The E46 325ti Appreciation Thread

[JakeT]

Correct. In Fifth. My 328ci with a 2.93 diff is turning around 2700 RPM at the same speed.

Saying that overtaking at motorway speeds is really easy with the shorter gearing. Not to mention the better acceleration all round.

[330ti]

Sardonicus said:

Only reason I asked I recently did a ZF auto to manual 5 sp conversion but retained the lower auto diff ratio but seeing that snap shot I have not done to badly I was going to fit a taller diff ratio thanks obviously with the ZF 5 speed auto and lock up converter I was seeing lower RPM's at these speeds but trust me I have no regrets with this conversion the car I wish I purchased initially the bonus is a nice slick box (short/quick shifter kit) and a lovely light clutch

I think autos and manuals both have 3.23 gearing

[Sardonicus]

330ti said:

Sardonicus said:

Only reason I asked I recently did a ZF auto to manual 5 sp conversion but retained the lower auto diff ratio but seeing that snap shot I have not done to badly I was going to fit a taller diff ratio thanks obviously with the ZF 5 speed auto and lock up converter I was seeing lower RPM's at these speeds but trust me I have no regrets with this conversion the car I wish I purchased initially the bonus is a nice slick box (short/quick shifter kit) and a lovely light clutch

I think autos and manuals both have 3.23 gearing

Thanks, I should of said I have found this thread interesting but I run a Touring 2.5 this has a 3.46 final drive was thinking of going to a 3.15 or 3.23 but TBH probably leave as is, far more responsive with the manual box over the ZF slush box if I'm honest a nice cheap upgrade because I really like the car and didnt want to get rid for another that was a manual, Sorry for the thread hi-jack as you were

Edited by Sardonicus on Thursday 1st March 12:04

[mwggriffiths]

Deptford Draylons said:

Also did the CCV and that made bugger all difference to the oil consumption.

Very jealous of the black non sunroof shell! Mine was too cheap to turn down, but that does mean I've ended up with a silver sunroof car Beggars can't be choosers I guess!

Check out the 02Pilot mod for the CCV. It can be done with the CCV in place. It dropped my oil consumption from 400miles/litre to around 1200miles/litre - not bad for 0.5m of 4mm vac hose!

Do yourself a favour and skip the first 6mins of this overly detailed video to get an idea of the job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo2rLSzNzt0

[Deptford Draylons]

mwggriffiths said:

Deptford Draylons said:

Also did the CCV and that made bugger all difference to the oil consumption.

Very jealous of the black non sunroof shell! Mine was too cheap to turn down, but that does mean I've ended up with a silver sunroof car Beggars can't be choosers I guess!

Check out the 02Pilot mod for the CCV. It can be done with the CCV in place. It dropped my oil consumption from 400miles/litre to around 1200miles/litre - not bad for 0.5m of 4mm vac hose!

Do yourself a favour and skip the first 6mins of this overly detailed video to get an idea of the job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo2rLSzNzt0

The pics flatter the car. The o/s front wing is the rusty one with a small hole in it. It also has a couple of scratches on various panels , and the front end is stone chipped from 140k miles on it. It was I think the cheapest sport model 6 speed around when I bought it and looked a bit tatty, but the owner had a fair bit of work done servicing wise and some repairs like a new clutch just fitted.

I will check out the mod you mention as the CCV was fine when removed and installing a new one wasn't needed and made no difference, so thanks for mentioning that.

[Cheapstraitsix]

mwggriffiths said:

Very jealous of the black non sunroof shell! Mine was too cheap to turn down, but that does mean I've ended up with a silver sunroof car Beggars can't be choosers I guess

Was thinkIng of taking mine out on my track compact the other day...
unfortunately the roof is unique to the compact other wise a carbon roof from Geoff steel would of been tempting.

Edited by Cheapstraitsix on Thursday 1st March 16:48

[Max M4X WW]

mwggriffiths said:

Check out the 02Pilot mod for the CCV. It can be done with the CCV in place. It dropped my oil consumption from 400miles/litre to around 1200miles/litre - not bad for 0.5m of 4mm vac hose!

Do yourself a favour and skip the first 6mins of this overly detailed video to get an idea of the job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo2rLSzNzt0

This is interesting, 10 minute job (maybe) and lowers oil consumption?! Why have I not heard of this before?

[Sardonicus]

Max M4X WW said:

mwggriffiths said:

Check out the 02Pilot mod for the CCV. It can be done with the CCV in place. It dropped my oil consumption from 400miles/litre to around 1200miles/litre - not bad for 0.5m of 4mm vac hose!

Do yourself a favour and skip the first 6mins of this overly detailed video to get an idea of the job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo2rLSzNzt0

This is interesting, 10 minute job (maybe) and lowers oil consumption?! Why have I not heard of this before?

Yes but ultimately the same guy rebuild that motor with new piston rings from the M52 engine into the M54 engine (better oil control) so it could not have been that successful

[Max M4X WW]

Sardonicus said:

Max M4X WW said:

mwggriffiths said:

Check out the 02Pilot mod for the CCV. It can be done with the CCV in place. It dropped my oil consumption from 400miles/litre to around 1200miles/litre - not bad for 0.5m of 4mm vac hose!

Do yourself a favour and skip the first 6mins of this overly detailed video to get an idea of the job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo2rLSzNzt0

This is interesting, 10 minute job (maybe) and lowers oil consumption?! Why have I not heard of this before?

Yes but ultimately the same guy rebuild that motor with new piston rings from the M52 engine into the M54 engine (better oil control) so it could not have been that successful

I don't have the time to watch what happened next to his car Ultimately the use mine gets (mostly on track) will make it burn oil anyway and the mileage is minimal so will probably just leave it.

[Cheapstraitsix]

Didn’t realise they were that expensive when new.
£7.5k more than a civic type R!

[Sardonicus]

Max M4X WW said:

Sardonicus said:

Max M4X WW said:

mwggriffiths said:

Check out the 02Pilot mod for the CCV. It can be done with the CCV in place. It dropped my oil consumption from 400miles/litre to around 1200miles/litre - not bad for 0.5m of 4mm vac hose!

Do yourself a favour and skip the first 6mins of this overly detailed video to get an idea of the job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo2rLSzNzt0

This is interesting, 10 minute job (maybe) and lowers oil consumption?! Why have I not heard of this before?

Yes but ultimately the same guy rebuild that motor with new piston rings from the M52 engine into the M54 engine (better oil control) so it could not have been that successful

I don't have the time to watch what happened next to his car Ultimately the use mine gets (mostly on track) will make it burn oil anyway and the mileage is minimal so will probably just leave it.

Neither do I but it came up as a link on another forum when I was interested in this oil consumption thing because fortunately my M54 uses so little curiosity and all that

[330ti]

Sardonicus said:

Thanks, I should of said I have found this thread interesting but I run a Touring 2.5 this has a 3.46 final drive was thinking of going to a 3.15 or 3.23 but TBH probably leave as is, far more responsive with the manual box over the ZF slush box if I'm honest a nice cheap upgrade because I really like the car and didnt want to get rid for another that was a manual, Sorry for the thread hi-jack as you were

Edited by Sardonicus on Thursday 1st March 12:04

I've been looking for a 3.46 medium case diff and thought they were basically only fitted to 323i autos ?? Maybe some 325i touring auto too ?
Well done for converting to manual , torque converter = power sponge .

[330ti]

Sardonicus said:

Thanks, I should of said I have found this thread interesting but I run a Touring 2.5 this has a 3.46 final drive was thinking of going to a 3.15 or 3.23 but TBH probably leave as is, far more responsive with the manual box over the ZF slush box if I'm honest a nice cheap upgrade because I really like the car and didnt want to get rid for another that was a manual, Sorry for the thread hi-jack as you were

Edited by Sardonicus on Thursday 1st March 12:04

I've been looking for a 3.46 medium case diff and thought they were basically only fitted to 323i autos ?? Maybe some 325i touring auto too ?
Well done for converting to manual , torque converter = power sponge .

[Sardonicus]

330ti said:

Sardonicus said:

Thanks, I should of said I have found this thread interesting but I run a Touring 2.5 this has a 3.46 final drive was thinking of going to a 3.15 or 3.23 but TBH probably leave as is, far more responsive with the manual box over the ZF slush box if I'm honest a nice cheap upgrade because I really like the car and didnt want to get rid for another that was a manual, Sorry for the thread hi-jack as you were

Edited by Sardonicus on Thursday 1st March 12:04

I've been looking for a 3.46 medium case diff and thought they were basically only fitted to 323i autos ?? Maybe some 325i touring auto too ?
Well done for converting to manual , torque converter = power sponge .

Its easy enough so long as you can code out the trans etc I have yet to remove the viscous fan and go for the suck through electric fan of the manual cars, used a manual sub loom too so all the parking sensors/reverse lights functioned as intended the only think I did away with was the dipping the clutch to crank function I dont like that there are odds and sods to change like rad panels/cowling to do away with the trans oil cooler I want the car to always look like it was always manual fussy I guess or old or both

[JakeT]

http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/e46.html

There's a hand on E46 diff ratios. Mostly correct.

[330ti]

JakeT said:

http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/e46.html

There's a hand on E46 diff ratios. Mostly correct.

Cheers Jake , that seems to confirm only 323i has 3.46 (188mm) diff.

[JakeT]

A 328ia should give the ratio you need. Unless the case sizing is different on the 2.8?

[mwggriffiths]

Cheapstraitsix said:

Was thinkIng of taking mine out on my track compact the other day...
unfortunately the roof is unique to the compact other wise a carbon roof from Geoff steel would of been tempting.

Edited by Cheapstraitsix on Thursday 1st March 16:48

Yeah I'd already looked at something similar - a coupe sunroofs weigh ~30kg so I'd like it gone! Oddly the trim surround around the headliner is common, but the glass roof isn't - I assume the hole is therefore the same size but the curvature of the roof is different.... I wonder how different?

Sardonicus said:

Max M4X WW said:

Sardonicus said:

Max M4X WW said:

mwggriffiths said:

Check out the 02Pilot mod for the CCV. It can be done with the CCV in place. It dropped my oil consumption from 400miles/litre to around 1200miles/litre - not bad for 0.5m of 4mm vac hose!

Do yourself a favour and skip the first 6mins of this overly detailed video to get an idea of the job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo2rLSzNzt0

This is interesting, 10 minute job (maybe) and lowers oil consumption?! Why have I not heard of this before?

Yes but ultimately the same guy rebuild that motor with new piston rings from the M52 engine into the M54 engine (better oil control) so it could not have been that successful

I don't have the time to watch what happened next to his car Ultimately the use mine gets (mostly on track) will make it burn oil anyway and the mileage is minimal so will probably just leave it.

Neither do I but it came up as a link on another forum when I was interested in this oil consumption thing because fortunately my M54 uses so little curiosity and all that

Ultimately this isn't a fix, its a mitigation. It doesn't STOP oil consumption but it reduces it. Do what I'm doing: use the 02pilot mod as a temporary fix, then fix it permanently with a freshly rebuilt M54B30

[330ti]

Sardonicus said:

330ti said:

Sardonicus said:

Thanks, I should of said I have found this thread interesting but I run a Touring 2.5 this has a 3.46 final drive was thinking of going to a 3.15 or 3.23 but TBH probably leave as is, far more responsive with the manual box over the ZF slush box if I'm honest a nice cheap upgrade because I really like the car and didnt want to get rid for another that was a manual, Sorry for the thread hi-jack as you were

Edited by Sardonicus on Thursday 1st March 12:04

I've been looking for a 3.46 medium case diff and thought they were basically only fitted to 323i autos ?? Maybe some 325i touring auto too ?
Well done for converting to manual , torque converter = power sponge .

Its easy enough so long as you can code out the trans etc I have yet to remove the viscous fan and go for the suck through electric fan of the manual cars, used a manual sub loom too so all the parking sensors/reverse lights functioned as intended the only think I did away with was the dipping the clutch to crank function I dont like that there are odds and sods to change like rad panels/cowling to do away with the trans oil cooler I want the car to always look like it was always manual fussy I guess or old or both

I've gone the other way , fitted engines out of auto cars into my manual track cars . 330 auto engine into manual 325ti and 528i auto engine into manual 318ti. Just a case of getting rid of auto wiring and adding spigot bearing.
I'd be interested to know if you've got 3.46 diff for sure, you may find you've already got a 3.23 in there ?

[Sardonicus]

330ti said:

Sardonicus said:

330ti said:

Sardonicus said:

Thanks, I should of said I have found this thread interesting but I run a Touring 2.5 this has a 3.46 final drive was thinking of going to a 3.15 or 3.23 but TBH probably leave as is, far more responsive with the manual box over the ZF slush box if I'm honest a nice cheap upgrade because I really like the car and didnt want to get rid for another that was a manual, Sorry for the thread hi-jack as you were

Edited by Sardonicus on Thursday 1st March 12:04

I've been looking for a 3.46 medium case diff and thought they were basically only fitted to 323i autos ?? Maybe some 325i touring auto too ?
Well done for converting to manual , torque converter = power sponge .

Its easy enough so long as you can code out the trans etc I have yet to remove the viscous fan and go for the suck through electric fan of the manual cars, used a manual sub loom too so all the parking sensors/reverse lights functioned as intended the only think I did away with was the dipping the clutch to crank function I dont like that there are odds and sods to change like rad panels/cowling to do away with the trans oil cooler I want the car to always look like it was always manual fussy I guess or old or both

I've gone the other way , fitted engines out of auto cars into my manual track cars . 330 auto engine into manual 325ti and 528i auto engine into manual 318ti. Just a case of getting rid of auto wiring and adding spigot bearing.
I'd be interested to know if you've got 3.46 diff for sure, you may find you've already got a 3.23 in there ?

Thanks I will stick it up on the ramp to confirm at this stage Im happy, one of the jobs that was a pig was the routing of the rigid steel clutch line would you believe from master to nearside foot-well this was tricky and you cant go Gung-Ho as it passes wiring loom even if you blunt the fitting with a shipping plug and masking tape you just have to persevere these on a manual car are probably installed during dash and heater fitting during manufacture when access is no problem