Been a while... RHD E46 Sedan fixup

[OutToWinPAHC]

Well I sold the Toyota ST185 last august or so and a few months ago I picked up this BMW. No real plan for it, but its growing on me. I got it cheap, and it came with a boat load of issues. Funny thing is... vehicle is not grey market, even passed tech inspection by cali/carb and is 50 state legal.

What it is - notes in bold
1996 E46 318i Saloon, 4 cylinder-single cam-non vanos M43B19TU and 6 speed transmission. Engine knocking, no oil pressure

Factory options:
-6 Disc CD changer & tape deck
-Grey cloth interior, filthy
-No sunroof
-Alarm
-Anti-Lock Brakes
-Air Conditioning
-Cruise Control
-Rear Window Defroster
-Power Door Locks
-Power Mirrors
-Power Windows DS regulator broken
-Power Steering
-Side Airbags
-Tilt/Telescope Steering Wheel

Modifications:

Exterior:
-Custom Lamborghini Pearl White (Balloon White) paint job
-CSL style front bumper Actually a modified M3 bumper trimmed and Glassed to fit the sedan, needs paint
-Projector headlights(HID 6k) / Updated smoked LED taillights with smoked corners & side markers
-AC schnitzer roof spoiler
-Euro-Spec CSL trunk
-Mtech rear bumper (needs repair and replacement black part)
-Black grills (spraypainted)
-E46 M3 style power mirrors (convex blue mirrors)
-Window visors
-Vibrant exhaust (aka muffler)
-Limo tint all 5 windows
-Luxor1 LED license plate lights
Suspension/Brakes/Wheels:
-Suspension Techniques Coilovers
-Brembo 4 pot front
-OEM 335i (Style 189) 18in wheels w. Bridgestone Potenza RFTs (225/40 front | 255/35 rear) "run flat tires"

Interior/sounds:
-Suede roof liner, suede shift boot & suede e-brake boot
-Carbon fiber wrapped trim
-Silver gauge rings
-Rare Victor steering wheel with silver trim + audio controls
-Luxor1 LED interior lights
-MB Quart speakers
-MB Quart crossovers

Engine/Misc:
-Polished valve cover

________________________________________________

So yeah... the motor is blown, ds window wont go up for down, cluster wont communicate, interior is disgusting, HIDs wont work, front bumper is cracked and chipped, rear bumper is cracked and saggy.

So far I have gone through the car and I have imported a replacement M43 engine. However I am using a M43B19 from a E36 instead of an E46. They are cheap, but they are said to be more reliable. Inspected regulator, tried resetting K bus to access cluster verified cluster wiring.

2011 Photo I have found of it.







Photos when it was for sale when I bought it.

Notice cluster light and idle and all the crap



In my hands, got it transported and towed to tot he garage.

Metal for days


Ordered this from the UK, took 2 months to get here.

Took it apart kinda to inspect and other than dirty it's good. cleaned it up and I ordered a complete gasket kit, seals, tensioner, oil pick up, tons of o rings, fresh top to bottom. Only snag is I need to order a e36 ac pulley, some e36 specific bolt on stuff, and im waiting on some dealer parts. Painted it copper.

Pulled the bad motor

stripped the good parts I need for the long block and wanted to see what went bad. #3 rod bearing is gone.




some randoms

[OutToWinPAHC]

pics added

[blue91lx]

Your style, I like it.

[Big_Jim]

I love the attention to detail in your builds. Can't wait to see how this comes along.

[OutToWinPAHC]

Because you need to swap so much to make even another e46 motor work I swapped a stock motor in... its slow, like 115hp lol. I'm not going to build it, but the motor and trans will be fresh, the bay will be painted, it will ne neat. Then I will scrub the interior and shampoo that for now. I am going to be looking out for leather seats (black or grey), I also need to replace and program a cluster and replace the regulator for the window. Then I am going to have the bumpers and door trims repaired and painted.

Then eventually I will decide do I make it a monster or keep it the way it is. All the can bus crap makes swapping this a bitch. But I under stand electrical better than most people so if I can make the windows and lights work and make AC work I can build a cluster and swap it. Probably just do something like a ford 302/5 speed. No need to dump too much into it.

[mcperson2k]

Theres a build thread of a guy in another country, who built an immaculate, flawless, e46 sedan into a m3. I mean part for part, with too much custom fab to get everything to fit.

This thing is ****ing awesome, minus the RHD, not for me.

[blue91lx]

I has black E36 M3 seats (non vader) that I can let go for cheap if that would interest you.

[Shipman]

Regardless of the issues, the car is beautiful.

[OutToWinPAHC]

I thought it was cool, so I just figured hmm. Parts are surprisingly cheap.

E36 M43 has some difference from E46 but all easily addressed. Crank pickup is pulled mounted on e36, and crank mounted on e46 but some tooth and position count, just need to extend the harness. Timing covers, and oil pan must be used from the e46 due to sensor mounts. Water pipe connectors need to be e36 as they are different size and I need to convert the hose ends to normal vs the euro style.

The head gasket / bolt hit is here and have all the upper gaskets and such, I ordered an oil pan, seals, oil filter housing and other gaskets from Pelican parts. The M43 block is externally the same as M42 and M44, and most parts do share which makes it easy. Trans is the same as a late e36 318 model.

Since the long block I got is low mile and has good comp numbers I'm not going to do a head gasket for now. I may mess with the head off the bad motor. The porting is so small, so I may go to town port matching the gasket, having it cut and serviced. There are a few cams available for this motor too so I may just cam it and get it tuned. Basically just NA tune, light flywheel from the dual mass and drive it like that. Wont be fast but better than stock.

[OutToWinPAHC]

Some of my gaskets and cooling parts are in. But I still need a bit more.

[Vr-4-Life]

ah nice... You and the damn RHD though lol

[empera]

good work, looks good!

[OutToWinPAHC]

motor is in the car, all fresh gaskets, pumps, seals, water connectors, and some new sensors. Gonna try to get it plumbed and wired up over the weekend and maybe even start it. Picked up a grey leather interior for it. once runing I will need to fix the cluster and then replace with window regulator. The front bumper is at a body shop getting prepped and cleaned up for painting. Due to some waveyness I will be replacing the rear bumper too. I'll grab pics this week, but the engine bay is painted black now. Also picked up another RB motor over the weekend, have been toying with the idea of a rb swap in this, well see.

[OutToWinPAHC]

oh and i sent the extra valve cover to powder coat, dormant purple.

[dudewheresmycar]

cool.

[OutToWinPAHC]

Welp... scratch that motors in and all ready but its not able to run on he e46 ecu aka DME, gonna put an RB in it lol. Already modifying a RB26 transmission in to rwd, net step is pulling it all back out and getting to work on mounts and oil pan (rear sump RB pan)

[Vr-4-Life]

lol Mixing sushi and kraut? Knock it off dude lol

[OutToWinPAHC]

Nah just getting rid of the trash

[CleanNeon98]

I have to ask where it's from being RHD. I doubt it was used by USPS

[OutToWinPAHC]

England.... RB26 trans has been converted. Pretty simple overall, I am going to start ruining a good oil pan to make it rear sump