Looking good!
Looking good!
Thanks guys!
Finally got the wagon mostly finished in terms of buffing. Need to do one more layer of sealant, and then wax, but it's looking pretty damn good with just 1 coat of sealant.
Now to start looking at parts cars for the manual/maybe engine swap. 330i/6s are so much cheaper than M3s....
Looks great, man. BTW, GeorgeH replaced the valve cover on my F30. He's a cool guy.
2005 IR / black / 6MT157,000 miles
Yup, nice werk.
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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
Amazing the difference you experienced between the left and right sides. I had something similar with my X3—replaced a front arm on the driver side last fall because the bushing fluid was leaking. It gave me zero issues, then I replaced the same arm on the passenger side this weekend because it finally leaked too and it took 4x as long to do. The ball joint would not separate from the knuckle. Southern car, no rust anywhere, left me scratching my head.
Emma - 2005 BMW 330ci ZHP 6MT Estorilblau Individual
Sportline 8s 18x8.5F - 18x9.5R | APEX ARC-8 18x8.5 Square | aFe Intake | 135i Brembo F/R Calipers | 26mm Front/20mm Rear Sway Bars | Z4 Mirror
M3 Dead Pedal | Lexus ES300 Yellow Fog Light Retrofit | Koni Yellows/H&R Springs | Llumar CTX 40% | Coby Tri-Stitch Wheel & Boots
Awaiting Install: M3 Wing Mirrors
Super common to have the ball joints stick in their bores (subframe, knuckle, etc) even down here in the south. What I do is remove the nut and the hit the knuckle (where shown in the pic) with a hammer. Sometimes it takes some hammering but eventually this while slightly oval the bore allowing the ball joint stud to pop loose. If I didn't have to re-use the ball joint component and it takes more than one or two hammer hits I get out the air hammer with a pickle fork attachment and that get's it done but usually tears the b/j boot.
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
Thanks for all the encouraging words, guys!
And I agree, GeorgeH is definitely a cool guy.
Yep, your situations sounds exactly like mine! I was stunned at how long it took me, and how much effort. I hope the rear end comes apart easier.
I definitely need to invest in a heavier duty compressor. That's the go-to method I use also, smacking the knuckle itself, and it works great 75%ish of the time. This was one of those times that it wanted to fight me tooth and nail, however. Probably the worst ball joint I've separated on an E46. (I've had to do control arms more times than I care to admit to.)
As an update for the car, things are moving faster than I thought they would. A buddy of mine is willing to store a rear-end and transmission for me until spring, and I seem to have sourced a M3 rear-end and trans. I'm still in the process of acquiring everything, but I guess this is actually happening.
I also plan to have the headliner and everything done in Alcantara next month.
Who needs savings, right?
Right?!
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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
Alright Paras, I'm excited to see your interior project take shape. What did you decide on for Alcantara material?
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
Well, I'm long over-due for an update on this thread, and what better time than a Sunday night, where you're dreading going to work the next day?
I have sourced a M3 rear end and manual transmission for the wagon, and my aforementioned buddy is storing them for me. I've thought a lot about whether or not I want to tackle it myself, and I've came to the conclusion that I should really reinforce the rear-end while everything is apart. I ended talking to Ben Thongsai (local BMW guru, google his name), and with the price difference between welding in the reinforcement plates and doing the whole swap, it makes sense to have him do the whole thing. I have swapped rear-ends on an E46 before, but I lack a welder, so this is probably the best option.
I plan on doing the swap in about March-April, and am currently sourcing parts.
In the meantime, I focused on another project, which is the Alcantara headliner conversion. I bought a lot of pieces from a ZHP part-out (courtesy of Dave-squashman702), and a couple of pieces from BMW directly. Dropped the car off at a local upholstery shop that sourced genuine Alcantara, and had everything swapped over. Came out great, except for a couple of things in the back that the car has to go back to the shop again for. (Mildly bummed out, but it's all pretty easily fixed and just a matter of dropping the car off again.)
Also managed to source a set of resprayed black cube trim for the car from eBay, so that will be going in once the weather is nicer. I'll try to get some picture of the interior and how it came out tomorrow afternoon once I'm home from work, but I make no promises.
So progress is definitely being made, albeit a bit slowly.
Edit: Found a pic of the trans and diff all wrapped up.