light! The Porsche GT3 community is also lacking the joy of manually shifting, except for the little GT4, which is such a great car either. I'm in love with the CSL since a nice bloke from Luxemburg took me around the Nordschleife in his CSL, because my 320d edition was a pain in the a**. Imagine how fast and compfy this car is with that comparatively low power. The noise is one of the best in the history of street legal consumer cars, imho. A silky inline six with that 'dirty' croaky and amphoric exhaust note and then the induction/airbox noise as a goody on top! I love the car for the styling, for the usability, for the low bragging and show off potential and for beeing so reasonable, no V8 and rear spoiler madness. It's a free breathing family car and there are not that much free breathing cars anymore. Most of them are strangled by a air-mass sensor.

I drove a full race prepared CSL at Jonathan Palmer race school years ago, what a machine that was. If I’m honest, I don’t ever crave a flappy paddle gearbox but before I’ve even watched the video I’m thinking I was happy that I didn’t have to think about gear changes. It was frantic enough for me.

Fantastic job done! 👍

Now just put the steering wheel on the other side hahaha

Look at the Joy from 8:12 onwards, has anyone ever smiled like that from just changing gears in the robotised version?

Amazing video. This is the one for me. An M3 CSL on the garage for the weekends. I would need no more “super”car

The manual box has made a great car even better

Love the owner's attitude to this :)

Wow! As a true BMW fan, just seeing the profile photo of this car makes me salivate. It’s beautiful. This e40’s series has nearly perfect lines.

I've got a standard e46 M3 that I recently bought, I was only looking at a manual and only ever drove manual but after driving the SMG I ended up buying an SMG, just felt more of a beast and feels special with the flappy paddles. Beautiful cars & great fun to drive.

I'm feeling so sleepy, I looked at the title and thought it said: BMW M3 CSL Manual Conversation!!

the car is now perfect

'Consider clicking on the bell icon. ... it really does help!' ... Damn right it does help... me!. Your videos constitute a true masterclass and I await them like an Irish waits for his whiskey .... Thank you for the exemplary content!

Wheeler dealers converted a left hand drive one few weeks ago ,looked simple but needed a reprogrammed ecu

Love love love this car. I’ve got a couple of big jobs that need doing on my manual M3, but I can’t wait to get those out of the way and start the fun stuff, including getting Darragh to change my diff. 👍🏼

Always nice to see a British engineer with a cuppa,You know magic is going to happen.

I hope many other M3 owners get this done. I know I would if I could afford one. Thank you.

Smashing entertainment and such easy going understatement from the engineers/ hobbyists. Thank you!

The acceleration was already amazing but now with the shorter ratios it must be mesmerising. Greatest saloon ever built and it'll never be toppled.

The sound is amazing. Love it.

A timeless looking car. Perfection.

Men in sheds with cups of tea. Saving enthusiast cars one at a time.

BMW E46 M3 CSL? Automatic? Great.. Manual? Awesome.. . . Forever dream car..

Love the thought, research, and production that goes into these videos. Many thanks.

Really happy to see more E46 M3 content! I have thought about selling mine before but come across the same predicament this owner has. I can’t think of a car that will match the amazing all around package the car is.

BMW E46 body style is timeless in it's beauty IMHO. I owned a 2002 330i for 13 years and was brokenhearted when I finally decided to sell it for a more practical vehicle for my old age.

I believe everythingapplepro also has converted his SMG to a manual. Awesome car and guys who seem to be pure petrol heads :D

The most beautiful car!

Love this car. Epic conversion. Best M3 to date

Good on ya lads! Wanted something and got after it. Fair play!

Your a real car enthusiast, love your work

amazing work, dream comes true

I like the way you explain driving any car ,keep up the good job ,you do your job in a way any one can understand even if they do not drive ,thanks.

As an E46 M3 manual owner of 5 years from 62k to now 125k miles, the CSL will always be on my wishlist until I've got one. Until then, I've always got a taste of the CSL noise and power from the eventuri carbon airbox and evolve remap. Many times I've considered selling die to the running costs at this age now but that engine and the feel of the car on winding roads is just great. I also can't think of another car for similar money that can satisfy looks, fun, agility and practicality on one package that can comfortably seat 4 for a weekend away.

Now this is truly The Ultimate Driving Machine 👌🏻

I hero worshipped this car when it came out... Still looks great.🤘

I love my e46, will never get rid of this car🚗🤗 great video as always. Cheers from Northridge CA USA !🇺🇸

Darah - chasing the dream, making it real, smashing it. Punkt. Owner - changing the dream, making it better, balls. Punkt.

Carfection yes it’s sacrilege. But to race their own. I love the SMG in my M3. Especially since I installed a smg relocation kit and relocated it behind the drivers shock tower. No more heat soaking to kill it. Pretty much bulletproofs the system.

Another brilliant vid Henry! The best M3 IMO and made more engaging to drive makes it even better! 👍

Awesome conversion. Sounds like it’s a great drive and completed car

"Bitte ein Bit" Aufkleber ist super :D

Aah yes, this is the beauty I am subscribed for.

God I remember waiting for any mention of this beautiful car in my international shipped issues of EVO Magazine back in the days of these E46 CSLs. I wish we had gotten them here in the states but like most special things from the automobile market we got none of them lol

Small world! Worked briefly with Darragh in 04/05. Good guy! I wonder if he ever finished that Mini he was building ?

Love it or hate it the SMG was needed to help BMW get to the DCT. Have had my e46 M3 manual since 06. Great car all around. Kudos to the owner of the CSL. Do what makes you happy. It’s his car and if value is not a concern to him then who cares what people think.

One of the best sounding engines ever made. You can't get induction noise like that anymore. I cannot understand this automated transmission takeover I can never enjoy it properly. Manual just puts a smile on my face each time.

Brilliant work! What a fantastic idea and great execution.

5:12 That is definitely a hard fluid to find nowadays. Not many cars these days use such visco lock systems.