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Thread: Justin's LS E46 V2

  1. #1
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    Justin's LS E46 V2

    I've finally decided to "start" on my next project. This is a 2001 330XI automatic. We picked it up for cheap with a blown headgasket with intentions to flip it, but after finding cylinder wall damage from water sitting in it we decided it wasn't worth fixing. It was one of the cleanest E46s I've seen both inside and out, although it had the nasty tan interior. The engine was pulled when we were still deciding if we wanted to flip it or not, and it's sat like this at a storage lot for most of the summer. It unfortunately also picked up some slight hail damage out there too.






    I am not totally sure what the final plans are for it, so I am going to be taking my sweet time with the work. It's either going to be a back up chassis or a whole new build, only time will tell. I learned a lot building my other car and from participating the last 2 years so there are some things I know I want to do differently. As of now I am going to strip the car down, get it blasted inside and out, stitch weld the whole thing, cage it, and convert it to RWD manual.

    The conversion requires a rwd front subframe and basically everything knuckle to knuckle. I know Denofa switched to E36 front suspension, I believe for the hub-adjustable KPI? Is there any real advantage to that or was it more experimental?

  2. #2
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    I don't thin you'll get your money out of flipping it honestly. I'd just sell it as a rolling shell and move on if you're worried about space and money. Otherwise, it's not a bad idea for a spare chassis.

    As to the E36 knuckles. I talked with Sean at length about it. The E46s have E30 levels of trail while the (non M) E36 knuckles have the most. Followed by the E36 M3 knuckles. Then there's the KPI modification you can do on the fly. The rest of the convo I don't remember. It was enough to convince me to swap to them. You lose some break sizing from the E46 M3 and 330 but it's still a good 15mm more rotor diameter than the non M/330 E46.

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  3. #3
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    we paid $1100 for it, similar condition / mileage Xis were going for 6-8k on CL, so if we had just been able to do a headgasket / resurface it would have been a good flip car. The minute we found out the cylinder walls were rusted to all hell though that went out the window.

    So ideally I want to get non M e36 front knuckles, brakes, and coils, with an e46 subframe. Is the only difference in the SLR kits between the e36/46 the knuckle blocks then?

  4. #4
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    Only difference is the lollipop

  5. #5
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    Well Non M E36 knuckles will give you tiny tiny tiny brakes. So the M3 E36 knuckles are the best middle ground. Piner/Paul can verify with Sean to make sure I'm remembering this right. I got the M3 E36 front kuckles for my ubild.

    The SLR kits are the same for E36/E46 EXCEPT the E46 M3 kit. The difference there is that the E46 M3 has a different ball joint pen15 thingy that's bigger so the knuckle block needed to have a bigger hole to except such a large shaft. And yea the E46 lollipops are different obviously.

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by protomor View Post
    Well Non M E36 knuckles will give you tiny tiny tiny brakes. So the M3 E36 knuckles are the best middle ground. Piner/Paul can verify with Sean to make sure I'm remembering this right. I got the M3 E36 front kuckles for my ubild.

    The SLR kits are the same for E36/E46 EXCEPT the E46 M3 kit. The difference there is that the E46 M3 has a different ball joint pen15 thingy that's bigger so the knuckle block needed to have a bigger hole to except such a large shaft. And yea the E46 lollipops are different obviously.
    With non M e36 knuckles you could use E46 330i brakes though, which IIRC are bigger than E36 M3.
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  7. #7
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    who needs brakes? just add more angle!

  8. #8
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    Googling says you can't put 330 brakes on M3 E36 front spindles... Might need to sell my E36 M3 knuckles.

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Press22 View Post
    With non M e36 knuckles you could use E46 330i brakes though, which IIRC are bigger than E36 M3.
    this car is a 330, so the front calipers / rotors fit non m e36 front knuckles?

  10. #10
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    Googling says yes. So you can get the cool drifties and retain the factory braking. DOOOIIIIIT

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  11. #11
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    another thought, Jeepster just told me the non-M have significantly smaller wheel bearings than the M and he burned up multiple sets before going to M knuckles.

  12. #12
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    Ah good point. Well this is a poo situation.

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  13. #13
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    Sounds like E36M3 knuckles / rotors / calipers are the best bet.

  14. #14
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    I might try to find a way to adapt the 330 stuff onto my E36 M3 knuckles. It just seems backward to step down in your brake setup just to gain some trail.

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Novablue454 View Post
    another thought, Jeepster just told me the non-M have significantly smaller wheel bearings than the M and he burned up multiple sets before going to M knuckles.
    he was talking about the rear correct? Everything I find points to the front wheel bearings being the same.
    I know the rear wheel bearings on non-m are smaller due to massive's different size dual caliper adapter. he also recommends the M3 rear setup for the better wheel bearings
    Last edited by Press22; 12-12-2017 at 11:47 AM.
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  16. #16
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    Fronts. I looked them up last night and they're different part numbers. The M3 is just a normal looking wheel bearing, the non-M is replaced as the whole hub assembly.

    M3 - 580191D
    325 - 805349

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Novablue454 View Post
    Fronts. I looked them up last night and they're different part numbers. The M3 is just a normal looking wheel bearing, the non-M is replaced as the whole hub assembly.

    M3 - 580191D
    325 - 805349
    Where did you look? I'm checking real oem, both E36 325is and E36 M3 list part no: 31226757024
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  18. #18
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    I am looking on Worldpac under a 1995 - those are both FAG part numbers

    M3 shows as this:
    lg_5b51b7b8-188e-4d50-822d-8af63ead3dcd.jpg

    325i shows as this:
    md_20ffae6d-700b-46b6-989c-1baf3f28a65f.jpg

    - - - Updated - - -

    the realOEM diagram looks like the part that worldpac is showing as nonM. Weird.

  19. #19
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    The M3 one looks like a rear wheel bearing.

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  20. #20
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    idk, who's idea was this stupid steering column bolt?

  21. #21
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    Cool build do you have som pictures

  22. #22
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    This is as far as it got. My other LS car and my RX7 take priority. Its 80% stripped, just needs the wiring harness and carpet pulled out, than I need to find somewhere to dip or blast it. I am leaning towards dip but haven't looked at pricing. There are loads of pics in my other "Justin's LS6 E46" thread

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