'04 AW/Blk coupe project (engine replacement first)

[Will]

Water pump exploded during an evening cruise:





and while it was parked the mice and rats made themselves comfortable:





Finally fixed it:







new one:


new hoses:


new thermostat:


And then some maintenance while I'm at it:








Decided to try the High Performance Lubricants' Cleaner oil. I saw it on Bob Is The Oil Guy forums. Run it for 3k miles with a filter change at 1k miles:



Change some clips:


Then another short road trip east of Palm Springs to check out the Patton Museum:





Got the car tinted, finally. I should have done this earlier. The heat rejection and the UV blocking is well worth it:







Then fix the shark fin gasket:






So for about 2 years I was just enjoying the car. Basic maintenance such as oil changes and filters until the water pump exploded. The ZHP is a great car. BMW hit the sweet spot with it. Makes roadtrips easy. It cruises 70-85 so easily and I find everything just harmonizes around that speed. The engine, suspension, everything. Just cruise and eat up the miles. Seats are comfortable. Great for roadtrips.

For the water pump, it failed during high RPM running, I was accelerating and letting it shift at redline. Once it hit third gear I saw the temp gauge up to the 3/4 dot. No where to pull over immediately so tried to crank up the heat. Nada. No heat. My intuition was the water pump crapped out. Sure enough it did.

Thankfully got all (most) of the pieces out. Replaced with another OEM Saleri pump. This replacement looked much better. compare the plastic impeller with photos of the one earlier in this thread. The finishing is much improved.

Back on the road and just enjoying it.

Waiting for the C-pillar trim to come in from Europe and will change that next. If you need, check this thread on m3forums for ordering details (link). It's supposedly made from the same factory that made it for BMW. Good reviews from members.

So, pretty much all caught up.

[Will]

Some gratuitous photos from the Porsche Experience Center, from when I visited in 2018.

[Will]

I misspoke, not all caught up. My m54 valve cover PCV cap was previously replaced, but I - like an idiot - had pulled it off after some time to check the membrane. The membrane was good. The replacement VC cap was not good afterwards. It had cracked where it holds onto the VC and it was not holding vacuum as well. It also leaked.

So browsing the forums I browsed the m54 valve cover thread and came across a post by t.er about an ebay cap for the M54 VC (link).

It's a good quality cap. Now a few thousand miles later, glad to report that it's holding up well. No leaks, either. I'm not messing with it; not going to remove it.

Old one, was cracked and leaking:






New one. Good quality:










Glad to report the valve train is still nice and clean. No heavy varnish from long oil change intervals.



Glad the VC is clean, too:


Kind of gross with the build up in the VC channels:

[t.er]

Oooooou thanks for the link to the weatherstripping. Mine is just starting to crack and I haven't been on the forums for a while so it's good to see that as an option!

[Will]

It's the least I can do for you posting that ebay link. lol.

I haven't received mine yet, but the people on m3forums who has received theirs say the quality is good.

[Will]

I just received the c-pillar trim. It looks legit.

[Will]

Installed the trim weather stripping and the horizontal trim that seems to crumble every 5 yrs or so.