e46 m3 SMG

[ross_jsy]

So I've been in the market for something newer than an e30 & e34. I've looked at a few turds ranging from an i3 to an e92 m3 (and I was meant to look at a C63 AMG this evening until I looked into running costs, £1,600 for front discs anyone?).

Anyway, I've wanted an e46 m3 for a while and a friend is selling his. It's an 03, 67k miles, FSH, black on Kiwi with SMG. Not my choice of gearbox or interior, but it's £7k and a nice car, needing only front discs and wheels could do with a refurb, which I feel is reflected in the price. The seller is a close friend and has owned it for a couple of years and has taken good care of it. Car is rust free and had the boot floor inspected 6 months ago and I'm sticking it on a ramp this weekend for a good poke.

Anything I should look out for? Don't want to hear horror stories about SMG and boot floor dramas. I'll cross those bridges when I come to them and have accepted them as par for the course. I'm even coming round to the idea of SMG.

TIA

Ross

[ross_jsy]

And some pics of the turd

[maxfield]

There are SMG horror stories, but you can buy repair kits for the pumps now days so it's a relatively inexpensive repair if it does go wrong.

I quite like a Kiwi interior and SMG. A CSL software upgrade is a must for the SMG though.

[ross_jsy]

It's already had it, along with the M track mode enabled? Guessing it allows a bit more slip before the nannies intervene. I've been quite impressed by SMG from the passenger seat if I'm honest.

I'm not too fussed about SMG issues. As you say, there are kits available, or most issues seem to be a £20 relay, a £2 spring or a faulty bonnet closed sensor. Even if the pump fails, it's not the end of the world as I'm handy on the spanners

[bab-91]

£1,600 for front discs anyone?

You are welcome! Always looking out for my little flower.

[DanThe]

There are a few seals that like to leak oil on the engine, have the valve clearances been checked ever? Most 'specialists' that service these cars will tell you they dont need adjusting. Big end shells and bolts? At 70k miles they are well worth doing now. My engine was in the 70's when it came out of a smashed cabby and had noticeable wear on the shells

[ross_jsy]

Good to know Dan. The last inspection 2 was 10k ago, so I would hope that was covered. Something I will probably do anyway. I understand it's quite boring and involves an expensive set of shims?

Took it out last night for an hour and gave it a proper beasting, along with some normal driving and pottering around in auto mode. I'm not really sure why people dislike SMG so much (reliability issues aside). Driven like a manual, I.e lifting off when shifting and in S2, it was no different to a manual car. And in s5 and flat out it was hilarious. The auto blip from the CSL map is cool.

Told him I'll let him know this evening. Chances are I'll sort insurance in my lunch and pick it up after work.

[JungleGus]

What - you mean you're going to buy a car that just "works"?

What's the point?!

[steve_k]

What - you mean you're going to buy a car that just "works"?

What's the point?!

sometimes we have to be grown up & sensible (i did say sometimes but not everytime).

[ross_jsy]

I've had e30's for 9 years now. It's time to get something modernish!

I've also had an offer for one of my e30's

[ross_jsy]

Picking it up tomorrow night, very excited

[Jon_Bmw]

The valve clearances are a boring, but sort of satisfying job. I think I adjusted 9 out of 24 on mine. Only 3 were out of spec, but when you are doing it yourself, you have the time to adjust the ones on the bottom tolerance window whereas a dealer/independent would never do this.

Having a shim set is essential really, unless you like dragging it out over a few days. Even then it is nice to have because you can fit one, measure, remove and fit the next size up/down to fine tune. E46 people seem to take the viscous fan assembly off, but I found rocking it in 4th gear was much more efficient (time wise). It's also easy to control the position of the engine. The twenty quid tool from BMW is nicely designed and I wouldn't want to do it without it, or something similar.

Worth replacing the vanos filter as well as it is cheap to do. Some people change the bolts but I haven't done this yet.

[ross_jsy]

Cheers Jon, I'll watch some videos tonight. Any idea how much the shim set costs?

I've read that the VANOS bolts can become loose at roughly 70k, and BMW supply stronger ones so that's something to do while I'm at it

[Jon_Bmw]

I have a feeling they are about £200+...but they always retain that value if you like. Mine were free from work as someone bought a set years ago and never used them.

I looked over this before doing the job:

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=450097

Perhaps they remove the fan to make changing the auxiliary belt easier? I am pretty sure you can do it from the bottom and feed the belt over the viscous fan assy.

[M3KUK]

Chalk and cheese when compared with an E30! What year car is it?

[ross_jsy]

Cheers Jon, I'll give it a read. Rocking it in gear won't be an option anyway (SMG).

It's an 03. Very different to e30's, I've driven a fair few now. But I want something different

[ross_jsy]

Well that's it insured. The most I've ever paid to insure a car ever at £716, which upset me.

[M3Pete]

Pittance compared to how much pleasure an e46 M3 on 18" wheels will give you.

[ross_jsy]

I can't complain really, I'm "only" 25.

It came as a bit of a shock mind, my e30 with an m30 conversion costs me £211 a year to insure

[ross_jsy]

Well it is fantastic! Took it for a proper hoon after work and I properly love it. Ordered some larger carbon paddles for the steering wheel and a replacement glass for the rear view mirror. New badges will be picked up on the weekend from the dealers to freshen it up and I'll order some front discs and pads. Any recommendations? The rear spoiler was deleted from factory but I think I will install one, looks a bit plain out back without it.

I didn't mention, it's on KW Variant 2's. They are rather firm even on fully soft.

Will give it a quick clean on the weekend while I wait for the poor boys blackhole I've ordered to arrive on Kos' recommendation. I'll snap some nice pics of it too.

[ross_jsy]

Sorry, who are you?

Not really sure where I second guessed anyone? In fact my response to Dan was "Good to know" followed shortly by "it is something I will probably do anyway". I'm genuinely stumped by what point you are trying to make actually...

[ross_jsy]

Oh looks like someone deleted that chap calling me a tit

[DanThe]

New stalker Ross? Or an old one rearing their head

[ross_jsy]

No idea, username of drakesmith? But apparently I'm second guessing you and I'm a tit

[ross_jsy]

So spoke to my tame parts guy up at the local BMW dealer, I've ordered front and rear BMW badges, a rear m3 badge, dealer plates, the little flip up lid ahead of the gearstick that gets scratched to shit, and the lower plastic part of the steering wheel under the horn as it's looking worn. I've also booked it in for the airbag recall which is outstanding and he confirmed the bearing shells and connecting bolts, SMG relay and reprogramming of the SMG control module recalls were all carried out on the 26/10/04 at 5,121 miles

With this in mind I'll look to freshen up the bottom end and renew the VANOS bolts at some point next year, as well as get the boot floor done (most likely by Dan)

[maxfield]

Good to hear you are enjoying it, they are the second best M3 to drive IMO. Although haven't driven a new F30 yet.

I would definitely look at the rod bearings, even though the recall has been done, they are prone for wearing.

[ross_jsy]

Going to turn this into a bit of an ownership thread and keep it update with work done etc.

So today I went and bought a load of cleaning products and a pressure washer. The car was filthy, especially after taking it out last night for a long drive.



A bit of a downer, got back to the car in the B&Q car park, and despite parking it in the empty part, someone had reversed into it:



And of course they didn't leave a note. Even more annoying, the bumper was recently painted. I was rather annoyed...anyway, decided not to mess around so it is booked in next weekend for the bodyshop to get a quote to repair it, a small scuff on the front bumper, the roof rails and the mirror bases painted, and the wheels refurbished.

Here is the car before I started cleaning it:









I pressure washed it to start with:



And sprayed the wheels with metal fallout remover:





And washed it before power washing it again:





I dried it off with microfibre towels, then sprayed the entire car with fallout remover, let it react, jet washed and dried it again, then clay barred the car. The bar didn't pick up much so think the fallout remover got most of it. I then set about polishing it. After the first panel:



And as the car now stands:



I still have the bumpers and roof to do tomorrow, and then wax it but it was getting dark so I hoofed the other 2 series active pussy wagon out of the garage and put it away for the night:



Tomorrow I am going to finish polishing it, clean and blacken the trim and do the interior and glass. I'm shattered!

[ross_jsy]

(Double post)

[Rav335uk]

We got it the first time Ross

[bss325i]

Anyway, I've wanted an e46 m3 for a while and a friend is selling his. It's an 03, 67k miles, FSH, black on Kiwi with SMG. Not my choice of gearbox or interior, but it's £7k and a nice car, needing only front discs and wheels could do with a refurb, which I feel is reflected in the price. The seller is a close friend and has owned it for a couple of years and has taken good care of it. Car is rust free and had the boot floor inspected 6 months ago and I'm sticking it on a ramp this weekend for a good poke.

Anything I should look out for? Don't want to hear horror stories about SMG and boot floor dramas. I'll cross those bridges when I come to them and have accepted them as par for the course. I'm even coming round to the idea of SMG.

TIA

Ross

Carbon and Kiwi, good combo! My old 05 plate manual was this combo and when i sold it i took off the genuine CSL wheels and put 18's on so looked just like this.

There are lots of issues and dramas that they can suffer from, some insignificant some not so.

Some have mentioned Rod bearing and SMG issues but two other expensive dramas that can happen and is quite common in higher mileage (although ive seen it with sub 80k) is head gasket failure, the gasket blows across the cylinders causing pinking, rough idle/misfires and the pinking can melt a piston and erode the combustion chamber part of the head.

Also Camshaft and rocker were is quite common in higher mileage and this manifests itself in a ticking noise. The rockers were from a smooth curve to a stepped shape much like an M20/M30 rocker does.
When the engine has cam and rocker wear the rod bearings are not far behind being completely worn and about to spin.

Also, Clutches have a shorter life on SMG cars and are a bit fiddly to do due to all the SMG stuff bolted to the side of the box. They are normally starting to slip on high RPM gear changes by 70-80k miles so this is something to bear in mind soon with your car.

[bss325i]

The valve clearances are a boring, but sort of satisfying job. I think I adjusted 9 out of 24 on mine. Only 3 were out of spec, but when you are doing it yourself, you have the time to adjust the ones on the bottom tolerance window whereas a dealer/independent would never do this.

I always do this!

Not only do i have my own set of shims i also have a tub full of part worn shims to use to get the clearance bang on to bottom as with the shim kit they are set sizes with .04mm gaps between them so the next shim up is sometimes too big to use to get it to that end of the window.

[bss325i]

I've read that the VANOS bolts can become loose at roughly 70k, and BMW supply stronger ones so that's something to do while I'm at it

Yes they can come loose but you can't change them without removing the vanos. Its actually the cam sprocket bolts that work loose.

[bss325i]

Cheers Jon, I'll give it a read. Rocking it in gear won't be an option anyway (SMG).

To turn the engine for valve clearance adjustment you can do it by removing the spark plugs to remove the compression when turning and using a 32mm spanner on the water pump/viscous turn the engine backwards and you can do this with no issue or risk of timing jumping.
Trying to turn the engine forwards with this method will not work as the belt can grip the crank pulley enough.

[Jon_Bmw]

The valve clearances are a boring, but sort of satisfying job. I think I adjusted 9 out of 24 on mine. Only 3 were out of spec, but when you are doing it yourself, you have the time to adjust the ones on the bottom tolerance window whereas a dealer/independent would never do this.

I always do this!

Not only do i have my own set of shims i also have a tub full of part worn shims to use to get the clearance bang on to bottom as with the shim kit they are set sizes with .04mm gaps between them so the next shim up is sometimes too big to use to get it to that end of the window.

I knew that would G you up!

The joys of a surface grinder to hand makes life easier as well. I found on my motor all of my shims required were within .16, so quite consistent wear / original valve seat depth. So much that I might order some more to replace that part of the set.

[bss325i]

Took it out last night for an hour and gave it a proper beasting, along with some normal driving and pottering around in auto mode. I'm not really sure why people dislike SMG so much (reliability issues aside). Driven like a manual, I.e lifting off when shifting and in S2, it was no different to a manual car. And in s5 and flat out it was hilarious. The auto blip from the CSL map is cool.

I used to dislike SMG in the E46 M3 but have grown to like it (as long as it has CSL software). You would be surprised the amount of people who do not lift (just slightly is all that's needed) when changing instead keeping the foot flat leadin to jerky gear changes and accelerated wear on the drive train mounts and rear axle bushes.

In case you did not know, if you turn the DSC off there is a hidden S6 mode for the gearbox.