my 330i

[nick.e46.330i.]

Just a little update..

Snap powder coated my centers for me and I had Rad-fab polish my lips for me. I also took of my front end for my maintenance work. I also have my hood and trunk lid on I just got to get the alignment better. 

[nick.e46.330i.]

Since my last post I got some more work done. I installed the M3 steering wheel, re-setup the management board for my air ride, rebuilt the disa valve with the German auto solutions kit, stained the wood for my trunk setup (finally), and installed a new csf aluminum radiator. I recently ordered the E60 shift lever, uuc dssr, and mishimoto aluminum expansion tank. I have a few more things to order but I should have plenty of time to drive it before I make the trip down for The Euro District. 

[Earl]

Why an e60 shift lever?

[nick.e46.330i.]

Earl said:

Why an e60 shift lever? 

I was originally looking at getting a z4 lever. I did a little reading about them and people were saying that is was notchy feeling going into gears and that you would have to bend the shear rod on sedans so the lever doesn't hit the dash. I didn't want to bend a new dssr to not like how it shifted. And the e60 shift lever has a shorter throw than the stock 330i lever

[nick.e46.330i.]

Well the winter has come and gone.  I got what I could done on this thing but not all was completed. 

For those that seen the mishimoto expansion tank I warn that there are fitment issues with it. The top radiator hose being one that I encountered. The other issue I had was an installer rookie mistake. 

But here's a couple pictures of it now. 

[nick.e46.330i.]

Does anyone know what size socket is used for the rear axles on an e46? It's a 12pt nut that's larger than a 32mm. Rather not play the trial and error method.

[patsbimmer1]

36mm

[nick.e46.330i.]

patsbimmer1 said:

36mm

Thank you Pat!

[nick.e46.330i.]

I dropped the rear end out of the car a month and a half ago with intent of putting new bushings in, put in toe correction brackets, swapping the diff to an open 3.38, and welding in reinforcement plates. Turns out when my brother started to weld the plates in he noticed a crack on the driver side rear mount. 

Got everything fixed and plates welded on now.

Seeing how I can get things powder coated matte black for free at work.  I sent the trailing arms, subframe, upper control arms, and the subframe crossmember through the paint line. I ordered revshift poly subframe, trailing arm, and diff bushings. The rest of the bushings I purchased oe replacement parts.

Put the rear end back in this past Sunday night. It's pretty much all back together besides some interior bits and such. 

Also I picked up some wheels from Jory. Some 17" oz fittistars. They will be rebuilt and refinished before they go on. 

[B C]

Whoa!

[Jdesign]

Rad! What are the specs on those Fitti's?

[nick.e46.330i.]

Jdesign said:

Rad! What are the specs on those Fitti's?

The original specs are 17x10 et65ish. They were for a corvette the hub bore is in the 60's. I had a buddy bore them out to 72.56 so now I just need to rebuild/refinish them

[nick.e46.330i.]

The other week I pull the engine out of the e46.

This past week end I started to shave and stitch weld the engine bay.  Welding should start this weekend. 

[jc43089]

Be careful, my e36 has been in the corner for years now because I thought it would be a good idea to take it apart and trim out unnecessary stuff and seam weld.  Looks good though, I have had some trouble with seam sealer that I couldn't get out of the cracks burning and making the welds look poor, and tricks for that?

[nick.e46.330i.]

I used a wire cup on my 4 1/2” grinder. Got all the seam sealer off real quick

[Jdesign]

nick.e46.330i. said:

I used a wire cup on my 4 1/2” grinder. Got all the seam sealer off real quick

Same. It was a mess but it worked quickly. Im not looking forward to doing it again this winter.

[nick.e46.330i.]

Jdesign said:

Same. It was a mess but it worked quickly. Im not looking forward to doing it again this winter.

It wasn’t that messy for me. There was barely any seam sealer in the bay.

[Jdesign]

The 90s were a very wasteful time period lol

[nick.e46.330i.]

The last couple weekends have been somewhat productive. 

The engine bay welding is complete and body filler is mostly done. Just got to sand a couple more spaces and lay down a little bit more filler. 

I also picked up an s54 oil filter housing from @TehRaydarlover. I bolted it to the block to take measurements for the power steering pump spacers. 

[Jdesign]

Looks NICE!! keep on going!