pics with new mods

[daytonatrbo]

Glad you're still having fun with it.

[WoLF]

The Arc-8's look good!

[spacecase]

Damn going to town with your build. I just picked up a 01 330i from outside Boston.

Where did you get you angle eyes from? They look great.

[DarkJoker]

Which one's?
The ones at the beginning were 80 led that as far as I know are no longer made.
The second set were just normal ones I got from khoalty and painted green.

[spacecase]

Yea the 80 leds look great, hard to find cheep.

[DarkJoker]

So a bit of an update.
On the 2nd and 3rd I did some more mods/maintenance.
This round involved:


AKG 75d motor and transmission mounts
AKG 75D poly differential mounts
Swap over to a 3.46 non lsd differential
Seal replacement on the differential
Upper coolant hose (found collapsed on itself)
And Re-installation of my headers


Initial driving impressions Holy shit.
All the poly mounts tie the drivetrain together fantastically. Shifting tightened up a a lot. Both clutch engagement and actual shifting mechanism.
The car seems way more predictable during spirited driving as well.
The differential also changed the car completely. It's pretty much in powerband all the time. Gas mileage is going to drop severely.
And the headers I had before so nothing new on that,besides I forgot how loud the car is.

[aralph30]

dig the green now! I want to get more orange led s going now

what headlights r those ?

[DarkJoker]

what headlights r those ?

Whos that directed at?

[DarkJoker]

So I never posted pictures/videos of the above listed mods.
Recently I also upgraded to the Z4M Front control arm bushings over my Meyle HD.
Unfortunately my dumba$$ thought i was in video mode while doing the rear differential bushing and I was not.So only pictures for that one.
Motor and transmission mounts are pretty self explanatory,so nothing on those.

The Baum tools that I used for this were perfect.I footed the bill for purchase of them and I'm glad I did.
The removal process probably would've sucked if it were not for these.
It made it buttery smooth for removal and partial install.

The greasiness(wetness) you see is lube I had bought previously for my hotchkis sway bars. I very liberally applied to the bushing and subframe to ensure ease of installation and maybe some noise canceling in the future.

http://s31.photobucket.com/user/east...y/Differential

Photo's and video's

Also videos on youtube. They are not exciting. Sorry for the camera work.

Removal: http://youtu.be/NSVl_c5rtrE
Old Bushing: http://youtu.be/Lx-KaDB_mco
Drivers side Install: http://youtu.be/KJDY5Mc89KI
Passenger's side install: http://youtu.be/6rQATj2yHEs

[DarkJoker]

So, I'll do my usual yearly update, but I'll break it into separate posts for each one.

I did a complete cooling system rebuild:

Bimmerworld package Upgraded to Stewart water pump

As well as:

I bought a eastwood Mig 125 and 10 ft of 304SS16 gauge.
Today I got a piece in the mail to add to the exhaust project that many have already done.

Today I got a key component in the mail.
I'm throwing out thanks to @aggiee46 for the initial group buy that he and others started.

Burns Stainless 2-1 merge.
Pictures with a copy of the receipt with specifications are attached below,So if anyone else wants to order they can with ease.

Havent started this yet
burns1.jpgburns2.jpg

[DarkJoker]

This was from Sept 17th


For the past 2 weeks or so, I was debating on getting a new car and getting rid of the E46, or getting a new car and keeping the E46 as a project or fix whats wrong and keep Daily driving it.

What wrong, is that my hard brake lines, particularly the rears gave out.
So I knew everything had to come out, so I could do it the right way or I could half ass it and do the bare minimum.

After thinking about it over and over and talking to a friend about it, I decided roughly on 9/12/15 that she is indeed defiantly staying, and being fixed properly and kept as a daily driver/fun mobile.

So, I ordered all the parts that I decided were needed, and some maintenance/upgrades.

Koch tools
E46/E36 master bushing kit. Does rear trailing armbushings and the upper and lower ball joints/bushings.

BimmerWorld
New SS brake lines with heat foil
BimmerWorld E46/E36 3 Series and Z4 Rear Trailing ArmBearing Kit
Redline differential fluid

Turner motorsports
Rear upper inner control arm Turner race monoball

Oem Bimmerparts

ATE master cylinder
ATE brake booster

FCP euro

All hard brake lines
Brake fluidreservoir
E-brakecables
E-brakecomplete kit
Rear wheel bearings
Differential seals
Guibo
Center bearing
Brake boosterhoses and valves


Parts I've been sitting on for a bit

BimmerWorld

Ground Control premium rear lower control arms

ECS

Upper and lower ball jointsfor rear wheels + hardware for control arms

Baum tools

B332110output shaftkit


Done earlier in the year or last,
Complete cooling system refresh with stewart water pump.



Today was day 1 or the project more or less.
I'm about 3 hours into it with tearing everything down.

[DarkJoker]

Typed this one up today.

So to further update this, I finished it kinda. It's a mini book.



Come that Friday night when I got my parts from FCP Euro,( I was supposed to have them Thursday, but UPS got lazy and said, nah you'll have it sometime Friday.) Being upset that my parts arrived later than I'd hoped, I was already a little disgruntled. I examine my order.
And to my surprise, I'm missing a brake hard brake line I had ordered.
Immediately after placing my order, I received a phone call and an email saying that they cannot get one of the lines due to it being in Germany. I say ok , that's fine and they promptly refunded my money for that one line.
A day or so later I get another refund. I thought it was a glitch of sorts, so I thought nothing of it.
That is until I went over my order and found the other missing line.
For this line, they did not inform me they did not get or ship. They just refunded without telling me about it.
It was nice that they refunded me, but not telling me about it, stepped on a nerve.

That caused a mini panic mode in trying to figure out what I would end up doing. As the line that was missing was for the passenger rear.(the big line, not the interconnecting small part)
Come Saturday morning, I ended up getting 50 Ft of Hard line from International auto part down the street costing roughly an extra $95 I was not planning on.

I ended up using, the copper/nickel line that is bendable by hand, and that is advertised as non-kink-able.
Needless to say, I proved that false, and ended up cutting a small section out near the ABS unit, and using a union that I ordered and making a new small section of line.

In the end, The biggest hang ups of the job, besides the part delivery partially, were as follows:

Rear lower control arms: One came out instantly, the other, not so much. I'd say, without timing it, it took about an hour to get it out of the car. Mind you, that the bolt was seized and looked like this, when I eventually got it to come out IMG_20150924_162519476.jpg

E-brake cables: These things were a fu(king demon.
I even went the easy way about it of cutting them to get the sub-frame out of the car in an expedient manor.
Getting them out of the actual sub-frame was a nightmare.
And then getting them out of the spindle assembly was the same.
I broke 3 or so wire brush drill attachment bits trying to clean out excess rust and corrosion to get the new lines in.
In the end, I ended up using a drill bit smaller than the tunnels and hub to clean it all up. This was a couple hours at least. And I ended up cutting off th Black section on the new e-brake cables because I didn't have time to di(k around with it.

Hard brake line: Routing up to the abs block. Routing from the rear was a breeze, besides the dropping of the sub-frame and partial dropping of the as tank. The passenger front was probably the worst. I had to "trim" the plastic shield that keeps the engine bay separate from where the abs,booster and master are. No more needs to be said.

Brake booster: While a pain in the a$$, it was the least pain in the a$$ of the bunch.

Frozen caliper brake bleeders: Had to heat them oh so carefully to get them to move and then clean them out so I could bleed it all.


In the end, The items repaired/ replaced were:

All hard brake lines
Old SS lines replaced for new SS lines
Master cylinder
Brake Booster
Brake fluid reservoir and sensor
Guibo
Rear trailing arm bushings (Now bearings)
Upper and lower rear spindle ball joints and bushings (Now both are ball joints)
Rear upper control arm inner bushing(Now ball joint)
Rear lower control arms
Alignment (quick OEM spec. except front camber)




Shipping times for companies were rated for myself as follows:

Note: I paid for faster shipping for each purchase.

Bimmerworld : I've have never, ever had an issue with any order from them ever. They are my go to for anything I buy for my car. I always get it in 2 days at even the basic shipping. They are top notch and on the ball when it comes to this. I did pay extra for shipping this one time, just to make sure though.

Turner Motorsport: While in my own backyard, I could drive there to get the part, but its about a 4 hour +/- round trip and that would be on a good day.
The shipping is slower, but I opted for paying extra to ensure I have the parts for this job. Other wise, they are slower than Bimmerworld.
Funny how that works huh?

OEM Bimmer Parts: No issue what so ever, Kinda expected them to be one of the parts that I would receive last due to distance. But it was not. No complaints here.

FCP Euro: While their parts selection, is that of a dealer, I was a little displeased. They were indeed the last place I ordered from,but my order was placed before they were open for business on Monday morning, and I understand that I was not there only order from a weekend potentially full of orders. I was expecting this order to be a little faster.
Especially since, all parts that I ordered,were reported as shipping in 1 day on the site.
Overall, the shipping is partially UPS issue and a sour taste in my mouth about the extra brake line that I was not informed about.

Will I shop there again?
Probably yes. Due to the fact of there vast list of parts, distance to my home (CT) and their time frame availability of parts.
What I mean by that is, that I shopped around for my parts of course, While prices may differ here an there a bit, I compared ECS and FCP at the same time.
For the exact same part, ECS's ship time was 4-6 days before the item would actually ship. So for example, I place my order today, it would not ship out till Friday or Saturday.
While FCP was 1 day and maybe a couple dollars more.

The price comparison is really reflective of each other and varies very little.

The real shipping hero of this is,

Koch tools
All the way out in Arizona, I place my order on Saturday and I had my tool on Monday. That kinda blew me out of the water seeing it arrive that fast.

[FCPEuro]

Typed this one up today.

So to further update this, I finished it kinda. It's a mini book.



Come that Friday night when I got my parts from FCP Euro,( I was supposed to have them Thursday, but UPS got lazy and said, nah you'll have it sometime Friday.) Being upset that my parts arrived later than I'd hoped, I was already a little disgruntled. I examine my order.
And to my surprise, I'm missing a brake hard brake line I had ordered.
Immediately after placing my order, I received a phone call and an email saying that they cannot get one of the lines due to it being in Germany. I say ok , that's fine and they promptly refunded my money for that one line.
A day or so later I get another refund. I thought it was a glitch of sorts, so I thought nothing of it.
That is until I went over my order and found the other missing line.
For this line, they did not inform me they did not get or ship. They just refunded without telling me about it.
It was nice that they refunded me, but not telling me about it, stepped on a nerve.

First and before anything else I would like to apologize for any inconvenience that you incurred because of errors on our end. I'll need to find your order to figure out what happened specifically on it. I can say for certain that as of three months ago we made a decision to stop selling Germany only Genuine BMW parts. We were having issues getting parts sent over in a timely manner. Some parts were arriving in as little as 4 days while others were taking upwards of 6 weeks. Since there was no consistency as to delivery times we decided it's simply not worth it to sell those items. In regards to the first line that we could not bring in it seems like everything was done correctly.

The second line on your order that was missing I can safely say without looking at the order was handled 100% incorrectly and I can understand your frustration. You should have been notified of the missing part well in advance and the refund should have only been processed after the fact (no surprise refund). Personally, if I were in your position I would be extremely frustrated as well especially so when you need a part to finish a job and you're expecting it to arrive in an order that you placed.

I want to make this right for you in any way that I can. You can email me directly at gareth@fcpeuro.com or PM me here with details on the order and I will look into it to figure out what happened. Again, I apologize that this happened and I want to make sure that situations like this don't occur again.

[DarkJoker]

Whats done is done.
I appreciate the apology. Every one screws up at some point. It's understandable.
You guys still applied the coupon for the higher amount that I had originally ordered parts. Even though after the refunds, that amount was no longer in that specific bracket.
I'll PM you the order #. Just so you can figure out what happened.
I don't wish to see someone fired or anything like that.
Maybe just a dope slap and a wtf man scenario. Just for $hits and giggles.

[DarkJoker]

FCP euro, particularly Gareth, resolved the issue and addressed it as a business should.

Thanks again for figuring out what happened with my order

[DarkJoker]

Throw in another update as well.

On 1/25/16, after the snow storm from the weekend, I was on my way to work and as I was getting on the highway via an on ramp, I hit a patch of black ice.
Needless to say, I could not recover it safely and ended up in a ditch of sorts.
Later at work, I got to go over the car and inspect it.
Here are my findings.

Items that will need to be replaced:

Radiator mounts
Radiator shroud
Drivers and passengers fender liners front sections
Front bumper and brackets
Under shields
Side skirts
Temp sensors
Expansion tank (coolant overflow tank)
Drivers front inner tie rod
Paint of course
And some rocker panel work or replacement
Bent wheels (not to concerned they are winter wheels)

So....

I just went and priced everything(well probably close) with exception of the rocker panels, because thats when it gets crazy and I have an idea of what it costs roughly.
The parts site total, comes out to $1543.76.
Now being where I work, I think I can roughly as a guess get that down to $1000.00- $1200.00.
This includes pretty much the whole list except paint and the rockers as mentioned.
Now the rockers are the big boys.
Parts alone if i remember correctly, are roughly $1000.00 then roughly another $1500.00 for install.
At the point of that, I was already planning on new to me (read used) fenders and doors that are in better shape than mine.
Doors are roughly $500 for the pair and fenders if I remember right are around $400.00 .
I can do everything except the rockers myself.
I have a hankering to try painting as well, so I may give that a whirl.

So.....
Essentially a brand new body at that point with brand new suspension done already as well as the brake lines and such.
Only thing left is power train at that point.

Again, I'm at a minor crossroads similar to the brake line situation.
I'm also in the hunt for used parts that I have reached out to a few people already about.

Decision mode......

[DarkJoker]

So another update like my others.


I went ahead and fixed some/most and then modded a bit with some parts I had sitting around for a long time.


Parts replaced the month before:
All Power steering hoses and lines with new reservoir (ECS)
Cabin air filter (ECS)


Parts replaced this round:


Front bumper (Khoalty)
New (OEM) fenders
Drivers and passengers sideskirts (Khoalty)
New front plastics (shields and lower fender well covers and hardware)(OEM)
Horns (Hella super louds)
Driving/Fog lights (projector housings and HID 6000k kit) (Khoalty/amazon)
New temp sensors ( on shields) (ECS and OEM)
New front air duct (OEM)
Momo Start seats (Purchased though Vac)
Vac motorsports floor mounts
Motion motorsports seat mounts
Schroth quick fits (bought on here)


Stripped(a good portion of the interior)
Rug removed


Parts on order/ in shipment at this time:


AKG short shifter and DSSR
AKG Delrin brake pedal bushing set
AKG Bronze clutch pedal bushing set
Ebay laptop with Dis,Tis,SSS,INPA and NCSexpert


Parts to be on order in the coming months(If funds allow):
Wink/Broadway mirror (sooner than later)
Tires (undetermined yet)
Bimmerworld 3.0 exhaust
Paint (Maaco special until rocker panels are replaced)
Pass side impact absorber
Plate bracket that screws into tow hook (snapped off due to corrosion)


Thats all I can think of at the moment.
On to Pictures:

[DarkJoker]

Old oem short shifter and New one from AKG Motorsport.
And of course, a new sticker for the tool box.

old shifter.jpgnew shifter.jpgtool box sticker.jpg

[DarkJoker]

A couple new parts again.
Instead of a wink/broadway mirror, I tried this one I found on amazon.


https://www.amazon.com/Z-Edge-Camera.../dp/B010H0SL9O


Now while I assume I do not get as much visibility as a wink/broadway setup, I feel as this is a good enough mirror for the cost and for both a backup cam (not yet wired up) and a forward facing cam(not powered currently).
It's an all in one utility mirror with a blueish hue that distorts light at night enough not to blind you.


Along with "Winging out" the drivers and pass exterior mirrors, this make a good combo until I/You can swing the money for a pair of convex mirrors.




Also, I got my hands on some new tires.
Instead of going with the tried and true setup of Michelin Pilot Super Sports, I went with something different. And so far for the money, I'm not dissapointed, and I could get the tire size that I was actually looking for that the PSS didn't offer.
I snagged 4 245/40/17 BF Goodrich Sport Comp 2. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....e+Sport+COMP-2
after reading comparable reviews online to the PSS.
And from my own personal opinion so far, (only had them on for 2 weeks and only a bit of spirited driving) they live up to the reputation of holding their own to the PSS at a fraction of the price. About $50 cheaper per tire if I recall correctly.


Also, I picked up the replacement front impact absorber and trim pieces for the fenders and rear quarter panel as well as a new drivers side window switch. None, except the switch are installed at the moment.


For the exhaust part, After being dissapointed that the Bimmerworld 3.0 inch race setup was not part of the July 4th sale, I decided to attempt a DIY route. I have not bought the piping/resonator/muffler yet, but I have bought, what I believe to be about 80% of the tools/accessories needed to complete the job.


And for the paint part. I went to Maaco for a quote on a "cheap" paint job.
Expecting a $700-$800 quote, it was roughly around $2300 with me replacing my own doors and them painting the car a new color and painting the door jambs, along with a bit of bondo rust smoothing.
Needless to say, I decided against this, in knowing full well of the cost of replacing my rockers(not the purchase price of the parts mind you) was less than this price. Removed & Installed and painted, my rockers were Quoted $1500 ($750 per side). That's about 10 hours of labor per side.
Felt like a bit of robbery.
But maybe I'm wrong. So I may be rolling around in primed parts a little longer than I would like.

[DarkJoker]

So after 10 long years of Daily driving and modding, I bought a new to me daily driver, so I can make the 330 more of a toy / project.
No more winter driving for the BMW.


That is the duty of my new to me 2013 Kia optima ex

[DarkJoker]

Car gifts part 1

BimmerWorld 3 inch race exhaust

[DarkJoker]

I have officially crossed the point of no return for my car.
Today, parts came in from where it was born to assist with its on going rebirth. #cargifts #E46 #330ci part 2

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[DarkJoker]

So I got so more car gifts
Some exhaust bits so I can finish up the rest of the exhaust with the addition of the Burns Y-pipe I've been sitting on for a while.
Then My Wilwood Front and Rear BBK came in this week as well.

[DarkJoker]

Something unexpected broke on the 3rd.
As I was out and about driving to try and finally get my exhaust done and then being turned away for "legality" reasonsfrom 2 different shops, and then finally making an appointment to get my airbag recall done(not a daily driver anymore), my drivers side rear lower control arm decided to disagree with me backing out of a parking spot.
I just previously got of the highway 5 min before after a "spirited" on and off ramp journey.
My ground controls just failed me after roughly 2 years of installation and off and on daily driving.
From what I can tell, The thread on the male end pretty much stripped and gave out. While the thread on the female end is just fine as seen in the pictures.

Needless to say, it didnt like moving onto the tow truck so much, that the rear hook snapped off inside the bumper hole.
On top of the wheel being pulled out so far, that it locked up the ebrake on that side.
So 5 or so minutes later of having to force it up on the flatbed with potentially burning my clutch a bit.
It ended up on the flat bed. The operator did not have a wheel dolly. Which could have made the situation worse.

After roughly 12 years of ownership, this is only its second time on a tow truck.