2003 BMW M3 - The New Daily
Discussion
It's about time this thread was updated! What have I been up to I hear you ask? OK, maybe I was imagining things 
.
Firstly I dealt with a costly job I have been putting off for quite some time ; the front end respray! While the pictures made it look good and unless you looked very closely (well, closer than 5 feet!) you could tell that the wings still had a tiny amount of bubble rust that had not grown, the bonnet was littered with touched up stonechips, the passenger wing had signs of a poor painjob previously and a hasty touch up in addition to the bumper having been painted before and looking a little 'off' in its shine and pepper, but with the peppering looking to be beneath the paint!
Originally I planned to just get the wings done and then the bonnet! However, when the lacquer started coming off parts of the bumper I decided to bite the bullet and get the lot done! With that in mind the bumper was taken back to the plastic and started all over again.
Along the way the grille clips snapped as did the heated washer jets, which apparently were broken before (they looked fine before!) Anyway, this was all sorted in the end. The result? A car that looks significantly fresher than when I bought it! It's got a nice honesty about it! The car is no show winner but it is looking lovely now, more than good enough for a daily, with the new grilles complimenting the car well
What's more I decided to deal with another job the car has had wrong with it from the day I bought it ; the rear view mirror.
It seems there was a manufacturing fault with the original units that is now fixed with the revised items. Mine had the typical leak within itself inside as well as the autodimming function no longer working! I mean, who does enjoy their retinas being destroyed at night time? But besides that, why would I risk the alien like blood leaking out of the mirror and wrecking my mirror and not limit itself to marking the trim and seats badly?
With that in mind I ordered another mirror from MirrorJohn! No, he is not an Arthur Daley character, but well known in the M3 circles on M3Cutters. I put the job off for quite some time with all of my busy weekends but I finally managed to put some time aside.
Yup, it's gone!
The obligatory "tools in use" shot:
The new one looks slightly better!
The mirror now fixed!
MirrorJohns' instructions were spot but I did differ my method to his a little:
-I split the mirror casing apart with a credit card and not a craft knife
-The mirror being stuck onto the backplate I did with a combination of a snap-on knife and a credit card. No, I am not trying to reduce my spending for those wondering!
-The rear light sensor I placed into the front mirror casing first and then put the mirror back together. This made life alot easier.
Sure enough it works a treat. Now I don't need to perv at drivers with the rear view mirror at night time, not that I could before with a distorted rear mirror
. Joking aside the mirror has made a pleasant difference inside the car, really helping the car feel that bit nice and see more of where I am going, and where I have been! Night time driving I have yet to do in the car.
That is all for now folks!
.Firstly I dealt with a costly job I have been putting off for quite some time ; the front end respray! While the pictures made it look good and unless you looked very closely (well, closer than 5 feet!) you could tell that the wings still had a tiny amount of bubble rust that had not grown, the bonnet was littered with touched up stonechips, the passenger wing had signs of a poor painjob previously and a hasty touch up in addition to the bumper having been painted before and looking a little 'off' in its shine and pepper, but with the peppering looking to be beneath the paint!
Originally I planned to just get the wings done and then the bonnet! However, when the lacquer started coming off parts of the bumper I decided to bite the bullet and get the lot done! With that in mind the bumper was taken back to the plastic and started all over again.
Along the way the grille clips snapped as did the heated washer jets, which apparently were broken before (they looked fine before!) Anyway, this was all sorted in the end. The result? A car that looks significantly fresher than when I bought it! It's got a nice honesty about it! The car is no show winner but it is looking lovely now, more than good enough for a daily, with the new grilles complimenting the car well
What's more I decided to deal with another job the car has had wrong with it from the day I bought it ; the rear view mirror.
It seems there was a manufacturing fault with the original units that is now fixed with the revised items. Mine had the typical leak within itself inside as well as the autodimming function no longer working! I mean, who does enjoy their retinas being destroyed at night time? But besides that, why would I risk the alien like blood leaking out of the mirror and wrecking my mirror and not limit itself to marking the trim and seats badly?
With that in mind I ordered another mirror from MirrorJohn! No, he is not an Arthur Daley character, but well known in the M3 circles on M3Cutters. I put the job off for quite some time with all of my busy weekends but I finally managed to put some time aside.
Yup, it's gone!
The obligatory "tools in use" shot:
The new one looks slightly better!
The mirror now fixed!
MirrorJohns' instructions were spot but I did differ my method to his a little:
-I split the mirror casing apart with a credit card and not a craft knife
-The mirror being stuck onto the backplate I did with a combination of a snap-on knife and a credit card. No, I am not trying to reduce my spending for those wondering!
-The rear light sensor I placed into the front mirror casing first and then put the mirror back together. This made life alot easier.
Sure enough it works a treat. Now I don't need to perv at drivers with the rear view mirror at night time, not that I could before with a distorted rear mirror
. Joking aside the mirror has made a pleasant difference inside the car, really helping the car feel that bit nice and see more of where I am going, and where I have been! Night time driving I have yet to do in the car.That is all for now folks!
Edited by SebringMan on Tuesday 15th November 14:33
Edited by SebringMan on Tuesday 15th November 15:01
Edited by SebringMan on Friday 22 September 22:35
It seems it has been another busy month for me on the car! Like other jobs I knew it needed doing, but this one did creep up on me!
Firstly, I had the airbag recall done. BMW were happy with the state of the car. They however were no happy with a few things:
-O/S headlight not working. It does, but it picks it's moments to not work now and again ; the ignitor is gone. Those who know how awkward it is change will know why I am putting this off. I do have the ignitor however. Seeing as I have a spare weekend next week I may give it a go
-Rear tyres are on the limit. They measured the rears at 2mm in parts!
When I bought the car it was on Falkens all round. Faster forward 4,000 miles on and the rears were on around 2mm from 5mm! What the hell?
With that in mind it was time to spend some dollar I really didn't want to spend! After scouring around the prices from the usual suspects and debating on the tyres I decided to go with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4s. Pricey I know but if they lasted well over 10k (well the PS2s) on a 300BHP 944 Turbo they should be fine on an M3. Better than the Falkens anyway which IMO have an abysmal wear rate! In the end my usual tyre place turned out to be just as cheap as Black Circles and as cheap as anyone else for that matter by the time I accounted from fitting if I bought them off Camskill (around £15. I know of one place who would fit them for £10 but he did say that his machine would struggle to fit 19" wheels. Given he marked (ableit slightly) a 15" wheel with the careless use of a crowbar when I was there I decided to give him a miss. I would have used Event tyres but Christ they are expensive for 19" tyres!
It was then time to book myself in. Working all week ruled out a weekday fitting. It was time to go on the weekend, but somehow I end up being stupidly busy on the weekends. No a problem I thought. Get up earlier and go to the tyre shop early.
It was fair to say that was freezing!
This was the scene at 8:45AM on a Saturday. Joy. A queue:
One complaint about the FK453s was their lack of sidewall. I tried to measure this but the shakes got the better of me in this shot. For those wondering they give around 0.5mm of protection for the rim. On the fronts? Nothing ; the rim protector is there more as a decorative feature:
Eventually the rears were fitted by 9.25AM and I was on my way:
As for the PS4s what are they like I hear you ask? Honestly? The car is quieter with these on over the Falkens by quite a way! The rear end also feels far less loose than it has done for a good few months now! It's lovely! I need to change the fronts however, but at 4mm I think I may wear them down a bit more first!
When I say on my way I was going with a friend for a 30th Birthday gift we all got him. An American car day out
With this done I have gone back to piling on the miles! It's fair to say it is a little cold out there mind you!
It's a lovely car however! It's a great cruiser that with a couple of flicks of the paddles and some careful application of the throttle can turn into quite a serious beast! Once you get used to the 'box you wonder what the fuss is about regarding the hate!
Yup, for now I am liking the car! Cheap to run however it ain't!
Firstly, I had the airbag recall done. BMW were happy with the state of the car. They however were no happy with a few things:
-O/S headlight not working. It does, but it picks it's moments to not work now and again ; the ignitor is gone. Those who know how awkward it is change will know why I am putting this off. I do have the ignitor however. Seeing as I have a spare weekend next week I may give it a go
-Rear tyres are on the limit. They measured the rears at 2mm in parts!
When I bought the car it was on Falkens all round. Faster forward 4,000 miles on and the rears were on around 2mm from 5mm! What the hell?
With that in mind it was time to spend some dollar I really didn't want to spend! After scouring around the prices from the usual suspects and debating on the tyres I decided to go with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4s. Pricey I know but if they lasted well over 10k (well the PS2s) on a 300BHP 944 Turbo they should be fine on an M3. Better than the Falkens anyway which IMO have an abysmal wear rate! In the end my usual tyre place turned out to be just as cheap as Black Circles and as cheap as anyone else for that matter by the time I accounted from fitting if I bought them off Camskill (around £15. I know of one place who would fit them for £10 but he did say that his machine would struggle to fit 19" wheels. Given he marked (ableit slightly) a 15" wheel with the careless use of a crowbar when I was there I decided to give him a miss. I would have used Event tyres but Christ they are expensive for 19" tyres!
It was then time to book myself in. Working all week ruled out a weekday fitting. It was time to go on the weekend, but somehow I end up being stupidly busy on the weekends. No a problem I thought. Get up earlier and go to the tyre shop early.
It was fair to say that was freezing!
This was the scene at 8:45AM on a Saturday. Joy. A queue:
One complaint about the FK453s was their lack of sidewall. I tried to measure this but the shakes got the better of me in this shot. For those wondering they give around 0.5mm of protection for the rim. On the fronts? Nothing ; the rim protector is there more as a decorative feature:
Eventually the rears were fitted by 9.25AM and I was on my way:
As for the PS4s what are they like I hear you ask? Honestly? The car is quieter with these on over the Falkens by quite a way! The rear end also feels far less loose than it has done for a good few months now! It's lovely! I need to change the fronts however, but at 4mm I think I may wear them down a bit more first!
When I say on my way I was going with a friend for a 30th Birthday gift we all got him. An American car day out
With this done I have gone back to piling on the miles! It's fair to say it is a little cold out there mind you!
It's a lovely car however! It's a great cruiser that with a couple of flicks of the paddles and some careful application of the throttle can turn into quite a serious beast! Once you get used to the 'box you wonder what the fuss is about regarding the hate!
Yup, for now I am liking the car! Cheap to run however it ain't!
Edited by SebringMan on Friday 22 September 22:38
TheDukeGTi said:
Great progress on this! I'm doing similar jobs on my E36; freshening up. The little details make all the difference.
Cheers! It's surprising the details the little bits make isn't it? On my 944 they certainly made the car more liveable with and nicer overall which, let's be honest is a large factor.Speaking of living with a car, I decided to give it a clean! But not clean enough for the shots with all of the salt present! Still, it could have been worse!
Edited by SebringMan on Friday 22 September 22:39
It seems that despite me cleaning the car quite often and pampering it where I can it demanded more attention! It is fair to say it has not been the best of months for now, but maybe it was partly my fault. The niggle list is certainly alot smaller and after Xmas I'll be dealing with the very few that are now left.
Firstly the car decided it would throw a bit of a tantrum after I left work. The fuel tank was close to empty when I left work ; I planned to brim it on the way back, but I did not bank on the traffic being absolutely horrific! At this point a misfire joined the party with the car losing quite a bit of power. Sure enough, the EML light wanted to make an appearance too. With a misfiring car and the damage that can happen to the cats I dumped the car back at work and picked it up later on when the roads were quieter and nursed the car back home.
Plugging my generic code reader into the car was futile ; it claimed the car had no errors at all (For the record, that was with a U380 code reader).
Clearly, that was codswallop - It would have been nice if the car was running right, but running like a 3 legged dog, that was not going to wash with me! It was time to plug the car into the well-known INPA system that quite a few BMW owners talk about! It was fair to say the codes were just a little more comprehensive!
These were the errors that greeted me:
210 Misfire, cyl.6, without cylinder cutout
149 Error if tank is empty
201 Misfire, cyl.6, with cylinder cutout
Normally I'd order the part online and wait. But time was of the essence. I needed the car for the next two days for a change and I had access to no other car bar a hire one! Something had to be done, fast.
Usually, I'd switch coils around to ensure the coil is at fault but given it was cold and dark outside I simply bought another coil and thought I would see if it would fix it, as well as buying a spare for the future should another coil decide to fail. Sure enough, the coil was dead! The old coil could have looked better mind you!:
So the car was back to running well again, or so it seemed. For quite some time, well, since I bought the car the lights tended to dim inside on occasion and then recover quickly again. I noticed that it also did this when the car was revved from idle. I guess I should have known that the alternator was not long for this world! Yup, I now had an intermittent battery light come on in the same week!
Off I went to recharge the battery which was useless as I suspected it would be. I normally don't like changing alternators as IME pattern items rarely last any length of time and the genuine items are stupidly priced, around £600-700 in this case! Previously, one car of ours had a Valeo, Halfords, cheapo, and then finally a an Ford alternator (sold the car with this on). All of these died within a 3 year period! At least that was easy to change!
On another car, a 6 month old alternator caught me out in Italy of all places. That was the Carlsberg breakdowns of breakdowns however, but I'll leave that for another time.
With the alternator off I decided to see if I could get to the regulator which seemed like a likely culprit. This was easy:
Some part nos. for people who want to research things. The Valeo no. is 2542432B:
With the regulator off I checked the brushes. They had clearly seen their day TBH! You can't see it in the shots but the rear brush of the 2 was quite badly worn:
Great I thought. Get a new regulator and put it in! I did think this until I checked the prices:
BMW : £128
Elsewhere : £100-125 (Valeo OE item).
You can get pattern ones on eBay but they don't look the same as what I took off of as said I didn't want to be doing this job again. I then decided to bite the bullet and just buy a new but trusted brand of alternator, and some INA pulleys, the same brand as what BMW themselves use:
On the plus side, the box does say it has a 3 year warranty, so maybe this one won't be too bad:
After I got back home last night I tackled it in the freezing cold and somehow had the car back together and running in over an hour. Admitedly it did feel like my fingers were going to succomb to frostbite! With the pulleys changed it was time to fire her up. It certainly sounds alot quieter and if I am honest it vibrates a little less throughout the car as well! A job well done all in!
And a shot of the hidden work now it has been done. Oh, and sorry for the poor photos. I was in a hurry to just get on with the work, otherwise I would have done a "How-To". Yes, I am sad enough to copper grease the bolts when I am replacing them:
Firstly the car decided it would throw a bit of a tantrum after I left work. The fuel tank was close to empty when I left work ; I planned to brim it on the way back, but I did not bank on the traffic being absolutely horrific! At this point a misfire joined the party with the car losing quite a bit of power. Sure enough, the EML light wanted to make an appearance too. With a misfiring car and the damage that can happen to the cats I dumped the car back at work and picked it up later on when the roads were quieter and nursed the car back home.
Plugging my generic code reader into the car was futile ; it claimed the car had no errors at all (For the record, that was with a U380 code reader).
Clearly, that was codswallop - It would have been nice if the car was running right, but running like a 3 legged dog, that was not going to wash with me! It was time to plug the car into the well-known INPA system that quite a few BMW owners talk about! It was fair to say the codes were just a little more comprehensive!
These were the errors that greeted me:
210 Misfire, cyl.6, without cylinder cutout
149 Error if tank is empty
201 Misfire, cyl.6, with cylinder cutout
Normally I'd order the part online and wait. But time was of the essence. I needed the car for the next two days for a change and I had access to no other car bar a hire one! Something had to be done, fast.
Usually, I'd switch coils around to ensure the coil is at fault but given it was cold and dark outside I simply bought another coil and thought I would see if it would fix it, as well as buying a spare for the future should another coil decide to fail. Sure enough, the coil was dead! The old coil could have looked better mind you!:
So the car was back to running well again, or so it seemed. For quite some time, well, since I bought the car the lights tended to dim inside on occasion and then recover quickly again. I noticed that it also did this when the car was revved from idle. I guess I should have known that the alternator was not long for this world! Yup, I now had an intermittent battery light come on in the same week!
Off I went to recharge the battery which was useless as I suspected it would be. I normally don't like changing alternators as IME pattern items rarely last any length of time and the genuine items are stupidly priced, around £600-700 in this case! Previously, one car of ours had a Valeo, Halfords, cheapo, and then finally a an Ford alternator (sold the car with this on). All of these died within a 3 year period! At least that was easy to change!
On another car, a 6 month old alternator caught me out in Italy of all places. That was the Carlsberg breakdowns of breakdowns however, but I'll leave that for another time.
With the alternator off I decided to see if I could get to the regulator which seemed like a likely culprit. This was easy:
Some part nos. for people who want to research things. The Valeo no. is 2542432B:
With the regulator off I checked the brushes. They had clearly seen their day TBH! You can't see it in the shots but the rear brush of the 2 was quite badly worn:
Great I thought. Get a new regulator and put it in! I did think this until I checked the prices:
BMW : £128
Elsewhere : £100-125 (Valeo OE item).
You can get pattern ones on eBay but they don't look the same as what I took off of as said I didn't want to be doing this job again. I then decided to bite the bullet and just buy a new but trusted brand of alternator, and some INA pulleys, the same brand as what BMW themselves use:
On the plus side, the box does say it has a 3 year warranty, so maybe this one won't be too bad:
After I got back home last night I tackled it in the freezing cold and somehow had the car back together and running in over an hour. Admitedly it did feel like my fingers were going to succomb to frostbite! With the pulleys changed it was time to fire her up. It certainly sounds alot quieter and if I am honest it vibrates a little less throughout the car as well! A job well done all in!
And a shot of the hidden work now it has been done. Oh, and sorry for the poor photos. I was in a hurry to just get on with the work, otherwise I would have done a "How-To". Yes, I am sad enough to copper grease the bolts when I am replacing them:
Edited by SebringMan on Thursday 22 December 01:08
Edited by SebringMan on Friday 22 September 22:42
mwstewart said:
It looks very nice all cleaned up in the sun.
What happened in Italy?
Many thanks. It would be nice if the car was as nice as yours mind you ; it certainly gives some inspiration!What happened in Italy?
Italy was a few years ago with a couple of mates, some of whom are fellow PHers. In essence we bought a sheddy XR3i Cabrio. We got it prepped and sorted a few niggles for Italy (driveshaft, service, cambelt, paint, the usual stuff). One issue for me was the alternator ; it was a pattern replacement with the receipt to go with it.
Normally I wouldn't have been concerned but I do remember my dad's XR3i 7 years prior to this one. The original alternator lasted 2 years in our ownership. Within the space of 2 years the car went through around 4 or 5 alternators, including Halfords, Valeo, and a couple of other brands. When we sold the car it went back onto a genuine Ford alternator, albeit one from a scrap car which worked fine and didn't cause issues.
Sure enough, the battery light with every single consumer started coming on very dimly at night time on the night we were leaving. To add insult to injury the alternator decided it would undo itself! I ended up tightening the casing bolts on the side of the road with a time limit in place for the hotel! Not what you need with a red hot exhaust next to it!
On the way to Italy the headlights would need to be used loads again with all of the tunnels on the motorway near Genova ;aka God's racetrack. It seems it would prove too much. By this point the alternator from fully charging went to fully discharging, meaning the car was only running on battery power. With the exhaust also cracking at the downpipe join and breaking off it was the final straw. We basically had a car that had a range of its battery life. With that in mind we limped the car into Genova with battery life alone and the world's loudest exhaust in a petrol forecourt.
While thoughts were going through of dumping the car, possibly locating a spare alternator from a scrappy with a language issue (Good Translate wasn't around in 2007!) we were reliant on what the locals would do. Much to our surprise we were in luck. A bloke in a chavved up Peugeot 306 who initially seemed like a risky lead was willing to help our cause. After going to a backstreet garage they concluded what we already knew. The "generator" was duff and the exhaust downpipe flange was too weak.
The above was translated by a local Italian girl, who then offered for us to stay with her and her sisters. No I am not joking about this! I cannot imagine anyone to this day allowing a bunch of twenty-something year olds to stay with them! We certainly go to see a bit of Genova with our personal tour guides
.After being treated to dinner and lunch by them and their family the car was ready with a replacement genuine alternator and a bodged/welded exhaust ; the exhaust was their worry in terms of sourcing the part.
Hence why I said, if Carlsberg did breakdowns
. :thumbsup:. I do have more photos but I'll have to dig them up.roadie said:
Lovely looking car and sounds like you are enjoying it. And the maintenance it requires!
Many thanks! I am enjoying the car for sure ; it ticks many boxes in this guise. Part sports car, part raw racer (ish), part GT cruiser. Long journeys in this are a joy! If I go to Germany next year it should be quite the toy!As for enjoying working on it, that depends! I was hoping to not do quite as much and hopefully I've not made mine sound like a nail! But I do like a car to be just so
. I also knew that while a lower mileage car *may* have had less issues I'd have soon found some and trashed its value with the mileage I am putting on. I have already put on close to 5,000 miles since May. Not a massive amount but probably more than what the average M3 is seeing annually.That and I have previously been stung by garages and my dad a BMW dealer with his now very much gone but not forgotten E36 325tds. I guess I am a bit of a cynic and possibly also be a little tight!
Finally, if I can help someone else out in some small way with the above information then at least it's been beneficial to a few guys out there
.Edited by SebringMan on Friday 23 December 10:30
SebringMan said:
Italy was a few years ago with a couple of mates, some of whom are fellow PHers. In essence we bought a sheddy XR3i Cabrio. We got it prepped and sorted a few niggles for Italy (driveshaft, service, cambelt, paint, the usual stuff). One issue for me was the alternator ; it was a pattern replacement with the receipt to go with it.
Normally I wouldn't have been concerned but I do remember my dad's XR3i 7 years prior to this one. The original alternator lasted 2 years in our ownership. Within the space of 2 years the car went through around 4 or 5 alternators, including Halfords, Valeo, and a couple of other brands. When we sold the car it went back onto a genuine Ford alternator, albeit one from a scrap car which worked fine and didn't cause issues.
Sure enough, the battery light with every single consumer started coming on very dimly at night time on the night we were leaving. To add insult to injury the alternator decided it would undo itself! I ended up tightening the casing bolts on the side of the road with a time limit in place for the hotel! Not what you need with a red hot exhaust next to it!
On the way to Italy the headlights would need to be used loads again with all of the tunnels on the motorway near Genova ;aka God's racetrack. It seems it would prove too much. By this point the alternator from fully charging went to fully discharging, meaning the car was only running on battery power. With the exhaust also cracking at the downpipe join and breaking off it was the final straw. We basically had a car that had a range of its battery life. With that in mind we limped the car into Genova with battery life alone and the world's loudest exhaust in a petrol forecourt.
While thoughts were going through of dumping the car, possibly locating a spare alternator from a scrappy with a language issue (Good Translate wasn't around in 2007!) we were reliant on what the locals would do. Much to our surprise we were in luck. A bloke in a chavved up Peugeot 306 who initially seemed like a risky lead was willing to help our cause. After going to a backstreet garage they concluded what we already knew. The "generator" was duff and the exhaust downpipe flange was too weak.
The above was translated by a local Italian girl, who then offered for us to stay with her and her sisters. No I am not joking about this! I cannot imagine anyone to this day allowing a bunch of twenty-something year olds to stay with them! We certainly go to see a bit of Genova with our personal tour guides.
After being treated to dinner and lunch by them and their family the car was ready with a replacement genuine alternator and a bodged/welded exhaust ; the exhaust was their worry in terms of sourcing the part.
Hence why I said, if Carlsberg did breakdowns. :thumbsup:. I do have more photos but I'll have to dig them up...
Haha - classic! The stuff of great memories. Normally I wouldn't have been concerned but I do remember my dad's XR3i 7 years prior to this one. The original alternator lasted 2 years in our ownership. Within the space of 2 years the car went through around 4 or 5 alternators, including Halfords, Valeo, and a couple of other brands. When we sold the car it went back onto a genuine Ford alternator, albeit one from a scrap car which worked fine and didn't cause issues.
Sure enough, the battery light with every single consumer started coming on very dimly at night time on the night we were leaving. To add insult to injury the alternator decided it would undo itself! I ended up tightening the casing bolts on the side of the road with a time limit in place for the hotel! Not what you need with a red hot exhaust next to it!
On the way to Italy the headlights would need to be used loads again with all of the tunnels on the motorway near Genova ;aka God's racetrack. It seems it would prove too much. By this point the alternator from fully charging went to fully discharging, meaning the car was only running on battery power. With the exhaust also cracking at the downpipe join and breaking off it was the final straw. We basically had a car that had a range of its battery life. With that in mind we limped the car into Genova with battery life alone and the world's loudest exhaust in a petrol forecourt.
While thoughts were going through of dumping the car, possibly locating a spare alternator from a scrappy with a language issue (Good Translate wasn't around in 2007!) we were reliant on what the locals would do. Much to our surprise we were in luck. A bloke in a chavved up Peugeot 306 who initially seemed like a risky lead was willing to help our cause. After going to a backstreet garage they concluded what we already knew. The "generator" was duff and the exhaust downpipe flange was too weak.
The above was translated by a local Italian girl, who then offered for us to stay with her and her sisters. No I am not joking about this! I cannot imagine anyone to this day allowing a bunch of twenty-something year olds to stay with them! We certainly go to see a bit of Genova with our personal tour guides
.After being treated to dinner and lunch by them and their family the car was ready with a replacement genuine alternator and a bodged/welded exhaust ; the exhaust was their worry in terms of sourcing the part.
Hence why I said, if Carlsberg did breakdowns
. :thumbsup:. I do have more photos but I'll have to dig them up...Lovely car and looks like a nice example. As much as they get criticised, i think i'd go for an SMG version if i was ever to purchase one. I think it would suit the car nicely, especially if being used as a daily.
It always bothers me when people say things like "I must be mad to go for an E46 as a daily". It's a BMW coupe with a big engine, it's perfectly usable day-to day and it's designed for exactly that. As long as you can afford the upkeep it's a good shout in my eyes. No offense to yourself btw
It always bothers me when people say things like "I must be mad to go for an E46 as a daily". It's a BMW coupe with a big engine, it's perfectly usable day-to day and it's designed for exactly that. As long as you can afford the upkeep it's a good shout in my eyes. No offense to yourself btw
culpz said:
Lovely car and looks like a nice example. As much as they get criticised, i think i'd go for an SMG version if i was ever to purchase one. I think it would suit the car nicely, especially if being used as a daily.
It always bothers me when people say things like "I must be mad to go for an E46 as a daily". It's a BMW coupe with a big engine, it's perfectly usable day-to day and it's designed for exactly that. As long as you can afford the upkeep it's a good shout in my eyes. No offense to yourself btw
Many thanks It always bothers me when people say things like "I must be mad to go for an E46 as a daily". It's a BMW coupe with a big engine, it's perfectly usable day-to day and it's designed for exactly that. As long as you can afford the upkeep it's a good shout in my eyes. No offense to yourself btw
.To be fair I quite like it now, especially with more idiots about in town etc. You do however have to relearn how to use a gearbox however. I for instance do block change with it now and again on a run it's great to just flick the paddle a couple of times to get into 4 and put your foot down
. Have you driven one however?I'm debating getting the CSL software onto my gearbox however. But I like that I can heel and toe with the current setup. What I would want to is if I could reverse the CSL setup back to stock.
I see what you mean about that but I guess people say that, including myself because most people I know go for a Focus 1.6 or a newish car as a daily. It's not like parts are cheap for these cars either and that includes consumables. Saying that, my spreadsheet at home claims it's costing me £15-20 a month more to run than the Clio by the time you account for depreciation/appreciation but with no fuel in the mix. So that cost also includes servicing, repairs, tax and insurance.
One thing to bear in mind is that I did all of the work myself bar the bodywork. If I outsourced that you can add another £1k onto my costs which does become a tipping point...
The surprising thing for me is the MPG on a run. Going to Guildford and back would have cost me around £30ish in the Clio 172, not a bad figure in my eyes.
If the last refuel of the car was correct it cost me £37-40 tops all in and I was going faster on the motorway!
SebringMan said:
Many thanks .
To be fair I quite like it now, especially with more idiots about in town etc. You do however have to relearn how to use a gearbox however. I for instance do block change with it now and again on a run it's great to just flick the paddle a couple of times to get into 4 and put your foot down. Have you driven one however?
I'm debating getting the CSL software onto my gearbox however. But I like that I can heel and toe with the current setup. What I would want to is if I could reverse the CSL setup back to stock.
I see what you mean about that but I guess people say that, including myself because most people I know go for a Focus 1.6 or a newish car as a daily. It's not like parts are cheap for these cars either and that includes consumables. Saying that, my spreadsheet at home claims it's costing me £15-20 a month more to run than the Clio by the time you account for depreciation/appreciation but with no fuel in the mix. So that cost also includes servicing, repairs, tax and insurance.
One thing to bear in mind is that I did all of the work myself bar the bodywork. If I outsourced that you can add another £1k onto my costs which does become a tipping point...
The surprising thing for me is the MPG on a run. Going to Guildford and back would have cost me around £30ish in the Clio 172, not a bad figure in my eyes.
If the last refuel of the car was correct it cost me £37-40 tops all in and I was going faster on the motorway!
Brilliant stuff. Hope you enjoy it!.To be fair I quite like it now, especially with more idiots about in town etc. You do however have to relearn how to use a gearbox however. I for instance do block change with it now and again on a run it's great to just flick the paddle a couple of times to get into 4 and put your foot down
. Have you driven one however?I'm debating getting the CSL software onto my gearbox however. But I like that I can heel and toe with the current setup. What I would want to is if I could reverse the CSL setup back to stock.
I see what you mean about that but I guess people say that, including myself because most people I know go for a Focus 1.6 or a newish car as a daily. It's not like parts are cheap for these cars either and that includes consumables. Saying that, my spreadsheet at home claims it's costing me £15-20 a month more to run than the Clio by the time you account for depreciation/appreciation but with no fuel in the mix. So that cost also includes servicing, repairs, tax and insurance.
One thing to bear in mind is that I did all of the work myself bar the bodywork. If I outsourced that you can add another £1k onto my costs which does become a tipping point...
The surprising thing for me is the MPG on a run. Going to Guildford and back would have cost me around £30ish in the Clio 172, not a bad figure in my eyes.
If the last refuel of the car was correct it cost me £37-40 tops all in and I was going faster on the motorway!
I haven't tbh so, ultimately, i'd have to hold out a proper opinion on it until i have. I can just imagine in my mind that i'd prefer the SMG but maybe it's because i'm getting a bit bored and tired of using a manual truth be told. Also, i've driven various BMW's and their gearshift isn't the best and can be fairly notchy.
Sometimes it's good to drive something slow and ordinary so that when you step into something like this it really makes you realise how special it is. I suppose it's easy to lose that spark when driving it daily.
Speaking of the Clio, how was it as a daily? I've always wanted a Clio 172/182 and it's definitely on the radar as my next car to finally scratch the itch. The other car i'd be considering is an E46 325i/330i coupe with potentially the auto gearbox. I know it's not an SMG but they appear to be slower, more thirsty and potentially more unreliable than the manual.
SebringMan said:
I'm debating getting the CSL software onto my gearbox however. But I like that I can heel and toe with the current setup.
Am I missing something here. You heel and toe in a car without a manual clutch?I suppose I can see it working, never occurred to me before though that you could!
culpz said:
I haven't tbh so, ultimately, i'd have to hold out a proper opinion on it until i have. I can just imagine in my mind that i'd prefer the SMG but maybe it's because i'm getting a bit bored and tired of using a manual truth be told. Also, i've driven various BMW's and their gearshift isn't the best and can be fairly notchy.
Sometimes it's good to drive something slow and ordinary so that when you step into something like this it really makes you realise how special it is. I suppose it's easy to lose that spark when driving it daily.
Speaking of the Clio, how was it as a daily? I've always wanted a Clio 172/182 and it's definitely on the radar as my next car to finally scratch the itch. The other car i'd be considering is an E46 325i/330i coupe with potentially the auto gearbox. I know it's not an SMG but they appear to be slower, more thirsty and potentially more unreliable than the manual.
It's part of the reason why I chose one. While I don't mind manuals the 323i made me almost hate them. A quick flick from 3rd to 4th without crunching very slightly? Not a chance. At the time I owned an Escort RS Turbo with a Helix 4 paddle and considering you had to rev match that car up the up/down changes to prevent the entire car shaking I still preferred that to the 323i! It's probably the first time I have ever wanted an auto over a manual in a car and that's saying something! Sometimes it's good to drive something slow and ordinary so that when you step into something like this it really makes you realise how special it is. I suppose it's easy to lose that spark when driving it daily.
Speaking of the Clio, how was it as a daily? I've always wanted a Clio 172/182 and it's definitely on the radar as my next car to finally scratch the itch. The other car i'd be considering is an E46 325i/330i coupe with potentially the auto gearbox. I know it's not an SMG but they appear to be slower, more thirsty and potentially more unreliable than the manual.
It's not like I've not owned many manual cars either. I think out of the 30/40 odd cars I have owned/driven alot this is the 5th "auto" I have owned to put things into perspective.
That said, I can see why people are not a fan of the setup at at times at the start I wondered what had I done? I at one point had the keys to this and the MX-5 as well as a Mondeo 2.5T I borrow now and again. I almost always pick up the keys for this now for a drive out
.MOTK said:
Am I missing something here. You heel and toe in a car without a manual clutch?
I suppose I can see it working, never occurred to me before though that you could!
Indeed! You have to love forums here and information;). Ultimately the SMG uses the same gearbox and clutch setup as a manual car. It's the clutch actuation and gearshift that are controlled through electrohydraulics.I suppose I can see it working, never occurred to me before though that you could!
Edited by SebringMan on Friday 30th December 15:33
Edited by SebringMan on Wednesday 4th January 13:27
MOTK said:
Indeed! I learn something new every day thank you
So just to work it outing my little mind you have to guesstimate when the clutch is going to re-engage? I suppose you just get used to it?
Pretty much it. Initially I used to mis gauge it but now it is near enough second nature. I tend to do it if I am going change down a little early or if I block change up.So just to work it outing my little mind you have to guesstimate when the clutch is going to re-engage? I suppose you just get used to it?
This post does not have much in the way of content but it is good stuff to divulge regardless.
Some of you will recall how I said that I had the driver's side airbag recall done back in November last year. I was also aware that I had the passenger side airbag replaced in 2015 thanks to the service history of the car. However, I only have stamps for the rest of the service history although it appears that up to 90k it had all of the work carried out by Altwood/Stratstone BMW in Maidenhead who are now Sytner Maidenhead. There were two recalls I was unaware of being carried out on the car but nonetheless they are recalls I am pleased to hear about for a few reasons. These include:
-Rod end bearing recall
-SMG Gearbox Module Enhancement.
As said previously it seems the first owner had the car a while and got everything done from brake fluid changes to the Inspection IIs from BMW right from the moment he bought it. It certainly seems he kept on top the car which is always good to hear from elsewhere.
Some of you will recall how I said that I had the driver's side airbag recall done back in November last year. I was also aware that I had the passenger side airbag replaced in 2015 thanks to the service history of the car. However, I only have stamps for the rest of the service history although it appears that up to 90k it had all of the work carried out by Altwood/Stratstone BMW in Maidenhead who are now Sytner Maidenhead. There were two recalls I was unaware of being carried out on the car but nonetheless they are recalls I am pleased to hear about for a few reasons. These include:
-Rod end bearing recall
-SMG Gearbox Module Enhancement.
As said previously it seems the first owner had the car a while and got everything done from brake fluid changes to the Inspection IIs from BMW right from the moment he bought it. It certainly seems he kept on top the car which is always good to hear from elsewhere.
flimper said:
A good read, keep the updates coming
Cheers! It's good to know that the ramblings of a car nut can be enjoyable .Speaking of which, now and again you end doing a job that you have been putting off for some time? I started such a job...:
Let's see if from the shoddy images and a odd moan about it on thread about what job I started. Some of you will know why I put the said job off!
More shall arrive soon
.Edited by SebringMan on Friday 22 September 22:43
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