Vass

Good old shopping cart blowout, happens every time I don't think the injector & distributor O-rings usually go bad, they're not exposed to direct oil or particularly high temperatures, but then again they're fairly cheap and you might as well I guess. I changed them on mine but that was part of an engine rebuild and not much was left untouched by the end of it. You could take the injectors to a machine shop and have them professionally cleaned & flow tested whilst they're out, usually costs about $15/each but that's an extra optional step. Another cheap item to replace is the oil dipstick seal/O-ring where it goes into the oil pan - common source of leaks and the dipstick gets in the way when removing the manifold and will need to come out anyway. Other stuff - give the throttle body and idle control valve a good clean whilst they're out. Lube up the ICV a bit before putting it back on - good writeup on how to do it at the bottom of the first post on here. The gaskets for those two might be worth replacing although they don't commonly fail - go for it if they're cheap enough. Check the condition of the DISA valve. The shaft can sometimes break off, there's also a metal pin at the tip of it that can fall down the intake into the combustion chamber and grenade the engine. Haven't seen that happen on any of the E46's I've had but the risk is there. There's rebuild kits out there but that's probably a separate mission (if you end up going that route eventually, be careful to get the right kit as they're different between 2.5L & 3.0L engines and some suppliers don't specify which one it's for). At minimum, replace the DISA O-ring - there is no factory replacement available, the original seal is molded into the body of it, you'll have to cut the old orange one out and get a generic O-ring as a replacement. I got mine from Seal Innovations but whatever O-ring supplier you've got locally should be able to help. Potentially replace the intake boots if they're showing signs of aging, another common source of vacuum leaks. And then give the MAF a clean with the special spray. But yeah, as you say it is a whole rabbit hole you can go down and it can snowball real easily. Just depends on how far you want to take it really. Edit: Can't say much on the 02 Pilot mod, sorry. My old M54B25 did start having oil consumption issues but I went down the engine swap & rebuild route instead.

Might be worth pulling it if it's never been off before. Makes the CCV job a lot easier and gives you a chance to do a bit of a cleaning job and also tackle some other jobs whilst you're in there. It's a good idea replacing the two plastic coolant pipes that run under the intake manifold (#6 & #8 on the schematic below). Those always rot and break off at the point where they attach to the block and the head, can often cause annoying coolant leaks that are hard to get to. Just took off and reattached the intake on mine this past week, not too terrible a job. I'd go that route if I ever need to replace a CCV again.

Manual swap 😏 But seriously, transmission mounts, CSB, driveshaft guibo. If you're emotionally attached to the auto box, drop the pan, chuck on a fresh filter & oil.

Your experience may differ but I found the auto 3.38 diff near enough unusable with the 5-speed ZF. You race through 1st gear way too quick and the car kept lurching when getting on the power too quick from standstill or going over railway lines and such. I just couldn't live with it.

They get a bunch of hate the ti's but in Msport trim they actually look pretty tasty, especially the rear. Looks great in white this thing, good find! Very keen to follow the progress. Are these the same wheel base as the rest of the lineup or will the driveshaft need modifying? Not sure on specifics but I think the rear subframe on these was somehow different from the other body shapes as well.

That's the one. Part itself isn't too expensive but getting to it is a bit of a mission so labour will be the biggest chunk of the cost unless you go the DIY route. Ideally, you'd do both sides as well - if one's worn out then the other likely won't be far behind either. Then once it's all apart, you might discover the shocks are worn out as well and have no rebound...

Who are those parties you mentioned, if you don't mind me asking?

Basically. The way they explained it to me was that the hardness test will give an indication of whether the engine had overheated at some point or not, and if it hasn't then the head won't have problems sealing or holding pressure, so long as the surfaces have remained flat. You can easily check the top of the block and bottom of the head with a straight edge and a feeler gauge. Have a quick look on YouTube to see how it's done, a feeler gauge will be something like $15-20 from one of the retailers.

When doing my rebuild, was told that pressure testing is an awful lot of hassle and not commonly done. A hardness test usually gives enough of an indication on whether the head is good or not, and that's just a quick 2 minute test. I'd get that done and get the thing hot tanked at a shop. Potentially, get the shop to install the stem seals whilst they're at it as well, also check the valve seats for pitting and correct that if needed. Valve lapping isn't really a thing on modern engines apparently. Removing the collets and springs with a punch could damage the valve guides so unless you have a special valve clamp tool it might be best to leave it to the pros.

Ahh right, didn't know that. My bad.

My mate picked one up for fairly cheap a bit over a year ago, also an early 2005 model. His first ever BMW and has been cursing it ever since. In the time he's had it, in addition to working on it himself, he's had it in at BM Workshop nearly every month for stuff he couldn't figure out and has spent multiples of what he originally paid for it in repairs. Vanos issues, some electronic airflow flap (not sure what it is on the N52, looked like an equivalent of a DISA flap from an M54) had completely fallen apart, constant check engine lights for emissions codes, airbag lights and annoying me chimes, sunroof leaking and so on. To top it off the fuel pump gave up one day and left him stranded. His did have around 120-130k km's but with age I think they'll all start having issues regardless of km's. Another mate with a 525i started having issues with the rear air suspension leaking and the compressor giving out as well. You'll definitely have a better time of it if you're hands on but replacement parts are noticeably more expensive than the older counterparts and the added complexity doesn't help either.

Yeah, typical. They've also got an "ICONIC M CAR - 6-SPEED MANUAL - CLEAN UNMODIFIED" M3 that was clearly SMG from factory. That, with the swirled up paintjob and horrifically scratched up interior plastics can be yours today at a bargain price of $55k. As an added bonus, the factory strut bar has also gone off for a wander somewhere, because weight reduction.

What the hell is up with those misaligned tailpipes? Cannot unsee it.

Or, alternatively: https://www.trademe.co.nz/4232455827 https://www.trademe.co.nz/4229101961

Ended up doing an engine swap 😅 But for the new b30 I found a guy up on the North Island that was selling already rebuilt valves through Trademe for $250 iirc, then sent him my old DISA as a core for I think $50 back. He had the flap replaced for a metal one as well as a new diaphragm. Just checked and he doesn't have any listings on TM at the moment, username was 'brtsnz' so might have quietened down a bit, but you could also find him on FB, goes by Bruce Perkinson, quite a helpful fella and was pretty active in some of the FB groups. For the O-ring I just went to Seal Innovations and got a few spare viton O-rings in case I'm taking the thing out again at some point. Couldn't tell you the size off the top of my head though, sorry.

I've seen it in the flesh sometime last year when I bought a set of wheels from the owner. Did look mighty tidy, always took it to Eurocare, servicing hasn't been skimped out on. Whether it's worth the $12k he's asking in today's market I wouldn't know but definitely a very nice example.

I suspect it's down to the absolute robbery the telecom companies are getting away with in NZ. I'm always having to be super frugal with data over there. I'm currently in Europe for the summer and am using Waze all the time. Here you can get an unlimited data plan for $10-15/month, in NZ I'm paying $30 for like 1.5GB so having to skimp out wherever I can... It's 2023 ffs, the cheapest unlimited data plan is what, $70? f**k that jazz

Don't think there's anything special about that sealant in particular. Any sort of automotive RTV should be fine, usually grey is the best stuff to use, like this one or any other brand equivalent: https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/permatex-permatex-rtv-silicone-gasket-maker-rigid-high-torque---ultra-grey-99g/5359.html#q=Grey%2Brtv&lang=en_NZ&start=2

The M3 boot floor is different as well, basically there's no spare wheel compartment to accommodate the quad tip muffler running all the way across the rear. What that might be worth to anyone is anyone's guess.

In my case I swapped a 2.5L engine for a 3.0L one that are visually near on indistinguishable, and swapped an auto gearbox for a manual one using all factory parts, which I advised them on as well. Both modifications that by the book require certification. Passed WoF without faults and the mechanics even praised the tidiness of the work... The whole WoF process seems to be a roll of the dice kinda thing.

Wait, you actually have to fail a WoF when going for a cert? What if you pass?

Speaking of... parked next to this slammed beauty the other day over here in Esto land, complete with that bumper I like so much. Seems to line up pretty well. A bit too low for my liking but did look pretty sharp, possibly on air suspension even. Would have been keen to chat to the owner but didn't feel like waiting around like a complete creep. I'm also reminded every day why I'd never consider having a nice car over on these shores... Couldn't bear putting any significant amount of care and effort into something only to watch it be eaten away by rust. Anyhow, whilst I'm over here, quietly exploring the possibility of putting together a few pallets of manual swap bits and shipping them over. Manual gearbox prices over here are veeery tempting, just need to figure out if the import costs would make the endeavor not worth the hassle. Got a very reasonable quote on shipping and handling on this end for a partial container load, now need to figure out what the import costs, duties and port handling stuff might run me back on the NZ side. If anyone's been through the process or has any contacts in the imports / customs broker fields, I'd be very keen to hear about it. Cheers

Not something that's going to happen in the very near future but eventually I'm thinking about respraying the whole car, and at that point I'll probably source a replacement bumper as the current one is all sorts of shagged and is held together with zip ties in a few places. Possibly leaning towards an M3-style one a fella sells down here that comes with a euro plate holder in the kit. Euro plates wouldn't be far off at that point either. Might be a questionable style choice but I reckon it looks quite sharp on facelift cars.

Yeah it ain't great but not sure if it'd look much better on a Euro plate trim bit either. Will figure something out eventually, still have plenty of mechanicals to address before I get onto that though.

Nah don't you stop! I'm a few hundred thousand km's behind and not on the original engine anymore but hoping to get to half a million as well one day, this serves as an inspiration Keen to see some photos of how those E53 seats sit in there. I've got a set sitting in the garage as well but they'll need a good restoration before I throw them in.