Project Fatazz (Garage/DIY Swapped E46 M3 rear end)

[bullfrogs_M3]

This thread is to chronicle my swapping of an E46 M3 rear end into my ZHP, (hopefully) not having to go to a garage for anything, just elbow grease and my own garage.

Why? To give the car an LSD so the forced induction system that was installed can put the power down properly
Where? Complete swap should be accomplished all in house, in the garage
How much? Depends.... See details below
Swear words thrown? 6 so far and counting.......
Mindset? yea, still in flux. Key thing to remember though!!!! You are buying parts for an M3, NOT a regular E46, this is critically important as a lot of parts are NOT interchangeable

Costs? (will update as I build it up and buy parts)
Complete Rear End - $700
Bushing Refresh Kit - $600
CV Boots (inner and outer - 2x) - $175
Tool Rental (Koch rear bushing tool- rented from e46fanatics user) - $100
36MM 12Point Socket - $10
Rear Wheel Bearing (2x) - $80
Rear Wheel Bearing Lock Ring (2x) - $6
Rear Wheel Bearing Hub Nut (2x) - $24
Left brake cover - $25
Right brake cover - $25
Rear Caliper rebuild kit - $120
Rear Emergency Brake Rebuild Kit - $140
Redline 75W140 GL-5 Diff Oil - $40

Starting Part list:
2002 E46 M3 Complete rear end with 144K miles on it. Contains everything minus E-brakes, rotors and pads

Swapped in part list:
Complete Rear End Bushing Refresh kit - http://www.ecstuning.com/ES2500766/
Inner CV Boots (2x) - http://www.ecstuning.com/ES258448/
Outer CV Boots (2x) - http://www.ecstuning.com/ES57063/
Emergency Brake build - (still sourcing all the parts from ECS - but about $100 for both sides)
Rotors and Pads - (haven't ordered or looked yet but i'll probably hit up brake yourself)
Differential Oil - http://www.ecstuning.com/ES197413/
Rear Driveshaft - (haven't sourced it yet but bmrparts.com has some rebuilt for about $300 shipped)
Rear Wheel Bearing (2x) - Autohausaz
Rear Wheel Bearing Lock Ring (2x) - Autohausaz
Rear Wheel Bearing Hub Nut (2x) - Autohausaz

Helpful Links:
DIY CV Boot Replacements - http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=306997
DIY Rear end replacement - http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=464146

Complete Rear End before teardown (I put it on three furniture dollies to make it easy to move around and breakdown - Lifesaver right there, if you do this project, DO THIS!! $11/each at harbor freight)
[img][/img]

[bullfrogs_M3]

(Picture and update post holder)

First thing a lot of people are going to say.... "Why are you replacing all of the bushings like that"?
1. The rear end came out of Colorado, i.e.: Snow, Salt, rust..... Due to this, there were a significant amount of seized bolts and seriously scary looking bushings, due to rust, not bad deep rust, just surface rust.
2. At 145K miles, I don't know when the last time ANY of the bushings were replaced. I want what is essentially a brand new rear end that will make it another 100K miles, or as close to that as possible)
3. More of point 2, I don't want to have to get under the rear end again in 40-50K miles to replace a bushing that I could of done during the tear down and reassembly
4. I don't want to get POLY on any of it. I want a nice OEM ride quality coming out of the rear end. A lot of people say i should of gotten poly on a lot of the bushings, but I don't want a stiff ride. I want something that will ride nice but still respond well since i am not an aggressive driver at all. OEM and ECS upgrade bushings will meet those requirements.



Tear down pics:

Carrier, wishbones, sway bar and trailing arms removed


Halfshafts (or are they called axles? Whatever, i call em half shafts) removed from diff


Removing the wheel hubs from the wheel bearings and half shafts


I really don't swing that way BMW but.....okay :/ AND it's going in my rear end? ..............no comment


Wheel hub pulled off the wheel bearing races along with it. This is where I might have to have a garage come into play. I cannot for the life of me get this race off of the hub and new hubs cost $100/each!!!!!!!!! I really REALLY don't want to have to buy brand new wheel hubs


Starting to tear into the CV Boots to replace them. The amount of grease in these things is astronomical. I mean, these things are packed with massive amounts of grease.


A pile of rear end parts waiting for me to get to them to wire brush, clean up and respray with a good couple coats of rust protection and paint. Should I do a candy cane paint job on my half shafts? lol

[bullfrogs_M3]

(picture and update post holder)

Bushings pulled out of the diff carrier (Correction Rear Subframe Carrier - thanks Whammy)


Rebuilding the inner cv boot, cleaning up the old bearings and gear assembly and then repacking with Redline CV2 grease


Got the wheel bearing race off the hub. Scored it with the dremel and then banged on it a little bit until the score "broke" the race and started to spin


Both of the wheel hubs cleaned up with the wire wheels and some degreaser. You can see where I slightly scored the hub when I was trying to dremel off the race. Not too worried about it, since it is a very small surface score and the wheel bearing will completely cover it up anyway.


Cleaned up the calipers and caliper brackets with a wire wheel....little bit of the ///M coming through. Might have to do a tri color setup on the M "hashes" (what are they even called anyway?) when I do the painting.

[bullfrogs_M3]

Wire brushed everything and then put the first coat down of the spray paint


Paint I used to spray everything a couple times


Wheel bearing installed, E-brake setup and calipers put on




Painted and did a quick "no-bolt" assembly to see how it looks

[johnrando]

GL w/the project!

[Vas]

Subscribed.

[danewilson77]

"No flamesuit required"

[az3579]

CANDY CANE! CANDY CANE! Do it!!!

[derbo]

Sweet buddy!! I love the pictures. When you are done, please try out my M Track mode setup for NCSexpert

[wertyu78]

Good stuff!


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