William's 330Ci ZHP Maintenance and Project Thread

[BMWCurves]

Reunited and it feels so good ... I bet.

It so so does! I won't drive it much until I can figure out and hopefully remove the source of the smoke (95% sure it's a left over dryer sheet).

+1.

William, check for stowaways in your head and tail lights too. I had a spider take up residence in my Mazda's reverse light housing, and then die in there, leaving behind his unsightly carcass to forever piss me off.

That's a good point, will do a more thorough inspection tomorrow. I already have a teeny tiny little spider carcass in my left replacement tail light but it has since been shifted so you can only see it from a certain angle and only if you're looking for it.

[ZHPizza]

Excited to hear how charred mouse tastes fresh off the exhaust manifold.

[BMWCurves]

Excited to hear how charred mouse tastes fresh off the exhaust manifold.

Like disappointment.

[Cadeez]

I bought the engine and transmission mounts because they were cheap(ish) at the time and I figure the current mounts are 12 years old, so why not?

We should meet up later this summer once I have the exhaust installed and you can see how that sounds to you, plus the UUC SSK. I know what you mean about a DD exhaust, I'm not sure if the TSE3 will be too much, but I've liked how it sounds in Daniel's car so we'll see.

CQuartz is a ceramic coating that you can have installed over the paint similar to wax or sealant, but lasts a lot longer. Talked with a guy for 15 mins on the phone today about it. He was very helpful and I think I may end up doing it along with some paint correction first sometime later this year.

Let me know how the dye goes, I'll be very interested to see. I'm surprised you haven't checked/removed the CDV yet! It was one of the early things I did. But that other stuff will all be nice to have done. Definitely look forward to seeing your car in person at some point.

"So why not?" Haha that's my excuse like half the time when I buy stuff. When I was under the car this weekend I meant to check the mounts but totally spaced it. We definitely need to meet up this summer though, I need to see your car and hear that exhaust. I'm sure the exhaust will sound great, I've heard a couple clips on youtube and it sounds pretty clean

Sounds cool, but I'm sure it's not cheap. Is your paint in bad shape? Did you contact places like 503 Motoring, or are there smaller detail shops that do it?

The dye actually went really well, after we figured out how to do it. Took a bit of trial and error, but the section we did turned out really good, and it completely covered this nasty stain I had on the back seat. I plan to do the fronts next, that's all I really care about, no one ever sees or sits in the back. I'll post some pics up in my project thread a little later today. That CDV was a bitch to do! I couldn't get the lines screwed back together, and I must've leaked all of the fluid out of the entire system, because when we were finally done there was zero clutch and my entire left side was soaked with brake fluid. It took us a ton of fluid and time to bleed the slave cylinder, but got there eventually. The clutch feel is completely different, at first I was worried because it felt like crap, but after the long drive home from Seattle it felt much better. Tranny feels great now too, shifts much smoother. I drained just over a quart of nasty black fluid out, and put in just about 2 quarts of Redline MT/90

[BMWCurves]

"So why not?" Haha that's my excuse like half the time when I buy stuff. When I was under the car this weekend I meant to check the mounts but totally spaced it. We definitely need to meet up this summer though, I need to see your car and hear that exhaust. I'm sure the exhaust will sound great, I've heard a couple clips on youtube and it sounds pretty clean

"So why not" is going to catch up to me at some point, but until then, live that lyfe!

I wouldn't think visually checking the mounts will do much, but I honestly don't know. Hence why I'm just replacing them. I'll let you know once the exhaust is in and we can meet up. I'm not looking forward to the process, and I still need to purchase the gaskets, but I'll get it done one way or another. I'm really hoping I won't need a torch to get off the exhaust bolts, seeing as I don't have a torch or hot gloves for handling.

Sounds cool, but I'm sure it's not cheap. Is your paint in bad shape? Did you contact places like 503 Motoring, or are there smaller detail shops that do it?

My paint's in pretty darn good shape, but it definitely could use a full detail. It has the standard wispy and superficial microscratches all over from weather and wear working away at the clear coat, making the clear coat look kind of like spider webs. Not a great description and sounds a lot worse than it is, but it'd be great to just get all of them removed and then put a nice protective ceramic coat over all of it.

There are a few shops that install CQuartz across the U.S., two of them local (one in Sherwood and another up in Vancouver). All in for the coating is $600 which isn't cheap by any measure, but also not eye-watering expensive. I have made no commitment but I'm leaning towards it since I've seen Rovert's car in person and it has a CQuartz coating and it looks gorgeous.

The dye actually went really well, after we figured out how to do it. Took a bit of trial and error, but the section we did turned out really good, and it completely covered this nasty stain I had on the back seat. I plan to do the fronts next, that's all I really care about, no one ever sees or sits in the back. I'll post some pics up in my project thread a little later today.

I saw the pics, it does look good! Interesting that the best method was to use a sponge to put it on. I look forward to seeing it

That CDV was a bitch to do! I couldn't get the lines screwed back together, and I must've leaked all of the fluid out of the entire system, because when we were finally done there was zero clutch and my entire left side was soaked with brake fluid. It took us a ton of fluid and time to bleed the slave cylinder, but got there eventually. The clutch feel is completely different, at first I was worried because it felt like crap, but after the long drive home from Seattle it felt much better. Tranny feels great now too, shifts much smoother. I drained just over a quart of nasty black fluid out, and put in just about 2 quarts of Redline MT/90

It's funny, I had trouble with the CDV on the other end because I was replacing the clutch line at the same time with a stainless steel line. Had no problem removing/reattaching the SS line with the modified CDV that I have (amounts to the same thing as deleting the CDV), but dear lord I could not remove the line at the other end. Had brake fluid all over myself as well.

Glad to hear it's improved clutch feel.

[ZHPizza]

$600 for paint correction and CQuartz is a good price. Very well worth it. Is that a quote based on them seeing your paint in person? Sounds like you might need more steps for the correction.

[BMWCurves]

First and foremost, it is SO nice to be back in my car. I love it. The sound, the sensation, everything. I forgot just how good the Gruppe M sounds above 4,500 RPM at wide open throttle. Hnggggggg.



Updates:

1. Source of the smoke
The source of the smoke was never found but it has since stopped smoking so whatever it was (most likely a rogue dryer sheet) either burned off or dislodged itself and fell out. When I'm under there for the TSE3 install or something else I'll take a look.

2. Interior smell
The interior smells like fresh laundry and moth balls since that is what it has housed for six months. I have both driven the car and left the car parked with the windows open in order to dissipate some of the smell. It has been somewhat effective, especially eliminating the moth ball smell, but I will continue to keep all windows open for a while.

3. Wash - 06/19/2017 (55,911 miles)
Gave the car a much needed wash. Not much else to say about that.

4. Installed LED reverse lights - 06/19/2017 (55,911 miles)
I've been hunting for a LED solution for the reverse lights in order to complete my all-LED exterior lighting. I believe it was Nate who suggested these JDM ASTAR LED bulbs from Amazon in size 1156 (link). Install was easy: just open the trunk, remove the trunk carpet pin things (I used a couple of my forked trim tools which made it very easy) and then pulled back the carpet. You can remove just two on each side, but I thought it was easier to remove three (pictured below)



Then it is simply a matter of pulling back the carpet, pulling out the reverse light harness/backing, and swapping bulbs. I made sure to test that the LED bulb was properly installed on each side before reinstalling the reverse light housing, carpet, carpet pins, and buttoning everything back up. I would have made a simple DIY for people (surprising that there weren't many when I searched Google), but it was dark and pictures weren't good. I might go back later and make one if I'm not super lazy. Pics:

Factory incandescent bulb on the left, JDM ASTAR LED bulb on the right



Shitty comparison of the light output. Left is JDM ASTAR LED bulb, right is factory incandescent bulb.



Overall I am very pleased with the purchase as it is much brighter and inched me closer to all LED lighting for the exterior. No issues with the gauge cluster showing bulb out either.

5. Installed LED front turn signal bulbs - 06/20/2017 (55,911 miles)
I picked up a pair of Philips X-Treme Ultinon bulbs from Nate which he was selling in the classifieds (link).

Factory bulb and harness in my palm, LED bulbs in mah fingertips



Install was relatively straight forward on the driver's side. Just turn the bulb harness and remove, swap out the bulb (testing that polarity is correct) and reinstall. I found it was easiest to have the hazards on to help see and orient the harness back into place. I did have to move some wires out of the way as the large lip that seals the harness to the turn signal housing would get caught on them. I also used some baby needle nose pliers to turn and lock the harness into place once I had routed the harness back into the housing.

The passenger side was a little harder as it is more crowded by both the car's frame and the windshield washer fluid reservoir. I unbolted the single bolt holding the reservoir in place and moved it to the side and then performed the same installation method as the driver's side, albeit with a few more curse words thrown in because of the narrower work area.

Me, installing the LED bulb in the passenger's side:



Again, I am quite pleased with the new bulbs. They're bright enough for day time and I love the instant on/off that LEDs provide. No bulb out warnings either. I'd code out the cold checks through PA Soft, but my old laptop that had the software decided to go kaput while I was away in DC (it was 13 years old doe).

6. Swapped the Style 135 wheels for my APEX ARC8 wheels - 06/20/2017 (55,911 miles)
Cleaned up the Style 135 wheels a bit before storing them. I really do not enjoy cleaning those lead bricks, but they do look good. Ran up the hill to the local gas station and pumped the APEXes up to 38 PSI on all corners.

7. Installed used yellow fog light housings and painted/refreshed the fog light covers - 06/20/2017 (55,911 miles)
I picked up and installed a pair of used yellow fog light housings from Spenser that were previously installed in his Estoril coupe (my car has a piece of motoring history, waddup snitches). I think they were originally installed in the Estoril coupe by Peter. I believe they are manufactured by Ziza, part no. 010290ZIZ01A. At any rate, they are clear lenses rather than fluted and I think they suit my car's Orient Blue Metallic paint. Spenser was a gentleman and a scholar to include an extra set of bulbs as well.

I decided at the same time to refresh the fog light covers as they were a little faded and had some pitting. I removed them, cleaned them, and then painted them with Rust-Oleum Stops Rust Semi-Gloss Protective Enamel spray paint (link) that I had used for the lower grille (link). I gave them three coats and let them dry for 24 hours. They came out decent, nothing to write home about. Less expensive than buying new covers, although new ones are cheap (something like $7 a side).

Before:




After (picture isn't great, but it looks better than before):



All together:




8. Had the car inspected at the DEQ (passed) and renewed the registration - 06/21/2017 (55,935 miles)
Relatively painless. No wait at the DEQ station and got a compliment on the car while waiting to finish up the paperwork. Maybe seven minutes total and I was on my way. I think they upped the price though, now it's $145, good for two years.

8. Installed E46 M3 dead pedal (used) - 06/21/2017 (55,950 miles)
I purchased an E46 M3 dead pedal (part no. 51432695411) from Shawn via eBay. This was a bit of a pain to install, mainly because I hate anything that involves BMW's brittle plastic. I found info from a few different guides (link 1, link 2) but I didn't feel they were particularly useful for removing the sill from the sill clips. In short I stuck my fingers underneath the sill nearest the pedals and pulled up as evenly as I could on both sides. It took a lot of force but the trim clip finally let go and popped out the front of the sill. I popped out one more sill clip to provide enough space for the dead pedal to slide by the sill. I removed the sill clips using a set of pliers since the clips were still in the body of the car. Next I removed the philips screw in the hood release handle and then the screw underneath the handle holding the dead pedal into the sidewall. After that I removed the three screws of the bottom dash cover, popped out the plastic twist screw near the gas pedal, and the plastic pop rivet by the center console, releasing the bottom dash cover. I left the wiring for the OBD port and the light attached and just moved the cover out of the way. This made the removal of the dead pedal much easier (I had attempted to do this without fully removing the dash cover and it would not work for me). I highly suggest removing the lower dash cover if you're removing your dead pedal. I swapped over my trunk release button as it had smoother button action/movement than the one that came with the M3 dead pedal. I then reinstalled everything, which was a bit annoying itself. The whole process took me a lot longer than it should have, but I got it all done. The only nagging thing is that the M3 pedal is missing a clip at the top of the pedal that hooks into the bottom dash cover, but it's not a big deal, functionally or visually.

Overall I'm happy with the swap, I think it looks quite good:

Aforementioned clip/hook on my old dead pedal (missing in the used M3 pedal)



Installed

[BMWCurves]

$600 for paint correction and CQuartz is a good price. Very well worth it. Is that a quote based on them seeing your paint in person? Sounds like you might need more steps for the correction.

I agree, I felt the price was fair for what I would get. The paint correction is separate and not included in the price of the CQuartz install ($600 for most compact sedans/coupes). Paint correction prices vary on car size and what needs to be done.

[704sw]

Hell of a detailed update. Nicely done.

[BMWCurves]

Hell of a detailed update. Nicely done.