I found the donor today, a 12/2004 build ZHP with 72k miles. Bashed front end. everything rear of the accessories on the motor is in good shape or better. Car starts and runs; interior is lovely, it's just the front end that's ugly as hell...
I will be putting the following items into the wagon:
M54B30
6MT
Driveshaft
Brakes (F & R)
Steering rack (if truly undamaged)
Front Control Arms (if truly undamaged)
Rear trailing arms (with new bushings)
Steering wheel
HK Stereo
Alcantara shift and parking brake boots
Dashboard and Door trim
ECU, EWS, Cluster, keys
Any other suggestions?
Everything else will be either scrapped or sold on eBay/craigslist...
Curious if we could work out a deal on the two front wheels for my two back wheels?
Why would you not put the seats in the wagon? Along with the dash, and the entire interior? If the A, B and C pillars are not peeling I would like to talk about those too.
Curious if we could work out a deal on the two front wheels for my two back wheels?
Why would you not put the seats in the wagon? Along with the dash, and the entire interior? If the A, B and C pillars are not peeling I would like to talk about those too.
The wagon has manual 'hellbeige' sport seats. Don't really want to give those up
The interior of the wagon is in surprisingly good shape. Plus, I'm in Texas and I don't want the death of a black interior during our 18 months of summer every year.
Are you saying you'd want the 18x8s? I'm thinking that the non-track setup will be 18x8 all around. As for the rest of the interior bits, you can have first right of refusal. Not sure when I'll start pulling stuff out. Mostly because I don't know when the shipper will drop it off in front of my house.
This is the first time in a thread like this that I am not sitting over here thinking "I need the trim, I need the shift boots, I need the wheel, etc, etc, etc"
I'm assuming you're doing that because you want the MS45.1? Otherwise I'd say keep your stock components, swap the gauge faces and needles into your existing cluster... that way you'd keep your original VIN (not sure if it really matters for a car that modified).
Also, I am not sure if the MS45.1 DME will play nice with the earlier version of the DSC module that came with the 01 cars. There may be other issues since BMW switched from the ZCS system to the FA system between 2001 and 2002 (both are ways how the car identifies itself to the various diagnostics tools out there)
Still have the M3/4/5. Will sell that when the project is done. And given my looking in to what's involved, I suspect the 3-day weekend I'm giving to the motor/trans/ecu stuff will be more than enough. I plan on doing much of the suspension and interior stuff bit by bit.
You want to come watch? I can think of some girls that would love to see you, and the fetching Mrs BLT as well.
Very cool project, just like what I have been thinking but with two not four doors. Will look forward to following your progress.
Count me on on buying some parts. I am wanting some interior crap. So when you get to point of needing to clear out, put me on a list and give me a jingle.
Shouldn't be to bad if he does most of the work himself. The hard part imo is putting in the wiring harness from the ZHP to the wagon. My friend whos doing my manual conversion put the S54 and all M3 parts on a wagon including wiring harness. Most of the things work except rear windows, sun roof small stuff like that. I'll take a pic of it for you guys when I pickup my car.
This project is an awesome idea! Although a major pain in the ass and expensive, what about adding the retrofit Navigation along with iPod & Sirius, intravee or mediabridge? May be tough to find matching dash trim etc.
Nice project, Jeff :thumbup: You may want to touch base with Matt Medeiros - he was doing a 6 speed swap into a 330 the last time I talked to him (LSD too, I think - Chu Chaing is acquiring some more autoX points).
Just heard from the shipping company. It's supposed to arrive this evening!!!! :thumbup: :bigpimp: :drink: :beerchug: :guitar: :banana: :clap: :fruit: :sabrina: :supdude: :freakdanc :roundel:
Well, that fracking bites! The AC compressor was torn off the engine block. Nice sized hole I can stick my thumb in. Now I get to find a new block and rebuild the whole motor. Whee!!!!!
No wonder it was such a bargain
So should I get a plain block and rebuild the motor or get a new motor entirely?
Well, that fracking bites! The AC compressor was torn off the engine block. Nice sized hole I can stick my thumb in. Now I get to find a new block and rebuild the whole motor. Whee!!!!!
No wonder it was such a bargain
So should I get a plain block and rebuild the motor or get a new motor entirely?
So...far from letting a little set back slow me down, I've swapped out the steering wheel, door trim and shifter today. It's amazing how good the ZHP steering wheel feels. And the difference in throw in the shifter is enormous. I also removed the front brakes from the ZHP and will probably do that job this weekend. Maybe. Maybe I'll do the exhaust.
I highly suggest doing the rears as well. Yes, it requires removing the ZHP trailing arms and half shafts but when I put ZHP front brakes on my 323 it did little to help braking. It wasn't until I added the rears it really made a difference you could feel. I was told by some people that adding just the bigger front calipers makes the brake bias get out of whack. Not sure I agree, but hopefully this info is helpful.
So, how do the B and C pillars look in that car? :dunno:
Slower than I'd hoped for. I've got driveshaft and diff out, working on rear subframe and suspension. Pulling interior bits at the same time. BTW, I've got both sets of B&C pillars out now.
The big hold up is that our BMW CCA chapter is putting on an HPDE on March 31. As the Tejas Chapter's Chief Driving Instructor, I've got a teenie little bit of responsibility for making sure it runs smoothly
:thumbup: :drive:
And another recent update. The hole in the block is repairable, according to several knowledgeable folks that I know. Have a welding shop recommendation and will be pulling the motor the weekend after the HPDE
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