'Oddjob' aka 2002 330i Touring

[Sf_Manta]

carpetsoiler said:

M54s sound epic with a massive cone filter whacked on them. Jolly good choice, sir.

I can certainly agree with that statement!



Also, new grills, and need to take some pictures of the new stereo installation. took a while but now have DAB / Bluetooth / USB and an Aux line in within the capabilities of the new head unit, and some improvement in sound quality.

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 16:41

[Sf_Manta]

Not planning to change anything else external for the moment, and they are genuine BMW bits, apparently were an option when new. Plus my E30 had it on and no-one complained!

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 8th June 10:56

[Sf_Manta]

Luca Brasi said:

Won't one of those play havoc with your MAF? That's what my indy always told me anyway..

Friend of mine mentioned this as well, but I read into it; there's a lot of scare mongering on various forums, but no-one's actually got conclusive proof that the filter's to blame. And given F1, Nascar and several other high end motorsports use them, I can't see it being it being at fault.

K&N even has a highly in depth investigation to ISO standards to dispel the myth their filters caused the problem.
Given the ISO test regulations are on ISO's own website and do outline the testing method I don't think blame could be squarely placed on the filter. See: http://www.knfilters.com/MAF/massair.htm and the attached links.
There's even results of examination of several hundred (including BMWs) MAFs which had been sent in - supposedly failed from oil contamination, turned out to be faults in the MAF's construction.

Factor in that MAF sensors are like most mass produced items, built at the lowest price possible to the tune of several hundred thousand, and there's always a small % risk you'll have a bad one.

So far the car's racked up a good 200 miles or so on it's new filter, and as yet, not a single problem.

[Sf_Manta]

I'd respond to this argument, but given it's my project thread, and the fact there's a huge amount of information on K&N's web page disproving the above idea's I'm choosing to ignore internet 'experts' and go with the conclusive data.

Plus it's been a horrid week since both a friend of mine and my dad both got admitted to hospital which has been worrying me silly, not fun seeing your own father being rushed into hospital for the 3rd time in 2 years (First time seeing him sitting in a pool of his own blood is fking scary)

I did however manage to get something done in installing a new CD head unit as the original CD changer wasn't working anymore despite repeated attempts to repair it, but also added in bluetooth and DAB tuning which is nice.
Plus changed out the 545i shift lever for a Z4 3.0 item, which has improved the shift considerably though needs a little fine tuning to bring it back into line.

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 16:43

[Sf_Manta]

And the final piece of the puzzle for this year's jaunt to the Ring



New HEL Brake and clutch stainless lines, I've got ATE superblue (blue stuff) in the garage.. hopefully enough to flush the system.

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 16:44

[Sf_Manta]

Update time.

After a few days down south seeing Tankfest, (pics in the WoT thread), spent my final day off changing out the lines on the car.

So out came the old lines and old fluid.





And in went the new brake lines with ATE Superblue.. the last tin of it I had before running out, you can't get it in blue anymore as the yanks put paid to that





However the clutch line proved a royal pain in the arse as i couldn't figure out how to free the plastic clip? (no information online on how to remove it..) so it's still the old rubber line, but the CDV is now out so the clutch bite point feels more defined.

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 16:45

[Sf_Manta]

s m said:

Sf_Manta said:

Friend of mine mentioned this as well, but I read into it; there's a lot of scare mongering on various forums, but no-one's actually got conclusive proof that the filter's to blame. And given F1, Nascar and several other high end motorsports use them, I can't see it being it being at fault.

K&N even has a highly in depth investigation to ISO standards to dispel the myth their filters caused the problem.
Given the ISO test regulations are on ISO's own website and do outline the testing method I don't think blame could be squarely placed on the filter. See: http://www.knfilters.com/MAF/massair.htm and the attached links.
There's even results of examination of several hundred (including BMWs) MAFs which had been sent in - supposedly failed from oil contamination, turned out to be faults in the MAF's construction.

Factor in that MAF sensors are like most mass produced items, built at the lowest price possible to the tune of several hundred thousand, and there's always a small % risk you'll have a bad one.

So far the car's racked up a good 200 miles or so on it's new filter, and as yet, not a single problem.

Coming along nicely Sf
With regards to the filter, I was a bit lucky on mine and got the BMW Performance airbox as an option from new - it's only the 2.5 ( in the ti ) but with standard exhaust ( no 'quiet' valves on the shorter Compact system ) it really sounds pretty good although they don't do the standard paper filters at BMW anymore - you can get an almost identical one from another maker though

That's pretty good, I've not seen the BMW performance airbox before.

Also it seems the car's developed a nasty clunking noise when coasting / off power... Finger points to a fubared CV joint on the driver's side rear hub... and those aren't cheap as you can only get a complete output shaft. Not what i needed before heading out in August on my Ring trip.

[Sf_Manta]

carpetsoiler said:

When in August are you going?? I'm there with a few mates 21st-25th!

12th till the 16th of august, then down to Stugartt and then back up to Spa for the F1 that weekend, unfortunately won't be there the same time.

[Sf_Manta]

s m said:

Sf_Manta said:

That's pretty good, I've not seen the BMW performance airbox before.

Adds only 2 or 3 bhp even according to BMW but the noise is different to standard

Mine's a Compact so slightly different box to that but the principle is the same - filter is curved position rather than a panel

Interesting design, wonder if there's part numbers for them still or it's been discontinued.
Also found the source of the clunks... wheel nuts not torqued up.. That'd be me being distracted by a friend who'd helped me waffling on...

[Sf_Manta]

Well.. the last week threw up a problem i didn't want only a few weeks before my ring trip

Driver's side front caliper decided to freeze up and lock itself on.. to which it's then taken the front right disc with it by warping it.
...Annoying as I'd only put them on 3 months ago.

So having to source some replacements, got some MTEC discs on order once the ring trip's done, I'll hang onto the old discs and see if i can't get them trued up via a local machinist.

[Sf_Manta]

New discs are fitted up now, after some time to bed them in on the pads I had in.. the brakes have gone from good to stonkingly good!
We'll see how they hold up to the Ring in 2 and a bit week's time

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 16:47

[Sf_Manta]

Well best i update this finally.
After a few months of planning, a fair bit on cash, and a last minute brake pad change to DS2500s, which only arrived the Tuesday before me and a friend left for Germany, required a last minute sort out.





So off to Dunkirk from Dover, having left around 4.30am for the 8am sailing.
I drove all the way from Dunkirk to the ring, exhausting but given my friend had no exprience driving on the Continent, we agreed it'd be better for me to do that leg since we had to deal with the Brussels ring road.

Still we arrived, got unloaded and had a quick look on the Wednesday at the track. Unfortunately it was chaos already as someone in a Subaru ended up destroying 150m of barrier, and dropping off a 300ft drop. I saw the pictures of the car afterwards, sheet over the top and it was pancaked... Ambulance, Fast response and police were in attendance.




Next day was spent exploring around the area, and my friend getting some time in behind the wheel to get acustomed to driving on the other side of the road and car (right hand drive on the right is a lot more difficult than left hand drive on the right side). Then it was down to the track for our first attempt.
Though we were in luck, another BMW owner, Stuart (CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH!) graciously offered to take us out for a passenger ride and get a feel for the circuit. He'd done 1300 laps and it showed, he was FAR faster than when i tried. Though when we got back to the pits, it was found a rear tyre hadn't survived due to a bolt in the inner arch rubbing at the side wall. Tyre was still holding air but in no condition to be used again. I did the decent thing and offered up some cash to help compensate the costs.


And then it was our turn.


Did 3 laps over 2 days, and my friend did a lap himself (paid for 4), we were going to have a go on Sunday but the weather closed in and I wasn't about to go spin or crash in the wet. I'd done what i'd set out to do and well.. I want to go back and do some more laps now



The brake setup was epic, no fade, and held up well, the car was faultless all through the holiday, cept for a bit of oil usage, but that was to be expected.

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 16:56

[Sf_Manta]

Brake wise I've got the following:

HEL Braided stainless lines: http://www.brake-lines.co.uk/automotive

Mtec Front dimple / grooved discs: http://www.mtecbrakes.com/

ATE Superblue (TYP200 now) Fluid - Euros for about £15 a litre.

Ferrodo DS2500 pads all round.

Dust wise, no more than a normal OEM pad, but it does make your wheels a bit orange. I've also found there's more flex in the alloy's laquar , though my rims do need a refurb badly these days.

[Sf_Manta]

Well today after the touring round Europe, the front left caliper decided it was going to do the same as the front right... and get stuck on every so often.
So back to Euros and another caliper exchange unit.





Decided to get this changed out before it nuked the DS2500s and the discs like the last one did.

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 17:00

[Sf_Manta]

Recent update would be, got the car into it's MOT early as the previous one was finishing on the 17th December...

It's now not due till October next year, passed without a single advisory

Also attended the Sunday Service at Silverstone and had a go on the 10.45am session. First time out on Silverstone's circuit but no issues, I still have the DS2500 pads in and found that sides a slightly soft brake pedal when the ambient heat soaked into the fluid, once moving the brakes were still absolutely stonking after repeated heavy braking. Though the second half of the session wasn't helped by a Evo driver who did exactly what we'd been told not to do in the briefing....
Besides that, ended up helping out a lad who's MR2 had drank all it's oil.. engine though looked like a goner.

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 17:03

[Sf_Manta]

Brief update, the coolant system was showing signs of being worn out by leaking. Seems the radiator is bowing badly, which is a good sign it's shot.
Given the rest of the system is a bit of an unknown cept for the thermostat. This was changed when i brought the car originally but given it was probably done dirt cheap.

So..



New thermostat, water pump, expansion tank and radiator. Still waiting on the Samco black hoses to arrive.

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 17:07

[Sf_Manta]

Well Christmas came and I spent Boxing day changing out the cooling system.. be it getting the new radiator in was a bit of a pig.
However it was worth doing given the condition of the old core.. this was what i found when it came out!





This wasn't far off failing and was already leaking fluids.. since the replacement, the only leak I've had was from a hose that hadn't fully seated and blew off when i was replacing the broken level sensor.. washing me down in warm coolant, thankfully i'd left the car for a bit to cool down beforehand and didn't get scolded.

The car also had a recall done after BMW sent me a letter, apparently the passenger airbag could explode when deployed, so this was duly booked in and replaced.
Whilst it was in, they did a check.. and the only fault was dim sidelights, given i'd had the car to bits and back together only a few days previously, that was something to be proud of



So with the sidelights.. rather replace the old dim bulbs, I upgraded to LED with the correct CAN replacements, a tad more than the normal ones, but does give the car a more modern feel.



That's it for now, though the next big bill could be the clutch. and given it's got the original.. I'm looking at single mass replacements for reduction on cost of new clutches (using sprung centre ones to avoid chatter), reliability and improving the performance It'll also allow for installation of the braided clutch line i couldn't fit when doing the brake lines.

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 17:10

[Sf_Manta]

helix402 said:

Good work, does the flywheel have a problem? They're normally reliable on the petrol E46s.

Usually, but given that you can't reface the flywheel, and mine may have some scuffing from the track work you can't reface them.
Plus the clutch is getting high, so you tend to have to replace the flywheel at the same time.. and I'm one to upgrade when replacing. The funny part is that the upgrade will not cost anymore than a replacement duel mass and clutch

[Sf_Manta]

Has been a while since this was last updated.

Back at Christmas i spent Boxing day changing out the radiator, pump, header tank and thermostat. Unfortunately due to a cockup at Samco... I had to wait 3 months for these to turn up.



The black box with lead, is the igniter to the HIDs, the driver's side has been leaking on and off and shorted out yet again last Monday, so having to work on it again to figure out what's caused the leak.

I'll be fitting them at Easter, as come April I'm heading back out to Germany with my friend to get a few more laps in at the ring

Edited by Sf_Manta on Monday 2nd January 17:15

[Sf_Manta]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Like this. I've been having a crafty look at e46 tourings recently. Have given up on e36 and e39 as they are all knackered. Is there still a decent choice of these around?

They're not easy to find.. but they do come up on low miles, quick trawl through the classified on here turned this up http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...