Hayden’s Imola 330ci Zhp Journal

[Kicker35]

I figured I should make a project thread for my 2006 330ci Zhp so I could document it all and and keep up with it.

The Basics:

Year: 2006
Model: 330ci Coupe
Exterior color: Imola Red
Interior: Alcantara
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Packages: Performance Package, Cold Weather Package
Options: Adaptive xenon headlights, Harmon-Kardon sound system, Perforated leather steering wheel, Navigation, European Delivery
Purchase Date: 7/14/2017
Mileage at purchase: 134,xxx
VIN: WBABD53426PE10243
Current Mileage: 150,000

Background Story:

I began my search for a Zhp back in early 2016. After about a year and half of searching, I stumbled across this car on a Craigslist listing right outside of Chicago and jumped on it immediately. It was my dream spec, within my price range, and seemed to be in decent shape. I contacted the owner and worked out a deal. Two days later I made the drive up to Chicago from Atlanta to bring her home. It was a great trip up, and I’d definitely recommend making a road trip out of buying a car. When I arrived, the car was a little rough around the edges, but had great potential. The previous owner had no maintenance records, but it drove well. I made the deal, and drove it about 800 miles back to its new home outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

About Me:
I’ve been a car enthusiast my whole life and my love for BMW began a few years ago. This is my first car and I’m enjoying bringing this thing back to life. I fell in love with the e46 generation specifically and the Zhp was the perfect match. I enjoy detailing on the side and I use Chemical Guys Products currently.

Maintenance/Mods:

Mechanical
-New OEM oil cap- 9/1/17
- Oil Change- 9/28/17 136,300
-VCG and vanos oil line OEM-9/28/17 136,300
-OFHG replaced with bavauto viton gasket-9/28/17 136,300
- replaced headlight ALM module- 9/28/17 136,300
-OEM Pulleys and belts-9/28/17 136,300
- New fcabs (OEM)- 9/28/17 136,300
- Engine Degrease and Detail- 10/1/17
-OEM Hood insulation- 10/1/17 136,320
-Alignment- 10/2/17 136,340
- 4 new tires- Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ - 10/2/17 136,340
-Battery Replaced- 8/30/18 143,300
- Starter replaced with remanufactured Bosch- 8/30/18 143,300
- Oil and filter change- 10/1/18 143,500
- OEM Expansion tank and thermostat, 50/50 BMW coolant mix, bled system- 12/23/18 145,100


Exterior
-Restored side markers with 3M kit- 9/2/17
-Custom Euro Plate- 12/26/17
- New BMW M valve stem caps- 1/5/18
- New LED license plate lights and covers- 1/5/18
- New OEM BMW wheel caps- 11/25/19


Interior
- Alcantara deep cleaned with Sonax Alcantara cleaner- 7/26/17
- Steering Wheel and Leather Armrest Deep Cleaned 7/26/17
- New OEM ZHP weighted shift knob-9/1/17
- New OEM floor mats-9/1/17
- Bavsound Stage 1 upgrade 9/24/17
-rebuilt subwoofer using CDT CL-69S carbon fiber/fiberglass woofers w/ subwoofer insulation 9/24/17
- Refinish black cube trim 9/24/17
-rebuilt tuner box(Thomas from BavAuto) 9/25/17
-New navigation screen to fix pixelation (Thomas from BavAuto) 9/25/17
- New OEM Aux cord 9/25/17
- A and C pillars sagging re-glue-3M super77 multi-purpose adhesive 12/2/17
- New OEM cup holders- 12/2/17
- Refinish coin tray and center console- 12/2/17


Planned Maintenance:
-Replace Cooling System
-Full suspension refresh
- Motor and Trans mounts
- Replace Catalytic converters
-Vanos rebuild
-CDV Delete
-New windshield cowl
- Replace rear side window gaskets

Future Mods/Upgrades:
-Paint brake calipers(probably red)
- M3 side mirrors(powered)
-Gruppe M/BMW performance Intake
-Corsa Catback tse3 exhaust
-Slotted/drilled rotors
- lowering springs?
- short shift kit/rebuilt shift linkage
-tint
- Full Repaint
- Refinish wheels
-Gloss Black Kidney Grills
-spacers

Some Pictures After First Wash:
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32276

More Recent Pictures:
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To keep up with me, follow me on Instagram @imola330ci_zhp. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.

[fredo]

Well done. IR FTW !

[Kicker35]

To Refinish the Black Cube Trim, I began by sanding it down with 3000 and 1500 grit, taped it off, and resprayed it using a black interior trim refinisher.
Some Before shots
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32283
32284

Some After shots
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32288

[SaltyNC]

Your car looks great, and wow, the black cube came out great. Awesome job!

Salty

[BMWCurves]

Your car looks great, and wow, the black cube came out great. Awesome job!

Salty

+1

I'll need to do that at some point.

[ZHPizza]

Muh twin! Welcome from just up the road. Your interior is in significantly better shape than mine.

Great pics btw -- loving the warehouse shots!

Got some questions here from reading through your post:


- Alcantara deep cleaned with Sonax Alcantara cleaner- 7/26/17
I have a bottle of this in the garage that I haven't used yet. Any particular method that worked well for you? My plan was to spray, agitate with a brush, and wipe off with mf.


-rebuilt subwoofer w/ insulation 9/24/17
...'splain...plz


-CDV Delete
should have been done yesterday, brother! Makes a world of difference in how the car drives.


-Paint brake calipers(probably red)
The G2 kit is awesome. I did mine in gloss black and love it.


-tint
Highly suggest doing it before summer in Hotlanta! I went with 3M Color Stable 35 on this car and it's perfect.

More suggestions from looking at your pics:

- Paint or replace that piece behind the lower grill. It's easy to remove the bumper and do it right. Really refreshes the front end.

- The front of your hood looks like it's sitting a little high. You can adjust this with the rubber stopper screws on the bottom of the hood. I went through a looooot of iterations messing with this and the striker plate to get mine right, but you only have to do it once!

- I'd suggest adding 10mm spacers all around. It'll make a huge difference in the look of the car.

Click the pic in my sign to go to my build thread -- you'll see a lot of before/after shots on the same car for things that are on your list.

Great work!

[charter21p5]

Great looking car and nice work! What product did you use for the cube trim?


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[johnrando]

Nice werk!

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[Kicker35]

Muh twin! Welcome from just up the road. Your interior is in significantly better shape than mine.

Great pics btw -- loving the warehouse shots!

Got some questions here from reading through your post:


I have a bottle of this in the garage that I haven't used yet. Any particular method that worked well for you? My plan was to spray, agitate with a brush, and wipe off with mf.


...'splain...plz


should have been done yesterday, brother! Makes a world of difference in how the car drives.


The G2 kit is awesome. I did mine in gloss black and love it.


Highly suggest doing it before summer in Hotlanta! I went with 3M Color Stable 35 on this car and it's perfect.

More suggestions from looking at your pics:

- Paint or replace that piece behind the lower grill. It's easy to remove the bumper and do it right. Really refreshes the front end.

- The front of your hood looks like it's sitting a little high. You can adjust this with the rubber stopper screws on the bottom of the hood. I went through a looooot of iterations messing with this and the striker plate to get mine right, but you only have to do it once!

- I'd suggest adding 10mm spacers all around. It'll make a huge difference in the look of the car.

Click the pic in my sign to go to my build thread -- you'll see a lot of before/after shots on the same car for things that are on your list.

Great work!

Wow you’ve got great taste in cars hahah!

For the Sonax Alcantara cleaner, I sprayed it on the seats and used a soft bristle brush to rub it in gently. Don’t use too much cleaner because it’ll make the texture of the Alcantara stiff. Then I wiped it off with a damp microfiber. Didn’t notice a huge difference, but it is better and smelled like berries for a while...

For the subwoofer rebuild, I replaced the stock hk speakers with CDT CL-69S slim carbon fiber/fiber glass woofers. They fit perfectly and are great quality. Not a huge difference over stock, but the bass is noticeably crisper. I put some subwoofer insulation around them in the box and in the top of the trunk to get better sound quality and to prevent rattle.

I know I’ve been putting off that CDV but I’ll get around to it. I’ve seen some good results with G2 so I’ll give it a try...maybe this summer. I went ahead and bought the paint to spray the lower grill , so I’ll probably get to that when it warms up a bit too. I have both gloss and satin paint so I’m not sure which one I’ll end up using.

For the hood, I’ve tried messing with the rubber screws but it doesn’t seem to change it. Not sure how to fix it.

I’ve been thinking about spacers recently, and I agree they make a huge difference. I’ll take a look at your thread again to see some pics. Thanks for all the help!







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[Kicker35]

+1

I'll need to do that at some point.


Your car looks great, and wow, the black cube came out great. Awesome job!

Salty

Thanks guys! The refinished black cube looks much better now and it was an easy DIY. Taking all the door-cards out to take off the trim was time consuming, but worth it in the end.


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[ZHPizza]

Wow you’ve got great taste in cars hahah!

lol I actually hate red cars but this one is just stupid red so I kinda love it [/quote]



For the Sonax Alcantara cleaner, I sprayed it on the seats and used a soft bristle brush to rub it in gently. Don’t use too much cleaner because it’ll make the texture of the Alcantara stiff. Then I wiped it off with a damp microfiber. Didn’t notice a huge difference, but it is better and smelled like berries for a while...

I'ma do it for the berries alone



For the subwoofer rebuild, I replaced the stock hk speakers with CDT CL-69S slim carbon fiber/fiber glass woofers. They fit perfectly and are great quality. Not a huge difference over stock, but the bass is noticeably crisper. I put some subwoofer insulation around them in the box and in the top of the trunk to get better sound quality and to prevent rattle.


That's awesome. I'm guessing the slim 6x9s were required to fit in the OE box? I'll have to look into that if I ever finish my Bavsound install.



I know I’ve been putting off that CDV but I’ll get around to it. I’ve seen some good results with G2 so I’ll give it a try...maybe this summer. I went ahead and bought the paint to spray the lower grill , so I’ll probably get to that when it warms up a bit too. I have both gloss and satin paint so I’m not sure which one I’ll end up using.


Satin would be more OE look, while gloss would match the hood grilles. I went with whatever was in my garage.



For the hood, I’ve tried messing with the rubber screws but it doesn’t seem to change it. Not sure how to fix it.


Ok I had to get more involved too, but didn't want to send you down this path if you hadn't adjusted the screws yet. You can adjust the catch depth for the latching mechanism. I can't remember exactly how it is done, but just carefully loosen some screws and move it around a bit and test. I spent about half an hour finding the right combination of latch depth + rubber screw height to get mine right.



I’ve been thinking about spacers recently, and I agree they make a huge difference. I’ll take a look at your thread again to see some pics. Thanks for all the help!


u gotta

[Kicker35]

Great looking car and nice work! What product did you use for the cube trim?


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I used Color Bond LVP Refinisher. It looks like this
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180326/805439388ef68ba5a0593136eee0bd90.jpg

[Kicker35]

Hit 140k the other day. Loved every mile of driving this thing.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180424/32c2251022e317041daa97b221c97c2a.jpg


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[Kicker35]

Finally got around to adjusting my hood to sit flush. I tried adjusting the rubber screws, but nothing changed. After messing around with various screws, I found that the culprit was the hood latch on the right side. The screw on that latch was not screwed in as much as the other side, so I took it out and fixed it. Looks much better now!

Before:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180629/dbc74b5fdf4232310f2d10595c038341.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180629/51d95265f8c5868776e8671ddc67e386.jpg

The latch:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180629/bde461e72df7b9b8aa3a8f8633ee4eab.jpg

After:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180629/c5627e2d489e1d23076001cd1fcaa383.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180629/9eb4df142f02396c855595ead2c7d151.jpg



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[johnrando]

Interesting. Good to get those little things done.

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[ZHPizza]

Significant improvement. Strong work.

[Kicker35]

It’s been a while, time for a much-needed update. The car is running strong, but it’s had a few issues since my last update.

Back in August 2018, the car would take a while to crank up sometimes and it progressively got worse to the point where it would not crank at all and I’d have to pop-start it. I had the voltage checked on my battery, the alternator and the starter and they all checked out. At first, I figured it was the battery so I put a new one in, but the problem did not go away. I was stumped, so I had my starter replaced with a remanufactured Bosch unit. After that, the car started up no problem and I haven’t had any issues since.

That fall, I started having intermittent coolant issues where the light would pop on and off temporarily and I’d have to top off the tank. The expansion tank had developed a leak and eventually gave out last December. I replaced it with a new OEM tank and put in a new thermostat while I was in there. Filled up the system with 50/50 OEM BMW coolant and water mixture and bled it and I haven’t had any problems since.
Some pictures of the job:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191125/dcbccf98d21711f0cde4316816e03968.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191125/40867cd8a06b27a7e61ecc530a9ab31d.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191125/fd59f3ad4c216407813068ba95583243.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191125/f71c08719e8c68b7b7c4f65abacbe2b3.jpg

In April of this year, I found a good deal for a used Gruppe M carbon fiber intake and bought it. Once it arrived, I gave it a good detail and put a coat of wax on the outside to make the carbon really pop. I installed it and couldn’t believe how good it sounded. It completely transformed the car sound-wise. It has a deep throaty induction sound every time you punch it, it’s very addicting. I didn’t notice a big difference performance-wise, but the throttle response is slightly improved.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191125/2d530588d233e6486d27d7d49d88e898.jpg


I crossed over 150,000 miles in July, a pretty big milestone since I have owned the car.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191125/0cba27805385d09cbe93d1519ce9e12b.jpg

Currently, the car is sitting at home in the garage while I’m away at college. I came home for the first time since the beginning of August this past weekend and man I missed driving it. I gave it a nice detail and put her away until next time.

[Kicker35]

Finally was able to find a decently priced Corsa TSE3 Catback Exhaust for sale locally and was able to pick it up a few weeks ago from a local enthusiast. It was in good shape and just needed to be cleaned and polished to make it look like new again. Heres a pic of when I picked it up:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200118/61855715691463200e9aeded81bc143c.jpg

As expected, it was a nightmare trying to take out the 4 15mm exhaust manifold bolts. They were pretty rusted and completely seized in there. I soaked them in PB Blaster but it didn’t help much and 3 out of the 4 bolts snapped. After that, I was able to take the rest of the 13mm bolts off easily and the oem exhaust came off no problem. However, the bolts were still stuck in there. I didn’t have any luck pounding them out, so I took it to a shop my buddy works at the next day and we gave it a shot. I drove around with no exhaust and just the headers for a day and it was incredibly loud, pretty awesome. It would definately get old on a daily basis. It took about 45 min of using a heat induction tool, air hammer, and an air chisel to get them all out.
Here’s the bolts before:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200118/d7eafaa9bf84dad54dd82540ed2a5498.jpg
Success:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200118/6fc31a988685f2f9a73e6fc8bc0a07a6.jpg

It was smooth sailing after we got those bolts out and the new exhaust went in no problem. I opted to not pay $23 EACH for the OEM bolts and replaced them with 10.9 stainless steel bolts and nuts in the same size. I put in new exhaust gaskets as well to freshen everything up. When I was installing it, it felt noticeably lighter than the stock exhaust.

Video: https://youtu.be/oHwuGm4rRTM

Needless to say, I’m extremely happy with how it sounds now. On startup, it has a nice rumble to it and then it settles down to sound similar to stock. The Corsa is definitely louder than stock, especially when your on the gas. You can really hear it screem from about 2,000 rpm to 4,500 rpm. After that, it switches over to the roar of the Gruppe M intake. It has a deeper, throatier tone which is what I was after. When you let off the gas under 2,000 rpm, especially around 1,500 rpm, it crackles and burbles a lot. I really like that, I wish it did that when you let off the gas or downshift at all rpms. A little part of me wishes it was a tad bit louder, but maybe I was just used to driving around with only headers the day before. Overall, I’m very happy with it. I love the sound and it’s nice to actually hear the car.

[BMWCurves]

Congrats!

I love my Corsa exhaust. I actually wish it were quieter below 3k RPM while I trundle around town. I feel like a bit of a renob with the pops and burbles as I drive down crowded streets at 10 mph, but c'est la vie

[johnrando]

Congrats! I too loved mine but in a vert it's a bit loud, so I swapped it out.

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