The life of Ryan's 2003 ZHP

[Vas]

Did your car come with AL headlights ?

The front end looks crisp

[johnrando]

Good stuff

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[rkneeshaw]

Did your car come with AL headlights ?

The front end looks crisp

Thanks! The low light hides all the rock chips in the paint Going to have to get a respray someday soon.

Yeah my car came with AL headlights, I guess it sounds like I was lucky so I didn't have the burnt bowl issue. The bowls in the AL headlights are metal.

[GreatFrog]

Hey Ryan, regarding the new driver's side airbag, do you feel the quality is any inferior to the original unit? I am talking about the textured surface and the roundel. Do you notice any nuance difference between the new one and the original one? I am planning to get the recall done, but am afraid of quality going down these days.

Finally got the notice that the drivers side airbag recall parts were available. Called the local dealer and they had the part the next day and my recall was done in just a couple hours. Comes with a nice new roundel in the middle of the steering wheel

.

[rkneeshaw]

Hey Ryan, regarding the new driver's side airbag, do you feel the quality is any inferior to the original unit? I am talking about the textured surface and the roundel. Do you notice any nuance difference between the new one and the original one? I am planning to get the recall done, but am afraid of quality going down these days.

Honestly, no, I can't tell any quality difference, other than the surface texture feels and looks fresh and new again. Roundel looks great. My stock parts were 13 years old with 120k miles on them. I couldn't be happier, and I'm quite picky about that kind of thing. I would have been pissed if I had the slightest thought that it wasn't top notch.

[GreatFrog]

Got the airbag recall done at Austin dealer. The airbag turned out really nice, the fresh matte finish matches the steering wheel trim really well. However they somehow managed to scuff my lower trim. So I was really happy while extremely pissed off. Airbag in the first pic. Scuffs in 2nd. What do you guys think?





Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[fredo]

It will bother me. Did you mention to them ?

[GreatFrog]

It will bother me. Did you mention to them ?

Yeah. I talked to Chris Brice, my service advisor, immediately after I noticed the scratches. Chris is a super cool guy, he first offered refinishing the piece for me, but later agreed to replace it with a new one after I insisted (upon manager's approval though). I thought the technicians would pay extra attention when they service a nice clean vintage car, but I was wrong... I almost felt guilty that I forgot to ask for extra care beforehand, thinking most BMW owners won't be as picky as I am.

[johnrando]

Glad you stuck to your guns and they did right by you.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[Whammy]

Hey Ryan,

I saw your MF Exhaust install thread on E46F and I have a few questions.

INSTALL NOTES
* The clamps included with the kit seem like good quality and the instructions call for 65 ft-lbs. I would STRONGLY recommend only torquing to 50 ft-lbs, after my experience and some research I did on the Accu-Seal clamps themselves. Trying to torque to 65 ft-lbs caused one of the clamps to de-thread, and I had to take it to a shop to have it removed and replaced with a free clamp sent from Magnaflow (good customer service!). I did get some rasp while I waited for a good clamp to arrive due to what must have been a slight leak even though the clamp was torqued to probably 35 ft-lbs before it broke. I also learned you want to install the clamps as close to the end of the overlapping pipe as possible, this will help it seal better.

Given that you had issues with the clamps, would you tell people just to weld the exhaust outright and not deal with the clamps? I saw in later posts you had the exhaust welded. Just trying to figure out the better approach.

* Yes I had this issue. The bracket off the transmission that holds on to the two exhaust pipes just a few inches behind the headers will not work with the magnaflow exhaust without bending the brackets a bit to accommodate the larger piping. It is very important to re-install this brace as it helps with clearance below the rear transmission mount. Also, it will keep the exhaust noise in the cabin down near stock levels and prevents drone. Bend this brace and get it installed, its important IMO.

* Like others I had to modify the isolators that connect to the tabs at about the half-way point, right in front of the x-pipe. Just a quick shave and they sit real nice. I also added a washer between the tabs and the isolators to help give a slight bit more of clearance between the bottom of the pipes and the crossbrace itself. More info with pics here: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpos...&postcount=289

* I struggled slightly with connecting the x-pipe section to the forward section. The x-pipe section's pipes where about 1/4" too close together to slide on to the forward section flawlessly, so I had to use a hammer to beat the flanges out a bit and muscle it on there. Nothing an exhaust shop would flinch about I'm sure they deal with that all the time.

Just wanted to confirm this. Given the pictures here: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpos...0&postcount=26, there are two support/braces which attach the exhaust and the car. Both need to be modified slightly in order to fix and/or reduce noise.

* My car required about 3/8" to 1/2" worth of spacers/washers between the second crossbrace (the one with the rubber isolators that connects to the exhaust) and the car to prevent a loud rattling/vibration. Without these spacers the exhaust piping just in front of the forward resonator/muffler rests against the transmission mount/support and makes the entire car vibrate like a mofo. I did use longer bolts too, they were M8 1.25 pitch if I remember right, about 1/2" longer than stock.

Were longer bolts required? Or did you add the washers because you used longer bolts?