Vein's Black 330Ci Sport

[VeinAST]

Sensor was plugged in, new plug was soldered on! No idea in that case... very reluctant to want to do/help with anything and I wouldn't recommend them to anybody!!

[rix313]

You're better off with it unplugged it's feckin cold out thats all you need to know lol!

Name and shame

[VeinAST]

Another mildly boring update!!

Finally have had a decent chance to wash the car! Been back and forth to work and Yeovil now and again so after a well deserved lie in thought it was time I tackled the beast!

Dad got some spray on Turtle Wax wheel cleaner from B&M for £2 a pop and it's brilliant, almost as good as Wonder Wheels and far better than that red Simoniz stuff!

Unfortunately only took one picture before as it started to rain!



It then became torrential so I couldn't be bothered with the car after I'd got soaked doing the wheels!

After lunch rain stopped and I got on with the rest of the car!

Gave me a chance to look at the rust on the wing properly...



...but don't worry, a replacement wing is all new and boxed up in the garage ;)

[VeinAST]

Thought I'd do a small update! After recently paying off the car (FINALLY) I decided it was time to make plans for getting the wing done, although it's never that simple!

About 3 weeks ago I was going (slightly over) the speed limit on a certain road and I hit a pothole!

The bastard buckled one of my lovely MV1s and knocked the rear ABS sensor out.

Then to top it all off during last week I hit a tree stump in work's car park (late at night, stressful day, pitchblack etc etc)

So it's been in the garage a couple times, already had the ABS sensor sorted and they've popped the sideskirt back in as I thought I'd buggered that up completely and I've bought a set of new wheels .

Unfortunately people ask silly prices for the MV1s individually and I needed a new wheel ASAP as it's a daily so found some nice M-Parallel reps (boo reps!).

Only problem is they're a lower offset (from a 5-series) and I'm awaiting some spigot rings to correct the centre bore!

But I should have some dish

Anyway, (crapp iPhone) photo time!
New Wheels


Frontage


Rear, did the tail pipes which I thought were quite good


Scuff where I hit the tree stump


Thought I'd keep you updated with the rust!


Plans next month:
Wing and sideskirt painted and fitted!

[Blitz]

I dont know why those smoked front indicators are so popular. I think they look hideous.

[VeinAST]

I think they're extremely marmite! I'm not even 100% on them myself but they'll do for the time being! Will get some clear ones when I've sorted the major stuff out.

[VeinAST]

Another mildly boring update.

Wheels are gone, they fitted but the tyres were wrong and i have a random rear lowering spring (or the fucker's snapped!) which I was unaware of so more expense to sort out!

The garage bill was also a few ton so that's the next big payout to sort.

I'm looking at pushing the wing to be done in May now at the earliest!

Well it was extremely sunny today so I thought I'd crack on with giving it a clean (I'm not a detailer so it's still technically dirty but I'm happy) Gave the inside a bit of a clean too!

Oh I also put the original indicators back on, looks alot better I think!

Only "before" pic I took


After!






Over exposure but a bit of nice interior too!

[VeinAST]

All quiet on the western front...

Not really had anything exciting happen as of late!

On eBay I spotted someone was selling genuine BMW dealer keyrings from the garage my car came from so I decided to purchase them and ditch the ClioSport keyrings!







I also had a great idea and found some non sport black doorcards, I intend to do a bit of "Individual" pokery on them and turn them two tone as I think with everything being 100% grey inside it's not as classy as it could be!

So something like this(yes i know its an E90):



From these manky things:



Not sure what's to come, stay in tune!

[bss325i]

and i have a random rear lowering spring (or the fucker's snapped!) which I was unaware of so more expense to sort out!

It will be a snapped spring. Very common on E46's.

[spook]

What a very nice car

[VeinAST]

£10 for doorcards
£6 for a TX50 tool bit
£5 for silicone sealant
Free use of a plastic welder and...

I spent the whole morning/afternoon in the sun ripping the door cards out, drilling, plastic welding (inhaling alot of plastic fumes) and then refitting.

Before that though, the car's now on 100,020 miles!!



Realllly poor blurry photo at 50mph (private land of course)



Rear seats out (Found £1.25 here, a plectrum and 3 pens!)


No "during" pics as I was so focused...





Fitted in the car...





Also less interesting was degunking the rear lights...



Next time, front doorcards hopefully!!

[VeinAST]

Thanks guys... so here is the passenger door card done! Took it off around half 9 and have been working on it since, only just finished really!

I did spray the passenger door pull satin black too but it's come out CRAP but it's only experimental, in the near future I'm probably going to get a red M3 interior and shove it all in!

Anyway, I skipped breakfast and lunch to get this done and I've got a headache from the fumes so I'm going to leave you with some pics of the final product!












I will do the driver's door card after I get the wing done next month!

[VeinAST]

The more I take off of this car, the more I learn about it!

So... before a nice friendly BBQ yesterday I decided to take the driver's door off in preparation for the "Indvidual" treatment.

Only whilst doing this did I notice that the "airbag flap" had alot of cracks on the back and the airbag itself was blown!






I knew the car had been given a new rear quarter in it's time but didn't know how much damage it had incurred! (Serves me right for buying one with no SH).

Anyway... that's added to the list of things to buy!

For now I shall leave this doorcard off as I intend to get the wing sorted next month so some temporary measures have been put in place so I can still get out of the car!



I didn't have any facemasks so a quick tea towel did the job nicely although it didn't stop me in getting a burn from the welder (I yelped like a little girl when it caught me)






Finished product


Been looking at some new smoked (prefacelift) rear lights too to freshen the back end up as I can't be bothered with the ballache of LEDs.

[leeparkes]

This is starting to look like a nice chariot.

[VeinAST]

Ok, so I felt it was time to update the thread.

Unfortunately on the morning of 26/4/12 I was involved in an RTC at a roundabout near me, white box van drove straight across my path and the rear beam sideswiped the N/S of my car which left me quite shocked and upset but thankfully not injured!

Driver didn't stop nor any witnesses, but I did get the reg. Spent the next few hours in the car on the phone to insurance/police/work/parents.

Anyway, the car's gone for repairs today, I should get it back next week all fixed up.

I don't care about opinions, nobody was there except me and I'm not going into detail on a public forum but a few pictures for you all:





Duct-taped to drive to repair shop this morning



On a positive note the driver's side door panel is done (with new airbag in also!).



I can update this when they've done the repairs (also getting the rusty wing sorted at the same time so paint matches)

[bss325i]

Look on the bright side, at least one of the rusty wings is getting done through the other guys insurance.

[VeinAST]

Looking forward to it very much so! Got some plans up towards Xmas for it too - nothing major but a few hundred sterlings at least.

[VeinAST]

Got the car back today! Uber happy. Slight issue of the NS wing needs lifting slightly to align it but apart from that it's looking great!
Hoorah for bad iPhone pics...





The once rusty wing...



Have to represent your local forum too... !



Just got a year's MOT it failed first time for incorrect headlamp aim and corroded rear brake lines but all sorted now
Insurance is due in 2 weeks and with a pending claim it's given my NCB a knocking for the time being! Hopefully will buy some black mats though from eBay to tide me over and then definitely some LED rears.

[VeinAST]

So, last Saturday morning a ClioSport member fitted my front and rear springs and new bilstein rear shocks at his workplace.

One of the shocks had a plastic cover worn through and was dented so it was a good thing I bought the new ones.

Unfortunately I have a creaking at the rear whenever I go over a large dip or a speedbump from the O/S rear and I thought the above would fix it but not so!

I posted a thread on E46Zone after I noticed the O/S rear was a bit lower than the N/S, they seemed to think it was very common on most E46s due to the fact it's a LHD car and because of the 50/50 weight distribution it compensates when the driver is in the car (although no good for RHD).

People seemed to think the only way to cure it is via coilovers but someone mentioned a rear spring pad so that was my next purchase!

£8+ VAT and the standard Sport spring pads at the back are 5mm, as the parts man at Wellsway Bath put it the "Poor suspension package" has the 14.5mm spring pad so hopefully this should cure it, I'll attempt to fit it on Sunday morning!

Also I bought a new key as I didn't have a spare, and with the IOW Festival 6 days away I would've hated to lose my key and not get home!

So... to summarise, as with most cars, lots of money spent and not much to show!


You'll notice the rear slant here (its not just the driveway!)


Nearside - Standard height (after the 15mm drop)


Offside - Standard but with the extra sag


New rear spring pad


New key

[VeinAST]

So... didn't lose my key thankfully.

What a s**t weekend for mud!! Saw some brilliant acts though, The Stranglers were the favourite for me!

I packed it in tight... the camping gear and booze anyway, unfortunately didn't fit the rear spring pad so got uber scrapage on the way down!!

Good fun though apart from the waterlogged field, arrived early anyway so only queued for 40 minutes compared to some poor b*****ds queuing for alot longer!!












---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another small update, only minor but something had to cheer me up before work this morning!





Thanks very much to "Pukar"!

Think I may be getting a brand new Scorpion backbox too this week if I can just press "Buy it Now" off eGay.

[VeinAST]

Soo... bigger update from me! (OEMers will hate me for it!)

I've been contemplating a Dynavin/Andrive ever since I bought the car but considering the car's not really worth much I didn't think it was worth spending a sixth of the value on something I wouldn't be able to use in another vehicle!

I also managed to snap the grab handle blanks on the headlining off as the previous owner had used some dodgy superglue so new covers and blanks from BMW were much welcomed!

Back to the stereo though... I was browsing eBay and came across the iDA-X305s, fairly decent headunit, not the best looking but it did what I actually wanted the Dynavin/Andrive to do which was to read the iPod and play music through it.

The standard headunit is an odd thing. As you may see in Halfords there are cheap fascias which sit the stereo over to the left and there's this big blank gap on the right hand side which also looks cheap!

BMW do actually have their own centrally located fascia for an OEM Becker headunit so I had to buy it! This meant hacking the old stereo's fitment in the original setting but it's done the job and all fitted!

Also had to take the whole centre console apart just to route the USB extension lead so I could put the iPod in the sunglasses compartment!

[capri_rob]

did the spring pad mod work ?

when I bought my 330 Touring I noticed that the drivers side rear sits slightly lower than the passenger side but I've been underneath and checked the springs and all seems good - no broken coils or anything else amiss and its just had an MOT.

Might give the spring pad a go

Nice work

How much was the first aid box - I've got the kit but the door has bust off it

[hennared323i]

How much was the first aid box - I've got the kit but the door has bust off it

Think ! paid about 15 quid posted from Cotswalds for mine.

[VeinAST]

Yeah £15 for the First Aid box new from Cotswold BMW eBay page!

The spring pad has yet to be fitted, need Rix313 to sort it out for me!! Few people on E46Zone have said it's sorted the problem and raised the car abit!

[VeinAST]

Been quiet this week, buying parts from eBay and waiting... planning to get alot of things done all at once!

Sent some parts to Spray Shack, my spare door handles, dash trims and gearknob surround to be painted piano black... was an option of choice on BMWs, don't know if it was a cost option but I need to get rid of my shoddy carbon cubed ones!



Got this picture sent through so am uber excited

Also have been working on the speakers and making sure they fit in the OEM slots.

Tweeters were easy enough, with the spare set pushed the old ones out and then used a drill just to widen the gap and sand paper to perfect!
I didn't want to use silicone or anything just incase I upgraded again so they're in nice and tight!





The speakers themselves are quite shallow which is good but the magnet is bigger so I'm expecting improved quality rather than loudness!





They're actually the same size as the old speakers so I needed to find a way to get them mounted.

At first tried cutting an old piece of doorcard up to make a mount but it ended badly, poorly cut, poorly sized and just not worth anymore effort.







Having a spare pair of speakers I just decided to cut the speakers out and use the existing mounts and drill the new speakers into them.



Yet to find out how it will work out but I should be getting the refurbed door trims back next week and also a new doorcard as the one I have on at the moment isn't to satisfaction!

[VeinAST]

After receiving my bits from Spray Shack I just couldn't wait to get the first bits fitted!!

Also received a new door card through the post as the old one had a few things I wasn't happy with (cracked speaker grille and also material nicked on one side).
Nice corner of my new door card



So up until now I've spent the morning undoing the old door card, drilling out the material from the new one and then replacing the leather into the new one!

Before


After


Before


After






Photo of the iPod in it's home





Also refitted the stereo with new steering controls.

I will do the rear trims soon, especially as the door card has been coming away for ages and it needs a few screws in the back of it!



Next time, LED rear lights finallyy!!

[pnd]

piano black is a huge improvement But can't it be done by just removing and replacing the carbon fibre stickers? I have one of these and was contemplating new stickers although generally i can't be bothered to spend on cosmetics.

[VeinAST]

The carbon fibre is aluminium effect trim glued to the top of plastic inserts.

Would be alot of effort going that wa about it!

[VeinAST]

So, decided to get on with the rears today, lots of silicone and screwing yet again but all good now!



Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Also tackled the B-Pillar, had a nasty tear in it which I couldn't bear to see anymore!

Before:


After:


Car's nowhere near perfect inside but it's so much better to be in, rather than a sea of grey!

LED rears ordered today hopefully for the weekend!

Will be ordering all new Harmon Kardon door handles and rear speaker covers soon and then some black seat backs!

[VeinAST]

Fitted these this morning then gave the car a clean!

Fitment is about 99.9% perfect but the whole setup is great.

No warning lights on the dash and all the lights working correctly (get a slight flickering when sidelights/normal lights are on but brake is fine).

But has updated the rear vastly!

Before:



After:



Clean in Leekes carpark!

[lyricalnut02]

good work

[capri_rob]

very nice looking car this

[VeinAST]

Cheers guys, couple big updates!!

05/09/2012

Ear Ear!

Well, only a couple pictures but I didn't want to fit my speakers by butchering the OEM connections so I bought some 2.8mm spade connectors from ebay and got to work as they arrived this morning.

Unfortunately my eye has been a right b*****d since yesterday so took a little longer than it should've done!

Anyway, made my own little connectors and voila, music sounds so much clearer although on some heavy rock tracks I do have a little rattle from the doorcards!







Going to look at doing the rear speakers soon, going to order some Harman Kardon rear speaker covers!

Tax is due though at the end of the month £148 until March!

08/09/2012

Aesthetically pleasing! No major jobs this weekend, am working so only got things that take 5 minutes to fit!

Harman Kardon rear speaker covers!



Before


and of course After


Did also get a new Harman Kardon door handle for the offside so all HK'd up now!

New speakers I shall order this week and get them fitted in the rear but with tax coming up can't really spend more!

17/09/2012

Might aswell put something nice under the rear speaker covers now!

Got some Alpine SPG-17C2 speakers (keeping Alpine themed), think they're ideally meant for front door installs but they do the job well.

I'm never going to fit a subwoofer either so it's all about quality of the sound!

Just a few install shots and comparison.







Also won this on eBay the other day!! Absolute steal for the whole interior but I was only after the front and rear seats, going to pick up next weekend fingers crossed!

29/09/2012

Finally fitted the M3 seats!! Only problems I ran into were the rear seat nut rounding itself off,
the first aid box got me straight in the teeth whilst putting it back in (blooody ouch) and also
the lumber switch on the driver's side seat fell apart when I touched it so I need to order a new one!













Got the interior dead cheap though so it's something I can sleep relatively sound about!
Cleaned the car aswell but no photos!

Now it's just the expensive stuff left for me to buy and then I'll be happy!

[VeinAST]

Few updates from my other thread on ClioSport:

--------------------------------------------
23/10/12

I have a new list I suppose since it's over a year I've now had the car!
Sort the rear droop out, get the new rear spring pad fitted and whatever else needs doing to it
Get a new set of wheels/tyres
Soundproof the rear parcel shelf to stop the thing rattling
Fit some Xenons up front
Bonnet respray or M3 bonnet possibly in carbon fibre
New exhaust or backbox and possibly have the center silencers cut out
Inspection 2 due in 5,500 miles

Quick picture earlier in Tescos



E39 M5s have dropped in price though so much... just tempted to save a few £K and buy one!!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
09/11/12


No updates really... got a nice I<3CS sticker from Brian this week so put that on and got a tattoo so no spending on the car for at least a couple weeks!



--------------------------------------------------------------
19/11/12

Secret messages


------------------------------------------------------------------
27/11/12

Lucky to be alive? Slightly overdramatic you may say but very true.

Had a dap of oppo on the way home on Sunday afternoon, with the heavy rain I was going a smidge over the speed limit and it would've been fine if it was dry but hey ho...

Anyway... going at the smidge I was... I was on a straight bit of road, saw a nice patch of water and err that's when I knew the elements would take over the control of the car

The rear of the car skidded out and hit the embankment on the other side of the road and luckily nothing was coming.

The rear wheel's now bent in a bit and the only bodywork that was hit was the petrol filler flap which had just popped open.

Lesson learnt for definite!

In the garage tomorrow and then hopefully be sorted on Friday... just more expense but tbh money is nothing for life!





--------------------------------------------------------
30/11/12

Got the car back today! Just been out for a drive, despite the w**kers on the roads it was a great drive!

The new rear spring pad in and it's raised a bit on the rear which is nice too so hopefully wont have too much scrubbing in the future!

So it's looking like overall costs:

Control Arm
Tracking
Possible dianostics charge
+ 2 or 3 hours of labour

I'm thinking £360ish

[VeinAST]

Car was fixed, bill totalling £433 so was right apart from the VAT!

Plans for the future

New tyres
New Wheels
Inspection II in 4000 miles
Xenon Headlights
M3 or E92 mirrors
Scorpion backbox
Black plastic interior/seat trims to match the two tone doorcards
Sort the rear toe in
Bonnet respray or carbon bonnet

Kind of a wishlist really but top three are priority!