Another 328i, this ones an E46

[helix402]

Here's mine:

(apology for large pic)Here's mine:





I was after a 330i but this came along last year for the right price. It was an MOT failure on a rusty spring and brake pipes. I'm not 20 but have been working on these since I was in my 20s.

I have modified it to my taste using mostly BMW parts. The changes are:

Front sport seats (99p for one which I put new leather on the back bolster)
Carbon cube interior trim
Style 68 wheels (original wheels now have winter tyres on)
Facelift rear lights with correct LCM coded to car and BMW retrofit loom
Front suspension turret reinforcement plates
Z3 rear top mount plates
Clear front indicator lenses
Three point centre rear seat belt
LED interior lights
330i inlet manifold
330Ci Clubsport front anti-roll bar
330i Sport rear anti roll bar
BMW Individual sill trims

It's been reliable apart from the common E46 cooling system problems, I have changed the water pump, thermostat, expansion tank and rad.

If anyone's interested in the changes I can give more info.

[s m]

If you're after thicker ARBs it might be worth looking at the RARB from a 330i convertible with the M-sport pack and maybe the FARB from a 2.5ti

[helix402]

Thanks for the tip re arbs. The thicker ones I fitted gave a great improvement to the car. Less roll and no decrease in ride quality. I didn't fancy the obvious Eibach springs and B6 route, as the arb solution is cheaper and more in keeping with my stealthy changes.

[JimexPL]

Did the inlet manifold make much difference? I considered doing this to our 328, but never got round to it.
Always thought the engine was more enjoyable than the 3.0 ( I was also running a z4 3.0 at the same time).

[McSam]

helix402 said:

I'm not 20

Sounds like a good list of modifications! I take it the top mount changes are just preventative measures against the documented issue of the damper "punching through" on occasion?

I'm very interested to hear more about your inlet manifold conversion. I was considering this for mine, and research revealed that because of the dual VANOS system and various other factors you need to use an M54 manifold like you have, but it seems far more rarely done than on E36s and I'm very keen to hear about any issues you had doing it, and the final results!

[StuntmanMike]

Nice car, any more pictures, I am interested in the 3 point seat belt you have fitted, also what's with the turret reinforcement plates?
Cheers.

[helix402]

Thanks for the interest. The rear top mount plates are to support the top mounts and the front are to prevent "mushrooming " of the turrets and reinforce the body. They were part of the "rough road package" for the E46. When I fitted them the camber pins broke off the mounts, so if you fit them make sure you refit the struts in the original position, or budget for a 4 wheel alignment.
Or go for the "drift king" look-push your struts in for loads of negative camber then realise your toe is a random setting and look cool and wear your tyres out.
The centre 3 point belt was straight forward, as it was an option from new. There is a retrofit kit which includes all parts or you can buy the parts separately. I chose the later option. To fit it: remove rear seat and parcel shelf and old lap belt, cut slot in parcel shelf for belt (marked on rear), bolt in new belt.
The manifold has been great. Parts needed: M54 3.0l manifold and DISA valve, hose clip (approx 1"), selection of cable ties, inlet manifold gaskets, throttle body adaptor plate. I chose to change the crankcase breather valve and hoses as the manifold was off. There are two choices with these hoses, standard or cold weather package. The cold weather package has insulation on the hoses to reduce condensation in the breather system. I also stripped and rebuilt the 330 Disa valve with an upgrade kit from i6 Automotive. This kit prevents the DISA flap pin falling out.
Once I had fitted the manifold I cleared both the DME and throttle adaptions, started the car up-oh dear. It idled at 3000rpm! The DME didn't know what was going on and keep raising and lowering the engine speed, I tried several more apadtion resets but no joy. I went back the old school adaption reset. Disconnect battery again. Restart car, normal idle. Clear all adaptions again, set up throttle angle. Perfect.
New manifold results (all subjective, no rolling road runs): no loss in low down power/torque, increase in power from approx 3k onwards and a real feeling of an engine that feels free at the top end, it pulls all the way to the limiter on the very rare occasions I go there. Mpg has improved by approx 2 mpg.

Some more pics:

[McSam]

Thanks very much for the info on the manifold, that sounds very similar to the E36 equivalent but with even better results - presumably due to DISA advantages. I guess because there's been no sacrifice at the lower end, you haven't planned to remap it?

Do you mind giving an indication of how much it cost to do?

[helix402]

I'll lookover the costs for the manifold when I get a chance, sadly work is calling.

[helix402]

Here are the manifold costs:

Throttle adaptor: £30.98
DISA valve upgrade kit: £50.99
DISA valve: £58.00
Manifold gaskets: £26.21
Manifold: £34.99

Total: £201.17

You could reduce the cost by not upgrading the DISA valve and using the old gaskets but I'm a believer in doing a job thoroughly to make a car as reliable as possible. I also changed all the vacuum pipes in the engine bay for black silicon with the manifold off. If you're buying a manifold be careful as some sellers don't know what they are selling and may deliberately/accidentally try and sell you the wrong manifold. Hope this helps.

[McSam]

That's great, thank you very much for sharing! Much less than I expected, though I have to say you got hold of the manifold itself a lot cheaper than most others seem to.

My usual tactic would be to keep an eye on cars being broken on eBay and the like and swoop in on any fresh ones. Could I trouble you for your sources on the other parts? Sounds like you had a fairly professional approach!

[helix402]

Here you go:



Throttle adaptor: http://www.bimmertune.com/index.php?route=product/...
DISA valve upgrade kit: eBay no 151006154531
DISA valve: Quarry Motors

[McSam]

Awesome, thanks very much! On the shopping list they go..

[Synchromesh]

JimexPL said:

Always thought the engine was more enjoyable than the 3.0 ( I was also running a z4 3.0 at the same time).

Tell me more...

[helix402]

A little update, cleaned the car up for Wilton the other weekend:



It's now got a B12 kit fitted and M3 rear top mounts. I've got Z4M front control arm read bushes ready to go on when I get a chance. A review of the B12 kit will be posted soon.

[anonymous-user]

helix402 said:

Here you go:



Throttle adaptor: http://www.bimmertune.com/index.php?route=product/...
DISA valve upgrade kit: eBay no 151006154531
DISA valve: Quarry Motors

If anyone wants a new DISA, I have one I bought from bmminiparts that was £180 or so (BMW OE part, BMW stamped) and I no longer need, I'll pass it on for less than half that as i've had it sat here for nearly a year!

[helix402]

Here's a review of the Bilstein B12 kit. It consists of Eibach Pro kit springs and B8 shortened dampers. Ever since I saw the yellow Bilsteins on the E36 328i Sport when I first carried out PDIs on them I knew that a day would come when I had yellow Bilsteins on my car.
I built up the dampers with all new parts, gen BMW front top mounts and M3 rear top mounts+some modified plates. On removing the old dampers I found the old rear dampers had failed and the front top mounts had quite a bit of play.
The new bits: ride has dropped by 24&27mm front, 6mm and 9mm rear. At first the rear damping was very harsh, any large undulations In the road would give a feeling like a punch in the kidneys. Not too pleasant. As the dampers have settled in the ride has improved. There is no squat or dive, before if you met a bumpy road surface when cornering the steering wheel would shake, this has gone. I didn't have much roll before, the new setup has reduced this.
How's the ride now? The front is super, it feels solid and not uncomfortable. The rear is okay, minor undulations are fine but if the road surface is rather bumpy, as if the Tarmac laying man has had a bad day it sends a bit of a jolt through you.
The front dampers have an integral bumpstop and a lot more technology within them than the rears, I think this lets them deal with bumps better than the rears. The firmer suspension shows up the age of the car of little, you can now hear a small creak from the drivers door seal as the car flexes over large bumps. This comparison is against 100k original suspension. Would I recommend it? Yes, but you could probably get most of the handling gains with Sport dampers and Eibach springs.

[Max M4X WW]

Just stumbled on this, how tricky was the rear light upgrade?

Thanks

[helix402]

The rear light upgrade is fairly complicated. To do it properly you need a retrofit loom, later LCM and rear lights and bulb holders. You need to remove the rear seats and o/s kick panel trims and footwell trims. The LCM needs coding to your car, PA soft is the easiest way to do this.
Alternatively you could just buy rear light clusters and bulb holders and connectors and change the existing wiring. Another option is aftermarket rear light clusters, these plug straight in.

[Usget]

Nice mods. I like cars which are kind of OEM+.