[Steage]

I'm back on E90Post after a 11+ year hiatus, this place has changed a lot since then! I was originally here with a brand new 2007 335 (old for sale thread here: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=680231). Then I bought an E36 M3 (with the intent of eventually tracking it) and decided I wanted something different for the daily commute and the possible inclement weather so the 335 went.

My E36 @ Mid Ohio:


Earlier this year we moved from Ohio down to Georgia and now I have tracks (plural!) that are within easy driving distance, so I sold my truck and started looking for something fun with some practicality. My intent was to find an E46 ZHP, but I had some alerts set for E90s as I had always enjoyed the platform.

That's when I found and bought this, pictured fresh off the trailer from California:


A SGM 330i with ~56k miles and a manual transmission. It's in really good shape.

First fill up before the test drive:


I had loved my E92 335 but I wasn't all that interested in maintaining the N54 in the long term. The 330 seems to have all the upside of the chassis with the trade off of a little power. I'm really enjoying the N52. It feels pretty much as fast as my S52 E36, even revving a little freer. Plus, it's the last NA straight 6 (in the USA at least)!

The car didn't need much, but there were a few things I needed to address.

First oil change:


A bad picture just after removing the tow bar that I did not need:


New windshield trim replaced using the DIY on FCPEuro... this was a miserable job and my hands hurt for a while after getting it done:


Then, finally, new OEM blackline tail lights and a wash. In my E92 days I was always insanely jealous that the E90s got these, so of course I had to have them:


After that I've just been enjoying it. Now that I have a little bit more time during the track season winter break I think I'm going to get some M3 front control arms and see if that will stop the front tires from rubbing occasionally. If that doesn't work I'm just going to go back to the stock 8"/8.5" wheel widths... I already spend enough time dealing with aggressive tire fitment on my E36.

I'm also considering getting a 335 instrument cluster so I'm not driving around blind to temperatures. I'm a little bit hesitant to swap the cluster on a lower mileage car, I'd be interested in hearing some thoughts on that.

More to come...

(Meeting for the first time)

[whyzee125]

Originally Posted by Steage

I'm back on E90Post after a 11+ year hiatus, this place has changed a lot since then! I was originally here with a brand new 2007 335 (for sale thread here: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=680231). Then I bought an E36 M3 (with the intent of eventually tracking it) and decided I wanted something different for the daily commute and the possible inclement weather so the 335 went.

My E36 @ Mid Ohio:


Earlier this year we moved from Ohio down to Georgia and now I have tracks (plural!) that are within easy driving distance, so I sold my truck and started looking for something fun with some practicality. My intent was to find an E46 ZHP, but I had some alerts set for E90s as I had always enjoyed the platform.

That's when I found and bought this, pictured fresh off the trailer from California:


A SGM 330i with ~56k miles and a manual transmission. It's in really good shape.

First fill up before the test drive:


I had loved my E92 335 but I wasn't all that interested in maintaining the N54 in the long term. The 330 seems to have all the upside of the chassis with the trade off of a little power. I'm really enjoying the N52. It feels pretty much as fast as my S52 E36, even revving a little freer. Plus, it's the last NA straight 6 (in the USA at least)!

The car didn't need much, but there were a few things I needed to address.

First oil change:


A bad picture just after removing the tow bar that I did not need:


New windshield trim replaced using the DIY on FCPEuro... this was a miserable job and my hands hurt for a while after getting it done:


Then, finally, new OEM blackline tail lights and a wash. In my E92 days I was always insanely jealous that the E90s got these, so of course I had to have them:


After that I've just been enjoying it. Now that I have a little bit more time during the track season winter break I think I'm going to get some M3 front control arms and see if that will stop the front tires from rubbing occasionally. If that doesn't work I'm just going to go back to the stock 8"/8.5" wheel widths... I already spend enough time dealing with aggressive tire fitment on my E36.

I'm also considering getting a 335 instrument cluster so I'm not driving around blind to temperatures. I'm a little bit hesitant to swap the cluster on a lower mileage car, I'd be interested in hearing some thoughts on that.

More to come...

(Meeting for the first time)

Nice car and welcome back! Looking forward to seeing updates. I would say go for it on the cluster--cluster swaps are common enough on this platform you can get it done right. Document the swap if you'd like the peace of mind for the sake of resale but I can't imagine it making much of a difference with carfax and all that.

[Steage]

Spent an hour this evening on starting to get it apart to replace the starter.

Battery is newish and it sits on a Battery Tender when it sits for a while, so I'm guessing the starter is the source of the slow cranking.

Now that I have some things cleared out I'm seeing that the oil filter housing is leaking. Guess I'll be replacing that next time I change the oil.

[StradaRedlands]

Consider getting an oil cooler/heat exchanger added when you do the OFHG.
Maybe a Euro airbox to open up the intake a little (plus sounds better).
Jealous of the low miles!

[Fireball5657]

Congratulations on the beautiful 330i! Those blacklines look great, and Sparkling Graphite always looked better than Space Grey, imo .

If you're interested in a 335i cluster, check out clustersandcoding on eBay. It's a little pricy, but they sell "virginized" clusters, which mean their odometers have been zeroed out and will show whatever your DME has stored with no errors or tamper dots. They do stock replacements, you can also go with the M3 cluster, or you could even go with a custom design.

Anyways, I always loved the 2006 330i, it was the only year we got a fully unleashed N52 3-series here in the states. It was also pretty cool to have at least one year of E90 where the N52 wasn't just the "base model motor" lol. I occasionally consider trading in my F10 for a 330i, I think I'll always be an E90 N52 guy at heart.

[Steage]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

Consider getting an oil cooler/heat exchanger added when you do the OFHG.
Maybe a Euro airbox to open up the intake a little (plus sounds better).
Jealous of the low miles!

I saw your oil cooler DIY recently and it intrigued me. I am surprised by the oil temps on this car, especially in normal driving during Georgia fall/winter. My old N54 surprised me but I assumed that was because of the rotary oil heaters. I guess it's just how these newer engines run.

I added an oil cooler to my E36 because I saw on-track oil temps during lead-follows in the heat of summer that are around where this car runs normally!

[Steage]

Originally Posted by Fireball5657

Congratulations on the beautiful 330i! Those blacklines look great, and Sparkling Graphite always looked better than Space Grey, imo .

If you're interested in a 335i cluster, check out clustersandcoding on eBay. It's a little pricy, but they sell "virginized" clusters, which mean their odometers have been zeroed out and will show whatever your DME has stored with no errors or tamper dots. They do stock replacements, you can also go with the M3 cluster, or you could even go with a custom design.

Anyways, I always loved the 2006 330i, it was the only year we got a fully unleashed N52 3-series here in the states. It was also pretty cool to have at least one year of E90 where the N52 wasn't just the "base model motor" lol. I occasionally consider trading in my F10 for a 330i, I think I'll always be an E90 N52 guy at heart.

Thanks.

I reached out to a cluster guy on here a while ago (might be the same guy?). I'm going to do it eventually, but things keeps jumping ahead of that on the to-do list.

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by Steage

I saw your oil cooler DIY recently and it intrigued me. I am surprised by the oil temps on this car, especially in normal driving during Georgia fall/winter. My old N54 surprised me but I assumed that was because of the rotary oil heaters. I guess it's just how these newer engines run.

I added an oil cooler to my E36 because I saw on-track oil temps during lead-follows in the heat of summer that are around where this car runs normally!

It's kind of a go-to mod for me now. I've done it twice, and it's really easy, minus the coolant pipe. That can be ignored on an AT as they already have the correct pipe, but has to be done on a MT. LMK if you have any questions on it!

[Steage]

Car is now mostly back together and starting.

New starter installed:


Old starter + oily DISA valves:


Mostly reassembled for test fire:


This job was consistent with my experience pulling intake manifolds on other BMW straight 6s... kind of annoying but also easier once you understand how it all goes. The addition of electrical connectors to heat all of the PCV components was probably the most annoying part.

I primarily followed the FCP Euro DIY (https://blog.fcpeuro.com/starter-rep...51-n52-engines) but I did not pull the fuel manifold or fuel line, that probably would have made things a little easier. I also could not get the lower connection of the lower PCV hose to let go - spent forever fighting with it. I was replacing so I ended up cutting it off.

In the end I replaced:

• Bosch starter
• Aluminum starter bolts
• Intake manifold gaskets
• Throttle body gasket
• PCV valve (11617531423 )
• 4 PCV hoses (11617522933 , 11157537701, 11157567801, 11157522931)
• DISA valves (11617579114 and 11617560538)

The upper PCV hose cracked as I was pulling it off the valve cover, but the other hoses didn't seem that bad. Still, I replaced them while I was in there...

I would also recommend sourcing a hose clamp for the brake booster hose (11151726339 for the OEM replacement). If I took these apart on a regular basis I could probably do it without mangling it...

[Kevin_The_Clean1]

Pretty cool build man. Someday a E90 M3 strut tower brace would be a fun kit. I have it on my 2011 335i & like it a lot.

[Steage]

When I bought the car it came with the BMW performance short shifter kit in the trunk. I'm generally skeptical of just throwing in a shorter lever, but I did feel like I was punching the dashboard on the 1/3/5 shift. The taller ZHP knob that the car came with probably doesn't help there. For $0.00 I figured it was worth a try.

Part number is 25110430357 which gets you the shorter lever, new bushing+circlip, and the alcantara boot and knob. My kit didn't have the knob and I wasn't planing on using it or the new boot anyway.

I followed the DIY here: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=781525

Didn't take me more than an hour or so. The most difficult part is removing/reinstalling the circlip. Despite all my best efforts the old circlip shot under the car somewhere. While installing the new circlip I did tie some fishing line around it so I didn't lose it - worked really well.

I did this in a fit of productivity and forgot to take pictures of the progress, but here is the final result. I was worried about it looking too stubby, but I don't think that's the case:


Time will tell how I feel about it.

This is also the debut of the Dynavin headunit that came with the car. I have mixed feelings about it. It's a really nice piece of hardware that updates the car usefully - bluetooth+rearview camera. If it were up to me I think I'd retrofit iDrive though... or just find a car with iDrive already. But, it's there and it's working really well so I'm not planning on changing it anytime soon.

I also just ordered a set of M3 front control arms, although I have a lot of other projects lined up on other cars and around the house before I get around to installing those....

[M-technik-3]

Nice E36, love mine they are a great track car for cheap money. Sparkling Grey is a nice color, my 335i is Space Grey but as an 11 Sparkling was not a choice and mine was used,

330i is a great car like the ZHP.

[Steage]

Originally Posted by M-technik-3

330i is a great car like the ZHP.

After decades of wanting one I think I may have missed my chance to get an E46. I see a ZHP sold for ~$25k on BaT recently. I remember when I thought that was too much for a E46 M3...

[M-technik-3]

I dug the ZHP but these days a N52 seems to have been able to stand up better to time than the M54

[Steage]

Originally Posted by Steage

I also just ordered a set of M3 front control arms, although I have a lot of other projects lined up on other cars and around the house before I get around to installing those....

Jk... backordered until July

[Steage]

I'm just now getting around to the oil filter housing gasket. In retrospect I should have just done it last year when I had the intake off to replace the starter, but I had fresh oil and didn't feel like changing it. Bad call.

Official BMW radiator drain plug tool


I had to do some improvising to get to the OFH bolt under the intake. I tried some swivels and extensions but I just couldn't get it on there enough to feel comfortable that I could get the bolt off without stripping it. I ended up dropping the alternator - remove the belt and remove 4 bolts and it's free. Used some tape to stop it from shorting (too lazy... don't do what I do) with the battery connected.
That made things a lot easier - a 8mm box wrench will fit on the E10 bolt, plenty of room to move around with the alternator out of the way!


After spending some time with Brakleen and some rags to clean up years of seeping oil. Benefit of removing the alternator/belt - it was a lot easier to clean everything up. Also, I tried to empty the housing before I removed it, but I dumped oil all over where the belt would be anyway - so I'd be removing and replacing the belt either way


OFH installed and refilled with oil and coolant. If you look closely you can see the new aluminum mickey mouse flange. Not sure how much more time I had left on the old plastic one, but I guess I don't have to worry about it anymore. Now I'm waiting on a new belt and bolts for the alternator... so more to come.

[Steage]

Not sure what is going on with UPS this year, but my normally quick Bimmerworld order of a new belt and alternator bolts is being held up like a lot of our other packages.

While the car is in the air and the undertray is off I've been working on something else...



M3 front control arms! Not fully torqued down yet, and then I'll need to get an alignment. I'll post the results

[Steage]

The car is all back together, aligned, and on the road.



The little bit of additional camber (up from 0.8deg) from the M3 control arms didn't help with the rubbing from my M3 wheels. If anything it's a bit worse now...

I'm now in the market for some factory Ellipsoids - don't want to deal with this anymore.

[Steage]

You can still buy Style 162s from the dealer.

From what I'm seeing in my local classifieds buying new is about the same cost as buying someone's curbed wheels (and they're all curbed) and refinishing.