I'm finally getting around to really starting this project, and no better start than to make a build journal.
Let's just get the elephant in the room out of the way. 324i? Yeah, this is going to be something a bit different. Yes, it's a sedan, and no it won't be powered by a BMW engine - perhaps the 24 will give you a hint as to what will come. This won't be everybody's bag, but hopefully, you'll will enjoy it anyway.
It all started when I bought this gem on Facebook Marketplace for $600 from a guy up in Washington about a year ago. A clean title 2003.5 e46 325i manual with 106k original miles. It had blown head gasket and the previous owner thought he could fix it and pulled the engine. After he got the engine apart I think it turned into a larger project than he thought it would be and it sat for many months.
Clean body, no accidents. The interior is clean, but was smoked in and stinks. I'm planning on ripping all that out anyway...
Since I had no intentions of using the stock engine anyway, having it already pulled was one less thing I had to do. I also didn't need the manual transmission so I was going to sell all that and basically get myself a free car...although that didn't exactly happen like that. The seller included three big bins full of misc e46 parts.
About 8 months later ANOTHER 325i popped up on Facebook Marketplace. Literally an almost identical spec 2004 325i but automatic. The seller was a girl that had bought it from a friend of a friend with a bad auto transmission. She was going to turn it into a drift car but life happened and it sat for months. $1200 later it was mine. This one was _very very_ clean, non-smoking, clean title, 165k miles. Started and runs fine but did not move. You'll should be thanking me, this is the 2nd e46 I've saved this year!
You can guess where this is going. I pulled the manual transmission, rear diff, clutch pedal (we don't need it where I'm going), and driveshaft out of the 2003.5 and swapped it into the 2004. New clutch, rear main seal, and some new suspension bushings later, and the 2004 is back on the road!
The getrag manual
First drive!
The 2004 325i now manual was a Christmas present to my daughter. She's been busting butt in school and mom and I are super proud of her. The e46 will be her first car, no better way to introduce her to the world of driving than in an e46! So she too can experience the love-hate relationship of e46 ownership.
Anyway, back to the now more stripped 324i content.
Jumping forward a few more months...a huge delivery came!
BARELY fit in the back of our X5
What could it be you say??
It's an e92m3 DCT. Out of a 2013 M3 with 34k miles. The owner spun a rod bearing and was going to LS/manual swap it.
A few weeks later a box from SeemsLegitGarage came in the mail. Inside was an e46 DCT transmission mount and FINALLY the Adamat DCT adapter!
I was going back and forth between Adamat and Domi-Works Engineering for the dct adapter, but after having emailed back and forth with SeemsLegitGarage and their amazing customer support, plus a few recommendations, I went with SLG and Adamat.
Sprung disk to help with engine harmonics so you don't damage the DCT clutch basket
Billet Adapter plate
That's right, Honda k20/k24! After going back and forth on what motor I wanted to use the Honda came out on top. The shortlist was a turbo Honda k24, BMW s85 v10, or the BMW s58. The s58 is a very complicated motor and is extremely expensive. The s85 would have been fun, but the packaging is difficult, parts are expensive, and it's been done. The k24 is light, 275 pounds, cheap under $1000 all day long, huge aftermarket, and you can easily make as much HP as you want. An unopened stock k24 with a few bolt-ons can make ~270-280whp NA, just a few ponies behind the s54 for 1/6th the price and at half the weight.
I picked up a k24a1 off Facebook Marketplace for $100 to use as a mock-up engine. The seller said "it was running but then it wasn't. Something is wrong with the timing chain." Whatever it was ridiculously cheap and I'm just using it for mockup to design engine mounts. I'll pull the motor apart and sell off anything thats good when I'm done with it.
The transmission is bigger than the engine!
Okay so enough mystery, here's the plan:
Going to be your basic Honda k24a2 build, ~10.5:1 css sleeved block/rod/piston shortblock. Aftermarket valve springs and maybe cams. Max 9000-9500rpms. Some sort of turbo, currently on the BorgWarner EFR 8374 (~80 lb/min 500-800hp rated) train. The aim is 600-700whp. A Maxxecu pro will control the engine and the e46 canbus systems, so the stock e46m3 gauge cluster, cruise control, a/c, dsc, etc will all continue to work as expected. The Maxxecu will also talk to the bmw dct tcu mechatronics, so I won't need to run a HGT or another aftermarket dct controller.
As for the rest of the car, the e46 part, it will get the full M3 treatment. M3 fenders front and back, M3 front and rear bumpers, headlights, interior bits, and a slicktop. E46m3 rear subframe, LSD, front and rear suspension/arms/etc. I'm going to be selling my Pheonix Yellow e46m3 which I'll return to stock and will be keeping my FA Muller suspension and brake setup for the 324i. I also still have LOTS of e46m3 parts from my old Interlagos car as well, sensors, brake stuff, wiring, SMG pedal setup, a/c parts. You name it, I probably have it. I'll be painting it a different color as well but not sure what yet...suggestions?
Even though the transmission is extremely heavy at 175 pounds I'm hoping I can get the whole car to around 3000 pounds.
This is going to be my street car, not a race car. Although I'd be interested in taking it to some 1/2 mile/roll racing events. I already have a time-attack race car so I don't think this will see any track time (he says now).
Let's just get the elephant in the room out of the way. 324i? Yeah, this is going to be something a bit different. Yes, it's a sedan, and no it won't be powered by a BMW engine - perhaps the 24 will give you a hint as to what will come. This won't be everybody's bag, but hopefully, you'll will enjoy it anyway.
It all started when I bought this gem on Facebook Marketplace for $600 from a guy up in Washington about a year ago. A clean title 2003.5 e46 325i manual with 106k original miles. It had blown head gasket and the previous owner thought he could fix it and pulled the engine. After he got the engine apart I think it turned into a larger project than he thought it would be and it sat for many months.
Clean body, no accidents. The interior is clean, but was smoked in and stinks. I'm planning on ripping all that out anyway...
Since I had no intentions of using the stock engine anyway, having it already pulled was one less thing I had to do. I also didn't need the manual transmission so I was going to sell all that and basically get myself a free car...although that didn't exactly happen like that. The seller included three big bins full of misc e46 parts.
About 8 months later ANOTHER 325i popped up on Facebook Marketplace. Literally an almost identical spec 2004 325i but automatic. The seller was a girl that had bought it from a friend of a friend with a bad auto transmission. She was going to turn it into a drift car but life happened and it sat for months. $1200 later it was mine. This one was _very very_ clean, non-smoking, clean title, 165k miles. Started and runs fine but did not move. You'll should be thanking me, this is the 2nd e46 I've saved this year!
You can guess where this is going. I pulled the manual transmission, rear diff, clutch pedal (we don't need it where I'm going), and driveshaft out of the 2003.5 and swapped it into the 2004. New clutch, rear main seal, and some new suspension bushings later, and the 2004 is back on the road!
The getrag manual
First drive!
The 2004 325i now manual was a Christmas present to my daughter. She's been busting butt in school and mom and I are super proud of her. The e46 will be her first car, no better way to introduce her to the world of driving than in an e46! So she too can experience the love-hate relationship of e46 ownership.
Anyway, back to the now more stripped 324i content.
Jumping forward a few more months...a huge delivery came!
BARELY fit in the back of our X5
What could it be you say??
It's an e92m3 DCT. Out of a 2013 M3 with 34k miles. The owner spun a rod bearing and was going to LS/manual swap it.
A few weeks later a box from SeemsLegitGarage came in the mail. Inside was an e46 DCT transmission mount and FINALLY the Adamat DCT adapter!
I was going back and forth between Adamat and Domi-Works Engineering for the dct adapter, but after having emailed back and forth with SeemsLegitGarage and their amazing customer support, plus a few recommendations, I went with SLG and Adamat.
Sprung disk to help with engine harmonics so you don't damage the DCT clutch basket
Billet Adapter plate
That's right, Honda k20/k24! After going back and forth on what motor I wanted to use the Honda came out on top. The shortlist was a turbo Honda k24, BMW s85 v10, or the BMW s58. The s58 is a very complicated motor and is extremely expensive. The s85 would have been fun, but the packaging is difficult, parts are expensive, and it's been done. The k24 is light, 275 pounds, cheap under $1000 all day long, huge aftermarket, and you can easily make as much HP as you want. An unopened stock k24 with a few bolt-ons can make ~270-280whp NA, just a few ponies behind the s54 for 1/6th the price and at half the weight.
I picked up a k24a1 off Facebook Marketplace for $100 to use as a mock-up engine. The seller said "it was running but then it wasn't. Something is wrong with the timing chain." Whatever it was ridiculously cheap and I'm just using it for mockup to design engine mounts. I'll pull the motor apart and sell off anything thats good when I'm done with it.
The transmission is bigger than the engine!
Okay so enough mystery, here's the plan:
Going to be your basic Honda k24a2 build, ~10.5:1 css sleeved block/rod/piston shortblock. Aftermarket valve springs and maybe cams. Max 9000-9500rpms. Some sort of turbo, currently on the BorgWarner EFR 8374 (~80 lb/min 500-800hp rated) train. The aim is 600-700whp. A Maxxecu pro will control the engine and the e46 canbus systems, so the stock e46m3 gauge cluster, cruise control, a/c, dsc, etc will all continue to work as expected. The Maxxecu will also talk to the bmw dct tcu mechatronics, so I won't need to run a HGT or another aftermarket dct controller.
As for the rest of the car, the e46 part, it will get the full M3 treatment. M3 fenders front and back, M3 front and rear bumpers, headlights, interior bits, and a slicktop. E46m3 rear subframe, LSD, front and rear suspension/arms/etc. I'm going to be selling my Pheonix Yellow e46m3 which I'll return to stock and will be keeping my FA Muller suspension and brake setup for the 324i. I also still have LOTS of e46m3 parts from my old Interlagos car as well, sensors, brake stuff, wiring, SMG pedal setup, a/c parts. You name it, I probably have it. I'll be painting it a different color as well but not sure what yet...suggestions?
Even though the transmission is extremely heavy at 175 pounds I'm hoping I can get the whole car to around 3000 pounds.
This is going to be my street car, not a race car. Although I'd be interested in taking it to some 1/2 mile/roll racing events. I already have a time-attack race car so I don't think this will see any track time (he says now).
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