'Oddjob' aka 2002 330i Touring
Discussion
Finally an update on the ball joints.
I was able to manage to install the new upper and lower ball joints in the driver's side hub.. though found some issues.
Upper one in and seated.
Managed to extract the bottom bushing without too much trouble though my friend's ball joint extraction tool was dying from the repeated usage.
Unfortunately.. this greeted me
Yes that hole was oval. but given i needed the car for work, I pressed the new ball joint in regardless.. which seemed to sort it some.
I went to get the car aligned on Tuesday, and then discovered a few issues. I knew the exhaust was hanging low, but it was confirmed by the mid mounts having collapsed completely.
This explains a lot of noise in the car, still we went on to try and get the car aligned.. but hit more issues.
One front tie rod was seized solid and no matter how much heat we put in.. it wouldn't free up, so we couldn't do much with it
Things got worse as shown in the earlier picture with the bent bushing hole on the hub?.. things did get worse as it was discovered that with the toe setting on the RTA pushed to maximum toe in.. it was showing 0.04 toe out still.. which confirms my fears, and the garage whom did the wheel bearings not only broke one hub.. but managed to bend the other side...
There's going to be a few phonecalls this week to see what can be done to resolve it.
ON the upside.. not much of one though. the exhaust mounts and front wheel bearings got replaced which has quietened the ride down significantly, turned out the front wheel bearings had ingested some grit due to dust plugs / covers being well past their sell by date, and I managed to get brand new full set of tie rods and the wheel bearings from https://www.cartech-one.co.uk/en
Turns out they're less than half the price for the exact same parts compared to ECP
For example.. ECP for Wheel bearings = £254.. Car tech one = £130 delivered. You can guess where I'll be going for parts now.
And a final note. I will be collecting my new LSD tomorrow, which I'll get some pictures of
I was able to manage to install the new upper and lower ball joints in the driver's side hub.. though found some issues.
Upper one in and seated.
Managed to extract the bottom bushing without too much trouble though my friend's ball joint extraction tool was dying from the repeated usage.
Unfortunately.. this greeted me
Yes that hole was oval. but given i needed the car for work, I pressed the new ball joint in regardless.. which seemed to sort it some.
I went to get the car aligned on Tuesday, and then discovered a few issues. I knew the exhaust was hanging low, but it was confirmed by the mid mounts having collapsed completely.
This explains a lot of noise in the car, still we went on to try and get the car aligned.. but hit more issues.
One front tie rod was seized solid and no matter how much heat we put in.. it wouldn't free up, so we couldn't do much with it
Things got worse as shown in the earlier picture with the bent bushing hole on the hub?.. things did get worse as it was discovered that with the toe setting on the RTA pushed to maximum toe in.. it was showing 0.04 toe out still.. which confirms my fears, and the garage whom did the wheel bearings not only broke one hub.. but managed to bend the other side...
There's going to be a few phonecalls this week to see what can be done to resolve it.
ON the upside.. not much of one though. the exhaust mounts and front wheel bearings got replaced which has quietened the ride down significantly, turned out the front wheel bearings had ingested some grit due to dust plugs / covers being well past their sell by date, and I managed to get brand new full set of tie rods and the wheel bearings from https://www.cartech-one.co.uk/en
Turns out they're less than half the price for the exact same parts compared to ECP
For example.. ECP for Wheel bearings = £254.. Car tech one = £130 delivered. You can guess where I'll be going for parts now.
And a final note. I will be collecting my new LSD tomorrow, which I'll get some pictures of
Yet another update.. been spending the last few weekends on the car, and getting rather tired. I'll be considering taking most of next weekend off to recover!
Anycase.. Saturday dawned and after some initial rain, it dried out.
Thus tools and diff gathered.
Exhaust out
Roll bar removed
After some work, managed to single handed get the diff out. This is not easy, and i'd recommend 2 people to do this job as getting the LSD in was tricky at best
At this point, a friend finally turned up and we cracked on, to which i forgot to get progress pictures. But did get one of it installed.
Today was spent resolving the shot tie rods, pretty easy job all told and finished in 90 mins.
And last but not least... a replacement trailing arm.
So far i've got the ABS sensor off and the handbrake / disc that came with it, I still need to remove the handbrake sleeve (seized on), the ball joints and bushes for the RTA / Camber and top link and the wheel bearing itself.
That last item is a pain. given i'm stuck to get the flange out of the bearing, but the bearing is now loose in the housing.. Any suggestions on how to get the flange out would be useful as this needs to be gutted ready for new parts once i've got them for the garage to carry out the work.
Anycase.. Saturday dawned and after some initial rain, it dried out.
Thus tools and diff gathered.
Exhaust out
Roll bar removed
After some work, managed to single handed get the diff out. This is not easy, and i'd recommend 2 people to do this job as getting the LSD in was tricky at best
At this point, a friend finally turned up and we cracked on, to which i forgot to get progress pictures. But did get one of it installed.
Today was spent resolving the shot tie rods, pretty easy job all told and finished in 90 mins.
And last but not least... a replacement trailing arm.
So far i've got the ABS sensor off and the handbrake / disc that came with it, I still need to remove the handbrake sleeve (seized on), the ball joints and bushes for the RTA / Camber and top link and the wheel bearing itself.
That last item is a pain. given i'm stuck to get the flange out of the bearing, but the bearing is now loose in the housing.. Any suggestions on how to get the flange out would be useful as this needs to be gutted ready for new parts once i've got them for the garage to carry out the work.
Well with some creative use of brake pads, some wheel bolts and the link bars from my bearing pulling kit... it came free
Though was going to have a advanced driving lesson tonight... but clunking noises caused me to stop.. some time later and after having to cancel.. problem found to be loose wheel bolts. I'd forgotten to torque them up when doing the tie rods.
Though was going to have a advanced driving lesson tonight... but clunking noises caused me to stop.. some time later and after having to cancel.. problem found to be loose wheel bolts. I'd forgotten to torque them up when doing the tie rods.
Great job on getting the flange out.
Wheel bolts 120Nm! I used to leave the locking wheel bolt cap on the floor next to the wheel as a visual prompt to torque the bolts. Having changed to the later bolts with no caps I now leave the locking bolt adaptor in the wheel bolt till it’s torqued up.
Wheel bolts 120Nm! I used to leave the locking wheel bolt cap on the floor next to the wheel as a visual prompt to torque the bolts. Having changed to the later bolts with no caps I now leave the locking bolt adaptor in the wheel bolt till it’s torqued up.
Just a short update, no pictures at the moment.
Plans before Nurburging in Sept is to get the rear brakes rebuilt with fresh pads, do a service and it's off to Chipwizards in Rochdale to have a mapping session. Should hopefully get the best out the new cams and see how it works out.
More to come.
Plans before Nurburging in Sept is to get the rear brakes rebuilt with fresh pads, do a service and it's off to Chipwizards in Rochdale to have a mapping session. Should hopefully get the best out the new cams and see how it works out.
More to come.
d_a_n1979 said:
Brilliant project
I was looking out for an immaculate one of these before I bought my 730D; rare as hens teeth as everyone I looked at, even though described as 'mint/immaculate' were still riddled with rust...
I won't say mine is immaculate, there is a few bubbles of rust on the rear arches and the rear driver's door, the bonnet needs sorting out as does the front bumper, however, I am planning to get the car into the bodyshop at some point in the next few months and have these all addressed and repaired. I was looking out for an immaculate one of these before I bought my 730D; rare as hens teeth as everyone I looked at, even though described as 'mint/immaculate' were still riddled with rust...
As for the rarity.. I checked on how many left and there's less than 200 left on the road
Well.. last weekend i returned to that place many pistonheads call the Green Hell aka the Nordschliefe.
All the work paid off, the car was faultless and a hell of lot of fun to drive towards the limit now. And finally can say.. it's a sub 10 car
Managed a 10.07, a 10.01 and on the Thursday evening.. it all came together and 9.42.
The DSC was having fits with the speed and didn't like me at all. but hey.. it's all fun.
https://youtu.be/XDoE7n8vV7w
All the work paid off, the car was faultless and a hell of lot of fun to drive towards the limit now. And finally can say.. it's a sub 10 car
Managed a 10.07, a 10.01 and on the Thursday evening.. it all came together and 9.42.
The DSC was having fits with the speed and didn't like me at all. but hey.. it's all fun.
https://youtu.be/XDoE7n8vV7w
Edited by Sf_Manta on Wednesday 26th September 21:42
JakeT said:
Looks grand.
Don't want to teach you how to suck eggs, but instead of using those stick on beam adaptors on the lights, xenon ones for the E46 have a little lever that can be moved for driving in Europe.
I didn't honestly know that. Useful for next time, depending when i go again. Might be next year, or not as having to work on getting a house ..Don't want to teach you how to suck eggs, but instead of using those stick on beam adaptors on the lights, xenon ones for the E46 have a little lever that can be moved for driving in Europe.
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