- I strongly recommend purchasing the Bentley service manual for the E46
as a reference prior to installation. The latest version has been updated
to include information for the 330. While it is still lacking correct,
complete information in some areas for the 330, it is still an invaluable
reference during the installation. The current instructions supplied with the
Supercharger kit are cursory, and totally insufficient to perform the
installation unless you are an experienced E46 mechanic. For example, the
instructions will say something like, "Remove the fuel rail, Install larger
fuel injectors, replace rail with supplied spacers", with a picture. Well,
suffice it to say that any messing around with the fuel rail and injectors is
not a 2 or 3 step process, and if you don't know what you're doing, you're
going to wind up with a whole lot of gasoline all over you, your engine
compartment, probably your fenders and bumpers, etc. A pretty hazardous
situation. The Bentley manual will guide you successfully through this, and
other important processes during the installation.
- BATTERY
For safety, you should disconnect the battery at the negative terminal
in your trunk prior to beginning the installation. Even with great care, there
will be spillage of flammable liquids like fuel and oil, and further there is
always the risk of blowing some solid state electronics somewhere while you are
fiddling around with metal tools inside the engine compartment. Finally, it is
necessary to disconnect many sensors and actuators during the install
procedure, which also carries a risk of damage to an electronic part. Don't
take the unnecessary risk with your baby, or yourself.
- AIRBOX
The airbox on the 330cic is a substantially different configuration than
that shown in the Bentley manual and the ESS installation instructions. The one
in Bentley and ESS is the 323 airbox – the 330 airbox has several more ducts and fittings than
described in Bentley, so don't be alarmed when it doesn't come out exactly as
described.
-
RADIATOR
HOSE
The top OEM radiator hose gets replaced with a new one from the kit
that is routed/bent differently to clear an additional idler pully necessary
to route the drive belt to the supercharger pulley. This hose is full of
coolant, and will make a real mess if you just remove it without draining some
coolant. An easy way to do this is with a turkey baster via the coolant
expansion tank. An empty plastic milk jug is an excellent container for the
removed fluid. Remove the cap from the expansion tank, and using the turkey
baster, withdraw coolant. Continue until the fluid level is well below the
bottom of the top radiator hose.When removing the hose, remove the end
attached to the radiator first (it has two connectors, one large, one
smaller). Have shop topwels handy to catch the residual coolant in the hose
when you pull it off. Remove the end attached to the engin last, again being
ready with rags. Lastly, plug the open holes in the engine and the top of the
radiator/expansion tank with clean, lint-free rags to absorb any stray coolant
so that it doesn't drip on the engine.
-
DIPSTICK TUBE
The
kit comes with a new oil dipstick tube that is an OEM part that ESS has drilled
an additional hole in and welded on a fitting for attachment of the blower oil
return drain. The other fitting is for an existing oil drain tube that is on the
stock engine.Removal of the original dipstick tube is pretty straightforward. Unbolt the
bracket attaching the tube to the motor, unclip the hoses that are clipped on to
the tube as a support point (for the hoses), and pull off the existing drain
hose from the fitting on the tube down near where it enters the lower engine
block. Then, work the tube out by wiggling and pulling. One thing to be careful
of is to recover the O-ring that seats and seals the tube in the lower engine
block where it dips into the oil pan. The tube has a flange about 5" from
the bottom, and the O-ring sits right below this. The tube inserts into the
block the entire 5". If the O-ring doesn't come out with the tube, it can
be recovered from the hole in the lower block easily with your finger.
Make sure you put the O-ring on the new tube before inserting it into the
engine. Slide it all the way up to the stop flange. Inserting the new tube is
the reverse of the removal process, however you have to be watchful near the end
to make sure that the O-rind goes in and gets seated – it takes a bit of effort,
and you will know when it's in because you will feel the tube sort of "pop" in
and seat.
- OIL DIVIDER
The assembly shipped with the 330 kit is a redesign from the one shown in the
installation instruction pictures. I wish I had taken a picture of it before
installation, but alas, words will have to do. The current unit is machined
out of a small cube of aluminum, approx 2.5–3.0cm on a side. It has ~1cm hole
drilled all the way through it. Now, imagine the block sitting with this hole
vertical, so that goes from the top to the bottom of the block. There are two
more holes, at 90° to each other, on two of the sides,
penetrating through to just the vertical hole that goes all the way through.
These two side holes are threaded. The original oil pressure sensor screws
into one, and the oil supply hose for the blower comes already screwed into
the other.
- OIL BREATHER
Rerouting this is a bitch! The tube is made of plastic, and has a lot
of "memory" for the curved shape that it is either manufactured with, or has
obtained during use. You cut it off near the fitting that feeds to two ports
on the intake manifold, then reroute it along the front of the engine and
underneath the intake manifold, where you extend it with a length of rubber
radiator-type hose and clamps. Be sure and tighten the clamp at the joint
between the two hoses tightly – they don't mate with a good seal.
Also, be very careful that the fitting where the original hose
attaches to the crankcase vent doesn't rotate counterclockwise, or it will
come off, and getting it back on is a BITCH (very confined space that one
scrunched hand can barely fit in).Mine came off at least three times in the process of completing this step,
until I worked out a placement of the extended hose (and adjusted the
rotational angle of the extension on the original hose to provide a constant
tension turning the fitting on the engine clockwise) that kept it stable. If
you don't take care to do this, working on other steps in the install will
inevitably bump this delicate arrangement and pop the breather connector off
the engine again, resulting in language that would make a sailor blush.
- INJECTORS
The fuel system is under pressure, even when the car is off! This
pressure has to be relieved before you can remove the fuel rail and replace
the injectors with the larger ones in the kit. Failure to do so will result in
gasoline spraying all over the engine compartment, and presents an extremely
dangerous hazard. Here's how you relieve the pressure:
- First, have a healthy quantity of clean shop towels ready. 5 or 6 will do.
- Remove gas cap from fuel filler location and leave tank open to ambient
air pressure.
- After exposing the fule rail, note the small valve cap on top and remove
it. It looks like a tire inflation valve, and in fact is the same
– it's called a schraeder valve.
- Place shop towels all around the valve on the fuel
rail. Using compressed air at 40-50 psi, blow the fuel in the fuel lines back
into the gas tank through this valve. It helps to wrap the fitting from the
compressor hose with a shop town before pressing it on the valve to catch any
spray that comes out during the connection.
- Listen carefully for bubbling in the gas tank. When you
hear air make it to the tank, you've cleared the lines.
- Note that the lines are still under pressure, but it
mostly air. With shop rags around and over the top of the schraeder valve,
take a small screwdriver and open the valve by pressing on the valve stem to
release the pressure. Air should primarily be expelled, but there will be a
little fuel. The rags should be more than sufficient to capture this small
amount of gasoline.
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