Time for another update ,
I have far too many cars to keep build diaries for all of them , but since this one has so much history I will make a point of keeping this one up to date !
a beautiful spring day today in the Hutt valley, so off with the passengers front door card and in with a brand new replica. I will be honest I grit my teeth and brought a Chinese knockoff but since it’s the passenger side I’ll take the risk. The kit came more complete than the “quality” ones I have brought in the past for other vehicles , take from that what you will, however I did need to reuse the original motor. Given its rarely the motor that actually packs up on these, I’ll see how this one goes, might be the way forwards on other projects too! Didn’t take pics , all classic BMW owners know how to change a reg these days, as they are a common failure point from the dawn of electric window BMWs to today.
i was up at pick a part a few weeks ago to grab some bits for another car, and spotted this MINT windscreen trim up there. Haven’t seen one this mint fitted to a car ever, must have been replaced recently , as the paint was had it, so not a garage kept car. Rubber nice and supple still so I grabbed that for just $9, beats over $300 new! Fitted it up and looking much better !
also while I was up there I found an E90 Motorsport spec with a pair of brand new Firestone Firehawk Sport 01, which is identical to the Bridgestone RE003 of yesteryear. I’m sure I’m on record here saying they are the best bang for buck tyre and I still stand by that, so snatched those up. Only catch was the wheels were painted black. Fitted them up to the front because turn in in a deisel are important things. and painted another good pair with Pirelli all seasons I had here to match. Some may hate the black but I’m frankly indifferent at the best of times , especially on what will be a hack.
while the car was in the air, time for an oil change. 4 years since it’s last one. The black as the ace of spades oil would have me worried if it was a petrol, but that’s just another day in the office for a diesel powered vehicle. Afterward I let the pan sit for an hour, and then very slowly drained off the top, to see if there was any contamination in the oil. Not a single metal flake or anything . Blows my mind this car has the Kms it does !! Then fitted new filter and the cabin filter, and filled her up. Never mind the 5L bottle in the photo, I know they take more, topped it up with another jug I opened last week for another job.
often forgotten part is reset the service interval, all done.
While up in the air I noticed the sump guard as standard on all e46 was missing, so pulled one off another e46 parts car I have here and fitted that, and then dropped the car.
The car has also had a knock (not engine related) just on initial start and shut down. I noticed the exhaust (which is basically straight pipe from the turbo back to the rear muffler) was touching what used to be the catalitic converter or DPF support bracket, so removed the bracket and all is well. In ideal world it probably adds 0.01% chassis regitidty if this car was on Forza. In the real world it will make no difference having this fitted or not.
next on the job list will be a transmission and diff service. Both are still cherry but would be great to get this car back to a zero base again.
Now at 490800 km.
(Writing on my phone so photos may be out of order?)