[styast]

In early 2024, I was handed down my dad's 2006 330i E90 MT! I've been driving for over 10 years, but this is my first car which also happens to be the car I learned to drive manual on. My dad was the first owner from early 2006, so naturally I grew up cleaning his car by hand for petty change. It was garage kept for the entirety of his ownership, has a really well kept interior, and was given to me at 106k kms (~65k miles). I've always loved to DIY things and am super hyped as I LOVED driving this car while I was learning. Building the car up the way I want to has been a lot of fun so far, and I can't wait for other future mods in store! Even though this car was off the road for the last 3 years, I was ready to go after installing new windshield and headlight washer fluid pumps, as well as an aluminum mickey mouse flange. Easy for my first time wrenching! This thread is going to be featuring a lot of AI filtering, which I initially did for privacy, but now it’s kinda amusing tbh…




Since then I've driven 20k kms and this car has done incredibly the whole time! I've added changed the oil every 7.5k kms, and have also added: (1) an android auto/carplay head unit + rear view reverse cam to replace my ccc head unit, (2) induktiv wireless phone charger to replace the tray in front of the shifter, (3) was gifted a ZHP 6 Speed shift knob by my buddy, (4) sport seats from a 135i, (5) LUX LED bulbs (only left headlight changed in pics),
(6) P3 OBD2 V2 vent gauge, and (7) the hidden dashcam mod.









After learning more, I've also decided to make my 330i into my own OEM+ E90. Big things I want done are M sport conversion (steering wheel, e brake, black headliner, shadowline trim, door sills, and bumpers [is there more?]), blackline tail lights, euro pre lci adaptive xenons, and to find a set of the BMW performance intake and exhaust for N52s.

First, I was able to find a used m sport steering wheel, shadowline trim, and m sport e brake all at once off an e90 m sport part out. The steering wheel upgrade is huge and my favorite of these upgrades! The added thickness of the wheel is really comfortable. The e brake just kinda looks nice, but I can feel the threads lining the edges of the leather clearly when gripping it.


Moved over to California and was able to find a set of blackline taillights and m sport door sills easily! I got the tails cheap since the weather seal had broken. Fixed it up myself and it's all good to go. Here’s a before and after:



This year I decided it was time to replace my runflats and swap out the shoes. I went for a square setup with 18x8.5s AG 359M reps on Michelin PS4S's. The difference was incredible and I can now confidently hate on runflats as well.



Spirited drives have been much more fun, but since then I have been able to find the performance intake. WOW! Stunning upgrade under the hood, but a HUGE quality of life improvement. I expected the car to feel slightly more powerful, but never expected how much it'd make everything so much smoother... With this intake, I don't shift as roughly when the engine hasn't been warmed up completely anymore!


I was recently able to find a used bavsound speaker set to replace the L7 audio system. I added some amazon noise deadening foam in the door panels during this install to hopefully reduce road noise. I also put some more noise deadening foam over a hole on the inner driver side wheel well that connects to the engine bay. Not sure if this helped, but I had extra. The first day these speakers were installed, I got headaches because of how much louder and more powerful the sound vibrations were. I've since adjusted and LOVE the sound now!

My most recent project was installing euro headlights. I decided it'd be cheaper to get a set of euro xenons without the adaptive feature, and to swap the headlight lenses for the euro headlight aesthetic with adaptive xenon functionality. This was the hardest thing I've done by far, solely because my dremel only has like 20 minutes of battery, and only covers 75% of ONE headlight (of four) in that battery life... The damn thing needs to be recharged for 3 hours before charging back to full... Yes, my frustrations could have been avoided with a nicer or wired dremel, I’m just cheap and suffered the consequences. Anyways, I sanded down the lenses and 2k clear coated them myself.



Anyways, getting fitment right with these and the front bumper was a pain in the ass. Good thing they look great and work flawlessly! I've also gotten the rear m sport bumper, but I'll find a time to upload nicer pictures of it.

I have a bunch more planned but am going to take a break from doing more for now. So far I'm missing the front m tech bumper, and the performance exhaust. Hopefully those will come soon. Thanks for reading!

[styast]

Today I did a tough solo project... I installed the black anthracite headliner from the same donor m sport that my e-brake and steering wheel came from!

The donor car gave me the whole sunroof instead of taking the sliding blocker out. In my infinite wisdom and impatience, I decided it would be a great idea to hoist the 30-40lb part into the car myself, and hold it up like a turtle shell as I screwed it in. Everything worked, but I scratched up my e brake in the process... I have a replacement to get me by for the meantime but I'll eventually try to restore it myself.

Attached are some pictures of the process

[styast]

Unfortunately for me, my rear passenger Dorman window regulator decided to die on me during the headliner swap. And after replacing it just last week... Sticking with OEM the next round.

On the bright side, I have a fun update next week! Stay tuned.

[styast]

This time around I was able to get an N52 BMW Performance Exhaust including the res-delete y-pipe from my buddy, Sal! Here's a quick video showing the cold start + some warm revs, and below is a picture of the muffler before the install!


The exhaust sounds great! Cabin noise has definitely gotten louder but it's nothing crazy and absolutely worth it. Gonna be nice for the 16 hr road trip I've got next week.

[Phil325i]

Nothing like a PE! Best mod I've ever done. You did well to find one - they've been discontinued for years...

[styast]

Thanks! The stars definitely aligned for the PE. So happy to have the PE + PI combo!

[Revoluti0n]

Very nice car!

[styast]

Originally Posted by Revoluti0n

Very nice car!

Thank you very much!

Since my last update:

1. Replaced sunroof seal to reduce wind noise (very effective!) There's still some whistling at some speeds, but that's just adjusting the tension around the sunroof so that it's more even.
2. Replaced rear brake sensor to remove the brake light on my dash. My rear brake pad still has a lot of life left in it, but for some reason I can't get rid of the code or light on my dash. This unfortunately didn't work, and I'll have to go through INPA to clear that up.
3. Started my M3 interior conversion! I'm not trying to make my car a budget M3 clone or anything, but the M3 leather interior just looks so good... The only practical reason is that the M3 leather interior swaps out all of the handles, so I won't have to worry about sticky handles. That'll come eventually, but for now I've got the front seats from MPower7 's E92 M3 with 55k mi on them! (Thank you so much, these seats are beautiful!)

Installing front seats from a coupe into a sedan takes a bit of work, but having the handles to quickly move the seats down is pretty convenient if you're doing long road trips with a lot of cargo like I do. I didn't take pictures during the process so I'll do my best to explain it in text. My seats were fully electric including heating, and I chose seats that had the same BUT the process is still not plug and play. For anyone who wants to do the same, I'm going to break the installation process down into the following steps to make it easier.

First, we have to address any differences due to the production year. For me there were two main things: (1) lumbar + side-bolster power, and (2) the passenger seat's control module. The lumbar + side-bolster power pin needs to be moved (see https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...2&postcount=50). For lumbar + side-bolster power, you can simply move Pin 7 to Pin 9 if you have already have it, but if you didn't have that pin but want to add it like me, you could harvest some extra harness seat wires from another set of seats from a local junkyard. With the harvested wires, we need to add a steady power source to those wires. I cut a small bit of the rubber from the wire on Pin 4 to (heated seat steady power) to reveal the wiring, then soldered the harvested pin and routed it into the Pin 9 slot (lumbar + side-bolster steady power). With that done, the driver's seat should be plug and play, but the passenger seat still needs work.

The passenger seat control module on my 2006 E90 is really simple, and doesn't require communication with the car. At some point this changed for future E9X models, so there's a problem when you put seats with the new module in the older models. My symptoms were that the seat's electric controls only worked for ~15-20s AFTER plugging in the harness + reconnecting the battery, before losing control of the seat and having it be unresponsive. If you have those issues, unplug the negative terminal of the battery, unplug the seat harness, plug it back in, and then plug the battery back in to move it again... SUPER ANNOYING but if you need to adjust the seat to make the job easier, do it. For this mod, you'll want to use the electric controls to put the seat as high as possible (for both the old and new passenger seats). Then, you'll need to transfer the seat's control module, wiring harness, and the bottom seat rail assembly. The bottom seat rail assembly has a motor on it that is sized differently than on the coupe seats, so that motor cannot be transferred easily, hence needing to transfer the seat rail assembly. You need the seat lifted as much as possible if you want half decent access to the screws and bolts keeping the rails on the seat. You may need to take the harness apart to look for any extra wires you may have and want to keep, if you're familiar with wiring electronics it shouldn't be a big deal.

Finally, we need to attach the seatbelt to the seat. Coupe seatbelts aren't mounted directly onto the chair like they are with sedans. The sedans and coupes both have a bracket, it's just that the sedan's has a tapped hole (M10x1.5) while the coupe does not. I found a tap and dye kit from my local auto parts store to do this myself, and now the seatbelt mounts properly!

Here are some pictures post-install!

[e34brian]

Very cool build. Having seen this in person, you can see how much work and love has gone into this car. Hopefully you'll be able to enjoy putting miles on it for now, but I know the mod bug bites hard - can't wait to see what's next!

[styast]

Originally Posted by e34brian

Very cool build. Having seen this in person, you can see how much work and love has gone into this car. Hopefully you'll be able to enjoy putting miles on it for now, but I know the mod bug bites hard - can't wait to see what's next!

Thank you sir! And also for much more on top of showing + welcoming me to the BMW community



It's been a while since I've updated, but since adding the M3 front seats, I've done a bit of maintenance:
-Had the rear wheel bearings replaced at a shop (thanks for the diagnosis, e34brian !)
-Replaced the transmission mount + fluid
-Refreshed the rear differential fluid
-Deleted the clutch delay valve

These bits of maintenance have smoothed out the driving feel a lot!

And the mod bug caught me looking through marketplace where I scored a performance e-brake! I reaaaaaaally didn't think that I'd like the aluminum/alcantara combo as much as I do. I'll probably get a matching manual shift boot sometime.



You can also see in this pic that I wrapped my center console trim with a cheap black vinyl. I found a gloss black interior trim set that I was running for a month or so, but wasn't a big fan of the full black interior. I found the original walnut burl set had so much more character. In the meantime, I'm trying to sell/trade it for an aluminum or m3 carbon leather trim set. But here's a picture of how it looked while I had it:


I've just passed 86k miles on the odometer and am thinking about the next steps of pre-emptive maintenance. There's so much more to do and a lot of fun mods that I've planned in my head for this car, but until I can get to those plans I'll be cruising around and enjoying the fruits of my labor.

[RealJ22]

You have some really cool mods and are keeping the thing alive!

I just cannot fathom someone owning this SINCE NEW without sport seats / steering wheel and runflats haha.

[styast]

Originally Posted by RealJ22

You have some really cool mods and are keeping the thing alive!

I just cannot fathom someone owning this SINCE NEW without sport seats / steering wheel and runflats haha.

After switching those out, I'm surprised my dad never did the same as well! Each one of these were huge improvements to the driving experience. He heavily modified his first car, an FB RX-7, which I know he put recaros into, built his own coilovers to put in, repainted, and I'm sure much more that he hasn't told me about. He must've gotten it all out of his system at that point. More fun for me with the 330i though!

[Elkayem]

Sooo happy to see people still pouring effort into this platform

Can't wait to see more from you!

[styast]

Originally Posted by Elkayem

Sooo happy to see people still pouring effort into this platform

Can't wait to see more from you!

Appreciate it! I was able to get a fun part, but it may be a while before I can get it on the car... Stay tuned!

[styast]

It's been a while since I've last updated, but I've got a couple of fun parts. In the last couple of months I had a great drive up through Humboldt and Mendocino county with some beautiful forest, canyon, and coast driving! I've also just hit 88k miles and have had to changed my oil and top off my coolant. Was expecting to find a leak for my coolant since the level was low enough for me to get a warning on my dash. I never found anything and ended up topping off the coolant instead. The coolant level has remained stable since the top off with daily commuter driving, but I'll continue to keep a close eye on that loop for any leaks.

Now for new parts! I was fortunate enough to get a FalkMFG wireless phone charger to test and compare to the Induktiv one that I've had for the last year, and I love how much more understated/brandless the product is. It performs about the same as the induktiv one in my experience so far, which with android auto running keeps my battery level from decreasing. My favorite feature is the reintegration of the orange LED from the smoker's package into the charger, which shines an OEM orange light on your phone at night. I recommend checking it out if you're interested in a wireless charger


You can also see that I've gotten the alcantara performance shift boot to match the e-brake I got. I've also designed and 3d printed a bracket and holder to hold my 1L water bottle for convenience as I drive. It's not perfect yet but functions great so I haven't gotten around to finalizing the design.


And finally, the nicest upgrade I've gotten in a while and something I didn't expect to be able to find so soon, I found a BMW Performance carbon strut locally for a great price! I was able to get it before my last road trip, and was pleasantly surprised to find that adding it cleaned up the chassis flex in the front of the car a lot. All of these BMW performance parts have been so much fun to integrate and get immediate results with. This one especially, has rounded out my engine bay significantly! I'll get a picture with everything cleaned in the future.


That's all from me this time, but stay tuned for more updates!

[e34brian]

Engine bay photo is beautiful...

[StradaRedlands]

BEAUTIFUL car styast and some really thoughtful upgrades!
OEM+ is the way I LOVE to upgrade, and you're nailing it!

Consider adding your '30 to the roll-call thread... there is a critical mass of CA based ones on there!

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2195952

[styast]

Originally Posted by e34brian

Engine bay photo is beautiful...

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

BEAUTIFUL car styast and some really thoughtful upgrades!
OEM+ is the way I LOVE to upgrade, and you're nailing it!

Consider adding your '30 to the roll-call thread... there is a critical mass of CA based ones on there!

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2195952

Originally Posted by spam__lapactm_fb39be01ee

Nice and beautiful car, my dream car!

Thank you so much everyone! I'll definitely add my own 330 to the roll-call thread as well. Looks like there are a lot of 330s I've yet to see in CA.

[styast]

In the last month, a lot has happened with the car. First, my other rear window regulator died on me. Thankfully I've already done this job so it was quick and easy replacement. Next, I've had a red brake light on my dash for the better part of the year that I've struggled to get to go away. Reading the code indicated that the rear brake pad sensor had triggered, but I've replaced the sensor and tried all sorts of tricks to get the brake light to go away to no avail. In that time I had 2 mechanics take a crack at it themselves, still with no results, so I decided to get it handled by my local BMW dealership.

They ended up finding some chewed up wiring harnesses near the rear brake pad sensor by some rodents, likely from before I got ownership of the car. They fixed it up and also let me know that my front control arms were starting to go... So I ended up installing m3 control arms in the front and getting an alignment! It was my first time getting into the suspension which ended up being easier than I expected. Hands still got all banged up, but the car handles incredibly well on turns with the upgrade. Months ago, I remember reading that this upgrade would remove the 'floaty feeling on turns', and I can vouch that it does exactly that. Below you can find some pictures of the old and new control arms side by side, as well as the mounted m3 ones.




I've also edited all my photos to have a max width of 1200 px to make viewing the page more enjoyable

[austin_serb]

Those Carbon fiber sway bars look f***ing awesome

[Jacob.falkmfg]

Originally Posted by styast

Now for new parts! I was fortunate enough to get a FalkMFG wireless phone charger to test and compare to the Induktiv one that I've had for the last year, and I love how much more understated/brandless the product is. It performs about the same as the induktiv one in my experience so far, which with android auto running keeps my battery level from decreasing. My favorite feature is the reintegration of the orange LED from the smoker's package into the charger, which shines an OEM orange light on your phone at night. I recommend checking it out if you're interested in a wireless charger
Attachment 3858141

Thanks for the shoutout styast I just added a new version with USB-C and USB-A charging ports too. (For those people who don't like wireless charging).

[styast]

It's been a while since my last post so I figure I'm due for an update.

Thanks to Kyle264E90 , I was able to add another BMW Performance part to my build, the short shifter kit! Don't mind me playing around with different trim sets. Today's is dark poplar from an E92, which I don't think will stick around permanently.


Install was fairly straightforward as there are numerous well documented guides on E90post and on Youtube. I struggled a bit with trying to complete the install from the interior of the car (fat hands )... I gave up and decided to lift the car and the rest of installation went much more smoothly. The shifter feels heavier and has a bit less wobble due to the reduced height, but still retains that OEM feel and is absolutely perfect for me!

Here's some bonus pics taken from polishing my exhaust tips this last weekend and from a recent hike as well.