Help me like my E46 330i drift car- Things worth doing.

Fucking miiiles away, but if I have to, I have to.

I'm in Birmingham tomorrow so I'll try all the BM breakers there, and if no joy, well, ebay mission it is...
 
Had an E46 328, they are just generally a very soft feeling, chocolatey car.. didnt like it for skids. Brilliant engines of course but the chassis feel is just massively off.

Ebay coilovers help a huge amount but you will go through top mounts so fast its funny, and then you get pissed off with it.
 
I ran a 46 330 last year. Had it on hsds with the top mounts maxed on camber but filed the slots on the turrets out more to give a bit more. Power flex lollipop bushes also which I'd also say were worth doing. However, it may be seen as controversial but the best thing I did as regards to feeling was fuck the front arb off and it seemed to drive so much nicer. I had it mapped as well to give "smoother" throttle response made minimal to zero difference but I never found it a problem to begin with tbh.

Also had it on a small case as it was a converted 318, in my experience the large case diffs aren't even worth bothering with.

Another thing to add based on others replies would be I drove a friend of mine 46 on FK coil overs and it felt soft as shit like it was gonna roll over at any given moment.
 
Picked up a 3.38 or whatever it is 330 Auto diff earlier on my travels.

Uprated lollypops are high on the list.
 
Auto diff is has pretty much the same ratio as a small case anyway, the only difference is you don't need to change the shafts and shit when you fit the auto diff, might need to change the output shafts if the bolt pattern is different but that's a 30 second job.
 
Stavros said:
Anyone fitted these things to a E46?

I had similar (but were on there before I bought it) on my old E36 and they were decent for not much money.

Wondered if they needed any fucking about to make em fit, as I know on E36s you need longer bottom arms or shorter tie rods or some shit, and I can't be arsed with that as I dont need big lock anyhow.

BMW E46 Adapters for Increasing Turn Angle 30% Perfect for Drifting Steering BDC | eBay
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I know some people had trouble with the 36 ones saying they didn't even fit properly but I suppose that depends what make you buy etc.

Not worth spending a little extra and going for modded hubs?
 
I thought my E36 drove nice on em tbf?

I didn't know if anyone did E46 hubs etc, tbf never looked.

I think for all the ballache of fitting hubs, I might just chuck some washers on the tie rods n be done with it then.
 
Reason alot of people hate them for road use is because they 0 out the ackerman, so it's up to you whether you want that or not. Not sure what's required to fit them on a 46 though. For that money I'd be after a set of hubs personally, and tbh if you're not too bothered about the car then I'd stick with lock washers.
 
LiamE36 said:
need to change the output shafts if the bolt pattern is different but that's a 30 second job.
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Yep, that's correct, but my bloody output shaft is fucked on the old diff, so need new driveshafts, as nobody really sells output shafts alone!

Are 330i auto ones same as any other BM ones? As they sure not the same as the manual ones lol
 
Sorry to jump in stav but I've just bought a e46 330 for messing around in as well . Which diffs will just bolt straight on?

Also stav wizards of lock on Facebook will chop your hubs up for 80quid .
 
None I don't think.

330i Manuals have 2-2-2 bolt pattern on the shafts.

Seems every other fucking BMW engine and box has normal clockface 6 bolt shafts.

Now just need to see if any old E46 shafts (just not 330 manual!) will fit, as I need the cunts, like, now.
 
Only manual 330's have the same shafts, and I think 330d maybe. Output shaft on the diff is 330 only I believe.

So Ye as you've said, get some shafts from an auto or find an output shaft.
Local scrap yard no good?
 
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Got 330i auto diff n shafts in now.

Massive ballache that was, as turns out the shafts had different size (massively) ABS rings too, so had to make some changes there to make it fit/work.

All on and feels a ton better with a decent ratio.

What probably feels best of all is I binned off the heavy ass BMW 18s (MV1s or whatever) for some 17in Oz Superlegerra which are about half the weight. Way less shit and way more nimble feeling now.

On early (X reg) 330i, does the TC off (ie hold the button down for 5sec or whatever until both yellow lights come on) fully 100% turn it off? While it happily skids roundabouts etc, sometimes it still feels like it's trying to play silly buggers and calm things down...?
 
Glad you got it sorted.

I binned off the 18's too, felt a lot better.

I don't think that hold the button thing works, I wired up a little switch to the back of one of the ABS fuses so I could turn it off when I was doing skids.
 
Stavros said:
On early (X reg) 330i, does the TC off (ie hold the button down for 5sec or whatever until both yellow lights come on) fully 100% turn it off? While it happily skids roundabouts etc, sometimes it still feels like it's trying to play silly buggers and calm things down...?
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No mate that wont turn it off 100% just need to take the fuse out for it to be complestly off. (Cant remember what one but someone will know)
 
Yeah, thought as much, it will lap roundabouts and do burnouts, but something always felt like it was holding it back when doing faster shit, but on the road it's hard to be sure. Sure as fuck didn't wanna waste time at a drift day figuring out this problem though.

Had a good Google and couldn't find anyone who I trusted that could confirm if that was true or not.
 
The problem with taking the fuse out is that you'll loose the speedo and the fuel gauge won't read correctly, all well and good at a skid day but becomes a bit shit for streeto, exact reason I fitted a switch.

Fuses are in the glove box, open the glove box, then above it inside there is two tabs that need to be turned, the the fuse box flips down.
 
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