New e46 Touring owner...veteran BMW enthusiast

Hello e46 Fanatics,

I recently purchased my buddy Tucker's (dyintorace on this forum) 2002 325iT Sport-Premium 5spd (see pics below). This is the second 3-series I've purchased from him since 2007. For some silly reason that still escapes me, I sold the gorgeous 1995 e36 ///M3 "Lux" Coupe (Hellrot) in order to buy another car. I still regret it. At any rate, I am a veteran BMW CCAer (~12 years) and PCAer here in North Central FL. I enjoy DIY'ing on my cars and look forward to the day when I have a lift in MY garage.

I am very happy with the new e46 Touring and look forward to getting to know it better. Modifications will include:

1) I just purchased a DICE Electronics unit so I can enjoy my tunes more effectively. I also need to update the factory speakers...perhaps a BSW upgrade kit?

2) Next up will be a suspension refresh involving lowering springs and new shocks. This is my daily driver so I don't want anything that is going to rattle my teeth. I do plan to autocross the car and will consider DE too (e.g., Barber Motorsports Park @ BMW CCA OktoberFest 2011).

3) Also, I believe the exhaust note is too tame. I would like to hear that sweet inline-6 a little better. I've enjoyed Supersprint and Active Autowerks (AA Tuning) exhausts on my previous BMWs.

4) I feel like I'm rowing the gears with the factory shift lever. Therefore, I am plan to install either a different shift lever or perhaps a complete SSK. My e34 M5 has the UUC Evo-III (w/DSSR) unit and weighted shift knob (RK). I may go that route as I thoroughly enjoy it. I'm open to suggestions for what is commonplace on the non-///M e46s.

I would greatly appreciate your suggestions here. Thanks in advance!

Here are a few pics of the car but now the car has clear corners (Depo), side, and rears (OE BMW Hella) lamp housings.





I look forward to getting to know you guys (& gals?)...

Cheers,
Tim

Welcome! Wish I could have found a 5 speed Touring, but they are rare and high miles, for the most part. I am very happy with my 2005 which only has 27K miles on it. This is the third Touring our family has had.

There is a BMW aux input for about $40 you can use to hear tunes from your ipod. I bought one and then discovered mine already had it in the shadows of the glove box. Works great, but not the best set up for controlling from the ipod while you are driving. There are several threads for installing it in both the glove box and in places other than the glove box, like the console or DSC panel.

I am happy with my BMW Performance intake, strut bar, and exhaust. It gives it a nice factory look and not too noisy exhaust.

The photo links do not seem to be working, but look forward to seeing your car. There are several Touring threads here.

Nice!!

Photos don't work - let's see it!

What suspension will you install?

Hey TooTall and LowLevel (AJ),

Thanks for the welcome and suggestions. I really appreciate the suggestion re: the AUX Input. I bought a DICE unit (used for $75) but will look in the glove box just to make sure that the AUX input has not been installed. That would be neat! The DICE unit does allow text display, which is nice.

I am not sure why my photos are not able to be viewed by others as they display perfectly on my end. Here are the URLs for the pics. Please let me know whether or not they work:

http://e28-535i.com/upload/DSC_0388.jpg

http://e28-535i.com/upload/2000.bmw.3series.24415-E.jpg

Update: Just created my e46Fanatics Garage entry here (w/the same pics I posted above):
http://directory.e46fanatics.com/gar...a/Tim in N FL/

I appreciate the suggestions to check out the BMW Performance exhaust and other bits. To be honest, I'm hoping to find some of these goodies F/S used on this and other BMW enthusiast forums. I am not sure what direction to pursue with the suspension but one e46 Touring owner just PM'd me stating that he planned to buy this set-up from Tischer BMW:

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...gid=4462&tab=1

Best,
Tim