BMW Compact Track Car - 172k & no history

[grahamgraham]

I picked up a E46 325ti Compact last week, idea being to get into track days & potentially some low key motorsport stuff with it, details are thus:

- 325ti - 2.5L M54 engine
- 172k, no service history
- new brake lines & braided hoses
- 'pistachio green' with yellow half leather interior (lol)
- looks & drives like its been clocked the wrong way
- previous owner is a PH member, he bought it for an annual challenge he does with his mates, check out 1ktour on insta





The seller was a great guy, I had pace notes on the test drive & he highlighted the best place to overtake slow moving traffic. The 70 mile trip home from buying it passed without any issue, even the cruise control worked, and that classic BMW straight 6 soundtrack, mmmm.

What i got home i booked my first track days for next week - Snetterton on Wed evening & Donnington on Sunday.

Immediate jobs to be done;

- oil service
- brake pads & fluid
- 1x rear shock absorber (shock came in the book - the other ones already been done)
- coolant change
- fix temp gauge
- weight reduction
- check front bumper stability

Anything i'm missing from that list?

[grahamgraham]

I took the car out for a sunday morning blast around the Chilterns and WHAT A HOOT!

Awesome little thing, engine runs beautifully, gearbox is sweet and it handles surprisingly well, really doesn't feel like its 19 years old and 172k, i think it's had a pretty pampered life. Same wheelbase as the rest of the E46 family but less weight over the rear wheels makes for quite a tail happy little car...

Me and Antionio Margaretti (as it's now know), stopped to admire the rising sun together

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Looks great, what did you pay, any underbody rust?

[grahamgraham]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Thanks for the tip, much appreciated. Will see how quickly I can get one and get it fitted

[grahamgraham]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

Looks great, what did you pay, any underbody rust?

Thanks Bear. Paid a grand and a bit, underbody is pretty good, there’s a few bolts I’d dreading having to remove but overall it looks surprisingly good. Compacts are a bit less susceptible to rust as they were apparently made at a different factory.

[grahamgraham]

4 sleeps to go…!

Oil & filter change complete. Standard drama with me not having the right socket for the filter housing (it’s a 36mm), but easily resolved with a trip to the boys in black & orange

.

I also did a cluster test and found the temp gauge needle isn’t covering the whole range, basically 20o out so always shows the engine as a bit colder than it is.



Cluster removed & needle which will hopefully sort this, will have to wait until tomorrow to see…

[MrC986]

OP, your car looks almost too good to track! I bought (with a PH friend) an 03 325ti M Sport about 2.5 yrs ago for £875 with 148k miles and we’ve created a relatively cheap track car....changed the suspension for coilovers & and had a suitable geometry setup, carried out a minor upgrade on the brakes (pads/fluids), stripped the seats out and put a pair bucket seats in (bolted straight to the floor with the side mounts) and put some more suitable tyres & removed the spare wheel carrier - we’ve not stripped the front part of the cabin as it gets driven to/from the track days. One last thing, if you haven’t got matching front/rear width wheels, I suggest you get some as it makes tyre choice better/more cost effective

If you fancy some sensible track days, join the BMW Car Club (they do about 4 days a year) and the etiquette is so different to your average track day & there’s quite a few Compacts normally attending of all engine sizes.

Here’s a gratuitous pic from one of the Anglesey days I’ve done...

[grahamgraham]

MrC986 said:

OP, your car looks almost too good to track! I bought (with a PH friend) an 03 325ti M Sport about 2.5 yrs ago for £875 with 148k miles and we’ve created a relatively cheap track car....changed the suspension for coilovers & and had a suitable geometry setup, carried out a minor upgrade on the brakes (pads/fluids), stripped the seats out and put a pair bucket seats in (bolted straight to the floor with the side mounts) and put some more suitable tyres & removed the spare wheel carrier - we’ve not stripped the front part of the cabin as it gets driven to/from the track days. One last thing, if you haven’t got matching front/rear width wheels, I suggest you get some as it makes tyre choice better/more cost effective

If you fancy some sensible track days, join the BMW Car Club (they do about 4 days a year) and the etiquette is so different to your average track day & there’s quite a few Compacts normally attending of all engine sizes.

Here’s a gratuitous pic from one of the Anglesey days I’ve done...

MrC - thanks for the message - yours look awesome, nice one. More pics plz!

I’m looking to go down the same route (coilovers, seats, brakes, strip the rear), provided we make it through this weeks track days, so will probably have 1 billion questions for you, hehe…

Cheers for the wheel tip, mine are same front & rear so all good there.

Its definitely the flattering light making it look too good to track lol, heres a fairer pic…



What coilovers & pads are you running?

[grahamgraham]

3 sleeps to go!!

Last nights temp gauge fix worked, woop.



Coolant change was on the cards for tonight - an arse of a job TBH!
a few nervous moments when the system seemed full but I knew it couldn’t be (due to the amount taken out vs replaced) but got to a point where I was relatively happy for a first pass, will continue to bleed and top up over the next few days - wasn’t able to get a water pump in time, so that’s on the to do list.

Only 1 pic from the exploits of the evening, hold onto your socket set tho, it’s a wild pic

[Mr Tidy]

They are great cars.

If you have some spare time there is a dedicated thread for them here:- https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[MrC986]

OP, can you change your PH settings so that you can receive emails

[Jonny-Jimbo]

My partner had an E46 Compact as her first car, and after a few others including an E46 325i Touring and then an Impreza Turbo she has an E36 318Ti... however, she pinches my daily most of the time, so I get to drive the Compact. It's such a fun little car, can only imagine with the extra shove the 6 pot affords it must be an absolute riot!

[grahamgraham]

Mr Tidy said:

They are great cars.

If you have some spare time there is a dedicated thread for them here:- https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Cheers. Yea, I’ve found that thread, see the last-but-4 post must admit I still need to read through the full thing tho…

[grahamgraham]

MrC986 said:

OP, can you change your PH settings so that you can receive emails

Done

[grahamgraham]

1 sleep to track time!

On the list for yesterday was pad replacement, I’ve opted for EBC yellow stuff all round, seemed like a good price, performance and driveability compromise. Plan was whip off all 4 callipers, pop in the pads and then onto brake fluid, the BMW gods decided differently tho!

Got the first calliper off, went to push the piston back in and it only moved a couple of mm. Harumph.



Used the pedal to move it out and tried to push it back again but nothing. Decided to go get a proper piston pusher and move onto the other side. No issues, piston back in, new pads on, calliper reattached. Dancing all round!



Back to drivers side, still no joy. By this time nowhere was left open so I had to call it a night. New calliper ordered and with very tight timelines to get it fitted.

I picked up the calliper this morning and managed to fit it over lunch, went on fine and didn’t lose too much fluid and it’s sooo shiney!



This evening i bled the brakes. I was recommend motul RBF 600 so went for this, flushed out the old and in with the new. I used a Gunson 1-person bleed kit, it uses a tyre for air pressure to save you having to push the brake pedal. Seemed to work pretty well TBH, biggest pain was jacking the car up corner by corner. Didn’t have time to test so hopefully no spongy pedal tomorrow.

I also noticed a drop link needs replacing so picked one up earlier & I’ll fit that in the morning, good job I’ve booked an evening track session

[grahamgraham]

Jonny-Jimbo said:

My partner had an E46 Compact as her first car, and after a few others including an E46 325i Touring and then an Impreza Turbo she has an E36 318Ti... however, she pinches my daily most of the time, so I get to drive the Compact. It's such a fun little car, can only imagine with the extra shove the 6 pot affords it must be an absolute riot!

Nice one - sounds like you’ve got the best deal there depending on what your daily is!? Good engine in a small car with good handling never fails to entertain. I think the e36 shape is looking so classy now too. Still no idea what they were thinking with the front lights on the e46 compact

[Krikkit]

I love my Gunson eezibleed, one of the best tool purchases I've made in years.

I'm hot and cold on the Compact lights vs standard - the normal ones aren't exactly the best design either, either pre or post-facelift.

[Jonny-Jimbo]

grahamgraham said:

Nice one - sounds like you’ve got the best deal there depending on what your daily is!? Good engine in a small car with good handling never fails to entertain. I think the e36 shape is looking so classy now too.

My daily tends to change depending on what's working! My E34 540i was getting a little worse for wear, so I bought a really boring, but tidy Pug 207 1.6HDi as a run about. My partners commute is longer than mine and mostly motorway miles, so she takes the Pug, which means I can use the Compact for buzzing through the lanes. I have rebuilt all of the suspension and brakes on it with new OEM parts, so it handles really nicely too, feels really nice clipping apex's etc

I also didn't rate the E36 for a long time. To me they somehow always looked scruffy, but the shape has really come into it's own, particularly with the M-Sport kits. I love the design, smooth and crisp in the right places!

This is our little beasty...




They have a convenient apple shelf too!

[SturdyHSV]

The partner is learning to drive in an E36 316i compact, and you can bet we'll be tracking that once she passes.

Standard suspension it already scraps the front mud flaps on cornering so at a track day it should be hilarious

Look forward to hearing how you get on

[grahamgraham]

Jonny-Jimbo said:

grahamgraham said:

Nice one - sounds like you’ve got the best deal there depending on what your daily is!? Good engine in a small car with good handling never fails to entertain. I think the e36 shape is looking so classy now too.

My daily tends to change depending on what's working! My E34 540i was getting a little worse for wear, so I bought a really boring, but tidy Pug 207 1.6HDi as a run about. My partners commute is longer than mine and mostly motorway miles, so she takes the Pug, which means I can use the Compact for buzzing through the lanes. I have rebuilt all of the suspension and brakes on it with new OEM parts, so it handles really nicely too, feels really nice clipping apex's etc

I also didn't rate the E36 for a long time. To me they somehow always looked scruffy, but the shape has really come into it's own, particularly with the M-Sport kits. I love the design, smooth and crisp in the right places!

This is our little beasty...




They have a convenient apple shelf too!

That looks awesome, very nice esp with those wheels and do I spy a spoiler??

Hilarious apple shelf - 90’s BMW designers looking after everyone’s health ey