BMW E46 330dA Touring

[helix402]

"My guys" are me and a friend! I'm a trained BMW Technician, though now work in a different field. My friend is retired and once restored classic cars for a living. Doing the work ourselves keeps the costs down, it's very labour intensive to do it properly.
My costs are £30 for a wheel arch repair panel, £25 ish for new clips and fittings and a little for paints etc. Afraid I'm not sure how much a body shop would charge.

[helix402]

I cleaned the floor up today and found two free bonus holes! One is around a grommet, the other is around the jacking point. The grommet hole will be plated. We've made a plate to repair the jacking point. All this floor rust is around holes or seams. The under seal or seal sealant has cracked then water has sat in the seams.

Edited by helix402 on Tuesday 28th March 18:49

[helix402]

Repair panels made:

[helix402]

Thanks, I think the repair will last a while. I've put my new top mounts on too:




The saloon is 5 mins to remove the rear dampers, the estate is not!

[helix402]

Rear damper turret plated:

[helix402]

Damper turret repair finished:



I was a tad heavy with the seam sealer.




Plate welded where rust had expanded a grommet hole. Not the neatest weld as we had a ropey gasless welder.

[helix402]

New arch on, I went for bonding as welding can cause distortion to panels. You also have to spend a lot of time cleaning up welds.

Let the filling commence, I hate filling. Don't mind fillings, only got one.

[helix402]

Underside done:





Primer on the arch:





Will it be done for the BMW show in Sherborne on Sunday? The interior is all in now. The exterior is very easy to refit. I see the new "skin" still puts photos upside down.

[helix402]

Painting finished!








Bumper and trim will be refitted tomorrow.

[helix402]

[helix402]

I will! I'll be at the Sherborne BMW show tomorrow with a post respray dusty un polished car, at least it's back together. It will get a good cut and polish when the new paint has fully hardened.

[helix402]

I made it to Sherborne. I didn't have the dirtiest car, there were a couple of Eastern Europeans with very dirty E46s.






I still have the lower window trim to refit but didn't want to rush it and damage the new paint.

[helix402]

Afraid I had to buy some new seats, also came with door trim panels. I had standard black leather, with the addition of an alcantara Coupe sport drivers seat. I will soon have extended Nappa black leather electric memory seats.





If anyone wants a saloon black leather interior or a Coupe seat to fit a saloon/touring let me know.

[helix402]

Thanks, I'm just glad I didn't have to pay someone to do it!

[helix402]

RanchoGrande said:

Is it an electric seat? I could really do with a new alcantara coupe seat...

The seat which will be for sale soon is an Alcantrara Coupe drivers seat. It was made from a worn out drivers seat and a good passenger seat. It is in great condition. It has been modified for use in a 4dr/touring by changing a seat rail and removing the tilt levers and cable. It is manual. It could be converted back to Coupe use or stripped for the good base and backrest. I guess whether it's of use to you depends on how keen you are to strip a seat down. I'm based in Dorset, close to Wiltshire and Somerset.

I've only fitted the Nappa door panels so far but it's remarkable the difference they make, just having an extra leather contact point makes the interior feel more luxurious

[helix402]

New seats in, not wired in yet, but will be soon:









This is now for sale:





Not your usual tatty E46 drivers seat. Custom made by me, rebuilt with base and backrest from a mint passenger seat. Also modified for use in a saloon or touring. Does not come with tensioner. Bolts straight into to a 4 dr/estate or could be stripped/made back into a Coupe seat. Send me a pm if you're interested before it goes on eBay.

I hate upside down Pistonheads/I phone pics, I can never understand why it happens on such a random basis.

Edited by helix402 on Tuesday 18th April 19:48

[helix402]

Why does my thread have adverts for pensions on it? I have many pensions already (five). Adverts will not make me have more pensions. Now the advert's gone. Pistonheads-adverts matter.

[helix402]

I'm not having memory mirrors as that needs lots more wiring and I think maybe an extra module for each mirror. Just memory seats, one wire from the drivers seat to the K bus junction at the fuse box.

[helix402]

I had a pleasant surprise today. I popped to my local breaker to pick a few bolt/screw caps up. The chap who worked there recognised me and my car! Turns out he used to live on the same road as me. He also owns an E46.
He did me a very good price on parts and I offered to plug in his car if the need arises. He also has a Titan Silver touring in the yard....

[helix402]

New looms for the electric seats:



I'll probably run the airbag wiring through the new sheath too.