[colorado.e9x]

Originally Posted by JonOhh

Definitely very unlikely. A friend found it, and showed it to me because of the price. Once I saw it was from my tiny ass town of 14,000 and it was a 6MT 330, I knew I couldn't pass it up.

PO says he wants to see someone get it going again instead of parting it out because it's been a good car. It's had a hard life clearly but it'll get there. It's incredible just the difference in treatment can cause- looks absolutely nothing like mine.

Nothing excites me more than a good story behind getting a car. I think this sits in that category nicely. Looking forward to seeing the progress of the restoration

[lowrydr310]

I'm still chasing a slight front end vibration (felt through the steering wheel) at freeway speeds. I have two new front wheels, new struts and mounts, and new thrust arms yet the vibration persists.

I removed my calipers and rotors to inspect, and discovered that my car has Akebono ceramic pads and OEM rotors which were replaced by the previous owner within the last year.

There was some rust between the hub and rotor on both sides - not horrible but much more than I was expecting so I polished it up with a wire wheel on my drill. The caliper slide pins were gummed up pretty badly with what looked like old rubber fused to them. So I polished those up too and applied a light coat of silicone brake grease (despite the Bentley manual saying NOT to grease them!!!) The rubber slide bushings didn't look too great inside so I'm going to replace them, but left them alone for now.

The biggest surprise was learning that my drivers side wheel bearing is starting to fail. I can't feel any lateral play, but when spinning it by hand it sounds crunchy. Not as bad as some failed bearings I've experienced in the past but it's not smooth like a new bearing. I wasn't able to hear this with the caliper bolted up because the pad/rotor sound was louder, but once removed I can hear and feel that the bearing isn't spinning smoothly.

Could this be the cause of my vibration? Again, no lateral play in the bearing, but could there be some up-and-down play that's only felt at higher speeds?

[ky0u]

Finished my valve cover gasket replacement. I was going at a snail's pace because I hit a snag on literally every step plus I had the luxury of time. This was the source of a mystery misfire I was having for the better part of a month. Felt great to be able to plant my foot into the floor and redline her after so long

[2one3E90]

Originally Posted by lowrydr310

I'm still chasing a slight front end vibration (felt through the steering wheel) at freeway speeds. I have two new front wheels, new struts and mounts, and new thrust arms yet the vibration persists.

I removed my calipers and rotors to inspect, and discovered that my car has Akebono ceramic pads and OEM rotors which were replaced by the previous owner within the last year.

There was some rust between the hub and rotor on both sides - not horrible but much more than I was expecting so I polished it up with a wire wheel on my drill. The caliper slide pins were gummed up pretty badly with what looked like old rubber fused to them. So I polished those up too and applied a light coat of silicone brake grease (despite the Bentley manual saying NOT to grease them!!!) The rubber slide bushings didn't look too great inside so I'm going to replace them, but left them alone for now.

The biggest surprise was learning that my drivers side wheel bearing is starting to fail. I can't feel any lateral play, but when spinning it by hand it sounds crunchy. Not as bad as some failed bearings I've experienced in the past but it's not smooth like a new bearing. I wasn't able to hear this with the caliper bolted up because the pad/rotor sound was louder, but once removed I can hear and feel that the bearing isn't spinning smoothly.

Could this be the cause of my vibration? Again, no lateral play in the bearing, but could there be some up-and-down play that's only felt at higher speeds?

Whats the mileage? Is there vibrating during harddd braking?

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by 2one3E90

Whats the mileage? Is there vibrating during harddd braking?

138K on the car now. Vibration only starts at around 50MPH and stays pretty constant. It's not even that strong but I'm really picky. When braking from highway speeds I can feel the vibration slightly in the brake pedal but it's the same intensity as when I'm not braking. Under 50MPH it's perfectly smooth.

I haven't ruled out a bad tire but now that I know I have a bad bearing I want to take care of that first. After new wheel bearings I'm going to do a road force balance.

[2one3E90]

Originally Posted by lowrydr310

138K on the car now. Vibration only starts at around 50MPH and stays pretty constant. It's not even that strong but I'm really picky. When braking from highway speeds I can feel the vibration slightly in the brake pedal but it's the same intensity as when I'm not braking. Under 50MPH it's perfectly smooth.

I haven't ruled out a bad tire but now that I know I have a bad bearing I want to take care of that first. After new wheel bearings I'm going to do a road force balance.

Check Psi and See if any of your wheel weights went off. I had this to and needed to just rebalance my oem wheels. Smooth asfk after that. New Michelins to

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by 2one3E90

Check Psi and See if any of your wheel weights went off. I had this to and needed to just rebalance my oem wheels. Smooth asfk after that. New Michelins to

Nope, already been through all that. Balance is perfect.

[JimThot]

Currently fitting my front bumper onto my 325!

[2one3E90]

Originally Posted by JimThot

Currently fitting my front bumper onto my 325!

What bumper is that? Looks MAD NOW

[colorado.e9x]

Finished wrapping my trim in brushed aluminum and flashed back to RWD

[Buug959]

Originally Posted by colorado.e9x

Finished wrapping my trim in brushed aluminum and flashed back to RWD

Got any pictures? What wrap material did you use? I'm thinking about wrapping my trim in either brushed aluminum or maybe piano black.

[colorado.e9x]

Originally Posted by LemansE90335xi

Got any pictures? What wrap material did you use? I'm thinking about wrapping my trim in either brushed aluminum or maybe piano black.

Vvivid Aluminum Brushed Steel is what I used. Its a semi difficult film to work with but it came out okay. Its slightly translucent so if you have bondo like my old trim it'll show up if you dont paint it beforehand. When buying it they cut it with the grain going vertical but luckily McLovin wanted his done too. Bought a 5ftx5ft sheet which allowed me to go horizontally with the grain. Had plenty of extra in case of mess ups (which I had) and have very little left for small pieces down the road

Dont mind the black stripe, deciding if it looks better than the visible dash crack

[ky0u]

Originally Posted by colorado.e9x

Vvivid Aluminum Brushed Steel is what I used. Its a semi difficult film to work with but it came out okay. Its slightly translucent so if you have bondo like my old trim it'll show up if you dont paint it beforehand. When buying it they cut it with the grain going vertical but luckily McLovin wanted his done too. Bought a 5ftx5ft sheet which allowed me to go horizontally with the grain. Had plenty of extra in case of mess ups (which I had) and have very little left for small pieces down the road

Dont mind the black stripe, deciding if it looks better than the visible dash crack

This looks great! Looks like almost a perfect match to the OEM aluminum trim option

[colorado.e9x]

Originally Posted by ky0u

This looks great! Looks like almost a perfect match to the OEM aluminum trim option

Appreciate it! That's what I was going for, this was the closest vinyl I could find on the web

[Buug959]

Originally Posted by colorado.e9x

Vvivid Aluminum Brushed Steel is what I used. Its a semi difficult film to work with but it came out okay. Its slightly translucent so if you have bondo like my old trim it'll show up if you dont paint it beforehand. When buying it they cut it with the grain going vertical but luckily McLovin wanted his done too. Bought a 5ftx5ft sheet which allowed me to go horizontally with the grain. Had plenty of extra in case of mess ups (which I had) and have very little left for small pieces down the road

Dont mind the black stripe, deciding if it looks better than the visible dash crack

Looks good. The black stripe looks ok too. I probably wouldn't do it but I know you are hiding a crack and that's a good way to do it. I have walnut trim now. Do you think the pattern will show through that wrap?

[E92William]

I received a recall letter from BMW NA for the pcv heater and the blower motor wiring. I thought these were done already on my car..

I would have the blower motor done but definitely not the pcv heater, I don't want a dealership monkey breaking all my pcv hoses and taking out my manifold, got plenty of pcv heaters around to choose from myself.

EDIT: turns out it doesn't apply to my car, it applies to my old 325i e90 I had with a zillion miles, that car sometimes would smell like burnt stuff when you turned on the AC, that was a year ago. Probably burned down already lol

[colorado.e9x]

Originally Posted by LemansE90335xi

Looks good. The black stripe looks ok too. I probably wouldn't do it but I know you are hiding a crack and that's a good way to do it. I have walnut trim now. Do you think the pattern will show through that wrap?

I'm tempted to take off the stripe and deal with the crack, havent decided yet. The pattern won't show up, no Just sudden shade differences. I'll have to take pics of the other one to show what I mean.

[3PedalJake]

Originally Posted by E92William

I received a recall letter from BMW NA for the pcv heater and the blower motor wiring. I thought these were done already on my car..

I would have the blower motor done but definitely not the pcv heater, I don't want a dealership monkey breaking all my pcv hoses and taking out my manifold, got plenty of pcv heaters around to choose from myself.

EDIT: turns out it doesn't apply to my car, it applies to my old 325i e90 I had with a zillion miles, that car sometimes would smell like burnt stuff when you turned on the AC, that was a year ago. Probably burned down already lol

I just got this same letter for the 330i. I knew it was open, their website checker says so, also the Takata airbag recall that the letter doesn't mention. I did the heater elbow myself because I replaced the whole ccv and disas and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have shined it all up for me lol. I'm gonna make an appoint for the blower and the airbag, not a fan of crawling under the dash, that's more of a monkey thing.

[Dpc2u]

Originally Posted by LemansE90335xi

Looks good. The black stripe looks ok too. I probably wouldn't do it but I know you are hiding a crack and that's a good way to do it. I have walnut trim now. Do you think the pattern will show through that wrap?

You also mentioned piano black. I did mine in that using 3m wrap. In the last picture you can see it on the door trim as well.

[Buug959]

Originally Posted by Dpc2u

You also mentioned piano black. I did mine in that using 3m wrap. In the last picture you can see it on the door trim as well.

That looks really good too. I noticed that you haven't done the console trim. Are you going to do it or not bother?

[ky0u]

Took her for a drive after some down time. Romped on the gas and did a code scan afterwards as it felt like the car choked for a second after a gear change.

Only code was 30EE, - Cyl 2 superknock.

[Dpc2u]

Originally Posted by LemansE90335xi

That looks really good too. I noticed that you haven't done the console trim. Are you going to do it or not bother?

The console trim in mine is leather, so no. I did do around the hvac and cd/dvd player if you look close at the 1st picture. Hadn't done that yet in the 2nd.