BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket

Given the amount of stuff underneath it, not at the moment. I may do one with the mid-section on.

So far, your way is the way I am doing it. It's fiddly, but doable. The other choice was to completely disconnect the tank, along with the filler neck and charcoal canister gubbins, and lower the tank down to the ground.

More pics will arrive soon. I may well make a video on this, as the E36 is documented but not the E46. While it's similar, there are some differences.

It does indeed have a joint by the bellhousing. There seems to be some questions about if all E46 M3s have them, and I'm guessing the non M3s as well. It seems possibly that the LCI cars didn't. That or no one removes the fuel filter shield, which conceals the joint very well as you say. I didn't think the joint was there until I removed it.

It's not a job I'm enjoying on the floor. I did have the offer of doing the work on a 4 poster but I turned it down for a few reasons

-The tank apparently is meant to be very fiddly to handle, even with no fuel. I've found it OK TBH!
-The chap's shed is wetter and colder than mine
-With no gearbox jack, I can imagine that supporting the tank would be tricky, and that a 4 poster would obscure things a little more in some cases
-I have a couple of scabby parts under my car, which I want to personally see to. I was told I could borrow the ramp for a week, but I suspect the underbody treatment and a parts holdup won't help matters. I already have found that I need two new exhaust gaskets. As I thought, the pattern ones I fitted last year to the backbox are already blowing, so it will be genuine replacements for that area.

I'll put up an update today .

You do have a good point there Brian! I did used to be a driveway warrior for years! I've been lucky having the unit now I must admit .

With me cracking on, I finally managed to liberate the necessary undetrays from the car. At this point I found a couple of things I was not expecting. First was the fuel filter. Nothing surprising about that. That is, until you look more closely at the date. Late 2011. So the filter was fitted in 2012 going off the car's history. However, the history states that the last Inspection II this last had was in 2015. Obviously, someone was told a porky at some point.




As you can see, the first Inspection II was done by the second owner.



The second bill, as you see, clearly points to the fuel filter being changed with the then 3rd owner of the car.

Not a massive biggie, but it's still annoying to see that someone was effectively was conned out of a full service.



Ah well, that's one place I'll recommend folks to avoid! Obviously, I'll refrain from putting up the name of the outfit, who seem to have glowing reviews on Google, but it has been noted. Why do I work on my own cars again? The above is one reason.

I guess at least the fuel filter is not as critical as some of the other filters on the car. The Mondeo for example, doesn't even have a fuel filter to be changed on it according to the service schedule. On a strainer which will stay in the car for its lifetime.

That said, I do have a delivery from Rock Auto to perform the Inspection II:




It's madness to think that I saved over £150 on Mahle items with the correct and updated part nos. as opposed to buying them locally! I'll not even mention how much cheaper the spark plugs were! Normally, I might have bought them from Opie Oils etc. but this time, cash unfortunately has to be king.

Anyway, alot like this brake pipe job, I'm procrastinating on talking actually talking about it! While it was annoying to see that someone in the past had been conned out of a filter on the car, and possibly more, I did see some signs of good news. I was expecting to change the brake hose and do one of two things

-Create a join underneath the car ; quite a few M3 owners have done this, even on the more valuable end-of-line CS models.
-Change the entire pipe back to the DSC unit in the engine bay.

Obviously, the latter is something I was keen to avoid. Upon seeing that there was a joint towards the front of the car, in a tight, but accessible area, I was a little more relieved about the job in hand!





As mattn36 has stated, there is indeed a join upstream. Looking at that shot, you'd be wondering why I am changing the brake lines.







Erm, that is why. They don't look too bad in those shots, but they do look worse in reality, especially when you bear in mind that I have sanded them down and greased them in the past! A sin I know, but I guess old habits die hard! I'll go to run and hide now!

It was then time to drop the tank now I had stripped out what was preventing the tank from being dropped.

Upon removing the rear seat, and the access panels removed, I was greeted with a surprise upon seeing the fuel tank.




Besides struggling to remove the rear seat due to the sound deadening attaching itself to the seat, and making that more of a struggle to remove, I did not expect the fuel tank and sender unit covers to have so much stuff around the top of them!

I realised that the earthy smell the car had was most likely down to this! Another job no doubt to add to the list. Clean what I can from the top of the fuel tank.

With the tank vacuumed at the top, the accessible connections removed & the propshaft centre bearing lowered slightly, it was time to drop the tank, which wasn't too difficult. All of this to do the job I need to do ; the brake lines replacement. One-by-one that is, so as the keep the routing and the connections the same as they were before. I was able to access some of the lines from within the car, with the tank dropped, which was quite handy! With a combination of wobble extensions and sockets, I had loosened the brake pipe mounts. Thankfully!

That is where I got to! Stupidly, I have lost my flare nut spanners! With that downer, I went and bought a set, awaiting for the now loose driver's side brake line to be changed.



That is where I am for now. We'll await to tackle the brake lines next time I am down.

eeeewwwwwwwww - how in the heck did that all get there???

With the old hose removed, would the Cheap bender be able to almost replicate the bends in the new pipe? I'll let the pictures do the talking here.










Obviously, I would play a part in where the bends went. I don't think the hose turned out that badly. I was quite impressed with myself for having the patience to do the bends! I could not stand around admiring my handiwork however, as if I were a Uni student who managed to make a great dish, which wasn't beans on toast!

And so, the car received the new pipe! It did require a small amount of tweaking to get into place so it didn't hit certain part of the car, but my bends were in the right place, which was a result!










So there we have it. One down. two more to go. The two being the reason for why I dropped the fuel tank in the first place.

It was all going so well! I even was bending pipes away! However, a few things happened

-Lockdowns ; Given the unit is 10 miles away, it's not somewhere I can exactly hop down to now
-Coldness ; It's been freezing! This never really used to be a problem in the unit ; it was always around 10 degrees inside as long all doors were shut on both my unit and the adjacent one. However, with a bunch of new folks next door, who are busy, it's now semi-freezing inside. It's fine for them with a Space heater in their relevant work area, but poor for me. Poor for me being a wimp, but also increasing the likelihood of breaking or fatiguing 18 year old plastics that weren't designed to last this long
-Mojo ; I bent that top pipe so well! Unfortunately, it catches the rear axle carrier panel as it's bent a little too short in one area! Not an issue, but I will have to lower the line slightly to correct this.


Naturally, some would say there's a solution for this. Stick at it a bit more, invest in a space heater. With me, I figured there was another solution. Sell off some stock I already have. In other words, procrastination

It's funny, when you have gone through a number of cars, you always end up with a selection of spares. You keep them at the time, thinking that you'll re-use them later. However, when the spares are required, they generally cannot be found! Some however, have a shelf life. In this case, it was the track tyres on the 18s.

Remember these on the left?




Those Kumhos V70As in the medium compound were a riot! Sure, they didn't work from immediately driving the car after you left it parked up for a week, but they were great fun! They gripped like something smelly on a blanket, made the car 'edgier' and a little more darty, but still more than playful. This culminated in me having a great time with these tyres in 2018 around the Spa track.



But, like all good things, they must come to an end. In this case, I felt the tyres time was due. Their time was almost up. They were dated 2013 when I bought them in 2018, which was kind of on the limit then! I proceeded to drive them around the track, and even kept them on the car when it was partially a daily back then too! But, 2021 arrived, and I knew that with this year's plans, it's unlikely that I'd ever use the tyres again, and that they would perish further. Instead of me hanging onto them, I put them up for sale. Given that I paid £350 delivered for them 3 years ago, I think I got my money's worth out of the tyres, even if I didn't use them alot!

The fact that the tyres were the wrong size for the M3 didn't help either!

It's better to have someone else enjoy them with planned trackdays over someone who won't use them. Make no mistake, I didn't want to sell them. I fancied trying them out once more, as a comparison to the Michelin Pilot Sport 4Ss tyres on the 19s, at least on a trackday, where variable can be put more into the data (lap times, feel etc.).

However, when the chap turned up in his M135i, and he handed over the cash, I knew it was the right decision to let them go. He plans to use them for trackdays this year, once they open up again, which will be the perfect send off for them .

Fear not though, I have kept the rims. It seems they are harder to pickup, and given that the rims are now quite cheap for me. They obviously will need a refurb at some point. This can wait for the timebeing, as I do have the wheels.







So, with this extra cash, what did I do? Buy another project! It's the RR way right?







Yup, it's another Ford. This time, a Mondeo ST220 in Stardust Silver with a red Recaro Leather interior. To some here, it's probably seems mad buying a dull Ford, but I had my reasons, even if they were flawed

Firstly, the spec was very good. Then I get to the underside. It's actually surprisingly solid underneath, probably moreso than my Mk4 structurally! With 97k on the clock, it's not too leggy for its age (2003 for those wondering), it was a known car for me. Finally, it was cheap.

There's nothing like a bit of nostalgia either. I loved the 3.0 V6 Estate I had years ago, and I semi-regretted not buying it back once it was written off. But what's done is done, and you should never go back. Which is why I went for a different variation. So what's the plan for this automotive chickenshed?

Not alot. It will be scrubbed up a bit inside and out, have the bumper repaired, and generally returned closer to a factory specification everywhere, including those wheels. It's not going to be a fast project. Far from it. It will be done bit-by-bit, as the parts come along locally and hopefully, relatively cheaply. I probably won't do a thread here, as despite it being old, and now with tricky to find parts as some will know from another thread here, it's probably not quite in the same league as a well respected M car.

Anyway, slight distraction off the M3 thread. While I have the Mondeo to tinker with, the plan is to sort out the M3 once the lockdown softens a touch. It seems a shame to have it looking like a forlorn barnfind a way away from me.

Looking forward to seeing how the seats turn out, having an E46 Touring an M3 is a dream car so always enjoy your updates,
Have to also give a second vote for either a separate Mondeo thread or occasional updates included in this thread,
Nigel

Cheers!

You might be waiting a while!

It seems there is no cheap way to put these seats into a car that didn't have them, but that doesn't mean savings can't me made. Having these seats come with the frames however has saved a small fortune. Recaro charge £260 a frame to convert the seats to a Generic Recaro base.

That's not to say, I don't have a plan. My plan is as follows with these

• List item 1
  
  Decide on which slider-frame assemblies I want. I know AMX sell a bunch of parts to make these fit for around £300(ish) and they mount the lowest of them all. Sounds great! Except, I'm not the tallest person in the world, so as long as they are at least as low as the factory seats I will be OK. Furthermore, peeps can run into issues with how they sit in the car (i.e they can be offset). AMX do modify these, but with Brexit and delays (of which my Mondeo isnow affected by a parts holdup), this route could potentially now get expenisve and time consuming, not to mention have hassle.
  
  Some are happy to ditch the pretensioners. For some reason, despite them being old, I fancy keeping the safety features .
  
  This brings me onto the second option. Recaro sell slider-frame assemblies that bolt the seats with the VDB I have directly into the car, and allow the pretensioners to fit. Some moan that they sit too high, but it seems alot of that is down to folks fitting the spacers Recaro provide for them. Remove the spacers and they then sit lower, like duh! I guess it's not obvious until it's explained to be fair. This does mean rear passengers can go in the back fine and have some space for their feet however, similar to the OEM seats. I don't always have rear passengers to be fair, but I've done a few long trips in this car with other folks inside. Being Recaro, they kind of are in the same family with the seats too I guess . A pair of frames however are £500. I think these have a bit of a kick to them in the squab section too. Hard to deliberate without seeming them however.
  
  
  
  The other choice? Corbeau do a similar slider-frame assembly to Recaro. I'd need to see if my Recaros could bolt onto these. If they can, these work out to £300, a little more pallatable. I guess I could machine spaces to get the kick on the squab or to my tastes if the Recaro seats have that. I'd want machined spacers over just washers on this application, but it's something to think about. These look similar to the slider-frame assemblies OMP used to sell 5 years ago, which are now discountinued from them.
  
  
  
  Finally, VAC Motorsports/Macht Schnell do floor adaptors to make the Recaro sliders (not the frames) bolt onto the seat and then onto the adaptors, which are on the floor. At £200 each without sliders, the Recaro slider-frame assemblies look cheap however. The VAC items do however mount the lowest out of the lot and are arguably the lightest
  
  
  
  Some will say to go with the Polish AMX mounts, but I'm sure others will say on such a key part of the car, it's not worth cheaping out and instead going with the Recaro floor assemblies. I will wait and see the comms!
  
  I might see if I can make my electric-slider assembies mate to these. Obviously, only the sliding function would most likely work, but it's potentially an option
  
  
• With the floor mounts decided I can then fit these into the car. Granted, the colours will be wrong, but the purpose of this will be to see if the seats work in the car. I suspect they will, but it's good to check before committing to other things that will make the seat solution semi-permanent, like trimming etc. If I do like them and don't want them out of the car, I'll for the timebeing put some £50 cover protectors onto them. A shame to hide the seats, but at least I'll have made a decision. Hopefully, unlike RoadKill, the covers won't become a permanent addition!
• Once I decide on the floor mounts, I'll need to get these retrimmed. This will be the most expensive part. My mate who got me the seats suggested I take out the grey interior and go with black, and sell the grey on, since mine is in great condition, albeit with wear on the driver's seat. That said, I like the contrast with the outside and it does brighten up the interior nicely IMHO. Odd, I know to many. It's also original to the car and in superb condition generally, even compared to low mileage cars out there. So I'm tempted to retrim these grey.
  
  
  Since this is the most expensive part, I'll probably leave the trimming until last, either the end of this year or maybe even next year. If I don't like them, I'll buy some black leather seat covers, which are cheap for these, and sell them on. Being black, they will sell well

Did I say alot? Yes I did! Hopefully, that long-winded logic makes sense, or others may talk sense into me!

We'll see how the ST220 gathers momentum from others prior to spilling more here. That as you can tell, will be a slow project .

I do know of a couple of E46 Tourings made over the years. I first saw one being done back in 2013 in Rugby via a then-known specialist. BMW even made one!







I used to dream of owning an E34 M5 Touring. With prices the way they are now for them however (£40k+!), I'm not so sure. I do still hanker after an E61 M5 Touring, but I don't want a car where the bills and fragility dominate the car experience . Maybe one day mind you...

I did almost buy an E36 M3 Touring off this very forum around 7 years ago. However, two things happened

-At £2.7k, it wasn't cheap for an E36 back then, but cheap enough. So it went quickly
-The insurance companies wanted £2.5k off me a year at the time. I could not justify buying it as a result.

But then again, what could have been eh? Since I've helped with creating this one, at least I know what to do to make a Touring mind you.

Those pictures of the M3 Touring, now that's just teasing !!😁😁😁