Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Kitchener, ON
    Posts
    6,036
    this is awesome, and makes me miss my Touring. dropping this here for you to read. grab a 6-pack.

    http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...ouring-project
    peter

    2004 330i ZHP
    2005 330iT ZHP
    2010 328iT M Sport

  2. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by slater View Post
    this is awesome, and makes me miss my Touring. dropping this here for you to read. grab a 6-pack.

    http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...ouring-project
    This is awesome! I've gotten through about 20 or so pages and this is awesome. I'll probably leaf through it during lunch at work, haha.

  3. #13
    So onto the next saga: The first part of lowering the car with Eibach Pro-kit springs and Koni Yellows: the rear suspension. Whoever designed the rear interior of this car must hate people, because it was a PAIN to tear apart and put back together. In total, it probably took me 4-5 hours over 2-3 days to do the rear suspension (I was going super slow and taking lots of breaks.) I also swapped the side markers, corner lights, and tail lights to clear pieces during this.

    If you have a touring, buy Rogue RSMs, you will thank yourself later. It makes it so that you never have to take the rear interior apart to change the rear shocks.

    Anyway, I started off on a Friday night by tearing apart the rear interior. After about two hours, I finally had enough of it torn apart to access the top of the rear shock mounts.

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    So. Many. Pieces.

    I broke both of the rear seatbelt shoulder covers. Luckily, the part that's broken is covered under the seat belts and will never be seen, but I still ordered two new ones from BMW just in case. I think I might have these 3d scanned for the future, if I can't ever find them again. Item 10 in the diagram below is what I broke:

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    After that, it was the fun, easy part of unbolting the rear shocks. They were quite dead, just stayed in place wherever you put them. The bump stops were completely rotten also, just overall crap condition. I ordered new bump stops and dust boots also, along with new spring perches. One of the perches I ordered as 10mm thick instead of whatever OE is to accommodate the springs being designed for coupes/sedans instead of wagons. I believe this helped give me the level look I wanted.

    Position 1:
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    Position 2:
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    Funnily enough, the ride wasn't absolutely horrible, unlike my other E46 when its rear shocks let go.

    I actually had some trouble removing the rear springs, but only due to my own stupidity. I left the hand brake on. Once you release the handbrake, the rear suspension should have more than enough room to allow you pull the springs out. I also unbolted the headlight level sensor before I broke it. (I need to source some spares just in case.)

    Here's a picture of the rear shocks in:

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    I set the stiffness to 1 turn, which after a few hundred miles of break-in is the sweet spot in terms of ride comfort. I'm going to play with the settings more when I eventually take it to autocross.

    Next post will be the front end, and then the thread should be current with the wagon!

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    18,064
    Good stuff

    Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
    Randeaux/Rando/John/jr - '06 Cic ZHP; Southern California
    "ZHP or not, I still like you"


    ZHP Performance Package, Cold Weather Package, Leather, Jet Black/Black/BlackCube, NAV, Anthracite Black "my individual" interior trim
    ESS Stage 1 Twin Screw Supercharger, Sprint Booster, BMW Perf Intake, Magnaflow Exhaust, Dinan TB & STEP S/W, UCC Sway Bars, Apex EC-7 18x8.5 ET38
    Suspension: AST 44100 dampers, Bimmerworld front adjustable end links, Swift springs (8K front, 10K rear), Vorshlag camber plates
    Dynavin D99+, Hardwire V1 (w/V1 Connection), BSW Stage 1 Speakers, Kicker Amp/Subwoofer
    BMW Performance Strut Brace, Orion V2 Angel Eyes, No-holes License Plate, SMG Paddle Shift Mod, Besian VANOS, Gold DISA, Fan Delete, M3 Side Mirrors
    Note: Actual car no longer resembles signature picture

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Kitchener, ON
    Posts
    6,036
    nice. the rear interior panels get easier... i can remove all rear panels now in about 20min. that first time, though - frig.
    peter

    2004 330i ZHP
    2005 330iT ZHP
    2010 328iT M Sport

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Charlotte, NC
    Posts
    3,130
    Oh man you aren't kidding about getting to the RSM's in these things. Never again.

    It's obviously too late for you, but for anyone else with a touring, this video is really dang helpful when it comes to shock/rsm replacements:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0r8fyaSL_Q

  7. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by slater View Post
    nice. the rear interior panels get easier... i can remove all rear panels now in about 20min. that first time, though - frig.
    I hope I never have to get that point, haha.

    Oh crap, I forgot to mention I also installed the OEM alarm while I was back there, to really make sure I never have to take it apart.


    Quote Originally Posted by ZHPizza View Post
    Oh man you aren't kidding about getting to the RSM's in these things. Never again.

    It's obviously too late for you, but for anyone else with a touring, this video is really dang helpful when it comes to shock/rsm replacements:
    I actually watched that exact video! He made taking the seatbelt covers off look super easy, which is not what I found at all. I spent probably half an hour fiddling with them to avoid breaking their clips, and I still lost that battle.

    I need to make the next post where I did the front suspension, (I think it's been almost a month since the car has been done honestly) but time is finite, and something I don't have enough of.


    While I was back there, I noticed the headliner is starting to sag underneath the rear C pillars, so I'm looking at getting the headliner and pillars wrapped in Alcantara. Do any of you guys have any experience with dropping the headliners in tourings? I may just give up while I'm ahead and take it to an upholstery shop. I will gladly pay, just need to find a quality shop around here.

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Austin TX
    Posts
    7,606
    Any updates ?
    2005 IR / black / 6MT
    157,000 miles

  9. #19
    Actually, yep! The front suspension was redone with new M3 engine mounts, brand new tie rod assemblies (inner and outer), Koni Yellows coupled with Eibach Prokit springs, Xi reinforcement plates, end links, and brand new ZHP control arms and FCABs. Let's get into the nitty-gritty now, shall we?

    The passenger side came apart like butter, and went back together fairly easy also. This made me think the driver side was also going to be fairly easy, which was not the case at all. Name:  pass side completed.jpg
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    Now, most things on the driver's side came apart pretty easily, except for the outer ball joint. It broke a ball-joint separator (it was a Harbor Freight unit, so meh), bent a pickle fork pretty badly, and still wouldn't budge. The BFH came out, which still did nothing. Even called over my buddy who's an actual technician (and a pretty big guy, definitely stronger than me) and he took a whack at it. Nada.

    Eventually, we decided the best method was to remove the whole knuckle with the control arm still attached to it. We then took it off the car, and got a large, solid rod of steel, sat that ontop of the stud, and started beating the everliving hell out of it with a BFH. Eventually, the balljoint popped lose. This was a pain, and you can see how marked up the strut got from having to get creative with the stupid balljoint.

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    After all of this, I got the car aligned by the same buddy who came over to help out with the stud, and damn, does the car drive good now. It's about perfect as driver (well, as perfect as an automatic can be.) I've been mostly driving the car without messing with it too much, or at least trying not to mess with it.

    I still need to take care of the very slow power steering fluid leak, and I'm pretty sure the driver's side rear sunroof drain has popped off the sunroof, as the carpet was wet in the rear driver floorboard after a very heavy rain. Normally, I would drop the headliner and fix it, but since I plan on getting everything redone in black Alcantara in the fall, and the car is garage kept, I'm holding off on it.

    The next item to be done will be the headlinder and pillar swap, which I have been collecting parts for. I have just about everything I need, even have the paint figured out (Thanks, George!), just waiting for the upholstery shop to give me a call for when they have availability.

    After that, I think I will start sourcing parts for the M3 trans and rear-end swap. George Hill has been helping me with that a lot, which I greatly appreciate.

    Also, I have been going through the exterior and detailing it. So far, I have clay-barred the entire car, and compounded the front fenders, hood, and bumper. I then finished off the front end with a finishing polish (Chemical Guys V38). I did the roof and full passenger side with V36 (which is a more aggressive polish, but not compound-level aggressive.) Going to finish the driver's side and see how I feel about the finish and shine of the paint, and I may hit all of that with a finishing polish also.

    My dual-action polisher has been amazing through all of this, if you do not have one yet, I HIGHLY recommend you get one if you want to correct your own paint.

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  10. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Austin, Tx
    Posts
    295
    Good stuff Paras!
    Current Garage... '00 R11S, '09 HP2S, '12 R12GSA, '00 Black 323iT (wife's), '02 Alpine 325iT (Eileen, Track Wagon), '02 Japan Rot 325iT

    Instagram @ HillPerformanceBimmers
    Email to George@HillPerformance.com

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