does P R D work on your M3 cluster? i have a 6 speed so im just curious..

as for the thread - mine is sports seat upgrade and finding a cargo cover lol. (bought mine without one)

 

My two favorites so far:

The H&R cup kit. It gives the perfect balance of aggressive height and stock like ride, IMO. I don't worry about my daughter being bounced to death, or the wife's comfort level on a long trip. Yet everyone who looks at the car knows I'm an enthusiast.

The second would be the Racing Dynamics rear muffler on my latest Touring. Barely audible at a highway cruise, but makes a nice subtle growl when you're on the throttle .

 

H&R Cup kit was probably my favorite mod on my last touring, yjsaabman nailed it; aggressive height and stock like ride.
Otherwise, changing up the wheels to something not stock/OEM does a lot aesthetically for little effort, and lots of wheels can be found cheap secondhand.

 

does P R D work on your M3 cluster? i have a 6 speed so im just curious..

as for the thread - mine is sports seat upgrade and finding a cargo cover lol. (bought mine without one)

Mike
Not sure what youre asking (P R D?) but FWIW, that's not my actual steering wheel. I just grabbed a pic online, which seems to be from an actual M3 with paddle shifters.

 

So far mine's the same, my M3/M5 steering wheel.

Ask me in two weeks and it will be the B30 swap, Next year it will probably be the supercharger.... lol

 

Up to date ongoing maintenance first.

After that I had the following done:

- Complete suspension refresh of all bushings, trailing arms and new Bilstein PSS coilovers coupled with Hotchkis SWBs including their adjustable end links.
- Michelin PSS summers and Michelin A/S 3+ winters
- Brand new M3 steering wheel and shifter knob
- Clutch delay valve delete and clutch stop
- Z4 3.0 short shifter

Future plans include a ZHP M54b30 swap including the 6 speed transmission, LSD, M3 seats

 

A-brand tyres, bought it with new (unknown to me) hard plastic black things.
With decent rubber its a beast.
My touring has already lots of stuff from factory so no need fir accesoires.
Next are replacement gas loaded Koni shocks to replace the stock worns ones.

 

My buddies touring has the h&r cup kit on it, i unfortunately ride in it often, it's a crappy ride at best. if you like a choppy unplanted handling experience, get them, but they're so many better options out there in the 600-800$ price category.

H&r review/

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=643914

 

He must not have cut his bumpstops, or he has the more aggressive cup kit. I have the Touring series and the ride is great.

I also notice how old that review is. There is good chance H&R has revised the system in the last 7 years. I've put 30K miles on mine and notice no bounciness. I'd also love to see these better options in that price range. I've had coilovers in that price range...talk about bouncy ride.

 

Sounds like your friend's H&R setup is incorrectly installed. I have Bilstein PSS coilovers which are known to be harsher but they are a great compromise.
Performance setups are not easy to install perfectly so many people end up suffering through choppy handling and clunking noises due to poorly executed installations.

 

Nope. they were installed by a bmw shop, i know my buddy had them inspected by a second bmw shop 6 months later with another alignment, same same. You just can't expect alot from a 600$ suspension.

Read that review :read:, mkodama falls into the top 5 smartest suspension guys on this forum.

 

I'm sorry your buddy had a bad experience, but that doesn't mean it's a bad product. As you can see there are quite a few of us who have not, and find it to be a good product.

I am currently in the process of switching over to Koni adjustables. Not because I find any issue with my H&R struts or shocks, but because I want to get back into autocrossing and start doing some track days and want to be able to tighten things up. I have a feeling they will be my favorite chassis mod, once I get the rear accessibility figured out.

 

Have you bought the konis adjustables yet?

 

A few more things I did.
1) Preventative Maintenance: The engine is stock but for a Stewart water pump. But I've done a whole bunch of PM--VCG, VANOS, DISA, fuel pump and filter, the entire cooling system including the radiator, as well as a number of things that just got done when the engine was apart. I've also done front and rear brakes.
I've pretty much done everything on Mango's PM list. If you're daily driving the car there's a peace of mind that comes from having most of those pieces replaced. This is the place to put your money and effort.
2) Koni/Eibach/ZHP suspension. I replaced the stock sports suspension with the Koni FSD/Eibach package along with ZHP control arms. The roads are pretty bad where I drive so this offers a near-perfect compromise between comfort and performance.
3) Michelin Alpin PA-3 I had a set of Bilzzaks on a previous E46 wagon, and while they were great in the snow, I couldn't wait to get them off in the spring because they were very noisy and a bit squirmy. Not so the PA-3. These are fabulous all-around tires, that only sacrifice a little in the very warmest conditions.

 

Zhp engine and 6 speed transplant.

 

Do tell please! I am thinking of doing this as I have access to a new ZHP crate engine. Please elaborate on what had to be changed. A parts lost if possible.

 

The cup kit isn't anything crazy special, it just gives a nice drop and retains stock ride quality (in my experience) at a good price.
I'm not sure the handling was vastly improved, but was at least as good as stock.
I never had wear issues in 20k miles or so of use, on the other hand I don't know how many Bilsteins I've had prematurely fail in numerous e36 and e46- fully blown under 10k miles.
I think it's well suited for daily driving, which is all I ever did with the car, and well worth it for that application.

 

I just got mine, so I'm in the middle of my work... I like the idea of the M3 wheel. I feel like my car is already a bit lower than stock so one of the POs may have done some suspension bits already. I'm in the process of detailing the interior and removing pillars to re-glue the fabric.

Other than maintenance, I'm interested in doing the electric fan conversion so it's easier to work under the hood but I need to research that more for the pros/cons

My only "mod" that I know for sure I want to do is to remove that luggage rack! I need to find someone with a 3d printer to make me little plugs or find a DIY without broken links. I don't think I should have to pay several hundred dollars on trim when all I want is to plug up four holes... Probably get some gloss/matte black kidneys, non-orange corners, new headlights... Lots of stuff in mind, my budget can't keep up!

 

I just got mine,

My only "mod" that I know for sure I want to do is to remove that luggage rack! I need to find someone with a 3d printer to make me little plugs or find a DIY without broken links. I don't think I should have to pay several hundred dollars on trim when all I want is to plug up four holes...

Well, 6 I think.
Removing is easy. 20 minute job, seriously.
Filling the holes in the trim to avoid the wind noise, that's the real pita.
I had hoped to buy the correct trim even though it is ridiculously priced, but that kind of spending money is NLA. I guess much like the tails I'll be waiting till the price is clearanced.


May sound silly but on my titan silver, my favorite visible mod so far is the clear side repeater just barely edging out the rack removal, favorite hidden mods are the aux+eurotray retrofit followed closely by the Bluetooth retrofit and tv tuner.

 

Maybe a gasket was leaking and they shortcutted it.

I couldn't believe what a difference in appearance new lenses made and I hadn't even thought that mine were that bad. Got Khoalty lenses on a group buy for $60 and replaced the gaskets while I was there.

 

Was it difficult replacing the lense & putting everything back together snuggly?

Sent from my SM-N910V using E46Fanatics mobile app

 

Best mod I ever did was the Rob43 suspension set-up for the XI's. At first the difference wasn't as noticeable but after a few hundred miles the car really started to set in and is an absolute blast to drive. My pseudo-step brother has a STI swapped Subaru Legacy wagon and he says my car out handles his in just about every aspect. Since installing the upgrade I've become a total suspension nerd and gobble up every bit of suspension knowledge I can find.

Definitely jealous of those of you who have ZHP/M3 swapped wagons;once I hit 200,000 miles I'll be right there behind ya.

 

On my previous Touring, my favorite mod was the body color painted trim. I think it looked great with the silver paint.

 

On my previous Touring, my favorite mod was the body color painted trim. I think it looked great with the silver paint.

This looks great! I'd love to do that. Any tips you could give me? What paint did you use? I have a silver touring as well


Sent from my iPhone using E46Fanatics mobile app

 

some of the best mods I did to my Sport Touring was adding larger front brakes from an E46 330i, next was the Bilstein sport shocks/struts with poly front control arm bushings and rear trailing arm bushings and the other was the HID projector retrofit to the front headlights with city-lights and vertical aim control.

 

In general, I prefer mods that affect the three major touch points in the cockpit: seats, steering wheel, and shift knob. These are easy and good bang-for-your-buck mods, as well as providing a big impact on your driving experience. You're constantly touching/using these bits while driving and having sportier bits makes a difference. My car came with an M3 steering wheel and I added the Recaro CS Sportster and Momo Race Airleather knob.

 

In general, I prefer mods that affect the three major touch points in the cockpit: seats, steering wheel, and shift knob. These are easy and good bang-for-your-buck mods, as well as providing a big impact on your driving experience. You're constantly touching/using these bits while driving and having sportier bits makes a difference.

Totally agree. I love my ZHP knob and the Z3 wheel. I also added M3 pedals, which look great and just add a little more directness on the pedals.

I'm seriously thinking about M3 seats if I can find a set.

That said, the USA Spec PA12 and my iPod Nano plus the Bavsound speakers have really made the car a joy to drive.

 

Best mod done on my 2001, 5 speed was changing the 3:46 rear differential to a 3:23. Made the car nice on the freeway without a lot of acceleration loss. No overdrive with the 5 speed.

 

That's interesting to hear some input on. I've been iterated in a 6 speed swap to get the highway revs down, but it's some good info to hear that the 3.23 isn't that noticeable in the acceleration department.

 

Hello. I haven't been on here in a while. I started with a pretty high level of Touring (http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1089453). I've made some small changes so far- of those, hacking the ECU and putting in a real throttle map was probably the biggest difference, and definitely the biggest bang for the buck. I was going to sell the car the mapping was so bad. If you have the manual transmission this will make so much of a difference.

Having said that, I'm picking up an M3 vert tomorrow for a complete S54 engine, tranny, diff, brake swap. I think that will be the best change I make.

 

wow that is a beauty, good luck with the swap you, have a build thread?

 

hmm...I might have to find someone in Minneapolis/St. Paul who is a bit more knowledgable with hacking car computers. I'm no luddite but I'm not ready to dive that deep into the unknown. Maybe in the summer, then if I break something I can commute on the motorcycle for a few days...

 

Tinting on the inside of a new rear window for my Touring (to prevent the heating elements being rubbed away).
old:

new:

 

I'll chime in on this since I don't have anything more important at the moment...
1) Suspension. We all have our opinions, and I'm very happy with my setup of H&R Sports with Bilstein HDs in back and stock struts up front. Great setup.
2) Wheels/tires in concert with the suspension. In my case Tire Rack closeouts at $50 each, Axis 18x9.5 et30 (absolutely perfect fit) with Yoko S.Drives 245/35
3) Brakes to round out this part, dimpled/slotted with good pads and SS brake lines

After that, Turner Motor Sports Shark Injector, headers, custom exhaust
Then, the M3 steering wheel and M3 seats (I didn't have the Sport Package)

 

No rubs with the 9.5 wheels? I just got a set of Arc-8s in 18x9.5 ET35 and was going to hold off putting them on until I shaved and rolled the rears and put some camber plates on the front.

If you're getting away with ET30 though...

 

Zhp steering wheel, zhp interior trim, and leather (automatic) shift lever