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Pressed the owner/seller for the rego to be sorted. He is taking it for a WoF tomorrow - if it passes, then rego will be renewed. If not, rego will be put on hold.

335 update! spent the last couple weeks chipping away at this. Replace spark plugs, rocker gasket, oil filter housing and cooler gaskets, got myself a cheap walnut blasting setup and cleaned the intake ports, they were pretty gross! Cleaned out intake manifold, flushed coolant out and replaced, new oil and filter, new battery, new smoked fog lights, replaced headlight lenses and painted the inside bits all black since the chrome on the one with the broken lens was all coming away, new led halo lamps as well. Had a spare set of wheels that I got for the e39, style 125’s, 19x8 et20, 9.5 et32, but never painted, so got them done and new tires and now she’s ready to hit the streets…to have it scanned to clear some codes, register the new battery and injector and make sure it’s all good, then off for a wof, get the ding man to pop a couple wee dents out and a detail to get it gleaming.

Some say it's never to late to start a project thread, so here I am after 5 years of ownership starting the story of the constant woes and joy my E46 has given me. Returned from overseas travel and needed a new daily that wasn't just a bog standard corolla for A to B. Previous flat mates had a few BMWs and sold me on how nice they were to drive and how easy they are to work on. Found this delicious M sport sedan on the trademe, gave it a once over and purchased it. The car had roughly 183k km when I bought it. Previous owner/s had a few receipts and the person I bought it off, had the car 'stolen' from their driveway whilst it was idling for a joy ride. So had a new wheel or two, new front bumper and some of the cooling system. Previous receipts I found in the glove box: Window regulator - 2012 Water pump - 2013 Thermostat - 2013 Idler pulley - 2013 Oil filter housing gasket - 2017 VANOS Oil line - 2017. After working on an old holden commodore with not the greatest online parts stores, I was shown FCP Euro and all of its delicious goodies. So I got straight into it with some standard servicing parts; Cabin air filter, Engine air filter, Spark plugs, Engine mounts, Power steering reservoir. Did some daily driving and enjoyed the awesome ride quality of a BMW and the M Sport suspension. Enjoyed the COVID lockdown living at my BMW friends house and got lost done. Went on another shopping spree; Fuel filter, front brake rotors and pads, VANOS rebuild kit, VANOS oil feed line, Trans filter and fluid, Water pump, Thermostat, Coolant hoses, Coolant expansion tank, Rocker cover gasket. Continued enjoying BMW ownership. Had a few little issues with a rough idle and the car stalling infrequently. Cleaned out the idle control valve and inspected the intake pipes. Found one with a crack so got a new one from pick a part. Issue seemed to be resolved. Continued to be a nice daily driver. Could feel the front left getting noisy and failed on a front ball joint. Sourced new front control arms and got to work replacing them. Tricky job but doable with right tools and a few swings on the mini sledge hammer. I only managed to get one done before I had to pack up my house and move to Blenheim / Picton. Oil level sensor had been on the fritz for a while and the F connector on the intake pipe snapped so I made a 3d printed one that did the job until my latest parts order could arrive; Air intake pipes and F connector, Fuel pump, Bosch Ignition coils, Spark plugs, Oil level sensor. I have been constantly chasing lean engine codes bank 1 and 2 on this car for years. Slowly trying to find all vacuum leaks as they seem the most likely culprit after reading lots of E46 forum posts. I noticed my DISA seal was very square, so measured it up and found an O-ring to fit. But now the car will not idle when cold. It dies after 1 second unless you give it throttle. And when it does start revving low and trying to stall it makes one or 2 loud clunks. If i hold some throttle on and manage to get out the driveway and on the move it will accelerate and cruise with no issue and when I reach work it will idle with a slight roughness. Have yet to find time to investigate but will check the idle control valve and have a hunt around the vacuum lines when I do. Next step I'm thinking all new CCV pipes etc and possibly intake manifold off, hidden coolant hoses and new intake manifold gaskets. Also add to the list a left rear wheel bearing which has suddenly become very noisy. I have ordered bearings and begun to create a list of tools required for the job.

Come to think of it, I don't even know. Forget I asked.

Yeah haven't been too impressed with FCP of late but went with them for a few items that other places didn't have. Their use of UPS is what pisses me off the most. Website is a pain to use, all tracking updates stop the moment the package arrives in NZ and no way to leave delivery instructions. The last package was plunked right in the middle of the front porch on a rainy day and was soaked through by the time we got to it. A Spareto package was delivered same day and left in the dry at the back door as per delivery instructions. Messaged FCP and said I'm not using them until there's no shipping options other than UPS. They replied saying the feedback came at a good time as they're currently reviewing their exclusive shipping provider contract so... here's hoping. That alternator duct I mentioned getting destroyed a few posts back I'd gotten from FCP at the beginning of the year for $30 USD. With this latest order I thought screw it, I'll throw in a new one of them, only to discover the price had jumped to $72... Gross.

Just checked, November last year was the last time i used them so i dont think ill ever use them again. It's schmeidmann these days when Spareto doesnt have it. They are a bit slow to ship compared to the rest but are usually quite a bit cheaper than FCP to compensate.

Yeah i dont see the point in doing just the guides either when crappy rings is the main issue, but then if you do those you usually doing a full strip down\refresh. The later model M54 apparently have reinforced valve cover that doesnt crack as much, but you need the later style coil packs to use it. Personally i don't think that's all that common here in NZ at least esp with NZ new cars. The old style coils have better metal design with a more robust base and connector. They feel much more solid and are harder to break\easier to remove. I feel they dont fail as much too but i have no real proof. The new style ones use that plastic quick release tab that can snap and the connectors and coil themselves just feel cheaper and weaker. BMW cost cutting design first used on the legendary N42.

To be fair, its in magnificent cosmetic condition (mechanically can assume it needs attention, sitting around so much). 48km would be more of a factor in a rarer spec.

I think I have an open large case diff in Chc. Not sure of ratio. I’ll check tomorrow and let you know.

So where are you in all this Graham? Are you the seller's agent? My view: it looks like it came out the showroom as an M325i. Plenty of changes throughout it's life. It's down at heel, and rough around the edges. Assume it needs a full fluids and rubbers changeout, as there's no mention of folders full of history, or regular maintenance. It needs re-rego and WoF. It's looking neglected. You haven't mentioned Mileage? Also the current owner is the son of the first owner - who was the second owner? It will never be a $50k car - it'd need two things to get close: 1) a full restoration including back to Tech 1 spec, and collectors are understandably picky about milege and provenance - it's only original once! 2) a market cycle or two, and a strong economy to make this attractive to someone cashed-up in ten years or so. In order to make that worthwhile, you'd want $10k headroom (margin) on a current sell price ($35k if *really* tidy and back to tech 1?), and $15-20k to sort everything out (paint and body, correct trim, suspension, and really addressing an old (and possibly neglected car. You do the math on what the buy price is to make it work. Or, you view it as a driver. Accept it as a bitser, it's got bits of tech 1, bits of tech 2, and needs a tidy. You're not going to try and make it what it's not, you just want it clean tidy and ready to dance. $15-20k would be a generous bid, and you'll be putting in $5-10k to get it sorted so you can drive it anywhere in the country and it won't let you down - you might not get the aircon fixed in there though.

replace DISA valve, if it hasn't failed it probably will... dropping the Pin into your combustion chamber. Inexpensive insurance. Have a good look at the high pressure fuel hose supplying the injector rail. They're getting old now - if yours is crusty, replace. Nobody wants a fuel fire under the hood, You're on the right track, taking care of the intake vacuum leaks. cooling every five years. plugs and a full set of coils after your cuurnet work (if you havent already) and it'll be a sweet runner. Jared @Eagle is spot-on about those nipple caps (ooh err), Jon spotted those on mine recenty and we replaced them at same time as HP Fuel Hose. e46 325i motorsport is a sweet drive. They reward if treated to thorough maintenance. We've had our 325i Touring for 11.5 years, no plans to replace it.

BMW Touring Coupe concept, best looking thing out of BMW in a longtime.. bit too many wings and sh*t.. and note how they dont show the kidneys...

Credit: RS65 photos.