New member from Washington :)

[Rookiez]

30413

Hi, I'm a new member from Washington, just got the car a week ago! It's a 2003 with 154k miles Mystic Blue with Gray interior (Manual Trans)! The car had only 2 owners, the last owner owned it from 2005-2017 :thumbsup

I'm restoring the car mechanically and also its' paint condition slowly, as it is my daily drive :thumbsup

Mechanical:
The cooling system needs to be overhauled, front brakes and front tires need to be replaced, fluids need to be flushed out, then I want to refresh the suspension system (I enjoy cornering the most while driving!) Koni FSD, anyone?

The car isn't idling nicely on a hot day, especially the more AC I blast. Is this usually caused by the DISA valve due for rebuild? I read a few suggestions on this on some other e46 forums. The car has several DISA valve and VANOS rebuilt/replaced for a few times during its' lifetime.

Paint Condition:
Paint has some several unidentified black stuffs sticking on the paint :facepalm
I'm taking it off slowly with Goo Gone and then try to buff it out since the paint is in a heavily swirled condition.

I'll post more pictures once the car is done polished! Gonna take a while though :)

[webster]

Welcome! Lovely color ZHP

[BMWCurves]

Welcome aboard! Always nice to see another member in the PacNW! Lovely car too, sounds like you have your maintenance planned out ahead of you

[704sw]

Welcome! Be careful with GooGone though, it can do a real number. I've corrected some really bad paint, so PM me if you have any questions or anything.

[anandoc]

Welcome!

For the DISA valve, no matter how many times you put in a OEM DISA, it will fail after a few years due to a design flaw. A more permanent fix is to rebuild it using the GAS kit.

Rebuild the VANOS using the Besian systems kit.

Oh and BMWcurves has an awesome suspension refresh thread - check it out if you are looking for part numbers etc.

[zhpnsnv]

Mmmmm mystic. Great color.


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[BMWM3186]

Not sure I would blame the disa valve on the idle if it's already been replaced but it's not too difficult to check. My car still has the original one to my knowledge. Could try pulling some codes, looking at fuel trims, etc. to see if anything stands out. I also don't know if Goo gone is safe for clear coat.

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[fredo]

Welcome, man. That's a beautiful color. :thumbsup

[johnrando]

Welcome, and congrats!

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[danewilson77]

Welcome. Looks great.

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[Rookiez]

Wow, this place is surely one of the friendliest forum! Thanks so much guys!! I've always like how the e46 ZHP looks and finally able to get one!

@Anandoc, I will take a look on the GAS kit, as well as the VANOS rebuild using the Besian Systems kit. I just took a look on BMWCurves' thread on the suspension's refresh, as well as Mango's thread as well. Great resources so far!

@BMW1386, I tried to pull out for codes using my ScanGauge 2.0 but unable to find any. What do you mean by looking at fuel trims?

@704SW, Thanks!! I'm trying to polish the car with Rupes Bigfoot 15 plus Menzerna 400 & 3500 right now panel by panel using Yellow and Maroon Urotec Buff & Shine Pads. I work on weekdays and pretty busy too on the weekend. I'll be finishing it up with the Wolfgang DGPS then :) It's gonna take a while.

I'm dropping the car off to a good mechanic friend next week, so he can take a look on what to restore first on the engine to restore it. I found a leak around the driver side area yesterday, when I was changing the oil. Nothing major, I was able to drain out slightly more than 6 quarts of oil. CCV or oil return hose leak, probably??

[AZBP2]

Beautiful ride and welcome to the team! IMO, this forum is all about Class. The gentlemen in here will go out of their way to help you keep your ZHP in great shape. If you have a question; there's a post to help you answer it. Cheers


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[Rookiez]

Thanks so much! Yeah, I do notice the friendly people in here right away!

[704sw]

Thanks so much! Yeah, I do notice the friendly people in here right away!

It really is crazy how different the people are here compared to basically any other forum out there. I'm thankful to be a part of it.

[BMWCurves]

It really is crazy how different the people are here compared to basically any other forum out there. I'm thankful to be a part of it.

http://i.imgur.com/8V4mPzO.gif

[danewilson77]

It really is crazy how different the people are here compared to basically any other forum out there. I'm thankful to be a part of it.



Thanks so much! Yeah, I do notice the friendly people in here right away!

You guys win.

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[kjgildersleeve]

Awesome rig! What part of Washington are you from? I'm in the Kirkland area let's meet up :guns

[Oli77]

Your ICV is probably dirty. Take it out and clean it up, this could help with the idle.
The oil leak could be the OFHG or the VCG, classic leakers.
Plenty of videos on youtube for these easy DIYs.
Nice car too!

[ZHPizza]

Gorgeous color. Thanks for bringing it over to the family.

Re: FSD's -- they're super duper magical goodness. I went with them after reading this post:
http://www.bimmerfest.com//forums/showpost.php?p=7085791&postcount=61

It's amazing how smooth these cars can be with the right shocks.

Re: Black stuff on the paint -- try using a clay bar before anything else. It'll be much nicer to your paint than goo gone.

[Rookiez]

Awesome rig! What part of Washington are you from? I'm in the Kirkland area let's meet up :guns

Hi, pretty close actually, Shoreline! Sure! The car is in the shop though right now (refreshing fluids & troubleshooting oil leak around oil filter housing gasket).
I'm currently saving up for koni fsd suspension and do the labor myself.


Your ICV is probably dirty. Take it out and clean it up, this could help with the idle.
The oil leak could be the OFHG or the VCG, classic leakers.
Plenty of videos on youtube for these easy DIYs.
Nice car too!

Thank you so much! I never thought that it can be easily cleaned like that. I've seen several posts that people just replaced them with a new one. I wasn't interested yet when I see the parts price for now, but removing n cleaning it doesn't seem too bad honestly :) Thanks for the info!


Gorgeous color. Thanks for bringing it over to the family.

Re: FSD's -- they're super duper magical goodness. I went with them after reading this post:
http://www.bimmerfest.com//forums/showpost.php?p=7085791&postcount=61

It's amazing how smooth these cars can be with the right shocks.

Re: Black stuff on the paint -- try using a clay bar before anything else. It'll be much nicer to your paint than goo gone.

Yep, sold me on this too for this very reason! The struts are shot on mine, going through highway joints like crazy, my head was nodding up and down lol.

Have you ever try W204 C Class or W212 E Class? If so, would you say they're as comfortable as those cars with sport suspension? I went through rail road like nothing (muffled nicely). I was also able to go through 30-35 mph corner with 60 mph very stable, I'd expect better feeling with a refreshed (suspension) ZHP though :P I enjoyed cornering on ramps and also the smooth ride when cruising :)

[Ridgey]

Congrats on the car. You were texting me about the cooling system components I was considering selling. Im in Northgate and my M3 should be up and running soon. If you need help with anything let me know.

[Rookiez]

Congrats on the car. You were texting me about the cooling system components I was considering selling. Im in Northgate and my M3 should be up and running soon. If you need help with anything let me know.

Thanks so much Ridge! Would be nice to take our cars' pictures together with other members wothin the area.
Btw, do you have any issue with nt being able to charge your phone while using aux cable (you had the oem bmw cable, right?)

[ZHPizza]

Thanks so much Ridge! Would be nice to take our cars' pictures together with other members wothin the area.
Btw, do you have any issue with nt being able to charge your phone while using aux cable (you had the oem bmw cable, right?)

I had this issue in mine. I read that when you plug your phone in to charge while it is connected to the aux, you can create a ground loop that makes it so the headunit no longer sees the aux input. It doesn't seem to happen with every phone, though.

[Rookiez]

I had this issue in mine. I read that when you plug your phone in to charge while it is connected to the aux, you can create a ground loop that makes it so the headunit no longer sees the aux input. It doesn't seem to happen with every phone, though.

Hi, thanks for the advice! I googled it before and found that using a device made by PAC, but it didn't work. I need a stable aux that can be connected with a bluetooth adapter. If I have to change the headunit, it'll cost $300++

I haven't been able to find a good solution yet for this, most of the members just install the factory bluetooth adapter.


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