Nabs' Alpine White/Imola Red E46 M3

[Ferd]

Hey Nabs, how much traffic do you think this thread got as a result of that CarThrottle feature?

[Nabs]

Very little. I saw there were a few people in here yesterday but it didn't seem like much.

[Nabs]

I got back to work on the M3! After 3 years I decided it was the right time to finally put the new headliner in. I first put in the sound insulation foam, which had a adhesive backing already on it, just had to peel back some plastic and it fit perfectly being a genuine BMW part.




Getting the headliner in was a bit of a pain and I found out that there's one bracket that is different from the sunroof to sunroof-less version so I'm going to have to improvise but it's just for the clothes hanger hook so it's not super important. I also have to modify the grille that fits in the 2nd hole from the front since that's completely different than the sunroof version and doesn't have the score lines for the garage door opener like the sunroof motor cover had. And I need to put in the A and B pillars, and the sun visors but that's a fairly easy job

[MarcGSR]

You will enjoy having a full interior again, trust me. It makes such a difference with comfort and road noise.

[Nabs]

Pulled the M3 out yesterday afternoon. Drove it about 30-40km into and around town last night then went to watch a friend's band play downtown and parked at the casino.



Then I left for home at 2am and the fun soon followed.



I don't know why it happened but right where the rubber lines from the tank connect to the hard lines it started leaking quite badly to the point no gas was getting to the engine. I'm thinking one of the lines must've blown off, and maybe the initial spike in pressure after turning the fuel pump on may have caused it. All I know is I'm super lucky the gas didn't hit the exhaust and the next thing I'm going to buy for the car is a fire extinguisher and mounting bracket.


I ended up having to leave the car at Pizza Pizza and a friend came and picked me up and took me home and let me borrow his trailer so I went right back to town to pick it up. Marc was super nice enough to come out at 4am to help me out and I really can't thank him enough. We had a bit of difficulty getting the car on the trailer but after a couple hours we were successful.



I finally got home at 8 am and the car is still on the trailer. I may try and get it off tomorrow and see what I find.

[Nabs]

I found the reason for the leak. I'm definitely lucky and super thankful the car wasn't too warm when the line came loose otherwise things may have ended quite differently since the exhaust is only about 4 inches away from the fuel line. I'm still kind of surprised that the line would have even come out as I was sure that I properly seated it last year. It could also explain why I had an issue last year where the car misfired and ran horribly after a light pull.

[Nabs]

I've been driving the car the last few days and found a new issue. Didn't think much of it, until


Didn't think much of it, until I filled up the tank...



Turned out when I reinstalled the fuel pump hanger a few weeks ago, after changing the hose from the pump to the hanger, I didn't seat the seal properly and so it was causing a leak in the evap system triggering the light and causing a massive leak when I filled up. Pulled the hanger and reinstalled the seal properly, no more light and no more leak.


Also found a new BMW friend