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loginfailed's 2001 E46 Touring

40K views 70 replies 27 participants last post by  Ivanhoe 
#1 · (Edited)
loginfailed's 2001 E46 Touring *NEW SHOES*

I joined the E46 family a month or two ago. It's got high miles (130k) but it's hard to tell by looking at it.

How I bought it:


My buddy traded his 2001 330ci for a 2007 Infiniti M35. He had some RPM 505 wheels with some decent rubber, so he offered to trade me for my stock wheels (for free!). I took a few pics the other day (sorry car is dirty):




future plans:
buy a hitch mount for my mountain bike, then remove the entire roof rack (slick top)
set of 18" CSL replicas
lower the front by about 1" or so for a more level stance

Comments? (good or bad)
 
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#6 ·
Cool man, nice touring.. excited to see what you do to it (+1 on the 19"s)
I hear you guys on the 19's. I'll have to look into the price difference of the wheels & tires to see how much more it is. I just figured I'd go with 18's to save some cash since I wouldn't have to buy new tires.
Very nice touring!
Thanks!
i like your current wheels :) nice car

H&R Cupkit would be nice. if ur shocks have 130k on them, you will enjoy having a new matched spring/shock setup, with a marginal drop :)
Thanks for the thumbs up on the wheels. I like the way the current wheels look too, except for a couple issues. They are curbed pretty bad, some of the clear coat is peeling in spots & I think a couple of them are a bit bent even. Also, they have the fake rivets which I don't mind the look of, but they are a beotch to clean.

I'm sure the shocks & springs are original. New shocks would definitely help. It rides OK, but since I put the heavier 18's on I can tell the shocks are worn. I havent really put much thought into what suspension setup I want to do yet though. The H&R cup kit is a possibility though. I had a set on my old 94 Integra back in the day & I was pretty happy with them.
 
#4 ·
Very nice touring!
 
#7 ·
Here's a pic of the Kuda leather phone mount and the proclip mount in case anyone was curious what they look like (sorry my interior isn't too clean at the moment):




^The leather mount looks in the pic like it is a different color, but in person it matches really well.
 
#11 ·
Got some new shoes today

The other wheels were vibrating REALLY bad on the freeway. I tried having them balanced (which did help) but discovered they have some bends in them while watching them spin on the balancer. They are also curbed pretty bad & the clear coat is starting to peel.

Basically, the easiest fix was new wheels. So I picked up a cheap set from Discount Tire. Now the car rides really smooth on the freeway. They are Drag DB-37, Hyper Silver, 18x8.5, +40 offset. I think they look pretty decent.

I've read people call these CSL reps but I think they look a little different than CSL's (at least in person). Either way I like them. I need to round up a set of BMW center caps, adjust front end ride height and I'll be happy.















 
#12 ·
I've been working on the car a bit this weekend. I've been pretty productive and finished of a BUNCH of items on my never ending punch list. Here is what I've accomplished over the last 2 days:

  • New Water Pump (w/ metal impeller)
  • ECS Aluminum Water Pump Pulley
  • New Fan Clutch
  • New Fan Blade
  • New Thermostat
  • New Upper & Lower Radiator Hoses
  • New Coolant Temp Sensor
  • New Expansion Tank & Cap
  • New OEM BMW Coolant
  • New Oil Filter Housting Gasket
  • Replaced Engine Oil w/ Mobil1 0w-40
  • New Final Stage Unit / Blower Resistor (old one had a mind of it's own)
  • New Sunroof Shade Slides (the shade was getting stuck)
  • New Passenger Front Window Regulator (finally not afraid to roll it down lol)
  • Removed Touring Roof Rack Rails
  • New Driver Door Midrange Speaker (was broken & fell into door)
  • Replaced "Drag" Center Caps w/ OEM BMW Center Caps
  • Cleaned & Organized Garage & Tools (long overdue)
  • Maybe some other stuff I forgot..

Everyone's seen all this stuff done before. To be honest I didn't feel like stopping every few minutes to take a pic, lol.

I'll clean the car tomorrow and hopefully post up some proper pics with the new center caps and no roof rails.
 
#16 ·
I really like the new wheels.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Minor changes..

I was off work Wednesday & Thursday and finally got a chance to catch up on some much needed garage time.

  • Installed sport pkg springs in the front to reduce wheel gap
  • Replaced inner and outer tie rods
  • Hand washed exterior, detailed wheels, vacuumed & detailed the interior
  • Took some pics!

The front gap is about even with the rear now, compared to being at least 1/2" higher before. I guess the .6" stated for sport springs in the wiki is just about right on. The chassis however has a nice rake to it. I measured ground clearance at the lift pads.

Front:

Rear:


I took some shots with my point and shoot camera. Not the best quality, but here are the picks (pun intended) of the litter.







I know my passenger mirror is black and driver side is blue. The cover was loose when I bought the car. It finally fell off and I haven't had a chance to get the new one painted yet.

Tomorrow it is getting an alignment and 4 new tires.

Comments, suggestions and/or criticisms welcomed and appreciated!
 
#21 ·
Today I had a little free time...

Put it in the air.

Supplies: trans fluid, axle fluid, transfer pump, and a set of big hex keys for the rear axle drain/fill bolts. Yea, I collect Hotwheels & Matchbox. Makes for some nifty (albeit expensive) wallpaper for the garage.

I changed the trans pan gasket & filter too. The old one is pretty black. Not sure if the PO ever changed it, but at 152k miles I figured I'd check to make sure the old filter hadn't disintegrated.

The fluid I used. Meets LT71141 specs. $5.29/quart. Purists might say to go with the $15/quart stuff so I got my flame suit ready.

Dirty pan & caked up magnets.

All clean.

Also had a chance to mount my air hose reel. Been wanting do do this for a while but never got around to it. Sure beats fighting with unrolling and rerolling the hose everytime I use it.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Yep.

Garage is looking good! New set of smoked corner lights and sidemarkers I see? Very nice.
Thanks! Yea, I got the corners & sides about a month ago. Now I just need to do something about the tail lights. I'm not a fan of the amber lamps. Plus, it doesn't flow too well with the other lights being smoked.

Amber lamps... Reminds me of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L35QuznMon0
 
#31 ·
I love the new wheels...
:thumbsup: Thanks guys, the encouragement helps keep me going.

nice work :)

search for red tinted tail lights, some people have applied a spray tint that makes the amber appear nearly OEM color red. cheap way to lose the amber.
:thumbup: Thanks! After some searching like you said, I found a couple DIY's to get ideas. I think I may try to tint the lights myself. The tail lamps I want are about $210 shipped so it is definitely worth a try.

Diggin this thread. How long did the tranny fluid change take you?
:thumbup: Thanks, from start to finish it took me about 2 hours total to do the rear diff fluid and the trans fluid & filter. I am a mechanic and this would normally take about 30 minutes but at home in my garage I do not have a vehicle lift or a parts washer.

Doing these types of things at home adds a considerable amount of time due to crawling around on the floor and jacking each corner of the car to put jack stands under it. Then more crawling around to do the actual work. Having a parts washer also makes cleaning parts much faster too, I just used brake parts cleaner and a bunch of red rags.

Plus I stopped a couple times to help my neighbor with changing the front brake pads on his wife's Toyota Sienna.

tourings ftw
:hi: Yes... At work in the wholesale pen, here is a nice clean 2005 330i sedan with 38k miles for $11k. Its grey outside & black inside & has M68 wheels, sport package, zenon headlights, power leatherette sport seats, MtechI package.

I thought seriously about trading my touring for it. But I can't part with my touring, I love it too much. It offers so much utility and I've grown so attached to it.

The other option was to buy the sedan, and swap all of its good stuff onto my touring (power sport seats, sport steering wheel, MtechI front etc..maybe even the engine?) then respray it to match and sell the 330i. But thats just too much work and hassle.

Looks sweet! and I used to collect matchbox's and hotwheels when I was younger! Still wish I did!:(
Hey its never too late to start collecting. They are only $1 each. I just go to the toy isle everytime I go to Walmart or Target or if I go to ToysRUs with the kids. I only collect the ones that are real production cars, no space ship or alien looking ones. (except I do have a Batmobile one, but hey Batman is cool right?)
 
#26 ·
I love the new wheels...
 
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