CoupEdin Posted July 9, 2018 Report Share Posted July 9, 2018 (edited) Thought I'd start a build thread to share what I'm doing and keep me motivated. The base car is a Sapphire black 2002 330CI Sport, Hellbeige front electric/heated leather, Auto gearbox, Xenons, Power Mirrors, Rain Sensor, HK, FCA, TV and Nav. I became only the third owner last year, with 74,000 on the clock and a complete BMW FSH. Having owned the same model back in 2003, a 325Ci in silver, manual, cloth interior with literally no extras, I've now got a great opportunity to create my perfect E46. Which means; it looks completely standard on the outside, has a supercharger under the bonnet, slightly firmer at each corner, slightly quicker steering, better brakes and with every comfort and extra inside a great cabin. I don't want it louder or lower. And I don't want to use anything other than OE for anything you can see or touch. Now, I know I could buy an M3, but that just becomes an arms race, my brother's had several, and they're just a bit too 'shouty' for me. Edited August 6, 2018 by CoupEdin berts 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted July 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2018 (edited) This car is almost completely original but lived on the street for a long time and has one or two signs of age. The bonnet wasn't secured properly by owner #2 which meant it flipped up, folded in half and has been replaced. The paint job on this replacement is shocking, hardly any paint at all, and has worn away in parts. Do I find an original bonnet in the same colour or get this repainted? Both front wheelarches are fine but the near side has been creased and the bumper on that corner is slightly out of alignment. Paint required. And the lower parts of the front bumper are badly grazed from kerbing. Paint required. Elsewhere the rear window seals are badly worn and need to be replaced, but at £86 each I'm going to see if I can source them cheaper from the US. Other bad points: The front screen has a chip that can't be repaired and it will fail it's MOT :-( Maybe a chance to retrofit the Comfort Glass, which I had before. The windscreen washer has the bad earth problem The AM radio doesn't work at all and FM is 'patchy' - I'm thinking the rear screen is the culprit, having already tried to clean all the contacts in the antennae amp My wife kerbed the OSF wheel 'parking'! The valve cover gasket is leaking. The power steering fluid reservoir is leaking Bought two new keys and would like to finish it with the wallet key some day Had the owners manuals, and loads of receipts So far I've fitted or retro-fitted Rear blind Third head rest Centre three point belt Ski hatch Compass mirror Aux input Mk 4 DVD Nav BMW Telephone ULF Gen 9 Digital TV upgrade Sharkfin OE Rear LED lights Facelit trim piece above the rear number plate SSG shift button steering wheel - retrimmed +2mm - M Sport lower trim piece Boot release button Reversing camera X5 E53 Intensive Wash stalk Later Climate Control panel Dateless plate Edited August 5, 2018 by CoupEdin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted July 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted July 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2018 (edited) SSG wheel was a nice project got the wheel recovered by TrimDeluxe. With it being an auto there are times when button shifting is handy. I wanted to keep the M Sport wheel trim piece, so the trimmer filled in the gap. Here's the wheel as it came out of the scrapped donor car. And here's my wheel out of the car This is what it looked like inside - a wee bit of soldering required to get the switches to work - you push either sid to go down a gear and pull either side to go up. One hand on the wheel only required Edited July 9, 2018 by CoupEdin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted July 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2018 (edited) Had the wheel made 2mm thicker and recovered to look OE Feels great and works perfectly Edited August 5, 2018 by CoupEdin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted July 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2018 (edited) Rear blind Edited July 9, 2018 by CoupEdin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incredirog Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 Looks really good, it’s a great concept OEM+ and one I’ve tried to steer my efforts towards. Have you got any details or pics of the compass mirror and intensive wash upgrades? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted July 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 I bought the Compass Mirror on US eBay and a colleague brought it back for me. I was expecting to have to change the plug on either the loom end, or the mirror end, but just for once it was plug and play... cost me about £75. I already had the auto dim feature btw, and it worked straight off the bat, which was nice! Took about 10 mins. I bought the intensive wash stalk for £12.50, it's a direct fit/swap BUT, Intensive Wash is not an E46 option (I subsequently found out) - but all is not lost! What this gives me now is a 'push-to-make' button, which I will either use to turn PDC gong off (sometimes, say when you're on the phone, being able to silence PDC is handy) or if I ever get round to doing the Tungmeister touchscreen with Android I will use the S button to switch between the OE signal (RGB/VGA) and the Android HDMI input - either option via grounding a relay. You basically run a wire from the switch down through the steering column and behind the dash. I've also seen it wired up to the General Module (pin 17 I think) to allow you to manually wash headlights IF you already have the feature. Will post pics up at the weekend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incredirog Posted July 11, 2018 Report Share Posted July 11, 2018 15 hours ago, CoupEdin said: I've also seen it wired up to the General Module (pin 17 I think) to allow you to manually wash headlights IF you already have the feature. That’s a really neat idea, off the top of your head, would it be possible to make the two functions independent? screen or headlights? at the moment I only code them to work in the depths of winter which isn’t exactly and elegant solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted July 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2018 Yes. Pull towards will wash and wipe the screen, push the S button to wash the headlights, via Pin 17. incredirog 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirkynut Posted July 25, 2018 Report Share Posted July 25, 2018 This is a nice project with a different slant to it to the usual stuff. Did it come with the Supercharger on it or is that part of your project? Kirkynut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted July 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2018 Thanks Kirky Going to put an ESS Twin Screw on it - planning to fly to Norway and get it actually. Currently trying to work out if when it's got more power whether lowering the Final Drive would make sense. I'm thinking on long, boring motorway journeys doing about 80-odd dropping the revs down from about 3k to around 2.6k would make sense. I spoke to John Cockburn at JC Racing, Thirsk, about SC and the Auto box and he didn't see a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted August 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2018 (edited) I'm really not fan of the original interior - way too beige for me - so taking my inspiration from this I bought some two tone door cards and re-coloured the leather Hellbeige. Went from this To this Added the black handbrake gaiter which matches the gear shift gaiter and the bottom half of a black front centre armrest. Got the seat backs and side trims for £20 Also bought new black carpet side trims and the lateral panels. If anyone knows a good substance to put on the black of the door cards please let me know Edited August 6, 2018 by CoupEdin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehallone Posted August 7, 2018 Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 Love the two-tone effect! Always been a fan of cream/beige leather but you're right having it all that colour did wash it out a bit. Looks tonnes better with the black editions. Are you planning on keeping the 'wood' trim or going black with that too? Or Carbon maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted August 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 Thanks - I agree the all beige is criminal, really dates the car. For now the walnut trim is staying - I've got a spare set which I might have hydro-dipped piano black - by the guy in Cleethorpes. Thing is I don't like taking door cards on and off too much. Priorities are front end paint and a replacement windscreen as it has a split/crack and will fail its MOT. I'm going to pay for an OE BMW screen and get the Climate Comfort, to add another optional extra to the list! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehallone Posted August 7, 2018 Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 25 minutes ago, CoupEdin said: Thanks - I agree the all beige is criminal, really dates the car. For now the walnut trim is staying - I've got a spare set which I might have hydro-dipped piano black - by the guy in Cleethorpes. Thing is I don't like taking door cards on and off too much. Priorities are front end paint and a replacement windscreen as it has a split/crack and will fail its MOT. I'm going to pay for an OE BMW screen and get the Climate Comfort, to add another optional extra to the list! Sounds like a good plan. I reckon this one will be a real show stopper in a couple of years. Excited to see the progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted August 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 (edited) https://photos.app.goo.gl/KoZrcM6R6LLjS4EE8 Edited August 8, 2018 by CoupEdin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incredirog Posted September 5, 2018 Report Share Posted September 5, 2018 On 11/07/2018 at 12:57, CoupEdin said: Yes. Pull towards will wash and wipe the screen, push the S button to wash the headlights, via Pin 17. it’s pin 12, at least on my 03 touring. great addition but my advice, if you’ve got kids put a isolation switch on it as it’s always live even ignition off keys out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted September 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2018 On 9/5/2018 at 20:24, incredirog said: it’s pin 12, at least on my 03 touring. great addition but my advice, if you’ve got kids put a isolation switch on it as it’s always live even ignition off keys out. Wow! How strange - thanks for the heads up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incredirog Posted September 7, 2018 Report Share Posted September 7, 2018 no worries, thanks for the idea! after I tried 17 unsuccessfully and a bit of head scratching I googled GM5 pinouts and went off this: https://www.bmwgm5.com/GM5_Connections.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim-Ci Posted September 28, 2018 Report Share Posted September 28, 2018 I like your plans for the car CoupEdin, expecially the supercharging part. One thing that really improved my interior was to cover the black seat back moudinga in black (genuine) alcantara, it just makes the interior feel a bit more classy imho. It took a few hours, and came out extremely well, and still looks fine after about 3 years. I used a spray contact adhesive to mount the alcantara, and found out that brake cleaner (luckily) removes any overspray without discolouring the alcantara. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted October 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2018 Thanks Tim.. I like alcantara and will bear that in mind. Next up is paint - front wings, bumper and bonnet Being an 02 pre facelift the side repeaters are stupidly half way up the wing. Whereas the M3 has them neatly tucked in those side trim pieces So I just bought a pair of M3 side trims, cheap, and all being well will cut-and-shut them with mine, then fill the OE slots before it gets painted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehallone Posted November 2, 2018 Report Share Posted November 2, 2018 love the attention to detail on this build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupEdin Posted November 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2018 So - bit of an update - finally managed to find a VF Supercharger - bit of a mission but it's back home now. TriggerFish and R11CH 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirkynut Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Things are starting to get real! Kirkynut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
