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The E46 330ci Track Car Build Thread

32K views 381 replies 65 participants last post by  Mr. Bigglesworth 
#1 ·
So, This post made my @westopher had me thinking. Am I doing the right thing?

I was bequeefed (sic) this car from my departed brother, Kenny (also known as Chip) in 2012. At the time it wasn't my first choice of car, but it was a clean example that was reasonably well cared for. That was until he got a little too sick to be able to drive. Then it just sat. For a while. I moved to NYC, and then ended up moving around every year. It became less than sensible to street park an aging BMW with no tools, nowhere to work on it, and needing to switch parking spots twice a week. Then it sat some more.

I've been through a lot with this car. It's scared me when it randomly shut off on the Deegan in the Bronx, it's made me smile with how smooth the engine effortlessly builds revs. I've thought about selling it a million times, thought about its potential, scooted it up to Connecticut to store for a year, accidentally backed into it, worked on it, broken things on it, moved myself to and from several apartments with it, and its gotten me to and from job interviews, work, weddings, etc.

Now living in Baltimore, it's the kind of car that gets respectful nods from the squeegee kids sitting out on Pratt street, but also doesn't look out of place rolling through fancy parts of DC and Annapolis. Without turning this into a sappy love story, I f**kin love this car. It's so good. IMO it's the sweet spot between refined analog machine and enough tech to make it comfortable and feel modern. Even if it's an automatic...it's just such a good thing.

But all good things must come to an end, right? I love the car, this is obvious, but I'm an enthusiast. Like you, I need more.

For a few years now I've just thought to myself "hey...LS swap the thing and be done with it" which all sounds good and is easy to say. But after giving it a lot of thought and knowing that I now have a reliable and fair specialized BMW mechanic less than a mile away...I'm wondering if maybe I should stick with the M54 motor.

This means I would be able to do more with the money, and most of it would need to be done anyway (strip the chassis and address any and all corrosion, POR-15 the **** out of everything, recoat, etc.) Basically without even touching the drivetrain, interior, or exterior I'd be tackling pretty much everything in this video:




Before you ask "what do you want the car to do?" I want it to go fast and I wanna have fun. It'll be a street legal car that I take to the track that retains most if not all factory creature comforts. I want it to be balanced but also make people laugh and maybe scared a little bit. I want the car to last forever.

Spec E46 suspension kits are $5k. Manual transmissions are abounds. I keep thinking about how nice it would be to have a built NA straight 6 that IMO sounds better than the S54, and kinda keeps the spirit of the car alive. But then I get swayed by thinking about doing huge burnouts and having something absurd to play around with.

What say you TCL? Big honkin Chebby V8? Or buttery smooth straight 6 with cams, full exhaust, head work etc.? Let's argue.

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TL;DR - LS Swap or no?
 
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#6 ·
E46 coupes are lookers still, and well kept stock-ish examples are harder and harder to find. So on that note: if anything, manual swap it (if I’m reading your post correctly and it is currently auto) and find a higher ratio limited slip rear end if it doesn’t already have one. The 6 speed isn’t necessary, the 5 speed ZFs are stronger, more plentiful, cheaper, and are functionally identical (the 6 speed is basically the 5 speed’s ratios plus a .81 overdrive).

You’ll spend a dumb amount of money on doing internals and the M54 will never make more than 250hp. It’s just not worth the cost. If you really want power, try to find a used supercharger kit. The M54 is a delightfully smooth and torquey motor, not a powerhouse and not built for high rpm/high stress track work, so my recommendation is to put a decent exhaust on it and enjoy.
 
#7 ·
I feel like LS has been done to death.
 
#9 ·
I keep thinking about how nice it would be to have a built NA straight 6 that IMO sounds better than the S54
That resonates with me. Of my vehicles, the E46 is the only one I want back. If I could have walked into a dealership and purchased a new one with updated tech, I would have. I only sold it because I got to the point where it was, either spend buckets of money getting it up to snuff for the next 150K miles, or move on. Being a year out of law school meant newer/reliable transportation was the responsible/safe decision. Of course though the E92 that replaced it was a basket case.

Anyways, as far as power goes if you want any appreciable power increase, an S/C is really the only answer. But, i don't think this car needs that type of power. The stock M54 never left me wishing I had more power quite frankly. I did have dreams of doing a full N/A build to make a beautiful screamer though. Maybe get it somewhere in the realm of 250-300WHP N/A; that to me is perfect. That said, I'm not a fan of swaps, and i think if you want to go LS you're better off just buying a car with one in it already.

Sounds like you have some attachment to the vehicle as well, this makes it all the more worth it to make it a revived e46, not into some Frankenstein, and hold on to it. In the long term, a clean example with a warmed over I6 is going to get the looks, not an LS.

My vote is thus warm over the I6, and keep for a long time. I think eventually the E46 will be sought after similarly to the E30, whereas I think for the E36 and E92 gens, it will only be the M cars that keep peoples interest. And if it isnt, you still have a wonderful driver's car that was built in an era where tech had creeped into improve cars and add safety, but not yet taken over and isolated the driver.
 
#13 ·
I’m biased towards a good I6 and would absolutely keep it that way. Though V8s are certainly not long for this world in “normal” cars, there is something equally as special about a strong I6 pulling towards redline. If this was a total POS that you picked up for $1500 on Craigslist, sure, do the swap. But for this it feels wrong.
 
#14 ·
If this is your only car and you live in downtown Baltimore, I'm not sure I'd want anything particularly nice or anything that brings attention to what I'm driving. Also, if this is a daily driver, I'm not sure I'd want a suspension setup from any spec racing series--unless you're planning to race/track it. I'd probably go with some type of low boost FI kit and catback setup for basic street driving.

If this is a project car, the SBC is an interesting option. There's a guy at a local C&C who has an e46 coupe with SBC. It never fails to grab attention when the car starts up. And regardless of how "played out" the SBC transplant thing is, the guy always has a small crowd around his car at some point during a C&C. On one hand, it seems like a fun project with a lot of upside. OTOH, that particular car has a bit of a kit-car vibe to it. It's a project where things are always being figured out.

The use case for the car is really big consideration of the best direction to go, IMO.
 
#18 ·
No. Just no. That particular instance is only mildly acceptable because its a 318 and the motor in that thing was anemic. Otherwise, just why. That is a case where the LS was a good option, not a VQ.
 
#51 ·
I say keep the BMW I6 and restore and/or upgrade all the other stuff that has a tangible effect on the way it drives in "typical" (meaning the normal street driving that accounts for ~99.5% of all the miles most people, even enthusiasts, will ever drive) - brakes, suspension, steering, interior, etc. However, I'm biased because I'm at the point in life where I don't really care about going fast because there's so few places to drive fast safely. These days, I'm much more interested in and impressed by older cars that have been well cared for and preserved or with "OEM+" type mods, even if they weren't rare or special when they were new.
 
#56 ·
Yeah. Vorshlag's kit is beautifully made, and they make it to order so you can get updates as they build.

The Sikky option is cool, but the idea behind this all is to really understand and know this car inside and out. I'm concerned about the future of cars in that they're going to be so difficult to know. I'm not a coder, I'm not an electrical engineer, and I don't know what the hell is going on with the electronics that are now lining every inch of every new car.

I want to stay pretty hands-on with all of this, so I would be handling the swap/majority of the work myself.

It's feeling more and more like I should sort everything but the motor for now.

Get the car bulletproof and reconditioned as far as brake lines, fuel lines, suspension bushings and parts, etc. The Ohlins suspension is affordable and will likely REALLY make a difference in drivability and handling. An LSD installation (according to Turner) sounds like it's a bit of a Rosetta Stone to really unlock the potential of subsequent mods and that'll go hand-in-hand with a 5 speed swap.

I actually already have a Shark tuner, I've just never had the balls to ask someone to install it. I appreciate the 50's Kid shoutout, he's a gem and just recently started posting again thankfully.

You're all inspiring me and motivating me to really do something special with this car and I'm thankful for all the input.
 
#58 ·
This isn't a realistic option for you based on everything in the thread, but I am surprised we've made it this far without mention of:




Chase Bays has a pretty extensive guide for what it takes to swap a 2 or 1JZ into a BMW. Downside is the prices of these motors (or at least 2JZ-GTEs) are skyrocketing, especially when compared to a junkyard LS 5.3. Upside? Well, it's still an I6 and (in my opinion) one of the best-sounding motors of all time, not to mention the power potential.

It seems like it may be more than what you're looking for, but hey, it's fun to dream. Best of luck on the project; keep us posted.
 
#61 ·
Chase Bays has a pretty extensive guide for what it takes to swap a 2 or 1JZ into a BMW.

why bother when the N54 is a direct mechanical fit? with a port injection adapter, upgraded in-tank pump, and a single turbo conversion with a fat FMIC they put down a conservative 600whp all day long…. and way more on corn juice or if you spring for a 5-axis VAC Motorsports head to spin it up damn near to 8000rpm.

BMW tuners have come a long way with cracked DMEs and custom tunes. 2JZ is an inferior option and wildly more expensive than an N54 from LKQ… they came in hundreds of thousands of BMWs over the past decade+.
 
#60 ·
Check out Active Autowerke and see what they offer. I had an E36 with a M50 and 5 speed and their supercharger kit, that car was an absolute blast and made all of the right sounds. I couldn’t imagine that car with even another 50hp, THAT would be fun.
My suggestion would honestly be to go to a local BMW event, cars and coffee, etc and see if you can score a test ride in a few cars. See which one puts the biggest grin on your face regardless of HP or cylinders and pursue the combo that makes you the happiest.
I love an I6 and do honestly think it is the best engine setup, BUT, I am also a firm believer in a 6.0 LS. Whichever tickles your fancy.
 
#86 ·
Holy sh*****t this dashcam install is pathetic. I'll post pictures later but the cliffs notes are:

No headliner dropped. The wires from the front camera basically stuffed hanging on passenger side sun visor, so that when you flip it down, the wires fall. From there it goes (visibly) into the A-pillar cover and apparently DOWN (Why down!!!???) to be run below the door. Seriously. Why are you running wires for cameras mounted above the seats, below the seats?

THEN I noticed that where the wire comes out for back camera is...across the entire C-pillar cover. Yes that's correct. It's not behind the C-pillar cover, it's just hanging in front of the C-Pillar cover. Just like a downed power line.

I don't even know what to say. I was so excited to have a GOOD shop nearby but now I'm questioning the level of mechanical work being done, because this is bad. This is worse than when I installed an amp and sub in my friends Civic in my driveway. I had NO idea what I was doing (given the fact that at the end of the install I realized I didn't hook the amp or sub up to the head unit) but I knew damn well there weren't going to be exposed wires in the f**king cabin. I sat my dumb fat ass there for several hours carefully removing seats, carpet, trim, etc.

I'm going to slowly try to cool off this morning, bring the car to a nearby parking lot and take before pictures. Then I'll do the job properly and text this mechanic pictures. I'm super disappointed because I care SO MUCH about this car and I thought that showed through to him. One would assume if you have a customer that really cares about their ****, you let anyone and everyone working on that car that this is the case and the customer is going to be discerning.

And I lose a day of my vacation doing this, too.
 
#88 ·
He had a guy come in that does electronics for him. The issue is:

Did the owner of the shop see him do this and think it was ok? Or did the owner of the shop NOT see him do this and didn't inspect it before I picked the car up?

I'm a graphic designer and if you asked me to install a dashcam I wouldn't leave wires hanging off a sun visor. I brought it in because I don't trust myself to hardwire things. That part is done.

The last mile of that job is to hide the wires and perform a clean install. At the very least I'd grab my phone, look up "How to hide wires in E46 BMW" and sit in on YouTube University for 10 mins.

I paid money for a professional install, and you don't have to be anything close to professional to see this guy did a terrible job.
 
#99 ·
Gather round, folks. Fix your gaze upon the worst install of any part on this car ever.

Just a caveat - The tint looks awful, I know. It was done over 10 years ago and I recently removed it by myself under a time crunch. Now that I live in a state that doesn't care about window tint I'll have them redone very lightly to clean them all up. Also, the A, B, and C pillar covers were supposed to be replaced during this install:


Automotive design Azure Grey Material property Automotive exterior




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Love it.

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Brand new hardwire kit supplied to this guy. This is how it comes back.

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"I see no other wires here, great spot for a wire"

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Definitely use clear packaging tape, and don't even cut it.

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Hood Automotive tire Automotive design Automotive lighting Motor vehicle


Automotive lighting Lighting Fixture Automotive exterior Shade



I sent all of these photos to the shop owner and his response was "Probably a job I should've passed on. I'll stick to mechanical work from now on."

Which...not on my car you won't! I re-ran all the wires properly. Replaced the B and C-pillar covers, ordered new A-Pillar covers and...destroyed the passenger side one on install. This has really become an adventure.

I spoke to the shop owner last night and basically said "I want a partial refund for the install. Charge me what you would charge someone to just hook up the hardwire and leave the wires dangling" (because that's essentially what happened). He'll get back to me in the next couple of days with a financial resolution.

I've found another shop that seems a bit more capable that's fairly close-by, but I'm once bitten twice shy at this point. If my car goes to any shop, I'll be setting up check ins with them to make sure things are going the way they should. I'm not unreasonable, but I'm really unwilling to be taken advantage of more than once.
 
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