Bmw E46 Touring for £350?!

[Slow]

So I have started on the seat swap.

Not simple at all. Going to run a live from battery with a inline fuse to power them which is simple enough.

helix402 said:

You need a saloon/touring seat rail to make the seats fit, the seat belt bolts to the seat in the 4/5 door.

However the problem being the seat rails dont line up. Ignoring the seatbelt mount as I could always make one/use the convertible ones.

Only started on the passanger seat but here is the progress thus far.

Back right bolt is fine, as is the front right (in the hole in the rail)





Back left is miles off, as is the front left bolt. (should be the larger hole in the rail not the tab sticking out)





Now I cant make the left 2 line up even if I try them first, can only get 1 to fit at a time so will stick to the 2 on the right.

Width between rails on the vert seats (call it 420mm roughly)



And on the touring seats, 460mm roughly.



As you can see here the right hand rails are the same, the left however is completely different and has no easy way to swap them over.






Think the plan will be to drill new holes in the floorpan at the rear as its miles off, can probably make a bracket for the front left one however. Not quite sure 100% but might just drill a new hole at the front.

[E91M3]

Not sure if this link is of any use? I would have thought that coupe and convertible seat bases were similar?

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=9129...

[G111MDS]

Really do like the shale of the e46 touring. We had a 320d version for a year or two. Base model, but nice all the same.

[anonymous-user]

I had a similar problem with another car manufacturer. in the end I removed the seat covers and refitted to the seat. have a search might be possible.

[helix402]

As the guide someone linked to suggests, you need to swop the swop the saloon seat rail onto the Coupe seat. I'm doing it myself soon, with this into my touring:

[Slow]

There is no way to swap the rails, the whole seat is built differently being the convertible, look at the bases and then look at the base of a saloon with electric seats. If I had a power seat rail for a saloon it might be possible but I want the electric and not a manual seat.

[AB]

I quite like the fact you're accumulating horrendous cars for the price of a big night out. I wish I'd done it at your age instead of giving money to bars and clubs...

[helix402]

This may help:

[MJ85]

I've just seen this car's twin for sale.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-BMW-330I-SE-TOURING...

[Slow]

An update!

It failed it's mot yesterday during lunch. Handbrake doesn't work on one side and for some reason the indicator lights up with the side light.

Handbrake worked both sides a few days before so a ham fisted mot tester snapped the cable. New one fitted by 9:30pm last night. Sidelight problem was related to a led so a normal bulb sorted it.

Retest 7:30am today - passed. Filled it to the brim, drove the 10 miles to my house (30 miles now in my ownership) and loaded up.

I'm now in a hotel in bury st Edmonds, having left Inverness this morning. A average of 58mph, 31mpg including a half hour stop when the a66 (I think) was closed for a bit to let some wide loads through.

Coilovers are stiff but not too bad really, expected 20x worse from what people have said about the Chinese brands.

Braking from above 50 mph gives a really bad wobble, disappears the moment you get down to 50 though. Had an alignment done yesterday after the mot fail (next door). Had new wishbones, new trackrod ends, discs/pads brake correctly as tested in the mot so don't pull to a side. Not quite sure what it could be but that's a problem for next week when I get home.

The worst bit is that I have cracked/snapped/burst my exhaust near the front. Think it happened when I hit a crater of a pothole but I had the music up so couldn't say when it happened.

[Jimmy Recard]

Does this still work?

[Slow]

Jimmy Recard said:

Does this still work?

Yup. It's doing daily driver duties at the moment and has done close to 3k since it's Mot.

Might be selling it though and using the S class I bought. Not really sure as it's a good car other than the rust.

[GrantB5]

Have you sorted the wings then?!

Or do you have a friendly mot man. Hope you gave that interior a clean too.

[Slow]

GrantB5 said:

Have you sorted the wings then?!

Or do you have a friendly mot man. Hope you gave that interior a clean too.

Wings got swapped for cheap pattern parts then rattle canned in the shed. Didn't come out well due to the fact someone opened the garage door and blew crap all over them. Only like 7 bolts hold them on so easy to swap around.

Interior did get a clean but I'm a messy bd. Live on a old farm so there's always mud on my feet so my carpets don't last. Need big rubber mats like the boot liners you get haha.

[Jimmy Recard]

Slow said:

Yup. It's doing daily driver duties at the moment and has done close to 3k since it's Mot.

Might be selling it though and using the S class I bought. Not really sure as it's a good car other than the rust.

I'm guessing it doesn't stop at surface rust?

Recently I'm only interested in properly cheap cars so I like to follow threads like this

[Slow]

So its now on 177k miles and all I have done is change a brake caliper and front pads. Takes a top up of oil every 1k miles but it gets driven hard so expected.

I love these cheap E46s however I should be in the position in a few months to get a faster less rusty (I hope!) estate ... Yes im actively looking for a estate at 22.