Might as wells

[Casa de Mesa]

I've got my car totally stripped down and getting ready to put the motor back in soon. I'm starting to 2nd guess if I should replace a few "might as well" things I opted not to. Wondering what people's thoughts are on the below items, as it will never be easier than now. Car has 74k miles and is a Sep 2002 build (almost drinking age!).

• Starter motor or just the starter solenoid
• HVAC evaporator, expansion valve or both (#1 and #2 in RealOEM)
• Heater core (#1 in RealOEM)
• Auxiliary water pump
• Pusher fan - oof, big $$$
• Dryer container - I bought the MAHLE one from ECS because it was $30 and not $275 from BMW. However, turns out it's made in China. Don't love that. I know others ( liam821 comes to mind) have installed the Mahle one without issue seemingly...
• Blower control moduleto keep the DME cool (#5 in RealOEM) - I occasionally get chirping from this thing. Better pic here

Almost everything else I have replaced and all Genuine BMW (or Genuine with the BMW logo shaved off). All engine sensors, radiator, oil cooler, AC condenser, etc. but the items above are things I opted not to. The starter is probably the biggest thing I'm questioning as it's a royal pain in the ass to get to once the motor is back in the car, but mine is working fine. Same thing with the evaporator.

[EthanolTurbo]

Starter definitely. It is such an annoying job to do that it's worth a few bucks to not worry about. Plus you can keep your original as a spare to be rebuilt etc.

[repoman89]

Definitely don’t bother with the pusher fan. Not a high failure rate item and it’s very easy to get to with the car put together. I had mine out pretty quickly when I deleted it.

edit: aux water pump is very easy to get to as well. I can’t remember if you’re doing a CSL box but if so you might as well replace it with the CSL (also non-M) part. No difference in functionality on our cars and the airbox will fit better. Plus it’s smaller and lighter, and easy to find on ebay

[liam821]

My mahle dryer condenser is now two years old and still working perfectly.

+1 on the starter, it's such a pita to do later.

Liam

Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

[oceansize]

I would do the DME fan. Chirping means it is time and RR will be a bit easier at this stage.

[Casa de Mesa]

Thanks EthanolTurbo and liam821 . Starter is going on order today!

Definitely don’t bother with the pusher fan. Not a high failure rate item and it’s very easy to get to with the car put together. I had mine out pretty quickly when I deleted it.

edit: aux water pump is very easy to get to as well. I can’t remember if you’re doing a CSL box but if so you might as well replace it with the CSL (also non-M) part. No difference in functionality on our cars and the airbox will fit better. Plus it’s smaller and lighter, and easy to find on ebay

Man, thank you for the tip. Yes, I am going with a Karb intake and didn't even know this was a thing. Aux H20 pump for the CSL according to RealOEM is this 64118369805.

Some digging this morning lead me to these two great posts:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/e46-2001-2006/14592-deleting-auxiliary-water-pump

And on Titaniu//M 's car:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/member-build-journals/620-jason-s-2006-e46-m3-6mt-coupe-tiag-imola?p=28635#post28635

On order!

[bigjae46]

I would do the evaporator but other than the evac/recharge there isn't a lot of overlap with then engine out.

If the AC has been open long enough then it is definitely worth it to replace the dryer.

[jet_dogg]

Thanks EthanolTurbo and liam821 . Starter is going on order today!



Man, thank you for the tip. Yes, I am going with a Karb intake and didn't even know this was a thing. Aux H20 pump for the CSL according to RealOEM is this 64118369805.

Some digging this morning lead me to these two great posts:
https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...ary-water-pump

And on Titaniu//M 's car:
https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...8635#post28635

On order!

Doesn't this mean you have a dangling connector?

[Cubieman]

Why delete this? It doesn't touch the airbox unless there is something I am missing.

[repoman89]

Why delete this? It doesn't touch the airbox unless there is something I am missing.

Same reason anyone deletes anything … the big one doesn’t do anything different, unlike on the E39, and the small one is lighter (and $20 on ebay). I had read years ago that some people have to twist the bigger valve and mount it funny to stop it from hitting the airbox but haven’t tested it myself. It was a no brainer to me * shrug *

[Casa de Mesa]

Great info in those threads I linked re: aux H2O pump. Mine is looking a little worse for wear. I'm in there doing stuff so figured why not. It does leave a dangling connector but they are everywhere on these cars. I may chase the wires back (TBD) and code the HVAC for it per those threads. In any case, it's lighter and a fraction of the cost of the M3 one.

[Cubieman]

Same reason anyone deletes anything … the big one doesn’t do anything different, unlike on the E39, and the small one is lighter (and $20 on ebay). I had read years ago that some people have to twist the bigger valve and mount it funny to stop it from hitting the airbox but haven’t tested it myself. It was a no brainer to me * shrug *

Are those ebay units acceptable (do they last?). If so I have to delete mine if it truly does nothing at all.

The way I bent my dipstick it gets stuck between the two cylinders sometimes.

[jet_dogg]

Why delete this? It doesn't touch the airbox unless there is something I am missing.

So you can add it to your sig line with the rest of your mods, bro.

If it doesn't interfere with the airbox there really is no point. I love when people regurgitate wrong information.

[repoman89]

So you can add it to your sig line with the rest of your mods, bro.

If it doesn't interfere with the airbox there really is no point. I love when people regurgitate wrong information.

I specifically remember terra on the old forum had to mount his tilted so that only two of the rubber grommets fit in the three sockets for it to clear his airbox. Not to mention cubieman has fitment issues with his and the dipstick, Mr. forum cred sig livery.

[repoman89]

Are those ebay units acceptable (do they last?). If so I have to delete mine if it truly does nothing at all.

The way I bent my dipstick it gets stuck between the two cylinders sometimes.

I haven’t noticed a difference. With either unit the heat doesn’t work until the engine starts to warm up and then it works well. Not sure it gets as cold as Nebraska here but it gets pretty dang cold. I got mine from eBay years ago off of a non-M and it still works well. Try to find one that has low mileage on the donor car and looks clean if you go ahead with it.