[blksab65]

I’ll take an extra headliner off your hands if you end up with one! I can give you a few yards of the black veteran co thick and thin OEM matched headliner material in exchange. Also would love to swing by and see it in person.

Great find with that interior.

I should have an extra headliner left over for you after the interior swap!

 

[blksab65]

The one thing I looked forward to the entire week I can't even do, it's raining. I even evacuated the AC system so I could get this black carpet installed and the dashboard.. Damn..


I had the black carpet's professionally cleaned at Autoworks Detailing in San Mateo, CA. It's a great local detail shop. I do a lot of work on his personal BMW's, the carpets came out great!


Lastly I picked up the rear Mtech 2 bumper from the dealership. Check out the size of that box- and the best part? You have to open a second box, inside this box, to reveal the bumper! I guess BMW isn't taking chance's shipping such a large part from Germany and potentially getting damaged.

Here's what the interior is looking like, I sold the front seats on Wednesday and I have a few other bits pending sale for tomorrow afternoon..

 

[vtwagon]

Nice progress! I have the same floor mats, for some reason I love them, they're so 2000's.

 

[Vass]

Love the lengths you're going to with this. Awesome build.

 

[blksab65]

Got lucky.. No rain this afternoon, which meant it was time dig into this huge job! I decided to start with the front half of the interior and I'll finish the rear hatch next weekend on my next day's off.

Everything went really smooth. To be honest- this is far easier to swap the dash vs a e30. BMW really made these dashboard's far easer to remove vs the 80's models. These e46's have mostly all the same hardware in each corner.. All the connectors are different shape's and can't be mixed up.

That being said, I took about 100 photos before removing the damn thing. I can confidently say the dash and carpets are installed like BMW would have. I have all the wiring harness's routed properly, zero broken clips, all the screws in the correct spot's. Overall the biggest tip I have for anyone doing this- take multiple pictures!

Once you take pictures how the harness's are routed it's time to remove the metal dashboard bar - to gain access to the heater core box.

This trim tool is a life saver for saving clips, especially the small Christmas tree clips BMW use's to hold the harness's tight against the metal dashboard bar. The smaller head of the tool really digs under the smaller size clips without damaging them.

Then you need to drop the steering column down. The final step is removing the heater core box.

I left the parking brake handle installed due to a tip my BMW instructor recommended in my training class. He told us "The more time's you remove the handle, the less tight of a fit it will have - and will eventually start to "slip forward" as the customer use's the parking brake."

I find this especially true on e30's and e36's. Sometimes the handle has slipped so far forward it's impossible to click the parking brake handle button. The only proper repair is a brand new handle for this issue. I miss him, he passed away last year. He was a good, knowledgeable man.

 

[malapane]

At some point I’ll replace the rear 6x9s and am hoping that helps.

The rear two for some reason make, by far, the biggest difference. I did the bavsound on my Hifi- not HK - system and I just think the wagons just don't sound as good as sedans. Maybe I will have to figure out how to upgrade to the HK amp, as bavsound told me they don't have an upgrade amp for the E46 touring anymore - then I could upgrade the rears to the larger size - which I think would help quite a bit...

But yeah, not too fantastic.

 

[///Mark_D]

I'm jealous that you've got such nice weather in CA that you can do this in the middle of December. I'm going to be doing the same black dash/carpet swap, and I've reluctantly admitted to myself that I'll need to wait until spring. This would not be a fun job to do when temps are in the teens.

The pictures you've posted will be helpful though. I've stripped a few cars down to remove the carpets, but never fully removed the HVAC box. I'm leaving the A/C lines connected on my car, so my plan is just to loosen it up and raise it up enough to slip in the new carpet from below.

 

[George Hill]

I'm jealous that you've got such nice weather in CA that you can do this in the middle of December. I'm going to be doing the same black dash/carpet swap, and I've reluctantly admitted to myself that I'll need to wait until spring. This would not be a fun job to do when temps are in the teens.

The pictures you've posted will be helpful though. I've stripped a few cars down to remove the carpets, but never fully removed the HVAC box. I'm leaving the A/C lines connected on my car, so my plan is just to loosen it up and raise it up enough to slip in the new carpet from below.

I don't think that is going to work, the studs are so long you'll have to pull the box from the firewall and I don't think you'll have enough give with the lines.

I pull the heater boxes when changing carpets MOST of the time. BUT the BMW repair instructions actually say to cut around the box and leave it in place, with that said though I looked quickly through TIS and now can't find the instructions. lol

 

[vtwagon]

I cut my carpets out when I did my black interior swap this summer, just left and right of the heater box, where the floor ducts run through the carpet. There’s lots of opportunities to cut things besides the carpet under there, so I was very careful to essentially just score the carpet enough so I could tear it and the foam backing to complete the removal. I would love to say I had the dedication to do it the right way, but chose the easy way. Nobody would know except me, and who ever reads this 😂

 

[///Mark_D]

I don't think that is going to work, the studs are so long you'll have to pull the box from the firewall and I don't think you'll have enough give with the lines.

I pull the heater boxes when changing carpets MOST of the time. BUT the BMW repair instructions actually say to cut around the box and leave it in place, with that said though I looked quickly through TIS and now can't find the instructions. lol

I was able to get the carpet out from the donor car this way, but getting it back into mine will be the tricky part. Worst case, I guess I'll have to disconnect the lines if it puts up a fight.

All the more reason to not attempt until spring

 

[blksab65]

I pull the heater boxes when changing carpets MOST of the time. BUT the BMW repair instructions actually say to cut around the box and leave it in place, with that said though I looked quickly through TIS and now can't find the instructions. lol

I’m almost certain this only applies if your re-using the existing carpet not a full carpet replacement but your right, BMW does say to cut the carpet for removal. It’s a near impossible task to cut the new carpet identical to your old carpet - some places will overlap or gaps between the two cut pieces.. as I’m sure you know lol.

Either way I wanted to do things “the right way” because it’s my personal car .

 

[George Hill]

I’m almost certain this only applies if your re-using the existing carpet not a full carpet replacement but your right, BMW does say to cut the carpet for removal. It’s a near impossible task to cut the new carpet identical to your old carpet - some places will overlap or gaps between the two cut pieces.. as I’m sure you know lol.

Either way I wanted to do things “the right way” because it’s my personal car .

For carpet replacement... BMW doesn't look at color changes as being a factory repair so the only real reason would be to replace it (you'd be pulling the heater case for a body harness replacement). But there is enough "give" in everything that it doesn't have to be exact and in some placed I'll stitch the pieces together with zip ties.

But I agree, for you and for me I would do it how you are as well, just wanted to let anyone else following along that sometimes what we call the "right" way isn't the way BMW says to do it.

 

[vtwagon]

some placed I'll stitch the pieces together with zip ties.

That’s a fantastic idea, wish I’d thought of that before. I was able to cut the black carpet very close to the outgoing grey one in my car, but that’s a nice added touch and would’ve made the job that much neater / more robust.

 

[blksab65]

I think the only reason to remove carpets under a BMW warranty claim would be to dry them out for water leaks.. And even that's a stretch. When I was still working at the dealer the F07's had a fuel pump recall and they wanted us to cut the carpet to gain access to the fuel pump. The only other way to access the fuel pump would be to remove the rear carpet complete, and no chance in hell BMW would pay us to do that. The repair instructions for the recall seriously showed us where to cut the carpet.

Back on topic though @///Mark_D I think you should evacuate your AC at the shop and remove the entire HVAC box for the carpet replacement.. I know it sucks but once the AC system is empty your left with 5x 10mm bolts holding the box in... (4x 10mm bolts holding the box in place (they are studs), 1x 10mm holding the AC line to the HVAC box, and the two heater core hose's.)

Takes all but 15min to remove the box, no reason to cut carpets for anyone reading this. The main issue here is evacuating the AC system, and I suppose removing the metal dash bar.

 

[blksab65]

Nice progress! I have the same floor mats, for some reason I love them, they're so 2000's.

I saw a second set at the junkyard a few weeks back and grabbed them lol. Your totally right definitely 2000's. I guess BMW still sell's rubber floor mats for these cars but it's a completely different pattern/ texture then the one's we have 😃.

 

[Bryson]

How’s this one coming along?! Looking forward to seeing it done.

 

[blksab65]

I wanted to give you guys a big update so here it is 😃. I purchased a E46 M3 convertible from a customer back in January and just like the conversion I did last year, I contemplated if it was worth parting out the M3 and using it for the touring. Since the M3 was purchased with intentions for this swap it ended up turning into the donor car like intended.

I actually just got the S54 installed yesterday so I figured it was time to update this build 😃.

About 2 year's ago the customer spent roughly $12k in work at a local BMW dealership in the Bay Area (And I need to say this, not the dealer I worked at before!) and I found sin's on every single inch they touched. Thankfully it could all be corrected pretty easily.

The work consisted of:
-Vanos Solionid- or the entire Vanos assembly. I'm not certain
-Catalytic Converters with 02 Sensors
-Clutch Replacement


Engine arm bracket, missing one of the 4x fasteners, and 1x fastener halfway out.

Catalytic Converter missing a stud on Bank 2, missing a nut on Bank 1, and all fasteners found loose. I purchased these brand new and installed them, before installing the S54 into my wagon.

At least the clutch and flywheel were installed properly, though they welded a SMG fastener and looks like they didn't lube the splines..

 

[blksab65]

I owned the M3 for about 3 months before pulling the drivetrain, I actually just pulled it last weekend with my grandfather. The big push on this project was a friend/ shop I know needed majority of a M3 front end to fix a customer car- and I was the perfect guy to call since I had a M3 donor car sitting on the street.

[

Since the M3 was originally a SMG I purchased all the parts brand new from the BMW dealership to convert it to a true 6 speed manual transmission. I also converted the O2 wiring harness into a true manual transmission so the car wouldn't have any unused connectors "dangling" around in the engine or transmission tunnel.

SMG to Manual Transmission Harness Conversion.

I also replaced the rod bearings while the engine was out of the car. The bearings were in fairly good shape compared to photos you see on google. I suppose the secrete is buying a M3 from older owners who don't "beat" on the car lol. These bearings have 180k.

I purchased the rod bearings and fasteners all brand new from the dealership.

 

[blksab65]

On a side note, the e30 project I purchased quite a few months back was goal #1 before starting this S54 swap. I didn't want to have more then one car taken apart and un-finished. Once the e30 was done that's when the S54 was removed from this M3 convertible.

Like I figured, the cylinder head was cracked on the e30. Whenever oil and coolant mix on a BMW you can safely assume the cylinder head is cracked, or a oil filter housing if we're talking e90 😃.

I got a cylinder head from my local junkyard for $100 bucks and took the head to my best friend, who works for a machine shop. He installed new valve stem seals, guides, and re surfaced. It'll soon be sold to continue funding this S54 build.

 

[blksab65]

Which now brings me to yesterday.. I took the day off work - yet got up even earlier then I normally do. The day started with pulling the M54 transmission and front end, to then remove the M54 engine. I wanted to separate the transmission first to avoid damaging the transmission tunnel insulation while removing the engine.

I removed the entire front clip as one assembly, I highly recommend doing this because it's much more simple then removing everything individually, which needs to go back on the car anyways. It comes off as one piece like the photo bellow after removing roughly 16 fasteners.

You can also safely assume all the gaps will line up once again perfectly on the car. Just line up the witness marks and tighten everything back up.

The M3 use's multiple different parts from a 325i. This includes the reinforcement plate, heat shields are stamped "M" and different shapes, the front kidney "air dam" is stamped M3, sound insulation bits in the engine bay, the list goes on. Once the M54 was removed from the car everything had to be swapped over from the M3 to make this touring a true M3 conversion.

Here you can see how the "air dam" is stamped M3 and had to be swaped over onto the touring. The electric fan is also a different part number.

I also shipped the gauge cluster and DME to Kassle performance for coding on Sunday. Hopefully I'll have the rear subframe and transmission swapped over and installed over this next coming weekend.

The M3 also had the factory BMW delete plug in the shifter area, so I swapped that out with the one I previously used.