2mAns Daily Driver Thread - who knows what it is today...

[Staszek]

https://www.mechatronik.de/en/verkau...m-coupe-55-en/

this is place is where to blow your budget...

Thats perfect!

[2mAn]

Well, I survived nearly 3 months (~75 days if anyones counting) with just one car. Thats right, the ZZW30 MR2 has done daily duties quite well, but its purpose was never to be driving around my wife, luckily it has functioning A/C so she only complained a little... with tomorrows purchase the car gets to go back to being a fun car that I drive to fun places to do fun things.

So, Tomorrow, another intelligent decision is being made.
(1) Im boarding a plane while COVID is still crippling the world.
(2) I will then attempt to hold my breath for one hour as I fly from LAX to SMF (should be SMFH) and head to Antelope CA to pick up the new daily driver and then..
(3) Drive it ~400 miles back to LA, with full confidence that absolutely nothing bad will happen.

I dont want to spoil the fun yet, plenty of chaotic ideas of mine were in the nonsense thread so I will give you guys lets say ... EHHH... 30 hours to guess what car Im buying.

Final Top 3 choices were (in no particular order)
(1) - W201 190 Diesel
(2) - E46 325 Wagon
(3) - MK5 VW GTI 5-door

Winner gets the satisfaction of being right, everyone else gets the satisfaction of seeing yet another car added to the never ending list of cars I buy.

Bonus points to the person who accurately predicts how long I will end up owning this car for.

[mike.bmw]

All 3 are great choices, but I'm betting on #2, the E46 325 wagon. Great for kid hauling duties. I had considered a GTI after my first was born, but the F31's trunk size won that battle.

I give the ownership ~7 months after the baby is due. You'll be coming up for air at that point. ;-)

I was very close to picking up another project this week - a '92 Volvo 245 manual. Ultimately it had too many issues so the search continues.

[mjweimer]

The W201 would make for more interesting stories, the E46 would be the better drivers car and the MK5 would be the practical choice....hmmm.

I'm guessing the E46 touring is the one. You will own the car for 4 years - you'll drive it stock for a year, realize a S54 swap would be the right choice, spend a year sorting that and then drive it for 2 more years before moving on to a Porsche.



MJ

[Reichart12]

Fun little adventure you're taking.

[2mAn]

Either I’m getting too predictable or we’re all the similar type of crazy...

Copying the craigslist details for the inevitable for sale ad which appears be anywhere between 7 months and 4 years from now. Both ends of that spectrum seemed entirely realistic, though after today’s drive I think this one will be around for a while.

For sale is originally a 2000 323i automatic transmission Station Wagon Touring

- chasis is 144k+ miles
- clean title in hand and DMV registration up to date
- VIN is JM00187
- color is orient blue metallic 317
- original paint all around aside from the front bumper that’s upgraded to Mtech 1

Upgrades and maintenance

- Engine has been upgraded and swapped to a 2002 330i 5 Speed, donor engine and transmission is 123k miles (got all pics and video if needed)
- Transmission is ZF S5D-320Z 5 Speed manual
- fully coded and dme software upgraded to the latest SW
- kept it at 3.46 open differential as this is the stock ratio for e46 station wagon
- new redline fluids all around
- new valve cover gasket, new oil pan gasket and vanos seals
- complete cooling system (radiator thermostat water pump) has been done 8k miles ago
- ZHP full catback exhaust
- ZHP 330i Shocks and springs front and back
- Style 96 Wheels
- picture of the front bumper does not include a plate trim as i was about to buy a license delete but its included and its new
- new headlight lens
- upgraded from non sport front bumper to Mtech1 (bumper recently repainted but the whole car is original paint)
- Bosch electric fan upgrade from manual clutch fan

CONS

- windshield has a crack on top about 4-5 inches (More like 14-15 inches!!! -Simon edit)
- 20 year old car so expect scratches but nothing too serious
- the lift gate trunk has 3 dings worth noting

Aside from the cons above car drives awesome, no issues nor noise, also did smoke test, compression test 180+ on all cylinders and pass with flying colors.

I’ll share some pics tomorrow, but I’m a bit tired from my long day. 3 takeaways from today:
(1) M54B30 with a Manual and a 3.46 is a potent combo, even in this Estate (lol)
(2) Flying is quite strange still, luckily it was a quick flight
(3) This car is already giving me bad thoughts, but I need to keep it as stock as it still is

[lukeADE335i]

Looking forward to pics :D

I nearly bought a e46 touring earlier in the year, but we only got 320i tourings down here, so they only came as 2.3L M54 autos. They're crying out for an engine swap right away.

[mjweimer]

Either I’m getting too predictable or we’re all the similar type of crazy...

Copying the craigslist details for the inevitable for sale ad which appears be anywhere between 7 months and 4 years from now. Both ends of that spectrum seemed entirely realistic, though after today’s drive I think this one will be around for a while.



I’ll share some pics tomorrow, but I’m a bit tired from my long day. 3 takeaways from today:
(1) M54B30 with a Manual and a 3.46 is a potent combo, even in this Estate (lol)
(2) Flying is quite strange still, luckily it was a quick flight
(3) This car is already giving me bad thoughts, but I need to keep it as stock as it still is

Congrats and welcome to the club! Sounds like you got a nice example with the B30 swap and 5MT.

Make sure to check out the Touring subforum on E46Fanatics. It's a small group of folks but a great resource for specific issues, etc.


MJ

[mike.bmw]

Congrats! It sounds like quite an awesome touring. Given the specs, I hope you keep it longer than 7 months. :-)

[2mAn]

Sorry guys, no pics yet. I actually have a few on my phone but as today was my wife’s birthday I promised her no car stuff... sadly, being an “old” BMW it decided not to start when I was going to take my wife out. I was quite pissed about it, especially since I couldn’t spend any time diagnosing it. After spending the day making sure my wife was happy she let me escape into the garage and after climbing into the hatch and getting to the battery, the ground was finger tight and came right off... then the ground cable too. Tightened em down and the car fired right up. Hopefully when I’m supposed to drive my wife to work tomorrow nothing weird will happen ...

So why no pics?... it’s a stupid reason, dumber than the no start issue today. So rather than explain I’ll just make you all wait another day.

[2mAn]

Ok here are the pics :) More to come, hopefully today will have a good, fully ready smog and a 2021 registration tag


Here are some of the pics that my buddy sent me when he went to check out the car. (Thats his M5 in the background)
The wheels that are on it in this pic needed tires and I didnt like them, so I opted to have him reinstall the older wheels that had decent tires
























You can see the CD player unit to replace the cassette player, but not sure I will install it. The CD changer in the back works and I have a bunch of cassettes that its nice to listen to... Im old, what can I say

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jXnJWs]








After flying up to Sacramento all still appeared to be correct and as described so I felt good buying it and driving home, over 400 miles away back to Los Angeles. Overall the drive went fine, car pulls quite nice being a M54B30 with a 3.46 rear diff. I managed to average nearly 31mpg going about 75-80 most of the way.


Back home in my garage. Crappy pic, but a "I made it home safely!" pic










Yesterday I drove my wife to work and figured I could get it smogged on the way home, but one of the Cat monitors wasnt ready...



Did some research to see what needed to be done and drove the car around a lot at more normal speeds and RPMs. Keeping it under 3000rpms isnt easy with the 3.46. Last night I drove home from my cousins house and set the cruise control to 58/59 mph and got over 40mpg! haha

Hopefully that restrained driving did what it needed to and I can get my 2021 registration sticker today.

[mike.bmw]

Very nice! Is the ZHP front bumper a direct swap onto the touring?

[2mAn]

Yup, as far as I know. Plug & play. One of the fog lights has a cracked lense and luckily a replacement isnt expensive, but Id like to replace them and add yellow lamin-x which is basically next on the list next to replacing the cracked windshield... just need this thing to be smogged first. Having an issue with the catalytic converter monitor not being ready

[Staszek]

Very nice! Is the ZHP front bumper a direct swap onto the touring?

It is the front clips are all basically the same for the front bumper on the E46, you will need somet parts but they line up, I changed mine when I had one.

Man these pics are making me miss mine.

[varg]

That's a nice daily. M54B30 and manual instead of wheezy 170hp M52B25 and slushbox. Good catch. I passed on a nearly 200k 323i wagon because I just wasn't having it; a 24V 2.5 that makes M20 power and an auto