BlueBug's 2004 Daily and Track Build

[BlueBug]

2004 6MT Sedan
Silver Grey w/ Black Interior
Mileage as of April 2017: 140,500 miles


Thought it would be wise to start a thread to plan and keep track of maintenance, repairs and upgrades.

Got this car in July 2016. Heard that it was in a minor accident: the car had hit a bad pothole and blew a the passenger side curtail airbag, the passenger rear tire had a big goose egg and the battery cable had blown. The previous owner wanted rid of the car and we bought it for a ridiculously low price ($1,700) thinking it would have a salvage title and not fully sure of how much damage we would find.
So towed the car home and repaired the battery cable and air bag. Replaced the two rear tires (no wheel damage) and replaced the rear shocks. Swapped out the street brake pads for track pads, did fluid flushes and changed oil.

The car was drivable and we decided to take it for a track day. Trailered it to Summit Point Shenandoah. The first time I drove this car was on track. It felt good, solid and willing, it handled seven 25 min sessions with zero issues.

It does need suspension upgrades and a diff.







Now that the car proved itself it was time to redo the cooling system.
It's next outing was to Dominion Raceway which was still a construction zone and bumpy and rough.





Planned work for 2017:

Install a 3.64 diff - Done
Suspension upgrade - Done
Subframe reinforcement - Done
17" Apex wheels - Done
Rtab pocket reinforcement
Strut tower reinforcement
Engine mounts
Trans mounts

Planned work for 2018:

Bolt in roll bar, harness bar
6 point harness'
Fixed seats


Completed work:

7/16: All fluids changed
7/16: Airbag repair
7/16: Battery cable repair
7/16: Cooling system refreshed
4/7/17: All weather floor mats
4/7/17: New key
4/14/17: Control arm bushings
4/14/17: CDV Delete
5/4/17: Race Wheel Studs and Bolts installed
5/4/17: New front rotors
5/4/17: Front Sway Bar Links replaced
5/4/17: Front Hawk HT-10 track pads (replacing Hawk HP+ that suffered brake fade)
6/3/17: Subframe reinforcement
6/3/17: Poly subframe rear and front bushings
6/3/17: Poly diff rear and front bushings
6/3/17: Poly front sway bar bushings
6/3/17: Rear trailing arm bearing kit from BW
6/3/17: Installed 3.64 diff
6/3/17: Diff fluid - Redline 75W140 gear oil
6/3/17: Sway bar links
6/3/17: ISC N1 street coil over kit
6/3/17: New tie rods
6/3/17: Alignment
6/5/17: Stainless steel brake line kit
6/5/17: Brake fluid flush - Motul 600



The cars main job is a daily driver that will do a few track weekends. I'll edit and add to this as things come up and are needed.

[ZHPizza]

Man you stole that car! Well done.

Here's a 3.46 diff for sale. Just needs some LSD guts.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1125844

[Vas]

Subscribed

[BlueBug]

Man you stole that car! Well done.

Here's a 3.46 diff for sale. Just needs some LSD guts.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1125844

Yes, it was a steal and we'll probably never get a great car like this one for that price again. My husband intended to fix her up and resell or daily drive her himself. He didn't drive her much at all and pretty much parked her over winter, but I fell in love and can't see letting her go. It's too good a car with lots of potential to be in the family for years to come. So now I drive her to work etc and he has an e36



Thank you for the link to the diff. I have already bought the one from the white zhp part out car listed on here.
Really looking forward to feeling the difference. Maybe we'll upgrade to a LSD in the future. We even have a m3 diff and subframe, just missing the rest of the back end parts to make it work in the zhp.


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[BMWCurves]

I love seeing this kind of thing where a potentially scrapped car is resurrected by an enthusiast. Best possible outcome.

[derbo]

Great price!

Welcome. I'm looking forward to your progress.

[///Mvious]

Nice pickup! Looking forward to hearing about the track events and progress on the car

[Audi 0000]

Car looks great! I really enjoy the on track pics. 👍👍

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[BlueBug]

Now that I've been driving the car for a few weeks I'm noticing lots of little things.

The passenger side mirror would get stuck in the down position every time reverse was engaged. The side mirror switch does not work.
I took the switch out to check the connection and it was not loose. So will need a new one.
I did hook up the scanner and was only able to make the passenger side mirror adjust, the driver side mirror does not adjust.
My husband will have to diag this further for me.
Interestingly, the passenger side mirror now goes back to it's position after shifting out of reverse and seems to have fixed it self





Also found a wet spot in the passenger footwell after a heavy rain. Will clear out the sunroof drains this weekend. No water in driver side or in the trunk.

Found an old key under the passenger seat. Looks like the previous owner tried to change the battery at some point and gave up. I'll attempt to repair the key as a spare.
The new key from the dealer is working great, so in no hurry to fix the damaged key and I still have the other original key that also has a bad battery.





And the liner on the A pillars was falling off so I did the quick fix of just removing the fabric.




The shadow trim on the passenger side has broken clips and doesn't sit right. Will need a new one.
The paint needs some TLC and has many swirls and scratches.
Also have a small chip in the windshield.

[anandoc]

I did hook up the scanner and was only able to make the passenger side mirror adjust, the driver side mirror does not adjust.

I think that may be the root of the problem. The driver's side mirror motor acts as the 'master' and the passenger side mirror motor acts as the 'slave'. So if the dirver's side mirror motor is broken, you would not be able to adjust the passenger side mirror using the switch - although the dip-down/dip-up at reverse might still work.