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If you dont like the quote, go somewhere else. Dont whinge about it. You've said it yourself, you cant do the job yourself, so what your buy price and labour is, is irrelevant. The N46 is a dumpster fire of an engine, so you're lucky any mechanic that knows BMWs would touch it.

My 130i sold, so the fun begins... All driveline stuff removed, exhaust, driveshaft etc Fluids drained and front end removed Few extra ancillaries removed and it's just about ready to get yanked out. Still have to disconnect the ECU and wiring stuff but that should be easy. Love how easy the E46 comes apart

No worries. They are about as close to a typical 4 cyl Japanese engine as you can get for a BMW, pretty basic and fairly reliable. Bonus having the PCV + hose done. Im assuming you are running 95+ octane. Engine mounts are another good item that usually help with inherent engine idle vibration. Like many cars a throttle body clean\polish and MAF clean is never a bad idea. If you are not aware there is a small plastic coolant flange at the back of the head which can break leading to quick overheat (only real weakness on these engines). It may of been done with the PCV hoe or another time but its hard to know sometimes unless you replace it. There is another one under the manifold which can fail too but much less likely. Item 9 - http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E36-Compact/Europe/318ti-M44/R-M/1997/browse/engine/cylinder_head_attached_parts/ If you want to free up engine bay space you can use the bottom section of the earlier M42 engine airbox and snorkel (or custom make something) which doesnt have the big air duct pipe running across the front.

Fair enough. Smoke test and\or fuel trim values will tell you if you have any vacuum leaks, rarely notice them otherwise unless they are major ones. The small DISA valve diaphram (get them off ebay) are always split and you will gain back some low end <3000rpm power. Good idea to replace O2 sensor also, always old and slow and dull throttle response on these engines ive found.

i know the guy that owns it, pretty tidy car, the rear end 'aero' is a bit questionable though, but to each their own.

This sounded good with the S62 - don’t think I’ve seen another

Haven't done anything drastic to this car in a while now. Thinking about changing the wheels so went snapping tonight for a bit of before after documentation. Excuse the babyseat in the rear ? 119,000 km H&R sport springs Koni adjustable dampening shocks E90 Top hats M3 CABs 3.73 LSD Getrag 260 (manual conversion)

When I was 18ish (over half my lifetime ago) I mounted a curb in my e30 and took out the sump on my m20 engine, ever since then I've loved the south African sump guard. This car isn't a SA native so decided to add a guard for extra protection. Hopefully I wont be mounting any more curbs and this will only provide added protection while on pot hole filled / bumpy CHC roads. This one was one I collected many years ago, when offering it up to the car I could see it was pretty bent up.. took it into a mates shop got it on the jig and bent it back into place.. after that the install went pretty smoothly.

Just got a repaint and some SE additions (front lip and side skirts). Next step is refurbishing the set of 15” RS001s in the garage to replace the 14” weaves.

I've Owned this car April 21 and its never has a wash, to be fair for most of that time its been sitting outside on axels stands under a car cover or in the garage with no engine / drive train. Anyway.. yesterday was a pretty good day in CHC so took the opportunity to give the exterior a bit of a tidy up. It still has a long way to go.. a few dings and scrapes but definitely a lot better than it was. My goal is to have this car in the panel & paint shop to fix up its imperfections and full respray in the next 2/3 months / over winter. After the giving her a good old wash, I remembered that last time I drove her the steering was way off, so as I was feeling motivated it was time for a backyard wheel alignment. I was never going to get this perfect but at least now at a glance the front wheels appear to point in the same direction. One day (probably after panel & paint) she'll get a proper wheel alignment but for now my best effort will have to do After all that took her down the end of the street (very gingerly) for the 1st test drive since installing the manual gearbox and m20b25, the car felt great.. cant wait until its all legal and road worthy and take her for a proper drive! Very quick photoshoot while I was out