e46 330ci Clubsport SSG

[Eagle 1676]

Did the hardest job on list - CCV and hoses, plastic water pipes and cleaning. Pipes were still in decent condition but new parts come with peace of mind. Couple of small bits of broken plastic to flush out later from the block, otherwise the heater valve may grab them for me.

[Eagle 1676]

All back together. New Lemforder tie rods, boots, OE swaybar bushings, boot struts and cam sensors for good measure. Aligned to BMW spec for now but just about everything is back to being the job properly. Steering rack will probably be changed in future also as it has some wear on center.

 

[Eagle 1676]

Revealed a  hairline crack on the subframe floor awhile ago whilst cleaning (the usual L\H crease). I was planning on dropping the subframe anyway so went ahead. Luckily it didn't appear to be any additional failed welds or cracks, but Redish V3 plates will be going in anyway once Fedex Australia sorts their sh*t out.  New subframe bushings and inner control arm bushings done whilst its out. 

Inspected the clutch\flywheel. Very little wear so must of been replaced not too long ago.  Re-used the flywheel and installed a new clutch kit. New winner for the hardest job on this car. Not something you ever want to do on axle stands with standard floor jack with a cramped transmission tunnel to boot.

Unfortunately the refurbished slave cylinder was weeping, probably due contaminated fluid from wear given the marks in the cylinder. Seal still looked ok so honed the better spare cylinder swapped it over and bled it. Appears to be holding for now but will refurbish the old one again for insurance. Cleaned all the solenoids, drained all the fluid and flushed some new stuff thru using the pump so hopefully cleared it out.

Driveshaft nose bushing, Meyle HD flex disc and Febi center support done. FAG front wheel bearings, replacement rack and new Meyle HD control arms also done while everything is apart.

Just need to do install rear wheel bearings, put everything back together and parts cannon along with the operator can retire for awhile.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Eagle

[hqstu 780]

Great work Jared !!  It is disappointing re the slave cylinder.  I could provide some "feedback" to supplier if required. 

This ultra rare car is really getting serious attention - and one to watch...

[Sammo 2550]

Gotta be one of the best maintained 330ci's in NZ 👌

[Eagle 1676]

10 hours ago, hqstu said:

Great work Jared !!  It is disappointing re the slave cylinder.  I could provide some "feedback" to supplier if required. 

This ultra rare car is really getting serious attention - and one to watch...

Yeah is what it is but im glad i discovered it before it got worse. I think they would come to the same conclusion as me.  As you know the system has no filters to prevent this but it should be fairly clean now. I can repair the cylinder locally much cheaper than overseas now that i know the required seal. 

5 hours ago, Sammo said:

Gotta be one of the best maintained 330ci's in NZ 👌

Haha thanks. Mechanical wise it's certainly up there. Cosmetically it wont be winning any awards but its tidy enough for my standards. Maybe a possible front end respray in the future, who knows.    

[Eagle 1676]

Underside and floor mostly prep'd for welding next week. Wheel arches and trailing arm pockets will be stiched reinforced also along with redoing some of the spot welds that were a bit iffy. The poor factory MIG welds for the front threaded receiver under the rear seats will be redone too. Finally the trunk floor reinforcement plates that connect the floor to the side of chassis legs. Underside plate are also plug welded from the trunk floor cavity for an even stronger connection.  

Edited January 30, 2022 by Eagle

[Eagle 1676]

Finally got the welding done. Certainly not a job i ever want to do on axle stands again but i think it looks decent for an amateur? Penetration appears good so certainly don't anticipate any future problems. 

Paint will have to wait due to weather.

 

[hqstu 780]

Serious goodness going on here...

[Eagle 1676]

2k primer, urethane seam sealed and base to blend into the existing paint. Messed up sealer, applied way too much and it started to cure much quicker than i expected with this heat. Subframe etc covered most of it up anyway.

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by Eagle

[Eagle 1676]

All back together and driving good. Back end is noticeably tighter with the new\improved rubber subframe bushings, possibly with the reinforcements helping with some additional rigidity. 

Edited February 20, 2022 by Eagle

[Eagle 1676]

14 hours ago, hqstu said:

Serious goodness going on here...

Yeah i expect it reach 400,000 now without requiring any more significant amounts of cash.

[Eagle 1676]

Gave the paint a going over with the Meguiar's DA microfiber system. Stopped using foam pads after i tried this as i found it delivers good results for minimal time and outlay.

No swirls or holograms so maybe someone has cleaned well over the years or corrected it in the past? @hqstu ?.  Got most of the light scratching out leaving some the time consuming deeper ones alone. With thinner clear and stone chips present in certain areas i dont think its worth the risk given the light blue hides defects very good.

Ride height has increased a little with the new parts but im a fan of factory lowered height. Yet it scrap it in all the typical situations after a few 100 k's so should limit any bumper damage.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Eagle

[Sammo 2550]

Looking sharp as full stop, let alone for 300+ km.

Ride height is great too

[Eagle 1676]

Wasn't quite satisfied with the handling so made a few tweaks - TRW msport front struts to match the rear. Z4M front control arm bushings bump up the caster. Re-alignment to check and add more negative camber.

 

[Eagle 1676]

Couple of months ago a thought i try the 'super sport' mode on the SSG, which is said to be like M3 S3\S4 shifting speeds. Shifted good\hard and managed few shifts before loosing all drive after a shift to 3rd gear. Luckily i was only 1km from home so easy towed. Thought maybe the SAC pressure plate or clutch cylinder had failed somehow as it appeared to still be trying to disengagement the clutch. Upon gearbox removal i found the splined clutch disc center had play and was spinning freely turning into a wheel bearing. Pressure plate appeared fine and id say the gearbox itself is ok but hard to tell with SMG given you can't feel anything. Decided an actual manual conversion is the best way forward.

Ended up going via @Vass contact. Cost about the same as his if i didnt mess up the currency conversion. It didnt incl the rear section driveshaft, diff, flywheel\clutch, so not the best deal but not the worst. Fast forward about 6 weeks it turns up but like @Vass experienced with crate damaged, gearbox nearly falling out and missing clutch module and wiring (probably fell out bottom on crate). Disappointing given its easy stuff to package correctly with some effort. Probably wouldn't recommend him to anyone unless you cant find a conversion for 4k (he doesnt ship rear sections of driveshaft now either). He is trustworthy and has good communication but probably better than pay a bit more here unless you can get cheap shipping. 

The 5 speed SMG even easier than an auto to convert and can be converted back very easy if need be. I dont plan to ever sell the car with what ive spent on it so its probably not really an issue. No wiring will be cut and will have adaptors for clutch module\brake switch side and reverse lights. Some coding just to get rid of the gear cog indicator. Got most of the new bits ready to do the conversion so should have it done in a few weeks once some final parts show up and i order i new module. 

While i was waiting i put in a new ATE brake booster and rubber hose\pump (small leaks from both) and replaced the master cylinder whilst it was out with a FTE one. Finally found new O2 sensors from Spareto and installed them.

[Vass 862]

Damn man, shame to hear that. I wasn't too happy with the package arriving beaten up but luckily no real damage was done. Didn't think too much of it. Not ideal of course.

The reverse light plug looks to be the same as any temperature sensor one so I just went and cut on off at Pick-A-Part. I'm still a fair way away from installing mine but believe it should work fine, just the two wires to hook up.

With the clutch module, I think mine just came mounted to the clutch pedal. It's that small black rectangle thingy I thought? Was yours completely missing. I know there's two different versions of them depending on the model year. Will have to check again now, not 100% sure it's all there.

[Eagle 1676]

I saw yours attached in photos

Yeah it was there as he showed me a photo, It obviously fell off, they aren't exactly secured well to handle shipping. To his credit he is going to try and find me one. Yeah im using Bosch EV1 plugs for my reverse light adapters then running a pair of wires direct to plug in a sleeve. Plugs into existing SSG reverse harness plug which is already wired correctly so everything should work as before. 

[Eagle 1676]

Mostly back together. Very easy to get the box in compared to that horrible SSG. Even the clutch line wasn't as bad as i expected. Quick start to check coding, gearbox and clutch which appear working well. Just need to get the driveshaft re-balanced with the new front half and CV joint before i can drive. The guy didn't include the shifter foam and boot so will have to wait for him to find one a boot or get new. Looks like of those done on the cheap conversions but at least i can still use it.

Long 1\2" extension and wobble extension recommended. Makes the job much easier and less likely to round heads off (24" and 10" pictured)  

Edited May 29, 2022 by Eagle

[Vass 862]

Damn! That is one clean box. Was just going wild with a brass brush on mine earlier today, 20 years worth of road grime and oil doesn't want to come off too easily. Is this the way you got it or what did you use to clean it? Pressure washer or something? 

[Eagle 1676]

Various wire wheels on big corded drill, more powerful drill with higher rpm yields best results. I think i spent about 20-30 mins on it to get the majority off but it wasn't an OCD clean by any means.

[Sammo 2550]

Got to be one of the best non Ms going around 

[Eagle 1676]

Thanks. I think ive spent close to what i paid for it on parts now haha.   

[hqstu 780]

2 hours ago, Eagle said:

I think ive spent close to what i paid for it on parts now

Always the way...

Can't wait to see it and drive it - again... 😎

[Eagle 1676]

Unfortunately there seem to be a fault in the DME or the new clutch module so pedal engagement\disengagement isn't being registered properly. Actually threw a clutch module error and disabled cruise control buttons with it all wired up the so input has disconnected for now. Hopefully it stays thinking its pressed in. Also have developed a annoying rattle on the passenger dash\glove box and light knocking coming from L\R which needs to be looked at when weather improves. 

On the positive side I've been driving it around a fair bit to bed in the clutch which is slowly improving. I can't really fully push it yet but im sure it's the best running stock M54 ive driven. Fixing the vacuum leaks has dropped the LTFT's from +9,+11 to +3,+4, along with ICV clean and new MAF and O2 sensors has made a very noticeable difference in throttle response and acceleration. Shifts exactly like my E39 with new bushings, E60 short shifter, ZHP knob and Redline MTL. Also bled the DSC unit a few times as pedal travel was quite excessive - very big improvement, so much so you can actually heal and toe now and brake heavily.

Gave up on the pom actually giving me anything he promised and bought a new leather boot local from Coombes ( $171 trade and came in just over 1 week so very reasonable)