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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
My Alpine White E46 330i Sport
- Thread starter KPM3_30
- Start date
Onto another update :rollsmile:
In order to complete my Mtech 1.5 conversion, I just needed to source an Mtech II steering wheel. I had managed to get my hands on one from the car I stripped all the other items from. This wheel had started to split, ever so slightly at the two upper seams. I had thought this would be the ideal time to get the steering wheel recovered in leather and add some tri-colour stitching. After calling around and getting information, I was referred to a chap that does work for both SMG and Supertech BMW franchises - Given the referral, I didn't undertake to have checked the guy's work beforehand, big mistake.. :fencelook:
The wheel was supposed to be ready on the Thursday before the BMWFanatics Dyno Day, but when I called to pick up, I was told it would be dropped off the next day, because he was still busy 'perfecting' it. Lo and behold when he arrives to drop it off, he covered the steering wheel in vinyl (when I was being charged for leather) and had messed up the stitching to the point I didn't want to put that wheel on. To say I was livid, is an understatement. I decided I would either recover it using actual professionals or buy an online kit and give it a bash myself, failing which, I would look for another wheel - more on this later..
What added to my irritation was the fact I had booked the car into BMW to have my airbag recall + wheel swapped, before heading home to wash the car for the Dyno Day. Since I had made the appointment and freed up my time, I figured I would go through and have it changed even though the steering wheel wasn't going to be changed.. Pulled into the dealership the next morning to have the airbags changed. Upon the pre-inspection, I had the service manager and parts manager along with a few employees around the car admiring the condition of what is effectively a 15 year old car with almost 260k on the clock. I enjoyed a fantastic cup of coffee while I waited, no really, it was REALLY good coffee. Headed home to wash the car and get a few pics in before the Dyno:
Got to the Dyno Day and the weather was looking threatening, thankfully I took my pics before, as it rained really heavily that evening. Part of the reason the dyno wasn't as busy as we anticipated. Threw my car on the rollers and made a decent 148wkw & 273wnm, which was not too far off the numbers I made at stealth back in 2015 (153wkw & 284wnm). Ended up taking 3rd place in my class, which was quite a surprise.
Back to the steering wheel issue, I managed to come across another e46 individual that was being stripped up country and managed to make arrangements for that to be delivered to me, after numerous pictures being shared. Happily this didn't need any recovering, so I was keen to put it on as soon as it arrived.. After a quick clean up and leather conditioner, which I left to soak into the wheel.
While this was going on, I decided to change my gear knob to the ZHP weighted gear knob after driving my brother's car with the same gear knob.. It changed the shift action completely from the standard higher, longer throw to a shorter, quicker and more satisfying throw, especially from 1 to 2. Picked this up from BMW for R800, after discount.. Worth every cent!
A few weekends ago, I got around to tackling this on a Saturday morning. The gear knob was a simple pop off and then pop on. The steering wheel took more time given the annoying mechanism to remove the airbag + troubleshooting. Just a reminder to disconnect the battery as it could store an airbag fault when you remove the airbag to access the steering bolt. I had to swap over all my existing items from my old steering to the new one as the scrapyard guys pinched the wiring somewhere.. What a difference to to the feel of the steering and driving experience with the thicker wheel, another mod that has made a noticeable difference to driving enjoyment.
Before (I had already swopped the gear knob by this point, from the M leather gear knob that I had fitted in 2016):
After:
My next update will be about my Eonon GA9150a, that arrived earlier this month from the UK. Just fitted it a week ago and testing it before I do a review on the unit. Will just leave this here:
Thanks for following :ty:
In order to complete my Mtech 1.5 conversion, I just needed to source an Mtech II steering wheel. I had managed to get my hands on one from the car I stripped all the other items from. This wheel had started to split, ever so slightly at the two upper seams. I had thought this would be the ideal time to get the steering wheel recovered in leather and add some tri-colour stitching. After calling around and getting information, I was referred to a chap that does work for both SMG and Supertech BMW franchises - Given the referral, I didn't undertake to have checked the guy's work beforehand, big mistake.. :fencelook:
The wheel was supposed to be ready on the Thursday before the BMWFanatics Dyno Day, but when I called to pick up, I was told it would be dropped off the next day, because he was still busy 'perfecting' it. Lo and behold when he arrives to drop it off, he covered the steering wheel in vinyl (when I was being charged for leather) and had messed up the stitching to the point I didn't want to put that wheel on. To say I was livid, is an understatement. I decided I would either recover it using actual professionals or buy an online kit and give it a bash myself, failing which, I would look for another wheel - more on this later..
What added to my irritation was the fact I had booked the car into BMW to have my airbag recall + wheel swapped, before heading home to wash the car for the Dyno Day. Since I had made the appointment and freed up my time, I figured I would go through and have it changed even though the steering wheel wasn't going to be changed.. Pulled into the dealership the next morning to have the airbags changed. Upon the pre-inspection, I had the service manager and parts manager along with a few employees around the car admiring the condition of what is effectively a 15 year old car with almost 260k on the clock. I enjoyed a fantastic cup of coffee while I waited, no really, it was REALLY good coffee. Headed home to wash the car and get a few pics in before the Dyno:
Got to the Dyno Day and the weather was looking threatening, thankfully I took my pics before, as it rained really heavily that evening. Part of the reason the dyno wasn't as busy as we anticipated. Threw my car on the rollers and made a decent 148wkw & 273wnm, which was not too far off the numbers I made at stealth back in 2015 (153wkw & 284wnm). Ended up taking 3rd place in my class, which was quite a surprise.
Back to the steering wheel issue, I managed to come across another e46 individual that was being stripped up country and managed to make arrangements for that to be delivered to me, after numerous pictures being shared. Happily this didn't need any recovering, so I was keen to put it on as soon as it arrived.. After a quick clean up and leather conditioner, which I left to soak into the wheel.
While this was going on, I decided to change my gear knob to the ZHP weighted gear knob after driving my brother's car with the same gear knob.. It changed the shift action completely from the standard higher, longer throw to a shorter, quicker and more satisfying throw, especially from 1 to 2. Picked this up from BMW for R800, after discount.. Worth every cent!
A few weekends ago, I got around to tackling this on a Saturday morning. The gear knob was a simple pop off and then pop on. The steering wheel took more time given the annoying mechanism to remove the airbag + troubleshooting. Just a reminder to disconnect the battery as it could store an airbag fault when you remove the airbag to access the steering bolt. I had to swap over all my existing items from my old steering to the new one as the scrapyard guys pinched the wiring somewhere.. What a difference to to the feel of the steering and driving experience with the thicker wheel, another mod that has made a noticeable difference to driving enjoyment.
Before (I had already swopped the gear knob by this point, from the M leather gear knob that I had fitted in 2016):
After:
My next update will be about my Eonon GA9150a, that arrived earlier this month from the UK. Just fitted it a week ago and testing it before I do a review on the unit. Will just leave this here:
Thanks for following :ty:
applehero said:KPM_330 said:
Nice build thread.
Where did you get these mats? :thumbsup:
@applehero, thanks bud!
These are F30 mats.. I had actually purchased them for my 335i from the dealer and when I sold the car, swopped them over to the 330i. They fit really well, surprisingly.
Tinuva said:
@Tinuva, the old wheel was in REALLY good condition and I had only changed cause I wanted the thicker Mtech II wheel. I actually gave the steering to a friend for his 325i Mtech I, as his wheel is in pretty bad shape.
I did sell that other Mtech II wheel I had recovered and wasn't happy with.. If you're keen I can keep an eye out for another car that is stripping in KZN? Drop me a PM with your number and we can discuss.
MSLVIN003 said:
@MSLVIN003, thanks so much for the feedback! :ty:
I actually promised myself that after the head unit upgrade, I would not be spending anymore money on mods, given the change in my priorities... That said, the xenon upgrade has been something that I wanted to do since I first got the car, just never got around to it.
At best case, it would probably only happen next year, as my funds are now being invested in the property I just purchased after selling the 335i. Not to mention the wedding costs which are amounting to eye-watering amounts :fencelook:
Been meaning to update this thread for some time but between planning a wedding, buying a new place, getting married/honeymooning and moving in, time (and now money) has been rather scarce… Anyway, as they say, no time like the present… Especially since this is a longer update to bring everything up to current :smilebounce:
Having had my Eonon unit delivered after a LENGTHY period, I couldn’t wait to have it installed… With all the changes in my personal life, finding time was exceptionally difficult and limited on the weekends. My impatience got the better of me and I had the car dropped off at Jabsport to have the unit fitted, a mere 2 days later. :hammerhead: Despite buying my own unit, Jabba had arranged for this to be fitted at the same cost he usually charges for his own units – Great guy to do business with and his customer service is why I have been supporting him for the better part of 8 years.
The unit was fitted in under 3 hours, including the canbus connector (retain steering wheel controls), navigation module, Bluetooth receiver and cabling for the reverse camera, which was wired to work when the reverse lights engage.. Since fitting the unit, I have covered around 5k in mileage and what a difference this upgrade has made to the tech updates the car was lacking.. I no longer had to make use of a CD shuttle, having access to over 8GB of music and when paired with my sound system, aural happiness. Switching on my phone’s Bluetooth and hotspot mean I now have a fully integrated system, much like a smartphone for the car. The variable colour options allowed to almost exactly match the orange hue of the standard BMW interior lighting, some pics below of the unit:
Fast forward a few weeks, with me going on annual leave to take care of the wedding/honeymoon, the car needed to be kept out of the way, since I wouldn’t be using it all that much. Had the battery disconnected and the car was parked off for just over 5 weeks. A few days before being parked off,I was on the way to work and made my mileage milestone of 260k, which also means a service was due.. :tiptoe:
As soon as I returned from honeymooning in Bali, the first thing I wanted to do was fetch my car before the New Year began.. Picked the car up and enjoyed some interesting ‘adventures’ over the dwindling leave supply I had left, including visiting Tala Game Reserve, not realizing just how far in I had to travel to make use of their game drive. I was the only car in a sea of SUV’s and bakkies, this just upset me more. I didn’t end up taking any pictures, as I was frustrated at myself for using the car without considering the potential repercussions and also having to drive in first gear the WHOLE way. :blueCry: Over the next few days, the car was given a full service and booked for it’s annual clay & polish at my car wash. I have been using this car wash for the past 6 years and it was the only place I had the car washed, unless I was going to wash it myself, at my former home. Some pictures:
Since moving into my apartment in January, I hardly use the car and the mileage has finally stopped the astronomical ascent towards the 300k mark. From the time the car was purchased at the start of 2014 with 170k on the clock, it did daily duty between Pinetown and Umhlanga up until November last year. In that time I have covered almost 100k in mileage and this is keeping in mind my 8 month stint in London, where the car was parked off for this period. My commute to work is now less than 3km, taking me 4 mins from my front door to the parkade, although this is good news for me, I couldn’t subject my car to daily duties of this nature. As a result, I make an effort to run the car at least once a week, to make sure it gets a good run... This means that since the start of the year, I have only covered around 650km and used one tank of fuel :fencelook: The biggest reason one of my pre-requisites when searching for a place, was fully sheltered parking for 2 cars, I can't stand parking my car in the sun for short periods of time, I would die leaving it out to the elements for days at a time.
During the week, the car parks in the basement next to it’s neighbor which happens to be another BMW, reminds me exactly of @Razz ’s Z4M:
A random shot of my car goal, pun intended:
Since moving North, it meant I had to find a new car wash in the area that I could use, whenever I wasn’t up to washing the car myself. I visited one that was down the road from me, interestingly they don’t follow conventional methods. The car is sprayed with a chemical foam, left to sit and then rinsed off.. I found this to be a little out of the norm, so enquired with the owner and was told that this method is employed by both Porsche and Ferrari work shops, with the chemical being endorsed by Scuderia Ferrari, imported from Italy. Probably the justification for costing more than double what I used to pay for a wash, I blame the location and caliber of cars in the area. The drying process is much like any other car wash however, which I don’t quite get since the place is described as a ‘contactless’ car wash by the owner.. :YesNo: Anyway, I have resigned myself to washing the car myself or when I visit my parents, seeing as though it is hardly used. The car did look pretty good, but then again, this was the first wash since being polished:
Plans for this year are a suspension refresh, starting with all the arms/bushes/joints and then I will look at upgrading the shocks as well. The only other exterior mod I want to complete which is still on my list from page 1, is the xenon upgrade.. These 2 things combined are quite a costly affair and will probably be done later on this year, especially with me needing to get a new daily, which will require maintenance to get it where I would like (always the case with a secondhand BMW). Will create a thread for that car when I fetch it, which should be in the next few weeks.
Thanks for looking :ty:
Having had my Eonon unit delivered after a LENGTHY period, I couldn’t wait to have it installed… With all the changes in my personal life, finding time was exceptionally difficult and limited on the weekends. My impatience got the better of me and I had the car dropped off at Jabsport to have the unit fitted, a mere 2 days later. :hammerhead: Despite buying my own unit, Jabba had arranged for this to be fitted at the same cost he usually charges for his own units – Great guy to do business with and his customer service is why I have been supporting him for the better part of 8 years.
The unit was fitted in under 3 hours, including the canbus connector (retain steering wheel controls), navigation module, Bluetooth receiver and cabling for the reverse camera, which was wired to work when the reverse lights engage.. Since fitting the unit, I have covered around 5k in mileage and what a difference this upgrade has made to the tech updates the car was lacking.. I no longer had to make use of a CD shuttle, having access to over 8GB of music and when paired with my sound system, aural happiness. Switching on my phone’s Bluetooth and hotspot mean I now have a fully integrated system, much like a smartphone for the car. The variable colour options allowed to almost exactly match the orange hue of the standard BMW interior lighting, some pics below of the unit:
Fast forward a few weeks, with me going on annual leave to take care of the wedding/honeymoon, the car needed to be kept out of the way, since I wouldn’t be using it all that much. Had the battery disconnected and the car was parked off for just over 5 weeks. A few days before being parked off,I was on the way to work and made my mileage milestone of 260k, which also means a service was due.. :tiptoe:
As soon as I returned from honeymooning in Bali, the first thing I wanted to do was fetch my car before the New Year began.. Picked the car up and enjoyed some interesting ‘adventures’ over the dwindling leave supply I had left, including visiting Tala Game Reserve, not realizing just how far in I had to travel to make use of their game drive. I was the only car in a sea of SUV’s and bakkies, this just upset me more. I didn’t end up taking any pictures, as I was frustrated at myself for using the car without considering the potential repercussions and also having to drive in first gear the WHOLE way. :blueCry: Over the next few days, the car was given a full service and booked for it’s annual clay & polish at my car wash. I have been using this car wash for the past 6 years and it was the only place I had the car washed, unless I was going to wash it myself, at my former home. Some pictures:
Since moving into my apartment in January, I hardly use the car and the mileage has finally stopped the astronomical ascent towards the 300k mark. From the time the car was purchased at the start of 2014 with 170k on the clock, it did daily duty between Pinetown and Umhlanga up until November last year. In that time I have covered almost 100k in mileage and this is keeping in mind my 8 month stint in London, where the car was parked off for this period. My commute to work is now less than 3km, taking me 4 mins from my front door to the parkade, although this is good news for me, I couldn’t subject my car to daily duties of this nature. As a result, I make an effort to run the car at least once a week, to make sure it gets a good run... This means that since the start of the year, I have only covered around 650km and used one tank of fuel :fencelook: The biggest reason one of my pre-requisites when searching for a place, was fully sheltered parking for 2 cars, I can't stand parking my car in the sun for short periods of time, I would die leaving it out to the elements for days at a time.
During the week, the car parks in the basement next to it’s neighbor which happens to be another BMW, reminds me exactly of @Razz ’s Z4M:
A random shot of my car goal, pun intended:
Since moving North, it meant I had to find a new car wash in the area that I could use, whenever I wasn’t up to washing the car myself. I visited one that was down the road from me, interestingly they don’t follow conventional methods. The car is sprayed with a chemical foam, left to sit and then rinsed off.. I found this to be a little out of the norm, so enquired with the owner and was told that this method is employed by both Porsche and Ferrari work shops, with the chemical being endorsed by Scuderia Ferrari, imported from Italy. Probably the justification for costing more than double what I used to pay for a wash, I blame the location and caliber of cars in the area. The drying process is much like any other car wash however, which I don’t quite get since the place is described as a ‘contactless’ car wash by the owner.. :YesNo: Anyway, I have resigned myself to washing the car myself or when I visit my parents, seeing as though it is hardly used. The car did look pretty good, but then again, this was the first wash since being polished:
Plans for this year are a suspension refresh, starting with all the arms/bushes/joints and then I will look at upgrading the shocks as well. The only other exterior mod I want to complete which is still on my list from page 1, is the xenon upgrade.. These 2 things combined are quite a costly affair and will probably be done later on this year, especially with me needing to get a new daily, which will require maintenance to get it where I would like (always the case with a secondhand BMW). Will create a thread for that car when I fetch it, which should be in the next few weeks.
Thanks for looking :ty:
Very interesting, even though I have the Xtrons, the interface looks exactly the same on yours, same apps and everything.KPM_330 said:
One thing I did do, is install Tasker on my phone, and whenever it detects I am connected to the car via bluetooth, it automatically starts up a hotspot on my phone, allowing the car to access the internet. I noticed it won't download updates ect (which is good), but Google Maps not only work but shows traffic as soon as I start. Update do donwload on my home wifi I noticed. Looks like the OS knows a hotspot is not regular wifi. With tasker you can also start up music player on your phone if you want, but I have a 32GB usb stick on my radio, with Resilio sync that sync music from my computer, again only over home wifi.
That said, I completely agree with you, the radio brings the electronics in the car up to the 21st centuary! For me, even phonecalls work great.
Wait till you get your first kid...I am out of timeKPM_330 said:Fast forward a few weeks, with me going on annual leave to take care of the wedding/honeymoon, the car needed to be kept out of the way, since I wouldn’t be using it all that much. Had the battery disconnected and the car was parked off for just over 5 weeks. A few days before being parked off,I was on the way to work and made my mileage milestone of 260k, which also means a service was due.. :tiptoe:
As soon as I returned from honeymooning in Bali, the first thing I wanted to do was fetch my car before the New Year began.. Picked the car up and enjoyed some interesting ‘adventures’ over the dwindling leave supply I had left, including visiting Tala Game Reserve, not realizing just how far in I had to travel to make use of their game drive. I was the only car in a sea of SUV’s and bakkies, this just upset me more. I didn’t end up taking any pictures, as I was frustrated at myself for using the car without considering the potential repercussions and also having to drive in first gear the WHOLE way. :blueCry: Over the next few days, the car was given a full service and booked for it’s annual clay & polish at my car wash. I have been using this car wash for the past 6 years and it was the only place I had the car washed, unless I was going to wash it myself, at my former home.
As for driving on dirt road, made the exact same mistake when I promised to drop my mom and her friend off at the whale trail over December, without thinking about the road. Was absolute horrible driving there. When I dropped them off and helped with the baggage and noticed how dirty the car was, was super upset. Not so much about the dirt you can see...more the places dirt go in that you can not see! On the way home, I was more daring and did about 80-100KM/H back on the dirt road, felt like a real rally driver and the car handled that road amazing well. Also the road was decent, just lots of dirt everywhere. Back home, took off the strips from the rear bumper where a lot of dirt get caught and cleaned as much as I could with the pressure washer. Still need to take off the side skirts, and plastic covers at the bottom of the car. Cleaned everything outside and opened the doors and cleaned in between everywhere I could. Surprisingly the engine bay was still as clean as it was before. I did make sure not to drive behind any other cars. Anyways, one experience I prefer to not have again, at least not as bad as an accident day.
KPM_330 said:
Xenon upgrades. Have done it 2 times now. 1st was my accident car repair, bought a facelift set. 2nd was my wife's 330i after seeing how good the bi-xenon lights are. First time I tried to source second hand locally....was a fail. The sets are in terrible condition, leveling motors not working, and generally the only parts I would use is the electronics to power the xenons. Even the bulbs were usually replaced by cheap bad quality versions that just fit...
Ended up buying both my current sets from the UK on ebay. Both times I got excellent quality sets, usually at R2500 to R3000 for a _set_, and they threw in extra indicators and the one set even included the headlight washer system mounts which I completely missed in my initial part buy. With import tax and shipping I still got them for much better price than BMW, who ask about R15000 for a single headlight nevermind a set. The other reason I imported from the UK instead of the US, is their lights are also built for right hand drive cars like ours, where the US the light's cut off lines would be for the wrong side of the road (but I am sure you know that).
Anyways, absolute stunning car you have and it has done great mileage!
