central3

I'm trying to work out whats going on here. I have a 330i MS with no steering wheel controls. If this upgrade enables cruise control and stereo control I would be very keen on doing the same. Is this whats going on?

Each to his own re lowering the 330MS - I had a long hard look at this - ended up taking the advice of a suspension shop who said "leave the hieght alone if you like the ride/handling (which I do) and "change to a set of Bilstiens if you want to get the car back to as new" - which I did ($1,050). Love the tightness of the (100,000 km) car now and think the ride hieght looks just right. I know this won't help but thats how it is for me.

Hi Jochen - thanks for all of your help - embarassed to say that it ended up being a faulty cable connector - excellent radio reception now and the Denison IPod converter is working a treat (pricey though) - thanks again

Thanks - I checked suggestions 1,2 and 3 - all ok. When checking I noticed that (with the radio on) there was almost no difference in reception quality when I unplugged the antenna coaxial lead. Reconnected and unplugged the power lead - absolutely no difference in reception quality. Reconnected and unplugged the multi pin plug (that connects to the window wires) - again absolutely no difference. Suggestion 4 - before reinstalling the factory HU I was running an Alpine - I could get 3 or so stations but the quality was not good. Does this reduce the odds of my problem being with the OEM HU and perhaps point to a problem with my antenna amplifier? I have spent most of the day on this and conclude that the only problem I have is is very poor reception. I ended up installing the band converter as with it I get another 2 stations but very weak - what do you think is happening here?

I have a unit out of an 03 330 - it won't be a straight swap as the electronics will be different - you may be able to sway the mirror itself over though - may be more trouble than its worth - let me know if you want to pursue

One way to remove is to drill pilot hole into the centre of the broken bolt. Then drill this hole out to the thread tapping diameter (7.5mm for an 8mm bolt). Once you have done this you can re-tap the thread. If you damage the thread (e.g. pilot hole off centre) you can drill/tap oversize and fit a heli-coil. For the broken off extractor heat is the only option but not on a bonnet - good luck with that one.

Thoughts please here Seems like good value but I guess the km's are the reason for this. Bearing in mind that this would be my second/toy car and that I would only do 5,000 km's or so per year I am not too phased by this The SMG/km combination does phase me though. I have driven an SMG before and loved it but there are some horror stories out there. I would cover some of the risk off by taking out insurance but still worry about possible drama. What other issues should I be looking out for?

I tossed up whether to post in the performance section or not - figured I'd get too much grief so I'm playing it safe and posting my mod's as cosmetic. Regarding the exhaust - the AC rear muffler I brought didn't fit so well and I didn't like the oval tailpipe so after reading about a quad exhaust mod on E46 Fanatics I decided to do the same. The pictures tell the story - took quite a while to do as I wanted everything in stainless and the diffuser mod was fiddly. For the brake mods I stripped the calipers down and ground/polished out the casting marks before painting with epoxy. Had the anti rattle clips chromed and fitted new seals. I slotted and blind drilled the disc rotors - the depth of the slot/hole is just under 1mm as I didn't want to go past the recommended minimum rotor thickness. To get the curved shape I offset the disc by 45mm in an indexing head then spent 5 odd hours machining. The 330i has quite large diameter discs (325mm on the front and 320mm on the rear) and with the slots they stand out well behind the rims.

I'm searching for some info re rim dimensions for my 2003 330i motorsport. I am looking to change to 19 inch or 18 inch diameter rims, preferably staggers 8.5's and 9.5's'. My dilema is offset. My MS runs 7.5 x 17 fronts (ET41) and 8.5 x 17 rears (ET50). Looking through previous threads on this topic I have seen 8.5 x 19 ET35 and 9.5 x 19 ET40's recommended. Doing the sums the fronts look ok but I reckon the rears will foul the guard lip's. With 10mm less offset the outer edge of the rim will be 10mm closer to the guard lip, add to this another 12mm of wheel width and the rim edge is now 22mm further out from the stock position. A quick measure up on the car shows that this would result in the rim edge being in line with the outside of the guard! Am I missing something here? Any help would be appreciated.

Are these still available?

Here's a screwy one in my 1994 e36 325i. The odometer and trip displays are so dim you can barely see them. They are still functioning in that the km's are increasing. All other dash functions are normal. The dash dimmer works fine. I've checked all of the fuses. Also the time/date display in the check system (unit below the stereo) is doing the same thing, the time is barely legible. All of the other check displays appear to be working ok. Any help would be appreciated.

Hmmm.........this is what I have been trying to get my head around. Mechanically I can take on most tasks but the electronics intimidate the hell out of me. The 2 threads I have read (see below for the second one I previously referred to) appeared to make the swap seem possible - even straight forward. As Hybrid says the secret will be in finding someone who can handle the electronics. Its not only the dash indications that I am worried about. The auto shift in the 330 is very smooth and I assume there is an interface between transmission and engine that facilitates this. I don't want to end up with any perfromance penalty that may come with an improperly configured control unit set up. Up until recieving this feedback I was going to go ahead and source the mechanical parts and deal with finding an electronics specialist later. Might need to think again - I'm very keen to do this but I want the car spot on when I'm finished. http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.ph...ht=5+speed+swap

So I've been driving the 330 motorsport for a year now and its time for a change. I'm looking at swapping the auto for a manual 5 speed. I did this swap on my 1994 325 a number of years ago and I am very happy with the result.. The mechanical side of the conversion will be straight forward given this experience. I have a conversion kit (gearbox, gearbox mount, diff, driveshaft, flywheel, clutch, pedals) lined up for $2,800. What worries me though is the electronics. I have read a couple of swap write ups which I found on the E46 Fanatics site. They describe the electrcal changes required to set up the clutch and reversing light switches so that should be ok. They talk about having the ECU flashed to eliminate the dash issues (transmission fault light, gear position indication etc). This is the bit that concerns me. Does anyone have any experience of this aspect of a conversion or do you know of a workshop that has the expertise? Any advise would be appreciated.

I have an interior rear view mirror ex my 2003 E46 motorsport (jap import). It has a fault with the remote locking function but the self dimming feature still works. Open to offers.

Closure on the central locking system at last. I brought a mirror off a US M3 convertible via Ebay. Plugged it in and it worked a treat. Spent a lot of time chasing sedan mirrors but the US sedans use the radio antenna system not the mirror as a receiver.

Could you put up some photos of the E46 titanium indictaors - do you know if they will fit a sedan?

Could you put up some photos of the E46 titanium indictaors - do you know if they will fit a sedan?

Because they want $2,800 for one!!!! Thanks for your help Jochen. While you're there, is disabling the reversing beep - beep thing straight forward?

The plot thickens!! Questions 1) The car only had 1 key when i brought it. Question 2) The numbers on the key that came with the car are: 315MHz BMW 933 721 I brought a second key off Jeff Gray BMW. They used my chassis number to supply a key with the following numbers: 315MHz FCCID..LX8 FZV CAN 2911 102 800 BMW 6 955 750 Question 3) There is no sign of an infra red bulb/projector on either key Question 7) I don't know if the car has an alarm. To muddy the water even further please note the following: Jeff Grey BMW workshop actually got the system woking by swapping a mirror off a simalar vehicle (as stated previously) but they also synched a spare key they had in their workshop. Bizarrely htis was an NZ key and the system worked?? The central locking worked when I brought the car. I had the car off the road for a month or so while I detailed it. The battery was disconnected for most of this time. The only electrical things I did were (1) fitted the new head unit - adaptor plugs used - no wiring cut (replaced the front speakers - woofers. The dealer has tested my original key twise now and insists that the RF part of it is faulty. Apart from not being used (and therefore not charged) for the month that the car was off the road the key is the same key that did work when I first brought the car.

Thanks again Jochen. I have attached a photo of the antenna amplifier unit. It certainly looks different to the one photographed by "Westie" (tahnks for that Westie) . The main pyshical difference being that mine has one less plug in wiring connection. There is no sign fo any MHz number on the lable. I have also attached a photo of my ignition key. It is the rechargable type as mentioned in your posting dated Nov 8. My delaer also assures me that it is an RF key. Attached also is a photo of my interior mirror - it has the clown nose you also mentioned. Attached is a photo of my car, its a 2003 facelift 330i motorsport. Based on your information I am wondering whether the car is some sort of transition model. My chassis number is WBAET56070NH46384 Any further advise would be appreciated.

Wow - thanks for that - problem is I have a sedan!! and my BMW dealer went to quite a bit of trouble sourcing a jap import mirror with which they confirmed a mirror fault - mind you these are the same guys who told me I had a key fault - I spent $430 buying another key with no result - where do you suggest I go from here? The reference to the antenna amplier is interesting - I installed an Alpine stereo head unit into the car as the jap unit was unsuitable for NZ - I have since put the original head unit back in but the cemtral locking did not work.

Thanks for that - I must have worded this badly - I don't want to convert my system - I have the diamond shaped key (which I'm told is for an RF system) - the battery is rechargable - Jeff Gray told me that they had confirmed it was a mirror fault by swapping mine with a mirror ex another jap import - it worked fine (they say) - I have spent over $700 trying to solve this problem

Still battling with my remote locking. I had Geoff Grey check it out and they have confirmed a dud reciever in the interior mirror. I have been querying trademe parts adverts and also the North Island wreckers but no joy. I'm after a mirror that has the 315hz radio frequency system rather than the infra red. My part number is 51 03 16 7 065 486. Any help would be appreciated.