Another 328i, this ones an E46
Discussion
Here's mine:
(apology for large pic)Here's mine:
I was after a 330i but this came along last year for the right price. It was an MOT failure on a rusty spring and brake pipes. I'm not 20 but have been working on these since I was in my 20s.
I have modified it to my taste using mostly BMW parts. The changes are:
Front sport seats (99p for one which I put new leather on the back bolster)
Carbon cube interior trim
Style 68 wheels (original wheels now have winter tyres on)
Facelift rear lights with correct LCM coded to car and BMW retrofit loom
Front suspension turret reinforcement plates
Z3 rear top mount plates
Clear front indicator lenses
Three point centre rear seat belt
LED interior lights
330i inlet manifold
330Ci Clubsport front anti-roll bar
330i Sport rear anti roll bar
BMW Individual sill trims
It's been reliable apart from the common E46 cooling system problems, I have changed the water pump, thermostat, expansion tank and rad.
If anyone's interested in the changes I can give more info.
(apology for large pic)Here's mine:
I was after a 330i but this came along last year for the right price. It was an MOT failure on a rusty spring and brake pipes. I'm not 20 but have been working on these since I was in my 20s.
I have modified it to my taste using mostly BMW parts. The changes are:
Front sport seats (99p for one which I put new leather on the back bolster)
Carbon cube interior trim
Style 68 wheels (original wheels now have winter tyres on)
Facelift rear lights with correct LCM coded to car and BMW retrofit loom
Front suspension turret reinforcement plates
Z3 rear top mount plates
Clear front indicator lenses
Three point centre rear seat belt
LED interior lights
330i inlet manifold
330Ci Clubsport front anti-roll bar
330i Sport rear anti roll bar
BMW Individual sill trims
It's been reliable apart from the common E46 cooling system problems, I have changed the water pump, thermostat, expansion tank and rad.
If anyone's interested in the changes I can give more info.
Thanks for the interest. The rear top mount plates are to support the top mounts and the front are to prevent "mushrooming " of the turrets and reinforce the body. They were part of the "rough road package" for the E46. When I fitted them the camber pins broke off the mounts, so if you fit them make sure you refit the struts in the original position, or budget for a 4 wheel alignment.
Or go for the "drift king" look-push your struts in for loads of negative camber then realise your toe is a random setting and look cool and wear your tyres out.
The centre 3 point belt was straight forward, as it was an option from new. There is a retrofit kit which includes all parts or you can buy the parts separately. I chose the later option. To fit it: remove rear seat and parcel shelf and old lap belt, cut slot in parcel shelf for belt (marked on rear), bolt in new belt.
The manifold has been great. Parts needed: M54 3.0l manifold and DISA valve, hose clip (approx 1"), selection of cable ties, inlet manifold gaskets, throttle body adaptor plate. I chose to change the crankcase breather valve and hoses as the manifold was off. There are two choices with these hoses, standard or cold weather package. The cold weather package has insulation on the hoses to reduce condensation in the breather system. I also stripped and rebuilt the 330 Disa valve with an upgrade kit from i6 Automotive. This kit prevents the DISA flap pin falling out.
Once I had fitted the manifold I cleared both the DME and throttle adaptions, started the car up-oh dear. It idled at 3000rpm! The DME didn't know what was going on and keep raising and lowering the engine speed, I tried several more apadtion resets but no joy. I went back the old school adaption reset. Disconnect battery again. Restart car, normal idle. Clear all adaptions again, set up throttle angle. Perfect.
New manifold results (all subjective, no rolling road runs): no loss in low down power/torque, increase in power from approx 3k onwards and a real feeling of an engine that feels free at the top end, it pulls all the way to the limiter on the very rare occasions I go there. Mpg has improved by approx 2 mpg.
Some more pics:
Or go for the "drift king" look-push your struts in for loads of negative camber then realise your toe is a random setting and look cool and wear your tyres out.
The centre 3 point belt was straight forward, as it was an option from new. There is a retrofit kit which includes all parts or you can buy the parts separately. I chose the later option. To fit it: remove rear seat and parcel shelf and old lap belt, cut slot in parcel shelf for belt (marked on rear), bolt in new belt.
The manifold has been great. Parts needed: M54 3.0l manifold and DISA valve, hose clip (approx 1"), selection of cable ties, inlet manifold gaskets, throttle body adaptor plate. I chose to change the crankcase breather valve and hoses as the manifold was off. There are two choices with these hoses, standard or cold weather package. The cold weather package has insulation on the hoses to reduce condensation in the breather system. I also stripped and rebuilt the 330 Disa valve with an upgrade kit from i6 Automotive. This kit prevents the DISA flap pin falling out.
Once I had fitted the manifold I cleared both the DME and throttle adaptions, started the car up-oh dear. It idled at 3000rpm! The DME didn't know what was going on and keep raising and lowering the engine speed, I tried several more apadtion resets but no joy. I went back the old school adaption reset. Disconnect battery again. Restart car, normal idle. Clear all adaptions again, set up throttle angle. Perfect.
New manifold results (all subjective, no rolling road runs): no loss in low down power/torque, increase in power from approx 3k onwards and a real feeling of an engine that feels free at the top end, it pulls all the way to the limiter on the very rare occasions I go there. Mpg has improved by approx 2 mpg.
Some more pics:
Here are the manifold costs:
Throttle adaptor: £30.98
DISA valve upgrade kit: £50.99
DISA valve: £58.00
Manifold gaskets: £26.21
Manifold: £34.99
Total: £201.17
You could reduce the cost by not upgrading the DISA valve and using the old gaskets but I'm a believer in doing a job thoroughly to make a car as reliable as possible. I also changed all the vacuum pipes in the engine bay for black silicon with the manifold off. If you're buying a manifold be careful as some sellers don't know what they are selling and may deliberately/accidentally try and sell you the wrong manifold. Hope this helps.
Throttle adaptor: £30.98
DISA valve upgrade kit: £50.99
DISA valve: £58.00
Manifold gaskets: £26.21
Manifold: £34.99
Total: £201.17
You could reduce the cost by not upgrading the DISA valve and using the old gaskets but I'm a believer in doing a job thoroughly to make a car as reliable as possible. I also changed all the vacuum pipes in the engine bay for black silicon with the manifold off. If you're buying a manifold be careful as some sellers don't know what they are selling and may deliberately/accidentally try and sell you the wrong manifold. Hope this helps.
Here you go:
Throttle adaptor: http://www.bimmertune.com/index.php?route=product/...
DISA valve upgrade kit: eBay no 151006154531
DISA valve: Quarry Motors
Throttle adaptor: http://www.bimmertune.com/index.php?route=product/...
DISA valve upgrade kit: eBay no 151006154531
DISA valve: Quarry Motors
Here's a review of the Bilstein B12 kit. It consists of Eibach Pro kit springs and B8 shortened dampers. Ever since I saw the yellow Bilsteins on the E36 328i Sport when I first carried out PDIs on them I knew that a day would come when I had yellow Bilsteins on my car.
I built up the dampers with all new parts, gen BMW front top mounts and M3 rear top mounts+some modified plates. On removing the old dampers I found the old rear dampers had failed and the front top mounts had quite a bit of play.
The new bits: ride has dropped by 24&27mm front, 6mm and 9mm rear. At first the rear damping was very harsh, any large undulations In the road would give a feeling like a punch in the kidneys. Not too pleasant. As the dampers have settled in the ride has improved. There is no squat or dive, before if you met a bumpy road surface when cornering the steering wheel would shake, this has gone. I didn't have much roll before, the new setup has reduced this.
How's the ride now? The front is super, it feels solid and not uncomfortable. The rear is okay, minor undulations are fine but if the road surface is rather bumpy, as if the Tarmac laying man has had a bad day it sends a bit of a jolt through you.
The front dampers have an integral bumpstop and a lot more technology within them than the rears, I think this lets them deal with bumps better than the rears. The firmer suspension shows up the age of the car of little, you can now hear a small creak from the drivers door seal as the car flexes over large bumps. This comparison is against 100k original suspension. Would I recommend it? Yes, but you could probably get most of the handling gains with Sport dampers and Eibach springs.
I built up the dampers with all new parts, gen BMW front top mounts and M3 rear top mounts+some modified plates. On removing the old dampers I found the old rear dampers had failed and the front top mounts had quite a bit of play.
The new bits: ride has dropped by 24&27mm front, 6mm and 9mm rear. At first the rear damping was very harsh, any large undulations In the road would give a feeling like a punch in the kidneys. Not too pleasant. As the dampers have settled in the ride has improved. There is no squat or dive, before if you met a bumpy road surface when cornering the steering wheel would shake, this has gone. I didn't have much roll before, the new setup has reduced this.
How's the ride now? The front is super, it feels solid and not uncomfortable. The rear is okay, minor undulations are fine but if the road surface is rather bumpy, as if the Tarmac laying man has had a bad day it sends a bit of a jolt through you.
The front dampers have an integral bumpstop and a lot more technology within them than the rears, I think this lets them deal with bumps better than the rears. The firmer suspension shows up the age of the car of little, you can now hear a small creak from the drivers door seal as the car flexes over large bumps. This comparison is against 100k original suspension. Would I recommend it? Yes, but you could probably get most of the handling gains with Sport dampers and Eibach springs.
The rear light upgrade is fairly complicated. To do it properly you need a retrofit loom, later LCM and rear lights and bulb holders. You need to remove the rear seats and o/s kick panel trims and footwell trims. The LCM needs coding to your car, PA soft is the easiest way to do this.
Alternatively you could just buy rear light clusters and bulb holders and connectors and change the existing wiring. Another option is aftermarket rear light clusters, these plug straight in.
Alternatively you could just buy rear light clusters and bulb holders and connectors and change the existing wiring. Another option is aftermarket rear light clusters, these plug straight in.
Little update. Changed the gearbox (ZF 5HP19/ A5S-325Z) oil, filter and sump gasket. I used a genuine sump plug gasket and the correct Mobil LT71141 oil. When the oil is changed the level needs checking at 30-50 degs C. The gear change is improved with the new oil, it changes quicker when cold.
I decided against fitting the Z4M control arm bushes as I like the steering as it is, I put a pair of Lemforder ones on. The Z4 ones may be for sale on EBay.
I decided against fitting the Z4M control arm bushes as I like the steering as it is, I put a pair of Lemforder ones on. The Z4 ones may be for sale on EBay.
Edited by helix402 on Monday 31st August 16:49
Today I removed the auxiliary air pump and valve, it was leaking at first then the motor became noisy. The purpose of the valve: to inject extra air into the exhaust manifold on cold starts to increase the speed with which the cats warm up, therefore reducing cold start emissions.
BMW fitted the system to the M52tu, on the M54 they decided it was superfluous.
Here's how to remove it: unbolt and unplug the whole lot (10mm nuts). Fit the M54 blanking plug (11 12 1 438 086) to the valve take off point. Replace the perished vacuum hose with silicon and plug the end with a screw.
This will not illuminate the DME warning light-unless you live in America where there are very tight emissions laws.
I am aware that I could have removed the whole vacuum line and plugged it at the rear of the engine, but didn't fancy removing the coil cover. Maybe another day.
BMW fitted the system to the M52tu, on the M54 they decided it was superfluous.
Here's how to remove it: unbolt and unplug the whole lot (10mm nuts). Fit the M54 blanking plug (11 12 1 438 086) to the valve take off point. Replace the perished vacuum hose with silicon and plug the end with a screw.
This will not illuminate the DME warning light-unless you live in America where there are very tight emissions laws.
I am aware that I could have removed the whole vacuum line and plugged it at the rear of the engine, but didn't fancy removing the coil cover. Maybe another day.
Edited by helix402 on Saturday 29th August 13:42
Edited by helix402 on Saturday 29th August 17:59
Here's the info on the viscous to electric fan swop:
The manual petrol E46 comes with an electric fan, part no: 17117561757. The auto comes with a viscous fan and en electric fan.
I saw a few people on "the net" had removed the viscous fan from their autos and fitted an electric one. It's a straight swap, the electric fan plugs onto the aux. fan plug. Remove both old fans and fit one electric fan. The benefits of the electric fan are, less load on the engine and quicker to remove.
I bought a used electric fan for £30 and fitted it. I like testing things when making changes so here are the results:
All readings at idle in degrees C (max temps measured): first temp viscous+aux, second electric.
Gearbox oil temp: 109 (114)
Engine coolant temp: 104 (106)
Radiator outlet: 100 (92)
Engine oil temp: 127 (140)
So it seems the sole electric on a fan is ok for the coolant and gearbox (just) temps, but not the engine oil. I put the viscous back on.
The manual petrol E46 comes with an electric fan, part no: 17117561757. The auto comes with a viscous fan and en electric fan.
I saw a few people on "the net" had removed the viscous fan from their autos and fitted an electric one. It's a straight swap, the electric fan plugs onto the aux. fan plug. Remove both old fans and fit one electric fan. The benefits of the electric fan are, less load on the engine and quicker to remove.
I bought a used electric fan for £30 and fitted it. I like testing things when making changes so here are the results:
All readings at idle in degrees C (max temps measured): first temp viscous+aux, second electric.
Gearbox oil temp: 109 (114)
Engine coolant temp: 104 (106)
Radiator outlet: 100 (92)
Engine oil temp: 127 (140)
So it seems the sole electric on a fan is ok for the coolant and gearbox (just) temps, but not the engine oil. I put the viscous back on.
Today I popped the car up on my lift to give it the once over before the Christmas driving begins. What did I find? Cam cover gasket leaking, ordered. O/s/f arb upper link bush split, link changed-Lemforder.
And.....floor cracked! 🙁. One crack visible by the n/s/r subframe bush, one by the o/s near the brake pipes. I pick up a TMS plate kit tommorow from an eBay purchase.
And.....floor cracked! 🙁. One crack visible by the n/s/r subframe bush, one by the o/s near the brake pipes. I pick up a TMS plate kit tommorow from an eBay purchase.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff