My name is Earl, and I have a Stainless Steel bolt fetish =)

[Earl]

Exactly what Robert said=) It is for filling the seam where the strut tower meets the wheel well. Otherwise people stick a bunch of filler in there and it cracks when stress is added. This will strengthen the seam and filler will only be needed for minor waves or imperfections in the metal.

[jc43089]

OK, so mostly for looks.  Very cool, I can't imagine how anyone would think only filler would stay in the area around the shock towers, they flex when you drive hard.  That welding looks good, it is mig, not flux core correct?  I need to get a gas bottle so I can do things besides rusty frames and exhaust.

[Earl]

Yeah it is MIG. He was getting very frustrated with blow throughs so just started piling it on. haha

[Earl]

Trying to decide if I want to run m3 front brakes. Once I do I will be placing my rotor order with Adams Rotors. I am having a hard time choosing a pattern.

http://www.adamsrotors.com/gallery/gallery_detail.aspx?gallery_cat_id=1&gallery_id=2

[jc43089]

Maybe cheaper to find e46 330 front brakes, I got rotors, pads, calipers, and brackets for 150 from Teds part out.  325mm vs 315mm for the e36 m3.  I just test fit them and they bolt right up, my 16" contours clear them barely.  I will have pics on my thread tomorrow.

[Earl]

The thing is that those rotors would cost a fortune from Adams Rotors. Sizing up to m3 fronts already adds an extra $100 to the quote for 318ti rotors. Not to mention my front to rear proportioning would be way off due to zero upgrades for my rear brakes.

[jc43089]

Their site lists 300 for m3 front rotors and 250 for 330 fronts.  M3 parts are always more, becauses M...  Biasing stays good with e46 328 rears.  I have a link saved on my work computer about the biasing I will link to it tomorrow.

[Earl]

I have a compact though. The only way I can upgrade is swapping in an entire z3m subframe.

[jc43089]

Are you keeping ABS?

[Earl]

Nope

[jc43089]

Then you will need a proportioning valve anyway, from the reading I have done on e36's the master cylinder does some of the proportioning and the ABS module does more.  Unless this is another area where the crazy ti's are different.  A Wilwood proportioning valve is only 50-60$

[Earl]

Ive seen people run no abs with no proportioning valve without any issues.

[jc43089]

I'm sure people do, but the proportioning will be off.  I found the topic I was looking for, post 12 and 21 have the info.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?531881-E46-330-Brake-upgrade

[wasnt m3]

I think tire sizes are much more of a safety issue on this build than brake bias...;-)

[Earl]

Hahaha

[jc43089]

Also with 330 brakes you do not need different knuckles.  Just bolt on rotors and calipers/brackets.  Not trying to tell you what to do, just letting you know what I did.

[Earl]

I know=) I just dont like the massive size difference I would have front and rear.

[jc43089]

Very true, are you going to use a proportioning valve?

[Earl]

Not sure. I have even been tossing around the idea to toss out the master and booster and just installing a Tilton pedal box to further clean up the bay.

[KaiserRolls]

Earl said:

Not sure. I have even been tossing around the idea to toss out the master and booster and just installing a Tilton pedal box to further clean up the bay.

then close a stock hood on top of all that hard work.