BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket

[jmsheahan]

Spent a few evenings reading through this thread, great work, great car!

Hoping to look at E46 M3 ownership later in the year to replace my 330, reading this has been very useful so thanks

[ChasR]

Mar 18, 2019 9:10:50 GMT jmsheahan said:

Spent a few evenings reading through this thread, great work, great car!

Hoping to look at E46 M3 ownership later in the year to replace my 330, reading this has been very useful so thanks

Many thanks!

You'll be glad to make the step! However, be patient in finding the right car . As said, my mate's 'vert is about the best example I have driven and it really does make a difference to the experience of the car.

Have I forgotten about this car a little? Maybe. A few things have changed with me however.

-Merc has gone to a mate. I was really really missing that car.
-I turned down a cheap BMW E61 535d SE Touring. It certainly shows where this M3 is 'old' but wow, what a car! I turned it out as the E6x horror stories scared me a little in addition to me wanting something cheaper after the W124. But, the old man has bought it off my mate, so it is in the family .
-I was going to buy a 2005 Audi A3 2.0 PD TDI SE DSG off the old man ; he bought it for an experiment. As accomplished as it is and frugal coming from the W124, it had one sin ; it was dull! It just didn't excite me! I almost debated making the M3 a daily again, which I'll come back to. But with the Old man buying my mate's 535d, I'll be having the old man's Mondeo 2.5T Titanium Estate. Now that is an unnassuming car. It has character, and IMHO is similar on fuel cost to what the 535d is. It doesn't have the magic of the 535d, but it does have a big heart that can win you over. This month may kick off a thread in the General section soon .

Why was I consdiring the Audi? I no longer own one pricey-to-keep car ; I own two! In reality, I needed a more sensible daily driver!

Does that mean the M3 is gathering dust? Inevitably, yes. Any fault of its own? Well, the wings are in a bad way; I've come to accept that I'll have to replace them. Bar that, the car has been stellar on the reliability front!

But, it has been out and about, and driving it again reminded me why I like it so much, and the above comparison kind of made me side with the people calling it a modern classic. Sure, it's only 2 years older than the A3, and 4 years older than he 535d, but God it's so different to them! It feels older inside, but more inviting. It has a character ; when cold, it's not the smoothest thing to drive. It coughs a little and can be jerky, letting you know it demands respect. But with the right mix of modernness, it's playful yet involving. It's practical yet stylish. If I didn't care about putting more miles onto it or paying to service it (the next service will be either £800 or £400 just in parts alone!) ; it's an Inspection II next), I'd just keep on driving and driving this . But for now, I do have plans .

It has been out and about, however, so I'll update this later. Mainly as there has been news with the Merc!

[ChasR]

So, back in March, it went to the NEC Resto Show! Why didn't I update it? To put it simply, the Merc pretty much took up all of my time!

It was however, great to get back into the M3. What a great car. Despite it being a newer car on the stand, it didn't stop it garnishing alot of attention or me inadvertedly becoming an advice bearer for one of these!

Yup, the wings are terrible now! I'll to go new on theses ; to think I painted these years ago! Ah well, it's only money eh?





Still, at least it passed the 10 feet test! We have to see the silver linings in these instances!



It's fair to say that the stand hosted by a few of us including RetroWarwicK certainly represented all sorts of classics, right from the established cars to the 'modern classics'





There's yours truly boring some interested parties! But they stayed! Out of politeness or interest? Who knows?



Believe it or not I had planned to do the following:

-Change the brakes to CSL items
-Wire up the handbrake cable on the head unit
-Change the coil.

What did I do in the end? Well, this is RR, so it was the coil that I changed.

The car however does now run spot on, with more ooomph and is smoother . It almost seems to a shame to have it sat for a month at a mate's! Ah well.

It will however come back .

[pauly22]

Still looks good, wings are currently about £325 each from Cotswolds. I priced some up myself a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve been using mine alot too, still love it.

[ChasR]

Well, this thread has been quiet for some time.

What's the plan?

Well, here's a hint of some of the updates to arrive soon on this:

http://instagram.com/p/B0VmAUoH5ex

http://instagram.com/p/B0O1sWvnuiv

[Ray Singh]

Looking forward to this Chas!!
Induction noise is going to be off the spectrum!!!!!!

[pauly22]

Just followed you on Instagram, interesting to see how the car feels with the new intake.

[ChasR]

Its time I provided bitesized updates, so here's the first one.

Firstly, the car has been put back into daily service. Why?

My old man has ordered himself a Love Island mobile (LIM). Sorry a Range Rover Evoque. Naturally, one car of his had to go, which of course my mum has access to. So off went our Mondeo 2.5T to a fellow RRer on here. He's pretty happy with the car, so I call that a result .



However, this left a problem. My mum needed a car to get around in for a month or two prior to the LIM arriving. Ah, that would be me.

Basically, the Mondeo 2.5T Estate I bought off my dad is now temporarily back with him until the new car arrives. So, where did that leave me? It left me with the Merc and the M3.

As much as I like the Merc, even the best will in the world can't argue that 16MPG average doesn't hurt the wallet on a 100 to 300 mile a week communit. In the case of the latter, I'm looking at £120 a week in fuel. Ouch! It's lovely in town mind you, but the MPG put that out of the question. And so it came back to the M3.

I didn't take photos, but my God, the car looked terrible at a mate's. It was filthy on the outside and it just looked forlorn or abandoned. To top matters off, the battery was truly flat! After a jump start, it fired up. 4 months of it being sat didn't do the car any favours. In short:

1) The DSC is beginning to kick in more often than it should do as time goes on, to the point I have to disable it now. It was OK when I drove it back, but it's getting worse by the day.
2) The rust on the discs is now causing a minor vibration when braking. This isn't a big issue ; I have the CSL items to fit remember .

However, despite that, the car is working well, and certainly isn't a bad way to get around, especially with it having working AC in this humid conditions! But I figured I'd treat it to a new battery as I showed above. After putting the old battery on a tester, it was clear the battery was well past it.

When it came to buying a new battery, that was interesting. I'm aware from my dad's E36 and my previous E36 that some batteries are too tall for the area ; Unipart batteries tend to be here. I don't tend to get Lion batteries as I've seen a few be unreliable and for that reason I no longer touch Bosch S5s ; I know of 5 that have failed within the warranty period, two of which came from my car. That left Exide, where I've had a good experience with them and a dealer battery.

Surprisingly, the dealer battery was about the same money as an Exide from ECP. It's fair to say that was a difficult decision to make .

I then set about putting it in. What is surprising is that the new battery has improved a few things. The main one I've noticed is the gearbox pump primes significantly quicker now. It also starts much better. For some time, the car would catch and then fire up. It's a very clean starting car now. So at least I saw some results after splashing out £100 on a battery! Yikes!

But then, there is the topper to come. That intake .

[ChasR]

A few on this forum will know that I've really, really wanted to buy a CSL intake. I'm sure I probably speak for alot of 6-pot M3 owners here! In equal measure, I probably also speak for the same amount who are not willing to pay for one. Yes, really, to get that awesome sound, it does come at quite a price! But, speaking of that awesome sound, let's have a taster shall we?



OK, there is an exhaust in the mix of that as well, but you get the idea .

They also look pretty tasty too!:



So, how much is this goodness? Depending on how it is done and what compromises you are willing to live with (driveability vs. price basically), you are looking at £2-2.6k even if you fit the parts yourself. Ouch! For me, a 20BHP gain, the look and the sound is certainly superb but not quite that superb. What's worse is, I went in an M3 convertible with 100,000 miles less than mine with a Karbonius system fitted. While other people came out of the car with a massive smile, I didn't really. Sure, it sounded slightly louder than a stock M3 with that throttle body noise, but in reality, it wasn't that much. It didn't feel that quick either! If I wanted to spend that kind of cash, I'd want to be absolutely sure of what I was buying.

I can't really see myself buying a CSL either, as much as I'd love one. They're a little too rare and valuable for me to enjoy, when you bear in my daily driver is worth £1,000 on a good day! And I do like my creature comforts, like a sunroof, air conditioning, a decent sound system and the means of travelling hundreds of miles while feeling awake when I arrive? Do I want the moon on a stick? Pretty much!

So, the CSL airbox was out of the equation. This did however, open up a few options. One of the options is the well-renowned Eventuri cold air intake. It's a setup that has been revered by many for years. It's still not quite great value, but compared to the CSL airbox it is. What's more, there is no need to send your ECU away to accept a map sensor either as you do for a CSL airbox, unless you don't care about driveability. Why is that? The Eventuri merely replaces the airbox in the engine bay, not the entire plenum and airbox as the CSL airbox does. This does also mean almost anyone can fit it too.

So, given that I had made a promise to myself that I'd treat the car to an airbox if I managed to get through a tough patch of work (i.e redundancies, being thrown into the thick end of work with zero guidance or help), I did the stupid thing and bought an intake through CAI Automotive, who took care of me nicely here. They also sold me the Pagid race pads previously earlier on this year.

And so, the box arrived. And didn't it look great?



OK, maybe, not so great! The box within however did look superb! I think I was even sad enough to do an unboxing video at the time, so if the demand is there, I may as well put it up! So, what was in the box?

For the cash, not an awful lot!








But would I fit it then? No. A few things would come into play:

1) My friend was getting the itch to get a BMW and for some reason thought I'd be a suitable 'buyer' to take along with him.
2) Sister's wedding preparations were really beginning to kick in
3) I was pretty tired from a combination of work and the wedding prep in general
4) My back was getting bad again. Damn, I thought getting older was meant to be fun, not painful!

And so, the intake lived in my boot for a few weeks until I finally got around to fitting it, but I had a plan, and that plan would take time .

[ChasR]

Patience. I remember Take That made a crappy song about it. Something about having some. Maybe they had a point. These days, it seems to be something I severely lack!

So, I had the air intake! But, I wanted to fit it, whilst simultaneously testing it! It didn't help that I had a prospestive buyers of similar air intakes who wanted to know as well! But the way I saw it, after having the airbox for over a week.

• Fit it within 2 weeks
• Fit it well after my sister's wedding, so around about next month! ; I thought the Mondeo was broken, so that was more of a priority to fix
• Return it!

Well, the day came, at the end of July, and so I put it onto the rollers!



And what was the result? It was 308BHP. That sounds under I admit. The dyno guy however did state that most M3s made between 290 to 320 on his dyno, obviously pending a few factors.

It was fair to say the baseline was set. And so in the carpark, on a mild, yet wet day, I proceeded to change out the parts



One part I added to the list was the Mishimoto smooth intake elbow. These elbows via another manufacturer are a popular mod over in Trump country. Would it help? Who knows!





After fitting the airbox, I only had one piece of the puzzle left to do. Remove the cold air intake off the factory airbox and then fit in the new item, made from swanky carbon fibre!




After doing this, the only thing I could do was to stand back and admire my handiwork. The airbox to be fair is a very simple item to fit; most people could fit this I suspect and I did it in less than 20 minutes to boot!







But, I could not stand back and just admire the work, I had to see it too! I must say the car did sound a little fruitier as I was warming it up as I drove around for a short while.

I eventually put it back onto the dyno. The first thing I noticed? The noise! Wow, it sounded superb from outside, especially as the engine went beyond 4kRPM all the way to 7,500rpm! But Christ, I did feel horrible letting it go that high two times in a row!

And what was the result? A 10BHP gain! So yes, the online reports of this filter providing power are true! It may have made more, but I didn’t dare to do the 3rd run on this car with the airbox, despite doing so on the factory item.

With this done, there was nothing left to do, but to go home, put my foot down, and just listen to the roar!

It’s fair to say that with the MPG of the Merc making this car look frugal, I am enjoying it a little more! It’s a shame it’s getting a little shabby in places, and this would be the point where I’d normally sell a car, but I’ve decided to commit myself. After all, you can’t buy memories . That and the BMW E46 has officially entered the 18-30 car club, given that the first ones were made in 2000 ☺.

Still, I may as well keep on enjoying it. And yes, I did put a stupid number plate onto it a few months ago.

One day, I’ll finally prioritise that bodywork. At least it looks good from the photos eh?







Oh, remember the guy who bought the Individual M3? Well, he bought another E46! A fairly rare one too! It was interesting finding a car like that! But, I'll spill more later on :

[ChasR]

So, what's next?

Remember my friend with an E46 M3 Individual? What you probably didn't know was that the E36 323i I alluded to earlier. That was also his, and it was a car both I and him in different areas got back up to its former glory. The Audi A6 in the Merc thread is also his, and what a great car that is.

He also had an E46 328i Touring, which the pair of us rather liked! It seems we do like a good old E46! With the M3 gone, It seems he still had that itch, but for something a little cheaper. A 330i this time?

I won’t go in depth as my post as to when I was finding an M3, but it seems even on the ‘cheap’ 330Cis it now seems to be a similar thing. Go onto this forum and Facebook, and people will say

“Yeah, I got a 330Ci for £1k off ma cuz, and it’s mint!”
“£1.5k is too much m8, You can get a twice as nice one for £500”.

OK, maybe the grammar’s not bad here, but you get the point.

I genuinely thought £2-3k would get him a really nice 330Ci as did he. His 158k, but very sorted and clean 328i went for £1.2k after all. Well, it seems it would a similar tale? How similar? Through wading through the £2k cars, all had shot and bodged interiors (blue stitching on a bolster in a black leather car anyone?), misaligned panels, probably from ram raids, rust breeding in quite a few areas like the arches, bathroom sealant holding up various seals and interior parts very obviously. That’s before I get to the generally flaky histories and iffy engines. It seemed the dealers were doing a similar thing but charging £4k for such heaps, albeit with obvious and sometimes poor paint repairs! We did come across some absolute jokers of car dealers and sellers mind you! A particular dealer in Slough as a ‘specialist’ was a very interesting character!

Were we really after too much? What on earth happened to getting a good BMW for around £2k? Did I really undersell my 323i all those years ago?

Anyway, when my friend upped the budget quite significantly, Significantly enough to put his budget into the firing line of a rare E46, the 330Ci ClubSport.

After seeing one rough one like the aforementioned cars, it seemed one good car did turn up. It was local-ish, and the owner was the type of owner you’d want to buy a car from. Maybe he knew this. Sure, the car had a few marks here and the wheels needed a refurb. But the car was decent, and so was he, detailing any time he had the car painted and why he had it painted, despite it not being obvious, and to a more hard buying buyer, ammunition to lower the price of the car!

It drove very well, didn’t have a cracked boot floor, or look terminal, and was clean and straight! The Exclusive interior it had inside, albeit rare, was the icing on the cake.

After some haggling, and a great deal for all involved, we came back in the car. And what a gem it is.

http://instagram.com/p/BzvzVnjnWoi

It’s a very different drive to the M3. The M54 unit is certainly more refined and smoother than the S54 lump found in the M3. For daily use, the M54 probably makes more sense, even if the fuel consumption is similar. But the S54 does have that magic about it, and a great blend of old school engineering with modern day touches just to give that great feeling about it.

Was he happy with the deal? You bet!

There is more to come. But, here’s a taster for now:

http://instagram.com/p/B1rtTFunOR-

[ChasR]

So, let's discuss what I have done on the car then!

Being the RR way I thought I'd change the cosmetics a little, and probably in a way that will be quite divisive as I have found out! Basically, I wanted to change the colour of the lights. An early E46 is now a rare sight on the roads from what I've seen but I have liked the orange lights on them for some time. It's funny, I used to enjoy making cars have clear lights on a few occasions including my ford Ka, Pug 205 GTi, and my 944, but it seems in some cases I just love the colour!





With this in mind, I decided to to investigate getting gingercators .

On a pre-2001 M3, this is simple bar one part . With the clip-in indicators, the fronts are easily obtainable, and the rears cam come from an early E46 Coupe. Would this be so simple with my E46? Not exactly . But, these things are sent to test us.

I knew you could get the parts from the dealer, and for a more reasonable amount than I thought, but I thought I'd check out a few other places. Here is what I found

• Front indicators ; Screw in attachment, like all post ’01 E46 Coupes, where all were clear lights
• Sides; Shared with the BMW E38
• Rears : LED only, and clear in the UK market anyway.

So, was it easy to find them away from the stealer? No chance! Here is how my search went:

• Fronts : RHS available from Poland, LHS not available anywhere, albeit listed on sites.
• Sides: LHS was available from KMS for reasonable money. RHS? No chance. Secondhand, it seems these now go for near new money as well, if you can find them.
• Rears: Hardest thing of the lot. I found one rear for sale, again in Poland, but nowhere else.


And so, given that I knew BMW were OK on price, but also carried a guarantee, there I went to get them. So, how did the transformation go? Well, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Let's start off with the front:


















A bit of a change eh?

Why don't we do the rear as well?







I'll grab more shots of the rear soon, once my ankle heals and the weather begins to play ball .

[spk]

Really enjoyed reading through this thread! It's also definitely a good reminder to get out and enjoy going to places. Thanks for taking the time to write it all up.

I'm glad to see you still have the M3 too, although I'll refrain from comment on the last change until there's a few more photos...

Cheers,
Steve

[ChasR]

Sept 24, 2019 7:39:04 GMT spk said:

Really enjoyed reading through this thread! It's also definitely a good reminder to get out and enjoy going to places. Thanks for taking the time to write it all up.

I'm glad to see you still have the M3 too, although I'll refrain from comment on the last change until there's a few more photos...

Cheers,
Steve

Glad to see that and thanks! I sometimes have to remind myself of that. This year has been lacking there.

So, it was time for the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle. The side repeaters. Eventually, they turned up! One of them looked like it had been sat on the shelf for quite some time. Naturally, I had to get the old ones off.



Why buy smoked repeaters when you can get aged ones? After 15 years, my old items were looking a little sorry for themselves.



Finally, despite the poor weather, it was time to reveal the lights on the car!



















So, there it is! The car is now ambered, or Tango'd as an advert used to go!

[ChasR]

If you want a post about expecting the worst but being surprised by the outcome, then read on .

Some of you will recall how I mentioned this car having a Christmas tree for a dashboard, and possibly had an insight into the diagnosis. When I checked on INPA, the sensor seemed to be OK, but then the rear right wheel would begin to pulse in the reading, with it going very very high. So this is why the car was undriveable with the DSC on. What's more, the Cruise control, even with the DSC turned off, became unusable as it kept on dying every 30 seconds, due to the ABS sensor. However, I did go and check the ABS ring prior to buying it, and all was fine there, thus leaving the sensor as the only likely culprit

With the new sensor bought, and installed, all was well again! I did struggle with the wiring of it mind, with it being installed with 7 or so clips securing it to the track control arm, in addition to the cowling in the wheelarch preventing me from accessing the connection plug initially. Who said moderns weren't overengineered? It was very surprising to see this in all honesty!

What's more is I finally got rid of an intermittent warning light I've had for quite some time, the front headlight warning bulb, similar to the below:

[img/https://i.stack.imgur.com/dpT2O.jpg[/img]

This light occasionally has been coming on with the car. Originally, it came on due to my Xenon bulb ignitor being dead.With that replaced it would still occasionally come on, but the Xenon still worked. For years I assumed this was a fault with the secondhand ballast pack I fitted at the same time. However, curiousity and persistance would pay off here.

The issue for for the light kep on coming on? The sidelight bulb had been on the blink for quite some time, with it working only half of the time. Yup, nowhere nead as bad as the outcome I thought I had.

With that changed, I finally have an error free dash again for the first time in years! On on that note, I have to say I've been really enjoying the car again this week. Having the errors gone, especially on a car that has become a daily again partially, really has allowed me to remember why I enjoy this car so much. With the weather being kind, I doubt that has helped either.

[ChasR]

It's interesting really!

Back at the start of September I detested all of my cars. This may seem strange to some of you, but I did have my reasons. Besides feeling like a personal taxi service to some people (well, family) at the time, it seemed every car I touched was breaking! How bad? Well, this is how it all looked:

• Mondeo : Prime Daily Driver : Knackered Driveshaft (or so I thought)
• Mercedes ; Sunroof gear died days before my sister's wedding
• M3: Undriveable without the DSC being turned off

A friend lent me a 2010 Audi A6 C6 3.0 TDI S Line Estate. This decided it would play up. The EML came on! When that happened I had had the last straw. I flipped. I hated the cars, I hated my life and wondered why on Earth I just had curse word lying all around me. With me doing 20,000 miles+ a year, is owning 3 cars, one which is a ropey high miler Mondeo a wise decision? Having a hungry Merc and a fickle M3 just seemed stupid! I even put all of them up on the table for sale! To add insult to injury, when the Mondeo was fixed, I ended up using the M3 as a daily in its poor state! Bear in mind I didn't know the ABS sensor would faulty. After all, it had failed in a very unusual manner.

However, things would change.

-Family pressures, which were mad for two weeks would ease off
-The reason for I couldn't use the Mondeo were due to lending it to my dad. He had a lease car arriving to replace to other Mondeo. In many ways, that has taken the strain off my car maintenance (I probably maintain 5 cars, 3 of them being daily drivers)
-The fixes turned out to be easier than I thought. Being old cars, and me being bitten on older stuff (Pug 106 ABS sensor for example), I was preparing myself for the worst and just kept on limping the poor M3 along.

With the ABS sensor changed as per the last post, I was loving the car once more! It's just as well as I had a road trip planned just around the corner! Where would I go? Well, that would be easy . But I'll spill more in a separate post .

[captainwow]

Loving this thread! I find stuff about attention to detail fascinating.

And love the gingercators BTW.

[ChasR]

Oct 24, 2019 12:23:57 GMT captainwow said:

Loving this thread! I find stuff about attention to detail fascinating.

And love the gingercators BTW.

Many thanks! It's interesting reading it back at times, and I did wonder if it was a little overdetailed in places! But I'm aware a few of us have been bit by cars days before a trip is due, and many have gone through the frustration of having a non-working car.

The Gingicators have divided opinion, but for me, they work very well with the Blue. Yes; I know only the very early E46s only ever had them (1998 to 1999), but who cares? .

Anyway, this thread will receive an update soon. For now, this thrad has taken its place. But a little like certain movies, like Memento and Bird Box, theres comes a time when timelines converge. In this case, it will be the threads .

[ChasR]

Since the roadtrip thread above, the car managed to get a bit of a rest over the winter. After driving the MX-5 which was a sorted example, I made it my task to make this car great in certain areas. Those areas included the mild vibration this car has had since I bought it and the infamous M-Clunk. For years, I thought this was down to a bad centre bearing and Guibo. However, I would have a few curveballs thrown along the way.

Considering I started this job on the 23rd December, I've still bee pushing on with the job! I sure am taking a little too much time! But as with all things, a few things have caused this:

• Other commitments around Xmas: Friends coming back, and a first Xmas with my brother-in-law ; that was very good
• Me being unsure on some parts and getting clarity ; just putting it together would not be good enough
• Parts holdups ; this was inevitable
• A poor excuse ; space ; you really need to plan how to make the best use of the little space you have ; The driveway/mini-store days were easier here!

First thing to do was to raise the car. I semi-wished I put the front of the car up as well not not just chock it. But without a second person to watch me as the car jacked up on the rear stands and being in a confined workshop, I stuck with just one set of axle stands:





With it being Xmas time, I would work on it now and again, and so I came back the next time and removed the first item on the car. The exhaust. Because someone had been at the clamps at the backbox, prior to my ownership, I'd end up taking the entire system off as one, and then splitting it there and then. After all, space is tight and I couldn't just drag the system behind the car; a VW Beetle lives behind it.

Splitting the back box off from the centre took more time than I thought, due to the fixings getting mixed up on the exhaust hangers when I removed those ; as a result, some fixings had more corrosion than I bargained for due to to the misapplication of bolt use ; I put copper bolts on originally to get around a rust issue.



Then there was the matter of the clamps that hold the backbox onto the centre section. Mine had previously been bodged. To describe how they work, this X8R video demonstrates how the two parts come together but using their clamps while another video here explains how the clamps work and some of the issues arise,

Basically, the 1 piece clamps go on at the factory and the exhaust joining flanges (quiet at the back!) are then flared, meaning that the clamp is now part of the exhaust system. A few issues arise from doing this:

• If the clamps go bad like mine had at some point, BMW's answer will be buy a new exhaust system
• A few years ago, not many options were available ; the only one available was the i6 clamps, but with issues.
• Due to the above, garages and people went about repairing them differently. The Peugeot-style clamps, which I believe DannyDC2 has used on his, while being cheap (£6 with no gasket vs. the £50 X8R kit with gaskets etc), can do more harm than damage and actually don't clamp the system up as intended ; Other people weld them up so the mid section and backbox are one, which is the only choice when the flares are rotten

Mine?

Someone had noticed the clamps were corroding. So they ground back the bad metal in the clamps and welded the clamps up. On one side, where the pipe doesn't have a flare on, but a sleeve instead, they didn't put the gasket in ; that's all the other clamp supports, not the pipe. Mine always had a minor blow as a result, but only went cold. However, splitting around the rusty bolts would be time consuming to say the least! But I did get there eventually.

Thankfully, the flares on my system were fine. But the weld on the mid-section from where the clamp was welded to the exhaust so as to bring it together would have to be ground off at a later time:







Once the system was split, I'd have nothing left to do, besides clean up the exhaust pipes so some factory-esque clamps could be used. I plan to use the X8R clamps, which seem to be a proven solution. They're not cheap at £50 delivered, but then again, it's cheaper than another exhaust, still allows for the removal of various parts easily, and being stainless, should hopefully last a while. They did also come with the olive joint and gasket to seal that joint. Who said M-ownership was cheap?

With this in mind, I moved one of the cars out of the unit, and began cutting up the clamps off the exhaust, in addition to carefully removing the welds from the mid-section:



Some of those clamps just felt apart when the grinder touched them! Finally, they were off!




Simultaneously, I noticed that my catalytic converter-to-downpipe joints had re-used gaskets ; this car along with a friend's M3 ; always had when warming up especially, bit of a strange noise from the midd of the exhaust, like some resonance at certain RPMs. If this issue is like Peugeots previously, where it seems the gaskets can semi-vibrate, if they are pattern gaskets or simply worn, I can see this being the case. However, the gaskets were nightmare to get off the downpipe joints, but I eventually got them off. Note how they are deformed; The ripped sections are down to me; I would have to do that to liberate the seized on gaskets from the downpipes.





Finally, I would start on the original job I had in mind, the propshaft. I was in for a bit of a surprise!



The guibo was not as bad as I was expecting. Yes, it had cracking/perishing and minor rust marks around the sleeves, but otherwise, it was reasonable. The centre bearing was also a similar deal ; It was worn and 'spinning too freely' like the worn bearing feeling with a slight rattle sound coming from the bearings. The rubber surround was also perished, but again not so bad.

The CV joint however, caught me out. It had a small amount of play in it, but I knew I had heard that noise for a long time on the car, the 'clunk', or M-Clunk as fans call it. When I came to take it off, I noticed there was CV grease around the joint, which I initially thought was the diff. When the CV joint was on the bench, I could see a few issues. The grease was like water inside it almost, and the gasket these are meant to use to keep the CV grease in was now missing. Yes, this is a little annoying, given the joint was possibly disconnected when the boot floor was done. Who knows?



As a result, I would then have to make a decision. Go with a new CV joint, at quite a cost, or repack the old one and hope for the best? At the time, I had varying opinions of what to do!

[ChasR]

So, to show the issues with the CV joint and the centre bearing, I bring you possibly the worst video I have made. Sorry folks, but

• My voice won't be as svelte as Right Said Fred's vocal chords
• My laptop needs to do a major update before it can use the editing software I normally use ; Joy!
• I'd like to think the video gets the point across ; OK, maybe not