E46 Clubsport: Nay's new wing! Paint, polishing... fail.

It's good to get the purple 330ci Clubsport on the pages of BeemerLab and a bit of bodywork, no less. The driver's side wing was a bit bubbly when he got the car and has worsened somewhat over winter - front wings are the classic rusting spot on E36 / E46 after all and no matter how well you patch it up, it always comes back before long, so Nathan went the whole hog and bought a new patterned wing for just under £100. Despite offers to have it sprayed professionally for next to nothing, he opted to do the work himself with a rattle can of Holt's Colour-Match, mixed at Halfords.

He started with U-Pol Hi-build filler primer to deal with imperfections in the etch-primer, moved on to a single can of Holt's 'BMW 576 Velvet Blue Metallic' and finished off with 2.5 cans of Halford's own clear-lacquer. A spray guy at work gave us a tip - apply the first coat of lacquer and wait a couple of minutes for it to go tacky but not start to dry, then apply a good thick second coat. This enables you to get a proper coat on that can then be layered on without causing crazing in the base lacquer. Nay tried this out and, after 4 more coats, some flatting back with 1800 Wet/Dry and a bit of machine-polishing, the finish is glass-like and the colour-depth superb. What a shame that, after a week spent carefully spraying one wing, the colour-match is terrible. I guess this is a lesson not to have complex paint codes mixed up at Halfords. A local painting firm is on the case, watch this space...

Only 330 M Clubsport models were built in the original three colours. Only about 40 were made in Velvet Blue. This is one of the 40 and it has seen better days. 

E60 Diesel: Replacing the Front Turbo Housing/Volute

**The turbo needs to be removed. Reaching the 8mm nuts at the back of the volute is impossible               with it in situ.

1. Mark a line on the original volute / front-casing where each 8mm screw is located before removing it. It is adjustable and the new one needs to be in the exact same place as the original for correct waste-gate location.
2. Remove the 3 screws holding the waste-gate bracket to the turbo front-casing / volute using a 10mm wrench.
3. Remove the 6 screws holding the front-casing / volute to the turbo and wiggle it free.
4. Hold the new volute up to the original and mark lines in the corresponding places. This is best done with them on a flat surface and holding a straight-edge across both.
5. Slide the new volute on to the turbo and replace the six 8mm screws, ensuring the lines are correctly located before tightening them up. It is alloy-to-steel, so no high-heat gasket-paste is required.
6. Press the waste-gate into the right position for the bracket to meet the holes on the volute and replace the three 10mm screws holding it in place.

Why I replaced mine:

With re-con turbos starting at £350, I went for a used one from a crash damaged 7-Series. Mine is an early E60 and has the vacuum-actuated turbo, so it was handy that the 7er did too as they are hard to source - eBay is full of the electronic-actuated type and I couldn't see a vacuum one, but it may be that they are inter-changeable.

The overall condition of the turbo looked worse than the one I was removing, but there is a bit less play in the spindle-shaft so worth a shot at £200 delivered, let's hope the saving pays off. The only drawback is the front-casing was slightly damaged at the point where the pipe to the intercooler fits, but swapping the original one in was not a difficult job.

E60 Diesel: Remove/Replace Turbocharger

Removing and refitting the turbo itself is not a difficult task, but the mass of other parts that need removing to access it makes this a reasonable amount of effort.

You will first need to remove:

Engine covers. [5mm Allen]

Air inlet ducting and air-filter. [5mm Allen]

Inlet manifold. [10mm + 11mm Hex]

Injector pipes. [17mm open-end wrench]

Injectors. [8mm Hex]

Rocker cover. [10mm deep-Hex]

Turbo to intercooler pipe. [10mm Hex + T30-Torx]

Airbox to turbo pipe. [5mm Allen]

EGR to exh.-manifold pipe. [T45-Torx + 7mm Hex]

Exhaust-manifold. [10mm deep-Hex + 12mm deep-Double-Hex]

Front engine-undertray. [8mm Hex]

Engine reinforcement-plate. [16mm Hex]

Exhaust vibration-damping rods. [13mm Hex]

REMOVAL:

1. Remove the two nuts holding the down-pipe/cat to the back of the turbo using a 17mm wrench and work the down-pipe back off the studs.

2. Remove the banjo-bolt that attaches the turbo oil-feed to the block using a 14mm wrench, remove that end of the oil-feed pipe and loosely screw the banjo-bolt back in a few turns to stop any oil leaking from the block. Put some cloth against the block under the pipe to catch any drips and remove and retain the 2 copper washer-seals as they are easily misplaced.

3. Reach under the turbo, locate where the lower oil-return pipe enters the rubber-hose to the sump and loosen off the upper jubilee-clip using a 6mm-Hex socket or flat screwdriver if you can get access. Let the jubilee-clip slide down the rubber hose.

4. Slide off the rubber-hose that runs to the waste-gate on the turbo.

5. Make sure the turbo's weight is supported, remove the two bolts holding the turbo-bracket to the block using a 13mm wrench and lift the turbo out, carefully sliding the lower oil-return pipe out of the rubber-hose.

FITTING:

6. **Ensure all oil-feed pipes etc. are swapped over to the new turbo**. Lower the new turbo into position, sliding the lower oil-return pipe back into the rubber-hose and loosely refit the two bolts.
7. Tighten the jubilee-clip on the oil-return hose and refit the oil-feed hose back on to the banjo-bolt, making sure the copper-washers are in place either side.
8. Place the exhaust vibration-damping rods back in place to locate the down-pipe and loosely refit the 13mm nuts.
9. Refit the neck of the down-pipe to the back of the turbo and tighten the 17mm nuts.
10. Place the exhaust-manifold over the studs on the cylinder-head and manoeuvre the turbo into a position where the bolts holding it to the manifold can be fitted. It can be trick to do while keeping the gasket aligned. Turn the three manifold-to-turbo bolts using a 12mm deep-Double-Hex (12-sided) socket until the manifold is seated, but do not fully tighten them.
11.  Lift the turbo to take the weight off the manifold and fully tighten the two bolts holding it to the block using a 13mm wrench. They are a pain to get to but it is doable, also a lot easier with someone else lifting the turbo.
12. Replace the twelve copper-nuts that hold the exhaust-manifold to the cyl.-head and tighten them using a 10mm deep 6-sided socket, as the strip easily with 12-sided ones.
13. Tighten the three bolts holding the manifold to the turbo.
14. Re-connect the rubber vacuum-hose to the waste-gate.
15. Refit the other things on the above list.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-replace-Turbocharger-on-BMW-30L-Diesel-E60E/