Project e46

rodenal · 12 May 2013 at 00:40

So after spending the last few months looking for an e46 330ci sport that I would have to do nothing to I basically gave up, decided to spend less and look for an honest enough car that I could bring up to scratch.

Have picked up an imola red pre facelift, 3 owners before me , 110k with a stack full of receipts and BMW/Indy history.

Bodywork is very, very good, it has had a new o/s front wing in the last couple of years due to rust, paint job has been well blended in. N/s is showing a very small amount of rust so will need doing at some point.

It has had the wheels refurbed....but in a colour that's not for me (black, polished lip) its also wearing El Chinese tyres....odd given the refurb would have cost a couple of hundred and the last owner had it serviced at bmw. Have 2 new hankook evo fronts here will need to buy rears and sell the current efforts.

Needs a stat so that's the first thing I'll do, will do a waterpump too. Will have a look at the rad and may replace when the system is drained anyway.

Also has signs of the vanos seals needing doing though ill check the vac hoses first.

All in not a big list really, needs some money spent but honestly after the horror shows I've seen recently I'm more then happy with it - looking forward to start sorting it out.

rodenal · 12 May 2013 at 09:11

I normally would, but already have 2 fronts for what ended up being circa 60 quid so ill just pick up rears for it.

Tbh I've used their predecessor before and they were excellent

Quick pic

rodenal · 12 May 2013 at 10:16

I know I really don't get it - its been well done so he obviously paid decent money to ruin them....money that could have went on some decent tyres!

rodenal · 12 May 2013 at 11:45

Paid just over £3k which feels about right I reckon. Realistic cost after sorting the wheels, tyres, stat & waterpump and possibly vanos seals / maf will be closer to £4k though. I couldn't find any that I was happy with even up to £5k, though I was half tempted by a facelift that was mechanically perfect but needed the sills redone - who knows where that would have ended cost wise though.

Talking of colours there was also an estoril clubsport pre facelift for £4kish but I didn't even go to see it as the trader put me off on the phone - i'm also not particularly stuck on the clubsport even though it comes in estoril.

Not really sure what to do about the wheels - ideally someone would just give me their standard set in exchange but I guess I might just have them redone as they're in exceptionally good nick after being refurbed.

rodenal · 12 May 2013 at 14:51

Tbh silver is one of my favourite interior colours - not too struck on it with estoril but I do like it in a black car.

It is however a bit of a ballache to dye as I found out in my e36

The reason fox isn't bothered by the aftermarket bumper is.....there isn't one

rodenal · 12 May 2013 at 19:04

What makes you say that? Haven't noticed anything (but haven't been in digging about)

rodenal · 12 May 2013 at 19:17

Same at both sides though, if one side was significantly different I'd be worried - will have a look anyway the rear suspension is easy work

rodenal · 12 May 2013 at 19:23

Always possible, need to strip and grease the pads anyway so I'll have a look when I do that

rodenal · 12 May 2013 at 19:48

Probably just never had any renewal at the back end I reckon (or if it has a good while ago), most I've seen are like this - not really an issue either way tbh.

rodenal · 13 May 2013 at 10:54

Getting some prices for redoing these now as it looks like any standard set I get would need to be refurbed anyway

Standard silver or grey of some sort, light gunmetal or something?

rodenal · 13 May 2013 at 11:47

Yeah i guess it's asking for the wrong kind of attention really, just like the current efforts. The guy I just spoke to for a price certainly thought the current combo was....odd.

Discovered this morning one of the inner rear light seal is pretty buggered too - Will re-seal both for now but the replacement is only circa £40 from the dealer.

Matt how's the M3 now?

rodenal · 13 May 2013 at 12:53

It makes me feel old having it as a project car! doesn't feel so long ago my old man bought a cab for not far off £20k - can't remember what shed I was running about in at the time.

Just unplugged the maf and the car ran better (has a low rev hesitation) so I need to get in and about the maf/icv/disa area at the weekend and see what's what. Also need to try and get inpa working again.

Dealer wants £130 a side for the door armrest cube trim so considering spraying it satin black and seeing how it matches up. Will also need to do something with the coin tray / centre console at some point to clear up the little nicks

rodenal · 13 May 2013 at 13:02

wingman said:
Think the BMW eBay shop sells genuine trays for around £30.00.

Yeah I can get the tray very cheaply but there are also some marks on the actual console itself (not many but enough to be annoying) so if I was going to do something with that (plastidip or something similar) I'd just do the cointray too to keep them similar.

mrk said:
Yeah the cube trim is ridiculous in price. My passenger side one has a few scratches from rings and bracelets. I might be anal about keeping things on my car looking new but there are sane limits!

Same old BMW, surprisingly cheap for certain parts, incomprehensibly expensive for others. I'm really just picking faults with the car for now so I've got a list of interior and mechanical bits and pieces to sort out over the summer.

rodenal · 14 May 2013 at 20:36

Had some time tonight so had a look at potential culprits for the slight hesitation.

One M54

sans....

ICV - bit dirty, cleaned now but not the problem anyway

MAF, cleaned but doubtful it's the problem

DISA - Absolutely gubbed, the shaft that rotates the flap is doing nothing so the flap is just sitting doing its own thing. Had a look and the inner plastic pin is just so worn it's not able to do anything.

I'm not convinced it's causing the low rpm issue but it needs replaced anyway so need to get a price tomorrow.

One of the F connector vac hoses (tiny section -connects more rigid hose to the F) at the MAF boot was also in such a bad state it disintegrated in my hand, I reckon that will have been having an impact so should help when it's replaced.

rodenal · 14 May 2013 at 20:41

I need to do some measuring on it really tbh, pretty impossible to tell it's at fault without it. At least then I'll know none of the components immediately after it are causing an issue. Will sort the obvious problem first then put it all back together tomorrow and see what's what after that.

rodenal · 14 May 2013 at 21:26

The dodgy hose at the F connector (small one, runs to the fuel pump I believe) was obviously worn as it just came away when I pulled to disconnect it. It wasn't cracked or split but could have been collapsing given how weak it was. All the major boots are good and the smallish hose coming off the idle control valve was good too.

Hesitation is noticeable, specifically at low revs. I didn't think the DISA would affect the car at lower RPM but I suppose if it was literally just flopping around it could have an impact of some sort. Hopefully the dealer will have one I can pick up tomorrow so I can put it all back together and test

rodenal · 15 May 2013 at 09:59

commited said:
You can repair the DISA valve. There is a free DIY version involving glue and plumbers tape or a kit you can get online which is a lot cheaper than a new valve.

I am going to repair it I think - BMW now seem to want £200+ for one and can't get it before tomorrow when it was only circa £130 last year. Repair kit is more like £60 and fixes the problem that the new valve would eventually have anyway (in a number of years).

Atari said:
I'd certainly have a look at replacing the VANOS seals as they will be past it and causing low RPM hesitation. There'll be a noticeable surge in power past 2000-2500 rpm. Easy enough to fix, just fiddly. I've got a brand new set of teflon seals that I bought for my old M54 engine that I don't need anymore.

I'd also replace the rubber boots if there's any sign of cracks or deterioration, it'll cause all sorts of problems when they do go properly - multi-cylinder misfires is the most common.

Above all, get it to someone who can properly use BMW diagnostics. The live running info often tells more than some error codes that have been saved.

I'll be replacing the seals but doing all the intake side work first then Stat & waterpump after which i'll do the seals. I'd be interested in the spare kit if you've still got it handy.

I've got INPA etc and had it up and working on an e39 previously, just need to get it properly working on windows 7 now.

rodenal · 17 May 2013 at 22:57

Picked up the disa kit today, excellent quality and simple to do. Have now put the intake side back together and there's a bit of a difference in low to mid range (nothing major, as expected)

Freed off the exhaust butterfly too. Someone has obviously golf tee'd it at some point and let all the crud build up at the butterfly, then decided to unblock the hose. I would have left it as it was but without the valve it drones a bit.

Also refreshed the drivers door cube trim - looks reasonable so far (it's not shiny shiny, just the flash in the below) but we will see how it looks compared to the rest of the trim when I put it back in the car tomorrow. If it's a decent match i'll do the passengers side at some point this weekend too.

My thermostat / water pump purchases have failed miserably this week, moving house has meant i've got a billing / delivery address mismatch - pain in the ass, will probably be a task for next weekend now.

Oh I also noticed (somehow for the first time) today that there's a mic installed up near the bmw mic point, thought it's obviously from an aftermarket kit. I'll need to investigate what it's routed back to.

rodenal · 22 May 2013 at 22:44

Done the other armrest at the weekend, ended up looking great and I fully fixed the exhaust butterfly, the pipe had a bit of abuse in the past and wasn't creating enough vacuum.

Also took the glove box out tonight to investigate the mystery microphone to find out it's a proper old school nokia wired hands free kit that's been in there. It's been a complete cowboy installation too - electrical tape everywhere.

Not sure what to do with it really (other than the obvious bin), the mic could be useful I guess given it's already run up through the pillar / headlining.

rodenal · 23 May 2013 at 06:22

Just gave them a key with some very fine wet and dry then fired 2 light coats of satin black + 1 lacquer on.

They don't need much to look very good again and its an excellent match to the rest of the trim. With silver you'd have to be really careful with the colour you picked or do the whole lot I'd think