Jreyes19 and the Angry Tomato

[jreyes19]

Hey guys,
Im starting a thread for me and my car
I bought this car a year and 4 months ago (january) in Miami for $8,000
it had 70,000 miles and was running great

I did all the maintenance needed and added some mods including

Exterior
Matte Black (with added tima attack ring) Miro 111 19" 8.5" front and 9.5" rear rims
Carbon Fiber roof wing
Black chrome muffler tips
Black kidney grills
red and black carbon fiber emblems
Led clear tails
Angle eyes

Interior
Black leather shift and brake boots with grey double stitching
Hamman evolution shift knob
DIY aux input

Sorry I have not been able to post much recently
this has been a crazy half a year and it has betting getting even worse
with family issues and different things happening but within all that

I was asked for my car to appear in a magazine photo shoot but had to turn down for personal reasons and i get comments on the car that bump my ego a little bit

but recently it has been difficult with having to replace my radiator
due to a leak in the original radiator

then once I finally had the radiator replaced, while on i95 i heard something that sounded like sand hitting my engine but i didn't hit anything, then i quickly looked at the temperature gauge to find it climbing quickly, i quickly pulled over an turned off the car just before it hit red

so once it was towed to my mechanic, I found out it was a belt that snapped and hit and cracked my expansion tank

they replaced
tensioner pulley
all belts
expansion tank

i regret not listening to everyone concerning changing cooling stuff at around 60-80k miles (I'm currently at 94k miles) i know everyone always says to, but i hope everyone who thinks what i used to think "that it can wait" when it comes to belts and cooling it is best to do it as soon as possible

And a special thanks to everyone who is always suggesting preventative maintenance

I will be updating this thread with pictures and news of me and my car as things come up

here are some pictures of the angry tomato

Originally how it looked when i bought it
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/2010-12-23_170243.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/2010-12-23_170224.jpg

and how it looks now

I am missing my tow hook cover from when the tow truck took my car from the belt snapping incident, so if anyone has an extra one please let me know
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/E46%20and%20944/DSC_0556.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/E46andsky.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/E46rim2.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/E46rim.jpg

[brettbimmer]

Are you sure that it is the same car?? :drool Rims look fantastic against the red paint! Keep up the good work!

[Newjack]

Nice car! Where did you get those roundels? Are they all one piece or are they overlays?

[bimmeryota]

sweet ride! Post more pics!

[danewilson77]

Looks great JR....

Can I move to our Project Subforum?

[Oli77]

Very nice. Your original purchase price was nice too for a car with low miles.

[jreyes19]

Thanks guys for all the compliments, also leave any suggestions on what you think still needs to be done

the roundels- are an entire peace as you can see it no longer has the yellow borders the original roundels had, it is chrome color with the roundels set into it

and Sure Dane feel free to move this to where it belongs lol I wasn't sure where to put this

I was very happy with the price and condition so I decided I needed to jump on it

[Ryans323i]

Car looks great! Love the red and black. Wheel fitment is spot on too! Let's see some pics of the interior.

Any plans for a different front bumper?

[cakM3]

JR,

The "angry tomato" looks great! What a transformation from when you first got her. Great job! :thumbsup

[johnrando]

Looks great! A further back pic of the wheels please, so we can see the whole thing?

[jreyes19]

here are a few more pictures, that were requested

Interior
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/interior.jpg

Front rim a bit further away
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/E46rimFront.jpg

Rear Rim
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/E46rimrear2.jpg

And some extra
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/E46close.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/E46bw.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc385/jreyes19/E46aEyes-1-1.jpg

[danewilson77]

Lovin the personal touches JR...

[Ryans323i]

Oh I love that steering wheel roundel. Did you get it from JLeviSW?

[jreyes19]

Thank you guys
and the steering wheel roundel came with the set i bought from the guy i found on e46fan

[Ryans323i]

Ah, ok. Looks great!

[iZHP]

Ryan, just so you're aware, JLeviSW is now Silicon Valley Concepts. They rebranded last week. They're also getting away from lighting :(


-Sent via iPhone 4S

[jreyes19]

UPDATE!!

Idk if anyone read a post i made earlier last week about having a small leak of coolant, (even after having almost entire cooling system replaced)
to find out that it was my water Pump (i believe someone suggested that in the thread i posted in) but it wasn't the water pump bleeder hole
but the pump was actually cracked that it would leak when cold then expand when the car was running

so between having my mechanic replace
water pump (with metal impeller, he recommended it)
Temperature sensor
thermostat and housing

and he said that i have a small oil leak hitting the exhaust, and he thought it may be the valve cover gasket that needs replacing

has everyone had to change all the parts i have changed at one point or another or do i have a lemon? (this excludes the valve cover gasket i think that is something that is usually done in the 100,000 mile maintenance anyways)
btw i am currently at 99k miles

[danewilson77]

Nope....stuff is pretty normal. $600 is fair I guess.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

[Oli77]

I changed water pump preemptively around 65K miles and its was starting to have play.

Price seems high.

[danewilson77]

Gotta figure that stuff books for 3 to 4 hours, no? Then the parts....

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

[jreyes19]

I thought it was a good price (i removed the price comment from original post because I realize this also differs by area, to avoid any arguments our anything like that), I think the mechanics here in florida are vey expensive and untrustworthy, I'm glad I have a mechanic that is fair and trustworthy

So all the things I have from the radiator down to the water pump is normal

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

[jreyes19]

Ok I am planning on replacing the
Valve cover Gasket myself
but I want to do the Vanos (while I am in there) as well

My concern comes in when i wonder if i need to buy the anti-rattle kit?
My car 325i was not listed in the besian list of models most susceptible to it
and i do not have any rattle currently

Quotes from Besian systems site

US E46 ZHP or aftermarket performance (Schrick) cams create stronger camshaft lash forces and thus are more susceptible to causing a rattle.

Models susceptible to experiencing vanos rattle:
3-series E46 320i, 323i, 330i
5-series E39 520i, 523i, 530i
5-series E60 530i
Z3 all models.
This list will be updates as more data is collected.



so should i just buy the seals and not the rattle kit?

[jreyes19]

any thoughts on this?

[danewilson77]

Don't worry about anti-rattle kit.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

[jreyes19]

Oh ok so I shouldnt worry so much about it, that is good to know.

I just wanted to hear it from someone who knows better

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

[johnrando]

Two schools of thought:
1) if you don't have the rattle by now, you likely won't get it
2) since you're in there, you might as well do the anti-rattle kit anyway for piece of mind.

Either answer is workable.

[jreyes19]

I didn't do the vanos but I did the spark plugs and valve cover gasket, the old one was like brittle plastic when I took it out and broke into pieces

Also found what was throwing lean codes, and I reset and thr codes stayed off until I was going I was going 80 on highway which is how it came on the first time so I assume there is still a small hole that hasn't been covered but I will be ordering a new lower intake boot soon

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

[jreyes19]

Nice and clean

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

[danewilson77]

Great work JR...