1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

  5. P7100114.JPG (620136 bytes)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.

  6. 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.
  7. 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.

  8. 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:
    1. First, have a healthy quantity of clean shop towels ready. 5 or 6 will do.
    2. Remove gas cap from fuel filler location and leave tank open to ambient air pressure.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Listen carefully for bubbling in the gas tank. When you hear air make it to the tank, you've cleared the lines.
    6. 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.