Harper

Looks ace, how do they feel?

55 minutes ago, Vass said:

Guess that didn't go through. Grab yourself a bargain fellas.

Good donor for your wagon?

4 hours ago, Bennyboy said:

Not cheap - realistic 

Cheap. Not much cheaper and I'd think about buying it to S54 swap my compact.

Eesh that's cheap

Not something I'm ever very concerned with when buying a car tbh, I more base the decision off condition. I have had good luck with Japanese imports though, and of the cars I've owned the NZ new ones tend to have been treated the worst to be honest, could just be coincidence.  

15 hours ago, Sammo said:

One of the few 'modern' BMWs I would swap to I think.

M2s are aging well, still turn my head every time I see one.

1 hour ago, Sammo said:

The incredible G80/G81 Colours more than make up for the styling IMO

Yeah I've got no issues with the way the M3 touring looks. Not quite as sexy as an RS6 wagon though I think. 

First one I've seen in the wild. Makes my little compact look miniature.

Brake cleaner on a cloth works well, probably not amazing for the finish but I've never had issues

Have one in my M3 and compact, painted them black since I don't like the pink. Never had issues passing wof.

Original seat back in. Bolsters swapped out with the ones off the donor since they were pretty worn.

E46 interior never gets old

It's on daily driver duty now

Both my E46s have the power steering lines cable tied together and have been for years. Who needs bushings.

9 hours ago, Vass said:

Still only 9k km since the engine rebuild but already the 4th oil change so not entirely sure at what point it becomes something to be seriously concerned about. Will do another oil change in 4-5k km's time and reassess.

It took about that many oil changes on my S54 before there was no material in the oil after the rebuild. Just as I was starting to get worried that there was still glimmering stuff in the oil, the next oil change was clear. 

54 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Hard to imagine ever seeing one in NZ that would beat this. The wheels, msport kit and alpine white really make it, somehow the head lights look great now haha.  

The biggest compliment. So nice when the vision finally comes together.

1 hour ago, BMTHUG said:

This is a wicked little build dude. Been watching with anticipation! Can sort your ac regas if ya need

Thank you bro, if you weren't on the other side of Auckland I'd be there. I'm sure I'll get to have a look around your E30 at some point. Fortunately my local shop is pretty good and I'll get them to sort the alignment at the same time.

2 hours ago, Cement said:

Is the donor car heading to the wreckers once done with ? I need to hack at one as per my thread

Unfortunately long gone, or I'd let you have at it.

7 minutes ago, Vass said:

Looks so good in white, and the ride height looks absolutely bang on.

Super happy with the suspension. Just the right amount of firm but very compliant and comfortable. Looking forward to seeing what difference the FCABs make.

8 minutes ago, Vass said:

Keen to hear how you go with the exhaust, looking to add a bit of sound to mine at some point as well.

I still have the rear section from the donor 330 so I'll cut into that one and see how easy or difficult it is. I really only want it to be maybe 10% louder, just enough to know that it's something special but I still want it to sound stock. Hopefully gutting the resonator gets me what I'm looking for but will report back.

11 minutes ago, Vass said:

Was just clearing out the garage yesterday and stumbled upon a spare air intake scoop thingy. Was gonna go in the bin but happy to send it your way to save the scrap yard trip. Also have a few spare steering wheel button panels if you wanted cruise & media controls.

You're a legend mate, I'll gladly take it. Happy to pay for shipping plus some. The ones I've come across so far at the junk yard are usually damaged in some way. I actually like the look of the blank steering wheel panel but losing out on cruise control is a bummer. Maybe one day I'll fit a Z3 CC stalk.

12 minutes ago, Vass said:

Where'd you get those shifter & handbrake boots from? Hardly see any RHD ones around, or was it a DIY effort? 

Cobywheel. Reasonably priced and they use genuine grey 9002 alcantara to match the bolsters. I've seen the wheels and some other bits done by coby and they've been average quality but the boots are really good in my experience. They just copy the pattern from the genuine bits so fit like OE. I just removed the old leather and glued them onto the frames with some contact adhesive.

Very productive weekend.

New input shaft seal for the gearbox. Was super careful putting this one in, made sure it went in as square as possible and tapped it just barely below flush.

Didn't take many photos since I was really trying to get the car driveable for this week. Motor back in, cooling stack in.

I installed a new MAF sensor, O2 sensors, fuel pump. But I still had a rough idle. Eventually discovered it was the MAF connector itself. The female pins were quite loose which meant that with the airbox off and the intake tube moving around with the engine the contact was not good. I squeezed the pins tighter and fitted the airbox so everything was solid and the idle was perfect. A quick look at the fuel trims in INPA suggest they are perfect but I'll do a proper log later and see how things look.

Front end taking shape

Back on the ground, first time seeing the final ride height (will settle a bit) with the new bilstein B8s and eibach springs. Pretty much perfect for what I was looking for seeing as it will be my daily.

Cabin filter and new windshield cowl fitted. Unfortunately I'm still missing the front air duct that feeds the airbox. The one of the donor car was broken so I'll have to make a trip to the scrap yard to get one.

Interior assembled with a few nice new parts, I'm still repairing the driver seat so I have temporarily fitted the driver bucket seat from the M3.

On 1/14/2024 at 2:31 PM, Olaf said:

I hope you'll leave the 318 badge on the tailgate!

Sorry Olaf, this ones getting a badge.

Car got a much needed wash and out for it's first quick test drive.

Absolutely stoked with this thing. It's very quick, corner to corner it's not really any slower than the M3. Not quite as much zing as the S54 up top but much smoother and torquier low down. Still a few details to finish it off:

- Driver seat

- AC re-gas

- Air intake scoop

- Exhaust hangers, the 325ti has unique hangers which I didn't pony up for resulting in the tail pipes not sitting quite centred

- It's too quiet. I like my cars quiet but at idle you wouldn't even know the thing is running. It has a fully stock 325ti exhaust, so I think I'm going to open up the small centre resonator and gut it and see what that sounds like.

- Z4 FCABs

- Alignment

- Tyres, the Chinese ones on it are not up to scratch for the B30 torque

- Custom plate I think, this one is a keeper I love it too much already.

2 hours ago, MD13 said:

Found it for $40US shipping on ECS. Thanks though Harper.

Still much cheaper to get from schmiedmann.  167usd shipped from ECS, 98usd shipped from Schmiedmann. They are almost always by far the cheapest for genuine parts like this in my experience. 

34 minutes ago, MD13 said:

US shipping costs... Wanted a zhp shift knob. Price $100 US. Cost of shipping $200 US...

https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/product/6216-new?product=25-11-7-896-886

97.67USD shipped from schmiedmann

My recent FCP and spareto orders have arrived to my door inside a week, pretty impressive.

Roland actually has a complete 6 speed kit. You might be able to swap the rear half of your auto driveshaft onto this and you're good to go. I'd go this route personally.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/7438401319514971/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A4aec2e64-4072-4f26-b9f5-e2f331e6f959

The cross member is cheap to buy brand new as well.

https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/product/e61382-new?product=22-31-1-096-811

Just the have to find a 330d driveshaft

330D uses it's own manual gearbox/driveshaft etc which might be a bit harder to find. Not sure they are interchangeable with a normal 330 manual box.

Assuming you can find the parts for a 330d, manual swap probably costs 3.5-4k if you do the work yourself.

The engines back out sooner than I had hoped..

Fortunately with the front end already off it took <2 hours to get it out. Love how easy the E46 is.

Split the gearbox in search of the leak from the bellhousing and as suspected it was the input shaft seal. I replaced it while the box was out the first time since it was weeping but it was leaking a lot of fluid now and the seal wasn't happy. Couldn't see anything wrong with it, so I tried my luck and tapped it in a bit further. No luck. Had to bite the bullet and remove it and get another one ordered. $60 seal, ouch. I could see the slightest imperfection on the lip of the seal once it was out but have a hard time imagining that was causing the drip, hopefully the next one has no issue otherwise I'm out of ideas. Took a bunch of photos but lost them somehow so here it is removed.

.

In the meantime I've reassembled the rear end. subframe and arms in with all new bushings, ball joints, and bearings, 330 diff, 330 rear brakes, new brake lines all round.

330 cluster rings and manual cluster panel panel added. Technically since this is a coupe it should probably have the grey dial faces but I actually prefer the look of the black ones.

The smoke tester arrived, it works good. No complaints except for the smell of the smoke, and it gets everywhere, on your clothes hair, skin etc. I tested with the motor removed and just plugged the purge valve and sucking jet pump but it revealed absolutely zero vacuum leaks. The thing is air tight. Pretty much only leaves a brake booster vacuum leak, bad MAF sensor, or bad O2 sensors, as my rough idle issue. I will have a look at the fuel trims once the motor is back in the car and see what the next step is. Tempted to just order a MAF regardless since it's nice to just rule it out and have a fresh one, I already have O2 sensors on order but they're not due until the end of march.