Congrats! Great three car solution

 

Congrats - I would love to hear driving impressions of all-wheel drive versus the RWD.

 

First impression is that AWD isn't that different. I could tell it pushes/understeers a little bit more when corning hard. But I was kind of babying it on the drive home.

I can't really make a fair comparison until it's fixed though. The rear driveshaft needs to be replaced and it vibrates under load.

The fan clutch is also locked up so I'm going to delete and swap to an electric puller fan from a manual car.

Probably also needs at least one new front drive axle due to split boot.

 

That is a great woman! Congrats on the new ride, Mark!

 

Three of a kind? Thats a good hand, I'd bet it.

Nice stable.

 

love it !!! so glad i am not the only one chasing multiple cars in one color

 

Haha! Definitely. It had to be red. I was possibly considering blue, but this car popped up for sale only 3 hours away and it was the one.

It has natural brown interior too which is also my favorite.

 

More photos and details about the car here when it was for sale a few years ago.

2002 BMW (E46) 330Xi-Swapped 325Xi Sport Wagon | Glen Shelly Auto — Erie, Colorado

2002 BMW (E46) 330Xi-Swapped 325Xi Sport Wagon

glenshelly.com

 

Dang, they have some nice inventory and seem to really know the cars. Can’t decide between that Imola ZHP and the Oxford green e39.

 

If you go through previous sales there are some pretty great cars listed in there as well.

A different shop in CO actually did the 330 swap on the wagon, but Glen Shelly sorted out a few other issues before they listed it.

 

I chatted with the lady briefly, nice buy.

 

Hell yeah!! Congrats Mark! That thing is sweet and checks a ton of boxes. I’m not jealous at all over here hahaha! I can’t believe that popped up so close to you, red on NB, 3.0, auto, crazy!

I know it’s a daily but I can’t recommend the eibach springs and koni shocks enough for the xi’s. It’s still a very usable height and very comfortable, but much more sporty at the same time. That said I have H&R’s arriving Tuesday to try to get my front end a tad lower.

Also, GKN is the only replacement axle to buy, everything else is cheap garbage. It seems that the boots are still not that great though and rebooting original BMW axles, if they’re not too far gone, is a good way to go as well.

Welcome to the dark side.

 

Thanks, I was also surprised to see this spec come up so close since it's a pretty uncommon combination. The 3.0L swap was icing on the cake.

I'll be looking into suspension upgrades soon, so I appreciate the recommendations! Thanks for the info on the front axles too, I've still got a lot to learn when it comes to the Xi's.

 

Congrats!

 

omg oxford green e39... so long guys im off to the other forums to investigate

 

Wow - congrats! Great color combo and spec all around - the 3L swap is icing on the cake.

 

Japan Red is awesome!

 

Oh man another japanred!! Hows the interior looking? Black, Tan? Congrats!!

 

Thanks! It has natural brown interior, in really nice shape except the driver's seat has some wear and failed stitching. Hopefully the upholstery shop near me can make some repairs.

Seats are sport,power, heated and have lumbar

 

Also, there is some interesting stuff that pops up when I run the vin through mdecoder.

Here's a screen grab.

It would appear that if this information is true, the car left the factory with some msport equipment like the steering wheel and aerodynamics package, as well as some individual equipment like the anthracite headliner and gloss shadowline trim.

I'm trying to verify the car actually came with these options, as the car is not currently equipped with those parts. It also says it had a rain sensor, which it currently does not.

I know for sure the windshield was replaced, which may be why the car also no longer has a rain sensor, and the LCM was swapped (to get rid of the ZHP swapped cluster tamper dot)

The car was also swapped from xenon to halogen headlamps at some point, probably when it had a front end collision and the current ZHP bumper that is currently in place was installed.

 

Very curious! The sports suspension is the one that really has me scratching my head. You might have a pretty unique car there Mr D.
Edit: even more unique than it is already.

 

I ran the VIN through bimmer.work, and it shows up more normal without all the msport / individual options. I am pretty sure that it's just an error with mdecoder, but I'll find out for sure once I get some more info.

 

That's an awesome pickup. Congrats!

 

When I was inspecting the car prior to purchase I noticed the brake ducts were missing from behind the MTechII bumper. Last time around for my RWD wagon I fixed a broken set of cheap sedan M ducts from ebay using new brackets from a set of M coupe ducts.

Looks like I'll won't be as lucky this time around, as it seems like the ducts I need on this car for the MTechII / MTech I bumper are xi specific.

Oof.

I might pick up a set of non-mtech xi brake ducts from the salvage yard and see if I can modify those to fit the MtechII bumper. Anybody have any other suggestions? Seems to find a used set of correct parts I'd have to find a 330xi with an Mtech I bumper to scavenge parts from, since the the more common ZHP RWD ducts would not work in my case.

Need PN's 51717894706 and 51717894707

 

If only you knew someone with a 330xi parts car with an mtech1 bumper just sitting around… 😁

I’d be happy to pilfer the ol girl if you decide to go that way.

 

If only you knew someone with a 330xi parts car with an mtech1 bumper just sitting around… 😁 View attachment 982678
I’d be happy to pilfer the ol girl if you decide to go that way.

Duuude! That would be awesome

I'll have to do some more checking just to make sure the MtechI ducts will work with MtechII

 

Going further down the M brake duct rabbit hole...

For sedans/wagons each duct assembly is made up of a tube, and a bracket. There is a standard non M tube for standard bumpers (EDIT: and the standard tube is also used on Mtech I bumpers), and there is an M tube for and Mtech II bumpers. There are various different brackets that can be attached to the tube to make up the other half of the duct assembly. The bracket shape is what determines if it will fit a RWD or AWD car, etc.

The RH side duct is the simplest example. There is only one M version of the tube, but it can be attached to two different brackets to either turn it into PN 7894700 for RWD, or 7894706 for AWD.

The tube itself is stamped with both part numbers (kind of hard to see in this cropped/rotated photo).

The same is true for the LH side M tube, which can be used to make a handful of part numbers, depending on what bracket it's mated to, and if it was molded with or without the oval alternator duct cutout.

Anyway, my point is that it looks like one could theoretically piece together a correct set of ducts using various tubes and brackets without having to spend $750.

 

Found some japanrot Mtech side skirts on car-part.com. They cleaned up pretty nicely and just need some minor touch up paint, and a cut and polish.

I also locally picked up a whole rear seat from a natural brown sedan. The driver's front seat on the wagon has worn bolsters that are beyond saving with a re-dye, so these rear seats are going to be disassembled and used as donor leather for repairs on the front seat at the upholstery shop.

 

Almost a shame to chop up NB rear seats, actually can you even get what you need from those, maybe the front of the rear bottom?

How much material do you need?

 

I know, I'm kinda torn about it too. The guy said they were sitting out in the car for 5 years so I thought they would be in worse shape. Then I wouldn't feel so bad. They cleaned up really nicely though. He didn't give me the two side bolsters or the back headrests, but those are still there in the car to make a complete set.

To repair my front seat I'm going to need a section to piece in for the upper bolster, possibly the outside section of the upper seat bolster too since it looks like it was previously repaired and glued.

The bottom of the seat has stitching that has failed, but the leather itself is not torn through the stitching holes, so I think that part can be saved. There is some cracking on the bottom as well on the bolster, but that may be able to be sanded down and filled in.

The rest just needs a thorough clean and some colourlock dye.

Here are a few photos so you can get a better idea.

 

✂ ✂

 

Yesterday I picked up an electric fan to replace the water pump driven clutch fan, which just happens to be seized anyway. The donor car was pretty dirty...

But after some cleaning it looks pretty good. It spins smoothly so hopefully it actually works! Only cost $21

I ordered a cheap fan clutch removal tool on Amazon as well, so as soon as that arrives the clutch fan and the front mounted pusher fan will be going....

 

Yesterday I picked up an electric fan to replace the water pump driven clutch fan, which just happens to be seized anyway. The donor car was pretty dirty...

View attachment 983293

What is with that CCV hack? I get a kick out of some of the trash repairs people do to M54s. Most times they could have fixed it right for a pretty small amount of money and way less time spent messing around with some bandaid fix. Although I get fixing the CCV properly isn't easy for most backyard mechanics. I found a couple doozys on my last project 😅

 

I meant to post the link to the DIY too for the fan swap too. It seems pretty simple, especially considering the electrical connection is the same as the old front mounted electric fan. Pretty much a plug and play swap.

Benefits include not having the clutch mounted fan seize and grenade itself through your hood while taking out your cooling system, and the electric fan also gives slightly better performance due to less parasitic loss, and slightly better mpg's.

DIY: Aux/mechanical fan to electric fan swap

Tools/parts: - Floor jack and one jack stand - Philips screwdriver - Torx 25 bit - 8" extension - 3/8ths ratchet - 8mm socket or 8mm wrench - 9mm socket - 13mm socket - Fan clutch tools - OEM electric fan: 17117561757 - Expanding rivet: 17111712963 (for the expansion tank side to hold fan to...

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