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325ci.com » Resources » DIY / Mods
Resources: DIY / Mods

DIY and mods (maybe a table contents here on top and relative link to content on same page)
Exterior/Interior


Clear Lens Cover with Silver Bulbs

One of the most common and easiest way to enhance the exterior look of your 325Ci is to replace the factory amber turning signal light plastic covers with ones that are clear.

I recommend getting OEM covers (made by Bosch) which are available for sale through most BMW dealers and are DOT approved (legal in the US). I recommend Pacific BMW for mail orders, and the entire set should run you about $300. Remember to tell them that you have an E46 coupe, not a sedan. This includes the two front signal covers, the side signal covers, and the rear tailight assembly with bulb socket and bulbs. The set will come with amber reflectors which are NOT for the coupes (only sedans), so toss them or stick them on your bike.

A lot of folks ask about the legality of clear lens covers and such. I've done a lot of research on this, and so if you are interesting in keeping in line with the law AND make your car look good, you can do it! Just remember these rules:

Legal (DOT) Requirements for Car Indicators (BMW/E46) One of the newest things that just came out are "silver bulbs" that emit amber light when turned on, but are silver (and thus blends in with the silver reflective back of the headlight/tailight covers) when off. What's the point, you ask? Well, if you've seen cars with clear covers and amber bulbs (e.g. newer model BMW Ms, Mercedes, Audi, Honda, even Kia!) you know the amber bulbs reflect off the silver inside of the cover and from certain angles, the assembly has an amber color to it, a "egg yolk" effect. The solution is Philips Silver Vision, available only in Europe at the time (and approved there). But you can buy it from one of many mail-order places and put them on your car. It will cost you about $40-45 for 4 bulbs shipped to your door. (Try Fosmo Lamps, or AutoLamps-Online). Allow some time for them to ship it internationally to you. (If you can't wait, try the method below.)

They are basically just amber bulbs with a very fine, thin coat of silver paint on them. Which got me thinking, hey, why not try to make them myself? So I did. I read about other folks doing it, so here's the procedure for the DIY-er. At about $1 a bulb, you can't really lose having a little fun with spray paint! :) I went a bit overboard and painted the side marker bulbs as well (for the perfectionists, spray the side markers with White high heat paint to blend in with the back of the side markers).

Do-It-Yourself Silver Bulbs

Do-It-Yourself Silver Bulbs

#1. This is the setup: holder, bulb bases wrapped with masking tape. That's the OEM clear's bulb assembly on the right. [enlarge]

#2. Another view of the setup. [enlarge]

#3. Protect your hands and arms. I'm using a piece of cardboard covered in plastic to shield my arms. Plastic grocery bags will do. [enlarge]

#4. The bulbs are happily drying in their "holders". [enlarge]
Materials
  1. Rust-oleum Specialty High Heat #7716 Silver spray paint (at Home Depot, $5)
  2. Masking Tape, 1" width ($1)
  3. Disposable plastic or latex gloves (10 cents)
  4. Cardboard box and plastic grocery bags
  5. And of course, the amber bulbs from your OEM clear lens set (the "pins" on the amber bulbs will about 150 degrees apart, NOT directly across each other) (PY21W bulbs = $1-2 each)
Preparation (See Photos #1, #2, #3)
  1. You need to take out the old bulbs from the clears. If you installed them yourself, you know how to take them out... (The best instructions for installing them is on the BMW330Ci.com website: read that first).
  2. With the cardboard box, cut off a flap of it to prepare a "Drying Tray" for your bulbs. This is where you will make little "holders" for your bulb to dry them. (In photos #1/#2, I used a little sheet of plastic from some product packaging, but same idea.)
  3. To make the bulb holders, take masking tape, and then wrap it with the sticky side out around the base of the bulb, leaving a little slack and wrap around at least once. This is to get a rough diameter of the bulb base. You should be able to fold the bottom and have enough sticky stuff to have it stick to the cardboard holder. Do this for all bulbs, leaving enough space between each "holder" so the bulbs can't touch each other. (See Photo #1, #2)
  4. Protect the base (metal) part of the bulbs by wrapping the masking tape around them, making sure to cover the bottom contact portion as well. (See Photo #1, #2)
  5. Use the rest of the carboard to protect your garage wall or whatever behind the bulbs when spraying. Make sure there is enough ventilation. I did mine outside.
  6. You can also use a piece of cardboard to cover your arms for spraying. Or you can take a plastic grocery bag and wrap your arms with it. (See Photo #3)
  7. Put on the gloves on the hand holding the bulb. (See Photo #3)
Spraying
  1. As per the instructions on the can, shake the spray can for about a minute
  2. While holding the bulb by the masking tape / base with one hand, spray about 1-2 feet from the bulb in very short, light spurts to cover little portions of the bulbs at a time. You want a light, even coat of paint without being too thick. My suggestion is to spray into the air and then wave the bulb around in the cloud of mist.
  3. It should take about 10 sprays to get everything covered. Don't worry too much if you didn't completely cover the entire bulb and if you can see some amber through the paint: That's enough for the amber not to reflect on your lens (which is what you want), and plus it'll make your bulb light a little brigher if the paint is not too thick.
  4. The tricky part is to be careful and try to drop the bulb into the holder you made without touching the painted bulb. What I do is wait for a minute to let the paint dry a bit, and then carefully drop the bulb into the holder slowly using both hands. (See Photo #4) Alternatively, you could spray the bulbs while in the holders, but it'll probably make spraying them evenly harder.
Drying (See Photo #4)
  1. As per the instructions on the spray can bottle, the bulbs must be dried for about 1-2 hours at around room temperature (65 degrees) with low humidity. Drying them overnight is best, of course.
  2. Try to keep them in a dust-free place, since you don't want dust stuck to your bulbs and then smelling funny when they fry from the heat of the bulbs.


Direct Wire of Radar Detector (Escort Passport 8500) (without moonroof)

Escort Passport 8500 Hard Wiring

#1. The work area, which is a non-moonroof-equipped 325Ci. [enlarge]

#2. The 3-wire bundle where you are going to tap the power. [enlarge]

#3. Clamp the 3M Connector to the green/blue wire as shown. [enlarge]

#4. The ivory-colored plastic traingular piece from which you will use the bolt to attach the ground (-) wire. [enlarge]

#5. This is where I decided to route the power cord through. A gentle pull on this section of the headliner will do the job. [enlarge]

#6. When closing it up, remember to first insert the "outer plastic" piece and the inside metal frame as shown... [enlarge]

#7. ...And then pop in the "inner plastic" cover. [enlarge]

#8. Here's my detector with the cord showing. [enlarge]

#9. Another view of my detector, from the outside. [enlarge]
Direct wiring a radar detector means using a power source other than simply plugging it into the cigarette lighter plug, and requires a little bit of creative work on your part. The following step-by-step is meant for the Escort Passport 8500 ($300) and the optional Direct Wire SmartCord unit ($30), but you could use some of the ideas here for other 12V RJ-11 (telephone jack) powered radar detectors. A great installation directions for the Valentine 1 on a 330Ci with moonroof can be found on bmw330Ci.com. The install for a V1 is more simple because there is no remote display unit like the Escort Passport SmartCord. (Note: Please don't email me to say that the V1 is the best radar detector, because yes I know, but I'm perfectly happy with my 8500 which provides 95% of what the V1 gives you for about 75% of the price. I can live with that...). This is how I did it and if you did it another way, let me know so we can compare notes. Some of the following are optional (such as the RJ-11 "power outlet"), so take what you want from it and let me know how it turned out.

A little background info: Materials
  1. Escort Passport 8500 Radar Detector with Optional SmartCord Direct Wire kit ($300 + $30)
  2. Tools: Pliers, Wire cutter, Screwdrivers,
  3. Optional for RJ-11 "Power Outlet" installation: RJ-11 Crimping tool, Phone wire (aka Category 3), RJ-11 Jacks and Plugs.
  4. Optional: A multi-meter
Challenges
  1. The phone line cable of the SmartCord assembly is longer than the +/- power line: This means that the display unit has to be close to the power source while still allowing the phone line to reach the top of the windshield (and routed out of view) where the detector will be mounted.
The Power Source
  1. Different than the instructions on BMW330Ci.com, gaining access to the power source is much easier, due to the fact that there is no moonroof in my car. There is a rectangular plastic covering just rear of the map lights that needs to be removed. (See Photo #1)
  2. The easiest way to remove this is to slightly push the entire cover (not just the inner piece, which I found was hard to remove) forward and then pull down on it. You will find a little metal piece that surrounds the opening on the other side. Carefully take it out as you will need it when you put the cover back on.
  3. You will find that it will make your work much easier if you also remove the map light assembly. Do this by reaching through the opening you just made and pressing on the two tabs that are holding the assembly in place. Disconnect the power line to the map light assembly, and put it away for now.
  4. You will see 3 sets of wires that are bundled by felt tape. The wire you want is the one with 3 wires and a white connector tip at the end, which is right above the opening (not the map light opening). Ignore the 5-wire one and ignore the thin one where map light assembly was. Unbundle that mess and identify the green/blue wire. (See Photo #2)
  5. Use the included 3M connector and clamp it around the green/blue wire. (See Photo #3)
  6. Insert the spade connector of the DirectWire assembly into the 3M connector.
  7. You will need to connect the other (ground) wire to a bare metal part in the roof. A great place is the little nut that is holding the ivory-colored triangular plastic piece. (See Photo #4) Unscrew that, and screw it back in with the ground wire underneath it.
  8. At this point, you want to test that everything is working. You can do that with a multi-meter, or simply plug in the wire to your detector to see that it's working.
Mounting the Display Unit
  1. For now, I decided to skip this part, since this requires a bit more work and I just wanted to simply have a working detector for now. [I will edit this when I decide to do this.]
  2. So what I did was bundle the entire remaining assembly (remaining phone line, Display Unit, ground and (+) wire) with a twisty tie and threw it up in the headliner. You'll notice that there is an incredible amount of space up there (unlike models with moonroof).
Routing the Power Line to the Detector
  1. I decided to mount my detector to the right of my rear view mirror, since mounting on the center is hard because of the rear view mirror and windshield. Wherever you decide, mount the unit to the windshield first in order to make sure you give yourself enough line to reach it.
  2. Route the power line by gently pulling down on the tip of the headliner where it meets the windshield, just next to the opening where a wire goes to the rear view mirror. (See Photo #5) Plug it in to your detector and pull back any slack and bundle up the whole remaining mess with a tie-cord or twisty tie. Throw it up in the headliner somewhere: You'll find that there is a ridiculous amount of space up there.
Putting Everything Back
  1. Rewrap the 3-wire bundle with the felt tape.
  2. Plug in the power for the map light assembly and put it back by positioning the forward side first and then snapping the rear side in.
  3. You must do this in order otherwise you'll waste 15 minutes figuring this out (I did): In order to put the plastic cover and metal braket thing back, you will first need to remove the inner plastic cover from the cover assembly. That way you have the inner cover and the outer "outline" plastic. Position the metal bracket inside the headliner, and then snap the outer plastic item so that it locks with the metal bracket. Do this one side at a time. If you did it right, the plastic should be in place and not easily come out. (See Photo #6) Take the inner plastic cover, making note of the arrow (should point forward-- or, the "vent" grille should on the left/driver's side) and snap it right in and you're done. (See Photo #7)


Electronic Deer Warning System

Deer Alert Installation

#1. What comes with the package. [enlarge]

#2. Drop the unit here and behind the front bumper grille. [enlarge]

#3. Using the tie cords, I've tied it right behind the front bumper grille. [enlarge]

#4. Attaching the (+) to the positive terminal. I looped the wire through the bottom opening of the terminal post plastic cover like so. [enlarge]

#5. And as you can see, the (-) wire, I slipped through the weatherstripping and to the negative terminal post. [enlarge]
If you take frequent road trips in rural areas, I highly recommend an animal/deer warning system to prevent (expensive) collision with them. Of course nothing else beats driving cautiously and alert, but for that extra margin of safety you'll need one of these along with these tips for avoiding collisions with a deer. Most folks are happy with $15 whistles that you mount on your bumper that emit a high-pitched sound (you and I can't hear) when you reach speeds of over 35mph. I wanted a more elegant solution, so I went with an electronic system which is not wind-activated but powered by your car battery and doesn't need to be mounted on your bumpers. There are many kinds out there, ranging from about $30 to $100+. I figure I'd start with a basic system, and ordered the DesignTech Deer Alert™ from AutoBarn.com ($30). The Hornet is another such system.

Materials
  1. DesignTech Deer Alert™ system with two plastic tie cords
  2. Tools: Size 18 Wrench (or socket, if you have ones that big)
  3. Official manual (also available as a PDF download)
Mounting
  1. Since the unit has to (more or less) have a clear line of sight out of the car (so that the sound waves project directly out from the front of the car), there isn't very many options for mounting places. I decided to do it right behind the plastic "grille" in the bumper, to the right of the license plate holder. It is far away from the radiator to not melt it, and it is fairly unobstructed.
  2. I dropped the unit through the left kidney opening and reaching my arms down there (make sure the car has cooled off or you'll burn yourself on the hot radiator). (See Photo #2) From the outside, I pulled the tie cords through and tied it to the bumper grille. (See Photo #3)
Wiring
  1. There is just enough wiring to reach from there to the battery terminal "posts" in the engine compartment.
  2. Right next to the headlight assembly is a little "hole" where you can pull the wire through. Route it all the way to the battery posts, following the other wires.
  3. From there, split the (+) and (-) wires so that the (-) goes in that empty space to the right of the car, and the (+) [the one with the fuse] goes to the (+) terminal post. (See Photo #5) Open the plastic cover for the terminal, route the (+) wire under the plastic holder (there are two slots on the bottom). (See Photo #4) Unscrew the post (nut) using the Size 18 wrench or socket (or if you must, use pliers to do it), place the end of the wire under the nut, and tighten. Unscrew the (-) post (which is just attached to the car body), and do the same for the ground (-) wire. That's all there is to it.
  4. As per instructions, the unit will turn on when you start the car. This is because it senses the surge in electrical current upon starting the car.


SomethingElse

hello world

...installation instructions and photos coming soon...

Performance


Steering

Review of the contoversial E46 Steering Retrofit (by "TD" on bimmer.org). Here's a scan of the serivce order (by "MarkV" on bimmer.org)

DISCLAIMER: It just occurred to me that I need a disclaimer for these instructions. I assume no responsiblity or liability for any damage, revocation of warranty coverage, loss of limbs and injuries, and so forth associated with reading and following the instructions on this page. You assume all risks and responsibilities associated with the knowledge of this information. It is meant to be a simple write-up and report of what I have done, and your results may differ. I'm just trying to be helpful, so don't sue me for it, okay? Thanks.


All content and design: Copyright © 2001-04 by Mike Choi / MoD Factory (Contact Mike)