New DD -- E46 330i

[jaywood]

2002 330i with 78k miles on it. I picked it up over the weekend from the second owner (female) who kept it in great shape. Got a folder of maint. receipts :p Looks like I'm following in Wh33lhop's footsteps!

[Harry's E30]

yeahhhhhhh dutt

[ak-]

Lucky guy you. I've been looking for 3+ months for a good example, but only came up with shitboxes and settled for something else!

Nice!

[Ryann]

Replace your water pump (w/steel impeller) and thermostat/housing now if it hasn't been already. The rad. hoses too if you have the dough.

[Ryann]

Replace your water pump (w/steel impeller) and thermostat/housing now if it hasn't been already. The rad. hoses too if you have the dough.

Then start saving for the vacuum hose/CCV replacement project.

[getouth]

Solid looking car dude!

[MR 325]

6 speed? :)

[george graves]

Very nice!

[rmdashrf]

Congrats, looks great!

I bought a '02 e46 for my wife with 90k on it a couple years ago. Great car and motor, but you have to address the weak points. In the first year I did the following:

Cooling system: new rad, wp, hoses, Tstat, expansion tank, coolant level sensor, coolant temp switch, rad cap, etc.
Clutch
Ccv: updated dip stick tube, 4 lines, and oil seperator
Vanos seals, valve cover gasket
And other regular maintenance items

That all cost a couple grand in parts alone, but it's worth it, especially the vanos seals, that brought back a lot of the low end grunt it was missing. Highly recommended. I used beisan seals.

After I replaced the clutch I wish I eliminated the self adjusting clutch. It sucks, look it up if you are interested. A guy on e46f found a solution using a regular spring hub clutch disk. A clutch delay valve delete was also worth while.

I also wish I replaced the oil Filter housing gasket when I did the Ccv system.

Also note that it consumes oil. No use worrying about it, everyone who isn't in denial lives with it.

Overall great car. Non car People are always shocked that I got a "new" bmw for under 8 large, lol. I don't tell them about the cost of the above maintenance, Lmfao.

Anyway. . . I still prefer me e30 over it ;)

[jaywood]

Thanks for the comments guys :)

The car is a 5 speed. I was looking for a 6 speed originally but when this popped up i couldn't pass it up. The PO just had the expansion tank and radiator hoses changed but not the water pump :/ that's on my list of things I need to do.

[efficient]

damn looks clean. i think finding these cars in manual is hard, because most of them are all auto.

[squidmaster]

Nice! Makes me wish I would have bought that 6-speed I found a couple of months ago.

[Wh33lhop]

What a piece of shit. ;)