[akash_v12]

Hi Karan!
Thank you for writing down this amazing read.
I must say, a fantastic car and an insane build.
You're taking me back to the gold old days of NFS Most Wanted where this was the Poster Car. IMO, your colour choices are spot-on with the darker grey contrasting the lighter silver wheels very well.

P.S - Could you please post a video of the exhaust note with the MagnaFlow system?

Thanks,
Akashdeep

[karan561]

Originally Posted by akash_v12

Hi Karan!
Thank you for writing down this amazing read.
I must say, a fantastic car and an insane build.

Thanks Akashdeep for the appreciation towards my build.

You're taking me back to the gold old days of NFS Most Wanted where this was the Poster Car. IMO, your colour choices are spot-on with the darker grey contrasting the lighter silver wheels very well.

Thanks again !

P.S - Could you please post a video of the exhaust note with the MagnaFlow system?

Yes, that video has been pending to be honest, Will try to work on that content soon

[karan561]

So the previous battery had taken a beating during the lockdown, even after charging it once overnight still it couldn't hold charge and got drained out again.

Hence took the opportunity to put in a new battery;



Amaron DIN 74

[KingCheeese]

Beautiful car you've got there Karan! Congrats!
I love how you're making it better day by day, it's beautiful to watch as well.
I'm also looking for an e46.
Hoping to join you soon

[karan561]

Interesting capture;

Originally Posted by KingCheeese

Beautiful car you've got there Karan! Congrats!
I love how you're making it better day by day, it's beautiful to watch as well.

Thanks for your appreciation towards my build.

I'm also looking for an e46.
Hoping to join you soon

All the best

[karan561]

My E46 needed the rear camber to be negative but unfortunately it did not have adjustable rear camber arms. Hence with the help of N1 Racing I sourced PowerFlex Adjustable Rear Control Arms. These can run negative camber upto - 3 Deg. (Note factory spec. for rear camber of a low slung E46 is -2 Deg.)
This Upgrade will Surely help me explore the true handling potential of my car.

Here are some pics during the install;





Old V/s New;



The install took time as the Exhaust had to be dropped to access some bolts, overall in this pic we can see my Magnaflow Exhaust being refit back into place while the Control arms were partly fit in.



Team N1 passionately setting up the Camber Gauge;



Rear Camber Set @ - 2.1;



While at N1, got the Power Steering Oil (Motul Multi ATF) Topped up;



Job Well Done

[karan561]

A Lesson In Preventive Maintenance;

https://youtu.be/KSi5icnh-t0

^ I share my experience of what goes in to keep my BMW (E46) 328i running trouble-free & run you through all the new parts installed, jobs done.

This Video is a good lesson in Early Diagnosis & Preventive Maintenance. All the parts were ordered & installed at an official BMW Service Centre.

The Jobs Done;

1) Power Steering Fluid Leak;



Few weeks back I had observed a leak in the engine bay area and was visible in the underbody too.
It was discovered that the power steering fluid was leaking, hence got the power steering reservoir and some other small parts/pipes changed to fix this issue for good.
The Power Steering fluid the car uses is ATF (Cheaper than CHF used by other newer cars), do note that this is a hydraulic unit.

2) Air Intake Boot;



It was noticed that the car had a very shabby non OE makeshift intake boot (part behind the aftermarket aFe intake kit) installed by the ex-owner.
Ordered a brand new OE BMW Intake boot. Will take care of proper Air-Fuel Ratio & support the MAF accordingly.

3) Rear Brake Pads;

The rear brakes (Disc & Caliper) are from the E46 M3 but during the initial modifications for some reason (probably availability) regular E46 3 series pads were installed.

This was creating some uneven wear & contact patches on the discs;



Fortunately BMW Infinity workshop had E46 M3 brake pads in stock hence got proper M3 brake pads installed;





4) Air Conditioning;



This car belongs to an era when cars weren't developed for global markets hence the AC performance was never good for India. However, During the time of initial mods i had spent good money on sourcing OE AC Parts such as the Condenser, Evaporator, New Gas etc. but the performance of the AC was never satisfactory. This was informed to the official workshop and they diagnosed the root cause of the AC to be a bad drive belt and need for new water valves. These small parts again were sourced from Germany and installed in this service. Now finally the AC has reached near optimal levels for this part of India.

5) Engine Tappet Cover (Also called Valve Cover) Gasket Change;



There was a slight leak observed and if not taken care now would have created problems in the future hence took this job up and got the gasket replaced which came in (Again from Germany) as a kit for this job.

6) Intake Manifold Job;



The car was having some issues with the idling & did misfire sometimes. This was diagnosed with issues related to the Intake manifold & some odd job carried out by the ex owner. In this case i did not go into repairing/rebuilding/refreshing the intake manifold instead i ordered a completely new one & got it installed. Sometimes its best to replace than to repair it holds especially true with older BMW's. As they say an ounce of Prevention is better than a pound of cure.

7) Engine Oil Change;



Finally, to finish things off, we gave the engine some fresh new Oil

All the parts were sourced & installed by BMW Infinity, Turbhe.

Special thanks to BHPian Maverick5490's supervision.

[BHPjunkie]

Karan, I am in awe of your 328i. Love the mods done on it.

I am curious to know how much money did all of your mods cost you? The older BMWs were mechanically so pure and had less electricals and I am guessing that they are less complex.

I know someone who swears by 90s and early 2000 Germans. They just need mechanical attention which are easier to repair or rectify in comparison on current breed of Germans which are heavy on electricals.

[Thegermanbadger]

That is definitely one of the most beautiful bmws.

Lucky machine to be giving all that it deserves, especially for an import of that vintage.

I have a e90 325i. It's no where as pretty.

Good luck and many happy miles ...

Cheers

[karan561]

Updates;

https://youtu.be/FARUsrg2cVk

^ Above video talks about the required part changes, symptoms & demonstrates the results.

For those who prefer text may read on;



The car has been largely doing fine, however the car's engine was giving some minor indications of some parts needing a change.

The symptoms encountered were;

- Reduced power in the mid rpm range (which happened sometimes only when the car is driven for more than 10-15 min after a certain temp. has reached).

- Drop in performance (On very few occasions a complete power loss).

- Drop in low end.

- Rough idling

- Poor FE.

NO CEL hence the diagnosing was supposed to be done the old school way & BMW Infinity helped me with this in problem diagnosing to ordering parts from Germany, the parts in question are as follows;

1) Intake Manifold Flap Actuator;

Also called the DISA valve is a common failure in BMW's. In my opinion this was the biggest culprit in all the symptoms i was facing.

A quick research online and the E46 forums really helped us narrow down to replace this part.

The valve uses a flap which opens and closes to either shorten or lengthen the path the air takes to get to the cylinder chamber.
At low RPM’s, the valve is closed, forcing the air to take the longer path to the cylinders. At high RPM’s, the valve opens up which creates a shorter path. Given the path is shorter, there is less space for air. The end result is more pressurized air, which is in turn more combustible.
The ultimate goal of the DISA valve is to optimise performance and fuel efficiency at both low and high RPM’s.

However the most expensive change was the next one;

2) Fuel Injectors;

- As per BMW Service guys there was a misfire in the engine and this was a recommended change.



20 + year old engine hence was a good idea to change all 6 injectors. Also the Fuel pump & Fuel Filter was changed a couple of years back. Fuel lines did not need a change hence did not touch them.

3) Spark Plugs;

As per the service centre guys they found Excessive shooting in cylinders 1, 2 & 3. To solve this the spark plugs needed a change.



Last change of spark plugs was 5+ years back, hence went ahead installed new plugs.

4) New Battery;

Obviously this car is very less run, Infact I try to preserve it as much as possible. But, this has its disadvantages & the battery takes the hit. I have always been running an aftermarket battery on this car as most of the people recommended me that this era of BMW's its ok to run an aftermarket battery. However this time when the battery conked off I ordered an official OE BMW unit;



Comes with a 2 year warranty, I wish it has a better life & I never need to use the warranty.

This was all done at official BMW service centre (BMW Infinity, Turbhe workshop) & Total cost of Diagnosing, New parts & Installation was aprox INR 2L (Incl. GST).

The above changes done i.e. Disa Valve, New Fuel Injectors & Fresh Spark Plugs have done wonders to the engine as the engine now pulls cleanly to the redline demonstrated in the Video posted at the start of this post