Thanks for confirming
Mark's S54 Touring Build
I'm looking to join the club with the rest of you guys who are building (or have built) an S54 swapped touring. I'd been searching for a while to find the right car to start with and was recently able to grab this one from Virginia and drive it 1200 miles back to Wisconsin:
https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpost.php?p=18402439&postcount=2344
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It took a really long time to find what I was looking for but I was finally able to pick up the car that checked (almost) all my boxes. Red, manual trans, power seats, xenons and sport package. Even though I'll be swapping in a S54, 6 speed manual, and M3 subframes I wanted to be able to enjoy this car a little bit as it is before tearing it completely apart. Plus I figured starting with a car that already had a manual trans would save me the work of swapping over a manual pedal box and adding the clutch hydraulics. Power seats were also a must, because as far as I know cars with manual seats are not prewired to easily swap in power seats.
The only major downside to this car is that it has a grey interior, so my latest project has been tracking down black interior parts to swap over. Instead of doing a full black interior I'm thinking I will keep the grey seats, and do grey/black door cards similar to the factory 2-tone option you could get in europe. Basically it'll be like a US spec natural brown 2-tone look but with grey instead of brown.
Here's a euro spec grey/black interior LEDER CHAMELEON/KIESELGRAU (V3KA)
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For now I'm storing the car in my garage over winter and driving my 325i sedan while I stockpile parts for the touring. I'm also on the lookout for a good donor M3... I'm lucky to have copart and IAA auction sites across the road from where I work so I'm keeping a close eye on a few salvage websites.
For the exterior I basically plan on giving it the ZHP treatment w/ Mtech front/rear bumpers & skirts with either the style 135 ZHP wheels or possibly the staggered 18" style 189 5 spoke wheels from the E9x. My '04 sedan has the sport package 17" style 119's and I dig the way those look, so the 189's are very similar but a size up.
Major respect and credit to all those who have done this engine swap before and have documented so much invaluable info here on the board. I'm looking forward to all the work, problem solving, and challenges this project will bring. My goal with this thread is to do as much documentation as possible starting with what's essentially Phase 1: Parts hording and interior disassembly. I'll get into that in future posts.
https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpost.php?p=18402439&postcount=2344
It took a really long time to find what I was looking for but I was finally able to pick up the car that checked (almost) all my boxes. Red, manual trans, power seats, xenons and sport package. Even though I'll be swapping in a S54, 6 speed manual, and M3 subframes I wanted to be able to enjoy this car a little bit as it is before tearing it completely apart. Plus I figured starting with a car that already had a manual trans would save me the work of swapping over a manual pedal box and adding the clutch hydraulics. Power seats were also a must, because as far as I know cars with manual seats are not prewired to easily swap in power seats.
The only major downside to this car is that it has a grey interior, so my latest project has been tracking down black interior parts to swap over. Instead of doing a full black interior I'm thinking I will keep the grey seats, and do grey/black door cards similar to the factory 2-tone option you could get in europe. Basically it'll be like a US spec natural brown 2-tone look but with grey instead of brown.
Here's a euro spec grey/black interior LEDER CHAMELEON/KIESELGRAU (V3KA)
For now I'm storing the car in my garage over winter and driving my 325i sedan while I stockpile parts for the touring. I'm also on the lookout for a good donor M3... I'm lucky to have copart and IAA auction sites across the road from where I work so I'm keeping a close eye on a few salvage websites.
For the exterior I basically plan on giving it the ZHP treatment w/ Mtech front/rear bumpers & skirts with either the style 135 ZHP wheels or possibly the staggered 18" style 189 5 spoke wheels from the E9x. My '04 sedan has the sport package 17" style 119's and I dig the way those look, so the 189's are very similar but a size up.
Major respect and credit to all those who have done this engine swap before and have documented so much invaluable info here on the board. I'm looking forward to all the work, problem solving, and challenges this project will bring. My goal with this thread is to do as much documentation as possible starting with what's essentially Phase 1: Parts hording and interior disassembly. I'll get into that in future posts.
281 - 300 of 378 Posts
HHHHHNNNNNGGG Silver Cube trim!
Finally ordered a set today, been trolling eBay for months waiting for a nice set to pop up.
![Rectangle Automotive exterior Font Material property Automotive design]()
Weather still here sucks so no progress on the interior swap. Working on license plate frame kits anyway and hoping to have those wrapped up soon and move on to making progress on the wagon this spring.
Silver Cube trim! Finally ordered a set today, been trolling eBay for months waiting for a nice set to pop up.
Weather still here sucks so no progress on the interior swap. Working on license plate frame kits anyway and hoping to have those wrapped up soon and move on to making progress on the wagon this spring.
I had a really frustrating day with the headliner for the wagon. This is long, but I guess it's a long story at this point. Way back last June I had dropped the headliner, sunshade, and sunroof motor cover off at the local upholstery shop to have them remove the gray headliner and recover it with BM134 black headliner material. I sourced the material from VeteranCo and provided it with the parts.
This place has been around for 50 years and are supposedly the best in my small town, so I chose them over the others. The problem is that they're always really busy. So the first mistake I made was telling them not to rush and to work it into their schedule when they had the availability to take their time with it. I discussed my expectations of the finished product and what I was looking for. Basically requesting they match the way the original headliner material was cut flush in some areas and tucked behind in other areas etc. I wanted the parts to be able to go back in the car without me having to rework edges or remove extra material to make it fit correctly. I figured if I was going to be picky that I give them some slack on timeline.
So I was fine waiting a few months, and I checked in as summer turned to fall. Was told that they hadn't started yet but their schedule was freeing up. Checked back in late November and it still wasn't done, but at this point it would be spring until I could actually install it since it was too cold out. So I just stressed again that they take the time to do it right when they weren't tied up with other long term projects and that my deadline was spring. It would be worth the wait, I told myself.
I called beginning of March to check in, and was told I was on the schedule and it should be done by the end of the month.
April rolls around and I hadn't heard anything yet, so I called again today. Turns out it's been done and sitting on the shelf for 10 days. I was slightly annoyed that they didn't call me, but whatever, at this point I'm just excited that it's finally done.
So I go to pick it up this afternoon, and holy fucking hell does it look terrible. The edges are peeling up everywhere and the glue did not stick properly. There was also lots of random extra material (like 6" plus) at the edges in some places, not folded over or glued down at all. Yet in other areas the edges were trimmed what appeared to be too far past the edge of the backer board.
In the areas where the grab handles go and the tighter bends near the sunroof panel the fabric is not form fitted to the shape of the headliner and is just stretched across without being pressed down. Big bubbles essentially between the fabric and the board. The cutouts for the grab handle holes, dome light, alarm sensor are just randomly hacked holes.
After talking to the same guy I had been working with all along and expressing my displeasure, there was a lot of back peddling and excuses about the glue not holding to the substrate properly. I asked if they used 2-part adhesive? Nope, just some random gallon pail of glue they use for everything. I was told they did use a wire brush to remove the old foam/glue and then it was wiped with a prepping agent to remove residue, prior to spraying glue on both the backing and foam and then sticking it together. He peeled back the fabric in a few places to inspect, and it was like sticky bubble gum stretching across.
At this point I can't believe I've waited almost a year and this is what I have to deal with. They kept the main headliner and are going to attempt to fix it, but I can't imagine that they'll be able to properly adhere the fabric at this point without replacing it.
I wish I would have taken pictures, but I was basically in shock just how bad it was. And even more shocked and confused that they thought it was acceptable in the first place.
I did take the sunroof cover panel with me, and you can see below what a hack job they did on the switch cutouts. I test fitted the switches and sure enough, the material was cut back too far and there are gaps along the edge that the switch doesn't cover. So this piece has to be recovered too.
At this point I'm looking for another shop to completely start over, or I'll just do it myself.
![Wood Rectangle Gadget Audio equipment Hardwood]()
![Outerwear Jersey Sleeve Wood Collar]()
![Jersey Sleeve Wood Bag Collar]()
This place has been around for 50 years and are supposedly the best in my small town, so I chose them over the others. The problem is that they're always really busy. So the first mistake I made was telling them not to rush and to work it into their schedule when they had the availability to take their time with it. I discussed my expectations of the finished product and what I was looking for. Basically requesting they match the way the original headliner material was cut flush in some areas and tucked behind in other areas etc. I wanted the parts to be able to go back in the car without me having to rework edges or remove extra material to make it fit correctly. I figured if I was going to be picky that I give them some slack on timeline.
So I was fine waiting a few months, and I checked in as summer turned to fall. Was told that they hadn't started yet but their schedule was freeing up. Checked back in late November and it still wasn't done, but at this point it would be spring until I could actually install it since it was too cold out. So I just stressed again that they take the time to do it right when they weren't tied up with other long term projects and that my deadline was spring. It would be worth the wait, I told myself.
I called beginning of March to check in, and was told I was on the schedule and it should be done by the end of the month.
April rolls around and I hadn't heard anything yet, so I called again today. Turns out it's been done and sitting on the shelf for 10 days. I was slightly annoyed that they didn't call me, but whatever, at this point I'm just excited that it's finally done.
So I go to pick it up this afternoon, and holy fucking hell does it look terrible. The edges are peeling up everywhere and the glue did not stick properly. There was also lots of random extra material (like 6" plus) at the edges in some places, not folded over or glued down at all. Yet in other areas the edges were trimmed what appeared to be too far past the edge of the backer board.
In the areas where the grab handles go and the tighter bends near the sunroof panel the fabric is not form fitted to the shape of the headliner and is just stretched across without being pressed down. Big bubbles essentially between the fabric and the board. The cutouts for the grab handle holes, dome light, alarm sensor are just randomly hacked holes.
After talking to the same guy I had been working with all along and expressing my displeasure, there was a lot of back peddling and excuses about the glue not holding to the substrate properly. I asked if they used 2-part adhesive? Nope, just some random gallon pail of glue they use for everything. I was told they did use a wire brush to remove the old foam/glue and then it was wiped with a prepping agent to remove residue, prior to spraying glue on both the backing and foam and then sticking it together. He peeled back the fabric in a few places to inspect, and it was like sticky bubble gum stretching across.
At this point I can't believe I've waited almost a year and this is what I have to deal with. They kept the main headliner and are going to attempt to fix it, but I can't imagine that they'll be able to properly adhere the fabric at this point without replacing it.
I wish I would have taken pictures, but I was basically in shock just how bad it was. And even more shocked and confused that they thought it was acceptable in the first place.
I did take the sunroof cover panel with me, and you can see below what a hack job they did on the switch cutouts. I test fitted the switches and sure enough, the material was cut back too far and there are gaps along the edge that the switch doesn't cover. So this piece has to be recovered too.
At this point I'm looking for another shop to completely start over, or I'll just do it myself.
Picked up the headliner today. The one positive thing I can say about the shop is that they didn't put up a fight when it came to a refund and reimbursement for the material cost.
Here's what it looks like.
![Wood Automotive exterior Rectangle Bumper Gas]()
![Hood Vehicle Grille Automotive tire Automotive exterior]()
![Hood Wood Rectangle Floor Material property]()
![Wood Automotive exterior Floor Bumper Hardwood]()
![Hood Automotive tire Grey Wood Flooring]()
![Water Rectangle Wood Road surface Building]()
![Wood Automotive exterior Composite material Tints and shades Automotive tire]()
![Wood Electric blue Wing Hardwood Wood stain]()
![Automotive tire Wood Road surface Grey Asphalt]()
![Automotive exterior Bumper Gas Auto part Metal]()
Here's what it looks like.
More
![Glove Wood Floor Flooring Bumper]()
![Helmet Wood Glove Personal protective equipment Artifact]()
![Automotive tire Wood Tire Sculpture Art]()
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![Outerwear Wood Sleeve Grey Collar]()
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281 - 300 of 378 Posts
