E46 M3 journal - PF02 XLZ (Titan silver, SMG slicktop coupe)

[PF02XLZ]

EVAP purge valve

Small job today but got rid of an EML that popped up after a refuel last week. Situated under the intake, straightforward job just needs the air box removing.

Cost: £65

[PF02XLZ]

Adjusting the windows whilst going over a pot hole, ended up breaking the window switch.

Replaced the full unit as the actual switch had broken rather than the lever, the pattern part doesn't match though so looks like I'll be doing the other side shortly.

Cost: £25

[PF02XLZ]

I ordered a BlueBus from Ted Salmon last month, it arrived today and was a breeze to install & use. Ted has created a real quality product here.

I removed the CD changer entirely & mounted the BB in its place, on top of the Nav DVD unit. You could leave the CD changer in though, and just mount the BB on top of the stack.

Audio sounds great & the configurable stuff is a neat touch - I've enabled one touch indicators (3x), door locking at 10kmh & door unlocking on key removal, really nice quality of life improvements.

Cost: £180

[PF02XLZ]

Front suspension refresh...

Approaching 104k miles, haven't done much work on the car for a few weeks; just been enjoying it whilst waiting for this lot to turn up.

The parts have arrived for me to change all the wear items on the front end.

I purchased & fitted:

- Lemforder wishbones
- Lemforder lollipops
- Lemforder inner & outer tie rods + boots
- Powerflex ARB bushes
- Delphi droplinks (Lemforder were out of stock, most likely going adjustable in the future)
- Steering linkage/coupler

Didn't take many photos. Too busy fighting corroded bolts & fixings.

Also cleaned up the structural brace underneath & fitted new hardware to that & the plastic undertray.

Taking it for an alignment in the next few days & will report back. I'm hoping that this work in combination with the new struts all-round noticeably improves handling.

Rear end refresh is probably going to get done at the back end of the year, when the car is off the road for winter.

Total cost: £950

[PF02XLZ]

Got an alignment done on the new front end. Made a massive improvement, compliments the new struts - less jittery, steering is more direct, overall much smoother and much less bump steer.

Tracking cost: £50

[PF02XLZ]

Gearbox mounts/transmission subframe bushes...

The previous owner had the engine mounts & diff mounts replaced less than 5k miles ago at Redish. This only left the gearbox mounts for me to replace in terms of powertrain bushes/mounts. Did these whilst the car was stripped for some propshaft/mid underside work (to follow up).

Cost: £150 (stealers only item - couldn't find anything aftermarket and didn't fancy using polybushes)

[PF02XLZ]

Gearbox oil...

Whilst the car was suspended & level, I did the gearbox oil.

This was done at the Inspection II at Redish circa 8k ago, but I'm unsure when it would've have been done previous to this so I figured a shorter interval this time around will do no harm & potentially be beneficial in the long run, acting as a bit of a flush.

Did the oil between other work & the gearbox subframe being removed, hence the lack of exhaust & bottle jack holding the gearbox up.

Cost: £34 for 2L of Castrol 75w90 Transmax.

[PF02XLZ]

Propshaft refresh...

I did a bit of work on the propshaft - I'd had some vibration if really mashing the throttle from a standing start, it drove fine apart from that. Surprised to see that the CSB had completely come off its bracket! Usual small cracks in the guibo too.

Fitted a new CSB & guibo, centering bush for the gearbox yoke plus a new CV joint on the diff end.

Cost: £350 (CSB, guibo, centralizing bush, CV joint, exhaust gaskets & hardware)

[PF02XLZ]

Filler cap

The filler cap seal looked poor and the retaining string had broken off at some point in the past. Replaced with a new item from the dealership.

Cost: £40