[Mpower]

Originally Posted by karan561

Buy Decision;

To be honest this is the 1st pre-owned car i purchased and had never thought of buying one, but a E46 is hard to come by and that too a M/T so i did not think twice & went ahead buying it. This 318i E46 is a 2001 make but being imported into India was only registered here in 2003. I am the 2nd owner of this car & the car has done aprox 86,000 kms on the odo.

The downside of this buy was the engine which is a M43B19 (318i) and producing only 117hp, but i am sure this is something which i will have to work on to make this more fun but more on that later. This was one of those rare times you buy a car because of a gearbox as i mentioned before this is a 5 speed manual (Getrag) & one of the major influencers in my buy decision.

Lovely car...good choice

I know that you are itching for an inline6 but keep in mind that a 4 is lighter and will give you that nimble feel where you can throw the car around

The pre -facelift E46 used older engines from the 36 and the facelift46 received a completely new generation engine (N series) which were aluminum block and which is what you should look for ideally

[karan561]

Originally Posted by mikon

Hey Karan,
That's a lovely E46. Congratulations!

Hey Thanks Mikon for your wishes.

ZCP wheels

^ Great option, Thanks ! But i believe the OE ZCP wheels were 19" thats gonna be an overkill for me. So may be similar design 17 or 18" max will be good enough for me.

Originally Posted by vishy76

An excellent review of an equally ferocious beast.

Thanks Vishy !

BTW, are you looking to swap the engine altogether or try and boost performance by modding the stock engine block?

Swap.

On a different note, I don't like the paint and the yellow angel eyes. The silver seems to be a borderline colour between bronze and grey in some of the pictures. I would suggest a matt black wrap if respraying is not a top priority for now.

The car has been repainted once as per the ex owner and the paint job is pretty local. So will have to do something about it, Lets see what.

Also i personally like the yellow ones, gives a retro feel as the new ones already have white/bluish tone.

Originally Posted by #enzowho

Congrats, You made the dream of many a reality, my friend.

Interested to know what engine you'd be swapping in.
Been thinking of building a LS2 E30 for a while.
Hope it goes just as planned.

Hey enzowho, thanks for the wonderful comments. It indeed is a pleasure to own one of these. Also the idea of an e30 with an LS2 is wild. All the best with that

Originally Posted by VKumar

Congrats Karan, that's indeed a beautiful looking beast.

Good old memories, just returned back once I saw the pics of that car:

Hey VKumar, thanks, yes the NFS M3 GTR is etched in everyones heart.

Originally Posted by mura

You might be interested in this:

http://collinsadapters.com/index.php...ter-plate.html

^ Interesting, Thanks !

Originally Posted by ishankpatel

Congratulations Karan!

Thanks Ishank !

E46 is truly a legend! Cannot tell you how many times I drool over these when they drive past me. The have quite a fan following here in Germany! Nevertheless, they are available in abundance, hence fairly priced.

Oh Yes, the e46 generation has the strongest fan base in the BMW community. Because its not as old as an e30 and not like the latest ones. That age of BMW's hit the SWEET SPOT !

I wonder how much one has to shell out in India to get this ride

Aprox INR 5.5L + Transfer.

A friend of mine bought a used 328i Touring with M Packet (only asthetic mods) in Germany, I had the chance to experience it. Apart from the extremely low seat height (may be this was the case only for this particular car), I loved the car!

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Originally Posted by rageshgr

Wow! Karan, when I first started reading the thread, I didn't look at the author. And I was baffled, thought to myself "who is this BMW petrolhead? With enough craze and taste?". Then I saw your handle and it all made sense!

As I said, pls trade lives Karan!

Hey ragesh

The quintessential BMW! This car looks even meaner and leaner than your F30 328i. Can't wait to see your build as it progresses!

HaHa, thats a tough one if you ask me.

Congrats and enjoy the classic beauty! Do post the driving impressions on the as-is car.

YES !

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

Congratulations on the E46 Karan- the manual is a rare rare find! It's a wonderful project car to have and lots of parts and swap information available online.

Hey Rohan, thanks for the wishes man.

Sharing a pic if you don't mind! All the best with the mods!

WoW ! The e36 looks stunning, especially in that shade of RED !

Originally Posted by nakul0888

Firstly, congrats on the sweet ride. The e46 3 series looks like its been sculpted from a piece of rock by a sculptor. The proportions are perfect.

Woah Nakul ! Well said there man.

I have just one doubt. Instead of going through all this engine swap and upgrade hassle, why dont you just look for an e46 m3. If theres only the SMG model available , just do a manual transmission swap. Should be easy too since SMG is just an automated manual instead of a slushbox. How expensive can a 10 year old plus m3 really be?

There are very few e46 m3's which are manual, may be 4-5 in India (not sure). Rest might be SMG. Also i wasnt particularly looking out for a car. Found this which was a manual & my preferred registration so bought it. Also the pricing for the m3 e46 is all vague. Someone had sold one for 18L then after a few years that same car got sold for 27L. I had no intention of spending all that money.

Originally Posted by Mpower

Lovely car...good choice

Hey Mpower, thanks !

I know that you are itching for an inline6 but keep in mind that a 4 is lighter and will give you that nimble feel where you can throw the car around

There were 2 kinds of 318i's, one had 117hp (Mine) & the other had 141hp. So dont really plan to continue the existing setup. But i agree about the points you mentioned.

The pre -facelift E46 used older engines from the 36 and the facelift46 received a completely new generation engine (N series) which were aluminum block and which is what you should look for ideally

^ Thanks for your input.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by karan561

H

Hey Mpower, thanks !



There were 2 kinds of 318i's, one had 117hp (Mine) & the other had 141hp. So dont really plan to continue the existing setup. But i agree about the points you mentioned.



^ Thanks for your input.

THe other was which year? Has to be post facelift

The 141 bhp was the DOHC N42 engine on which BMW debuted their Valvetronic technology. Its pretty complex technology and was designed for economy (not power)

Yours is SOHC with 2V per cylinder and that's is the reason for lower bhp

Try to get the Aluminum inline6 from the post facelift E46. Once again prefacelift was Iron block

[karan561]

Originally Posted by Mpower

THe other was which year? Has to be post facelift
The 141 bhp was the DOHC N42 engine on which BMW debuted their Valvetronic technology. Its pretty complex technology and was designed for economy (not power)
Yours is SOHC with 2V per cylinder and that's is the reason for lower bhp

My car was manufactured in July 2001 & the engine is M43B19 (117hp)

The N42 series (141hp) came in from late 2001 onwards.

[octane1002]

Congratulations Karan!

I have a thing for sports sedans and the E46 ranks right up there with W219 CLS and the 2011 RS5 in terms of flawless design in my books. This one is for keeps.

You are lucky to have found a DN regd car, I am assuming registration in your name shouldn't be a hassle. Do keep us posted on whichever engine you finalize on..the evaluation process will be interesting (although to be honest, I am hoping you get lucky and plonk in the E46 M3 engine if importing is an option. That way the car stays true to its lineage.)

[karan561]

Originally Posted by octane1002

Congratulations Karan!

Thanks for the wishes

This one is for keeps.

^ Sure, thats the plan.

You are lucky to have found a DN regd car, I am assuming registration in your name shouldn't be a hassle.

Yes, but there were some unpaid road tax dues of the ex-owner so it was not as easy as i would have liked it to be. But its all paid & settled by me now & have received the RC book in my name

Do keep us posted on whichever engine you finalize on..the evaluation process will be interesting.

Sure !

[ritedhawan]

Great buy. This piece of machine is 'one of a kind'.
It would be worth reading the 'Transformation' journey of the BMW.

Besides the point, I clearly remember seeing this BMW in GK-II New Delhi. I used to walk past this model of BMW as it was on my way to the neighborhood Gym. It was parked on the pavement near a park. Yet, never saw the owner drive it.

[karan561]

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

Great buy. This piece of machine is 'one of a kind'.

It would be worth reading the 'Transformation' journey of the BMW.



Besides the point, I clearly remember seeing this BMW in GK-II New Delhi.

Thanks, Yes it was in Delhi for a couple of years. Good to know that you had spotted this car

[karan561]

Engine Swap Update;

Hello Everyone a quick update about the engine swap.

So i have found and finalised an engine and yes its a BMW Naturally Aspirated Straight-6 Petrol engine

Its a 328i engine (M52TUB28) with dual VANOS.

Will reveal other details shortly

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by karan561

Engine Swap Update;



Its a 328i engine (M52TUB28) with dual VANOS.

VANOS and a straight six!! Great choice. Where did you manage to source it from?

[karan561]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

VANOS and a straight six!! Great choice. Where did you manage to source it from?

Hi agam,

The engine is in India only & coming off another e46 so will be a bolt on fitment

[mura]

Originally Posted by karan561

Hi agam,

The engine is in India only & coming off another e46 so will be a bolt on fitment

What happened to the donor car?

[karan561]

Originally Posted by mura

What happened to the donor car?

That car is awaiting some other engine

[karan561]

When i got the car the windscreen washer was not working & problem was diagnosed to be a faulty washer pump.

Ordered a new one online from ebay for aprox $12

Was a simple DIY;

Taking off the tank is necessary to detach the hose because the heatshield makes things difficult to work with.



Taking off the old one;



New one on the left;



Once installed it took aprox 1 min for the water to circulate & the pump to start functioning;



Job Well Done

All this was done by my younger brother & took about 15 minutes.

[octane1002]

Originally Posted by karan561

Engine Swap Update;

Hello Everyone a quick update about the engine swap

Great choice of engine.. Above all its a BMW engine that was available originally with the car and i'm chuffed with that!

What's the story behind finding a donor engine in such a short time in India (where the car was never sold officially)? I'm sure it would make for a great read for us bhp'ians.