[Obioban]

This thread is going to be for mods which cost nothing or next to nothing. Some I've made up (the rewiring ones, basically), some I've stolen from elsewhere....

Regardless, lots of them go unseen and will be of much better value to people here

I'm also going to put a list of very cheap mods that every e46 M3 owner should consider the bare minimum:
1) RTABs and RSMs if you have over 50,000 miles (will cost you more if you don't get them)
2) M3forum.net window sticker (free from EAS ) (2 stamps, technically)

[Obioban]

Price:: <$5

DIY:

Go to Lowes. Home Depot does not have the parts

Part #1 is in the drawers with all the other bolts, its called an "Elevator Bolt" 3/8" x 1 1/2" it is blackish in color (price $0.97). Part #2 is a few isles over in the adhesive bumpers for furniture, its called "Grippers" 1 1/2" Self-Stick the part # is "7384" from SoftTouch (price $3.04). The grippers package has 8 little discs in it so you can make 8 clutch stops

Assembly: Take elevator bolt out of package. Take 1 disc out of package. Remove sticker covering adhesive from disc. Center disc on elevator bolt and press on.

Installation: unscrew your factory clutch stop by hand (the black thing behind your clutch pedal on the floorboard). Screw in your newly assembled one all the way (just hand tight you don't need to wrench tighten it it isnt going anywhere)

Note: If you find your car not starting on a very hot day after doing this mod, try pushing the clutch a little harder. For some reason when it's really hot out this is required, don't know what the heat has to do it with

Pics:





Credit:
minig0d on e46fanatics

Originally Posted by bringo

Several people have said Lowes has stopped carrying the elevator bolts. Just wanted to share this link for anyone still needing one:

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products...99910623&Nty=0

Fastenal has them, you can order online and choose between plain finish, zinc plated or stainless steel. I haven't ordered one yet but plan to soon. FYI. Note: These links are for 1-1/4" bolts, as some have had issues with the car not starting due to the 1-1/2" bolt being too long with the gripper pad installed. You can just change the size on that page if you want a 1-1/2" bolt.

From later in the thread:

Originally Posted by 2fast

Folks - The clutch-stop is a great idea! Thanks. I have an improvement. The postsI read suggested a 3/8" 'elevator' or similar bolt. This works ok, but the hole for the BMW clutch pad is really metric threaded. In fact it's an M10-1.50 thread. The 3/8" SAE bolt thread is similar, but not quite right. It goes in about 1/2", then jams as it locks up in the threads.

I went to Lowes and bought an M10-1.50 x 40mm "Hex Cap Screw" (bolt), for $.92. I also bought some M10-1.50 Hex Nut (5 pack for $1.29), and a 1" black Nylon Hole Plug cap ($1.29). I screwed the nut onto the bolt, threaded the bolt into the hole, adjusted the bolt so it's just low enough for the clutch pedal to hit the point where the starter engages, then tighted the nut down to keep the bolt from moving. The bolt has a broad 17mm head. I put some strong double-sided tape on the bolt head, the put the black nylon cap on top --- and the perfect, adjustable clutch-stop!

Happy motoring, Doug

[Obioban]

edit: this can be DIYed via programming now. See programable option thread here.

This mod makes the reverse tilt into a useful feature.

Stock:
mirror aims at ground when you put the car in reverse

After mod:
You can aim where the mirror points when the car is in reverse. It will remember where you aimed and go there in the future

Your car did not come like this from the factory. Read the above if you think it did

DIY:

1. Connect the car to the DIS system.
2. Choose "1. Car Memory"
3. Choose "9. Seat/Mirror Memory"
4. Choose "2. Mirror Memory Automatic Kerb Parking Function"
5. Choose "1. Active" (It is set to "Inactive" by default)
6. Upload the new settings to the car.
7. Turn the ingnition off and then back on.
8. Disconnect the car from the DIS system.

To position the mirror:
1. Push the mirror selector switch to the passenger side.
2. Put the car in reverse. (The mirror should tilt down)
3. Adjust the mirror position to what ever makes you happy.
4. Put the car back into N or 1. (The mirror should tilt back up)

[Obioban]

NOTE: If you have retrofitted your LEDs, this is not the guide for you. Instead use: http://www.tigerdave.com/Guides/led_mod/

I’d rate this DIY a 2 on a scale of 1-10 for difficulty, with 10 being the hardest. It should take you about 5 min total.

Things you’ll need:
-2 Wire taps
-2 butt caps (not the real name… and you could use electrical tape, etc for this)
-needle nose pliers or scissors

Drivers side:

1) Remove driver side trunk light

2) Disconnect brake light wire.

3) Peel back the tape about 2-3 inches so you have access to the wires

3) Cut the green wire with the yellow stripe about 3 inches from the plug

4) Use the wire tap to connect the brake light end of the yellow/green wire to the black wire with a green stripe (which should run through the tap).

5) Insulate the other end of the yellow/green wire

6) Tuck away so you can put the trunk light back in

7) Reattach trunk light

Picture of complete tap, drivers side:




Passenger side:

1) Remove passenger side trunk light

2) Disconnect brake light wire.

3) Peel back the tape about 2-3 inches so you have access to the wires

3) Cut the green wire with the red stripe about 3 inches from the plug

4) Use the wire tap to connect the brake light end of the green/red wire to the black wire with a blue stripe (which should run through the tap).

5) Insulate the other end of the green/red wire

6) Tuck away so you can put the trunk light back in

7) Reattach trunk light

Picture of complete tap, passenger side:




Result:




Another Car.
Before:



After:



edit: One last pic, with both brake lights on



Credit: All me

edit:

Originally Posted by Rakshas

Ian would you mind adding this part number to your post (#4) on the LED mod?

61 13 0 005 197

It's the correct gauge wire for the wiring harness with the pinout already attached. A lot less wasteful(and cheaper) than buying a whole adapter to just hack up for one measly wire per side.

It more helps the retrofit guys, but who knows it could help others. You need one per side (2 per car) for the whole job.

[Obioban]

This mod is basically for people with xenon fogs that don't want to burn them out with lots of cycling

DRFL (Daytime Running Fog Lights Mod).

Approx time to complete: 1.5 hours

Difficulty level: Medium (due to small area to work in, white grid removal)

Tools Needed: Metric socket, flat-head screwdriver, knife (x-acto knife), Phillips screwdriver, flashlight, Solder (if you are soldering the wires together, electrical tape.

1) Remove glove box (unscrew 4 screw from two plates underneath glove box, undo two plastic pins on each side of the glove box. They hold glove box from falling to floor inside glove box, unlatch and pull towards you).
2) Remove plastic shield behind glove box (6 screw then pull towards you)





3) To make things easier and to provide more working area, I removed the 2 zip ties that secure the massive wiring section to a bracket. One tie was mounted towards the rear of glove box section, and the other zip tie secured the wires right on top of the white grid/box.



4) Hardest step: Remove white grid assembly (don’t’ know what it’s actually called but you’ll know it when you see it. It’s a ***** to get off but she’ll come. There is (1) screw that secures the bottom part of the grid to the car. Remove this first and working with the clips/tabs much easier.



There are 2 clips located towards the top on each side. The one on the right will require you to push a bunch of wires to the side to see it. The white grid tabs need to be pushed away from you (towards the front of the car).




5) You have exposed a row of relays. One of them is a different color than the others (orange instead of green in my case but that may differ for you. The fog light relay is always different from the other relays though, at least according to my shop manual). Verify that this relay is the fog relay by touching it while turning on the fogs. You should feel it “click”.




6) The trigger wire for the relay is yellow with a gray stripe (top wire on the backside of the relay. Cut the trigger wire leaving enough space to play with both ends. Seal off the end not going to the relay (or use it to actuate another relay if you want to use for your fog button for something else (but remember that your headlights will always come on with that button as well).




7) Tap the trigger wire to whatever you want to fogs to be on with. In my case I have them on switched power (red wire with white stripe) so that they act as DRLs. You could also tap into headlight power so that they would come on with your headlights or any other crazy things you can come up with.




Final Wire:



8) Seal off the wire that you cut with electric tape and seal up the soldered job. I used electrical tape.
9) Check to make sure everything works.
10)Put glove box back together.
11) Enjoy new fogs:



Credit: all me

[Obioban]

edit: this can be DIYed via programming now. See programable option thread here.


This mod SIGNIFICANTLY increases you light output when you go to high beams. If you're running non stock xenon bulbs (6000k and up) it will also help you regain your lost wet light.

Note (important): If you’re going to do this, disable DRLs or your DRLs will become high beams. If you want the safety of DRLs use my always on fog DIY to make them function as DRLs (http://www.lindvigs.com/obioban/drf.htm).

Another note: I don’t know if the diodes are necessary. I do know that the light control module is extremely easy to screw up so I kept them with a better safe than sorry mentality

Also, there are two ways you can do this install: (1) under the hood (easy but you then have wire taps exposed to the elements) or behind the dash (much harder to find all the wires but all your taps won’t see water). See note at end

For this you will need:
Project box
Rectifier diodes (may not be necessary but better safe than sorry
Barrier strip (if using diodes)
2 trigger (5 pin) automotive relay (2x if don’t want idiot light on dash)
misc electronic connections, etc



1) Hollow out project box



2) Test fit to make sure everything will fit…



3) Attach diodes to barrier strip (note that you want to do this so you can run wires through without making contact with the other diodes or terminals. The way show below is probably your best bet. If you’re skipping the diodes then just ignore this step and the barrier strip completely. The triggers are what are gong to be going to be going through the diodes to prevent any backflow into the triggers.



4)
The relay will have the following going into it:
Power from battery
Ground
Trigger 1: original halogen wire (to keep flash to pass feature)
Trigger 2: Tap from xenon shutter
Power out (two wires, one for each headlight)

Your cable lengths will vary depending on where you’re going to tap the wires. If under hood you must leave enough length to run wires to headlights (with one power cable longer to get to the drivers side headlight. If running under the dash (safer but much more work) one wire must be about 4.5 feet long to go to the driver’s foot well area.



5) Connect triggers to barrier strip….



6) Connect from car trigger wires to barrier strip (or relay if you’re skipping the diodes
7) place in project box.




8) Seal project box, admire it’s neatness



9) No pictures because this part can be done many ways. You must find your own wires. Here’s the basics:

Color codes:
a) The right halogen power is white with a blue stripe
b) the left halogen power wire is white with a green stripe
c) the xenon shutter is yellow with a red stripe (but be careful, trace the wire as other wires share this color code

Process:
a) Cut one of the headlight wires. Take the end going to the bulb and connect it to your relays power out
b) Tap the other end of the stock headlight wire to one of your relays triggers. This keeps you flash to pass feature
c) Cut the other headlight wire. Connect the end going to the bulb to your relays other power out
d) To disable an idiot light on your dash, connect the other end of the cut wire to a second (otherwise pointless) relay (which, of course, you must ground as well)
e) Tap, but don’t cut, the xenon shutter and take the tap to the other trigger on your relay
f) Use the positive batter terminal under the hood to get power for your relay
g) Ground relay
h) Hide everything away

10) enjoy twice the nightly light (which is hard to photograph):





Credit: all me

[Obioban]

Okay guys, I got another:

Credit for this one goes to StahlGrauM3 on BMWtips.com... who actually made this over 5 years ago, though I missed it till now


This may sound complicated but I promise you, it's a 15 minute job and requires virtually no tools or mechanical aptitude and is well worth the time.

Here is what you do to increase the range of the BMW UGDO (Universal Garage Door Opener) by about 3x. Remove the UGDO unit from the car. Once you have it on the workbench, carefully pry it apart, it unsnaps essentially, so you can get to the circuit board. On the circuit board, you will see a small metal loop, looks like an oval shaped ring. This little thing is your antenna and the reason the range stinks. Now, head up to the kitchen and cut off two, 2"x 12" (or whatever width your aluminum foil roll is). Starting with strip #1, fold it over lengthwise, so you have a 1/2" wide strip that is 12" long. Do the same with strip #2. Now, back to the UGDO.

Take strip #1 and wrap it around several times on one end of the antenna. Once secure, bring it outside the circuit board and wrap it around the unit width-wise and tape it down. Do the same thing with strip #2 on the other side of the antenna. Now reassemble the UGDO. The strips will not be visible once it is installed in the vehicle. Reinstall in the vehicle. Your previously memorized codes will remain in the UGDO's memory and you now have a "supercharged UGDO".

Disclaimer: There is a safety benefit inherint in a short range UGDO, namely that you can't activate a gate or garage door without have direct visual contact with it. This range extender may allow you to activate a gate or door without visual contact--THAT IS HIGHLY UNSAFE AND NOT RECOMMENDED and I will have no liability for any consequences of such action. Also, please understand that I cannot be liable for any damage you may do to your UGDO or your car as a result of this modification.

Pics:

[Obioban]

This is just copied and pasted from an old thread of mine, so the wording is a little weird for the purposes of this thread.

Originally Posted by Obioban

I got my Eisenmann Race about 2 months ago-- picked it up with no actual thought as to the choices out there as I got it for next to nothing (+ my stock exhaust). Anyway.... the drone was really bothering me so I was likely either going to change exhausts or go back to stock.

Enter Sarith (hopefully spelled right, anyway azns0u1 on this forum). I was driving his M3, also with an Eisenmann Race.... and there was no drone at all. This made me go hmmmmm

First difference between our car-- he has dynamat. Off to Tweeter I went (to buy the dynomat, I would NEVER have tweeter install anything in my car). Two "wedge packs" fit the lower part of the trunk of our car perfectly

And then...





In those pics the entire metal part of the trunk under the cardboard cover is done (aka, under the styrofoam mobility kit, under the amp, and under the strobe control unit are all done). It took $80 and 6lbs of dynomat ( ) but the results.... totally worth it

Anyway, put it in, went for a drive... drone is about 50&#37; gone. Hrm... I want more. At this point I'm a little stumped as my car is basically set up identically to Sarith's and drones more.

3 days later, talking to Dan Law about this weekends coming VIR event and the subject of drone came up. He mentioned that often it's caused by people over torquing the exhaust hanger bolts (hanger to car, not hanger to exhaust). So, at this past weekend's mod day (http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=152654), while I had the rear of the car jacked up anyway, I retorqued all of the hangers to 17 ft lbs. Went for a drive, drone is 80% gone. I'm going to keep this exhaust now

Oh, and with the cardboard trunk bit in, it all looks completely stock

Since I made this post I've had many people PM me about it-- and the reactions have been on both ends of the spectrum. I've had people tell me that their drone has been eliminated, but I've also had people tell me this this didn't decrease their done at all

So-- Your millage may vary.

Credit: all me

[Obioban]

Purpose: Eliminates the stock limiter orifice that forces the clutch to be slipped

NB: This will create more drive train stress if you shift poorly. That said, your clutch will last longer if this is done.

Do not do this mod if you are inept with the 6MT


DIY: http://m3.madrussian.net/diy_cdv.shtml


more info, or dummy valve for warrantee purposes:
http://www.zeckhausen.com/CDV.htm


Credit: I'm pretty sure Dave Zeckhausen is the mastermind behind this

[Obioban]

The purpose of this mod is to add negative camber for track or AutoX days. It will make the car turn better and make the tires last longer. This should not be used for driving on a daily basis.

This mod should be used when running my 4 x Rear OE 18 track setup without camber plates (seen here)

DIY: http://m3.madrussian.net/diy_camber.shtml


Credit: Mad russian