Liam821's k24/dct Japanrot Red 330i Msport

[liam821]

Prequel: I was originally planning on painting my silver e46 325i that I currently have - the one I'm Honda swapping - but I decided spending $10k on a paint job didn't make a lot of sense. So I started looking around for another e46 sedan with more interesting paint, I wanted a white or red car or maybe blue. The idea is that I can use this new one and the silver one will go away.

You can read more about the silver car and earlier work done here: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...ct-turbo-build


Anyways, on to the story.

I found this beautiful clean title no accidents 2003 facelift Japanrot red 330i Msport on Craigslist out in the middle of Eastern Washington - middle of nowhere Grand Coulee Washington - for a good price and just had to jump on it. So my daughter and I drove out there to meet the seller and I drove it home. The plans for it right now are fixing/maintenance/paint correction. I'm not sure what engine combination this car will have yet, I guess we'll see. But I can tell you the m54b30 and automatic transmission will be going away. (see thread above with the silver car)

Here is the car at the seller's house:




After all the paperwork and paying my daughter and I headed into town to find some dinner. Her manual 325i hiding behind mine.


The car was pretty disgusting. The interior was grimy and sticky, exterior super dirty. The paint is gonna need a bit of paint correction, but I think it's salvageable.

Checkout the grime!


Check out all the dead skin on the leather shifter, 🤮


After a few hours of cleaning, the interior was as clean as it was gonna be




Next was removing the bubbling window tint. Personally, I think e46's look way better without the tint anyway so it won't be replaced.




I had a scare on the way home that the fuel door was stuck closed, but it turned out that the fuel door ejection thingy was broken. I had a spare in my parts bin, easy to fix.


The car hasn't moved much in the last year and mouse made a nest on top of the engine, lovely. At least they didn't get inside!


A Bunch of scrubbing later...looking better!


The first wash! Hey there's a car under there!




Japanrot red and our Melbourne red i3s




So what's next? More interior cleaning/replacing. It needs a new guibo and center driveshaft support bearing, so those are on order.

[liam821]

Replaced the shifter bezel trim that was broken in half and installed a new center console I found in my spare parts bin in the garage. I also ordered a $15 cup holder off Amazon, which doesn't match exactly right, so I'll have to order an OEM one but this will do for now. I'm still going to do a center console armrest delete (Had to order all those parts) since I hate that stupid foldable armrest thing, but for now at least I was able to remove that nasty one it had in the car.

I also ordered a center support driveshaft bearing and a new guibo. The center support bearing is DONE, like done done. So we'll get that fixed and might as well replace the guibo at the same time since I'm right there and it's only a few bucks. And sure enough, the check engine light came on (I've only had it for a few days so of course it did) with an error about the secondary air injection pump. Had a look and the hose that connects the pump to the canister had a hole in it and literally fell apart in my hand. So I got that ordered as well. So the car will sit in my garage for a few days waiting for parts.

[liam821]

I sold my silver e46 sedan which was in the process of getting a Honda k24 swap because, you guessed it, the k24/dct will be going into this red car. You can catch up on the work done so far here: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...ct-turbo-build

All the test mounting has been with a k24a4, out of Honda CRV. Well we can't have that. So I picked up a jdm k24a RBB3, the high performance 2.4-liter version!




More to come!

[liam821]

Picked up more parts!

A large case 210mm 3.25 ratio ring and pinion (H64) from an e34. This will go into a rebuilt e46m3 differential to get the final drive ratio down to 3.25 from stock of 3.62. Why so low? Because 7th gear in the DCT is 1:1 whereas 6th in the 420g is 0.83. The e92m3 DCT uses the short ratio DCT gearbox, and they're short! So you need a longer final drive. Stock e92m3 dct final drive is 3.154, I wanted a little higher than that because a turbo K doesn't have as much torque down low as the torqueless s65 V8.

Here is what the speed looks like in each gear at 3500 rpms.


H64 pinion


H64 ring gear


I don't like the buttons on the steering wheel, so I picked up a brand new upper and lower ZCP steering wheel trim from BMW - I can't believe you can still buy this stuff new! The M-Mode button will be wired into the Maxxecu for rolling antilag.


And because I like cruise control, a Z4 cruise control stalk (DIY here: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...steering-wheel )


My 330i has heated seats, which we'll be keeping but in the form of heated M3 seats, but I wanted to add a TPMS and a Sport button. You can enable TPMS in the MK60 with some wiring in the non-m e46s (DIY here: https://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/show...e-doityourself ). The sport button will toggle an exhaust valve in the muffler.


Also picked up an e39 wiper stalk with an S button. The S-button will be wired into the Maxxecu to switch between boost maps. I'll probably have the Maxxecu move the tach to 1,2,3,4,5 etc for a second or two to indicate whatever the boost map is set to.

[liam821]

Pulled the valve cover off the JDM k24a RBB3 engine and had a peak inside. Looks pretty clean!


Some wear on the vtec lobe, but everything is very clean








E92m3 DCT is massive!


Used black trim restore (half done, half original) What a difference that made


Did a paint correction as well (left side original)


Paint is actually in fantastic condition






Did take any pictures, because it was an awful job dirty job, but I replaced the radiator and coolant expansion tank. Both were leaking (e46 things). I also took it to Oregon DMV and got it registered so I'll finally get to replace the Washington license plates as soon as my plates come in the mail.

Ordered a few more bits and bobs, the major things I'm waiting for are the misc coolant and oil pieces I need to mate the Honda engine to the BMW coolant/heater/oil cooler. Lots of planning to make sure it goes smoothly. I also think I figured the AC situation, turns out the 2008-2010 525i ac compressor uses the same plugs as the e46, but has a 7 rib pulley just like the k24. I'll get one ordered here soon and design a mount in Fusion.