330i touring sport individual - SOLD

[mcbonio]

Whats wrong with the M badge, it's original BMW part No - 51 14 2 492 942. They do actually make these!

Never knew you were the peado type pete..

[timmzey]

Edited for privacy

[Kos]

I use autoglym glass polish and do all the windows with rainex externally. Inside I use an IPA/water mix. But for the windscreen I'll be trying out some wolfs glass guard

It's similar to the G techniq stuff but not as expensive

The G techniq trim restorer is awesome

[pony]

Lovely colour Kos Techno Violet is a great colour

[pony]

I won't even start on the anal eyes ! But that Ebay M badge definately has a stench of government sponsored housing about it !

PacerPete loves a bit of council and some council birds ya get me bruv ????

[Morat]

I've read some good reviews about this black hole stuff!

Maybe I'd better google it

[DanThe]

right, car has been detailed !

i had 2 clear days with an empty work shop and to keep me going a shit load of lucozade, snickers bars and my ipod

the car has all original paint, one of the things that made the car a decent purchase, however is was hard, faded, swirls and generally unloved

you could see that the previous owner made a lame attempt to put some shine back into it, but i knew that i could bring it back to life. techno violet is a stunning colour and deserves to be show in its full glory

first up was a thorough clean, de contaminate and remove any traces of polish it had. was was power washed with the trusty karcher, all the nooks and crannies cleaned with autosmart G101 and a small brush. this gets rid of algae build up. the body was also washed down with autosmart as well then dried off

so, i proceeded to clay the car, use some tar remover in the lower sills to help shift what the clay wouldnt

i wipe down with some IPA/panel wipe it was inspected properly with halogen lighting and it was swirl city and a there were quite a few scratches

drivers door



this gives you an idea of what i was up against.

badges were removed, as were side repeaters and some trim bits as was the 330i badge

i got the rotary polisher out and got to work using a cutting pad and menzerna FG400. where there were scratches i wet sanded with 2000 wet & dry to feather them out and used a small spot pad to work these areas.

as i was going along i'd wipe the panels down with IPA to inspect how i was getting on, halogens lighting up everything as well.

from there, i refined the panels with softer pads and milder compounds until i was at a level off correction i was happy with

the car was then washed down using a a nice soft wash mit, dried off using a soft drying towel.

compound & polish gets everywhere no matter how well you mask up, i only mask up to protect edges when polishing and trims because i will always clean the shuts and clean the panel gaps with a brush

i was considering using a synthetic sealant but i still prefer waxes and with this in mind i can use a glaze as base for the wax, this adds depth and gloss to paint. the glaze of choice this time round was chemical guys EZ creme glaze. it works well for me. using a finishing pad went over the car with it. you only need small amounts on the pad and work it in. this doesn't create and dust

before the wax, i wiped the car down using meguires last touch QD and applied the last stage protection. wax is collinite 476. its a cheaper wax but is renowned for its nice gloss and durability

thin even layers as best as it can be a pig to remove. if it gets too dry you can use the QD to help buff it off.

i left it over night and the following day (this morning) gave the car a final wipe down with some Zaino Z8.

all the shuts were polished by hand, glass polished and on the inside wiped down with IP. all plastic trims were treated and restored with gtechniq c4 trim restorer (a 15ml bottle is enough and makes the trims look as new and last well over a year)

new number plates & new BMW badges fitted, front grill was painted Gloss black to match the high gloss window trims. i had the slats painted techno violet for a subtle touch

i did plan to fit smoked side repeaters and front indicators but the side repeters i ordered were damaged, i didnt bother fitting the fronts as i'm going to fit the xenons next week some time so there is no point in changing them over now to only have to remove them again.

i've ordered new headlamp covers to freshen up the front end a bit more

anyway, some pictures

a 50/50 shot of the rear 1/4 panel





and one side almost complete



before and after of the tailgate where the 330i bagds was





other side getting finished off







a close up of the wing



out side in the sun light



and one from this morning before it started pissing down



in all i spent a solid 30 hours on the car including the engine bay and interior clean up

body took up 24 hours

apologies for the average quality pics, i do have more taken with the SLR but having been at work all day today, i cant be arsed to host them right now, hosting iPhone pictures is easy while i'm at work

one thing is, that after all this work is that i'm not 100% with the front end. front bumper and bonnet are peppered with stone chips and so are the leading edges of the wings. the skirts could do with a repaint as well. so i may just live with it for now and get it painted some time later on this year

WOW!!!!!

That is proper gay!

Stunning results, I wish I could be arsed
Ive spoken to diddler the deviant and he has promised to help bufty my new wagon

[Kos]

Haha dan, if you were nearer I'd give you a hand.

[mcbonio]

That is a very very nice wagon. Brilliant work Kos.! How did the interior turn out?

[The_Diddler]

Excellent work Kos and a real turn around.

Most don't realise just how long this level of detailing works takes, or the processes involved, let alone the cost.

For comparison i reckon if you had paid somebody to do what you achieved you would be at least £400 lighter if not more.

Great work.

[Kos]

cheers guys

as for the real world cost, as the man above said it would be 400+

i've recently done a couple of enhancement details on a pair of e92's and the owners were over the moon with what was achieved

[Sanchez]

A good detail/detailer is as worthy as a respray in some cases so 400+ versus a 1500/2k respray is monies well spent IMO.

[Kos]

^ it certainly is !

anyway, updates .......... not a lot.

the car runs fine, drives well and handles really well. i have decided that i will most probably paint the front end. the stone chips are starting to annoy me !

i'm also considering changing the rear box to somthing more fruity. i'm looking at either an eisenmann or even a bmw performance rear box (US spec), neither are cheap but both fit properly and sound good.

a few weeks ago i went to the most over used photo shoot location to grab a couple of pictures of the purple turd

[ImysE30]

Number plate looks at home with the background

[mcbonio]

Yeah e46's are really bad for stone chips on the bonnet, mines peppered.!

Like mine, your lower front grill has gone grey and needs a lick of satin black. Any idea how to pop it out without removing the whole bumper?

[Kos]

Yep, you're right the lower front grill needs sorting, that i worry about when I paint the front end. I'll also be getting new lens covers.

I've also added some more genuine RD bits just before gaydon

Picture courtesy of Mo, aka Blitz

[Kos]

Right, I've been looking at getting an exhaust for the turd. Nothing loud but I wanted a decent quality part fitted. I was looking at Supersprints, Remus, Sebrings and missed out on a couple which were listed on eBay. I was offered a good price on a brand new eisenmann but not matter how good the price was it was too much to pay for £500 for a back box.

But then I stumbled on a genuine Alpina B3 system. It would mean some butchery to get it on as the down pipes differ to what I have. Reason being the B3 is m52 based and had different manifolds and I have an M54. The seller had the manifolds as well so I grabbed them and will be fitting it next week.

With the new manifold I'll be loosing the primary cats and I'll only be ruining the Alpina secondary cats. This system in theory should free up some power but it will need mapping to suit

So, with that in mind chucked it on the rollers before I dick about with it and saw it out down 221hp, that's 4 less than the factory quoted figures. Torque was bang on the money at 221 ft/lbs. Im sure a new air filter would help find the 4 lost ponies, but its the possible gains that I'm more interested in

So, I'll report back later next week with what happens.

[bss325i]

Not a bad result given the mileage. Its 10 down though, not 4.

[Kos]

Is the quoted power 231 bhp or 321PS ? I've seen it listed as both.

Either way, I'm sure if I throw in a new genuine air filter and dyno'd on day when it wasn't so hot or humid it would make a few extra HP, not too bothered. I'm more interested in the gains it makes

[Kos]

Right, exhaust & manifold are on.
At the same time I changed the AC compressor as it was starting to rumble. It was also due a re gas after being worked hard all summer.

The only 'drama' was having to extend the lambda loom. It's worked fine and there are no fault codes coming up.
Initial thoughts and feeling is good. Nice burble at lower RPM and a higher RPM is just a touch louder than the original system. You do get some noise from the manifold, but nothing unbearable. so on that front i'm happy. Performance wise it seems more torquey in the mid range. Further up the RPM range it feels less strangled now that the pre cat manifolds have gone. It certainly feels more brisk at high RPM and 3 figure speeds

It's going in for its remap some time next week. Reports to follow

[manse73]

Did the remap happen. If so what was the results

[Kos]

Did the remap happen. If so what was the results

Not yet, I just haven't had the time to leave it there for a day.

[Kos]

Time for a quick update.

I don't know how I've lasted this long without xenons. I bought pair of genuine xenons (complete with ballasts and bulbs) the same day I bought the car and they have just been sitting there waiting to be fitted. But before fitting them I wanted to install some angel eyes. super bright LED ones were considered for about a minute before I decided to go with the tired and tested CCFL's with a 6000k colour temp. They look OEM and bar the light colour. I got 2 new bulbs (again 6000k) and proceeded to take the lamps apart and fit everything

Pretty straight forward stuff, the loom for the CCFL's was fed through the hole for the original 501 side light bulb on one side and and on the other a small hole was drilled through.

Once that was done I taped up the loom in OEM BMW loom tape. On the main beam side I mounted the ring slightly off centre. Reason being if you mount it central some if the ring gets hidden.

Removal a fitting of the head lamp units is straight forward and the original loom for the halogens plugs in normally. Now, I was expecting some possible flickering issues and I got them big time. This is due to the xenons using less voltage (or something along those lines) and I bulb failure on the check control system

To get past this you have 3 options

1- get a light control module from a xenon equipped car
The draw back from this is that it will flag up a mileage ardor
2- dick about with resistors
Not interested in doing this
3- re program the light control module with something like auto logic
I went for the latter option which was done by Jason at BW Chiptune

When you do this you loose the ability to adjust the head lamps from inside the car, reason being xenon equipped cars have auto adjusting headlamps

As I hardly ever have a heavy load in the back i just manually adjusted the head lamps to be level

I continue with the lighting upgrade by fitted LED number plate lights on the back, silver indicator bulbs in the back and LED fog lamps to match the xenons and CCFL's

Just to be a right nob I'll be fitting an after market HID kit to the main beam

Some pics






CCFLs



LED fogs for when I'm in the urban cruising mood



And the xenons in all their glory




I do like the look the the fogs, they don't emit much of a beam and the Local Heathrow traffic unit didn't seem bothered by them as they look like daytime running lights that every car seems to have these days


On a final note, 17 wheels and winter tyres have been put on as well. I wasn't too fussy about wheel choice and I think they look alright. Tyres are 225/50's pirellis on the front and dunlpos on the back. The correct size would be a 45 profile but these were easier to source as part worns and have loads of tread

[ImysE30]

Stanced

[appletree]

Are the pirrellis Psottozeros or something simular? if so I fitted these to the missus Mondeo two winters ago and have been nothing but superb in the countryside snow we have here on un salted roads they were awsome.

[Kos]

Yes they are on the front

The back is running Dunlop winters SP's which I also had on the e39. Also a very good winter tyre

[mcbonio]

I have those CCFL fitted on my factory xenons, they look good, I also have headlight auto leveling system and headlight washers.....

... I believe the law now states a headlamp leveling or cleaning device is required for MOT if the car is fitted any form of HID lights. You might get away with it unless you get a really arsey MOT tester.... You gonna retrofit them?

[Blitz]

You can see its got headlight washers already.

[mcbonio]

So it has.!

[pony]

Is the quoted power 231 bhp or 321PS ? I've seen it listed as both.

Either way, I'm sure if I throw in a new genuine air filter and dyno'd on day when it wasn't so hot or humid it would make a few extra HP, not too bothered. I'm more interested in the gains it makes

Haven't read the whole thread but having seen on TV a car dynoed before and after all of these individual changes they managed to get just 1-3 bhp shy of manufacturer quoted bhp .... I think was on Fifth Gear ? Or maybe mike brewer ?
Anyway the steps they took were

Redex fuel treatment cleaner this made big improvement about 5bhp
Full service including oil filter, air filter, spark plugs etc
And new ht leads
Went from 13bhp down to just 2bhp from manufacturer quoted figures

[bss325i]

I believe the law now states a headlamp leveling or cleaning device is required for MOT if the car is fitted any form of HID lights. You might get away with it unless you get a really arsey MOT tester.... You gonna retrofit them?

Nope, to pass an MOT the auto level and wash devices only have to work IF fitted.

Basically you can have HID's without those two things and pass an MOT as long as the beam image and colour are correct.

[pony]

Fuel cleaner gave 6bhp
Oil flush + New Air filter gave 2bhp
New spark plugs + New HT leads gave 3bhp
So regained 11bhp

Found the clip for you was really educational for me

[Kos]

I have those CCFL fitted on my factory xenons, they look good, I also have headlight auto leveling system and headlight washers.....

... I believe the law now states a headlamp leveling or cleaning device is required for MOT if the car is fitted any form of HID lights. You might get away with it unless you get a really arsey MOT tester.... You gonna retrofit them?

3 posts up from yours mate

And the xenons in all their glory

As for MOT, as Barry said auto level isn't required

[Kos]

Is the quoted power 231 bhp or 321PS ? I've seen it listed as both.

Either way, I'm sure if I throw in a new genuine air filter and dyno'd on day when it wasn't so hot or humid it would make a few extra HP, not too bothered. I'm more interested in the gains it makes

Haven't read the whole thread but having seen on TV a car dynoed before and after all of these individual changes they managed to get just 1-3 bhp shy of manufacturer quoted bhp .... I think was on Fifth Gear ? Or maybe mike brewer ?
Anyway the steps they took were

Redex fuel treatment cleaner this made big improvement about 5bhp
Full service including oil filter, air filter, spark plugs etc
And new ht leads
Went from 13bhp down to just 2bhp from manufacturer quoted figures

I'm not bothered too much about it being a couple of HP down

As for the gains, we'll just have to see.

On a side note, I fitted HID's to the maid beams

[SAP1]

Spotted you in Luton today by Telford roundabout, i was in a blue 04 plate corsa