This, unfortunately is a latergram. I wanted a place to share the story of my e46 build and well r3v>e46fanatics (in my heart).
Right at the early onset of the pandemic I heard a friend mention he wanted to buy a "nice blue manual wagon" on craigslist. I was currently daily driving a turbo/manual Volvo 240 wagon that was ok.. but I decided that after finishing my breakfest waffle I would jump on craigslist to see what car my friend was talking about.
I did not find the wagon he mentioned but just an hour prior a green sport package manual wagon had shown up for a great deal. HMMM. I thought for 3-8 seconds before texting the owner. Normally I couldn't own two cars at once with the parking situation in SF but a cheap manual/sport wagon was hard to pass up and with the pandemic doing it's thing, they had stopped enforcing parking in my neighborhood (ie no pass needed).
Well about 2 hours later, this showed up in my life:
(I "low balled" him $250 under asking)
I immediately fell in love with this wagon. It reminded my on the honeybadger, my 6 speed swapped 325xi e46 wagon. The Volvo soon fell out of DD status when I blew up the infamous M47 transmission and so I started driving the e46. It also worked out that I had a new special someone in my life that really favored the non-smelly e46 vs the smelly volvo 245 - LOL
(parked next to my buddy's manual 528i)
The car did have some quirks that needed to be addressed, including an oil leak, an oil pressure light that started coming on (uh-oh), some control arm bushings and an electric cooling fan.
Chasing down the the oil pressure issue, I replaced the sensor but that didn't help, also it developed from just an oil pressure light to a random tick on startup once in a blue moon. Crap. It drove fine and I ultimately traced down an oil leak to a vanos line banjo that had been crushed during vanos service. Once I replaced that things seem to be OK. I continued driving the e46 around even after fixing the volvo wagon... but ultimately didn't need two cars.
(wagon things)
I had promised myself TO NOT MOD THIS CAR. IT WAS PERFECT. NO MODS JULIEN!!! Ok maybe just some sidemarkers:
Being somewhat (occasionally?) fiscally responsible I decided to list the Volvo wagon for sale. A minute or two after listing it, I edited the add to read "will trade for s54." A couple days went by and no real interest. The issue with the car was that it was not California legal, due to its turbo motor swap. Being a late model 245 wagon with an earlier model 740 turbo engine stopped the idea of BAR (making the car legal in CA) right in Its tracks. To legally swap a car in California, you must have the donor engine from a car the same year or newer with all emissions intact. The Volvo wasn't any of those words. Luckily after about a week I get a call from someone in Phoenix who is super interested in the car. He said he had a buddy of his, that was local to me, who could come check out the car. That buddy called an hour later to firm up some details and a meeting was set. Right before going to be I get another call from him saying "uhh I see you want an s54, will you take my project M3 in trade?" My mind said "NO" but my voice said "YES"
I showed up with the Volvo to his house, let him look it over and got the nod of approval
I then went to go look at the M3. A salvage title 120k mile manual shell with no rear floorboard. The subframe had ripped the floorboard (aka RACP) so badly it had to be meticulously cut out of the car and replaced. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for me, he ran out of steam and let the car sit.
No gas tank, nothing was left bolted to the back of the car. Luckily it was all included with the sale
I even got free delivery!!
How cool is this, I thought to myself. I guess my wagon is not staying stock - LOL.
First order of business was to rage weld the junkyard RACP that he had given me with the car so I could get wheels back under it
Got a little help from Pete, as my welding skills aren't great.
This was in no means to be a valid repair, as the shell was trashed but just something so I could bolt a subframe to it.
A few nights later I decided to swap out the rear subframes, thinking that I'd park the car there until I finished the swap. Reason for this is the e46 rear differential uses a different input shaft than the e46 m3, so the driveshaft would have to be carried over. For the driveshaft to be carried over I'd need a 6 speed transmission vs the 5 speed in the car (6 speed gearbox is longer)
That was completed around 8 PM.. at which point I had a dumb idea. Why not swap trans so I can drive this thing home
(dumb idea face)
Dmitiry/Kronus had come over with the intent of letting me borrow his car for a while.. but instead we rage-yeeted a 6 speed in my wagon that night (note: hazy ipas)
and here she was at 11PM as a 6 speed
I really loved this setup. M54b25 (2.5 liter) engine with the 6 speed and shorter differential really made the car move. I *gasp* had somewhat given up on the s54 swap and decided to just do front sway bar and m3 brakes to balance out the car:
I started to feel a little urgency to get rid of some of the leftover parts and unload the shell. I listed all the M3 leftover bits on craigslist and ultimately found someone to buy the whole package... a little too soon, it turns out.
For now the S54 sat there, sort of in the way.
I mentioned my intentions to Dmitiry that I wanted to keep the m54 and he replied with
"🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺"
UGHHH OK. Lucky for me I share a spot with a certain someone who had done an s54 swap. They were able to point me to someone that could locally do the EWS delete and "virginize" my instrument cluster.
Soon I dropped off my ECU and instrument cluster and took both of their advice to do rod bearings. Records show the car previously had the service but that was over 80k ago.
Fortunately for me, I took that advice because according to Kalim I was "0 miles away from spinning a rod" Ugh look at that #6 rod bearing:
Luckily the crankshaft journal had survived unscathed.
A few weeks later it was time!
Evac the R-134a out of the AC
and out in two hours(-ish)
Hey, it's me!
Had to swap the 6 speed back on to the S54 along with a super low mileage OE clutch/flywheel
Install was the reverse of the removal, with some extra expletives
Unfortunately, she didn't start :'( Turns out that I had forgotten the O2 sensor harness in the donor car. I thought these were part of the chassis but I had made a mistake. While waiting for the harness to come in from ebay, I installed the washer bottle in the battery compartment and also extended all the wiring harnesses for the coolant level sensor, et cetera.
With that all done I went on a mini-vacay to Lake Tahoe and waited for the o2 harness (which inhibited the car from starting) to show up.
Right at the early onset of the pandemic I heard a friend mention he wanted to buy a "nice blue manual wagon" on craigslist. I was currently daily driving a turbo/manual Volvo 240 wagon that was ok.. but I decided that after finishing my breakfest waffle I would jump on craigslist to see what car my friend was talking about.
I did not find the wagon he mentioned but just an hour prior a green sport package manual wagon had shown up for a great deal. HMMM. I thought for 3-8 seconds before texting the owner. Normally I couldn't own two cars at once with the parking situation in SF but a cheap manual/sport wagon was hard to pass up and with the pandemic doing it's thing, they had stopped enforcing parking in my neighborhood (ie no pass needed).
Well about 2 hours later, this showed up in my life:
(I "low balled" him $250 under asking)
I immediately fell in love with this wagon. It reminded my on the honeybadger, my 6 speed swapped 325xi e46 wagon. The Volvo soon fell out of DD status when I blew up the infamous M47 transmission and so I started driving the e46. It also worked out that I had a new special someone in my life that really favored the non-smelly e46 vs the smelly volvo 245 - LOL
(parked next to my buddy's manual 528i)
The car did have some quirks that needed to be addressed, including an oil leak, an oil pressure light that started coming on (uh-oh), some control arm bushings and an electric cooling fan.
Chasing down the the oil pressure issue, I replaced the sensor but that didn't help, also it developed from just an oil pressure light to a random tick on startup once in a blue moon. Crap. It drove fine and I ultimately traced down an oil leak to a vanos line banjo that had been crushed during vanos service. Once I replaced that things seem to be OK. I continued driving the e46 around even after fixing the volvo wagon... but ultimately didn't need two cars.
(wagon things)
I had promised myself TO NOT MOD THIS CAR. IT WAS PERFECT. NO MODS JULIEN!!! Ok maybe just some sidemarkers:
Being somewhat (occasionally?) fiscally responsible I decided to list the Volvo wagon for sale. A minute or two after listing it, I edited the add to read "will trade for s54." A couple days went by and no real interest. The issue with the car was that it was not California legal, due to its turbo motor swap. Being a late model 245 wagon with an earlier model 740 turbo engine stopped the idea of BAR (making the car legal in CA) right in Its tracks. To legally swap a car in California, you must have the donor engine from a car the same year or newer with all emissions intact. The Volvo wasn't any of those words. Luckily after about a week I get a call from someone in Phoenix who is super interested in the car. He said he had a buddy of his, that was local to me, who could come check out the car. That buddy called an hour later to firm up some details and a meeting was set. Right before going to be I get another call from him saying "uhh I see you want an s54, will you take my project M3 in trade?" My mind said "NO" but my voice said "YES"
I showed up with the Volvo to his house, let him look it over and got the nod of approval
I then went to go look at the M3. A salvage title 120k mile manual shell with no rear floorboard. The subframe had ripped the floorboard (aka RACP) so badly it had to be meticulously cut out of the car and replaced. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for me, he ran out of steam and let the car sit.
No gas tank, nothing was left bolted to the back of the car. Luckily it was all included with the sale
I even got free delivery!!
How cool is this, I thought to myself. I guess my wagon is not staying stock - LOL.
First order of business was to rage weld the junkyard RACP that he had given me with the car so I could get wheels back under it
Got a little help from Pete, as my welding skills aren't great.
This was in no means to be a valid repair, as the shell was trashed but just something so I could bolt a subframe to it.
A few nights later I decided to swap out the rear subframes, thinking that I'd park the car there until I finished the swap. Reason for this is the e46 rear differential uses a different input shaft than the e46 m3, so the driveshaft would have to be carried over. For the driveshaft to be carried over I'd need a 6 speed transmission vs the 5 speed in the car (6 speed gearbox is longer)
That was completed around 8 PM.. at which point I had a dumb idea. Why not swap trans so I can drive this thing home
(dumb idea face)
Dmitiry/Kronus had come over with the intent of letting me borrow his car for a while.. but instead we rage-yeeted a 6 speed in my wagon that night (note: hazy ipas)
and here she was at 11PM as a 6 speed
I really loved this setup. M54b25 (2.5 liter) engine with the 6 speed and shorter differential really made the car move. I *gasp* had somewhat given up on the s54 swap and decided to just do front sway bar and m3 brakes to balance out the car:
I started to feel a little urgency to get rid of some of the leftover parts and unload the shell. I listed all the M3 leftover bits on craigslist and ultimately found someone to buy the whole package... a little too soon, it turns out.
For now the S54 sat there, sort of in the way.
I mentioned my intentions to Dmitiry that I wanted to keep the m54 and he replied with
"🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺"
UGHHH OK. Lucky for me I share a spot with a certain someone who had done an s54 swap. They were able to point me to someone that could locally do the EWS delete and "virginize" my instrument cluster.
Soon I dropped off my ECU and instrument cluster and took both of their advice to do rod bearings. Records show the car previously had the service but that was over 80k ago.
Fortunately for me, I took that advice because according to Kalim I was "0 miles away from spinning a rod" Ugh look at that #6 rod bearing:
Luckily the crankshaft journal had survived unscathed.
A few weeks later it was time!
Evac the R-134a out of the AC
and out in two hours(-ish)
Hey, it's me!
Had to swap the 6 speed back on to the S54 along with a super low mileage OE clutch/flywheel
Install was the reverse of the removal, with some extra expletives
Unfortunately, she didn't start :'( Turns out that I had forgotten the O2 sensor harness in the donor car. I thought these were part of the chassis but I had made a mistake. While waiting for the harness to come in from ebay, I installed the washer bottle in the battery compartment and also extended all the wiring harnesses for the coolant level sensor, et cetera.
With that all done I went on a mini-vacay to Lake Tahoe and waited for the o2 harness (which inhibited the car from starting) to show up.
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