600bhp 1 Series
Discussion
D4MJT said:
What will probably happen is I'll wash it twice, get roped into doing our driveway or the garden again, not use it much for another year, and this can all become plans for 2024 
Ahhh.
This aged well. I’ve just been digging this post out as I’m sorting out and uploading pics for a very overdue update on this thread, and this part of my last post made me laugh.
That’s pretty much exactly what happened, I have a lovely new driveway, did some house bits and the 140 is currently SORN and without MOT and has been for some months now.
However….
Lots of things are happening, once I finish uploading the photos I’ll bang an update out this evening.
It’s still alive though, ish.
Sometime in like 2021 or something, I'd decided to start upgrading the suspension a bit on the car. It's been a bit of a strange journey really modification wise because I never actually intended to modify the car when I bought it 7 years ago, and then bit by bit it's just sort of trundled to where it is now by chance and chatting with pals etc. So I felt that I'd like to refresh the suspension and sharpen it up a bit, and I bought some Bilstein B8 dampers AGEESSSS ago now, which have sat in the garage ever since. I've been promising myself I'd sort it all out in one go and do a really nice job of upgrading it at the same time, but life has gotten in the way, more housey bits, a lot busier at work and a 4 year old who turns 5 next week all do an amazing job of consuming any free time I ever have haha.
Ultimately last November the MOT was due to expire and I decided to SORN the car and take it off the road to force my hand into making time to do the suspension bits. Fast forward another 5 months of doing nothing and a couple of weeks back I just decided it needed to happen and if I didn't force it into the calendar it never would. I made a list of everything I wanted to do, and then absolutely hammered the old online shopping. It's been like Christmas every day for the last 2 weeks while everything started to land
Quick parts check last week and I'd accumulated this lot, all that was missing at this point was rear F80 M3 brake discs, rear pads and H&R Anti Roll Bars, and rear drop links.
I'm fortunate that one of my best mates runs a BMW Performance Shop and is always encouraging me to do silly things with the car anyway, and he arranged a free ramp for me to use for 2 days this week. Since it's been parked up it seems the water pump seal has failed and it's dropped its coolant, and along with having no MOT and being SORN, it needed moved there, so I got shifted on Friday morning ahead of Day 1's spannering.
The list was quite ambitious for 2 days, and turned out to be too ambitious, as it's still not done
Front End:
PowerFlex Black Series Engine Mount inserts
New OEM Thrust Arms fitted w/ PowerFlex Black Series bushes
New OEM Control Arms fitted w/ PowerFlex Black Series bushes
H&R 28mm Front Anti Roll Bar
Bilstein B8 Dampers
MMR Lowering Springs
Millway Camber Adjustable Top Mounts w/ Spherical Bearings
New OEM Track Rod Ends
Adjustable Drop Links
Front 380mm F80 M3 Brake Conversion
Goodridge Braided Brake Lines
RBF600 Fluid
EBC RP-X Pads
All of that is now pretty much done and on, ready for alignment.
Front subframe and hubs / arms removed from the car:
PowerFlex engine mount inserts:
Fitted:
Front Struts built up with Bilstein B8's, Millway Top Mounts and MMR Springs, worth noting the Millway Top Mounts do not come with a top mount bearing so you have to use an OEM one:
H&R Front ARB fitted to the subframe:
New OEM arms w/ Black Series bushes then fitted to the subframe:
Front Struts reinstalled:
F80 M3 380mm Fronts installed w/ EBC RP-X and braided lines. The M140 and F80 M3 calipers are the same caliper, but the mounting points on the bracket differ, the piston size etc is all the same. You can either swap out the calipers or use a caliper spacing bracket, I've done this for the front as my calipers are in good conditions and smart, and I've sourced a pair of rear F80 Calipers for the back, as it's more complicated at the rear:
I can't remember while I'm typing this if I ever updated the thread about new wheels or not, but some time ago I had the chance of some 19" Style 763M alloys which came in satin black, black wheels aren't my thing but I knew I wanted to do this brake upgrade and I knew it didn't fit under the stock 18" 463M wheels, so I got the 19's. I've since had them refurbished in OEM Ferric Grey, I think they look really nice now:
Arguably there is a better choice of track oriented tyres etc and sizes for 18" wheels and there are plenty of BBK kits and OEM 340mm options that stop the car well, but I wanted to do this and I like it.
An underneath shot of lots of shiny new things:
I need to make a list of fixing hardware etc for underneath that needs replaced to get rid of some rusty bits, but all in all she's in pretty good shape for 92,000 miles and 7 years.
Moving onto the rear in the next post...
Ultimately last November the MOT was due to expire and I decided to SORN the car and take it off the road to force my hand into making time to do the suspension bits. Fast forward another 5 months of doing nothing and a couple of weeks back I just decided it needed to happen and if I didn't force it into the calendar it never would. I made a list of everything I wanted to do, and then absolutely hammered the old online shopping. It's been like Christmas every day for the last 2 weeks while everything started to land
Quick parts check last week and I'd accumulated this lot, all that was missing at this point was rear F80 M3 brake discs, rear pads and H&R Anti Roll Bars, and rear drop links.
I'm fortunate that one of my best mates runs a BMW Performance Shop and is always encouraging me to do silly things with the car anyway, and he arranged a free ramp for me to use for 2 days this week. Since it's been parked up it seems the water pump seal has failed and it's dropped its coolant, and along with having no MOT and being SORN, it needed moved there, so I got shifted on Friday morning ahead of Day 1's spannering.
The list was quite ambitious for 2 days, and turned out to be too ambitious, as it's still not done
Front End:
PowerFlex Black Series Engine Mount inserts
New OEM Thrust Arms fitted w/ PowerFlex Black Series bushes
New OEM Control Arms fitted w/ PowerFlex Black Series bushes
H&R 28mm Front Anti Roll Bar
Bilstein B8 Dampers
MMR Lowering Springs
Millway Camber Adjustable Top Mounts w/ Spherical Bearings
New OEM Track Rod Ends
Adjustable Drop Links
Front 380mm F80 M3 Brake Conversion
Goodridge Braided Brake Lines
RBF600 Fluid
EBC RP-X Pads
All of that is now pretty much done and on, ready for alignment.
Front subframe and hubs / arms removed from the car:
PowerFlex engine mount inserts:
Fitted:
Front Struts built up with Bilstein B8's, Millway Top Mounts and MMR Springs, worth noting the Millway Top Mounts do not come with a top mount bearing so you have to use an OEM one:
H&R Front ARB fitted to the subframe:
New OEM arms w/ Black Series bushes then fitted to the subframe:
Front Struts reinstalled:
F80 M3 380mm Fronts installed w/ EBC RP-X and braided lines. The M140 and F80 M3 calipers are the same caliper, but the mounting points on the bracket differ, the piston size etc is all the same. You can either swap out the calipers or use a caliper spacing bracket, I've done this for the front as my calipers are in good conditions and smart, and I've sourced a pair of rear F80 Calipers for the back, as it's more complicated at the rear:
I can't remember while I'm typing this if I ever updated the thread about new wheels or not, but some time ago I had the chance of some 19" Style 763M alloys which came in satin black, black wheels aren't my thing but I knew I wanted to do this brake upgrade and I knew it didn't fit under the stock 18" 463M wheels, so I got the 19's. I've since had them refurbished in OEM Ferric Grey, I think they look really nice now:
Arguably there is a better choice of track oriented tyres etc and sizes for 18" wheels and there are plenty of BBK kits and OEM 340mm options that stop the car well, but I wanted to do this and I like it.
An underneath shot of lots of shiny new things:
I need to make a list of fixing hardware etc for underneath that needs replaced to get rid of some rusty bits, but all in all she's in pretty good shape for 92,000 miles and 7 years.
Moving onto the rear in the next post...
Edited by D4MJT on Sunday 5th May 22:05
Moving onto the back end of the car, the plan was:
I bought a second hand subframe and removed all the standard subframe and diff bushes, then had this powdercoated. I had originally decided not to go PowerFlex Black Series however I don't use the car on a daily basis any more and the whole suspension refresh had suffered massive spec creep by this point anyway so I U-turned on that.
PowerFlex Black Series Subframe and Diff Bushes
All 10x New OEM rear arms
New OEM rear drop links
MMR Lowering Springs
Bilstein B8 Dampers
H&R 20mm Rear Anti-Roll Bar
Rear F80 M3 Handbrake Assembly (Different size to M140 - needed for 370mm rear disc conversion or handbrake won't work)
Rear F80 M3 Handbrake Shoes
Rear F80 M3 Brake Calipers
OEM F80 M3 370mm Discs
EBC RP-X Pads
Goodridge Braided Brake Hoses
New OEM Rear Wheel Bearings
The car is currently on Eibach lowering springs and has been for the majority of it's life, I really like the ride height and it copes with UK roads well, these are a drop of 25mm front and 20mm rear.
The move to MMR Springs gives a drop of 20mm front and 30mm rear. The logic here is, the Millway Camber plates lower the car slightly compared to stock, and the PowerFlex Black Series Rear Subframe bushes lift the back slightly, so the change in springs should leave the car roughly where it was before hopefully.
First job was to fit the subframe and diff bushes to the new subframe:
Then basically stripping off old stuff, this took longer than I'd hoped due to a lot of the fixings being more corroded than expected. The actual car is fine but the bolts had corroded in places and some took some heat and swearing to remove. Prop needed to come off along with exhaust and then once the brakes were removed and disconnected the old subframe was ready to come out:
The state of the bolts made me decide to just buy an entire set of new subframe bolts from BMW, in for a penny at this point. Shout out to BMW for managing to get the order wrong, double up on some bolts, not supply others at all, and liberate me of £240
I extracted the diff, driveshaft and hubs from the old subframe assembly and binned the rest off:
Then started building up the new subframe with all the new arms and ARB etc:
I'm pretty pleased with how it's all turning out so far, the rear Bilstein Dampers are now fitted to the car as well, and the rear braided brake hoses are on also, so it's pretty much ready for the new subframe to be lifted up into position. I ran out of time at this point, as that lot took me the 2 days, even with help from pals, so that's where we're at currently.
I think there's about 1 more day's work in it now, the rear subframe needs to go back in, the prop and exhaust need to go on, then the rear brakes need to be converted with the F80 handbrake mech and shoes, calipers and discs on, then the brakes need bled, the wheels can go on and it can get an alignment. It needs a water pump chucked in it that's going in on Tuesday morning and then that's pretty much the job done.
I'm really looking forward to getting it MOT'd and driving it, it should be a pretty big transformation from tired OEM suspension with lowering springs to all of that. Really keen to see what the brakes are like too.
I'd had a few wobbles in the last year about selling up and getting into an M5, but I've doubled down and at this point the car is definitely a keeper.
I bought a second hand subframe and removed all the standard subframe and diff bushes, then had this powdercoated. I had originally decided not to go PowerFlex Black Series however I don't use the car on a daily basis any more and the whole suspension refresh had suffered massive spec creep by this point anyway so I U-turned on that.
PowerFlex Black Series Subframe and Diff Bushes
All 10x New OEM rear arms
New OEM rear drop links
MMR Lowering Springs
Bilstein B8 Dampers
H&R 20mm Rear Anti-Roll Bar
Rear F80 M3 Handbrake Assembly (Different size to M140 - needed for 370mm rear disc conversion or handbrake won't work)
Rear F80 M3 Handbrake Shoes
Rear F80 M3 Brake Calipers
OEM F80 M3 370mm Discs
EBC RP-X Pads
Goodridge Braided Brake Hoses
New OEM Rear Wheel Bearings
The car is currently on Eibach lowering springs and has been for the majority of it's life, I really like the ride height and it copes with UK roads well, these are a drop of 25mm front and 20mm rear.
The move to MMR Springs gives a drop of 20mm front and 30mm rear. The logic here is, the Millway Camber plates lower the car slightly compared to stock, and the PowerFlex Black Series Rear Subframe bushes lift the back slightly, so the change in springs should leave the car roughly where it was before hopefully.
First job was to fit the subframe and diff bushes to the new subframe:
Then basically stripping off old stuff, this took longer than I'd hoped due to a lot of the fixings being more corroded than expected. The actual car is fine but the bolts had corroded in places and some took some heat and swearing to remove. Prop needed to come off along with exhaust and then once the brakes were removed and disconnected the old subframe was ready to come out:
The state of the bolts made me decide to just buy an entire set of new subframe bolts from BMW, in for a penny at this point. Shout out to BMW for managing to get the order wrong, double up on some bolts, not supply others at all, and liberate me of £240
I extracted the diff, driveshaft and hubs from the old subframe assembly and binned the rest off:
Then started building up the new subframe with all the new arms and ARB etc:
I'm pretty pleased with how it's all turning out so far, the rear Bilstein Dampers are now fitted to the car as well, and the rear braided brake hoses are on also, so it's pretty much ready for the new subframe to be lifted up into position. I ran out of time at this point, as that lot took me the 2 days, even with help from pals, so that's where we're at currently.
I think there's about 1 more day's work in it now, the rear subframe needs to go back in, the prop and exhaust need to go on, then the rear brakes need to be converted with the F80 handbrake mech and shoes, calipers and discs on, then the brakes need bled, the wheels can go on and it can get an alignment. It needs a water pump chucked in it that's going in on Tuesday morning and then that's pretty much the job done.
I'm really looking forward to getting it MOT'd and driving it, it should be a pretty big transformation from tired OEM suspension with lowering springs to all of that. Really keen to see what the brakes are like too.
I'd had a few wobbles in the last year about selling up and getting into an M5, but I've doubled down and at this point the car is definitely a keeper.
Nice work, I recently did a bit of a scope creep suspension refresh as well, it's a lot easier / more fun bolting on new parts than removing the old ones!
For the brake bleeding, I've thrown those Goodridge Speed Bleeders at every car now whenever I go near the brakes, makes it a lot more straightforward bleeding the brakes as they've got a one way check valve in :thumbsup:
For the brake bleeding, I've thrown those Goodridge Speed Bleeders at every car now whenever I go near the brakes, makes it a lot more straightforward bleeding the brakes as they've got a one way check valve in :thumbsup:
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