[Vass]

Here's some to-do lists, if nothing else then just for myself to keep better track of everything.

ENGINE

• All new seals, O-rings, gaskets throughout (all Elring).
• New rod & main bearings (Glyco).
• M52TU-style piston rings.
• New timing chains (iwis), guides (Febi), upper tensioner (INA), new spring for main tensioner (Genuine).
• Slotted oil pump nut (Turner Motorsport).
• Rebuilt DISA with aluminium flap & replaced membrane (local vendor).
  
  
  
• Rebuild VANOS (Beisan Systems kit).
• Donor engine is older style but will be using the harmonic balancer (keep it compatible with the current AC system) and valve cover from the newer-style engine original to the car. As far as I can tell, those two things are the main difference between the two and should just be a straight swap?
  
  
  
• New crankshaft pulley bolt.
• New plastic coolant hoses to block & head (Rein, oops).
• New VANOS feeder line (Rein).
• Injectors professionally cleaned & tested.
• New ignition coils (Delphi) & spark plugs (NGK).
• New CCV & associated hoses (OE & Rein).
• New thermostat (Borg Warner). Water pump, radiator and radiator hoses I replaced last year.
• New intake boots (Febi).
• Replace all other vacuum hoses and vacuum caps.
• New engine mounts (Corteco).
• New crankshaft position sensor (VDO).
• New ignition knock sensor (VDO).
• New cam position sensors (VNE).
• New pre-cat O2 sensors (Bosch).
• Considering deleting post-cat O2 sensors altogether. As far as I can tell, they don't really do much in terms of engine operation itself and just monitor emissions. There's no emissions testing in NZ so figure I might save a couple hundred $ and just bypass altogether. Need to figure out how to code them out to avoid CEL.

TRANSMISSION

• Clean up crusty gearbox with brass wire wheels / brushes.
• Replace all detents & shift pins. Have already got the new hardware and have ordered the special install punch kit.
• New shifter bushes and pins.
• Shorter E60 shift lever.
• ZHP gear knob.
• Metal clutch fork pivot pin.
• New clutch kit & double mass flywheel (LUK).
• New slave cylinder (Sachs).
• New backup light switch.
• Replace gearbox oil.
• New transmission mounts (Corteco).

STEERING

• Install LF-30 pump that came with the donor car.
• Will need to source new pressure hoses / custom make new ones. RHD ones are stupidly expensive and hard to source with only overpriced genuine ones available from very few vendors.
• New PS reservoir (ZF) & hoses (Rein).
• Have two purple-tag steering racks to choose from, will need to compare condition and make the call.
• New tie rods & boots (Lemförder).
• Need to figure out what to do with steering coupling. Again, RHD variants generally don't have OE options available and are stupidly expensive. Considering replacing with poly / solid aftermarket alternatives as due to proximity to exhaust manifold, rubber tends to wear out quicker, despite coming with a protective metal "hat". Unsure whether solid coupling or similar might be a bit too harsh for a daily driver though, especially with shitty South Island New Zealand roads.

DRIVETRAIN

• Clean & paint rusty manual driveshaft.
• New flex joint / guibo (Meyle HD).
• New center support bearing (Rein).
• Clean & paint rear subframe & trailing arms.
• All new rear subframe bushes (Lemförder).
• RTAB limiters (Daystar).
• New rear wheel bearings (***).

SUSPENSION

• Will probably get a set of H&R sport springs.
• New front & rear coil spring rubber shims & pads.
• New Msport front front control arms (Lemförder).
• New lower profile E90xi strut mounts (Sachs) & strut mount reinforcement plates.
• Eventually replace rear Monroe shocks with Bilstein B6's to match the fronts.
• New rear shock mounts (Lemförder) & reinforcement plates.
• New rear sway bar links (Lemförder).
• New front & rear sway bar bushes (Rein).

BRAKES

• Clean & paint 330 brake calipers.
• Rebuild brake calipers with new seals.
• New brake hoses (either ATE or SS braided aftermarket, haven't decided yet).
• New brake pads (Akebono?).
• New park brake hardware and brake shoes (ATE).

CODING & WIRING

• Wire in reverse light switch.
• Wire in clutch switch.
• Flash DME to 330 software & update to latest version.
• Code out EGS.
• Code out post-cat O2 sensors.
• Code cluster gas mileage from km/L to L/100km.
• Change temperature gauge buffer range.
• Similarly, code the speedo to show the correct speed without a buffer - cannot locate the thread atm.

INTERIOR

• Source front black leather sports seats to replace alcantara. Have already installed leather door cards and have set of leather rear seats to go in, just need to figure out the fronts. Considering E53 X5 or other plug & play alternatives, whatever suitable I can find really.
• Swap out cluster display from km/L to L/100km & install silver cluster surrounds.
  
  
  
  
  
• Armrest delete - picked up a shorter console off a compact from Pick-A-Part with all the mounting hardware. Need to strip it back to bare plastic. Armrest will be in the way once the car is a manual.
• Eventually buy Dynavin HVAC relocation bracket to tidy up the cigarette lighter area.
• Another one for the future, but looking to remove and redo all the scratched up / peeling / bubbled up window tints all around.

EXTERIOR

• Paint is beyond saving in quite a few places. Will eventually go for a full dent removal and respray if I own the car long enough.
• Might have to get new front bumper prior to that - one of the side brackets is hanging on and bottom is pretty badly scratched and cracked in a few places.
• New fender liners and other plastic trim bits.
• Potentially delete roof racks if I find a tidy enough set of plugs for the holes in the roof rails. Seen some of the 3D printed ones kicking about round here but don't quite look right for me.
• Some of the window seals are starting to crack. Need to look into if it's even possible to replace some of them.
• Will likely be keeping the 325i exhaust without the silly flap altogether, but will have to source some sort of tidy solution for exhaust tips. It didn't come with any covers at all the the 330i ones are a) old and ugly and b) one is too short due to the flap and don't fit properly.

OTHER

• A few electrical gremlins to iron out - electric mirrors not working on either side - electric controls, reverse tilting, folding function - nothing. Have checked fuses and tried a different mirror switch with no luck. Also no obvious defects in the ribbon connectors or wiring. Will try swapping mirrors over from the current daily 330 to see if that helps pinpoint the culprit.
• Rear wiper doesn't work. Likely culprit seems to be sheared black wire at the top of the tailgate. Have ordered a harness repair kit but seems a real mission having to rewire everything. One for the future.
  
  
  
• Have also discovered that the PO had for some inexplicable reason replaced the wiper lever with one off a sedan so it doesn't have the rear wiper function anyway (should also have a push function on tourings and compacts to activate rear wiper). Have tried installing the correct one I pulled from Pick-A-Part with no luck, probably due to the sheared wire, but have picked up a second one as well in case the first one was faulty.
  
  
  
• Install reverse camera. Got one that is integrated into the licence plate light off Aliexpress that was specifically claimed to be an E46 model but the casing is too bulky to fit in so will need to be cut back and properly sealed again. Hot glue to the rescue most likely.
• Potentially looking to get a RacingDiffs LSD conversion kit sometime down the line.

Probably a bunch of things I'm forgetting but will do for now. Good to have a somewhat comprehensive list of tasks that I can start ticking off as I go along.

 

[yjsaabman]

I have yet to find the armrest in the way with a manual transmission. (8 years of driving a manual E46.) I can't imagine driving one of these cars without it, personally. We'll see if that changes with the BMW Performance shift lever.

 

[vtwagon]

I have to agree on the armrest front. I absolutely love mine. If anything, my new-to-me sport seat’s bolsters (punctuation?) get in the way when turning into a sharp right hand corner. For New Zealanders I guess that would equate to a left hand corner though 😉

Your appetite for your rebuild is admirable. I have a feeling you’ll do very well. And spend a lot of money 😂

 

[Vass]

Your appetite for your rebuild is admirable. I have a feeling you’ll do very well. And spend a lot of money 😂

Well, at least one of the two things will most definitely be true 😅

Fair point on the armrest. Will see how I go I guess, did hear from a few people of it being in the way. Then again might be more a problem for longer-limbed folk out there. Worth a try anyway, was dirt cheap from the junkyard anyway so can just give both options a go and see which works best for me.

 

[yjsaabman]

If you find it's in the way during spirited driving you simply flip it up out of the way. Then back down for highway cruise comfort.

 

[Vass]

If you find it's in the way during spirited driving you simply flip it up out of the way. Then back down for highway cruise comfort.

That's what one of the guys I talked to does but he also complained that on those spirited drives it tends to fall back down when braking so was more of an annoyance than anything else.

 

[Vass]

Right, this is the point where I come begging for advice. I do hope I'm not just being an idiot. I did try doing research first and have read a few excellent guides made by members on here but there are still a few gaps in knowledge that I'm struggling to fill. In some instances there's just too much information out there and weeding out what's needed feels like a classic needle in a hay stack situation so please shove me in the right direction if what I'm asking has been addressed before.

Not sure how much it matters but as background info, my car is a RHD 325i automatic built for the Japanese market (imported to New Zealand in 2010).
Vin digits: PC01856
Build date: 05/2003
Fairly certain the DME is an MS43.

CODING
I've read this brilliant guide by @Bali regarding flashing the DME. I've successfully set up the Standard Tools on an old Windows 7 laptop and have tested it on the daily 330i to check it's fully operational. Whilst the guide is very clear, I'm stumbling into a few slight caveats that I just want to reconfirm to make sure I'm getting things right. In my situation, things might be a bit complicated due to me trying to do a few different things at once:

1. 325 to 330 swap and flash.
2. Update DME software to latest version.
3. Coding out post-cat O2 sensors.
4. Automatic to manual swap.

Following these posts, I've gone on RealOEM and chosen a 330i model of the same 05/2003 build date to get a ZUSB number.

Am I getting it right that the ZUSB I'm after is 7545562?
Do I also understand right that that is the latest software number? Or would I need to still take the steps in this post and go through the update process to get the latest version?
Also, if I want to code out the post-cat O2 sensors, I need to make sure I go with the EU2 version, so I'd need to go with 7510555 instead? How do I then update the software to the latest version in that case?
I will need to clear adaptations afterwards but apart from that, any other steps I need to take to complete the 330i flash and post-cat O2 delete?

Regarding the auto to manual coding, I'm going to follow this guide, which is very clear and comprehensive. As I understand, it only touches the AKMB and ALSZ so it doesn't matter if I do this before or after flashing the DME?

Note: I will be keeping both the catalytic converters, just wanting to code out the post-cat sensors to avoid spending money on new replacements and due to them not really doing much to influence the operation of the engine anyway. New Zealand has no emissions testing and it's perfectly legal to even just straight pipe a street car so long as you're staying within noise limits, if anyone is wondering about the legality of deleting O2's.
Sorry again if I'm asking silly questions, just want to make sure I get everything right and don't brick the DME.

DOOR SPEAKERS
As mentioned previously, I've installed a different set of door cards that came with additional mid-range speakers that my car did not have originally and thus does not have wiring for. I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of sort of a guide or documentation of someone retrofitting those? I'm not too knowledgeable on audio wiring but keen to DIY if I have some decent material to follow.
As an aside, my car seems to be some poverty-spec variant when it comes to audio. I did consider the Bavsound kits in the past but after getting in contact, they advised me that my car is the lowest audio spec out there, does not have the correct wiring for it to be plug and play and thus they did not even offer a kit that's compatible, which I found to be very weird.

CYLINDER HEAD OIL NON-RETURN VALVE O-RING
I'm going to clean up and reuse the old valve but looking to replace the O-ring as the old one's gone real flat. It doesn't look like you can buy the specific O-ring separately, only the whole valve. So I'm wondering if it's okay to just use a generic rubber O-ring or would it need to be some sort of harder material like viton or silicone? Anyone have experience with this or know where I can get the right O-ring?

REVERSE LIGHT SWITCH
Bit of a silly one, but how do I know which of the pins goes to ground and which to the relay? Or does it even matter?

Thanks team!

 

[yjsaabman]

I would definitely go with a viton o-ring for the oil valve. Much better life than a standard rubber.

The wire orientation on the reverse light switch doesn't matter. The switch just closes the circuit and activates the relay. Unless you want it to be perfect as it would have been from the factory with a manual trans.

 

[Vass]

I would definitely go with a viton o-ring for the oil valve. Much better life than a standard rubber.

Where can I get one tho?

EDIT: Found this thread to be the only one addressing this. Chucked an order in for the O-ring linked to in there, pretty cheap even with shipping. Will see how it goes, as backup do have two of those non-return valves currently so have a backup in case the o-ring doesn't look to be a good fit.

 

[malapane]

For the coding, I would reach out to Bali, he will answer your questions. You can check if it is MS43 or MS45 by looking at the MAF connector. MS43 has the thick connector with the metal spring clip and the MS45 has the narrow one with the plastic clip - see pics. You are pretty close to the transition from 43 to 45. My 01/2003 was MS43 and my 04/2003 was MS45

The bavsound speakers probably aren't available for the base audio because that was not offered in the US for the E46. Standard equipment was the mid "hifi" audio S676. Not sure how much bavsound does outside the US...

I am not sure of your options in NZ, but I would buy a viton o-ring from McMaster or from ebay...

 

[Vass]

For the coding, I would reach out to Bali, he will answer your questions. You can check if it is MS43 or MS45 by looking at the MAF connector. MS43 has the thick connector with the metal spring clip and the MS45 has the narrow one with the plastic clip - see pics. You are pretty close to the transition from 43 to 45. My 01/2003 was MS43 and my 04/2003 was MS45

The bavsound speakers probably aren't available for the base audio because that was not offered in the US for the E46. Standard equipment was the mid "hifi" audio S676. Not sure how much bavsound does outside the US...

I am not sure of your options in NZ, but I would buy a viton o-ring from McMaster or from ebay...

Yeah cheers, will reach out to him. Mine's definitely an MS43 then. Might have actually read somewhere that MS45's only came on US cars anyway.
I know the closest Bavsound reseller to me is in Australia so they do do foreign markets, but I guess only the higher spec cars. Might have to go to a specialist audio store eventually as I really know bugger all on audio wiring.
Did put an order in for this O-ring set. Will see how well it fits.
Thanks!

 

[tbouchard991]

I have yet to find the armrest in the way with a manual transmission. (8 years of driving a manual E46.) I can't imagine driving one of these cars without it, personally. We'll see if that changes with the BMW Performance shift lever.

The arm rest is a bit annoying with the 540i Shift Lever in my wagon, the stock lever in my 323Cic is fine with the arm rest though.

 

[Geo31]

Best thread in a long time. Really enjoying following this.

 

[Vass]

Right-o, after a very long "one to two weeks", got the call yesterday telling me the head work was done. Jumped straight on it and went to pick it up. Great to see some shiny parts.





Work done:

Quote
Hardness Test Head (Ave = 90 - been a bit hot but o/k)
Acid Wash, Decarb
Vacuum Test Valves (poor - seats and valves pitted)
Face Valves
Face Seats
Re-Set Valve Stem Heights
Surface Head
Final Wash & Assemble Cylinder Head
Test & Clean Injectors

Even got a bit of a discount for the long wait. Was pretty happy until I got home, flipped it over and, umm... really don't know how to feel about this.

























I took it straight back to the shop to see what that's all about, the guy was completely unphased and assured me it's nothing to be worried about. The head gasket surface is of course the one that has to be absolutely perfect, and it does look to be fine. The valve cover, thermostat, exhaust manifold won't be under anywhere close to the same pressure as the head but damn, they're still sealing surfaces and to have score marks that catch on the nail and all sorts of chipped edges all over the gaff surely isn't ideal? Changing valve covers and thermostats previously, I've always been super careful not to scratch any of the surfaces, always stopped short of even using scotch-brite out of fear of damage, this just looks like it's been dragged along a gravel road.

Had a chat with a mechanic mate of mine who also thought it shouldn't cause sealing issues but definitely would have expected a tidier finish from a professional shop.

I guess I can live with it so long as it works and seals fine but am I right in being concerned at all, or is this just purely visual?

 

[vtwagon]

Damn… I can be of no help in the “is this good enough” department, but I’d be very disappointed with that outright lack of care and seemingly horrible finish. Couple spots in particular look awful.

 

[Geo31]

Count me as someone who would be disappointed, but not worried. It does look awful.

 

[yjsaabman]

Count me as someone who would be disappointed, but not worried. It does look awful.

Same here. I spent a summer working in a machine shop and am struggling to understand how those surfaces wound up like that.

 

[vtwagon]

So as it happens I'm visiting family today and they had someone come to look at a car they’re selling. The guy looking at it is a full blown gear head / mechanic and pulls up on a heavily modified Hayabusa, and while we were chatting he mentions he’s an engine builder and has a machine shop.

I showed him your pictures, he said absolutely that is not acceptable and needs to be redone. There was a bit of language barrier between us but that was the jist. He also couldn’t understand how or why that would be done.

Hope this helps.

 

[Vass]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Really don't feel comfortable putting this back together in this state. Will go back to them and see if something can be done. When I last took it back I asked if I should just take a fine sandpaper to it, which the guy told me not to do as it would likely get debris inside it and would need another wash, which would probably mean the valves would need to come out again.
First told me the block would take 3-4 weeks, ended up being 3 months, then promised the head would be 1-2 weeks which turned out to be 7 and now this... From a reputable shop that a number of indie Euro shops recommended as well... Not impressed at all.
Will keep you updated on how it goes.

 

[malapane]

Now you've got me scared. I have two heads out right now for a Jaguar/ Ford engine for a Range Rover and I am hoping to get them back next week. The head is a somewhat different arrangement, with the lower cam races as the high spots in the head, but if you have any interest, I can send some pictures for comparison whenever I get them back. I haven't had head work done in many years and I think those were all iron, so I don't have any other comparison data, but it looks pretty roughed up to me...