Hello gents,
I came from the E46Fanatics world as I had been on that site since 2005, and just lost my 2001 330i to a total loss accident. An 85 year old woman claimed her foot slipped off the brake and onto the gas as she shot out of a parking lot unbeknownst to me and crushed the right rear quarter of my car. Being an 01 with 236K miles (all maintained by me) insurance felt the car was pretty worthless. Took a few weeks and proof via many many receipts of parts (all my labor unfortunately) to raise the value to an acceptable figure. I was also able to rape the car for any other aftermarket parts I could unload so I did ok in the end.
Picked up my new (used) 2003 TiAg M5 with 79K miles about 2 hours away from home, but still in Mass. Wiggled on the price a little bit and in the end considering what I was able to get for my E46, I picked this up for just under 20K.
Small things I have done thus far to bring my thread up to speed:
1) Had to get new front tires (Michelin Pilot Sport A/S to match the backs that were new). The Fronts were older Michelin Pilot Sport A/S from back in 2010 and had chunks of rubber missing from the tread area, even though the tread was still deep, tons of dry rot and it made me nervous on a car of this caliber so I had new ones put on.
2) Installed the short clutch stop from the ebay user recommended on here, made that lower clutch pedal dead spot so much better and car still starts no problem!
3) Hardwired my V1 so I am protected or at least on the defensive end all the time.
4) Inspected all 4 brakes, everything looks good, washed and waxed with Klasse All in One before the winter comes.
5) Figured out a decent solution to the water pooling in the gas cap area, for which I will post up some pics soon so you all can see. Granted it's not an optimal solution, but with the door closed you can't see anything and that was the only area on the entire car where there were some small rust bubbles.
6) Got under the car to check everything out, repaired the lower right fender belly panel the best I could until I get a new one, and found some exhaust brackets totally rusted through. I have the replacements from FCP in my garage right now waiting to go in.
7) Found out there is green coolant in this car (YIKES!!!) and not OE BMW Blue. Have records from PO of thermostat being replaced around 2013, so that is new-ish, as well as the clutch.
8) Issues I am currently perplexed with: Strange hesitation sometimes in 1st and 2nd gear, I've read on here about this, seems better with Sport mode engaged, but does not feel like it drives perfectly in 1 and 2. The rest of the gears are good. I am exaggerating this issue, but there is definitely something up. Also the clutch makes a spring-like sound when depressed and released which I also read can be normal, but my bigger concern (hoping it's the loose exhaust bracket rattling) is that once 1st gear is engaged, during the process of engagement, there is a strange creak.
I need to get my airbag recall done soon, so I am hoping to have the dealer at least assess the car overall and take a peek at the 1 and 2 gear issue along with the clutch noise. We'll see what they say.
Otherwise this thing is amazing, it's literally my favorite car of all time, so much so that when my girlfriend and I were dating, she rented me one from a high horsepower rental place for like $600 for one day! It stuck in my mind ever since. That was back in about 2001.
Just rolled the ODO over 80K the other day. Oil looks perfect, no leaks anywhere from what I can see. Will try to post up some pics that are on my phone soon.
I came from the E46Fanatics world as I had been on that site since 2005, and just lost my 2001 330i to a total loss accident. An 85 year old woman claimed her foot slipped off the brake and onto the gas as she shot out of a parking lot unbeknownst to me and crushed the right rear quarter of my car. Being an 01 with 236K miles (all maintained by me) insurance felt the car was pretty worthless. Took a few weeks and proof via many many receipts of parts (all my labor unfortunately) to raise the value to an acceptable figure. I was also able to rape the car for any other aftermarket parts I could unload so I did ok in the end.
Picked up my new (used) 2003 TiAg M5 with 79K miles about 2 hours away from home, but still in Mass. Wiggled on the price a little bit and in the end considering what I was able to get for my E46, I picked this up for just under 20K.
Small things I have done thus far to bring my thread up to speed:
1) Had to get new front tires (Michelin Pilot Sport A/S to match the backs that were new). The Fronts were older Michelin Pilot Sport A/S from back in 2010 and had chunks of rubber missing from the tread area, even though the tread was still deep, tons of dry rot and it made me nervous on a car of this caliber so I had new ones put on.
2) Installed the short clutch stop from the ebay user recommended on here, made that lower clutch pedal dead spot so much better and car still starts no problem!
3) Hardwired my V1 so I am protected or at least on the defensive end all the time.
4) Inspected all 4 brakes, everything looks good, washed and waxed with Klasse All in One before the winter comes.
5) Figured out a decent solution to the water pooling in the gas cap area, for which I will post up some pics soon so you all can see. Granted it's not an optimal solution, but with the door closed you can't see anything and that was the only area on the entire car where there were some small rust bubbles.
6) Got under the car to check everything out, repaired the lower right fender belly panel the best I could until I get a new one, and found some exhaust brackets totally rusted through. I have the replacements from FCP in my garage right now waiting to go in.
7) Found out there is green coolant in this car (YIKES!!!) and not OE BMW Blue. Have records from PO of thermostat being replaced around 2013, so that is new-ish, as well as the clutch.
8) Issues I am currently perplexed with: Strange hesitation sometimes in 1st and 2nd gear, I've read on here about this, seems better with Sport mode engaged, but does not feel like it drives perfectly in 1 and 2. The rest of the gears are good. I am exaggerating this issue, but there is definitely something up. Also the clutch makes a spring-like sound when depressed and released which I also read can be normal, but my bigger concern (hoping it's the loose exhaust bracket rattling) is that once 1st gear is engaged, during the process of engagement, there is a strange creak.
I need to get my airbag recall done soon, so I am hoping to have the dealer at least assess the car overall and take a peek at the 1 and 2 gear issue along with the clutch noise. We'll see what they say.
Otherwise this thing is amazing, it's literally my favorite car of all time, so much so that when my girlfriend and I were dating, she rented me one from a high horsepower rental place for like $600 for one day! It stuck in my mind ever since. That was back in about 2001.
Just rolled the ODO over 80K the other day. Oil looks perfect, no leaks anywhere from what I can see. Will try to post up some pics that are on my phone soon.
