2003 BMW 325ti Sport

[ethomas]

BigTom85 said:

Lets see some pics of the console upgrades, I'm pondering similar.

Will do. I found that BMW Hereford would give me a better price on the parts required that I could find on eBay, if you want to go that route I have a quote number, I am sure they will do the same deal for you (member discount on a BMW forum).

I discovered that there are some gremlins lurking, hidden behind some tape under the dash are a number of warning lights. I will read the codes tomorrow and see what sort of compensation I can get from the supplying garage (there is a thread about it in general gassing). I don't mind fixing faults on cheap cars - as this thread will attest I have fixed a bunch already - however I think that deliberately hidden warning lights is a bit low, so I will see what shakes out of the legalese letter that I am sending.

Finally, some better news, I now have working parking distance sensors again! Rewired the sensor with a new plug and all is dandy. Now I only have myself to blame when I reverse into something

[ethomas]

Some small updates on the warning light issues. The airbag warning light is being caused by fault codes on the right side airbag and right head airbag (the tubular one that goes up the A pillar). Took off the door card for a shufty and discovered this:



A comparison squeeze between the left and right A pillars suggests that the other airbag is also missing. Quarry motors in Sheffield are sending me a couple of airbags for the grand total of £17.50 plus postage! Apparently fitting the head airbag is a pain in the ass, but it should be doable with a couple hours work.

Some more investigation into the traction control light suggests that the problem is the sensor cluster under the passenger seat (speed and yaw sensors). I will try to check this while the battery is disconnected from the car for the airbag install, hopefully it is as simple as plugging the connector in again, or replacing the cluster (30 quid on ebay).

Will keep you posted anyway

[ethomas]

Thanks for your kind offer Tom, I have replied to your kind email.

Regarding possible accident damage, I had a good look at the chassis and suspension on that side of the car when I replaced the control arms, everything looked straight. There are a lot of reports of these two airbags going off if a car hits a curb a little quickly, hopefully it was just something like this. Next time I have it in good lighting I will have a decent squint at the paintwork and see if there is a discrepancy (I think it is just bad lighting in the first picture).

The next big job is tracking down an oil leak, I am sure that the rocker cover gasket needs doing at least, so I will do that first and see how it goes.

Ordered more parts from Quarry motors on Saturday, including a new rear wiper motor so that I can tick that off my list.

[ethomas]

Just a quick update because I spent the last two hours wrestling with the headliner and dash to replace the two drivers side airbags. Complete stinker of a job, but worth it, following a reset of fault codes the airbag light is now OFF!

Next up is fitting the new sensor cluster to fix the DSC light, fitting new brake pad wear sensors to fix the pad light, and fitting a new rocker cover gasket (and new spark plugs while the cover is off) to start fixing the oil leak.

This car ownership lark can be pretty time consuming

[ethomas]

So, I figure it is about time for an update. Since the last post, I have replaced:

• the spark plugs
• the vanos seals (kit from i6 automotive
• the DISA gasket
• the oil filter housing gasket
• the radiator, expansion bottle and cap, top and bottom hoses, water level sensor, fan switch, and water pump
• top and bottom steering U joints

I put a new sensor cluster in, but it didn't clear the codes or the two dashboard lights, this points to a faulty DSC unit. A replacement is on its way from Quarry motors.

A couple of weeks ago I won a complete set of Eibach pro kit springs for 40 quid on ebay . I installed them tonight along with new front strut assemblies (strut mount, washers, rubber pads) and new rubber pads on the rear.

Still to be done is install a new CCV and its associated hoses - hopefully this will sort out the remaining oil thirst.

Too tired to write more tonight, after I finished working on the car I took it for a drive. It is totally transformed, the new struts and mounts have sharpened up the steering no end. There was a lot of play in the old mounts, and the struts and springs were not matched (one BMW which I assume is the original 12 year old strut, and one Boge), I don't think this did anything for the handling! No idea what contribution the pro kit springs are making, but they certainly are not hurting the handling

Cheers,
Edward

[ethomas]

helix402 said:

Good job. Did you find any difference with the new Vanos seals? What make of dampers did you go for?

It is not a night and day difference, and may be wishful thinking, but it feels a little better at low revs. Before it would get bogged down more easily. The old seals were definitely buggered, the pistons could move in the housing quite easily.

For dampers I chose Sachs front and rear, they have a good reputation and are pretty cheap, didn't want to mess with anything stiffer than stock. Front shock mount are lemforder, rear shock mounts and most of the rest of the suspension is meyle HD.

[ethomas]

gregs656 said:

Did you ever get round to the dash/cup holder upgrades? Cup holder is on my list of jobs but I am not sure if it is worth it with the arm rest - thoughts?

How did you find the Vanos job? Another thing on my list.

Sounds like you car has come a long way since you picked it up!

Cupholder is not brilliant with the armrest, but better than nothing. New plastic lifted the interior quite a bit, it is a nicer place to sit now. I fitted a storm motorwerks gearknob too which is wonderful. Next up for the interior is a steering wheel retrim.

Vanos job is not too bad. Take your time with it and follow the detailed beisan systems guide and anyone should be able to manage it.

Yeah I can't stop tinkering, I do this with everything. If I still have it in 2 years it will probably be treated to an m3 engine!

[ethomas]

helix402 said:

Thanks for info. Sachs make the OE E46 dampers, I put a pair on the back of mine after finding the Bilstein B8s too stiff (ok on the front). The Meyle top mounts are good, though having tried both I find the M3 ones last better. Did you fit rear top mount reinforcement plates? If not I have a spare pair if you want to make an offer. I have a spare Vanos unit and seal kit on the shelf for a rainy day.

I have top mount plates but I have not fitted them yet. I will get them done as soon as I can face wrestling with the boot carpet again

[ethomas]

After a wash at the local "hand wash for a fiver" place, and "stanced" on Eibach springs:


Incidentally, a close look at the springs I took off shows that one was about 30mm taller than the other when not under compression, so not only were the front shocks not matching, neither were the rear springs!

[ethomas]

gregs656 said:

Could you ping me the details of your plastics deal? I'd like to get rid of the walnut in mine.

The storm shifters look lovely, z4 shifter in your future?

The only bits I replaced were the centre console (what holds the cupholders), nothing that would replace any of your walnut trim. For a decent deal on 2nd hand trim try contacting quarry motors, for new stuff get to one of the BMW forums where Hereford BMW do discounts on dealer prices and get them to quote you up.

I am happy with the throw of the shifter as is, my GF also drives the car and the action is pretty stiff with the stock shifter (new oil going in soon to hopefully help this). Anything that makes the shift more manly is a nono. Storm shifter is lovely, once I get around to fixing my handbrake (new shoes and an adjustment) I will get the matching handbrake handle too.

[ethomas]

I just finished the dreaded CCV job. It's a fiddly bugger, but actually not as bad as I was expecting. The dreaded bayonet fitting pipe went on first time, and the whole job took just over 3 hours, I spent about 20 minutes putting the (sodding bd) dipstick bolt back in. To get access to the CCV I removed (in order):

• Air box
• Upper intake boot
• DISA valve
• Lower intake boot
• Idle control valve
• Dipstick
• Wiring box (loosened and left hanging)
• Throttle body

Once this lot is out, access to the CCV is not bad at all. The outgoing pipes all came apart in my hands, so once these had all been removed, the CCV was a doddle. Put the new valve in with no pipes attached, and fit the bayonet pipe first. Remember to put everything back once you are done .

I feel that there should be a special certificate or a sticker from BMW for people who manage to DIY this, it is definitely an E46 rite of passage.

Next up is a reconditioned rack and an alignment (booked in on Wednesday for this), I will get the garage to change out the gearbox oil at the same time. Finally, I have a new ABS/DSC module to fit, along with some new parking brake shoes. After that I am done for the year*, I promise!

• Oh, I also need to repair some scuffs on the driver seat leather, scuffmaster kit coming soon

[ethomas]

Working from home today, so I managed to tick off another quick job over lunch. Change out the diff oil for Castrol Syntrax 75w-90. The old oil was thick and black, and full of bits of diff.

Some notes for anyone doing this job on a compact:

• You don't have to jack the car to do this, you can do it with all four wheels on the ground if you have a long arm
• I had to remove the spare wheel carrier to get access to the fill plug, remove the wheel and take out four nuts at the front of the carrier
• I used an outboard engine gear pump from ebay, and transferred oil into clean coke bottles (the pump didn't fit on the oil bottle), there is no room to use a funnel

[ethomas]

Another day, another few jobs done. My local garage fitted the recon steering rack today, which has made a massive difference. Where the steering was vague before it is now telepathic, just think where you want to go it it goes. When they did the change they also noticed that the previous owner had been using the wrong fluid (CH11s instead of Dex 3 ATF). They went the extra mile and flushed the system through before they fitted the new rack, so hopefully no long term harm to the pump or any other component.

I also got the gearbox fluid changed, there is a bunch of differing opinion out there on whether to use ATF (as Redline and some specialists recommend) or MTF (as BMW fill when new), I followed the middle route and used a mixture of both Red Line D4 ATF and 75w-80 MTF (as OpieOil suggested). Shifts are easier, and combined with the diff oil change, the car feels somehow smoother and less frantic to drive (99% sure this is placebo, but I don't care).

Lastly I got a new alignment, following the addition of Eibach springs and new struts last week, the results are pretty good:



The operator explained that they do not weight the car (as BMW require in their alignment guide), instead he and a colleague sat in the car when it was on the rack, at which point the front camber went green, so everything is in spec when I am in the car.

I am looking forward to being done with it for a while, will try to get the handbrake done soon so I can stop the car on a gentle incline without panic

[ethomas]

I had a couple of free hours today so I decided to tackle the ABS/DSC unit. The car had two persistent faults, relating to communication with the sensor cluster (yaw and acceleration) under the passenger seat. I replaced the cluster already, so the next step was to replace the control unit itself.

Handily it is possible to replace the electronic part of the DSC module without unplumbing the hydraulic part of the module from the vehicle's brakes. This saves the hassle of bleeding the system, and saves on new brake fluid. Remove the two 13mm bolts that hold the module to the car and pull it up and out. You will be pulling against the existing brake lines, but there is (just) enough flex in them. Unfasten the two torx screws that hold the electronic part to the pump, remove the massive connector, and wrestle with it a bit until it comes out. Installation is, inevitable, the opposite of removal (be careful with the pins that connect the electronic module with the pump, they will get bent the first time you try to install it).

The result of all this is that I have replaced two error codes with some new codes. The new codes are to do with the VIN on the new module not matching the VIN of the vehicle, and that the module expects communication with an automatic gearbox (replacement module is from an auto). Both of these will be fixed when I get NCS expert working and recode the module for my car.

Celebrated with a bit of a B-road blast!

[ethomas]

Success! I managed to get INPA and NCS expert working, they recoded the module and reinitialized the steering angle sensor. This means that I now have an almost error free dashboard:



The last thing is the rear brake pad wear sensor. This will be done in a few days when I replace my handbrake shoes - this is a job I have been putting off for months now, need to get it done before I kill my clutch with needlessly stressed hill starts.

[ethomas]

So, I still didn't get around to fixing my handbrake, however this arrived in the post today:



Royal Steering Wheels, perforated leather sides and nappa top and bottom. Colour coded stitching (decided to avoid the //M colour stitching on account of it not being an M3). It feels LOVELY

Installed it and it looks great, will try to get pictures when the car is next in daylight.

[ethomas]

BigTom85 said:

That does look lovely!

It's all coming together now then mate, what else is on the list?

Yeah, I had to drive back from Windsor pretty late last night, and I was struck by just how capable the car is now. It is comfortable at motorway speeds for hours on end, superb steering and handling now the mismatched suspension components and rattly old steering gear are gone. The styling and colour has really grown on me too.

I am running out of things to do to be honest. There are a couple of minor jobs that need to be done:

• Splice in a new external temperature sensor before winter sets
• Replace the oil level sensor
• Replace the handbrake shoes (I really have no enthusiasm for this job )
• Oil and filter change

I have all the parts for these, I will do them next free weekend I have.

Aside from these, just big jobs. I would love to drop a new engine in, this would probably be the M54B30 from a 330i if I can fine one with low enough miles. This is plug and play, just a new map needed for the ECU. Obviously the ultimate 325ti would have the engine, gearbox, and rear axle from an M3, but the total cost of the parts is around 5k from a reputable breaker like Quarry Motors, and it is a much more complicated install... Will see how I feel next summer when bonus season comes

[ethomas]

Not done much to the car in the last few weeks, it has been running beautifully, and as I said last time, there is not much left to do!

I decided that before a small winter road trip (Belgium and France for Christmas week) I will try to upgrade the front seats to (heated, powered) M3 seats. This is apparently reasonably easy, I have sourced a new control panel very cheaply (with the heated seat and dsc buttons), and have founds some nice looking seats nearby which I made an offer on. As well as this there is some wiring - need to figure out if I buy a loom for 80 quid off ebay and be done with it, or DIY it.

Assuming this goes to plan, I will have some pretty decent and recently gliptoned black leather front seats to get rid of, so do let me know if you might be interested before I put them on EBay.

[ethomas]

About time I posted an update. Big news is that I finally fixed the handbrake! Now it holds at about 4 clicks on even the steepest hills, a massive relief from before. I need to get back in the habit of using it, and not trying to do hill starts in idle on the foot brake

I also retrofitted heated M3 seats. These have powered bolsters and lumbar support, and are generally an upgrade. Eventually I found really some really mint seats, the first pair I found (unheated but in nice condition) are still for sale, as are my old sports seats. It turns out that the heated seat switching centre does not fit in the stock dashboard frame, so I took the opportunity to replace the rather tatty old frame, and to an ashtray delete at the same time.

Pictures once the car has had a clean

[ethomas]

So I am terrible at updating this thread and taking photos

Another big pile of things have been done on the car recently (roughly chronological order):

- Replaced the OEM 18" wheels with 17" Pro Race 1.2s. This improved the ride a lot, and also made the car feel a little lighter.
- Upgraded the suspension to a Bilstein B12 kit
- Replaced the front door speakers with some half decent Focal drive units
- Fitted new front ARB bushes (made a bigger difference than I expected).
- Upgraded the front brakes (BMW 135i calipers, 345mm CSL discs, stainless hoses) and flushed the brake fluid
- Replaced the front bearings with nice new FAG bearings as the old ones were starting to get noisy

Still on the todo list (parts waiting):

- Fit turner motorsport anti roll bars (30mm/25mm) and poly bushes (bought these cheaply from M3cutters)
- Upgrade the rear brakes (M3 discs, Porsche 986 calipers) and fit an M3 master cylinder
- Drop in an E46 M3 LSD, subframe, and associated bits

The last part has taken up quite a large amount of time already. I picked up a complete M3 rear axle assembly back in February, with the intention of stripping it down, getting the parts cleaned up and painted, and then reassembling with new hardware where required. It turned out to take a lot longer than expected, one driveshaft was stuck in a trailing arm and neither heat nor hydraulics could shift it. Several bolts welded themselves inside ball joints, and I ended up finding so much rust in the subframe that I picked up a clean one (with no bushes!). I have now polybushed the second subframe, and fitted a new OEM front diff bush. Trailing arms and wishbones are getting blasted and coated as I write this, and I have all new parts to connect everything back together. I also have an M3 driveshaft which *should* be a perfect fit . I picked up a cheap set of Porsche 986 calipers in great condition, so I will use these with Creation motorsport brackets to have brembos all round.

I expect the powder coating to be done in two to three weeks (they are very very busy), at which point I will reassemble the shiny things, and at the end of May take the lot to ETA motorsport near Brands Hatch for a subframe reinforcement job, and a bolting up of the new kit. Since the reinforcement is a subframe-off job, this is a good time to do it. They are smart enough to deal with any unforeseen problems (like if the driveshaft doesn't fit).

I promise to take photos next time, for now, check out the new brakes!