Vass

Don't know what mission you're undertaking but might be worth noting that there were also a few things that changed around 09/2002 for both b25 and b30. The valve cover, coils and associated wiring changed as well as a difference in harmonic balancers. The main auxiliary side is the same I believe but on the AC side the number or ribs changed so the belts aren't interchangeable. Worth checking out if you're swapping engines that are opposite sides of that date.

Not much of a rant but felt worth a share. Was browsing a listing for a random 330i when I came across this... wholesome exchange. I mean, my sense of humour is questionable at best but wtf man, this is not OK 😂

Yeah looks about right. Heads are identical apart from the intake cam. Currently using a head from a b25 for my b30 rebuild. The flap on the b30 DISA is bigger so the manifold must be different as well. Haven't pulled the bottom end of the b25 apart just yet so can't compare, but safe to assume that at a minimum the crank will be different.

At your service 🤓 The response was underwhelmingly predictable.

Whoopsie

Lucky you. I'm waiting an extra month because of one item out of 50

Is That Milford Sounds?

Beauty! Will look into it, thanks a bunch. Do you know if it's something they look at when going for a cert at all or so long as there's no leaks it's all fair game?

Peak capitalism, baby! What a time to be alive

Head does seem to be all good so at the shop now awaiting to be worked on. Continued dismantling the rest of the engine in the meantime. Driveshaft now off, transmission cooler lines removed, gearbox all disconnected, AC pump now dangling off the side so just the mounts holding the engine and gearbox in. Haven't touched the front end yet. Wondering if I can either lift the engine & gearbox out whilst tilting it up or maybe slide it back under the car and out without dropping the subframe. Should be a fair bit easier without the head and OFH sticking up. Would save a fair bit of hassle as I want to roll the shell out into the driveway to clear some work space. Want to see if I can tidy up this wiring loom a bit. The O2 sensors are paired up with the auto gearbox connections in the same tube and connect into a whole spider's web in the fuse box. Will play around with the loom that came off the donor car to see what's safe to cut away and what not to touch. Also, f**k these things straight to hell. Absolute devil's work. Any clever way of getting these off? Have spent stupid time already trying to pry them off but no luck, pushing the plastic tip in but still feel well stuck on. Considering carefully slicing it open with a rotary tool at this point.

Lovely car. Awesome to see it properly used

What a build! Loving the dedication and workmanship, goals right there. Did you make the power steering hoses yourself or is there a shop in Chch you'd recommend? I need two new pressure hoses for my E46, all the usual suppliers like FCP and RockAuto only stock LHD ones and the best local quote I got was $800... Probably cheaper to get them custom made instead. Cheers

Quick wee update. Had no luck finding a spare head locally. A few places claimed to have one but either couldn't find it or just failed to get back to me, so those hopes fell through. Unfortunately also, the head on @wrs' engine turned out to be borderline unusable. Was super helpful though that he went through the effort of stripping it off and taking it in to his local machine shop to get tested before going through the trouble of shipping it down. Top man, greatly appreciated. My wagon had decided to spit the dummy and started misfiring in the meantime so it made it an easy decision to park it up and start tearing it apart. Rolled it into the garage and spent all of last week tearing into it. Finally got the head off on Sunday, stripped it and took it in to the machine shop yesterday. They did a quick hardness and straightness test on it and it looks all good to use! Much better than the first candidate I took in so well chuffed with that. Will have them clean, pressure test and seat the valves properly, as well as getting the injectors tested and cleaned. Should be a week or two before I get it back but happy to be making progress again. Happy days.

Cams off, head off, heading to the machine shop tomorrow. Both the cams had some not insignificant damage. Cylinder 2 cap on intake... ...and cylinder 3 cap on exhaust. I think I could have potentially used the exhaust one on the 3L engine as well but the one on the donor engine looked to be in better shape anyway. Another public service announcement to replace your plastic coolant pipes. Both the pistons and valves were pretty crusty and caked up. As was to be expected after 225k km's I guess. Looking nice and spacious in there now. Will see what the machine guys tell me. If this head is also no good, I'm buying a Suzuki Swift.

Yeah not a complete unknown. I'll do some more digging into whether the sedan ones are compatible/optimal for a touring at all, or might just sell them. Also on the suspension front, in one of the M539 videos he mentions using E90 X-drive strut mounts. They're flat at the top and are more compact, giving a bit of extra lowering up front. The rear wheels on all the E46's seem to sit in further inside the fenders than the fronts so seems like a clever way of slightly balancing it out. Already have a new set of original ones but might sell them and give these a go instead.

Yeah makes sense. Definitely on the shopping list. I also went all Lemförder for the bushes and shock mounts and got limiters for the RTAB's. The driveshaft guibo is the one Meyle HD bit I've got. Today's progress report. Managed to get the headers off in the end, some bolts had better access from underneath. A whole bunch of repetitive strain but off they are, annoyingly tedious process that. Arthritis is fun. Bot manifolds now off as well as the VANOS. Just the camshafts and a few coolant pipes left to tackle tomorrow. Might even have time left to retrofit some steering wheel controls on the daily.

Yeah you might be right actually. Was kinda looking for something more pronounced but can make out a wee kink if you look for it. Remember seeing a ShopLifeTV video on it and there the whole tower looked like the surface of the moon. Left side tower actually looks a bit worse. Not sure if it's at a level I should start beomg concerned about. I assume reinforcement plates will settle them out a wee bit?

Yeah they look pretty straight, can't note any deformations. But yeah doesn't sit quite flush. Would be great news if that's the reinforcement plates in there. Nearly tacked a set onto one of the orders but stopped short as it would have taken it over $1k and didn't want to risk duties. Aye cheers, will need to dig into that. Msport height is probably as low as I'd want to go anyway. Did a bit of digging for springs just now but struggling to find any that are specifically Touring ones, and especially Msport as well. RealOEM wouldn't give me proper part numbers either for some reason. Problem for another day. Intake manifold is now off but really struggling for access on the exhaust side, and the bolts I can get to seem pretty stubborn and are at weird angles, so I'm a bit afraid of stripping or breaking the studs. Plus the steering rack and engine mounts are in the way so getting the headers off would have been an exercise in gymnastics anyway. Original plan was to lift the head with the engine still in, just to get it to the machine shop quicker, but don't want to risk any damage so might just go ahead and drop the engine-transmission and take the head off then. Bit more effort but would have to be done eventually anyway. One thing I'm really hoping to avoid is disconnecting the AC system. Probably should have planned ahead and have it drained of gas prior but ohh well. Will have to come up with a way to suspend the compressor and condenser to one side somehow. Really hoping it's doable. Guess I'll find out.

Thanks mate! Would be keen to hear your thoughts on those suspension setups. That's one aspect I haven't touched upon yet but will need a refresh further down the line. Current setup is a bit random, Bilstein B6 on the front with Monroe shocks on the back on what I'm assuming are stock springs. Will see what state those are in once I drop the subframes. Ride quality wasn't great but a whole bunch of bushes were shot as well, original control arms and all so is a combination of factors. Something dodgy going on with the strut mounts too with them not sitting quite flush up against the tower and the dimples broken off for some reason. Already have brand new ones and will be putting on new control arms as well so will see. The donor car also came on a set of Vogtland lowering springs that I might try out at some point. Not sure if how much different the sedan version would be from the touring? Hahah nice, have just made it my soundtrack for the next hour or so of wrenching. Funnily enough, that cover photo also bears an uncanny resemblance to the current state of the paintwork in places.. 🥲

About time I told you something I guess. The 330i daily got its WoF with just a few minor hiccups - one number plate light was dangling off and both the horns were shot so switched those out with replacements from Pick-A-Part and she flew right through. With that sorted, I then proceeded to spend a good few weekends getting her up to standard. Replaced the oil pan, oil filter housing and valve cover gaskets, as well as the noisy alternator and blown engine mounts, and did an electric fan conversion. The interior got a thorough clean too, seats out and all, shampooed the carpets, rubbed off the scratched up rubberized finish on the plastics and cleaned & conditioned the leather seats. Pretty happy she doesn't feel the need to take a huge piss in the middle of the driveway every time you park her up for the night anymore... The garage also got a big cleanup, put in some additional shelving so that all the various parts scattered across the floor are neatly tucked away and you can actually fit a car in to be worked on. Gave the lighting a bit of a spruce up with the sad old pair of halogen bulbs getting replaced with a couple of neat LED light strips so it feels less like a bloody cave. Being able to actually see what the hell you're doing does come in pretty handy. Much better place to be and work in now. With those tangents out the way, finally got to concentrate on good ol' Barbara. Haven't been having much luck trying to find a new cylinder head since the one off the donor engine turned out to be too soft to use. Had a few leads I was chasing that ended up not materialising for various reasons, so finally decided to box on with the head off the current engine. That's been just about the only agenda item this past week. Having stood there for a few weeks since the last drive, Barbara had seemingly gone into hibernation and refused to start up at all now. Endless cranking without any go, so had to call a few mates around to push her up a slight incline into the garage and started digging in. The fatal issue became apparent straight away... Bingo! The coil on cylinder 3, the one that the codes suggested had been misfiring, came out all sorts of discoloured compared to the rest of them, suggesting that had been the culprit. Normally, I'd have been inclined to throw on a brand new set of coils I've already got sitting on the shelf and get her going again, but we're past that point now. Otherwise, all seemed in decent nick. A few minor oil leaks from seemingly the oil pan gasket and rear main seal, the expansion tank had somehow managed to drain itself of coolant at some point, the ICV had gunked itself up completely but overall, nothing catastrophic. Also, seemingly found the cause of an annoying metal rattle I'd been experiencing occasionally. Exhaust is now off, although it was a struggle at times. Managed to squash a few of my fingers trying to overcome a few stubborn studs. 2/4 ain't bad I guess. I've had a few gripes with some of the PO's handiwork but credit where credit is due - that is one bloody clean engine. Out of the 4 M54's I've worked on, this is the highest mileage one, yet is by far the tidiest. Mightily impressed. Almost a shame pulling it apart. Bit OTT on the RTV though. That's about as far as I've gotten to up to now. Most of the auxiliaries are now off, both manifolds are ready to come off, then onto the VANOS, camshafts and the head itself. Plan is to get it into the machine shop early next week, then can continue with dropping the rest of the engine and gearbox and concentrate on a few other tasks. Have received my big packages from Spareto and earlier today from FCP, still waiting on Schmiedmann and RockAuto to come through, as well as a few bits from BMParts, but have most the bits necessary to start reassembling the engine once the head's been given the all clear from the shop guys. Will try and ramp the pace up a bit now. The boxes of shiny new parts are a good motivation.

Ohh deary me 😍 https://www.trademe.co.nz/3663590575

Fun day scavenging at Pick-A-Part today. Pretty chuffed with the boot liner especially, didn't know that was an option for sedans.

Really? Didn't think it was serviceable. Or are those diaphragms now available from somewhere?

Pretty sure the wiring loom and coils are the same as any newer M54 ones, anything after September 2002 I believe. Both my current E46's have the new style plug in coils. You could easily just snip those from Pick-A-Part no issues.

There's currently this slightly crusty one on eBay that looks to be willing to ship to NZ that'd run you around $700. Should still clean up well. Or they're available new from FCP, ECS and Schmiedmann, with the latter being the cheapest at around $1,700 shipped. That's without the plastic covers too so would leave the coils a bit more exposed and look a bit suss. Not something I'm considering dropping that sort of money on any time soon, with far too many other issues in need of addressing first. Cheaper to replace the whole CCV (PCV?) every year or two. But would be interesting to see someone have a go at it.