E46 Fanatics Forum banner

Build thread - 2010 to Now - S54 sedan

37K views 105 replies 47 participants last post by  Levim9 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey fanatics! I've never setup a build thread so I might as well now. My 2001 325i is just about at 200k miles and I've decided to make some big changes. Honestly the car has been fun and enjoyable and I don't have plans of getting rid of it. It's about to get a whole lot funner. :4ngie: Cosmetically, the car needs some work but that will come in time. Right now I'm focused on getting it running in top shape.

I know some of the picture quality sucks ITT. Sorry - Will try to get good pictures when I have the car back in couple weeks! :D Also this is sort of a teaser thread. I plan on taking more detailed pictures of everything installed then.

Some recent mods in the past 2 years:

- 17x9 D'Force LTW5 wheels: Loved these wheels but somehow bent one. I found a set of BBS RKs on craigslist last fall within driving distance and bought them and sold the 3 LTW5s.

- Rear Shock Brace: Took a welding class in school and bought myself a Hobart 180 Mig welder. I ended up making a custom rear shock brace and had it powder coated by a local shop. I really can't notice any performance gain but it looks cool and might stiffen the chassis slightly. It's better than the cheap ebay ones but I'd love to upgrade to the mason engineering brace in the future.

- BMW Performance Strut Brace: I bought this when all the BMW Performance stuff went on sale. Looks great and is lightweight!

- Valentine 1 Radar Detector and Uniden BCT-12 Police Scanner

- M3 Tri-Stitch Steering Wheel: Bought this used from a fanatic. It's one of my favorite upgrades.

- Mtech I Front Bumper: I had some front end damage after hitting a fox. Literally right after this happened So Lowww was selling his Mtech I in Jet Black. I drove down to Philly right after school to get it lol. Thanks Khalil!

- 330 Front Brakes, Stoptech Front and Rear Rotors, Stoptech Pads, Stoptech SS Lines, Vorshlag 75mm Stud Kit : Bought the 330 brakes from a fanatic and rest of the brake parts from Anthony at Bimmerbrakes. Thanks guys for the quality parts!

- Cosmos Racing Intake: Sounded nice. I went with the Amsoil dry filter and also had the Amsoil hydro filter to prevent hydro lock. This is a great intake for the price. It's not flashy looking like an AFE or BMW Performance intake but it's a true CAI.

- ebay lip spoiler

- BBS RK wheels 17X8 - I actually found these by mistake. I found a set of steel wheels down near Philly on craigslist and contacted the seller. They were already sold but asked me if I was interested in RKs. Got a good deal so picked them up and sold the D'Forces. Turns out he's a fanatic on here too. They were too small for his M3 but fit my sedan perrrfectly. :)

------------------------------------------------------------

Now for the stuff I'm VERY excited about! :excited:

I dropped the car off at Motorcepts in NY last weekend for an s54 swap.

It's getting an s54 with 76k miles, 6 speed transmission, complete M3 rear end, JVT headers, Active Tuned ECU, UUC Clutch, and UUC SSK. I can't wait to drive it but the wait is killer.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, so now I have a build thread! I'll update pictures and maybe gopro video in the next couple weeks when the car comes together. Thanks for looking :hi:

.
.
.
.
.

D'Force LTW5s after getting them on.


lol suby rally mode..


Flange design for the rear shock brace



Flanges cut and pipe.



Welded and test fitted.



Finished project - I forget who got the other but I sent one out to a fanatic. :) I don't have any installed pics. Looks like sh!t without the trunk liner but with the trunk liner installed and slit properly the bar looks amazing.



BMW Performance Strut Brace





Snow pics.





Valentine 1



Uniden BCT12 scanner picking up Pennsylvania State Police chatter. :p



M3 Tri Stitch Steering Wheel - This replaced my sport wheel.



Mtech I Front Bumper



330 Front Brakes





Cosmos racing intake - sort of the reason I took the foglights out



lip spoiler



BBS RK 17x8







-------------------------------------------------------

Some mods to go with the M conversion

M3 Rear view



Black gauge face from LEDmods. Should look good with orange needles.




Thanks again for looking! I'll keep this updated as the car comes together. :hi:
 
See less See more
23
#69 ·
Thanks! :)

Excellent build, man. Can you please PM me the costs involved when you get a chance. Thanks!
Forgot to specify what costs. I'm referring to the respective S54 related swap expenses. Did you do the work yourself, too, or?
PM sent. Motorcepts in NY did the install. One of their customers cars was totaled so I dropped mine off and they swapped it all over.
 
#70 ·
Update!

The past couple weeks I've been dealing with engine running poor periodically. I checked codes with my peake scanner and got these.

Table 1b
E6 Drive-by-wire throttle position failure
76 Throttle position sensor 1
77 Throttle position sensor 2
78 Throttle position sensors, cross check
79 Throttle position sensors, both bad
6B Control unit self test, pre-drive chick of drive-by-wire system

The failure was one of three sensors; either the top speed sensor next to the oil filter housing, the identical sensor (same PN) below the airbox, or the throttle pedal sensor. I started out by cleaning the top and pedal sensors because they're very easy to access. No luck. Next I replaced the top sensor next to the oil filter housing. I heard this one fails more often because it's exposed to the heat from the oil filter housing. Still no luck. Then I replaced the throttle pedal assembly because that was the next easiest to access. Problem fixed! The instant throttle response is back and and rev matching downshifts are crisp again. Absolutely love that that it doesn't go into limp mode anymore. So glad to have that little problem fixed. :)

Here's a few newer pics I snapped with my cell phone






Here's some Turner goodies I'll be installing soon. All picked off ebay ;)

TMS Tracksport Coilovers
TMS S54 Underdrive Pulleys
TMS Pedals
Aluminum rebuildable shock mounts

 
#74 · (Edited)
Coilovers and hotchkis F&R M3 sway bars have been installed! This car feels amazing now. Pretty much no body roll and even being lower I don't rub anymore. The TMS Tracksport coils aren't as harsh as I've heard from others. Maybe that's because I run fatty tires on 17s. Feels great to me. The tires are shot but new nitto 555s and alignment is coming very soon. Also, I picked up some silver cube trim from a fanatic. :)







 
#99 ·
Coilovers and hotchkis F&R M3 sway bars have been installed! This car feels amazing now. Pretty much no body roll and even being lower I don't rub anymore. The TMS Tracksport coils aren't as harsh as I've heard from others. Maybe that's because I run fatty tires on 17s. Feels great to me. The tires are shot but new nitto 555s and alignment is coming very soon. Also, I picked up some silver cube trim from a fanatic. :)

What suspension was on it before? Especially when you had the LTW5s? Your car is an inspiration, and that comes from someone who has had FBO 335 / Evo MR on Advans, and the like. Epic build is epic. Stay cool man.
 
#77 ·
Thanks Hussein, so much into it yet so much more to do lol. Your zhp will be riding nice after you install the PSS9s paired with the hotchkis sways. I can't believe I waited this long to upgrade my suspension. Night and day difference!
 
#78 · (Edited)
Glad you posted on my thread. I didn't know about yours until now!

Great work the car looks awesome. I was happy to see you have the act clutch in addition to the afe stage 2 and the tms pulleys (I have the same mods)

I'm really jealous of your cube trim. Not to mention your car actually runs. I'm in the process of figuring out my coding issues and fixing my milage and tamper dot. if I manage to get it done before you I will b happy to show you how it's done or possibly do it for you.
 
#79 ·
Can't wait to meet up with you one of these days! ^

So I was at the bank drive thru and heard a rattling sound. I popped the valve cover off and found out my cam bolts were on their way out. Full besian upgrades along with valve adjustment is in order!



12 of the 24 needed adjusted. I bought the hot cams shim kit. They're slightly softer than the stock shims but I got a great deal on them. If I don't like them I'll go with wiseco shims the next time around. Someone on m3forum tested the hardness of the hotcams vs wiseco vs bmw shims. Hotcams is slightly softer than oem and wiseco is the same but both are MUCH cheaper.



So these are the new bolts I'll be using. They're 12.9+ strength so I shouldn't have to worry about this issue any more. Got them from turbotoy2791 on m3forum.



Look how close my engine was to death. Three of the six were broke in half and the other 3 were ready to break at any time. :ben:



Hoping to get this all back together and be back on the road this weekend. :thumbsup:
 
#80 ·
Looking good.
 
#82 · (Edited)
I forgot to say one of the broken cam bolts heads fell down in the engine. I haven't had much time to work on the car but was free today so I got some work done. The top end is all sealed up and ready to go. I figured the bolt head probably was in the bottom of the oil pan and wouldn't get caught in the chain but I didn't want to take any chances.

At least this gave me a good reason to change the motor mounts and FCABs.

Maybe I'll have her running tomorrow. It's been so long :cry:



Got this engine support bar for $60 from Harbor Freight which worked great. I recommend it for oil pan work.







Use towels and fill the cracks so you don't have to do all this work for something so dumb! ;)

 
#83 ·
its good to know you were able to hear something was wrong and get in there to fix it before any major damage happened.

your car is coming along great! I love the choice of mods.
 
#84 ·
Very glad I quit driving it when I did. I'm sort of new to the S54 and was assuming maybe it just needed a valve adjustment but had a bad feeling it was something worse. It was a close one that's for sure! Those 3 cambolts holding on wouldn't have for much longer.

Thanks man it's coming together. Still lot's on my to do list and I'm sure the same goes for you.
 
#86 · (Edited)
looks good, I saw your car at Pocono I was hoping I would run into you but you it looks like you were track side. Keep up the good work car looks clean... I almost stole your strut bar:rofl: kidding but my friend who has an e90 was very jealous of it (he has almost every bmw performance mod, except the bar)
 
#88 ·
I just read you drove your S54 sedan to Mpact, I wish we would of ran into each other! I'm glad to hear its on the road and imagine you're loving it. :D

Nice job finding that cam bolt problem, car is definitely looking good!
Thank you!


Now that my court date is over with I'll share a story with you guys. I'm not proud of it and I've learned a lesson but thought you'd like to hear. :dunno:

About a month ago I was pulled over. Keep in mind the highways around here don't have much traffic so you can get on it quite often with no problems. This night I entered the highway on a straight stretch with no traffic in sight. There was one other car on the highway about a half mile back which I later found out was a state trooper. I ran it up almost to 170 on the first pull. About 6 miles down the highway I came around a bend to see 2 state troopers waiting. I was going the speed limit at this point but pulled over immediately because they both flipped their lights on and I was the only car on the highway. About 20-30 seconds later the original trooper pulled up behind me and they left. The trooper asks "how fast were you going back there? I was doing 135 and there was no catching up to you!". I replied that I wasn't sure of the exact speed but that sounds about right. I explained how I was having fun on an empty highway but it was foolish to do on a public road. Also I explained that I wasn't running. As soon as I saw the red and blues I pulled over. He took my info and walked back to his cruiser. He returned way faster than I expected and said I'm giving you one break. I thought it was going to be a verbal warning lol. He said I'm not writing you up for wreckless driving and the car will not be impounded or that I'd be arrested. Just a speeding violation of 130 and I will have a license suspension. He shook my hand and thanked me for stopping and said do the speed limit.

Fast forward to court day. I showed up early today for my hearing and got a chance to talk to my trooper. He asked if I wanted to work any deals. I said that I deserve the fine and points but asked if there was any way I could go with out losing the license because I drive up to 1000 miles a week for work. 31 over is when you lose your license in Pa. He said it would be no problem and dropped my speed to 30 over (95 in a 65). I followed the trooper into the court room and shook the magistrates hand and introduced myself. He looked at the papers and said wow! I'm impressed. This was a 325? I answered yes but it's got some work done to it, it's more like a...before I finished my sentence he says an M3? That was a good sign lol. Him and the trooper then asked me what all it's got done to it. I explained how it has a lightly modded M3 engine, M3 6 speed, M3 rear end, coilover suspension, bigger brakes, W speed rated tires and that I plan on turning it into a weekend / track car. The magistrate actually said that's really neat! He then asked the trooper how fast he was going and the trooper replied with a smile "I topped out at 135 and he was gone, it's the fastest car I've ever chased". I told the trooper that I'm sorry I put him in that situation where he had to chase me and thanked both of them for being more than fair with me. I ended up with a fine of $225 and 5 points. This was the best outcome besides the trooper not showing up for court and having the charges dropped.

I really think it's time for me to slow it down and save it for the track. Though it may be fun at times it's not worth it to speed on public roads.
 
#89 ·
It really isn't worth speeding you're absolutely right.....I actually miss my 325ci over my current 435i largely because there is a HUGE different in power delivery. Now when I step on it one gear in and I'm at the speed limit when in my 325ci I would have to shift one more gear which gave me a more fun perception of speed. After this transition, I really appreciate the slow car fast philosophy....Maybe a 228i M-Sport is in order, but I need a I6 in the BMW's I own.

BTW I'm new to this thread, but outstanding work. I congratulate you on the amount of work and progress you were able to make with this car it looks absolutely amazing!

Also $225 for going 30 over?! In California I had gone 15 MPH over and had to pay the same amount! Granted I was 16 at the time.
 
#92 ·
Haha awesome to hear everything worked out with the cops. Your not kidding these cars r fast, a few days ago I stuck to a Ferrari 355 spiders bumper from about 40-140. Needless to say he was quite surprised. I was even shifting at around 6k (still breaking it in)
 
#95 · (Edited)
Nice work, I love the flyby's. just curious how do u stay stationary and roast tires? U drag the brake a bit and heal toe to start? Or u just dump the clutch then hit the brake?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top