Eagle

I like the feel of my M3 oil cap but don't think i would of bought one myself. Not sure id trust a Febi one to hold up over the long term, but suppose its cheap enough and you keeping you old one no doubt What do they cost?

A poor man or rugged mans way to bleed the system is to put your mouth over the expansion tank hole and use it to pressurize the system. You block the vent hose with finger etc and use the other hand the open and close the bleeder between breathes. I usually crack the bleeder when its upto operating temperature just be sure sure but there is rarely any significant amounts of air. Lost count of how many M20 and M30 engines ive done like this before i had a cooling system pressurizer. You can also drill a 2mm hole in the thermostat arrow to help bleeding but ive never needed to doing the above

Never come across that, where was that stated? Ive seen them all sort of condition on lots of different makes and models, they would have to be extremely worn to cause any obvious clutch issue. Ive replaced them on a few BMW's because OCD\feel good factor, but we lucky we can still buy new parts like these for old cars unlike many other brands. I think i said it before but im certain you got the best mechanical condition E46 in the country.

The lower control arms on earlier models like E34 and E39 rarely went bad in my experience, always ball joint failure rather than the bushing. The tension struts\upper control arms are the ones that take the most load and its usually the bushing the fails. I tend to replace only the bushing if the ball joint is still good because i believe the OE ball joints are superior\tend to last longer than most replacements. The main downside is a chance to damage the ball joint boot upon removal even with the proper tool. In your situation id probably just buy the complete arms with bushings installed either Lemforder or Meyle HD. Not sure what the labour costs would be,but its certainly easier and less hassle with complete arms. Dont have to worry about anyone stuffing the job up either.

If not re-using the bearing then heating around the shaft with a torch whilst having a puller on the hub hasn't failed me yet.

Ive got some genuine BMW sound deadening pad spare if you ever want some to fill in gaps. Guessing tourings have more of it after that pictured front beam?

Yeah i see him advertising on facebook. I think local is fine if you aren't particular about brands and doing small orders. Most of us here go for the higher quality stuff and order lots of parts at once, local doesnt really work well for that.

Wiper delete for looks? Some situations i wish all cars had rear wipers.

Na mine hasn't left the shed in awhile. There's is a few around no doubt.

and all the other electrical stuff

I agree about the E36 vert. Chuck a purple tag rack in and its probably got the best steering feel too.

Some maybe better than others but end of the day they are all low tier rubber. Supercats were one of the OG budget tyres before all the chinese flavors flooded the market.

Yeah suppose it depends on how bad it is\can you live with it. Could have the balanced checked on the shaft just to be sure Have had some success rotating the position of the flanges but only if had to take the thing for another reasons. I usually tighten it up the the diff first and loosen the transmission cross member and mounts when car is level, push it up and down so everything rests in its natural position, then retighten.

Minor shimmys and resonance\humming are the only real issue ive ever had with BMW's. The ones that were smooth were ones that hadn't been touched from the factory. They may get a final balance as a complete assembly. TIS usually states for various BMW's that the driveshaft ends should be marked in relation to transmission and diff flanges due to this, obviously you cant do that with used parts though. Worn driveshaft center sleeve can cause vibrations, i usually replace it the same time as the flex disc. Assume you checked the CV joint. Also had crappy CSB's cause issues too.

Compared to places like UK etc i dont you really need to go that deep. The underside isnt that exposed really either and if kept clean and not used in harsh condition should last ages even with cheap paint. I used 2k primer, 1k base e-coat colour and the same 3M sealer. Reddish recommend applying cavity wax after painting because when you weld its burns up the factory stuff in the internal cavities. I used 3M and some applicator wands, expensive but good as most 3M products are

300,000km is nothing these days. Someone just hurt because they bought the arguably the worst\cheapest BMW you can buy then found out after the fact.

Every brand has made problematic engines. Problem is 90% of people who buy these cars have no clue about them and whats required to run them, they just see a cheap BMW. Rarely do any research or ask workshops for advice or even get PPI done before buying. They certainly cry about BMW's being unreliable and expensive when they fail though, which is fine by me because limits these fools ruining the better ones.

Yeah all the M4X and M5X engines are in that regard.

No worries. They are about as close to a typical 4 cyl Japanese engine as you can get for a BMW, pretty basic and fairly reliable. Bonus having the PCV + hose done. Im assuming you are running 95+ octane. Engine mounts are another good item that usually help with inherent engine idle vibration. Like many cars a throttle body clean\polish and MAF clean is never a bad idea. If you are not aware there is a small plastic coolant flange at the back of the head which can break leading to quick overheat (only real weakness on these engines). It may of been done with the PCV hoe or another time but its hard to know sometimes unless you replace it. There is another one under the manifold which can fail too but much less likely. Item 9 - http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E36-Compact/Europe/318ti-M44/R-M/1997/browse/engine/cylinder_head_attached_parts/ If you want to free up engine bay space you can use the bottom section of the earlier M42 engine airbox and snorkel (or custom make something) which doesnt have the big air duct pipe running across the front.

Fair enough. Smoke test and\or fuel trim values will tell you if you have any vacuum leaks, rarely notice them otherwise unless they are major ones. The small DISA valve diaphram (get them off ebay) are always split and you will gain back some low end <3000rpm power. Good idea to replace O2 sensor also, always old and slow and dull throttle response on these engines ive found.

Would take a lot of work so unlikely many have done it especially for 4 cylinder. Have you had the transmission serviced and had adaptions reset? I think they change well enough for a 90s car in sport mode, just rob power compared to manual. Most M44 on the road aren't operating at 100%, most have failed DISA valves, vac leaks etc etc

Yeah you are right, no description on mdecoder so i missed it. Yeah M44 would be a bit of work but so more solid than N4X engine. The extra 100+kg might make it too slow though. I imagine you just drop the whole engine\loom and ecu in from the 330i and away you go after coding. No doubt a few cables and lines to sort out.

Is the rear sway bar the same profile as a regular E46?. Looking at part numbers they list the same diameter for sport and non sport bars with different numbers. Has your car been lowered, looks like it to me?. According to the build sheet you dont have any sport suspension options, seem common to have these with sport seats but nothing else. I see Eibach make compact specific springs and you'd always change dampers. Not sure how common manual ones are but id put a M44 in one if i could get it cheap enough

Subframe floor next?

Spareto and Schmedimann are what id recommend these days. Locally Euroitalian may have something. Id go genuine for the vent valve at least, more reliable and not much more $ than aftermarket stuff. Some aftermarket brands have hoses with inaccurate angles also.