My newly aquired E46 330i

osiris

///Member
Pho3niX90@OBDWorx said:
Congrats on the purchase. The 330 was the funnest car I have owned.
Get yourself a clutch stop, it will give you faster shifts and make the clutch also feel beter whrn eliminating the play down under.

Then a 3.38 diff ratio, give gizmo a call, makes a world of a difference. Can't say what the 3.46 will feel like.

Then get yourself some tnt branches from moranor, you wouldn't believe the imlrovement on torque. But I went ahead and did a complete custom exhaust along with the branches.

And then get yourself some koni adjustable shocks from moranor. Set at their hardest the ride was softer than stock shocks, but the car sat on gravel like you wouldn't believe.

And then lets do software :D

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Also remove the CDV. Car will feel beter with shifts. You will love it.

Diff is around 2500
Clutch stop around 200, but you can easily make your own.
Tnt branches was around 3000
Full exhaust was around 6000
Konis was around 10000
Software 3000
And CDV is free when you remove it yourself.

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The diff will increase you fuel consumption by .1, but you will have tons of torque down low and 0-100 will improve drastically. However you will lose top end. Unless you are driving 250 a lot it shouldn't matter.

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Thanks for all the info and a huge thank you for the Magic erasers, they work like a charm its unbelievable!!
 

Yuben

Senior Moderator
Staff member
The 3.38 diff works like a charm. Not so much heavier on the open road as I now rev at 2900rpm at 120kmh in 6th as opposed to 2400rpm with the std 2.93.
In town driving the diff really helps me as I can get into higher gears much much faster.
Gizmo advises that the 3.46 makes acceleration even more impressive even if it means top end drops to under 250 which is immaterial to me.

Get those 4 cats out as well, I'm running a decent 57mm system as well. And everything brought into harmony with a UniQ:cartel:
 

Andy1GP

///Member
Do everything as Shaun has mentioned, also let him sort you out with software.

And Congrats on another awesome E46 :clapper:
 

osiris

///Member
Thanks for the advise guys, I would need to sit in a 330i with a 3.38 diff and a 3.46 diff and see what they feel like as I don't want to make the ride too aggressive I enjoy chilled drives on the highway and love the 6th gear sitting at low RPM's so a 3.46 may be a bit much for me as I do drive quite a bit of highway driving come to think of it on the weekends as I go rock climbing.

I am thinking a 3.38 is the better choice in that situation but I would love to feel the difference compared to my current 2.93.

With regards to exhaust modifications, I love the sound of the stock exhaust I have never heard such a smooth purr of an exhaust note in a bmw before as I have always had 325i's and a 525i and a 328i and 323i and one effed up german spec M3 which sounded like an effed up M3 :cry:.
This 330i sound is just to beautiful and I am not messing with it :). I will definitely do a decat but a freeflow and branches is not on my to do list. :rollsmile:

A nice high quality flat air filter "non oil type" would be nice though.
 

Yuben

Senior Moderator
Staff member
2 cats sit on the manifold so u might need to change the manifold altogether. I ran the 328 catless headers :coolShake:
 

Yuben

Senior Moderator
Staff member
We can meet anytime if you want to feel how the 3.38 diff assists the M54B30 :chef:
 

osiris

///Member
YUBEN@TheFanatics said:
We can meet anytime if you want to feel how the 3.38 diff assists the M54B30 :chef:

That sounds great, would definitely want to see how your car drives with that diff. :ty:
 

Fordkoppie

///Member
osiris said:
This 330i sound is just to beautiful and I am not messing with it :). I will definitely do a decat but a freeflow and branches is not on my to do list. :rollsmile:

Congratulations and welcome to the 330i "daily" club :rollsmile:

If you do a decat without fitting resonators, the car will loose that nice deep sound. Will become tinny and raspy:puke:
 

osiris

///Member
Fordkoppie said:
osiris said:
This 330i sound is just to beautiful and I am not messing with it :). I will definitely do a decat but a freeflow and branches is not on my to do list. :rollsmile:

Congratulations and welcome to the 330i "daily" club :rollsmile:

If you do a decat without fitting resonators, the car will loose that nice deep sound. Will become tinny and raspy:puke:

Thank you for that info When I get the exhaust De-catted I will definitely make sure I fit resonators then, But for now I am going to leave the exhaust as is. I just want my xenon's for now, for Gizmo to replace my sump Gasket, to get my Vanos repair kit and fit it and hopefully a up-rated Diff to a 3.38 Then I will be happy days for a while. :)

Oh and the sound in this car is shocking so a small 10" sub and an aux kit for the stock radio wouldn't hurt :)
 

osiris

///Member
moranor@axis said:
congrats on another e46... no turbos or autoboxes to explode on you this time :rollsmile:

Thank you man, yup this is why I went for a manual straight 6 with no turbos :rollsmile:.

I wouldn't have said no to a very very neat 330d e46 2004+ manual but it would have had to be in showroom condition with a turbo that I could see my reflection in with a full service history with the agents like this car lol :=):
 

osiris

///Member
Fordkoppie said:
moranor@axis said:
no turbos or autoboxes to explode on you this time :rollsmile:

only expansion tanks and plastic clips:crazylaugh:


Haha true, which reminds me I should actually go buy a new expansion tank just to be on the safe side! as Every BMW I have ever owned has had an expansion tank disaster! :thumbdo: The cooling systems of BMW's are the biggest flaws out of any other car manufacturer on earth. Its like they are built to self destruct after 100k km at any given time.
 

AdiS

Well-known member
Congratulations, it looks like a fantastic purchase!

Do the expansion tank sooner rather than later please!
 

osiris

///Member
AdiS said:
Congratulations, it looks like a fantastic purchase!

Do the expansion tank sooner rather than later please!

I will definitely get one in the next couple of days and fit it myself. :)
 
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