What's going on in my shop currently...

[George Hill]

Lots going on in the shop right now, as usual, I have been very fortunate to be relatively unaffected by the ongoing Covid-19 situation.

Some of you have seen some posts about a project I haven't been making much note of, but it's been consuming a bit of time and deserves some mention. I usually don't post about these big projects while they are in process but this one needs to be mentioned. A forum member here asked me to build them a E91 S65 Touring. That project has been a monumental task. The amount of work needed to adapt the two cars in the way I do here is incredibly intense, the work can't be put into a single post here so I'll add an additional post or maybe start it's own thread (even though it's not a E46 some info will carry over for those wanting to S65 sway their E46).

But moving on I've also been working on a S54/E30M3. The car came to me and has been sitting here for a bit, but we finally got it together. It was previously a running and driving car but I was told there were some errors in the previous work which led to a complete engine failure on track. The engine got pulled and then the car was never put back together. We finally got a good donor S54 and I sorted out the swap to the customers liking.

The engine had the rod bearings and vanos previously done, but the vanos disc was supposedly not modified for smaller tab holes. So that was on the list, but luckily it had been done already.




There are a couple ways to install a S54 in this chassis the main (2) options being to modify the S54 dual sump pan and cross member or use an E34 front sump oil pan. This car was setup for the E34 pan and while swapping it over discovered the baffle kit was in need of a bit of repair.









Engine cleaned up and about ready to set on the subframe.






Tilton race clutch going on, I had to source the correct flywheel bolts and Tilton was fantastic to get that sorted out, very pleased.





Engine in.




And running.




Pretty much done, just waiting on an air filter.




Cleaned up and just about ready to go back home.




Video of it in action, click the pic.




We had a storm a few weeks (months?) back and our big Ash tree got strut by lightening. Ended up deciding to take it down.










Juliann's Frankenwagon was back for some more sorting out. The car has always had a battery, since the car was built always. I finally decided I was going to figure it out at all costs lol. After seting the car up for a battery draw test I confirmed the car was pulling nearly an Amp of power when turned off. After some diag I found the DME main relay was staying energized. After a bunch more testing I discovered the DSC was involved in the issue as it would turn off the relay if the DSC was unplugged. Her car is the definition of a Frankenstein, body harness form a MK60 touring (her's is a '00 MY), LCM from a coupe, Cluster from a LCI M3, EWS/DME from a early M3, etc etc. Ultimately the problem was the car was not coded properly. Fixing date codes in modules told the DME to look for a MK60 DSC instead of the MK20 it thought was installed. Such a simple fix caused a huge issue. This process took about 20+ hours of diagnosing to figure out! Next up she has a rebuild final drive en route from DiffsOnline to be installed next week.




Next, I have an M3 in for a clutch job that turned into a full blown sorting. As part of that I found the RACP had been poorly repaired and needed to be gone over. I found it had plates installed already but it was a very weak attempt at fixing the issue. The plan was to get everything apart and assess the state of the car at that point. The car has a blower on it and is primarily a HPDE car so we need to make sure it was as solid as we can get. Once apart the plates seemed to be installed well enough that it would do more harm than good to remove and replace. So I fixed some welds for them and then repaired a ton of cracks, stitch welded the spring perches and RTAB pockets. Every common place and then some had damage, wheel well arch, spring pocket, popped spot welds, cracks, etc.












The topside was reinforced using the CMP AutoEngineering Top Side and Frt Ext Kit. This is a significant amount of work, but hopefully will be the last time he every has to think about a RACP issue. The previous repair was such a sad attempt. They missed lots of cracks, popped spot welds and then I think they glued this lumber down to hide that, IDK?












This project is still on going but should be wrapping up soon.


And now what everyone is waiting for, lol. As you may recall I have entered DragWeek 2020. The plan is to take my Mustang, it's recently appeared in the background of some of my pics. I bought this mustang back in '07 I believe. At the time it had a supercharged 331ci SBF and a T5. It ran low 11s with a bad 60' and I drove it a bunch, then hurt the motor. I lived in an apartment at the time, then moved a bunch and had nowhere to work on it. Once I built the shop I started on it again with a Pontiac engine. That project fizzled out when I decided to open the business and needed the cash so I sold the engine to pay for a fence.



Fast forward to this year and I made a commitment to myself to do #dragweek this year and the only "fitting" car I have is the Mustang. So it was just a rolling chassis and needed a powerplant. I still have the SBF but didn't think it made sense considering my current enthusiasm for BMWs. The only option that makes sense is a BMW engine. I went back and forth between a few options including a single turbo N54, but settled on a M52B28, which came from an E36 328i.




Now that on it's own wouldn't make enough power to do the Mustang justice, so I am adding a turbo to it.




Next for a transmission, I really didn't want a manual for no other reason than I just didn't. BMW autos aren't a good fit for this option and a 4L80e would work but is a bit clunky. The only choice that makes sense is the DCT out of a E92 335is.




I really wanted to do this work myself, but I am way to busy with customer work. Aside from that my fabricating ability is not as strong as my BMW ability and it would just take to much time. I am going to be pressed for time with this project anways so I decided to farm this work out. Another customer hooked me up with a chassis builder in town here and we hashed out a plan. The car is currently at his shop getting the engine and trans mounts made, full exhaust including down pipe and then all the turbo plumbing in and out of the intercooler.

[George Hill]

Hey George, any tips for stich welding the wheel arches? I want to make sure I have the shop doing my subframe inspect and repair that area if necessary.

Check out CMP Auto Engineering's website, https://cmpautoengineering.com/pages/technical, lots of good info there.

[IamFODI]

Great thread. Thanks for posting, and keep 'em coming!

[BMWahba]

Hey George, any tips for stich welding the wheel arches? I want to make sure I have the shop doing my subframe inspect and repair that area if necessary.

[oceansize]

Good journal. Enjoying all the different vehicles.

[mjweimer]

Hello George - good to see you here. You've been busy...I'm waiting patiently to hear more about the E91

[George Hill]

It's been a little bit since the last update, but I'm taking a break from wiring and figured this was as good a time as any.

A customer blew up a S54 at CoTA a few months ago and I took apart the dead one to see what is salvageable, not a lot, but there are still some parts...













Next, I had a customer bring in an E39 525iA that now has a ESS supercharged ZHP M54B30/6MT. The car had been sitting over a year due to a no crank or start (along with a host of other electrical issues). I found the chassis ground terminal was corroded and causing a poor ground connection on the engine. The ground point was also used for the heat exchanger coolant pump. Because of this and the poor ground there was electricity backfeeding backwards through the engine into body harness causing all of the elctrical issues. Fixing that ground fixed all the electrical issues. I sorted a couple other issues with the car and returned it back to the owner as he is a DIY guy and would address the needed maintenance to get it road worthy again.














Took (2) of the S54 and the M54B30 swapped tourings to Cars and Coffee at CoTA








Sold a tired M3 that had been waiting for something to happen to it. I had pulled some parts off, but had to put it back together and clean out the unregistered guests.














Another M3 in for Vanos and Final drive oil leak repairs. This was supposed to be a pre-emptive Vanos overhaul, but once I got in there I found we caught it just in time. The engine got the usual Beisan full work to the vanos, new (used) hub, cam bolts replaced, upper chain guide rail, vanos refresh, drilled disc, rebuilt solenoid pack, accumulator line and then the valve lash checked/adjusted.











After that we sorted out the back end, fixing final drive leaks and replacing the mounting bushings.





Went to the recently re-opened Eagles Canyon Raceway with Eileen. I usually stay at the track in the RV so I got to walk the track Saturday night.











Lately my focus has been on BMW conversions and road track events, but I started out with a passion for drag racing. Hot Rod magazine does an event every year called Drag Week. It is basically One Lap of America but for drag racing. I've talked about doing it for years and decided I needed to just go for it. So while at ECR I setup and registered, this is no small task. They limit registration to (400) cars and it sells out, last year was sold out in less than (5) minutes. This year it sold out in just over (4) minutes, luckily I got in at registration number (199). The goal is to take my Mustang, but the backup will be Eileen the track wagon.








Finished the shop's S54 Touring conversion and sent it off to it's new home in Indiana.








Had another E46 M3 in for a complaint about poor A/C performance, found to be low on refrigerant due to a leaking evaporator core. Also replaced the blower final stage resistor while in there as it was the old style and starting to fail.

















And then a IR ZHP getting some suspension refreshening. Everything new in the front struts (except springs), everything in the rear shocks, rear spring pads, engine mounts, sway bar wear items, front wheel bearings and steering coupler (not all parts are new pictured).




















And since I have a IR ZHP, had to get a picture of the pair together, mine is the dirty one in the back, lol.





And that pretty much brings us up to today. I have a couple other big projects in the works, but they'll probably get their own thread before I mention them here.

[George Hill]

While Matt's car was in process I also had some other projects come through the shop.

A few months back this M3 came in to get a 6spd conversion (from SMG). He had a bunch of warning lights on and was complaining about poor shifting and thought it had a SMG failure. I diagnosed it to just be missing a fuse in the DSC which was causing the poor shift quality. After that was fixed he was delighted with the outcome and we focused our attention else where. I did the vanos lock down a while back, but we also found a couple cracks in the RACP (rear axle carrier panel or sometimes called subframe).






RF mount crack.




Stop drilled and welded.




Ground down and ready for plates.




My goto, CMP Auto Engineering plates going on.




Formed and burned in.




Primed.




And undercoated.




CMP RTAB/J




Subframe bushings were replaced with BMW bushings along with a new Guibo.




And getting lined up.





Guillaume brought in his carbon black M3 for replacement of a final drive mounting bushing. When I was inspecting the car it was found he had quite a few cracks in his RACP, so our bushing replacement turned into a full blown RACP repair. We did the usual, CMP plates, RTAB/J, Guibo, diff bushing and brake lines all around.






RTAB's dead.




Crack in drivers side arch.






Popped spot welds.






Cracks in the subframe attachment areas.






All disassembled and prepped.






Welded and seam sealer going on.




And back together and getting lined up.





Mike brought in his SpecE46 for a little bit of strut tower modification.

His negative camber was limited due to the struts hitting the strut tower opening. The passenger side had already been opened up, but the drivers side was stock. The strut towers were like you would expect from a racecar, they had lived a tough life, so I started by getting them all flattened out properly. He already had reinforcement plates installed but I riveted them to the tower (just to keep them from moving during servicing the alignment, struts, etc). Then traced out where I needed to cut and let the metal fly, the goal being to only remove enough material to not limit adjustment and still reach all the mounting hardware. I cleaned up some of the wiring and clearance the B+ terminal to allow access with everything assembled. Hopefully he can get the camber he needs otherwise we'll have to slot the factory bolt openings for more.

[George Hill]

Now into the touring phase, rear end coming apart.






And after a good power washing.




And going back together with the M3 parts.






There are lot's of heat shields and insulation specific to the M3, all of these were transferred over, even if the difference was just a "M3" embossed on it, it was swapped.




S54 in the touring.






Front suspension and brakes assembled, Koni M3 shocks and struts with Dinan M3 springs. Calipers painted black, Stoptech rotors and Akebono pads with stainless steel brake lines.




Euro Cats installed. Wiring was completed using the Euro transmission wiring harness and wiring looms. (1) of the US O2 sensors had to be modified as it is to long.










Matt's wagon had the electric fan setup and we decided to keep it as opposed to installed the aux fan in front of the core support and mechanical fan on the engine. The tourings electric fan is to "tall" for the M3 radiator and oil cooler
setup, so I modified the electric fan shroud and expansion tank bracket and it turned out quite well.




Starting on the wiring. I used to pull the entire body harness from the donors, but that is just to much work, lol. So now I cut the front carpets at the seats and then cut the harness there and remove the entire front section.






One of the subharnesses I had to assemble. The '01 while it has a MK60 DSC it uses the old style separate DSC sensors. So we converted it to the new style sensor and wired it in.








During disassembly of the touring I observed it was low on refrigerant, this doesn't get discussed as much as other items but in Texas it is much more common and just as costly to remedy as the Vanos or Rod bearings (if doing as
preventative). So I inspected the A/C system and found the evaporator was leaking, which is what I expected from experience. This job requires removing the dash to pull the heater case out to get at the evaporator. We decided this
was the time to do that and it would allow a more proper routing of the wiring.






It's hard to photograph but in the middle of the evap you can see discoloration and debris, that is where the oil from the refrigerant builds up on the core and traps dirt indicating a leak.






With the dash out the wiring was completed, which included running wires to the instrument cluster, SZM (switch center in the console), fuse box, IHKA and DSC sensor (under the drivers seat carpet). I also removed some old wiring
for a radar detector.








It also allowed for an easier time routing the wires into the E-box. Most just go through the vent opening, but I pulled the cover and routed the wires through the loom with the original wire set.




This is ready for assembly. If you look closely you can see some of the wires I ran as the loom is wrapped tightly in spots and I try not to disturb the factory wrap is possible.




And the E-box all back together with the MSS54 DME installed.




Interior going back together.




Next was the hatch area to swap out the shocks. Rear shock mounts were installed to facilitate removal from the bottom so this should never have to happen again, lol.




VIN, Correct mileage and M-Track mode coded to cluster (which was also modified for the rear door indicators, not shown).




And then last minute we swapped the original 325iT bezel on after Mark (MarkSeven) suggested it for his touring.




Engine bay is just about done here. We chose the Dinan CAI as it is a clean modification but then allows us to use the non-M3 headlight as the Xenon control module is in the way of the M3 airbox. The donor headlights were not in as good of shape as the tourings. Note: the BK E36 washer tank solution. Matt requested this as i would generally have pushed for the M3 tank since he has the MTech2 bumper. But after the install I am happy with this setup and would
certainly install one again.




On the alignment rack with my old wheels to ensure the AC's don't get scratched.




This build wasn't without issues. We had a few crop up. There was some noise from the transmission at low RPM and with the clutch pedal fully released, sligth pressure would make it go away. I pulled the transmission back out and found the throughout bearing had some defects. I normally apply a very slight amount of grease to the throughout bearing (even though BMW says not to) and this time I assembled it dry as per BMW. But after seeing the bearing I put a new bearing in it and went back with my old grease method and no issues.




Secondly, after a bit of miles were put on it I discovered a an odd clutch operation issue only at high(er) RPM. It turned out to be something in the clutch/flywheel system. When we intially assembled the car Matt and I decided to reuse the LW Flywheel but after some time of driving it and now this clutch issue we decided to go back to a DM Flywheel. But since we suspected something in the clutch, the transmission came out again and this time we replaced the clutch and flywheel and that fixed the last of the issues. Considering how much work went into this build I am ok with that being the worst of the problems and otherwise has been extremely trouble free. And now headed back home.






Matt sent me this picture with the car home with his wife's ZHP.




I'd like to wrap this up with one last picture.




I was going to go out on a Sunday morning cruise with some guys from the area CCA chapter. I had a couple of car options, but still wanting to put shakedown miles on Matts touring I asked if I could take it out. He without hesitation said yes (and it would have been fine if he had said no). When I met the guys there was a lot of interest in the touring because it is so clean, then someone said "What's under the hood, that doesn't sound like a M54." I showed them the car and we all started talking. I mentioned this was a customers car and they all looked shocked like I can't believe a customer would let you do that.

As the morning drive progressed I thought about that last statement and as I think about all of my customers, there is not a single one that I wouldn't ask and expect to get the same reply. When I left the dealership to open my own shop I would not have imagined to be where I am now. I am very fortunate to be allowed to work on these cars but more importantly am glad to have met so many people I would call friends and appreciate the relationships I have formed with them. This build just highlights why I am doing this and am thankful Matt gave me the opportunity to be a part of it.

[George Hill]

Another S54 wagon is done. Matt (MJWeimer on the forum here) sent me his gorgeous 2001 325/5MT for the full treatment. If there was ever a "unicorn" this is probably it. Alpine white, black interior, manual, RWD and a slicktop. And Matt has done a fanatical job of keeping it pristine with subtle mods here and there that you don't even notice unless you really look at the car. Now I have to start off with saying this is one of the nicest E46s I have seen in a long time, I don't think it is to much of a stretch to say this car is about as close as you could get to a time capsule. It was quite a honor to be a part of this cars history.

*Also note, this forum post while lengthy is still just a general overview of what we did for this car. There is so much work that goes into one of these projects it's hard to document each and every little item.

*From looking at these pics you will see that none of the body work was touched, but otherwise EVERYTHING under the car was removed (minus brake lines) and just about everything from the windows down in the hatch and just about everything windows down in front of the seats. A build like this is an extensive undertaking.

The goal for the build was to make a slightly sharper version of a S54 M3 touring if BMW was to make one. We did not stray to far away from stock where possible and added just a few touches here and there where we could get away with it. The number one goal was to make the car a pleasure to drive and so most of the parts were picked with NVH in mind. Here is the pile of parts we started with.




For any of these conversions to do them "right" you need a donor car, there are just to many small items that should be transfered over that would nickel and dime you to death if bought separetly. Another customer of mine put us onto a relatively low mile convertible in Houston. It just so happens Matt has family that way and they set up the purchase and then my wife and I headed down there and picked up the car.




And a few days later the touring was shipped in... had to pick it up with another S54 touring (JAWillis72).




Most all E46s have Takata airbags in them which are mostly under a replacement recall. Matt's passenger side needed the airbag replaced and so I worked with BMW and got that done for him as well, the drivers was the newer style already.




The convertible had been seen for an extended period of time, just because no real reason it appears. It was a bit dirty and cosmetically it was pretty rough, so no tears were shed when it's fate was determined, certainly a worthy
candidate for the swap.














M3 engine bay aftermath:




Engine is disassembled to a shortblock for cleaning and maintenance.




And cleaned up.






Bottom end coming apart for new rod bearings. Unless we have history of these being replaced recently (not just for the recall) then these get replaced, this is a must for any of my swaps.




And this is why:




Oil pump disassembled, cleaned and inspected, no damage found so it got put back together and installed.




Next is the Vanos, this is another item that is not negotiable, they get sorted out as part of a swap. There are a multiple issues with this part of the engine.
1. The bolts the attach the timing chain sprockets to the cams can loosen, the fix is new hardware loctited in place
2. The high pressure oil pump in the Vanos is driven by (2) tabs on the exhaust cam hub. These tabs can break off and the theory is there is to loose of a tolerance between the hub tabs and the bores of the oil pump. The accepted repair is to drill new holes in the pump for a tighter clearance to the tabs.
3. The upper chain guide breaks, Beisan Systems which is the pioneer behind fixing all of these Vanos issues makes a chain guide replacement.
4. The Vanos oil accumulator line can fatigue from vibration and crack, BMW implemented a new design with multiple mounting locations.
















The engine went back on the cleaned subframe which got new control arms and bushings. From there the Euro headers were installed, RMS replaced and the JBRacing lightweight flywheel and stock clutch pulled from the donor were reinstalled.






Next was the rear suspension. This was mostly good to go, so the only things we replaced were the subframe bushings and RTAB/J.








Ball joints in place of the RTAB is my new favorite modification. I will not install poly bushings or limiters in these locations so its stock rubber or ball joints. They really seem to sharpen the rear of the car, these particular ones are from Syncro Design Works. David the owner is a very helpful guy and even has a E46 Touring track car!




The final drive was removed and all bushings were replaced, along with all of the seals and gaskets.

[George Hill]

Updates are a bit lacking mainly because I have been working on a few big projects and I wanted to finish them before posting or let the owner post if they want to. Here are some of highlights.


I'm trying to focus my own extracuricular activities and that includes a specific track car. In the past I've used whichever car was most sorted at the time, but there was always a concern of bining my nice car, enter Eileen the '02 325iT. She was bought cheaply off of craigslist, then I got her running and started striping out non essentials.






A cheap set of coilovers, lots of camber, tire and a nice alignment.








I then loaded her up and headed to Hallett Motor Racing Circuit with absolutely no testing... what could go wrong, lol. Luckily nothing did, the car did great and was a total blast. HMRC is a fantastic track, I can't wait to go back. A couple of BMW CCA chapters joined forces to set up this event and it was great. Highly recommend, I will be back there next year 9/18-20/2020, mark your calendars.






After that I didn't do much, just drove her around a bit and then back on the trailer last weekend to Motorsports Ranch Cresson with The Driver's Edge. This was just an easy trip, just my wife and I. The wagon was the talk of the paddock, lol, everyone loved seeing the long roof hussle around the track.






We woke up to some extreme fog, but it quickly burned off and turned out to be a great day.




This is a link to a video of me chasing down a setup 330Ci, check the wagon out break him multiple times, so much fun!




One of my customers was racing a CoTA for the WRL end of season endurance race. They blew up the engine in the car saturday afternoon and decided to swap it overnight. I went out Sunday and helped them trouble shoot and tie up some loose ends.













Click the pic for a Video from one of the bridges.




JaWillis, another friend and I then spent some time on the dyno testing S54 conversion muffler setups. The final info is still being compiled.










And swapped a M54B30, 6MT, and B30 front brakes and rear suspension into a Geo31's touring.

[George Hill]

The shop has been out of control busy and I am trying to keep my head above water. I am incredibly lucky to have all of these people believe in me and what I do, this is a good problem to have as long as I can manage it. I am doing my best and am already implementing changes to alleviate these issues in the future. But still the work must go on....

A future project parts car got dropped off. Semi drivers don't like coming to the shop as the roads are tight, so I met this driver at a nearby grocery store. When I rolled up the tractor was still attached to the trailer and I was wondering how they were going to get it loose (they had the tractor off before I could snap a pic). Then used the flatbed to get the car off the nose of the trailer. They couldn't get the flatbed square with trailer so it was a bit sketchy, but as the tow driver said "I've done way worse things" lol.








The ti came back so I could fix the door panels. The E36 chassis has an issue with the door panels literally coming un glued and then no longer stay attached to the doors. I repair them with a large tube of windshield urethane and lots of tape, lol.






My mom has been driving a '05 X3 since '06, it was a demo car that was also a CPO, since she bought it aside from the random oil change I am the only person who has worked on it since then. But even then it was finally to the point she was going to have to spend some real money on it to get it back into shape so it was decided to get a new car. Naturally she picked a BMW and a X3 at that. This is a 2019 X3 she got from BMW of Grapevine. It is I think as loaded as one can get but because it is a ex******er car there are massive discounts. I drove there and back and the new X3 sure is a sweet ride.






Cisco brought his E46 M3 in for a clunk noise. It was determined he had a failed strut mount and yes he did, the center fell out when the strut was disassmebled. We installed Ground Control street camber plates, reinforcement plates and then add a TMS front sway bar.












Next is a project I have been working on since May, it is a 2000 323iT with a S85 V10 swap. I've been keeping it quiet in case it didn't turn out like I hoped as the customer has been fairly discouraged by the lack of progress over the years. To this point it has been (3) years in the making, it was running and driving then became a crank no start. After that everyone he spoke to wanted nothing to do with the project, but I took it thinking it would be simple. While the diagnosis was simple, the fix was not. The car uses a stock DME so it would be emissions legal. To use the stock DME a CAS module emulator was installed. Somewhere along the way that failed and the company who built it was no longer accessible. The company restructured and I was able to get someone to there to get it going. What they did was remove the emulator and with software they were able to program the cars EWS and Key to the DME, pretty cool stuff. Now with it running and driving again we have a large list to go through to make it a nice driving experience. More on that to follow. Here's a link to my IG page with video: https://www.instagram.com/p/B4KvRJEph6Q/








Juliann, brought in her S54 swapped touring. This is THE car that started it all for me. Her car was originally for sale on the forums back in 2010 iirc. I had just bought a motorcycle and was not in the position to take out another loan or I would have bought it. Fast forward about 7yrs and JAWillis and I are scoping out a core S54 in town here and find out it is from that wagon. It had dropped a valve and she elected to replace the entire engine instead of fixing it. JAWillis ended up with the engine and it is now in his touring, how is that for small world. Anyways fast forward another couple of years and she runs across me on IG and we started chatting as she knew I was involved with her old engine. One thing leads to another and she's dropping her wagon of for some maintenance. We were going to just bulletproof the vanos but once we started looking over the car it needed a bunch more work.




The RACP had started to tear so we went ahead and pulled the whole back end out of the car and installed CMP reinforcement plates. Juliann is an experienced chassis fabricator so we worked a deal for her to do the plate install and it turned out great.






While in there, we replaced the subframe bushings and installed SDW RTA Ball Joints.




Her swap was one of the firsts and was done by an enthusiast who cut a bunch of corners. The car worked ok, but it just wasn't refined. So with it apart I fixed all of the evap system hoses and connections, fixed some random wiring, coded her instrument cluster and removed the warning light "fixes" lol.




She was concerned about the Vanos since her previous valvetrain failure. When I pulled the V/C off to go through the Vanos system, I found she got very lucky. There was a broken Vanos pump tab and luckily it was stuck in the disc. We sourced her a new (used) hub, drilled her old disc and rebuilt the Vanos unit. Finished it up with a valve adjustment and got the engine back in order.




Finally, I acquired another wagon today. You may remember I bought this was wag last year, then resold it back to the previous owner. He then later passed away and the family was having trouble selling it. They wanted it to goto a good home and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. My buddy rode down to San Antonio with me in my ZHP and we picked it back up. This bring me to (5) tourings... I think I have a problem lol.

[George Hill]

It's been a little bit since my last update.

We have had some major family changes over the last weeks. My 88yr old grandfather passed away rather unexpectedly, leaving a large whole in everyone's heart but mostly my grandmothers as they had been together since
they were 13yrs old. He was quite an impressive man having started his own business in the 50's building instrumentation used for water quality testing. He's entrepreneurial spirit trickled down through all of his children and a few of his grandchildren who have all owned or still own their own business, me included. He was a very hard worker and I can surely attribute where I am in life to the work ethic he instilled in me at an early age. He will certainly be missed. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/st...5507&fhid=5106

During this time period my sister married and we welcomed her husband into our family. My wife and I at the wedding, which was held a beautiful Vineyard north of town.




But in the meantime the shop has been jamming, lots of big projects coming through the shop.

This 42k mile Carbon black on Cinnamon M3 came in for a SMG to manual conversion.




The transmission bellhousing was modified in house and all new parts were used including this sweet Auto Solutions shifter.








Next the car got Dinan springs for a bit of sharpening in the handling department.




Then we got rid of the brake caliper covers, rebuilt and powder coated the original calipers.




And finished the car off with an alignment at our local race shop.





SteveM3 sent me his Porsche calipers for modification, this is a nice upgrade to the M3 brake system. To fit there are a couple of companies that make brackets but a few mm need to be milled off the caliper mounting surface.






Click the pic for a fun video of the machining:





I bought a Branick 7600 strut compressor and had some fun tearing all of my misc struts apart.





Alfredo brought his F30 335i for a shock replacement. We went with the Koni FSD kit (now called special active) and deleted his EDC shocks replacing everything except the springs and put new thrust rod bushings in while we were in there. I have done lots of E series coding but not a lot of F series coding. As busy as the shop is I decided to farm this part out. Joe @ http://Facebook.com/codemyride did the remote coding for us to remove the EDC options and everything turned out like OE. Koni shocks ride great, good improvement for this car.









We had MarkSeven's, JAWillis's, Julianne's and my S54 wagons all at the shop the other day...







I have (2) M3 tourings in the shop that need their instrument clusters modified so I went ahead and knocked out all my other clusters at the same time in preparation for future swaps. The M3 cluster will bolt right into the chassis but to be correct they need the LEDs for the rear doors added to the circuit board and then need the VIN programmed into them to remove the manipulation dot and sync the vehicle mileage. Both of these tasks require completely disassembling the clusters.

[George Hill]

Well the E39 Touring is done and I must say it sure is fun to drive. Why BMW didn't import this setup into the US is beyond, it completely transformed the driving experience of the wagon. The leather was deteriorated and the seat adjustment cables were shrunk so we also took the opportunity to refresh the seat and get it back in lines with the rest of the car.








Started prepping for an E46 M3 SMG conversion. I try to keep all aspects of the repair and modifications for any job in house so I machine the bell housings as needed for missing components. You can save some money by using used parts but the price difference usually doesn't make it worth it knowing all the parts are brand new. And we are coupling this with an Auto Solutions shifter. This one is still in process as like most things we've added to the scope of the build and are now waiting on parts.








Next picked up a couple of parts car for future builds...

1. This is a clean 115k miles 330/6MT car that rolled out of the owners garage, down the driveway, across the street, down an embankment and blasted a tree. Needless to say it's totalled, but it's perfect for us as the damage was 100% cosmetic. It ran and drove onto the trailer.












2. This is a 330/5MT slated for a wagon. When you buy a car at auction this is how they deliver it to the trailer. I've got a video on my Instagram page, but not sure how to link it here @HillPerformanceBimmers.








One of my customers and his son have a 318ti. They got a good deal on a 323cic parts car and did the heavy lifting by swapping the 6 cylinder long block into the ti. Then brought it to me to finish, big project but turned out well and rounded out with a M50 intake manifold conversion and a custom tune. This little thing rips, very fun car to drive.






One of the original S54 wagons was dropped off for some refreshing. The orient blue car was built around 2010 and has been owned by Juliann here since 2011. In a weird twist of coincidence Jason was looking for a S54 for his wagon conversion (the silver gray car). We found one and when we went to purchase it we found out it was the engine from Julianns car. We rebuilt it and stuffed it in Jason's wagon and here they are reunited, lol.

https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=826372

[George Hill]

More work going on with the E39 touring. The swap is basically done, just putting miles on the car and buttoning up the odds and ends.

Wiring is pretty straightforward. Wired in the clutch switches, one for starting and one for cruise control. Robbed the wiring out of the parts car and wired it in to the factory locations for an OE install. The cruise wire has to go all the way to the DME and its a bit more of a pain, but worked out well.








We wanted to use the automatic final drive, but the CV flange for the input shaft is 80mm on the auto and 86mm on manual. To use the manual driveshaft on the auto final drive I ended up swapping the pinion flange. I'm normally not a fan of this option as I am always leery of the different flange changing the pinion depth. I pulled both flanges and measured their thickness and both are withing .25mm so I think it's going to be fine in this application.




One of my wagons we refer to as No Lights and No Surprises killed its auto transmission a few months ago. I've been putting off fixing the wagon because I really didn't want to spend money putting in a replacement auto trans as I have been thinking about manual swapping it. But as it would be the E39 trans is the same. I ended up putting in the E39 trans into the E46. Here is the old trans, the front pump bushing welded itself to the torque converter, killed the seal and then puked it's fluid out.








"Phyllis" the E46 endurance race car came in for an engine swap and then swapped the Evolve plenum to the Karbonius. Sitting on the stand I wasn't into the red valve cover, but in the car I like it quite well.




Next up an E92 M3 was in for rod bearing replacement.




He had a blackstone labs analysis done on the oil and no red flags were found. We ended up replacing the rod bearings for peace of mind and good thing we did. These bearings only have 78xxx miles on them and (5) of the upper bearings are showing copper. We used BE bearings and their spec'd ARP rod bearing bolts.








Also got new engine mounts and an engine ground strap