Hi guys,
I'm Trevor. I purchased my first ZHP a few months ago with 155k miles on it. It is an 04 330i with BC coilovers, CF CSL trunk, LED tail lights, M3 wheel, and Hamann Wheels. I have been trolling through the forum for a while and finally got around to becoming a member. I am very mechanical and am familiar with BMWs. Since owning my ZHP I have replaced every component in the cooling system, a rebuilt VANOS unit, valve cover gasket, intake manifold gaskets, spark plugs, engine oil, CCV valve + all related vacuum components, DISA valve, all window regulators, fog lights, windshield, sunroof, ambient temp sensor, trunk interior, rear spring pads, and some miscellaneous interior trim. Majority of my parts are purchased from ECStuning, BimmerWorld, BavAuto, and the stealership (on rare occasions).
My first month of ownership was fine, but slowly things started to fall apart and I have just been dumping money into parts to bring the car back into good condition ever since. The previous owner repainted the car and replaced some of the cooling components. However, after I started tearing into it I found that he had replaced the cooling components with low quality ones and the wrong coolant. I also suspect he didn't know what he was doing completely because there were various components that weren't assembled back together correctly after the paint job was done. I found pieces missing or broken in various places (mainly on the interior). Seemed like someone was in a hurry to re-assemble it. When I purchased the car it was ridiculously low. So when I went to adjust the suspension I found that the coilovers and rear springs pre-load had been set incorrectly and the rear springs were missing the spring pads. The reason the car was so low was because the spring mounts had been adjusted really low to drop the height instead of using the height adjustment on the struts. As soon as I lifted the car up the rear springs fell out. So I had to go through and adjust the whole suspension properly.
Needless to say. I have become very knowledgeable about the car in a very short period of time. However, I love the car and wouldn't get rid of it despite all of the issues I've had. I am still not done trying to bring the car up good condition. I have a full pulley and belt kit on the way because they are starting to make noise. I also would like to convert the mechanical fan over to electric. A transmission filter/flush and differential flush is on the list as well. After that I need to replace the headlights, markers, and brake lights because they are also in sad shape. The interior is not in great shape either and needs some work so that is also on my list too. If anyone can offer some help in these areas I would greatly appreciate it as I have already been bleeding money in parts.
Below is a picture of the car when I purchased it. My overall plan for the car is to do a M3 swap into it with the SMG tranny. I will begin looking for a donor car at the beginning of the new year. I have also been dabbling in coding to get ready for the swap.
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Anyways, I have puked enough words onto the screen now. I'm glad to be here and look forward to conversing and collaborating with everyone here.
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Originally Posted by slater
