tea boy Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) It's funny, or perhaps prophetic, that if one is too slow in releasing the shift button when typing title of this it comes out as E46 M£... It all started way back in the early 70s when I was a young boy and my next door neighbour got a Vauxhall Viva GT. It was very sporty indeed quite rare, and I thought it was fabulous. The best thing about it was that it had four exhaust pipes which obviously meant it was very very fast!. Ever since then I have wanted to own a car with four tailpipes. They had to be genuine factory fitted ones and not some Halfords junk on a Fiesta or something. As I already have a project car which is progressing at a glacial pace I decided that I had to buy the best example of my exhaust mobile that I could find/afford and one that didn't need any immediate work beyond routine servicing/maintenance. After an extensive search I found a really nice one for which I had to pay quite handsomely. This is it photographed on Christmas day when I went out for a quick raid whilst the roads were very quiet and dinner was being prepared by my lovely daughter . As I said, I wanted a car to drive not to work on and this one had just had a full suspension and brake system rebuild. The previous owner had spent a fortune on it but his wife wanted a new kitchen, which was lucky for me as I would be the one enjoying the freshness of all those bits. Most importantly of all it has these sticking out of the back. I've had it for about three months and have enjoyed every minute of it, right up to the point where it broke down... So much for my plan of getting a car that I didn't have to work on. Edited January 12, 2022 by tea boy Fixed pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea boy Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) Can someone make the pictures work? Panic over, I got a young child to do it for me... Edited January 12, 2022 by tea boy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TargaWayne Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 16 minutes ago, tea boy said: It's funny, or perhaps prophetic, that if one is too slow in releasing the shift button when typing title of this it comes out as E46 M£... It all started way back in the early 70s when I was a young boy and my next door neighbour got a Vauxhall Viva GT. It was very sporty indeed quite rare, and I thought it was fabulous. The best thing about it was that it had four exhaust pipes which obviously meant it was very very fast!. Ever since then I have wanted to own a car with four tailpipes. They had to be genuine factory fitted ones and not some Halfords junk on a Fiesta or something. As I already have a project car which is progressing at a glacial pace I decided that I had to buy the best example of my exhaust mobile that I could find/afford and one that didn't need any immediate work beyond routine servicing/maintenance. After an extensive search I found a really nice one for which I had to pay quite handsomely. This is it photographed on Christmas day when I went out for a quick raid whilst the roads were very quiet and dinner was being prepared by my lovely daughter . [url=https://postimages.org/][img]https://i.postimg.cc/1Rw2565W/00-BDBEF6-44-E9-423-C-A7-E6-B51-B4677-B0-AB.jpg[/img][/url] As I said, I wanted a car to drive not to work on and this one had just had a full suspension and brake system rebuild. [url=https://postimg.cc/y34RNybj][img]https://i.postimg.cc/gjrHNMyC/5484-E951-3993-4995-8857-5316446-AD139.png[/img][/url] The previous owner had spent a fortune on it but his wife wanted a new kitchen, which was lucky for me as I would be the one enjoying the freshness of all those bits. Most importantly of all it has these sticking out of the back. [url=https://postimages.org/][img]https://i.postimg.cc/fTsF3LVM/A448-B94-C-F776-4-C9-E-B1-A7-44-C60-C9-E8825.jpg[/img][/url] I've had it for about three months and have enjoyed every minute of it, right up to the point where it broke down... So much for my plan of getting a car that I didn't have to work on. 11 minutes ago, tea boy said: Can someone make the pictures work? Copy the link to the image as plain text. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidewaysfun Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Have you identified the cause of the breakdown yet? My best mate has one of these, they're a joy to drive. Such a well balanced car. Last mod performed was a Supersprint exhaust. Whilst it is quite loud, it now sounds like a racecar! Probably one of the nicest sounding cars I know of. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Comerford Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Brilliant choice and I think these are still appreciating. Silver is one of the best colours for this car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea boy Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 12 hours ago, Sidewaysfun said: Have you identified the cause of the breakdown yet? My best mate has one of these, they're a joy to drive. Such a well balanced car. Last mod performed was a Supersprint exhaust. Whilst it is quite loud, it now sounds like a racecar! Probably one of the nicest sounding cars I know of. I haven't had chance to look yet, probably going to be the weekend now. Yeah, they are ok to drive aren't they. If I was going for a noise improvement I would go for a CSL style carbon air box, they sound fantastic and the only reason that I don't already have one is the cost is as incredible as the sound. I find that the sports exhausts tend to drone, usually at motorway speeds which can be very annoying. 3 hours ago, Ian Comerford said: Brilliant choice and I think these are still appreciating. Silver is one of the best colours for this car. I don't mind the silver at all. I didn't want a dark colour because I'm too lazy to keep them clean enough to look good. You won't believe how fast I can get to JJ's now,.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea boy Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 When got this and had driven it home, the first thing I did before I put it away was to perform a very important modification. I changed this. For this. Which I had already bought, even before I got the car. Well, I like tea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oliverjamesthomas Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Those Thermos mugs are brilliant, but they keep tea so warm that you can’t drink it 🤣 The E46 is an outstanding choice 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea boy Posted January 14, 2022 Author Share Posted January 14, 2022 1 hour ago, oliverjamesthomas said: Those Thermos mugs are brilliant, but they keep tea so warm that you can’t drink it 🤣 The E46 is an outstanding choice 👍 You are right OJ, I have to leave the lid off for twenty minutes before I can take a sip! Or make a cuppa three hours before you want to drink it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellyfishfields Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Nice car. If you don't want the expense of the full CSL air box, you could go for an Eventuri carbon intake. Most of the noise, but much less cost. I have one on my Z4M, sounds brilliant, a worthwhile upgrade. I think it was around £650, need to double check. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajd Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 I'm toying with one of these as I have very fond memories of a convertible one I had nearly 20 years ago with the then fashionable SMG - I'd now get a manual but sadly they are a bit rarer as idiots like me bought the SMG new.... Did you have to faff around with the sub frame at all? It seems to be an obligatory strengthening project. PS love the 18"s. I want one with 18"s but they are even rarer than manuals! PS - how did it break down? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Hart Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 ^. There’s a Wheeler Dealers’ episode where they convert the SMG to manual, doesn’t look that difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellyfishfields Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 I looked into this a while back, main thing was machining or changing out the bellhousing. Maybe some electronics also, can't remember now. BMW M3 e36 e46 SMG to Manual Bellhousing machining | eBay Or, if you want someone to do it all for you. E46 M3 SMG to Manual Conversion - Redish Motorsport - Specialists for BMW M-Power Vehicles (redish-motorsport.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Comerford Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 I don’t recall there being any machining? I thought they just remove all of the SMG stuff, actuators etc and add some BMW manual shift parts which are all exterior to the box. It seemed very straightforward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicestershire Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 The SMG & manual share the same casting but some of the holes are missing on the semi-auto version. The ECU also needs to be flashed to suit the manual shift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crisc204 Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 Nice find Also Agree 100% That centre console mod is essential... Great fun these. Not that complicated to work on either once you have a decent BMW friendly code reader They make a particular Fast Raspy Zingy sound when running spot on Repaired quite a few over the years. My mate still has one he bought in 2004. M3 Manual Cab BMW Purple Individual order its got less than 30K miles on it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Bernau Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Wading into this late - 2 thoughts. I have the Supersprint exhaust (not the race version) and its perfect. No drone. Second: the SMG to manual conversion is very well documented, just search. Extra bonus thought - the CSL airbox is essential. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea boy Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 On 16/01/2022 at 18:28, ajd said: Did you have to faff around with the sub frame at all? It seems to be an obligatory strengthening project. PS love the 18"s. I want one with 18"s but they are even rarer than manuals! PS - how did it break down? I haven't done the subframe thing but I will be at some point. From the ones I have driven I liked the way they went on 18s more than on the 19s. The breakdown is all the clutch fluid leaking out from the joint where the hose clips into the rigid pipe from the bulkhead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Comerford Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 1 hour ago, tea boy said: I haven't done the subframe thing but I will be at some point. From the ones I have driven I liked the way they went on 18s more than on the 19s. The breakdown is all the clutch fluid leaking out from the joint where the hose clips into the rigid pipe from the bulkhead. It’s probably early days but I would recommend speaking to Redish Motorsport in Bristol re the rear subframe, they seem to be world leaders in the jib and export repair kits all over the place. I take mine there for service and repair work, it’s a long way but they are just great 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Bernau Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 Last I heard, Redish were not doing subframe work at the moment, but agreed they would be first choice. There are many others though with experience. You could try Darragh at everythingm3s who is leading the way with SMG to manual conversions among other things.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea boy Posted February 12, 2022 Author Share Posted February 12, 2022 I've fixed the clutch thing, replaced the hose and slave cylinder. To be honest, I could have probably just replaced the O ring on the original hose but the bits were not overly expensive and hopefully should be trouble free for a long time. Whilst I was under there I changed the gearbox oil, in an attempt to improve the obstructive gearchange. My research told me that some E36 M3s used the same Getrag 6 speeder and it was originally specced with auto trans fluid but the spec was later changed for MTF because of gear chatter. I decided to try half ATF half MTF to thin it down a bit but not introduce the rattling. The result was fantastic, the gearchange was transformed, it is so much better. I thought that I was a really clever boy until I spotted this on eBay. It seems that I'm not the first person to think of this after all. As I was messing about with gearchange stuff I discovered this. Some broken strings on the gearstick, I wonder what they do? I managed to scrounge a cut off plug from a pal of mine and soldered it in. A bit of Tesa tape to hopefully prevent the strings from snapping again. This is the result. My knob now lights up! I don't know how I ever coped without it. Someone said that dim knobs in BMWs was the norm, but I'm a cut above now! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea boy Posted March 15, 2022 Author Share Posted March 15, 2022 Once I had calmed down from the excitement of my shiny knob and as I had all my wiring accoutrements readily to hand, I decided to add a magic button. This one, can you guess what it does? I even got the correct coloured wires. There were only three wires to make it work, two I spliced in using brass crimps. And one that I fitted a pin to and inserted it into this plug. The button is hidden down in the driver's side kick panel next to the bonnet catch, so I'll probably never use it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea boy Posted March 15, 2022 Author Share Posted March 15, 2022 My inflatable seat bolsters stopped inflating. This was not a major problem until my favorite cafe, JJ's closed down. my turning into slim jim This could possibly result into slim jim and sliding about all over the place so I thought I'd better have a look at the bolster thing. Well, blow me down, more wiring... Getting the switch panel off the seat was like a challenge from the Krypton Factor but once I could get at it the repair was straightforward. The difficult bit was pulling the upholstery back onto the frame because if your hand were to slip the seat frame is razor sharp... The bolsters work really well now and all the claret easily wiped off the leather. My car was originally supplied by a now defunct dealer in Newcastle. I got some 'canny' replica dealer number plates for it. I spent ages lining the rear plate up and marking the position with masking tape but I got it about 2mm off centre, so I'm not going to show you the result... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GimmeShelter Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 Love, love, love this thread. (I had an E46 M3, Titansilber, also on 18s, for 11 years. Great car, sold it for a 911.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagarep Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 13 hours ago, tea boy said: I got some 'canny' replica dealer number plates for it. I spent ages lining the rear plate up and marking the position with masking tape but I got it about 2mm off centre, so I'm not going to show you the result... Do you mind sharing who did the plates for you? I want to replace mine but keep the original Dick Lovett logos. I either get refused or quoted ridiculous prices from most plate companies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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