2002 E46 M3 // Build Thread
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That's gorgeous
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Finally sucked it up and committed to getting the rod bearings done. This car had them done as part of the recall way back in ‘06 at 66k miles (car is at 135k now), but black stone tests had me a bit nervous. Once they were pulled they honestly didn’t seem that bad. Seems like cylinder 6 was the main culprit to the test results.
Went with WPC treated OE bearings and ARP bolts. Also replaced the oil pan gasket, oil pump seals, motor mounts and a leaking power steering line while it was apart.
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Just remembered I also had the oil pump nut tack welded on. Was reading it was rare, but possible for the nut to back off and then boom. I know I should have used a safety wire nut, but since this component will never need to be removed (if I upgrade, I’ll get the VAC kit with sprocket included), I didn’t care as long as it was a permanent fix.
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Decided to give the UUC EVO 3 SSK + DSSR kit a go today. Kind of a pain to get to everything. Needed to drop the section 1 exhaust to access the trans brace, tilt the transmission down a couple inches just to reach the top clip on the shift carrier. Figured I might as well swap out the trans mounts with some new UUC ones too while I was at it. Managed to get everything removed (aside from the rear shift carrier bushing, that thing was FUSED to the car. If anyone says they removed it they're lying). Once I had all the shifter components out though, I realized I ordered the wrong front carrier bushing and need the oval one. Damn it, to be continued...
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Finally got my new Rogue Engineering Delrin oval carrier bushings and continued on with the install. I would say the rest of the job was like fighting a grizzly bear on meth. My hands are raw, there is zero room to work, most of the job is by feel with no line of sight and there was no part of this job that didn't fight me until I just about gave up. Here's a list of things that went wrong:
- Ordered the wrong carrier bushings, circle rather than the correct oval ones
- I installed the carrier upside down while not paying attention, and sadly I snapped the "bitch clip" down, the one notoriously nicknamed for being nearly impossible to remove
- Bimmerworld sent me a "bitch clip" thats backwards, causing the part you need to pry against to be inaccessible
- The UUC selector rod wouldn't fit on the shift rod joint, the built in bushings were preventing it from sliding on by about 1-2mm.
- I had to remove the carrier a 3rd time, because it needs to be off to take the shift rod joint out, so I could modify it to fit the DSSR
Lots of swearing and some perseverance I got it done. I ended up removing the selector rod joint and actually sanding down the plastic bushings so they are nearly flush. I'm not sure if this will have consequences down the road, but it articulates freely and I added some grease. Worst case I'm pretty well versed in removing it by now.
I can't actually test it out since it's winter and the salt trucks have already been out here in Minneapolis, but I did row through the gears in the garage and it feels AWESOME. Virtually zero slop and feels like bolting a rifle or rowing a gated manual. I'm sure most would consider this a relatively easy job, but man this kicked my ass. Proud to have done it myself though, since my local shop quoted me at $550 for labor.
Edit: If you notice the random paint on the rear of the carrier, that's because I scratched the hell out of the sheet metal trying to remove that rear carrier bushing. Added some automotive paint I had laying around to prevent corrosion with the exposed metal. Whoopsie.
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I ended up buying some TC Kline coilovers from a forum member on nam3forum. They were advertised as a 3000 mile set and they looked pretty solid in the sellers photos. Upon getting them I realized he might have forgotten a 0 or two on the mileage. The two fronts are blown and the rears have a pretty old build date. This set is nearly $3200 new, so I hoped I could save a few bucks buying used. NOPE no chance. Bought two new front replacements that are on their way from TCK. Going to rock the rears until they wear out, might have another season or two in them.
On the bright side, I did get Ground Control camber plates included. They were a bit dirty and beat up, so I did my best to clean and re-grease the bearings. Think they'll work just fine.
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Will the replacement shocks need to be revalved for the spring rates? Or are they an off the shelf setup
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Will the replacement shocks need to be revalved for the spring rates? Or are they an off the shelf setup
Yeah they are custom valved to the springs. I did give the spring rates to TCK when ordering, so hopefully the replacements are an exact match. Honestly not sure how to confirm or deny that though
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Got the new shocks from TCK already! Time to swap the GC camber plates on and get these installed. Still not sure if the factory end links will fit. If not, maybe that'll be an excuse to replace them and upgrade front sway bars too.
I'd suggest going with a shortened or adjustable sway bar link. The stock ones are made for the stock height. You're going to change the pre-load on the sway bar and could impact your handling if you stick with the stock sway bar links and lowered height.
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I'd suggest going with a shortened or adjustable sway bar link. The stock ones are made for the stock height. You're going to change the pre-load on the sway bar and could impact your handling if you stick with the stock sway bar links and lowered height.
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Just know that heim joint sway links can be noisy. So if that doesn't bother you, go for it! I have them on my Z3 Coupe and will be switching them out for some adjustable ball joint style sway links to quiet things down. Just an FYI
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Just know that heim joint sway links can be noisy. So if that doesn't bother you, go for it! I have them on my Z3 Coupe and will be switching them out for some adjustable ball joint style sway links to quiet things down. Just an FYI
He won’t hear it over the Ed Sheeran he listens to
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I'd suggest going with a shortened or adjustable sway bar link. The stock ones are made for the stock height. You're going to change the pre-load on the sway bar and could impact your handling if you stick with the stock sway bar links and lowered height.
Honestly fairly new to the intricacies of suspension tuning so I reached out to TC Kline and got this response
someone said:
Just so you know our take on the situation... We have never put adjustable end links on any of our track cars(specifically our E90 M3 track car). If your car is set to the appropriate ride height (equal on the left and right side) there is no need for adjustable end links. The only time you will put 'pre-load' on the sway bar is when the left and right ride heights are not set equal (and there is no reason they should be unequal).
I could see how adjustable links could come into play with corner balancing, but I've also read BMWs are pretty well balanced from the factory. I'll definitely do my best to test out all this info and report back though!
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Waiting on some suspension parts yet so I started the header install. Have to say that this is MUCH harder than the downpipe install on my F30. Since there's such limited room to work I had to remove the coolant reservoir tank, turkey basting out all the coolant so I didn't make an absolute disaster. Still probably spilled 1/2 gallon on the floor that came out the other end though lol. Even with this and the heat shielding out of the way, access to the 18 nuts is still pretty grueling. Just kept swapping out swivel, wobble and regular extensions, as it seems like each nut requires a different approach. After a few hours I finally got the old set out, woohoo! Still waiting on new gaskets and nuts, but should be here in about a week or so and I can get the new headers installed.
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Just so you know our take on the situation... We have never put adjustable end links on any of our track cars(specifically our E90 M3 track car). If your car is set to the appropriate ride height (equal on the left and right side) there is no need for adjustable end links. The only time you will put 'pre-load' on the sway bar is when the left and right ride heights are not set equal (and there is no reason they should be unequal).
If that's what they say then I'd go with that! I know when KW sent me my coilovers they came with a new set of shorter sway bar end links to avoid the pre-loading and I know others that do it as well. I'm sure it's like everything else handling related where it's heavily opinion based on independent results. If it works it works!
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In the future I would suggest invest in an Airlift. You can suck all the coolant out of the system without spilling much. As far as getting to the manifold bolts, I feel your pain. lol
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