BMW E46 Compact 330Ti Build

[Eagle 1524]

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.  

 

[Harper 465]

5 hours ago, Eagle said:

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. 

Pretty much. Have to run an extra loom for the AC compressor, and some people say they need an extra wire from the cluster for the battery light but others didn't need that so we'll see. Other than that just the usual manual swap stuff which should be straight forward. Since I'll have the whole engine loom out I might as well modify/run the reverse wiring with the factory harness so it should all be pretty tidy. 

[Harper 465]

My 130i sold, so the fun begins...

All driveline stuff removed, exhaust, driveshaft etc

Fluids drained and front end removed

Few extra ancillaries removed and it's just about ready to get yanked out. Still have to disconnect the ECU and wiring stuff but that should be easy.

Love how easy the E46 comes apart

[Harper 465]

Fun parts starting to pile up. Manual conversion stuff all ready to go. Brakes stripped down ready for some paint

Factory 325ti specific exhaust and have the 6 cylinder compact specific front sway bar as well.

Scored a facelift rear hatch in alpine white which looks much sportier than the prefacelift version imo, still need to find some facelift tail lights to go on. Will be doing a factory wiper delete as well convert to a RF key instead of the shitty IR key at the same time since the FZV module is in the hatch on the compacts.

Ordered a manual cluster from Greece on ebay for 100NZD shipped, I'll steal the manual blank cluster panel from it and use the 330 cluster rings so the car so the car will essentially have a 330 manual cluster as it should.

Haven't had time to pull the motor out of the 330 yet, I'm hoping either over the long weekend or the weekend after I'll get to it. Then I'll do a big parts order, refresh the motor and hopefully have the 330ti ready by Christmas. In the meantime, it's actually nice to have an economical daily for once...

Edited October 11, 2023 by Harper

[Eagle 1524]

22 hours ago, Harper said:

Will be doing a factory wiper delete as well convert to a RF key instead of the shitty IR key at the same time since the FZV module is in the hatch on the compacts.

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

[Harper 465]

5 hours ago, Eagle said:

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

It's a common failure point on the E46 compacts. I never use it and when I do it seems to just smear up the back window. But yeah mostly it just looks so much better without it. 

[Harper 465]

Some progress today

Calipers painted, not perfect but looks good enough for some brakes

Hubs and old wheel bearings pressed out of the trailing arms. I wasn't planning on doing this but one of the bearings was knackered so I might as well put fresh ones in. Gave all the handbrake shoe parts a good scrub while everything is apart.

Hardest part of the whole job was getting the axles out, had to take them to my local shop to get them out with their press. Destroyed an axle pusher tool and banana'd every bit of metal I have on my press trying to get them out. Shop said it took 15 tonnes to get them out. From all the hammering the end of one of the axles was pretty mushroomed so I had to taper down the end. Still can't get the nut on though, think I'm going to need to find a M27x1.5 thread die and chase it... Or find a new axle

Driveshaft CV joint cleaned out and repacked with new grease. Miserable job, but the joint does feel a lot better.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Harper

[Vass 705]

Bummer about the axles. Luckily my 330 ones came out alright with a bit of bashing. Wanted to separate the 325 ones from the trailing arms for easier storage but both are absolutely seized in there. Might just end up scrapping them altogether.

Good stuff on the driveshaft CV joint. The rear end of mine that I got with the manual conversion was pissing out grease so looked to do the same but upon closer look, the rubber boot had completely crumbled and cracked so no good to reuse. Bummer that you have to get the whole joint as a replacement, pretty spendy one that. 

You're probably all over it, but just to point out a few uncommon manual bits that often get left out of conversion kits:

• 223001222894 - 2 of the 4 E14 torx head bolts that connect the gearbox to the engine (the bottom 2) are longer on a manual gearbox than on automatic. My conversion didn't come with those so I had to order a couple off Schmiedmann. People have still used the shorted bolts and they probably work just fine but you don't get full thread engagement.
• 21521163894 - The rubber grommet for where the clutch hardline goes through the firewall into the engine bay. There's one grommet/sleeve that is attached to the hardline itself but then there's another one that sits in the chassis.
• 07147140849 - I think that's the right number, can check and confirm later on if needed - the blind plug that blocks out the hole for the old automatic gearshift cable. Can probably make due with whatever but in case you wanted to stick to genuine.
• 11141734019 - The backing plate that goes between the engine and gearbox. Manual one doesn't have an opening for the torque converter bolts, and another one just under the starter for some unknown purpose. You can just keep the automatic one with the rubber plug but it bugged me for whatever reason. Annoyingly, you can't seem to get these new from anywhere anymore. I got mine used from a fella called Paulo Tavares in Auckland recently. 
• 17111436250 - Plastic plate for the radiator without the openings for the auto box oil cooler. Without it you'd have to crimp off some hoses and make a bit of a mess. 
• 17111437359 - In addition to the previous point, a plug screw to the bottom of the radiator. Auto and manual ones are different length so a passage gets blocked further up on whichever one of them.
• 17117561757 - Electronic radiator fan to get rid of the clutch fan.

Some might be pretty obvious but a few of those I got caught out on myself. 

[Harper 465]

33 minutes ago, Vass said:

Bummer about the axles. Luckily my 330 ones came out alright with a bit of bashing. Wanted to separate the 325 ones from the trailing arms for easier storage but both are absolutely seized in there. Might just end up scrapping them altogether.

Good stuff on the driveshaft CV joint. The rear end of mine that I got with the manual conversion was pissing out grease so looked to do the same but upon closer look, the rubber boot had completely crumbled and cracked so no good to reuse. Bummer that you have to get the whole joint as a replacement, pretty spendy one that. 

You're probably all over it, but just to point out a few uncommon manual bits that often get left out of conversion kits:

• 223001222894 - 2 of the 4 E14 torx head bolts that connect the gearbox to the engine (the bottom 2) are longer on a manual gearbox than on automatic. My conversion didn't come with those so I had to order a couple off Schmiedmann. People have still used the shorted bolts and they probably work just fine but you don't get full thread engagement.
• 21521163894 - The rubber grommet for where the clutch hardline goes through the firewall into the engine bay. There's one grommet/sleeve that is attached to the hardline itself but then there's another one that sits in the chassis.
• 07147140849 - I think that's the right number, can check and confirm later on if needed - the blind plug that blocks out the hole for the old automatic gearshift cable. Can probably make due with whatever but in case you wanted to stick to genuine.
• 11141734019 - The backing plate that goes between the engine and gearbox. Manual one doesn't have an opening for the torque converter bolts, and another one just under the starter for some unknown purpose. You can just keep the automatic one with the rubber plug but it bugged me for whatever reason. Annoyingly, you can't seem to get these new from anywhere anymore. I got mine used from a fella called Paulo Tavares in Auckland recently. 
• 17111436250 - Plastic plate for the radiator without the openings for the auto box oil cooler. Without it you'd have to crimp off some hoses and make a bit of a mess. 
• 17111437359 - In addition to the previous point, a plug screw to the bottom of the radiator. Auto and manual ones are different length so a passage gets blocked further up on whichever one of them.
• 17117561757 - Electronic radiator fan to get rid of the clutch fan.

Some might be pretty obvious but a few of those I got caught out on myself. 

The axles were a mission but I've ordered an M27x1.5 thread die so hopefully should be able to cleanup the thread. 

The CV joint on the driveshaft that came with my conversion was also destroyed, I'm swapping the rear half from my donor car but will need to get everything balanced I'm guessing.

It was a good feeling to go through every part you mentioned and already have it in my order list haha, I've spent far too long on realoem in the last couple months. Only thing I'm omitting from that list is the bellhousing plate since you can't buy them new and functionally they're the same so I'll live with it. Weitz had an electric rad fan for $100 so I grabbed that at the same time as the manual conversion stuff. The trans tunnel plug I had the same part number as you mentioned initially but after looking on a factory manual car that was being scrapped at a pickapart the correct plug appears to be 51712258519. I was going to order both and see which fit better.

Edited October 16, 2023 by Harper

[Eagle 1524]

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.  

[Vass 705]

9 hours ago, Harper said:

It was a good feeling to go through every part you mentioned and already have it in my order list haha, I've spent far too long on realoem in the last couple months.

The trans tunnel plug I had the same part number as you mentioned initially but after looking on a factory manual car that was being scrapped at a pickapart the correct plug appears to be 51712258519. I was going to order both and see which fit better.

I know that feeling, RealOEM is life

Just checked my order history and I did get the 07147140849 plug, fit in perfectly. I didn't have a manual car to check on so measured the diameter and went with one that matched off this schematic. But yeah only a few $ each, best to be safe.

Don't know if you've pressed in the rear hubs yet, but if you wanted to freshen up the dust shields at all, I found these Febi ones (1 & 2) for around $20 each on Spareto. Was going to repaint mine but not worth the effort when new ones are as cheap.

[Harper 465]

1 hour ago, Vass said:

Just checked my order history and I did get the 07147140849 plug, fit in perfectly. I didn't have a manual car to check on so measured the diameter and went with one that matched off this schematic. But yeah only a few $ each, best to be safe.

I did the same on my 130 which was missing that plug and letting a bunch of heat into the cabin, used 07147140849 with no issue. That's why it stuck out to me when I noticed the plug was visually different on the factory manual E46 being scrapped. Matched it to 51712258519 along with the TRW part number printed on the underside.

1 hour ago, Vass said:

Don't know if you've pressed in the rear hubs yet, but if you wanted to freshen up the dust shields at all, I found these Febi ones (1 & 2) for around $20 each on Spareto. Was going to repaint mine but not worth the effort when new ones are as cheap.

Good catch I hadn't considered getting those. Would be rude not to with them being so cheap, 13usd at schmiedmann. 

[Harper 465]

3 hours ago, Eagle said:

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.  

That was going to be my next step. Fortunately all it took was a big f'n press and $30 for my closest shop to do it

[Kees 581]

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/291828843783442/?mibextid=9R9pXO

Might have already been posted / be an old listing but this just came up in my marketplace. 
 

Another white m sport 318ti. Looks to be in Silverdale judging by the photos. 
 

[Harper 465]

1 hour ago, Kees said:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/291828843783442/?mibextid=9R9pXO

Might have already been posted / be an old listing but this just came up in my marketplace. 
 

Another white m sport 318ti. Looks to be in Silverdale judging by the photos. 
 

Hadn't seen that. I was almost mad, would've saved me a lot of work converting mine to facelift, but it does look a lot more rough, no xenons either.

Still badass though, they're criminally underrated. Alpine white does them so many favours visually. Having driven mine around a couple months now they are let down a lot by the drivetrain however. If bmw had made a 330ti from factory it would have been a cult classic

Edited October 17, 2023 by Harper

[Vass 705]

40 minutes ago, Harper said:

Hadn't seen that. I was almost mad, would've saved me a lot of work converting mine to facelift, but it does look a lot more rough, no xenons either.

Didn't even know ti's had a facelift version. What are all the differences exactly? Must be pretty subtle, looking at that one and yours side by side I can't seem to pick out much at all. The bootlid is one but would never have noticed it had you not pointed that out and don't see what makes one better than the other. And are the red taillights the facelift ones? I actually prefer the look of the clear ones that you have already. What else is there?

[Harper 465]

13 minutes ago, Vass said:

Didn't even know ti's had a facelift version. What are all the differences exactly? Must be pretty subtle, looking at that one and yours side by side I can't seem to pick out much at all. The bootlid is one but would never have noticed it had you not pointed that out and don't see what makes one better than the other. And are the red taillights the facelift ones? I actually prefer the look of the clear ones that you have already. What else is there?

That's it haha. Boot lid is a better design with the wider trunk lip and the red tails. M3 has a similar bootlid change between facelift and pfl, I've been hunting for a titan silver facelift bootlid for my M3 for forever. Mostly just preference and small details no one would ever notice. 

[Harper 465]

Nothing more exciting than getting home to some big boxes of car parts on your door step.

OE Clutch kit, I have a new OE dual mass flywheel too since going single mass doesn't appeal to me

3

Rear strut mounts, bump stops, spacers and extended wheel bolts, E90 X-drive strut mounts

I really hadn't planned on getting these but the more I thought about it the more I realised that reusing the old tired struts and springs would really take away from the experience. I also found out that there are 6 cylinder compact specific Bilstein B8's and eibach springs which sealed the deal. The front struts are the same for any 6 cylinder E46 but the rear dampers are valved differently for the compact with less weight over the rear, and the eibach springs are specific to the 325ti with the 6 cylinder up front and the different rear. Should make for a nice setup.

 

Other than that I finally sourced some facelift tails and installed them. Small detail but looks so much better.

 

Engine all strapped up ready to pull, hoping to get to it tomorrow after work so I can spend the weekend tearing the motor down.

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Harper

[Cement 784]

Quite a good shot of the engine bay to see just how on the piss the motor really is !!

[Vass 705]

Hey I just had a thought. Can't remember if you've mentioned it but I'm assuming you're going to be putting this car through the cert process once it's all done. Have you checked with your certifier regarding driveshaft hoops? I just booked myself in for cert today and remembered the conversation I had the guy regarding the topic, was told that hoops are required if you're modifying the driveshaft or if you're increasing power by 50% from stock. I'm dodging the bullet as the power increase from 2.5L to 3.0L doesn't go near the threshold but in your case it might be a requirement. Could be possible to negotiate around it since the same chassis did come with bigger engines and you'll have the driveshaft to match but worth checking anyway. Easier to get the hoops put in if they end up being required during the build process rather than to have to dig back into it later on.

You're probably all over it seeing how thorough you are but thought it worth mentioning on the off chance it's a caveat you've missed. 

[Harper 465]

56 minutes ago, Vass said:

You're probably all over it seeing how thorough you are but thought it worth mentioning on the off chance it's a caveat you've missed. 

Actually not at all haha. I had planned to cert it but was banking on it being straight forward with it all being OEM parts. As far as I know both Brent and Rays 330ti's are fully certed without driveshaft hoops and they are both originally 316ti's so that gives me hope. Would seem crazy to require them when it's just the guts of a 330 swapped over and the chassis is essentially the same. Like you say, an argument can probably be made since a 2.5L was available for the compacts.

[Eagle 1524]

18 hours ago, Harper said:

I really hadn't planned on getting these but the more I thought about it the more I realised that reusing the old tired struts and springs would really take away from the experience.

Nice. Can't of been cheap with shipping prices these days. Guess you are doing all the other suspension bushings now or at some point? or at least the RTABS?. E46 got to be the last BMW that doesnt cost very much to sort suspension wise.

[Harper 465]

43 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Nice. Can't of been cheap with shipping prices these days. Guess you are doing all the other suspension bushings now or at some point? or at least the RTABS?. E46 got to be the last BMW that doesnt cost very much to sort suspension wise.

Yep shipping stung a bit but it does reduce the shipping cost on the second order for all the service parts since I could move some of the bulky/heavy stuff into this one like the clutch. And tbh coming from ordering stuff like Ohlins and a Karbonius airbox for the M3, non-m parts feels like you can get so much more for your money. Doing a pretty decent refresh on the engine for a fraction of what it costs on the S54.

I probably won't go crazy with bushings just yet, eventually. I might end up just chucking the main ones like the RTABs, FCAB, maybe diff bushes into the next order but I'm trying not to let the cost of this project creep too much higher than it already has.

[Eagle 1524]

Ive got some loose Meyle HD front control arm bushings floating around, near new, bought a set to use the brackets for Z4M ones. $20 + shipping you you want them. I think these along with the ones you mention above are the ones that give the best results + sway bar bushings\links.

[Vass 705]

Not sure if the subframe bushes are the same on a ti but I've got a full set of OE subframe bushes as well as RTAB ones + limiters that I haven't gotten round to throwing up for sale yet if you want them. Bought this whole set before deciding to go with solid subframe bushes and monoball RTABs. Not a sales pitch but every bushing in my old subframe had cracks through them to a greater or lesser degree so you'll be glad you've done them.