William's 330Ci ZHP Maintenance and Project Thread

[webster]

I've seen that and considered it. Unfortunately, the problem I'm foreseeing is that the coupe and sedans are slightly different in terms of their windshield (coupe is larger and more raked, I believe) so they require different sunshades or else the sedan version will be too short and fall over in the coupe.

Another option I considered is this, anyone familiar with them? Supposedly it is specifically made for each body type of E46.
http://www.autoanything.com/driving-...0A2051710.aspx

I've been looking at these types since they collapse a lot smaller, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Custom-Access...=sunshade&th=1

I had a coupe and now a sedan and the sunshade fits both fine.

I've used those flimsy amazon kind and they're rubbish.

[BMWCurves]

I had a coupe and now a sedan and the sunshade fits both fine.

I've used those flimsy amazon kind and they're rubbish.

Interesting the BMW one fits both sedans and coupes. I've heard otherwise from a few people.

My parents have the flimsy ones and they work pretty well, but they bought them locally and I can't find them locally or online.

[ELCID86]

WRT sunshade. I think I got mine from AutoAnything. Shiny on one side...


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"ZHP is a garbage option anyway- just some cosmetic upgrades with a different cam and diff to claw back some of the performance lost fitting those hideous and heavy wheels. Any 330 with a 3.46 diff will smoke a ZHP every time. The whole Mafia thing reeks of childish behavior." - anonymous E46 fanatic

[BMWCurves]

Minor things:

• Washed the car which it badly need.
• Vacuumed and wiped down the interior which I hadn't done since I picked it up from storage in my friend's barn.
• Swapped my BMW all weather mats for my carpeted mats.
• Washed the BMW all weather mats and put away in storage.

Received my Orient Blue Metallic shark fin antenna. It has unused, original adhesive stuck on the bottom which I'd hate to tear away, but I think I have to in order to remove the actual antenna itself which I don't need. Then I need to figure out if I either want to stick it to my car with adhesive of some sort or with rare earth magnets separated by felt to keep it from scratching the paint underneath.

Also purchased a new ECS Tuning aluminum water pump pulley from the classifieds here to replace my original plastic one. Should arrive shortly. EDIT: came in the mail today.

WRT sunshade. I think I got mine from AutoAnything. Shiny on one side...

Great, thanks everyone for the input!

[san]

When do you plan on doing the vanos job?


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[BMWCurves]

When do you plan on doing the vanos job?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure. Hopefully next week. I have a friend coming into town tomorrow so I have no real time for car maintenance until he leaves.

[anandoc]

Not sure. Hopefully next week. I have a friend coming into town tomorrow so I have no real time for car maintenance until he leaves.

Prioritizing so-called "friends" over the ZHP? Sigh...

[BMWCurves]

Prioritizing so-called "friends" over the ZHP? Sigh...

I know. Who needs friends anyways?

[BMWCurves]

Mileage: 56,957

Had some free time today so I decided to replace my factory plastic water pump pulley with an aluminum one from ECS Tuning (ECS Tuning part no. 001977ECS03A, link) that I purchased from Ridgey (link).

The process was pretty straight forward:

1. Remove the three expanding rivets to remove the intake shroud
2. Remove the two electrical connections to the radiator fan on the passenger side of the fan assembly
3. Remove the T25 torx screw on the passenger side of the fan assembly and the expanding rivet on the driver's side of the fan assembly and then remove the whole assembly by pulling up
4. Loosen the four 10mm bolts on the water pump pulley
5. Pop off the dust covers on the two tensioner pulleys, one for each belt.
6. Remove the AC belt by releasing tension on the AC belt via a breaker bar with a T50 torx bit and turning clockwise on the tensioner pulley. Repeat process for the other alternator/water pump belt.
7. Remove the 10mm bolts on the water pump pulley
8. Attempt to remove the water pump pulley but because it's seized to the water pump, slip and bang your hand and curse gods you didn't even know existed.
9. Don't be a wuss and muscle that stupid piece of good-for-nothing plastic water pump pulley off. Giant fuck you, chemical bonds.
10. Compare the old pulley with the new pulley. Cool. They're the same pulley basically (left: old, right: new)
    
    
11. Put some anti-seize(ure) compound onto the back of the ECS aluminum water pump pulley and put everything back together. Note: water pump pulley bolts call for 10 nM or ~7 ft-lbs of torque. New pulley installed:
    
12. Realize you forgot to put the dust caps back on after you've put the last expanding rivet into the air intake shroud because you've been rocking out to some of Jay-Z's new album
13. Repeat your litany of curses for your own forgetfulness.
14. Remove stuff to put the dust caps back on. Check everything is right this time.
15. Make like Chef Tony and BAM you're done.

Okay. Now onto some questions and then pics for all of you who I didn't bore to death.

• When I installed my GruppeM intake, I never removed the air intake shroud thing. Is there any benefit to keeping it there vs. removing it? The funneled air is aimed sort of at the intake, but its rearward to the cone of the intake so I'm not sure it really does anything other than possibly providing a minor cooling effect to the intake at speed. Thoughts? Shroud installed vs removed:
  
  
• I managed to find my lost headlight cover hiding down in the depths of the engine bay. Seems I didn't need to replace it after all
  
• I recently purchased a used OEM "shark fin" antenna because I thought it was painted Orient Blue Metallic but upon closer inspection it appears to be Monaco Blue. However, the difference is so slight that it's practically indiscernible. At any rate, I've always liked the look of the shark fin, while I know others do not. I removed the antenna that was inside (I'll save that info for another post) but now I have to figure out how to attach it to the car. There is 3M double sided tape, but I think I'd prefer a less permanent form of attachment such as rare earth magnets (a setup similar to this guy: link). If I go that route, it seems Amazon has some 2x6mm ones for cheap. The question now is what sort of covering or layer of protection from scratching could I use that's thin enough to not make the fin sit up too high? I was contemplating finding some felt from a crafts store, but I'm open to anyone's suggestions.

The car with the fin:

The car without the fin:

The car with the fin:

The car without the fin:

[ELCID86]

Jimmy Buffet.