Harper

Curious to hear your opinion on the CMP bushes and bearings, have the same set ready to go in my M3 when I eventually get around to dropping the subframe.

They only got E36 320i's up to 95 in the states (different engine I believe but some of the parts will be the same. Search by part number, a lot of the same parts were used on other cars. Anything not carried by FCP you can probably get from the other usual suspects like schmiedmann, rockauto, pelican etc.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/4334873286?archive=1&bof=uBQICzci Gutted I missed this. Would have loved to have taken the orange laser cloth alcantara interior out of it, super rare, especially in compact format.

Looks like a nice one. Love lemans blue. With that one for sale I kind of had to lower the price on mine, which tbf I was going to do anyway. I'm itching to start my compact project so I think I'll keep dropping the price until someone grabs it. I had an offer of 9500 subject to it passing wof which I accepted but 2 days later when it passed, radio silence from the buyer...

That's exactly what I did too. A few of them the plastic itself snapped so I 'unsoldered' the ones off my original and plastic welded them onto the new one.

@Vass you're 100% right I didn't look that closely just saw ATE and assumed they were. Just emailed to confirm and schmiedmann said they are made by NK for the ATE calipers. I'll probably still get them and see what they're like.

There is that, I've received genuine BMW parts that were utter sh*t. Had an E46 windshield cowl that didn't survive a single install before all the clips snapped off, every single one. My original 20 year old one came off with all clips intact...

Bummer, was hoping you had found something I hadn't. At least it's only the rears and the fronts will have fresh ATE seals. What caliper paint did you use? Looks exactly how I wanted mine to come out

FCP, slightly cheaper from schmiedmann but in the same realm. https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-caliper-repair-kit-rear-34216750163 The 325i with the smaller piston has the option of OE ATE seals for 10usd but the only option for 330i seems to be genuine: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-caliper-repair-kit-rear-34211158578

Did you pony up the 60usd each for OEM rear caliper seals or source them somewhere else? Schmiedmann has the OE ATE front seals and dust boots for 10usd each but not the rears, and I refuse to pay 120 for some seals and dust boots for the rear. I was gonna do a similar rebuild to my calipers before I put them on the compact and atm it's looking like I'm just leaving the rear seals alone.

Jesus.. This might not be as exclusive of a club as I thought hahaha. I've been thinking about building one of these for ~2 years and when I finally start, 5 of them show up for sale Yeah sounds like a 325ti with the B30 dropped in, no 330 brakes and gretrag box. Still, probably a very quick fun car for 5K, they all seem a bit rough though. Looking forward to making mine into the tidiest example in the best spec

Gives me hope for mine, it does seem like a good recipe for a rapid daily-able shopping trolly.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1704924903360560/ I saw this a few days ago, but this is a 330ti that Ray built, maybe there really is something in the air... Original sale thread here: If it sold for that asking that's a very good deal, if it wasn't in palmy and I didn't already have a donor car and trans on the way I probably would have got it myself just for the parts. Seems like the seller wasn't very clued in on what it was.

Not to mention if you did want to turn it into a 330ti at some point, very easy swap. Drop the engine in and flash the ECU with the 3.0 software and boom. Still left with the smaller brakes, driveshaft, axles and shitty getrag box though 😕 but at $5k it does seem like good buying.

Wow, that's a rare beast, NZ new too, can't be many factory manual 325ti's in NZ. But yep ugly as in stock trim. Last 325ti I saw for sale was an auto that was dereg and sold for 1k on fb marketplace a while back.

There's a slot at the top of them that you can fit a pry bar or big flat head screwdriver into and pry them out. They'll usually break on removal.

I'll be in the 12-15k range all said and done once mine is built, but I haven't really been penny pinching and don't mind paying a bit more for lower mileage/good condition/OE parts etc since I'm building the car to keep. Not to mention little details start to add up fast. Might be worth 15k to the right person if they didn't have the capability to build their own but very niche being a compact. I wonder how many 330ti's there are in NZ, I know Ray has built a couple. Must be <10, maybe even <5? In a way it is fairly cheap for a unique car you're unlikely to see another of on the road.

No, the RACP design is actually quite different given it is shortened and raised to accommodate the spare wheel well. My understanding is the front mounts can still see some cracking and are similar to that of the coupe/sedan. In the rear while all other E46 chassis dip up and down, the back half of the hatch is flat so there’s no stress concentrations as the cross section is almost constant between the chassis rails. But overall because of this the entire panel is a lot more rigidly mounted and RACP failure is much less common even with higher HP drivetrains so long as the subframe bushings aren't shot. All that info is from a conversation with Cayn at CMP Auto Engineering who IMO is one of the best informed when it comes to E46 RACP stuff I may still reinforce the front mounts at some point and put chassis rail plates in to bulletproof it, but given it'll be a stock power street driven car it should be fairly safe from total failure the way other E46s are prone to.

Smaller, lighter, quicker, better steering, and more practical than a coupe not to mention without the subframe RACP issues... Compact master race. White is their best colour imo, I really do think they are underrated. I always thought they were unique looking in a good way but having owned mine for a couple months now I genuinely think it's cool looking, especially with the 216M wheels. It'll only get better as I tidy up the exterior, plan to paint match the bumper strips, get facelift tail lights, maybe some spacers front and rear. I can't wait to start the project.

Yeah saw that this morning, very coincidental timing. I've watched brents videos a few times over now as inspiration. I'll definitely be leaving the compact front end on it, I love the quirky/ugly bug eyes. Surprised it's not listed as a 330i instead of a 316, would have figured it would get more interest that way but interesting to see what it ends up selling for.

Yep whole drivetrain was swapped. Not sure why it was done that way but I guess the silver top engine is a bit nicer than the later one and the MSV70 ecu is more tunable. mileage on the donor engine was almost exactly the same as the original.

Just listed mine, open to offers: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/130i/listing/4316273265

I thought that as I was posting the photos, but it is much worse in the flesh. Body is really rough, paint peeling on almost every panel and dents everywhere, Interior is beat, suspension is very tired, tamper dot on the dash (I think from the LCM being replaced since the mileage is genuine). But it has had some nice bits replaced on it in 2022 that I'll use, battery, radiator, belts/tensioners, ac condenser and a few other bits. I wanted something running well to begin with so I'm not chasing issues at the other end and the engine on this feels pretty strong to me. I did also just get it for cheap 15 minutes away from where I live so I figured I'd jump on it I have a huge list of parts that I'll refresh while the motors out, vcg, sump gasket and oil pump nut safety wire, vanos seals, DISA valve rebuild, engine mounts, intake pipes, coolant hoses and pipes, CCV bits, dipstick orings, rms, thermostat and waterpump, probably a bunch that I forgot to mention. The chain guides I considered as well but IIRC that requires disturbing the timing and I don't have the timing tools so I'll probably leave all that as is. Not sure whether I will bother doing the rod bearings since M54s aren't really known for eating them like the S54 but I'll probably check them when the engine is out and decide then. I'll keep the old style coils for now but not opposed to swapping them, whats the benefit to changing to the new style?

Donor acquired, 01 330i 145,xxxkms. If anyone wants any parts from the 330 that I'm not using feel free to message me. Now to make some space and list my 130 for sale.

I noticed that as well. Very strange, first NZ registration too. "I hate ANZ"?