E91 BMW ESTATE:

Photo’s: morganvw1
Words: Mitch Tyler

Mitch’s 2006 BMW E91 330D Project

So where to start? After being an avid VW lover for many years, I felt that it was time to have a bit of a change and dip my toes into something I have never worked on and seeing as I have always loved BMWs it was only fair to give it a go …. although it wasn’t straight into the wagon I have today.

My first venture into the BMW life was in the shape of an E46 Compact – a car I hated with a passion but meant I could save up some money to spend on my Mk3 Golf project. The car served its purpose and got me from A-B. When it was time to step up and get something else a nice E91 320D turned up however it wasn’t meant to last – just a month later a lorry tyre exploded next to me on the M40 and damaged the car enough for the insurance company to pay me out to get it fixed myself …... something I was not interested in doing. That’s when the 330D was found, a quick visit to a local car garage and a test drive later I had my heart set, the car had as many extras I could have hoped for; heated leather, ice cold aircon, auto xenon headlights as well as the full glass panoramic sunroof!  With the price negotiated I just had to wait till the weekend to collect.

With the car safely in my hands it was time to start actually planning what I wanted from it, I had been talking with friends that air ride was a must on my next car as it had to stay practical for work and I was fed up of coilovers and years scraping the floor in lowered VW’s. While I saved up to get the air ride I found a set of BMW Style 132 wheels to chuck on it and ditch the standard wheels, in the end, I had 9 of these so that I was able to run 10j on all four corners...because why not! In the meantime, after being bombarded with FB adverts over and over a set of full coverage diamond car mats were purchased, I wanted something a little different than just normal car mats and these fit the bill just nicely. As with most of my cars from the past few years a large screen head unit was installed, having a full size map and access to Spotify is a must these days and this is how the car stayed for a couple of months until early 2020 when the air ride was purchased, while not as sophisticated as the digital systems these days it suited my budget nicely with the option to upgrade in the future.

Fitting the air was relatively straightforward with the help of a very good mate and his boss allowing me use of the workshop, without their help the car would never have been done in one day! An early start saw us with the car on a ramp and the wheels off, old suspension off and new struts fitted. The airlines run in a funny way due to the manual switches but after a few hours all of the bags were plumbed in. The wiring wasn’t up to the normal standard leaving the workshop so was completely redone with uprated fuses and a cleaner look. Time came to get some air in the tank, the compressor sprang into action and within a few mins shut back off, confirming that all was wired correctly, and the pressure switch was doing its job. The only leak was from one of the gauges where I hadn't put any sealant!! Now comes the problem …. the car was sitting on the Style 132, 10j all round, rears went on without any issues at all.... the fronts however hit the new struts – an oversight that I had not even thought about!! A call to another mate had him collecting my standard wheels and delivering them to me 50miles up the road. Standard wheels fitted without an issue and the car was finally off the ramp. A quick test drive to make sure that everything felt ok and it was home time – after the long day it was time for a pint and celebrate the lad’s birthdays!

So, with the issues of the 132’s not fitting, even after testing the original fronts which were 9J and seeing that they poked out of the arch too far it was on the hunt for a new set of wheels. After speaking to a friend with an E46 touring we came to an agreement that if his old wheels fit then we would discuss a price. When I dropped into my local tyre place to get them to help fitting the wheels (it was heavily raining at the time) even other customers said how good it looked sitting on the new wheels, a phone call later and the money was paid! The car was ready for the trip up to Caffeine & Machine that weekend.

It was shortly after this that the Covid-19 pandemic hit and everything ground to a halt, luckily, I had ordered the new front grills a week or so before the full lockdown and these arrived a few days later. Next on the lockdown purchase list was a set of side skirts and a set of rear bumper extensions from Maxton Designs who were still shipping items, with these fitted everything was going well, the car was sitting nicely but never sat as low as I wanted it, also the paint on both the front and rear bumpers was rubbish to say the least. The choice was made that instead of repairing the standard bumpers again a new set would be a better starting point, the hunt then started to find a new front bumper that was in better condition than mine (not difficult) and also a rear Msport bumper – neither were actually that easy to find as most either had damage or were the wrong colour. Then one night after a trip out I thought I would have a quick search before bed, the first thing to pop up on my feed was a front bumper in good condition and the seller was willing to ship …. ding …. purchase made! The rear bumper then cropped up from a breaker who I had been speaking to and he messaged me telling me it was held for me.

Both bumpers went on within a few weeks of each other as lockdown stopped any parts collections for a little while and I fell back in love with the car again. Sitting back and looking at the car one evening up at the lad's lockup I just wasn’t happy that the front bumper was lacking so the front splitter was ordered, again a Maxton part to complete the lower sections of the car.

Fitting the front lip meant that the bumper had to come off the car, holes drilled and the 14x m6 nuts and bolts fed through, hopefully with that much metal holding it together it's not going to come off any time soon! The front still bugged me though as it just didn’t sit that low for something on air compared to others in the group, this had to be rectified and after a bit of research, a set of camber top mounts were sourced. Fitting was straight forward with me only dropping 2 bolts down into the undertray 😀 with the new top mounts being a third of the size of the standard mounts the car now sits almost exactly how I want it, a few more tweaks will see it sitting just right.

So, with most bits done now there are just a few things left on the outstanding list, sort out the rear so it sits a little lower to match the fronts, build something to correctly hold the air ride switches and gauges, move the compressor to hide it under the boot floor and then I may start to look at the audio to upgrade the speakers, but for now, I plan on just enjoying the car and planning a few other changes. As with most people I have built the car to enjoy it and hopefully get over to Europe for a couple of shows that I have been planning to go to for years

 Spec

Engine

EGR Delete

Mapped ECU

Exterior

Roof rails removed

Pre-LCI front bumper with Maxton Design lower splitter

Lower grills painted gloss black

Msport rear bumper with Maxton rear extensions

Maxton Design side skirts

M4 style front grille

Interior

Xtrons 9” touchscreen head unit

Diamond Car Mats full coverage floor mats

Center console & Dashboard trims covered with suede

Full LED bulb upgrade

AirRideSystems air tank and compressor in boot

 
Wheels

Work Emotion 18x 8.5j fronts, 9.5j rear

15mm spacers all round

Suspension

AirRideSystems manual air ride setup

Front camber top mounts