June 2011

No mechanical updates, but I attended the DC show at Turweston with the Bimmerforums lads where we all had our cars on show. The show was mainly VW's but had some superb cars and a great atmosphere. Well worth a day out.

Wheels back...

After a week Lepsons called to say the wheels were ready, so I collected them straight away. They looked fantastic and like a new set. I couldnt wait to get them on the car...lol

They really made the car look cleaner, best mod so far and they looked far better than the previous sunflowers. I was so happy I fitted the wishbones I got a couple of weeks before.

 Afterwards I had a full wheel alignment carried out as I had messed around with all the settings when I fitted the new parts.

Gearknob...

Small update but as I was waiting for the wheel refurb I fitted a new gearknob. Its an E46 weighted clubsport one. Looks OE in the car and improves the shift over the standard wooden one.

May 2011 - Wheels

I decided to fit the sunflowers as my other wheels were getting tatty and had peeling paint from a previous refurb job. I wasnt keen on the sunflowers so they were a temporary set.

 Here are my old wheels looking sorry for themselves with various marks and peeling paint.

The original countours were dropped of to lepsons in Swindon for a refurb job. http://www.lepsons.com/

May 2011

Had a call from a good mate of mine offering me parts from his unfinished E30 project. I ended up with a set of refurbished sunflower alloys from a coupe model, a pair of unused Bilstein B6 fron dampers and an unused set of genuine BMW Evo wishbones. There was nothing wrong with mine but I couldnt turn down a new set as the wishbones are very expensive from the dealers because they are bespoke to the Evo. It was also no secrect that I was a big fan of Bilstein shocks as I had previously had a set fitted to my previous 325i.

Unfortunatly they didnt come with the matching rear shock absorbers so I contacted Euro Car Parts and a matching set of rear B6's were delivered the next day.

 And because I couldnt wait, they were fitted that afternoon...lol

 After fitting, test drove the car and much better than the sachs shocks, the car felt much firmer with far less body roll.

Bumper mesh..

When I bought the car the mesh in the front bumper was broken, I had tried to find a good used one but they were nearly the same price as new so ended up buying one from BMW, cost £60 which is a bit steep for a bit of plastic. Had to remove the bumper to change the mesh.

The retaining clips in the rear of the bumper, so I had to use a decent bonding sealer and leave some weight on the grill overnight.

 All back together with the new grille. Was much better IMO.

Pics..

No mechanical updates on this one but was out and about and took some pics at a spot near my village.

March 2011

After driving the car for a month I still wasnt happy with the way the car was driving and realised the front shock absorbers were way past there best. I replaced them with OE spec Boge dampers to match the rear, the Eibach lowering springs were fitted by a previous owner and I re used them.
The old shocks were well worn and the pistons would not retract out of the body.

 New shocks fitted, along with dustcovers and bumpstops.

The car was now sitting and driving very well

 As it was driving well I decided to change the Vanos seals and bolts as these are notorious for the bolts breaking and then the unit has rapid oil loss causing engine damage. I got a seal kit from Steve@Mrvanos. http://www.mrvanos.com/
They came with good instructions and all torque settings and were a straightforward swap. My unit was making the rattle noise that they are notorious for, but I had no loss of performance. So the seals were preventative.

Next step was to tackle to list of repair jobs, the car wasnt bad the suspension was just a bit tired. The main concern was a knocking noise from the rear and a vibration under braking. The knocking for the rear turned out to be the control arm ball joints, so i replaced all 4.

The car also came with an unfitted pair of powerflex trailing arm bushes, so I fitted these at the same time.

I also discovered that one of the rear shock absorbers was leaking so took the opportunity to replace the rear shocks and top mounts as well.

Now the suspension was vastly improved, I fitted new front brake discs and pads to cure the braking vibration.

At this time I also carried out an oil change and service, including the spark plugs.

Now the car was driving much better I was happy for a while and drove it for a couple of weeks. Here it was at a Bimmerforums meet in Surrey covered in road grime from the journey.

JAN 2011

After deciding to sell my old 325, I decided I wanted an M3. I had decided on a saloon as I prefer the understated  and wolf in sheeps clothing looks. After a couple of weeks of looking through Pistonheads, auto trader...etc I found 2 cars that I liked an avus blue 3.0 model, or an Estoril blue 3.2 evo model. I called the ads and the avus blue car had sold so went straight up to Birmingham to view the 3.2. The car had the spec I wanted with the colour and black leather interior. I wasnt too worried about the mechanicals as long as it was a straight tidy car. Chatted with the owner and drove away £4000 lighter.
Here is the car as I collected it.

 Car was a good spec with full leather, climate control and super rare split folding rear seats. I have still not seen these in another saloon.

Here is an interior shot

 Drove the car around for a few days, nothing major wrong but already had some niggles. So got it on the ramp at work to give it the once over and write a list of jobs.

Here we go...

I thought it was about time to start a journal of my car. I have now owned the car for over a year now so will be working from the start again documenting all the changes I have made since ownership began.
Please keep checking back as I will be updating the blog every few days.
Ta