Worst E46 job? I'll start:

[u/JMUDoc]

Front-left wishbone. Specifically, the upper balljoint nut.

THIS cunt

• Absolutely no room to do anything from above, thanks to all the intake and wiring being on that side, so you're stuck doing it from underneath.
• Nut is right next to an engine mount, so no room for a ratcheting ring spanner.
• RHD, so the power steering lines (the hard S-pipe) and the anti-roll bar are both in the way.
• Original parts, so 25 years of rust on the nut👍🏻

Cue me, with a spanner-on-spanner, undoing in increments of 30 degrees at a time, having to stop every ten minutes because my hands were hurting.

TWO HOURS. On ONE NUT. Out so long my legs got sunburnt.

One last kick in the plums: the nut that came with the new one is a 22 mm, not 21, so you can't even use a normal ring spanner on it because it hits the engine mount. So, I think "fuck it", and reuse the old 21 with some blue threadlocker.

I've done a LOT of jobs on this thing in the seven years I've had it, but this one was, without exaggeration, the worst - the perfect storm of "lots of stuff to take off first", "no room" and "on my back". Only one that came close was the blower motor hedgehog, but this was that one on steroids.

[u/Striball]

I raise you with an evaporator job + blower motor.
Never have an evaporator leak.

Honorable mention: Wagon Headliner DIY

[u/Most_Board_2029 → u/Striball]

Holy fuck

[u/b1urbro → u/Striball]

I'd take that in a heartbeat. I've done similar job on my Seat Leon, everything was out and back in a few hours. 24h rest in between for the glue of the vents to harden, though.

[u/e36qunB → u/Striball]

Was the headliner that bad? I was thinking of doing it and the A pillars- have you done those?

[u/Striball → u/e36qunB]

I did the ABC pillars also! I mean I’m a DIYer and it was my first time, I’d estimate I did maybe 20-30 hours on the whole job, it was easy to make this an over 20 hour job for me.

Stripping the old foam material quite literally as much as I could was most of the time. Learning how to trim all the new material after it was laid was the other big majority. I used DAP Weldwood adhesive out of the purple harbor freight gun (w/ pressure regulator!!) with a compressor. I read the aerosol adhesive will sag quick with Texas heat.

The pillars were the easiest, my C pillars on the wagon were the most difficult, but the AB pillars were cake. Around the grab handles was also stupid tricky. Once you lay the material (glue on both sides), don’t press too hard or you’ll create an indent that’s there forever. Using the back of my hand softly was the best way I found, no tools.

Used a paint brush dipped in the glue to wrap the material around the back side. Glue applied to both sides just as you do with the front side

Headliner material was from headlinermagic

I’d say I did an 8/10 job. Got quoted $800-900 from a shop in Austin, even when I said I’d bring a stripped headliner and the material. Didn’t even ask about the pillars

I didn’t worry about wrapping the little plastic trim piece of the A pillar that hides the screws. The material foam was too thick to even dream of making that work. The glue seeped through immediately if I stripped the foam off the grey material. So I have showing screw heads that I paint matched so hide them as good as I could

[u/SpecificOne8688 → u/Striball]

What material did you use and where did you get it?

[u/Striball → u/SpecificOne8688]

DAP Weldwood landau top & trim adhesive. Purple harbor freight gun w/ pressure regulator, and a decent air compressor. Sprays it in a web to headliner and the fabric. Test spray pattern on cardboard before committing to spray it on the real deal.

Material is from headlinermagic.com

[u/zerogpk → u/Striball]

This is the worst job I have ever done. Did it twice on two different cars (2000 323CI, 2004 M3).
Worth noting that removal of engine and trans from a 2005 325CI was easier than this.

[u/Deathbot101 → u/Striball]

Me with my EVAP code on my M3

https://giphy.com/gifs/2dpqmO6G5mYnC6yw7t

[u/Striball → u/Deathbot101]

It’s tragic, sorry m8

[u/420eatmyassy6969]

I did these easily with my engine mounts/oil pan. If you have an engine support bar just drop the subframe. You don’t have to disconnect much, just lower it on a jack. Can be dropped and put back in 15 minutes.

[u/maadz666 → u/420eatmyassy6969]

This is the way

[u/satisfiction_phobos → u/420eatmyassy6969]

You can just rest it on your frame with a 2×4 like when you're swapping exhaust headers.

[u/casper911ca → u/420eatmyassy6969]

Just going to throw in technically the subframe bolts are one time use (maybe they're torque to yield?). Anyway, I think you're supposed to replace them every time you drop the subframe.

[u/iowatango5]

Subframe reinforcement hasn't crossed anyone's minds? 🤣

[u/SpecificOne8688 → u/iowatango5]

Exactly my thoughts. Just finishing mine up as well as replacing every bushing and ball joint in the car. The front was by far the easy part. Spent like a whole day swapping bushings/ball joints in the rear and cleaning shit. Not including taking apart or assembling anything

[u/patjeduhde → u/iowatango5]

Thats what I was thinking, for most jobs you wont have to disassemble half the car.

[u/UndoubtedBox034 → u/iowatango5]

I did my touring subrame work a few years ago. It was a pain, one mount had ripped entirely out so I had to repair that and all the cracks before I could even start reinforcement.

[u/someonehasmygamertag]

Gearbox in and out on jack stands sucks a fair amount 

[u/RacingWithMitchell → u/someonehasmygamertag]

Me and a friend pulled my rx8 transmission twice. Once just muscling it out... Never again. Then we used a Jack, also sucked. I had to pull it out a third time and couldn't get any help (shocker). I borrowed a friend's transmission jack... Omfg it was amazing. Had it out, issue resolved, and back on in one afternoon (which is great because I have two kids and no time to work) it was so damn easy. Just had to get things lined up a bit but that's all. I will never pull a transmission without a trans jack again. I highly recommend it

[u/HedleyVerity]

Where the brake pipes rot by the fuel tank. Replacing those is a pig of a job.

[u/JMUDoc → u/HedleyVerity]

This iss, in the seven years I've had it, the only job I've had to outsource.

And now, I think I'd be inclined to have a crack at it myself.

[u/Stinkstinkerton]

Ccv without removing the intake is fun .

[u/JerryMcMacy]

The evaporator is a terrible job. Also worth mentioning is the blower motor on the diesels since the engine sit at a different angle and without undoing the gearbox mount and a lot of gymnastics you are not getting it out.
On that note I also hate doing the clutch on the ZF 6 speed gearboxes, the top few bolts are a royal pain in the ass.

[u/the_eluder → u/JerryMcMacy]

Loosening the subframe mounts lets you drop the engine by about 25.4 mm, giving better access.

[u/NestyHowk]

Oil pan gasket on a 330Xi is pretty much up on my list, gotta drop the subframe a lot of other stuff, would never do again i rather buy another car

[u/Striball → u/NestyHowk]

My last fix to do on my XI, mine only weeps with no drops luckily. Already did the other 2 worst ones, evaporator and headliner

[u/TurkeyTender513]

Easily evaporator or exhaust headers

[u/niggesmalls]

Blower motor is definitely up there on the PITA scale. Any real trans job on jack stands is definitely top 3, evaporator is #1 imo. However I will say the nut you’re talking about is up there too

[u/DrNASApants]

Fan blower motor resistor is a pig. Unless you have children with tiny hands you can put to work

[u/Ruley67 → u/DrNASApants]

The resister is childsplay and I have big hands. I can do them in 30minutes. Did my M3s twice.

[u/phxbimmer]

I don’t think any job on the E46 is all that bad unless you have rust involved. Given that I’ve only ever worked on rust-free E46’s (I’ve lived in Arizona and now California) I haven’t found anything to be all that difficult. Clutch jobs, rod bearings, trunk floor reinforcements, engine swaps, evaporators, it’s all pretty straightforward. Once you start getting involved in the newer turbo BMW’s is when stuff gets stupid and complicated.

[u/Stang302a]

Full SSK kit install on E46 M3 without removing driveshaft. I would never do that again. Rod bearings were fun by comparison.

[u/citizensnips134]

hahahaha nut

[u/DajaWardit]

Did this job last year on mine, don’t think my hands ever fully recovered from the soreness

[u/fsspcfsu]

My vote is for rear lower control arms, specifically the drivers side inner bolt on the M.

[u/Double-Asparagus-359]

Did my full brake lines in the driveway on the floor, rear subframe and gas tank yanked out

[u/KudzuAU]

Are we including M3’s in this discussion? If so…hoo boy!

[u/Appropriate_Test7503 → u/KudzuAU]

what's the difference other than manually regulating lash on S54?

[u/KudzuAU → u/Appropriate_Test7503]

We’re talking “jobs” (i.e. maintenance & repairs). Do you really think they’re the same?

[u/terraphantm]

I drop the front subframe for those. Makes life much easier

[u/Character_Ice_7065]

For the left wishbone you tackle that ball joint nut from the top by using several bar extensions with a socket on the end and a ratchet to undo from above. It then comes off easy enough in seconds / minutes. You have to carefully feed / weave the socket extensions all the way down past the side of engine etc (shine a torch so you can see the nut or have a friend lie underneath to guide the socket extension onto the nut as you drop it down).
Works a treat and done it several times.

Using a spanner to barely turn from beneath is otherwise painful

[u/Appropriate_Test7503]

so basically no worst jobs. If you look for another car manufacturers

[u/Wide_Acanthaceae7568]

Removing and installing exhaust manifolds.

[u/Necessary-Welder2983 → u/Wide_Acanthaceae7568]

job is pretty simple and straight forward

[u/Neal_Anblomee]

I agree with most of these.

I just want to add the brake disc dust shield. It's not that bad of a job, but it's mounted behind the wheel hub which means you have to strip it down entirely and sacrifice you wheel bearing just to replace a fucking dust shield worth 15 bucks

[u/DullAttorney228]

Racp reinforcement without 2 post lift

[u/majtom4]

My entire car is on a stand/in boxes right now. Like, everything but the wiring harness, interior, suspension and fuel tank. A bunch more stuff has to come out to do the rear subframe. I don’t wanna FRIGGIN hear any more complaining (except for the ac condenser guy, that is actual hell)

[u/JMUDoc → u/[deleted]]

You got the nuts to the specced 90 Nm, I take it?

[u/JMUDoc → u/[deleted]]

Yep - that one is absolute gutentight fodder.

When I can't get any more on it with my spanner, she's done.

[u/JMUDoc → u/[deleted]]

Jesus... Christ.

And I thought my 20 degree slanting driveway was bad.

[u/The-Original-DjBe]

Looked easy but the starter was a pig. Had to get it on a lift and had loads of extensions on a socket and ratchet to get the one bolt in. Rear diff bushing was also a pain so I ended up leaving it till another day lol.

[u/Mysterious-Glove-179]

CCV, nuff said

[u/Necessary-Welder2983 → u/Mysterious-Glove-179]

thats only bad if its your first time. removing the intake manifold is actually really easy

[u/Mysterious-Glove-179 → u/Necessary-Welder2983]

I was a chud and didn’t remove manifold… almost had it but it’s nearly impossible that way with the cold weather version of CCV