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Thread: 330Ci ZHP

  1. #136
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    330Ci ZHP

    I ordered a few new pinch clip nuts for the side that failed, just in case. Those should be arriving later today.

  2. #137
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    330Ci ZHP

    And they did!



    It might have taken longer to put the car on ramps than it did to install the belly tray.


    This was the side I didn’t secure correctly.


    Two more on the driver side…


    Three at the back.


    The leading edge of the tray fits into an edge moulded into the bottom of the front bumper. It is a snug fit, helps to keep the bumper rigid.


    With the tray installed, you can see how it fits and integrates with the other undercarriage pieces.


    Maybe not the best angle, but this shows how it also helps guide air under the car. So, when the one side popped off, the wind did the rest and forced it into the tarmac.


    Fin.

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  4. #138
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    Knocked out these after dinner tonight. Just another OEM+ upgrade that eliminates 17 year old parts, resets a critical system, and future-proofs this car for some track use.

    Some fresh Ate 200 and insurance for freeing up brake line connections.


    Wheels up, then off. Started with the corners furthest from the master cylinder.


    Fresh stainless braided lines going in! Right rear first.




    Left rear up next. Smooth sailing so far.




    With the rears installed, I recruited my wife to help me flush and bleed these before starting on the fronts. She knows the procedure cold, so 15 minutes later, she left and I started the fronts.

    Front right underway.


    New line installed




    Better shot of the inner splash shield I replaced on the front right.





    On to the front left.


    Same as the other side. Easy stuff, bless garage-kept Southern cars. Everything came apart like new. I coerced my wife to help me bleed the fronts.

    A pan full of crusty lines. No cracks, but the rubber was VERY stiff. Not good for track duty, or any other duty really.






    Quick 2 hour job, brakes feel great! Less pedal travel, better feel for modulation. Success!

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  6. #139
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    330Ci ZHP

    113039 miles, according to the records, the trans and diff fluid were done about 60k miles ago. This should be the last of the major service to reset the car (Woot!).

    Diff fluid: Valvoline synthetic 75w90.


    Car up on jackstands, leveled out, I started with the differential. Fill on the back (left) drain on the right (under the axle). Both are female 14mm hex.


    Super simple. The fluid was extremely clean, so I suspect the shop that welded up the rear subframe reinforcements changed it out.


    Speaking of rear subframe, I took this opportunity to re-torque all the subframe bolts that were disassembled back in February when I had the reinforcements done. Just a little kick on each one.




    At this point an emergency weather alert came across. My wife opened the door to tell me there was ping pong ball-sized hail in the area.

    Great.

    That is Texas-type hail. We don’t get that here much at all. I’m thinking of taking the car down to get my wife’s car now sitting in the driveway outside so I can do this work back in the garage, but I’m at the point where I can finish the transmission fluid in the same amount of time as I can to drop the car, so I keep pressing with the quickness.

    ZF 6 speed decal to confirm I have the right fluid.


    Fill plug a little left of center, drain underneath, both are female 8mm hex, the same part.


    Draining was pretty quick as it was still warm from an earlier drive. It was dark but not terrible, no discernible shavings or chunks.


    Took about 1.8 quarts. I wanted to use Valvoline Synchromesh, but none could be found locally. Parts store sold me Royal Purple Synchromax at the same price for my inconvenience. That was a pretty nice discount, pretty much the second quart was free.


    With the threat of hail looming, and some serious thunder crashing around me, I furiously pumped int the new fluid, wrapped up the drips, double-checked my work, then hustled to drop the car to get both cars in the garage ASAP.

    No hail appeared, just typical Southern summer thunderstorms.

    I took the car for a test drive after the rain passed. The re-torque on the rear subframe removed a small squeak (nice!), the fresh transmission fluid? Wasn’t expecting the improvement it yielded. It shifted beautifully before, now it’s even better.



    Success!

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  8. #140
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    330Ci ZHP

    What do you do with a car after working on it? Shake it down!

    I woke up the next morning after the driveline fluids were done and really didn’t have anything important to do, so I went for a drive.

    2 1/2 hours later, I’m eating lunch in Robbinsville, NC. It is M@TG weekend. Lynn’s Place, really good burger plates. Support local businesses.


    While eating lunch, I watched a storm roll into the valley. This is excellent! A lot of cars get of the roads in rain like this. I love driving in the rain, time to find some cars to play with.



    I had a clean run down the Dragon, Miatas were holding me up along the way back. Same story on Hwy 28.

    Spoiler alert, Miatas are slow.

    Drove to the Fontana, all sorts of stuff going on, hung out for a little bit and left around 2.

    Heading out of the mountains, south back towards Atlanta, it started to clear.








    This car performed flawlessly. I was chasing down Miatas in the corners on 28, 143, and 129. AC on, torque to spare.

    Made it home at 4:30, nice drive!

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  10. #141
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    330Ci ZHP

    Here are some photos from my drive to the mountains.

    These are on Tail of the Dragon, taken all within 30 minutes at different locations. You can see what I was driving through in that time.

    It started out overcast, about 78-80 degrees. Windows down.


    It became a little brighter here, clouds thinning.


    Nope, heavy rain. Dropped to about 72 degrees. Windows up!


    Popped out into sunshine on the way back.

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  12. #142
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    Not even close to the double yellows. Nice.

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  14. #143
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  16. #144
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    330Ci ZHP

    Brake calipers. I had an intermittent, instantaneous pull under braking. Knowing the suspension is 100%, it was one of the calipers. I had this issue on my M3 back in the day.

    Centric remans were the course. I have great experience with their products on other cars.



    Pretty standard stuff. Easy repair. One thing about BMWs, they don’t mince about on their brakes. These calipers are massive. My hand is about 9” long for comparison.



    Smooth sailing.





    I confirmed my pads are under 50% thickness. I took advantage of the holiday sales last week and ordered some new, top end rotors and pads. The pads are TBD on when they ship though.

    Fortunately, the new calipers have eliminated the slight, annoying pull.

    More to come soon!


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  18. #145
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    New lighting control module!




    This controls all the lights in the car, the photo sensor, the rain sensor, the turn signal stalk, and the high-beams.

    I have been having some funky issues. You know that stereotype about BMW drivers not using their turn signals? Well, mine would stay on randomly even though the stalk had returned to normal. So, I doing 80 on the freeway and my turn signal would be flashing, lol.

    Also, the auto wipers would randomly cycle on a clear, sunny day. Hilarious.

    I bought this during some Labor Day sales, not feeling like rolling the dice on a used unit. Usually about $500 through my preferred vendor, I grabbed this one for $400 shipped.

    Of course, having all the lighting/automatic bells and whistle options spec’d on this car, it’s the most expensive one. There are 7-9 different versions depending on the options the car has.

    This is where it lives:



    The light controls are merely an interface, the ECU is attached behind it.







    One slightly hard-to-reach cammed connector and it’s out.

    New one was the reverse of removal.







    Now comes the real work…coding it to work properly with this particular car.

    BMW put a mileage counter in this. It has to match what the instrument cluster reads, and the DME (car’s primary engine ECU) or a little “tamper dot” shows on the odometer.

    So first I had to write the car’s VIN and mileage to the LCM using the coding software I bought. This eliminates the tamper dot.

    But wait, there’s more!

    Now I have to code the features to the LCM so it knows what it’s working with. The software worked ok for this, but I have certain features not that common on the e46, so while the LCM worked for basic controls, the auto on/off, rain sensor, auto HVAC controls didn’t work. It also threw dash lights because this car has factory LED tail lights.

    Enter the SECOND software for coding. This one is waaay more powerful, but also very technical.

    It’s also largely in German.

    Oh, it also uses a specific OBD2 dongle with a 4-way switch that needs to be manipulated at specific point to vet this software to play nice. Because this car is an ‘05, it has both e46 and e90 componentry.

    My dongles chilling on the passenger seat:



    So in summary, two software packages, two OBD dongles, 1 with a 4-way switch, 3 hours and Google translator on my phone to read the German on the laptop…I finally coded the new Lighting Control Module on the e46.



    Once I used the new software to load the right features, I went back the first software to tell it how I wanted them to work. The car thought it was euro-spec, which while those have neat appearance, there are features it’s thinks are there, but aren’t ( like rear fog lights ).

    I was also able to add some hexideximal coding to add features I didn’t previously have, like a three-blink lane change signal by bumping the stalk, interior lighting features when unlocking the car, and altering the algorithm for the rain sensor.

    It’s a double-edged sword, but it works now as I hoped.

    One more thing…
    I damaged a piece of trim that surrounds the LCM switch. I found locally Loctite sells superglue with a UV light built in. It cures the glue instantly and makes these little repairs so much easier. It was $10.


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  20. #146
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    More OEM+ upgrades.

    I’m approaching 115k. Typical failure for the fuel pumps is between 100-150k. Proactively replacing it is the game. They are priced well (~$150) and really pretty easy. They are under the back seat.

    ADDITIONALLY, these cars suffer from fuel starvation in long , right-hand sweepers at around 1/2 tank and less.

    The tank is saddle-shaped to clear the driveshaft. There is an equalizer pump, a small trough under the pump, but no baffle.

    To alleviate this, some companies offer a pump connected to the sending unit on the left side that pumps directly to the main pump on the right. The other option is to use the OEM baffle from an M3. This is a pretty much a little plastic container that clips into the trough and the equalizer pump fills this up. A little hole at the bottom empties on top of the fuel sock of the main pump. Perfect!

    Here we go!

    This is a the fuel pump assembly and tank seal.


    This a new baffle/ surge tank from an e46 m3.




    Here is the install:

    The bottom of the rear seat pops right out exposing the access panel to the fuel pump.


    4 10mm nuts and the cover lifts off, exposing the top of the fuel pump assembly. Simply slide back the lock on the electrical connector and remove it. Then cut off the hose clamp.


    Slide off the fuel hose and collect any spillage.


    Next, using a prybar and a mallet, I spun off the metal retaining ring that secures the pump to the top of the tank.


    I carefully lifted out the old pump assembly and seal. What you see here is the plastic trough the fuel socks on the pump sit on. The equalizer tube is not shown, but connects to this trough on the right.


    The M3 baffle simply clips on top of the trough and the equalizer tube is reinstalled into the top of the surge tank on baffle. Easy!

    I currently have less than 4 gallons in the tank.


    New tank seal installed.


    New fuel pump assembly drops in, it lines up with a notch at the top. Reinstall the retaining ring and tap the ring clockwise with the mallet and bar until tight.


    New clamp for the fuel hose, reinstall the electrical connector.


    A little cleanup, then pop the seat bottom back in, reconnect the battery, fire it up and check for leaks. That’s it! 30 minutes.


    Here is the old, original fuel pump. I may hang on to this in case the baffle doesn’t work very well. I’ll attach the old pump to the sending unit on the left to transfer more fuel through the tops of the assemblies (note the blocked off nipples at the top of the assemblies).


    Fuel pickup socks

    The nipple at the 5 o’clock position below can be opened to accept another hose to transfer more fuel if I go with a dual pump config to prevent starvation.

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  22. #147
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    330Ci ZHP

    Brakes.

    I have been sitting on a set of brand new Zimmerman rotors since August. The pads were done on this car in ‘15. They have done their job admirably.

    I have been having a HELLUVA time finding race pads. I originally ordered Stop Tech 309s, but after 45 days, the vendor told me they are on indefinite back order. Yay, supply chain!

    I ordered Hawk HP+. I tried them, took them off after 200 miles. I hate them; the (lack of) bite, the noise, the dust, and the squish. I had sworn off Hawks years ago, should have just bit the bullet and gone top shelf for the Ferodos.







    The fronts were pretty much done.


    I ordered Akebono Euros for my DD duties. They arrived and I got to work. Also, the calipers I replaced were uncoated, so I bought a G2 paint kit to do at the same time.

















    The G2 paint is a two-part epoxy paint. Pour the activator in the can, shake, clean brakes with supplied brake cleaner, then apply with a brush (also supplied). It’s self-leveling and dries in about 3 hours. Ready to drive in 24. Pretty happy how it turned out.

    There is MORE than enough paint to do the calipers, brackets and touch-ups. Had a lot left over, so I painted the clutch slave I plan to install soon.







    I deep-cleaned the wheels while waiting for the calipers to dry.









    I reinstalled the wheels, and now I wait for the paint to cure.

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