The maintenance mod, see Mango for more information.

 

Of course, one would want to do the maintenance a la Mango's instructions. Then you can get to the fun stuff of which this board overwhelmingly approves:

1) Plastidip the entire car
2) Put in aftermarket head unit with incorrect Ohm impedance to "improve" sound system
3) Obtain side vents and badges to turn your car into an M3
4) Get a Euro license plate
5) Install cold air intake with no heat shield

 

Dual turbos are the first thing to do.


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Sell it and buy a Honda

 

AFTER maintenance

I'd do lighting, wheels, bumpers

 

This. It's a good path to follow, to be fine after all maintenance. A great looking car means nothing if it's stuck on the side of the road with stream and coolant pouring out the hood.

 

Most of the best mods come from fixing worn out stuff on the car. E.g. VANOS, DISA, suspension, stuff like that. Your car will feel brand new when you tackle those. Our cars are already well set up to begin with. They're just old.

Except our headers, they're really restrictive. That's a good mod to do as well. Get downstream cats or a euro tune to remove the CEL. The correct and environmentally conscious way would be to get cats lower in the exhaust stream if you plan on doing headers.

 

The clean MAF TB DISA ICV mod. Under $10 or free if you already have the right cleaners. Feels like it frees up HP. Replace TB gasket and boots.

As for actual mods, I'm just throwing these cheapos out there, haven't done any because I like it stock.

Golf tee mod
Sharpie mod
Debadge
Alarm beep (did do this, highly recommend)
Clutch stop

 

Golf tee mod
Sharpie mod
Debadge
Alarm beep (did do this, highly recommend)
Clutch stop

Sharpie mod just coloring the gauge needles?

Do you need the OE alarm (i dont have) for the alarm beep mod?

 

First mod should be to make it drive like a BMW again. After that you can work on making it look like 90% of the cars on this forum.

 

First mod should be to make it drive like a BMW again. After that you can work on making it look like 90% of the cars on this forum.

+1

People "mod" their car to personalize it. First, figure out your personality, then you will know what to do. Otherwise, make it like it was in the showroom.

 

jon jon
russ
vader
solid

 

Engine swap

 

There is a thread with a bunch of mods that are pretty good and relatively cheap!

But I'd say start with angel eyes!
:thumbsup:

 

Exactly. Do a crappy wiring job, and the car will go up in flames , and you won't have to do all of that boring "maintenance" stuff.

 

Like said above, first, keep in mind huge amounts of money, time and high wages for the employees have been spent by the manufacturer, to develop the car..of course, so we can enjoy it properly and stimulate us to pay obscene amounts of money for some metal, glass, plastic etc.

I can't tell you what to do and don't but, at least, these cars have to satisfy our driving enthusiasm, with proper reliability and performance. So, you can focus on driving it as much as possible, as they were meant to be, keep it in shape and just enjoy your time.....

I used to be also eager to mod my cars, when I was in 18-25.....believe me, we have also a mod/tuning craze, here, in Romania, with lots of skin deep BMW fanatics, as well....but, then you will realize that you have spent too much time, energy and money on mods, that are 90% useless, instead of spending time (and money on fuel, of course), enjoying driving an E46....

Until recently, I have owned a 2008 Ford Mondeo (Fusion called in US) and a VW jetta sportwagen 2008...I was against BMWs, due to their spoilt teenage pseudo tuner stigma, here...
When I saw my current E46, at a seller in his mid 40s, in almost mint condition, with not one single mod, in an ocean of sale offers of all kind of so called mods...I gave up on the other two cars, sold them and I really love my 2004 e46, despite being 9 year old....and I can't say I was not able to afford an e90.
I just said to me: why pay more, if all I want is a car to provide me real driving pleasure....and it really does..

 

like said above, first, keep in mind huge amounts of money, time and high wages for the employees have been spent by the manufacturer, to develop the car..of course, so we can enjoy it properly and stimulate us to pay obscene amounts of money for some metal, glass, plastic etc.

I can't tell you what to do and don't but, at least, these cars have to satisfy our driving enthusiasm, with proper reliability and performance. So, you can focus on driving it as much as possible, as they were meant to be, keep it in shape and just enjoy your time.....

I used to be also eager to mod my cars, when i was in 18-25.....believe me, we have also a mod/tuning craze, here, in romania, with lots of skin deep bmw fanatics, as well....but, then you will realize that you have spent too much time, energy and money on mods, that are 90% useless, instead of spending time (and money on fuel, of course), enjoying driving an e46....

Until recently, i have owned a 2008 ford mondeo (fusion called in us) and a vw jetta sportwagen 2008...i was against bmws, due to their spoilt teenage pseudo tuner stigma, here...
When i saw my current e46, at a seller in his mid 40s, in almost mint condition, with not one single mod, in an ocean of sale offers of all kind of so called mods...i gave up on the other two cars, sold them and i really love my 2004 e46, despite being 9 year old....and i can't say i was not able to afford an e90.
I just said to me: Why pay more, if all i want is a car to provide me real driving pleasure....and it really does..

9 years old????

 

Only reason to stay away from headers is that the car will sound "broken" if it isn't otherwise modified to look "sporty".

 

First of all, my following question is no irony but, my curiosity: what is the actual trend among -fanatics- in US...do most of those who apply various performance mods, really take their cars for real driving, based on those upgrades?

I am aiming my question to all experienced e46 fanatics...
That is because, here, at least, in Romania, I have noticed that any performance mods remain just for showing them, in the parking lot, or, the most, for some donuts....

How many still care about driving an e46, and not just for show off?....which, by the way, here, in Romania, an e46 is no use for a show off, being already perceived as obsolete...

Like said above...a sporty sound has to be matched by looks and performance...otherwise, it is quite sad to see a car being just a moving subwoofer...

 

I think the biggest change with the most instant gratification is a new set of wheels.

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Of course, this is no poll but, just curious the general opinion...I am not against mods, just I encourage mods that are effectively used by the owner...just an M badge or sport seats, to ride in a straight line, at 30 mph, through the neighbourhood, is not quite the way the BMW engineers (at least, not the marketing dept.) aimed to be...

 

Yes, 9 years old. Is my math incorrect? 2013-2004...I am referring to the age of the car...

 

once your maintenance is up to date, and if you have a manual, SSK and clutch delay valve delete would be my first mods. Then suspension and wheels. Then maybe lights.

 

I'd start with the small mods.

Replace plastic e-brake handle with leather
Do the OBC retrofit
Replace trim
Install Homelink
Restore leather on steering wheel



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Does that mean I am a shallow person if all my mods are exterior :eeps: hope not. But yeah listen to everyone else about doing maintenance. You'll be amazed how much better the car drives when it's well maintained . I still need to do some work this summer, but after that I should be good :thumbup:


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Thanks everyone. I may have to start with the small mods for now and do some maintenance work (new front struts, flush tranny, flush brake fluid).

seigi009....Can you answer the below questions?

Replace plastic e-brake handle with leather (what does this look like? how much?)
Do the OBC retrofit (what is this?)
Replace trim --- with what? My wood looks cracked on every piece :-(
Install Homelink (where?)
Restore leather on steering wheel (mine is fine, but the center console and seat look bad. Looks like it needs to be painted)

 

Must-do mods?
None, none, none, and none.
Not sure about the order though.

 

Wildirish really pointed out the right direction for this topic...The essential idea of mods is to customize alias personalize your vehicle, to suit your preferences, no matter if the others share them or not.
Actually, customization is not, any more, a form of rebellion, not in a democratic society, at least..

Even, in my country, in the communist era, over 23 years ago (don't worry, I don't have "soviet Romania.." jokes ), despite having only 3 car models, those who could have afford one, tried to personalize them...either it was a smuggled tape radio, some fake fur seat covers or just a Castrol GTX ad sticker (those were very rare to get )...

Therefore, wildirish is right..asking for pseudo must do mods is like asking others to assign your personal preferences...

So, just have a top shape e46, enjoy driving it as much as possible and customize it, anyway you like, even if that means, like some unfortunate cars, here (in my country), to be fitted, by their owners with a giant NIKE logo on their rear windshield, some crappy fake Motorsport badges and V8 stickers, on 4 cylinder cars + of course, some 18-19 inch wheels with worn out tires, as they don't afford such tire sizes...but, that happens all over the world....

JusT a matter of personal preferences...some like to drive to the limit, some like to show their cars, in the parking lot, while spending the day talking about their boombox on wheels, some just want to get from A to B etc.....