330Ti Build Thread M54B30 Swap!

First of all introduce myself and the car...
I am Sergi a 29 year old Spaniard.
This will be my building & restoration thread for the Unknown (In the US) E46 Compact

I am the only owner from new

Everything started back in Jan 2003 at the BMW Dealer from my hometown with something like this:

My dad bought it for me when I turned 19 so it was back in 2003..
As many Fathers he was concerned about the engine size & power so no chance of getting the sweet 6 in line 325Ti and I am a diesel hater (So is my Dad) so he decided to go for the ashmatic 318Ti ... and I called him the Blue Turtle
The specs is as follow

BMW 318Ti Compact N42B20 Engine
1995cc NA 16Valve Valvetronic
105Kw (143BHP) and 200Nm@3750rpm
0-100Km/h: 9,3" (I know It's not a bullet)
As factory fitted extras the car had:
-CD Business & CD Changer
-///M Multi fuctional Steering Wheel
-///M Leather knob
-Sport seats
-Chrome front grill
-16"inch alloys with 225 Tyres all round
-Front fog lights


Actually this first 2 pictures it isn't my car but I wanted to show the seats & the very beginning as I don't have pics (Hey I didn't had a digital camera back then!)

And... everything started when an old lady didn't respect a red light and smashed into the front end of my beloved Ti....
Then Talked with the insurance and they allowed to repair the front bumper with the ///M Sport item so I paid just for the back one and the side skirts to have a full ///M Exterior Bodykit. I also asked the garage to paint the lateral plastic trim for me.

The 16" Inches were too small for the appearance of the car so I decided to buy an original 8x18" BBS RX Wheels






But I still didn't felt the exterior quite right until I found some M3 wing mirrors (Replicas) for the compact... One of the planned mods I have for this thread is to replace them with the original ones.



The sound of the original exhaust was dull and not purposeful so... went the whole way crazy and fitted a custom 4-2-1 Manifold, Supersprint mid line & Sports cat & Eisenmann Exhaust




Here fitting the Eisenmann!






I was quite happy with the exterior of the car when I did fit a matt black front grill and stayed like that for a while. A few pics







With Barcelona in the background

Then it was the turn of getting rid of the awful halogen headlights and replace them for some OEM HID headlights and adding to them Angel eyes







And time to Start with the interior.... first one of the Factory fitted OEM Stering wheel





Then a new leather Re-trim will suit much better the car...




Pedals


Having fun...

Then I went mental... I got rid of the RX and fitted some original BBS CH 8,5x18 and 10x18 in the rears... dropped with Bilstein dampers & Eibach Springs...
I think this is the best set of wheels for the car... Pics talk by themselves

Now In Car Entertaintemnt turn..!

Started like this...



To end like this...

Basically the car have:

The Mods
Exterior
-///M Sportpack
-Black Shadow grille
-OEM Xenons
-Angel Eyes
-Invisi bulbs
-M3 E46 Mirrors Replica
-FK Tailights
-Rieger roof spoiler (Now off)
-Painted lateral plastic trim
Interior
-M pedals
-M Steering wheel
-Alu Black cube trim
-Red dials
-Ring Gauges
-Custom Leather seats
Engine:
-Simota carbon fibre Intake & K&N Filter
-Supersprint inox line
-Eisenmann end exhaust
-Ecu remaped
Car audio:
-Pioneer Avic X1R
-Pioneer Cam
-Pioneer CD Changer
-iPod 60GB
-Polk Audio Momo 6,5" Speakers
-Polk Audio MM 124 12" Sub
-JL Audio 300/2
-JL Audio 500/1
-Metasystem alarm with GPS Tracking system
Suspension & Brakes
-BBS RX 8x18 (first)
-BBS CH 8,5x18 ET35 & 10x18 ET40
-Bilstein dampers & Eibach srings suspension set up
-Brembo discs & EBC Pads
-Goodrigde braide hoses
-DOT 5.1 Fluid
-Polybushed
-Red painted calipers

Here some of the groceries

Looking real good, so glad you changed out the tail lights, looks so much better.

Well as an owner of a E36 compact ... this kinda is iffy. They could have/should have stopped making compacts after they made the E36 Compact.

I really liked the cloth interior but it looks like you're going in the right direction!

Car looks great so far. Those HIDs look so much better. I really would love to see someone add the OEM M3 front end and widebody to a Ti. Its a shame we don't have those here, I swear it would already be done lol.

Originally Posted by Extreme Dimensions

Well as an owner of a E36 compact ... this kinda is iffy. They could have/should have stopped making compacts after they made the E36 Compact.

Well I respect your opinion but It looks way better than the E36 Compact.

Anyway... here we go


I will post a few more pics...

I have to start again refurbishing a bit of parts as the car has 230000Km or around 130K miles so I reckon It's the right time for that Engine swap I had always dreamed...










[/quote]

nice !

Really a nice compact !
I have nearly the same car, even with the BBS CH, but without m-package.

Where did you get this leather interior ?
Can´t remember that this color was offered from the factory ?

Looks great!

Originally Posted by Seewolf

Really a nice compact !
I have nearly the same car, even with the BBS CH, but without m-package.

Where did you get this leather interior ?
Can´t remember that this color was offered from the factory ?

Nops the leather comes from the Ferrari catalogue and it was professionally done by a specialist in Spain.

Unfortunately when I started my MSc money was tight and the car sat at my parents house so I sold the CH (I know BIG mistake).

Then my bro got the car for a while and he fitted a Beyern Mesh wheels

Problem is I think it looked better with the BBS...

Now that takes us to this last November and the worst happened...


My brother gets mums car and a drunk guy hits him in the front




So leaves my mum without her sweet 330 Vert and the need for a new car (Odds are Z4 or Mini)

And obviously the idea of an engine swap starts buzzling in my head annoyingly....


I always have dreamed of a S54 swap for the compact but having an almost new M54 B30 engine for free and the rest of the needed parts for the swap I am going to settle with the later.

So let's start with the Project...Building the 330Ti.

I am gathering all the information that I can to make it nice. It won't be just a swap as I am planning to restore to brand new condition the whole car.

That's where I am hoping that you could help.

I know that the swap shouldn't be impossible (In fact the engine is almost equal to the M54b25 wich is factory fitted to the 325Ti)

So what are the main things I have to consider? Help me out as I am not an engineer (In fact I am a dentist)
I could use help to see wich aspects of the car I should improve as long as I do my build
I will swap not only engine but brakes and tranny (Manual) and I would like to add a LSD in the equation.

Also future plans will include forged internals and forced induction but first I want to have a running 330Ti
Thanks in advance and as you see it is a nice out of the norm E46 Project!

The car looks great. I wish BMW made a hatchback out of e46 compact

A german E46 guy did the M54B30 swap in the compact:
http://www.e46fanatics.de/compact/14...ing-269-a.html

You can use nearly all things from the 330ci, it isn´t complicated.
The most complicated thing is to get the engine running (electronics...)

Originally Posted by Seewolf

A german E46 guy did the M54B30 swap in the compact:
http://www.e46fanatics.de/compact/14...ing-269-a.html

You can use nearly all things from the 330ci, it isn´t complicated.
The most complicated thing is to get the engine running (electronics...)

Yes I am afraid so... You know if he speaks english? I could use a tip or two from him!

Nice Compacts in that website!

I´m pretty sure he´s speaking english
He´s a nice guy, met him last year, he´s an engineer