William's 330Ci ZHP Maintenance and Project Thread

[san]

When rob and I traded exhausts I think it took us about 4 hours. The difficult part was getting the exhaust off the headers on my car but rob had a torch which made it a little easy. I think you can accomplish it in the time you have...


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[Sockethead]

Yep the bolts are the hardest part if they snap off, don't waste your time trying to drill them out. Use a big C clamp a socket and some heat to press them right out.
Heat is the best for loosening the nuts. You have to get them cherry red and then they'll come right off. Use plenty of copper based anti seize on them when reassembling and you'll never have a problem again.
The best way to drop the muffler in the back is to just unbolt the the top mounts... Same with the center mount. Transfer everything to the new exhaust while it's off the car.
If I remember right you can do the trans mounts without touching the exhaust...

[san]

Yup no need to mess with the exhaust to do the tranny mounts


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[BMWCurves]

Maybe...drop it off at mechanic to get UUC installed? Opportunity cost for shop install is raised when family/friends time is weighed against monetary expenditure. E.g. Not worth blowing a whole weekend doing car stuff when you could be with family/friends unless said parties are helping with car stuff.

Also, let me know which mic you get and if it's GoPro compatible. I'd like to emulate that setup we saw on that m3 at the autox.

That's what I thought about doing. Unfortunately, the mechanic I normally use says he's booking out a month, so if I got it in, it would be really cutting it close to when I have to fly back. I could just go to an exhaust/muffler specialist but I'd rather just use the guy I know and like. Like I said, I'll probably hold off until the summer when I'm back in Portland and will have more free time to do at least part of this myself and less family/friend obligations.

The current cheap-o mic I was looking at was this guy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N0EPZU8...Z83UFU42&psc=1

I know next to nothing about microphone technology but that was listed in a few list of "decent but cheap" articles. I assume the input is a 3.5mm jack on the GoPro? But I would think you might want a nicer microphone than that. If I get it, I'll let you know the physical and audio sound quality.

Careful on those tires in the winter

Yeah, neither of my sets of tires are good snow/cold weather tires. I'm just hoping it is above freezing and no snow while I'm home. Although I can use my mother's Volvo S40 for a few days while she's out of town if need be.

When rob and I traded exhausts I think it took us about 4 hours. The difficult part was getting the exhaust off the headers on my car but rob had a torch which made it a little easy. I think you can accomplish it in the time you have...

I don't think the job itself would be too hard. I'm just prioritizing my time toward family and friends over car stuff. I'll save it for the summer and that way I have something to look forward to!

Yep the bolts are the hardest part if they snap off, don't waste your time trying to drill them out. Use a big C clamp a socket and some heat to press them right out.
Heat is the best for loosening the nuts. You have to get them cherry red and then they'll come right off. Use plenty of copper based anti seize on them when reassembling and you'll never have a problem again.
The best way to drop the muffler in the back is to just unbolt the the top mounts... Same with the center mount. Transfer everything to the new exhaust while it's off the car.
If I remember right you can do the trans mounts without touching the exhaust...

Sounds like a plan, thanks for the tips! I'll return to this when I get around to doing the exhaust.

[san]

That's what I thought about doing. Unfortunately, the mechanic I normally use says he's booking out a month, so if I got it in, it would be really cutting it close to when I have to fly back. I could just go to an exhaust/muffler specialist but I'd rather just use the guy I know and like. Like I said, I'll probably hold off until the summer when I'm back in Portland and will have more free time to do at least part of this myself and less family/friend obligations.

The current cheap-o mic I was looking at was this guy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N0EPZU8...Z83UFU42&psc=1

I know next to nothing about microphone technology but that was listed in a few list of "decent but cheap" articles. I assume the input is a 3.5mm jack on the GoPro? But I would think you might want a nicer microphone than that. If I get it, I'll let you know the physical and audio sound quality.



Yeah, neither of my sets of tires are good snow/cold weather tires. I'm just hoping it is above freezing and no snow while I'm home. Although I can use my mother's Volvo S40 for a few days while she's out of town if need be.



I don't think the job itself would be too hard. I'm just prioritizing my time toward family and friends over car stuff. I'll save it for the summer and that way I have something to look forward to!



Sounds like a plan, thanks for the tips! I'll return to this when I get around to doing the exhaust.

I would spend more time with family and friends too
What I meant was since it shouldn't take a really long time you could maybe swap the exhaust if you want to and make it a priority over swapping intakes and recording how they sound. That's what I would do, but then again I'm biased because corsa



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[BMWCurves]

Oh, gotcha! I think I'll probably stick with intakes because they don't take long to switch out and are less involved so I don't have to worry about setting aside several straight hours to get the job done. And making the video should be easy, just set up the mic once and record it while I'm out driving with each setup, which can be done on any drive while I'm home.

I do have an ulterior motivation to do the UUC over break and that's that the used car parts company I bought the exhaust from has a 3 month warranty. If it is somehow damaged I could return it and be refunded so that's the largest reason I'd do it over winter break.

[RUS_ZHP]

Seems like you have a soled plans for the holidays and winter brake. I like it. Should be a busy winter, but the car will be sorted by the time your semester will be over.

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[BMWCurves]

Seems like you have a soled plans for the holidays and winter brake. I like it. Should be a busy winter, but the car will be sorted by the time your semester will be over.

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Thanks! We'll see how it goes, I'll be playing it by ear.

[BMWCurves]

Went and picked up my car from cold storage at my friend's parents' place. I pulled out all the dryer sheets and moth balls, along with a small nest above the driver's side headlight (no current resident, thankfully). Everything else looked to be in good order. I turned the ignition and it started up no problem, not so much as a stuck valve. I opted to stick chains on the rear wheels because my friend's property still had a fair amount of snow on it and it was pretty slick getting back to the highway.

Tomorrow I have an appointment to have the airbag recall done. I inspected the GruppeM intake which looks to be in order. I just need to go and see if Home Depot has some rubber covering to swap with the old rubber gasket, along with recharging the filter and then I'll drop it in place of the current BMW Performance one.

I also have a DEQ inspection that I need to do sometime before I leave. I'm wondering if I can change my plates then.

Some pictures of the barn and such:

[ZHPizza]

That last pic is excellent.

What is making you opt for the gruppe intake over the bmwperf? More loud?