Eagle

Yeah CMP are the cheapest on market too. Hopefully they back in stock when you want them.

Yeah once the solid subframe mounts are in its done in suspension dept. Besides better dampers, i can't think any other tweaks that will yield much of an increase without deviating too much from the factory ride and needing certs. Custom springs & dampers to dial it in to suit would be great, but the cost wouldn't be worth it for a car like this. TRW's perform decent on these springs and are that cheap that you can replace them every 50,000km.

Front end finished up with poor man camber\caster plates aka E36 M3 Evo strut mounts. Certainly nothing new about these for E36's, not much info about using them on E46's apart from being the same fitment. Unfortunately the OE and OEM brands now appear to be NLA, so its either a genuine set at around $600 or one of the numerous aftermarket Taiwanese brands for around the <$200. I went with these B&E ones from Amazon and Rockauto. Doesn't appear to be much different between them apart from the bearing design and i think the prices reflects this. They are probably all made in the same factory. These mounts are firmer with less rubber isolation and you feel it over certain bumps. Height wise are 5-10mm lower than my previous Lemforder mounts so more inline with the original OE design i think. The studs are also obviously longer which is good if you are installing a strut brace. I did have some slight rubbing of the spring on RH strut tower, the spring was rubbing seam sealer when the wheel was turned in a certain spot, but that has cleared up after some use. E36's appear to have a bit more room in the towers when comparing with my Ti. I originally had them swapped left to right (more camber over castor) but ended up with too much camber for street usage, was something around -3-3.5° total according to my diy gauge. Installing them normally yielded an additional around ~-0.8° of camber and ~2.5° of castor. I had the Z4M FCAB's still installed so ended up with 8.4° of castor. Not worth going into too much detail on it, but the weight jacking along with the vastly increased steering effort was dangerous in certain corners and at high speeds. I swapped back to Meyle HD bushings to bring it back down to degrees 7.5°. Having tried all the castor ranges from 5-8° this feels to the best in my setup (the M3 runs 6.5-7.5 i believe). No obvious extra steering input needed and combined with the extra camber for front turn in\grip, the car is now very close to neutral in the tighter corners. I picked up at least an extra 10kph on my test corners and around about with very little understeer compared to my previous settings. I dont know it would be like without the other mods ive done, but its a massive different in grip\turn in for very low cost. The camber settings below are maxed out front and rear on Eibach's. You should be able add back ~+0.7 front camber via strut slots, which puts you around -1.0 degrees depending on your spring choice. I don't see any real disadvantage of running this amount for improved handling if your toe is around 0. Tyre choice and how you drive the car will probably dictate whether you should run it these or not. CMP Monoballs - I've done over 100km on all sorts of crappy NZ B-roads and these are exactly as advertised. Rear end now much more stable\planted\composed, it does not jitter around noticeably and bump steer is reduced on all road surfaces. With my current setup i can now counter steer mid corner without the feeling like its loosing grip. On smooth seal at high speeds its a similar feeling. The extra camber, castor and chassis braces have probably helped to a degree but i think its mostly the new RTAB's at work here. They certainly are controlling the rear alignment like they claim to do. Even quite noticeable under normal road road driving, much more relaxing with less steering wheel movement. Long service life and much easier to bolt up the trailing arm bracket with no preload or alignment make these i must have IMO. They are expensive for what they are but you are getting good benefits for a few hundred. Makes me wonder why BMW didnt use them in the CSL. Only disadvantage which is widely reported is driving over sharp bumps - square seal patch edges, reflectors, sharp curbs etc produces a rear end whack\thump similar to stiff bushings. May not be the best mod if you driving a lot on crappy roads or want max comfort\quiet, but the benefits easily outweigh that.

It did look very familiar. Yeah would be interested to see how it holds up. The ceramic pads certainly help keep the calipers much cleaner in my car.

I thinking around 4k. Basically a rolling manual conversion given everything else is probably very tired.

Downsides are their power claims.. Given your engine is basically 'new' (not sure about about all new sensors etc) they should be willing offer you a rebate of some sorts if the before and dynos are way off. I know they likely wont because as they say all their original tuning was done using a dyno.

Going to be using your spare exhaust system for mods ? Not sure secondary cats would be worth that much unless prices have gone a lot in recent times?. I scrapped a set of primary M54B30 in late 2020 for around $170-180 iirc. Those power claims do seem very bold. Personally don't think its worth spending that kind of money on a tune unless you have done other mods. They don't dyno either, so id want to do a before and after which would add more cost.

Catted manifolds are pricks. Least its all easy stuff now to fire it up.

Least you know where you at now Damage from jacking without wood etc block?. Yeah it appears to be. You could probably hear, feel or smell it but could also spray bottle some water to confirm.

Had a loud creaking from the rear that randomly started after 1000km when i installed new Lemforder lower arms and joints. Was intermittent and only really heard on low speed bumps and jacking up the car. Traced it to lower joint on one side so i sprayed some WD40 into the rubber boot and it was gone, figured it must be a bad joint and replaced it, then the other side started doing the same thing. Only thing left to fault was the new arms, i replaced one side to confirm and then the other. First time ive had issues with Lemforder stuff. Not sure what exactly what was causing the noise. Arm itself measured roughly the same, but the bushing appears to be a different design with a chamfered face. Could be the wrong bushing or some sort of manufacturing defect somewhere. Im curious so might try to remove these ones and install my OE Lemforder spares, doesn't matter if i damage the arm at this point. Lemforder 2511401 arm from Spareto. Made in Poland. Original bushing

Yeah pretty much the same as me. I think you'd have to at least take the diff to someone to have the backlash measured before buying it. As you know the E9X & E8X diffs are rubbish, so finding a good one these days might be hard.

Did you have any vibrations before hand? What are brand are the mounts? Ive had new OEM engine mounts cause vibrations that weren't there previously, so its possible. Is transmission crossmember parallel and not at a poor angle? Should sit so the driveshaft looks straight from the transmission to the rear looking at it from the bottom. I dont remember what the E30 crossmember looks like but there is usually some adjustment. I guess its possible you upset the flex disc depending on how you jacked it, if its old it may of stretched\cracked. I usually jack up the transmission from the rear just in front of the cross member with some wood, just so its just touching, undo the bolts then it lower it down to get access. Transmission nuts are 43-48nm according to E30 Bentley, wouldn't be easy the do that with a standard ring spanner under the car. Maybe a bit of a pita if you re-install the old mounts, maybe one set at a time and re-test, at least it will eliminate the new stuff (once all the other checks are done)

Id be very surprised if this isn't the best mechanically sound non M E46 in the country (once fully completed)

Did you have any noticeable backlash with the stock diff? My old diff was very quiet\good backlash\slack and was thinking on swapping the center over to that one at some point. Mainly hear it on\off throttle and changing in lower gears around town etc. In saying that i think using worn parts with new center is always going to create some slop somewhere. No one can guarantee any wrecker diff would be good until you use it with the new center.

Easy enough to pickup, but yeah maybe let your mate take on the risk for your nice car. I though id better check the MK ones are standard height after i wrote that. CMP ones are raising type for lowered cars, so if i used them i may not have enough negative camber using stock eccentrics. I read a M3 forums post about a guy using CMP ones with M3 stock springs and he only could get -0.5-1.0 of negative camber. Eibach springs only lowered the rear about 5-8mm on mine, so dont want to risk needing camber arms (cert).

I use HPR5 in all my own cars and most customers. I prefer the 40 viscosity and its usually cheaper especially 20L trade\special price. I also remember reading a technical thread on bobsoilguy about the base stock etc, the consensus was that is was decent.

Originally i wanted to some additional support\rigidity for the subframe floor. The only non intrusive option available at the time was the Vincebar, but they were too expensive and not easily available. CMP engineering in Australia released their updated front and rear version at the end of Sept '22. They much cheaper to buy(just over $400 NZD shipped) and additional tower braces can be bolted on later if required, they can also be installed without having to remove anything from the underside. I got a head start thanks to @Vass giving me the instructions for the rear while i waiting for mine to arrive. The rear was much harder to install than the front, lots more welding in harder positions given you are in the boot. I had already been in there installing the Reddish chassis plates so had to undo alot of work - clearing seam sealer, paint and i had to weld additional material to the Reddish plates to match CMP ones. Also checked the spot welds on the rear chassis rails beneath the rear seats - found one at failed each side. Those were repaired and i did the recommended stich welding between the spot welds (Reddish never mentioned this area) Front was straight forward, much less welding and more comfortable to work (as much as you can expect to be squatting\kneeling in the back). Had to add some additional sheet metal to cover up Reddish cover plate holes. Again the Reddish cover plates made a mess of rear. Once the local BMW wreckers open i will be getting a cut out for the rear boot\tyre well. Once that is tacked and sealed in place it should tidy it up nicely. CMP's methods of removal are much better in this regard too. I certainly recommend CMP over anyone else at the moment. They are only ones to publicly document all failure areas the need to be checked, prices\shipping are good and Cayn the owner is very helpful Here's the instructions which give you an idea. I really cbf'd taking pictures. Front (only fits E46 coupe and sedans with fold down rear seats) - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/r0yptrrfvz3sh06g3btag/h?dl=0&rlkey=d3ak9st81tz52mwrg6jhi8gq4 Rear - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sgo61ce8idx7gd5/AAByD0GhZa-EsWnOf31JQbzda?dl=0 Also ordered\installed CMP monoballs. Expensive yes, but i justified it by saying my preload angle for the RTAB pocket was incorrect (i had lowered the car after it was set), they place less stress on the RTAB pocket and ive already converted the lower joint RTAB joint to spherical M3 one. Certainly much more force needed to install these compared to your average bushing. If you are doing them on the car you'd need grade 8.8+ threaded rod, bolt\thrust washer and preferably a long 1\2" ratchet. A ball joint press may work but would be a pita to line up properly. I also painted the outside flanges for the OE look. Ordered solid alloy subframe brushings from MK-motorsport in Germany. Additional research and talking to people has me convinced that it is the way to go. Yeah i should of done them the first time around (could say that for most suspension related work ive done on this car) but you do really get to see how each improvement changes the vehicle, as opposed to doing everything at once.

Loosing my garage space so id thought id try to sell it by doubling the price. Seems legit.

I found poly is just more hassle than its worth on parts that twist. Stopped using it for everything expect fixed mounts after ongoing issues. Would be interesting to compare the steering feel between the solid to the new OE one. Everyone always compares worn OE to new which isn't exactly a fair test.

They are quite hidden but all the monoballs have a flange on them so they stick out unlike the OE ones, with the pink\purple id have to re-paint at least that part for my ocd. Fortunately most subframe mounts are straight alloy or black. Yeah some places are a bit slack like that. I just assume most places are closed till 4th unless its clearly stated somewhere.

Any reason you not going with CMP ones or they too aftermarket looking? Those Eibach ones don't seem to allow much negative camber adjustment (compared to the CMP ones at least), although if that's -1 degree over stock then that's probably adequate for factory camber specs. Yeah im following the same principle in regards to colors, parts have to be black or alloy for factory look. Will have to re-paint the CMP RTAB's as the pink is the worse thing about their parts. If you have to do another order for the gaskets let me know. Ive got minor exhaust leak from my manifold and will likely need a set along with new studs and nuts.

Cayn is the only person ive seen to completely document all the areas that need checking and correcting. Reddish never mentioned checking spot welds under the side of rear seat of which 2 had failed on mine. Since you getting a cert and can install camber arms the CMP raising subframe mounts are a no brainer (and cheapest available). I don't want to put his ones in because Eibachs dont really lower the rear, dont want to risk ending up with low negative camber. Found some from MK-motorsport in Germany that ill probably got with instead. Yep the E46 is certainly a flawed chassis but at least its got a large community to help remedy it. Yeah i can imagine deleting the secondary cats would sound ok but anything else would be obnoxious somewhere in the rev range.

Nice. Hoses look good. What steering rack you got in? Purple tag? Ive just ordered that CMP back (and front) topside brace too, more rigidity the better, shame they weren't available until a few months ago. Going with their monoball rtabs and some solid subframe mounts also. Everyone ive talked to and everything ive read seems to point at the handling benefits being immense for minor NVH, less stress on the floor is always good. Id recommend getting E36 M3 bump stops front and rear if you running Eibachs (are they touring specific springs?). They are about 10-15mm shorter than OE sport ones and allow for more stroke travel before contact, more compliant over big\sharp bumps especially when cornering at higher speeds. not riding on the stiffer upper section as much which can ramp the spring rate up. I think my stock exhaust without the flap working is the perfect volume. Some idle\low down bass and hums away on highway speeds without being annoying. My car is a coupe and probably has less sound deadening than yours so it maybe a bit louder than the average example.

Pretty much what everyone was telling you. If you asked CJ to check this and they didn't then that's very unprofessional. Be aware that cheap aftermarket wheel especially big ones with low profile tyres buckle very easy.

They are awful things to try and maneuver, oversized with a poor turning radius. Just piles of crap in general really, that why they only have one type of owner.