What did you do for your M3 today?

[davidinnyc]

LM replicas are on the car while I wait on a nice forged set of 18s for the track! Haha.




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[maupineda]

you can borrow my kit if you promise not to break it.

[Nate047]

Sorry for the harsh comment but did not you read we said it goes all the way by hand? All three diff bolts. Now timesert. I have some of the right length you can have for free. I would lend you the tool but they can break if not done right.

or just go to the next size up, and use a nordlock there too.

Yea no that’s fair, I did read that and I kind of knew but wanted to convince myself otherwise. Lesson learned, again. I’m going to replace all the mounts with OEM, get new bolts, I have Nord lock washers, and I’m going to farm out the timesert.

I’m also using this as a sign to slow down and really think about what needs to be done vs what I can do quickly. I don’t really “need” the car back on the road on any timeframe, as much as I miss driving it. I have made too many dumb mistakes on small jobs in the attempt to speed things up. Now I’m trying really hard to change that.

[Nate047]

I cross threaded that bolt too on a friends car. In my opinion it has nothing to do with that washer but rather with aftermarket rear differential case bushings. Because of those there was no way to align the front mount properly.
Power flex also in my case.
If you replaced the 2 rear bushings also that is you issue IMO

Yea I am going to replace them all with OEM. I was trying to cover my own eyes and convince myself it was fine, in spite of what everyone said, because I am trying to save money. Lesson learned.

[maupineda]

Yea, I was doing that mount recently and I kept thinking to myself, why is this bolt so hard to get in there? In hindsight I should have known at the time. Live and learn.

It’s actually a blessing in disguise though, now I can fix it before the car is all put together. Luckily I'm bursting at the seams with extra money and loads of spare time.

Sorry for the harsh comment but did not you read we said it goes all the way by hand? All three diff bolts. Now timesert. I have some of the right length you can have for free. I would lend you the tool but they can break if not done right.

or just go to the next size up, and use a nordlock there too.

[Flow]

Yea, I was doing that mount recently and I kept thinking to myself, why is this bolt so hard to get in there? In hindsight I should have known at the time. Live and learn.

Its actually a blessing in disguise though, now I can fix it before the car is all put together. Luckily I'm bursting at the seams with extra money and loads of spare time.

I cross threaded that bolt too on a friends car. In my opinion it has nothing to do with that washer but rather with aftermarket rear differential case bushings. Because of those there was no way to align the front mount properly.
Power flex also in my case.
If you replaced the 2 rear bushings also that is you issue IMO

[Nate047]

You cross threaded the front diff bolt, is that it ?
Or I don't get it ?

Yea, I was doing that mount recently and I kept thinking to myself, why is this bolt so hard to get in there? In hindsight I should have known at the time. Live and learn.

Its actually a blessing in disguise though, now I can fix it before the car is all put together. Luckily I'm bursting at the seams with extra money and loads of spare time.

[Flow]

You cross threaded the front diff bolt, is that it ?
Or I don't get it ?

[Nate047]

Things I didn't think I'd see today:

I was cleaning my work bench and I found this lonely washer.

E46_Diff_01 by Nate Hassler, on Flickr

I pretty much knew immediately that I had fucked up.

Screenshot 2025-10-15 at 10.28.57 PM by Nate Hassler, on Flickr

At this point, I exclaimed some four letter words because I kind of knew what was about to happen.

https://flic.kr/p/2rzBDzJ

A few moments later...

E46_Diff_03 by Nate Hassler, on Flickr

Not loving it.

https://flic.kr/p/2rzCUhL

Some nice lil shavings.

E46_Diff_05 by Nate Hassler, on Flickr

(not pictured, like 2 fucking grams more of powderized metal shavings)

E46_Diff_06 by Nate Hassler, on Flickr

THAT'S YOUR HOME, ARE YOU TOO GOOD FOR YOUR HOME??

E46_Diff_07 by Nate Hassler, on Flickr

Bonus content:

https://flic.kr/p/2rzxffw

https://flic.kr/p/2rzCWfx

Moral of the story, don't clean your work bench.

[mpower22]

CPV viton o-ring replacement!

I bet that felt good! Nothing like getting under a clean, dry engine when it's time to do an oil change. Used to drive me crazy so that's why I came up with this fix to "fix and forget". Cheers for the nod.

[SurgeSi]

Great work gents. I need to get my new headers installed. Been putting it off for months now.

[DepthPatrol]

CPV viton o-ring replacement!

[mpower22]

Yep, your hose is a bit thicker, it was a little tougher to squeeze on and straighten out, but a little bit of silicone spray and it wiggled on. The older one seems alright, but I wanted to get it done and over with.

Yes, it is. I think I started selling these in 2015. The original version was the thinner wall model like OE (the one with the blue stripe in the photo), then that supplier got bought out and discontinued it around 2019. The only other one I could find in bulk was this thick walled one that's made in Turkey. (I actually cut each section to length before I ship them out). I'm constantly looking out to get this back in place though, thanks for the feedback.

[6speedS54]

Hope everything went smooth with the install. Glad you got around to it!

Yep, your hose is a bit thicker, it was a little tougher to squeeze on and straighten out, but a little bit of silicone spray and it wiggled on. The older one seems alright, but I wanted to get it done and over with.

[mpower22]

Replaced mpower22's fuel hose
Replaced compression spring and ball for the rear side of the trans, easy without having to drop anything.
installed my old Eventuri intake with non-black carbon, shouldn't match much with the new Eventuri airbox once its out 😂

Hope everything went smooth with the install. Glad you got around to it!