E46 Things

[Boris3]

What did you get charged at Midcoast? And do they mount used tires?

[B C]

Boris3 said:

What did you get charged at Midcoast? And do they mount used tires?

***Updated:$111. and yes.

I need to ask them if they do emissions testing. I’m not sure why I am required to have an emissions test for a second consecutive year but would prefer not to watch someone stall and slip the clutch as they pull it in and out of the shop

[gilber33]

B C said:

$75 and yes.

I need to ask them if they do emissions testing. I’m not sure why I am required to have an emissions test for a second consecutive year but would prefer not to watch someone stall and slip the clutch as they pull it in and out of the shop

Where do you go for emissions testing? I've gone to two places and both I drove into the bay, they plugged it in, and I drove out when they were done.

[B C]

gilber33 said:

Where do you go for emissions testing? I've gone to two places and both I drove into the bay, they plugged it in, and I drove out when they were done. 

The first place I tried last year was Fast Track oil but the pipes that surround the inspection pit combined with the entrance ramp were just too aggressive for my stants.

The second place was an indy shop similar to a Car-X but they wouldn't let me pull it in.

[Boris3]

E46 was also back to back years (first when I bought it and then the year after). I used Wilde Toyota since it was close and fast and they had worked on the Tundra. They drove the car.... came back clean with no mileage run up so I guess all good.

F150 last year was at a shop just west of Moorland on National Ave (north side of street). I think it used to be a Firestone or MIdas? No inspection pit, the bay they drove into was just a slab.

[straight6pwr]

the Lakeshore Mobil station in Shorewood just has you pull up to the service door in the lot.  They didnt even move the car, just plugged in the device and  boom goes the dynamite.

[B C]

Boris3 said:

What did you get charged at Midcoast? And do they mount used tires?

update: I picked them up today and they charged $111 out the door A little different than the $75 quoted on the phone but i’m not going to make a big stink about it. I think I usually pay $90 for this sort of work and I am just happy they took care to not scrape them

[B C]

Shift carrier partially installed. I burned a lot of daylight getting the bitch clip aligned and installed.

My hands and wrists feel like I wrapped them in pork chops and stuck them in a cage of hungry dogs.

The rear carrier bushing (blue urethane piece from Turner) is a jerk to install. I much prefer the E30 style. I did not get that in, it is the last step of the shifter install.

I moved on to:

- Replaced dipstick tube o-ring in oil pan

-Replaced o-rings on plenum to oil pan connector hose

-Bled brakes

-Installed wheels/tires **NOTE TO SELF, TORQUE LUGS ONCE THE CAR IS ON THE GROUND***

Tasks remaining:

-CPV o-ring (has not arrived due to shipping problems)
-bleed clutch

-install rear shift carrier bushing, reinstall shift boots

-install exhaust (section 1) with new gaskets and hardware

-install undertrays

-put car on ground

-Torque wheels + strut brace

 

[B C]

Good news:

-Shifter is in!

-Shifter sits lower!

-Shifter feels great fore/aft, very snickety!

Not the best news:

-Turner shift bushing could not be installed with the driveshaft in the way. I will hang on to it and install it some other time.

-some  side to side play still exists due to the selector rod joint pin. If I ever replace the clutch/have the trans out (lets hope not) I will have a pin custom machined to fit tighter.

[Jdesign]

Not to be a dick, but.. you couldn't get the driveshaft out? Isnt it 4 bolts?

[B C]

Jdesign said:

Not to be a dick, but.. you couldn't get the driveshaft out? Isnt it 4 bolts?

Dick.

3 for the flex disk

2 for the center support bearing

6 for the section 2 exhaust flange which would require new gaskets

6 for the diff flange to the driveshaft (interestingly its a constant velocity joint instead of a u-joint)

a couple for the remaining heat shield

This is all very do-able but my garage time/family time balance has been a little lopsided lately and I just need to be done wrenching for a while. In an attempt to make a  make some sort of improvement I filled the voids in the bushing with silicone to help firm it up.

[B C]

Today's News Headlines:

-I drove the car to work today

-M3's dont suck

-Wibimmers will catch coronavirus without a decent SSL

[B C]

I have lost hope that Injen will ever release their new S54 intake and I am not a fan of the other intake offerings that are under $800. If the heat shields were more substantial I would feel better about them

For now I have replaced the stock plastic elbow with a silicone elbow. 
 

I also tried out some 12mm rear wheel spacers but there is rubbing so I removed them.

 

[jc43089]

Mmmm, so pretty...

[B C]

This week:

-Acquired an spare tire kit

-Detailing a 335i to post it for sale for my father in law

-Purchased and cancelled an order for a muffler because I just cannot bring myself to be loud/open pandoras box chasing the right combination of resonators to make an S54 exhaust sound nice

-4th gear is allegedly good for a tick over 130

-Incorrectly used the word “an”

[jc43089]

"Allegedly"

Also be careful with that jack if you should ever need it.

[patsbimmer1]

B C said:

-4th gear is allegedly good for a tick over 130

That's it?  Dat der tree turty 5'll do 130 in first from a roll!  Getting ready for race wars I see...

[B C]

I still love that N54 torque curve.

After having the S54 its much more apparent how much the stock turbos Run out of breath up top on the N54

[B C]

157,805 miles.

Installed AFE intake, siphoned and refilled power steering reservoir while it was accessible. Reset adaptations.

[B C]

157,880 miles

I found a program called ECUWorx https://www.ecuworx.co.uk/  for E39, E46, and E9X M cars which allows you to make changes to a few things on your DME.

There were a few things on my list that I wanted to figure out how to modify with just the hexadecimal code in the .bin file but this is a foolproof interface and i'm glad it exists. I pulled the stock .bin file off the DME and made the following changes:

 

1. Activated the SMG shift lights. WHY?: The S54 pulls all the way to redline and feels like you can just keep going past 8 grand and visual indicators are helpful when you have a helmet on at the track. Here they are, they work!

2. Changed the dyno redline to 8000. When on a dyno the car will only allow you to run to 6500 rpm unless you manually put it in dyno mode. I believe this is for emissions purposes. WHY?: I dont intend on visiting a dyno any time soon but in case I do I wont have to remember about the factory restriction and waste time looking up how to enable dyno mode.

3. DID NOT CHANGE REDLINE. You can set it up to 9000 rpm.  I dont see the need. 8000 is plenty and while the S54 is robust, I like my engine hoist being tucked away in the shed and not in use. 

4. DID NOT REMOVE TOP SPEED LIMITER.   155 mph is plenty. If I had removed it, i would be tempted to try it out and see my high score. Not a good idea.

5. Changed the warmup leds/variable redline to much more conservative values. WHY?: On newer M cars, there are some additional LED segments that light up and disappear based on oil temperature to help show when its safe to run to higher RPM. I dont agree with the oil temperatures at which they turn off. My own personal rule is that I dont run past 7000 rpm until the oil reaches 190 F and will limit visits to redline until the oil is closer to 210 F. With the stock settings, the car is basically telling you its fair game to redline the car with 140 F oil temperature. I'd like to add some padding to that. 

6. Set the aux fan temperature table to match a Z4M. WHY?: The Z4M has an electric fan. The M3 has a mechanical fan. My mechanical fan has been replaced by an electric fan running off the aux fan controller. When it is hot out and im sitting in traffic with the AC on, the coolant temperature will begin climbing a bit and the fan isn't running as eagerly as it should be. It should start to kick on earlier and at higher speed now. 

7. Adjusted throttle mapping for both sport mode and comfort (normal) mode.

Normal mode throttle feels fine, fairly linear, but right off the line its a bit stale.

Sport mode throttle takes some getting used to right off the line and is very aggressive, but flat up top near WOT  and not very linear at all. Ideally, normal mode would eliminate the flat spot right off the line and sport mode would be less aggressive off the line and have more substance near WOT.

Here is a breakdown of the % of pedal application vs % throttle opening for the stock throttle mapping. You can see on the sport mapping on right, 65% of pedal travel = 88% throttle opening which makes the last 35% of pedal travel feel like not much is going on.

Here is a breakdown of what I changed it to:

Red is stock sport mode

Green is stock normal/comfort mode

Blue is my new sport mode 

Yellow is my new normal/comfort mode (linear) 1:1

So just a few personalized touches on an already excellent car. I love this thing!