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Thread: E46 Compact Track Day Build

  1. #126
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    Well that’s awesome news! Congrats on the race!

    I happy that you got the mounts fixed. Which mounts did you install? I’m installing M3 transmission mounts soon. The poly mounts I had transmitted way too much vibration so I hope the M3’s are a good compromise.

    I’m also going to change the crank pulley / damper to see if that is damaged and maybe that’ll take care of the vibrations...


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    Last edited by KlausH79; 07-18-2019 at 09:59 AM.

  2. #127
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    Jan 2019
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    My Cars
    Porsche 987.1 BMW 318ti
    Thank you! Quite annoyed by a bad start on race 2 which from pole position brought me back 6 cars, so had to struggle to get back to 2nd place which doesn't feel as good as it should. Need to work on my starts....I'm damn thinking too slow before making a choice on what to do!
    We installed Revshift poly (the green ones).
    I think the are great, make things a bit noisier and idd vibrate more but i don't care so much as is not a car i drive much on the road and with the 3.98 ratio differential you are at 5000rpm highway cruising which is unbearable for more than 10 min!!!

    Last thing that we found out if you ever wanna try than is that our cars benefit from a softer compound tyre at the rear and harder in the front.
    Tyre pressure is much more evenly distributed and grip out of corners is way better than on mid compound all around!! Brought my best laptime at Ljunbyhed down more than 1 sec to 1.01,3
    Really happy to see how it does in August at Anderstorp!



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  3. #128
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    New parts are in. This time it’s stuff I drew myself and had made by a shop.

    Spherical bearing RTAB’s á la me.



    They are basically just two aluminum adapter rings with a Meyle bearing. Very easy to make and install with a press. All I need are some stainless screws.



    And upper control arm reinforcement plates



    They are slightly bigger than other designs and made in a softer mild steel so they flex more and spread the load over a larger area than the ones I bought some years ago.



    Since there was an MOQ I have a stack of plates and 2 extra sets of RTAB adapters so if anyone is in the neighborhood and wants to try them out let me know.

    Now I’m just waiting for the LSD. Mfactory Europe is not the easiest company to purchase from....


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    Last edited by KlausH79; 07-22-2019 at 03:27 PM.

  4. #129
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    Jun 2018
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    Denver - Colorado - USA
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    2004 M3
    Slick work with the rtabs! I’m guessing these are a press fit since there’s no lip?

  5. #130
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    Yep press fit....thanks!


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  6. #131
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    Apr 2014
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    Cardiff, UK
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    My Cars
    E39 528i, E46 325ti
    Great build thread and good to see a compact getting some love. I'm hoping to do some fun changes on mine over winter ready for some more track days next year.

    Just a thought on the boot floor and cracking, I'm sure I read somewhere before that the compact model was the only e46 model not affected by the floor cracking, as BMW had to strengthen the floor already to account for the spare wheel being in a different location to the normal e46 body. Found one link about it, the comment is right at the end.

  7. #132
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    Thanks Mr!

    Yeah I think its a cool project. I just got word that the LSD has been shipped from the UK and should arrive on Monday so it’s getting closer.

    I read that article too a while back. It’s a good read for anyone with an e46. I added the reinforcements and VinceCups to my build because I was in there and for piece of mind. I of course have no data to back up this next statement but the reason for no Compacts coming in with cracks could also be due to the fact that few of them are 325’s and therefore not much power in most of them and lets face it.....it’s a wifey car in most cases so they aren’t driven hard for many years


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    Last edited by KlausH79; 10-27-2019 at 11:16 AM.

  8. #133
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    Euro M3 E36 3.0
    As always, nice work
    First time I see someone fitting chassis reinforcement without welding!

    My buddy’s 330ti is almost finished, and is pretty competitive.
    I was following him some laps last week: https://youtu.be/r3pES3dqApo

  9. #134
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    Quote Originally Posted by ulmi View Post
    As always, nice work
    First time I see someone fitting chassis reinforcement without welding!
    Why thank you sir.

    There are plenty of people going with epoxy these days, and as far as I can tell it’s a sufficiently strong method with some people of the opinion that it’s even stronger than welding and better suited for this application. I found it to be an exceedingly easy process that can be done by anyone. No special skills required.


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  10. #135
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    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    So this finally arrived!



    It seems like a beautifully engineered piece. I measured it up against the old open diff and all measurements are spot on no difference whatsoever.











    The install went very smoothly right until I found this floating around inside when I was tapping in the output seals



    I simply couldn’t get it back in place on the inside of the seal so I tried to pry out the seal but it bent which I knew was a risk so I have ordered a new seal....

    So far so good





    I checked the contact patches with some white anti seize and they are spot on. I want to check the back lash but since there is no way of adjusting it I’m not sure I need to as I need to buy the tool to do it.....

    When the seal comes it’s a matter of reinstalling everything. Yay!


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    Last edited by KlausH79; 08-28-2019 at 10:46 AM.

  11. #136
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    vancouver, canada
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    1971 2002
    Any gummy bears left?

  12. #137
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    Quote Originally Posted by pondhopper View Post
    Any gummy bears left?
    there will be a celebratory gummy bear toast when the diff is done


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  13. #138
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    1971 2002
    Good to hear! Gummies are delish treats��

    I thought it may of been a new method to measure lash I hadn’t seen yet...
    ��

    can you you set up different ramps and clutch bites on the new piece? Curious as to what it offers if anything over the BMW diffs.

  14. #139
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    Quote Originally Posted by pondhopper View Post

    can you you set up different ramps and clutch bites on the new piece? Curious as to what it offers if anything over the BMW diffs.
    Nope no ramps....no clutches....it’s a helical diff.....and as for what it offers...well it’s an LSD....so some degree of lock I hope


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    Last edited by KlausH79; 08-29-2019 at 02:58 PM.

  15. #140
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    Well the seal finally arrived so I could button up the diff





    Poured in a quart of this as required by Mfactory











    I also got the underside painted

    All masked up





    Done



    I also gave the drive shafts a lick of paint





    Now all I need to do is assemble it all....I hope I remember how it all goes together


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    Last edited by KlausH79; 09-12-2019 at 11:18 AM.

  16. #141
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    Reinstallation has commenced

    First thing was getting the fuel tank back in place



    Then I made a little subframe subassembly with the control arms







    I then bench pressed that into place







    Then I bench pressed the diff into place which was easier that I had feared





    In went the driveshaft with a new center support bearing


    The little spacers were attached with some RTV to the U-brace


    I noticed some surface rust in the center framerails(?) so I ground them down and lathered some epoxy primer on them



    U-brace mounted



    Sprayed the epoxied framerails with some black underbody coating


    I then started assembling the trailing arms so I added some screws to my home made RTAB monoballs. They’re press fit so probably not needed but since I had the threaded holes made I thought what the hell.


    That’s all I’ve managed so far but I hope to get a full day in pretty soon so I can get the rear end buttoned up and begin with the oil pan gasket / oil pump nut job next.

    I also received a new crank shaft pulley/damper and front main seal



    That will be the last job before it goes back on the road and track.....can’t wait

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    Last edited by KlausH79; 10-27-2019 at 11:13 AM.

  17. #142
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    Now the Trailing arms are on








    The anti roll bar also got bolted in and is ready to swing into place when the springs are in and the dampers are bolted to the trailing arms. I also managed to get the e-brake cables in which wasn’t that hard but not really picture worthy

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    Last edited by KlausH79; 11-02-2019 at 10:52 AM.

  18. #143
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    I finally got some time to go and work on the Compact and it’s now “mechanically done”. All that it needs now is installing the roll bar, passenger seat, center console and stuff like that.

    As this project turned a bit restomod I gave the exhaust a little love.



    A good clean, a wire wheel and some high temp paint later


    I bought a bag of these rubber caps on EBay


    ....and cut them down to fit the bolts for the drive shafts so they don’t rust as badly


    Put some new M3 transmission mounts on in hope of them being a bit stiffer than standard but not so stiff that they transmit all the NVH like the poly ones did.



    Got everything installed


    Installed the brakes, changed the oil and tried to start it but found the battery to be dead so I might have to replace it

    So now I just need to get it off the axle stands and home to do those last few things.


    I put off doing the oil pan gasket as I need to finish something and drive it and that project can wait and I can probably do it at home in my carport during the summer.

    I’ll do the harmonic balancer when I get it home too.

    Can’t wait to get it out on the road and test that everything works....


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    Last edited by KlausH79; 04-20-2020 at 03:19 PM.

  19. #144
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact
    Alright! Underbody restoration done! This weekend I finally got everything buttoned up and finished so I could get it to its MOT and get tags on the car! I was a bit skeptical about it passing the inspection as I had been struggling with the emergency brake for a good few hours to dial it is so it held the car on an incline but didn’t touch when disengaged. But it passed with flying colors! The guy doing the inspection was like “what the hell have you done down here?!” And two guys I. The shop came over and were all googly eyes and said they hadn’t really expected that when I rolled into the shop so I took that as a stamp of approval on a job well done.

    Now to the handling. The LSD just transforms how the car takes off out of a corner or around a roundabout. It feels really awesome and you can just feel everything the car is doing even at slow road speeds. Noise wise it’s not really that bad even though it’s all poly bushed. There’s a little sound when I engage first gear but nothing to really take note of.

    HOWEVER! All is not perfect there is a really annoying click-click-click-click sound that seems to come from the right rear wheel when driving. It seems like something it hitting a drive shaft or something as it “follows” in speed. But when I coast in gear it almost goes completely away. It I then pull the e-brake ever so slightly it intensifies and can be felt in the handbrake lever until I pull it hard and then it goes away completely (warning light and beeping follows ). When I got the car home I immediately lifted the rear to check if it was the e-brake cables that were rubbing on the half shafts in the trailing arms or what not, but there is ample clearance on both sides. Could it be somewhere along the drive shaft that it can rub? Or in the disc where all the e-brake bits are? I had it apart yesterday and everything looked fine and the e-brake works (finally). Any ideas what could be rubbing on something that rotates? I’ll be taking it out to a buddy who has a lift so I can get better access but if you have any ideas please let me know.

    A few pics of the finish line

    New battery


    Cleaned the brace


    Car was filthy after spending over a year in the garage




    A good clean later





    Now I just need to install the roll bar, Sparco seat and harness and we’re good to go.....well after the click-click-clicking has been sorted....


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  20. #145
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    2007 Toyota, 2002 BMW
    Hi Klaus, I'm happy to see everything is fine with you! Nice job, your thread is always so inspiring.
    Sorry if I'm wrong, but about your car's tickling sound, couldn't it be caused by your monoball bearing on right RTA? About them, I have a couple of questions too.
    First, you stripped a standard bearing of its metal jacket, to press it inside the new aluminium sleeves, am I right?
    Second, I have to replace the same parts on a couple fo RTAs coming from a 330i (I am in the process to upgrade my Compact's brakes to the ones standard in the 330 E46s, and I need the 330's RTAs to keep the E-Brake functioning), so I stumbled upon the idea to use PU bushes only to be discouraged by many warnings of them being prone to "binding" (WTF does it means?) and to bend shock absorbers.
    Did you choose the monoball way because of the same advice (PU bushing risky on RTAs)?

    Lastly, I'm sendind you a PM, maybe the question in it is not totally appopriate by the forum's netiquette!

    Regards, and keep going strong.

  21. #146
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact

    E46 Compact Track Day Build

    Quote Originally Posted by AEnrico View Post
    Hi Klaus, I'm happy to see everything is fine with you! Nice job, your thread is always so inspiring.
    Sorry if I'm wrong, but about your car's tickling sound, couldn't it be caused by your monoball bearing on right RTA? About them, I have a couple of questions too.
    First, you stripped a standard bearing of its metal jacket, to press it inside the new aluminium sleeves, am I right?
    Second, I have to replace the same parts on a couple fo RTAs coming from a 330i (I am in the process to upgrade my Compact's brakes to the ones standard in the 330 E46s, and I need the 330's RTAs to keep the E-Brake functioning), so I stumbled upon the idea to use PU bushes only to be discouraged by many warnings of them being prone to "binding" (WTF does it means?) and to bend shock absorbers.
    Did you choose the monoball way because of the same advice (PU bushing risky on RTAs)?

    Lastly, I'm sendind you a PM, maybe the question in it is not totally appopriate by the forum's netiquette!

    Regards, and keep going strong.
    Hey Enrico

    Thanks for the kind words (again )

    I don’t think it can be the monoball bushings because the tick noise is something that’s rotating and hitting something and the bushings don’t rotate....unless I really screwed something up
    The monoball bushing/bearing is a simple sealed bearing that is also used where the upper trailing arm attaches to the trailing arm (although this is a different part number). Like this one


    I then designed an adapter made of two identical halves to go around this bearing so it fits in the trailing arm “hole”. Looks like this (minor changes were done in the final version)



    Really simple and very cheap to make. I didn’t strip any parts or anything like that.

    I used a Poly RTAB from Strongflex before and had no issues whatsoever. I also read about the binding issues however this was not the reason for me making my own monoball bushings. I just wanted to try. The binding (I believe) happens because the polyurethane isn’t as pliable as rubber and therefore the trailing arm cannot articulate as well and in some (extreme, I think) cases you can end up with the trailing arm binding and therefore the trailing arm gets stuck (maybe just momentarily) and can cause damage or loss of control because your alignment goes completely out of whack. I’m not an expert, but this is what I have gathered from the info on the interweb .


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    Last edited by KlausH79; 05-12-2020 at 08:34 AM.

  22. #147
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    2001 E46 325ti Compact
    Using different onomatopoeia for click, tick or ding I googled my way to some similar cases with the same noise issues and found it to be the ebrake cable that wasn’t seated correctly. So after some adjusting and pulling on the cable from inside the car the tick-click-ding sound has now gone completely away. What is have left now is a bit of a “scrape” or “hiss” that goes away when coasting in gear but it’s nothing compared to what it was.....so hurray! I did however find that the right rear caliper dust boots wasn’t seated anymore so the piston looks a bit worse for wear which will be probably soon turn into a stuck caliper so I just ordered two new rear calipers. The left one had a leak at one point so might as well change it.

    I also signed up for my first track day of the season in Sweden next week so that’ll be a fun test run

    Just need an alignment.....


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  23. #148
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    Germany
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    2007 Toyota, 2002 BMW
    Well done! Speaking of Sweden, do you know a swedish company named Millway? I've seen some of their bmw parts on sale here in Germany, priced not too much, but I can't find any feedback about their quality.

  24. #149
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    Quote Originally Posted by AEnrico View Post
    Well done! Speaking of Sweden, do you know a swedish company named Millway? I've seen some of their bmw parts on sale here in Germany, priced not too much, but I can't find any feedback about their quality.
    Yeah I have seen them before but not purchased anything from them. Looking at their website it does look like quality pieces that they make...


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  25. #150
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    Well the click sound came back and another search said that it could be the wheel bolts that were hitting something inside, but of course this could not be the reason as the studs I have installed were on there are from ECS tuning spec’ed for an E46, surely they wouldn’t be the problem. HOWEVER when taking off a stud to start the tedious work of adjusting the screw inside the brake bell housing I took a look at the end of the stud and sure enough.....is had clear scratches on the end....so I took more studs out and each and everyone had scratches. So I took them and screwed them into one of the old hubs I had taken off and that looked like this



    No need to have that much thread spinning needlessly around inside the hub so I ground them down a bit so only a little thread was poking out. I verified that this was ok with my airplane mechanic neighbor and reinstalled. No more click! Hopefully this is now permanent!
    HOWEVER () on the test drive to see if the click was gone the DSC light, ABS light and brake pad light came on like 50 feet down the street....SERIOUSLY?!? A quick scan reveals a faulty front left ABS sensor....I just ordered new rear calipers thinking everything else was peachy and as they shipped on Friday I just made another order ......more shipping.....


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