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How to Stay Cool on the Nürburgring - BMW E46 330i - Project Cologne: PT15
🕑 Added 2024-05-16 20:22:29 +0000 UTCDirect link - https://youtu.be/wSD5tnU0zVs
Finally a new episode!
It's been ages since I posted, but believe me, it wasn't on purpose. You can thank Quattrobroken for that!
I've been busy working on 4 projects at the same time, and the plan was to have the Maserati done as soon as I came back from the US.
However, that thing turned out to be an absolute nightmare for parts. About 40% of the parts from the parts list that I assembled are not available from Maserati. Basic stuff, like valve cover gaskets, brake lines... can't be bought. And it's a car that's still in production today!
But, the biggest problems are the turbos. The old turbos were beyond the point of saving and would cost too much to repair. Unfortunately, Top Mar told me this after 5 weeks, they tried to save them, but couldn't, at least not at a reasonable price as there are no spare parts for it, go figure. I actually sent them to Top Mar before I went to the US in hopes they'd be done when I came back. The new turbos are 4.5k which is a no-go as it wouldn't make financial sense to fix the car.
I found used turbos in Poland with 71k km. No one over there has PayPal so it took like a week to process the payment, then to ship them, and then holidays.
The good news is that they are in good condition and Top Mar took them apart, cleaned and serviced them, and I was told they will be shipped to me this week. That's such a relief as I can't do anything else with Maserati's carcass occupying the 2-post lift and its engine resting on the table which I need to put the engine back in the E31.
Anyway, if they arrive this week, you can expect a video on it next week. The engine is done, just need the turbos to reinstall it.
When it comes to other projects, I am working on getting the engine and transmission back in project Marseille. That'll come soon. Also, I collected all of the parts that I need to do the 6-speed swap on project Rottweil, and then it'll get a water intercooler and make a lot of power!
In the meantime, I managed to finish this episode on project Cologne. Driving on the Nürburgring is something else and I can't get it out of my head. Already shopping for new cams, exhaust, track wheels... haha. So another episode will come soon!
I'm sorry for such a huge gap between the episodes, but such is life when fixing turds. The next one should be hopefully much quicker.
Thank you for your patience and continuous support as always!
Comments
Chris Freeman
I’m excited to see what exhaust you choose for the E46. I’ve had so many different exhaust setups (easily 15 different iterations) on my 330ci and they can all sound so drastically different. Love the E46 content.
William Reid
Sreten mentioned about liking the previous generation Maserati - NA 4.7L(?). I'd like to see him pick one up and do a series on that in the future. Otherwise, Sreten has many other "Bavarian" options to include VAG or Mercedes cars. An Audi S6 or S8 V10 is probably a good opportunity to learn more about Bavarian bearings and oil leakers. Prost Sreten! :-)
