2003 BMW 325ti Sport
Discussion
PaulGT3 said:
Nice work.
I'm finding I am spending enough money fixing all the little things with the car to be spending money on upgrades too! Hate to think how much that front brake setup has cost you!
I have a bunch of eBay searches saved that notify me when things turn up that I might be interested in (such as S54 + engine I'm finding I am spending enough money fixing all the little things with the car to be spending money on upgrades too! Hate to think how much that front brake setup has cost you!
). I actually got lucky on the brakes, found the calipers second hand on eBay for a good price - they hardly ever come up for sale. The discs were 149 euros each from a company in Germany (now price has gone up to 174 each) which is pretty good for big floating discs. Best was finding brand new Mintex pads for £19!I discovered a great site for OEM parts too: http://www.leebmann24.de/bmw-ersatzteile/
They have everything available to the dealer network, but they have cheaper prices than any UK dealer, and a really easy to use catalog (available in English!). It works like realoem, just browse to the parts you need and then pop them in your basket. Saves a lot of time on the phone reading long lists of part numbers. If you register and tell them you use a BMW forum (pistonheads would probably work), they will set you up for an additional discount of 10-20%!
Thanks for the comments guys!
One more small job done tonight, put the car up on my shiny new ramps (so much easier than jacking the sodding thing with my crappy jack) and replaced the stock anti roll bar with a Turner motorsport job. The new one is a bit meatier:
I have put it on the middle setting for now, given I still have the stock rear bar (until the end of May), I may be better off on full soft for now. I took it out for a quick drive around the roundabouts of the bypass, but immediately the heavens opened and rain fell everywhere. I will leave it for another day, but I was happy that there is no increase in NVH, despite the thicker bar and poly bushes
The big test will be at Snetterton next Wednesday evening, here's hoping for a dry track.
One more small job done tonight, put the car up on my shiny new ramps (so much easier than jacking the sodding thing with my crappy jack) and replaced the stock anti roll bar with a Turner motorsport job. The new one is a bit meatier:
I have put it on the middle setting for now, given I still have the stock rear bar (until the end of May), I may be better off on full soft for now. I took it out for a quick drive around the roundabouts of the bypass, but immediately the heavens opened and rain fell everywhere. I will leave it for another day, but I was happy that there is no increase in NVH, despite the thicker bar and poly bushes
The big test will be at Snetterton next Wednesday evening, here's hoping for a dry track.
Snetterton was a blast! I wrote about the track and my driving in the track day post, I thought I would post a bit about the car here.
With Snetterton being flatter than Brand's, it was easier to understand what the car was doing. The first thing I noticed is that the new ARB makes the car pretty understeery, this is great for not spinning, but not the best for balance. Until I fit the matching rear bar, I am going to move it to the softest setting (from medium). This should be closer to the stock bar, and help to restore the normal handling balance.
The second thing about my car is that I think I need wider wheels for the tyres I have. I currently have 7" wheels with 225 section tyres. This looks great, makes it impossible to curb the wheels, and drives fine on the road, but on a track there is just too much "roll" in the front tyre. It is possible to feel the tyre rolling around on tight corners, which feels pretty strange and reduces the sharpness (cannot think of a better word) of the steering. Since 205/50/17 tyres are seemingly much more expensive than 225/45s (and I think 225 is a good size for the car), I think the best long term solution is 8J wheels all round.
Once again though, the car aquitted itself really well. It is incredibly forgiving and easy to drive on a track. Once again I didn't get anywhere close to spinning or hitting the grass. A couple of wobbles hitting the brakes at the end of Coram (long fast right hander that is followed immediately by a very tight left hander) were easily controlled. I recommend anyone on this thread to find a track day and give it a go
(from my final session)
With Snetterton being flatter than Brand's, it was easier to understand what the car was doing. The first thing I noticed is that the new ARB makes the car pretty understeery, this is great for not spinning, but not the best for balance. Until I fit the matching rear bar, I am going to move it to the softest setting (from medium). This should be closer to the stock bar, and help to restore the normal handling balance.
The second thing about my car is that I think I need wider wheels for the tyres I have. I currently have 7" wheels with 225 section tyres. This looks great, makes it impossible to curb the wheels, and drives fine on the road, but on a track there is just too much "roll" in the front tyre. It is possible to feel the tyre rolling around on tight corners, which feels pretty strange and reduces the sharpness (cannot think of a better word) of the steering. Since 205/50/17 tyres are seemingly much more expensive than 225/45s (and I think 225 is a good size for the car), I think the best long term solution is 8J wheels all round.
Once again though, the car aquitted itself really well. It is incredibly forgiving and easy to drive on a track. Once again I didn't get anywhere close to spinning or hitting the grass. A couple of wobbles hitting the brakes at the end of Coram (long fast right hander that is followed immediately by a very tight left hander) were easily controlled. I recommend anyone on this thread to find a track day and give it a go
(from my final session)
Sorry, I have been terrible at updating this thread
Highlights of recent changes (roughly in order):
Highlights of recent changes (roughly in order):
- Replaced front brakes with 135i calipers and CSL discs
- Reinforced boot floor at ETA Motorsport (there was one pretty big crack)
- Fitted 3.64 M3 differential, prop, driveshafts
- Replaced rear subframe and arms with E46 M3 parts
- Replaced rear brakes with Porsche 996 calipers and M3 discs
- Fitted braided lines all round
- Replaced the brake master cylinder with a late model M3 cylinder
- Removed the crap stock CCV system and replaced it with a closed loop catch can
- Replaced the Bilstein B12 suspension with KW V3 coilovers (yesterday)
5harp3y said:
van i have more details please?
Front brake swap is pretty common on M3s using BMW performance calipers from the E90 (same as 135i calipers) and custom brackets. I got the brackets from here:http://www.epytec.de/de/bremsentechnik/bremssattel...
These go with stock CSL discs (345mm floating). If you can find second hand calipers, it is a pretty cost effective upgrade. I have a todo job to replace my front hubs with M3 hubs, since these have the little dowels to perfectly locate the brake disk and take the braking force. On stock non-M hubs the brakes are putting a hell of a strain on the single retention screw.
The subframe and trailing arm swap is needed to fit the M3 LSD to a non-M E46. You need the subframe, trailing arms from the M3, you can reuse the control arms. You get a nice upgrade to rear brakes for free since all the M3 brakes fit. Cheapest way to do all this is to buy a complete rear axle assembly from eBay, mine was 400 quid all in (diff, driveshafts, subframe, arms, brakes).
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