600bhp 1 Series
Discussion
jimPH said:
I put PS4 on ours, still had the original MPSS on, only changed them as they were cracking.
Sidewalls are notably softer, so a bit unnerving at higher speed.
Much quieter
Nicer ride
Not as good in the dry though.
Can't say I noticed much difference in the wet as I always take it easy anyway if it's wet.
I'd go back to MPSS if I had to again. MP4 are cheaper for a reason.
Horses for courses, but I'm the opposite to be honest. Perhaps I'm too ham fisted in the wet but I found the MPSS useless. I find the MPS4 much better all round, I'll be happily sticking them on again. Longevity seems as good as the MPSS.Sidewalls are notably softer, so a bit unnerving at higher speed.
Much quieter
Nicer ride
Not as good in the dry though.
Can't say I noticed much difference in the wet as I always take it easy anyway if it's wet.
I'd go back to MPSS if I had to again. MP4 are cheaper for a reason.
To update, I still have this, I still love it, I shall update it properly soon. Still my favourite car I've ever owned.
So..... an update.
Well, the car is on 58k miles now. No issues at all. The warranty is out in 15 days, obviously I've already previously taken my chances by adding a tuning box etc, however I won't be going for the extended warranty as obviously I've already tuned the car and intend to keep doing so, so it's pointless. I have used the warranty to replace a steering wheel that was wearing rapidly and a rear light cluster that let in moisture. Bar that the car has been faultless for 3years and 58K miles.... almost.
Recently I had a major service come up. For reasons I don't need to go into I had an issue with the supplying dealer, so I chose a BMW approved local specialist for the job. Low and behold on removing the oil filter it disintegrated into the housing. I had the car recovered to BMW as it is a known issue with the 40i engine. Warranty job. They then attempted to charge me for the oil as it wouldn't have been required otherwise, but wouldn't update the service history as the car hadn't had "the pollen filter" changed. I asked for a price for the £35 pollen filter, amazingly it was £125 as it's a tricky job. If you have YouTube, it appears to be a 5 minute job under the glovebox with a torx fitting, or at least it was when I did it. In a further twist, despite the PUMA job on BMW's system (I have a pal who is a tech) explaining that the oil filter housing must be replaced incase any debris has entered) they decided to just fit a new filter. When I queried them on this, they explained that the PUMA was just for if the original filter had disintegrated, but as my car had apparently been serviced 3 times and the filter "had been changed" it wasn't applicable. Wow.
Needless to say I took the car home and changed the oil myself.
Great cars, appalling dealerships. I obviously can't name names but this one was near the Tyne Tunnel.
Anyway...
Up first in the mod category was an induction pipe from Williams Performance:
After that I decided more power was in order, handily one of my good pal's had got into tuning B58's, so we decided to go (at the time) all out.
ITG Pro Filter, Z4 TU / Supra Spark Plugs, 4.5" decat downpipe:
Here she was getting the downpipe installed:
Then I was able to flash my chosen map myself easily with an OBD Ethernet cable:
We then went out and did a few datalogging pulls to make sure all was good and timing corrections seemed alright:
What a monster. Honestly it was fast with the JB+ box on it, but it is a different car with a Stage 2 99RON BM3 Map on it. Allegedly it should be around 460-480bhp but the mid range torque now is just obscene.
Asides from that, it's now done around 8K miles mapped properly and it's never missed a beat, already had another oil change, no issues there thankfully.
I tried cleaning the steering wheel with a non acetone nail polish remover that a PHer recommended. Wow. Admittedly I added AG Leather Care Balm afterwards, but this wheel (my 2nd) has 40k ish miles on it now...
I recently decided to have a change from the 640D tailpipes and reinstalled the chrome M Performance trims, not sure about them yet:
Apart from that, I love that bar the twin exhausts it's hard to distinguish from a regular 116D M Sport:
And apart from that, the ride height has settled and I think it looks perfect!
The next wave of mods are front and rear C-Hook discs and decent pads, and a B58TU High Pressure Fuel Pump, which will allow me to run the Stage 2+ BM3 Map and around 540bhp at the crank.
It's just a brilliant, brilliant bit of kit.
Well, the car is on 58k miles now. No issues at all. The warranty is out in 15 days, obviously I've already previously taken my chances by adding a tuning box etc, however I won't be going for the extended warranty as obviously I've already tuned the car and intend to keep doing so, so it's pointless. I have used the warranty to replace a steering wheel that was wearing rapidly and a rear light cluster that let in moisture. Bar that the car has been faultless for 3years and 58K miles.... almost.
Recently I had a major service come up. For reasons I don't need to go into I had an issue with the supplying dealer, so I chose a BMW approved local specialist for the job. Low and behold on removing the oil filter it disintegrated into the housing. I had the car recovered to BMW as it is a known issue with the 40i engine. Warranty job. They then attempted to charge me for the oil as it wouldn't have been required otherwise, but wouldn't update the service history as the car hadn't had "the pollen filter" changed. I asked for a price for the £35 pollen filter, amazingly it was £125 as it's a tricky job. If you have YouTube, it appears to be a 5 minute job under the glovebox with a torx fitting, or at least it was when I did it. In a further twist, despite the PUMA job on BMW's system (I have a pal who is a tech) explaining that the oil filter housing must be replaced incase any debris has entered) they decided to just fit a new filter. When I queried them on this, they explained that the PUMA was just for if the original filter had disintegrated, but as my car had apparently been serviced 3 times and the filter "had been changed" it wasn't applicable. Wow.
Needless to say I took the car home and changed the oil myself.
Great cars, appalling dealerships. I obviously can't name names but this one was near the Tyne Tunnel.
Anyway...
Up first in the mod category was an induction pipe from Williams Performance:
After that I decided more power was in order, handily one of my good pal's had got into tuning B58's, so we decided to go (at the time) all out.
ITG Pro Filter, Z4 TU / Supra Spark Plugs, 4.5" decat downpipe:
Here she was getting the downpipe installed:
Then I was able to flash my chosen map myself easily with an OBD Ethernet cable:
We then went out and did a few datalogging pulls to make sure all was good and timing corrections seemed alright:
What a monster. Honestly it was fast with the JB+ box on it, but it is a different car with a Stage 2 99RON BM3 Map on it. Allegedly it should be around 460-480bhp but the mid range torque now is just obscene.
Asides from that, it's now done around 8K miles mapped properly and it's never missed a beat, already had another oil change, no issues there thankfully.
I tried cleaning the steering wheel with a non acetone nail polish remover that a PHer recommended. Wow. Admittedly I added AG Leather Care Balm afterwards, but this wheel (my 2nd) has 40k ish miles on it now...
I recently decided to have a change from the 640D tailpipes and reinstalled the chrome M Performance trims, not sure about them yet:
Apart from that, I love that bar the twin exhausts it's hard to distinguish from a regular 116D M Sport:
And apart from that, the ride height has settled and I think it looks perfect!
The next wave of mods are front and rear C-Hook discs and decent pads, and a B58TU High Pressure Fuel Pump, which will allow me to run the Stage 2+ BM3 Map and around 540bhp at the crank.
It's just a brilliant, brilliant bit of kit.
Edited by D4MJT on Wednesday 22 April 19:47
Edited by D4MJT on Thursday 23 April 07:33
Henry_b said:
Great cars these M140I's..
Kind of fancy dropping the P38 in favour of a nice fast BMW..
At 58k would it be worth a Gearbox oil change?
Especially with the tuner?
As it happens, I have a genuine ZF sump / filter and ZF Lifeguard fluid ready for a change next week, great minds Kind of fancy dropping the P38 in favour of a nice fast BMW..
At 58k would it be worth a Gearbox oil change?
Especially with the tuner?
Court_S, they’re OEM 640d tailpipe trims, fit straight to the M Performance rear back box. I think the stock back box outlets are a slightly smaller diameter?
I’ll do an update this evening, as I’ve suffered badly from spec creep in the last month or so and it’s all got a bit out of hand
tgr said:
Are you certain the ZF box can take the increases in power and torque?
Yeah, it starts to suffer with slippage in 6th gear unless the software is updated, but there are numerous cars in the states, Belgium and the U.K. I know of running up to 740whp and getting towards 900nm with no issuesI’ve seen cars twist the driveshaft out and ruin it well before the box shows any sign of problems
It’s a phenomenal platform.
toon10 said:
Nice work. I often see you around town in it. I changed my M135i and got a more sensible car. 540i xDrive. I miss the little 1 for the fun factor. I'll be sure not to try and race anything I see with a 116d badge on the back 
Ha! I saw your car at Silverlink a few months back, I knew the plate but it was on the "wrong" car so I was confused! Lovely choice!!So, the next round of unplanned and impulsive modifications.
Recently, we hit this milestone. Excuse the horrendous state of the dusty dash.
A perfect milestone, as the 60,000 miles rocked up around the same time as the 3 year ownership mark and the end of the warranty, which made all of the following slightly easier to justify.
As it happens, I got a reminder on Instahamz a few days ago about a post 5 years ago, more BMW related good times, my first few laps of the Nurburgring, in an E61 M5. Good memories.
Back to mundane 1 series life anyway. I'd been experiencing a hot oil smell, which turned out to be a split breather hose.
This is where modifications are good, because if I hadn't been tinkering, I wouldn't ever have found that as the hose is wrapped in foil and it was cracked about an inch inside the foil shroud.
Handily, it had to come off. As I was getting rid of this:
Commence heart surgery:
And replacing it with this:
A PureTurbo's Pure800 Hybrid. In the short term my good pal has lent me his Dorch Stage 2 HPFP, however in a few days I'll be swapping this back out for a TU M340i/Supra HPFP until I'm feeling flush enough to go for a Dorch myself. At the moment it doesn't really make sense as the TU HPFP will do everything I'm after.
The Pure800 is a big old unit and comes with it's own lower turbo intake pipe, which works with the Williams Performance upper turbo intake pipe I'd previously installed. This results in a direct turbo feed with no silencer chambers and makes for some fairly lairy turbo noises. I'll try and stick some on YouTube in the next few days and link them in.
Currently the car is running on a BootMod3 OTS Stage2+ Tune with the Pure800 and Dorch Stage 2 HPFP, which should be a fairly comfortable 520-540whp. In time I will get a custom tune for the car, the turbo is good for 750bhp on Peter @ PureTurbo's own M140i, so there is a lot of scope, it's barely ticking over at the moment and is still on pretty much stock boost.
The main characteristic change is a really wonderful spooling sound from the turbo now and also the turbo only really comes on song after 3k rpm, which gives it an almost old school turbo feel. However once it spools up you really know about it.
To go along with the new map and turbo / HPFP I've also gone with an xHP Stage 3 gearbox map for the ZF8. This has sharpened up the shifts but more importantly increased the line pressures and clutch clamping pressures, whilst removing the torque limiters in 1st and 2nd gear.
It's really pretty fast now, I've had a couple of quick runs with a Dragy box, and even on the Stage2+ map I've recorded a 100-200kmh time of 7.3 seconds on pump fuel, which is pretty much exactly the same as the Dragy times a certain man like Ricky is getting out of his Stage 1 tuned GTR according to a recent YouTube video.
That's only really relevant as his GTR was dyno'd on the same dyno as I use and it made 530whp, so when I get a chance to get back along it'll be interesting to see what mine makes and what sort of difference the weight / 4wd makes.
So that's pretty much where it's at now. In the next week I'll be servicing the gearbox and diff as part of preventative maintenance, and I couldn't resist a new badge for a cheeky photo
As a testament to how well the car still drives, my 58 year old mother has recently decided to learn to drive, and I had her out in the car the other day and she had no problems driving it at all.
It even got a cheeky wash. It's crying out for a proper detail though.
So in summary, more silliness, still loving it, no issues!
Recently, we hit this milestone. Excuse the horrendous state of the dusty dash.
A perfect milestone, as the 60,000 miles rocked up around the same time as the 3 year ownership mark and the end of the warranty, which made all of the following slightly easier to justify.
As it happens, I got a reminder on Instahamz a few days ago about a post 5 years ago, more BMW related good times, my first few laps of the Nurburgring, in an E61 M5. Good memories.
Back to mundane 1 series life anyway. I'd been experiencing a hot oil smell, which turned out to be a split breather hose.
This is where modifications are good, because if I hadn't been tinkering, I wouldn't ever have found that as the hose is wrapped in foil and it was cracked about an inch inside the foil shroud.
Handily, it had to come off. As I was getting rid of this:
Commence heart surgery:
And replacing it with this:
A PureTurbo's Pure800 Hybrid. In the short term my good pal has lent me his Dorch Stage 2 HPFP, however in a few days I'll be swapping this back out for a TU M340i/Supra HPFP until I'm feeling flush enough to go for a Dorch myself. At the moment it doesn't really make sense as the TU HPFP will do everything I'm after.
The Pure800 is a big old unit and comes with it's own lower turbo intake pipe, which works with the Williams Performance upper turbo intake pipe I'd previously installed. This results in a direct turbo feed with no silencer chambers and makes for some fairly lairy turbo noises. I'll try and stick some on YouTube in the next few days and link them in.
Currently the car is running on a BootMod3 OTS Stage2+ Tune with the Pure800 and Dorch Stage 2 HPFP, which should be a fairly comfortable 520-540whp. In time I will get a custom tune for the car, the turbo is good for 750bhp on Peter @ PureTurbo's own M140i, so there is a lot of scope, it's barely ticking over at the moment and is still on pretty much stock boost.
The main characteristic change is a really wonderful spooling sound from the turbo now and also the turbo only really comes on song after 3k rpm, which gives it an almost old school turbo feel. However once it spools up you really know about it.
To go along with the new map and turbo / HPFP I've also gone with an xHP Stage 3 gearbox map for the ZF8. This has sharpened up the shifts but more importantly increased the line pressures and clutch clamping pressures, whilst removing the torque limiters in 1st and 2nd gear.
It's really pretty fast now, I've had a couple of quick runs with a Dragy box, and even on the Stage2+ map I've recorded a 100-200kmh time of 7.3 seconds on pump fuel, which is pretty much exactly the same as the Dragy times a certain man like Ricky is getting out of his Stage 1 tuned GTR according to a recent YouTube video.
That's only really relevant as his GTR was dyno'd on the same dyno as I use and it made 530whp, so when I get a chance to get back along it'll be interesting to see what mine makes and what sort of difference the weight / 4wd makes.
So that's pretty much where it's at now. In the next week I'll be servicing the gearbox and diff as part of preventative maintenance, and I couldn't resist a new badge for a cheeky photo
As a testament to how well the car still drives, my 58 year old mother has recently decided to learn to drive, and I had her out in the car the other day and she had no problems driving it at all.
It even got a cheeky wash. It's crying out for a proper detail though.
So in summary, more silliness, still loving it, no issues!
Edited by D4MJT on Friday 7th August 00:04
AW8 said:
I have seen the comments re state of oil filter....I can understand why this may have been concerning.
Allegedly....Some allege that some dealerships give bonuses or incentives to some technicians if they complete a service or other work under the allocated book time. Allegedly some might say that some staff allegedly might be motivated to cut corners to reduce the amount of time booked.
I have no idea if these allegations are true & thus have to assume all dealerships do a fine job !
I appreciate I may have been over tactful with the wording............"allegedly"
Great car & interesting performance mods.............thanks to OP for updates.
Allegedly, that wouldn't suprise me in the slightest.Allegedly....Some allege that some dealerships give bonuses or incentives to some technicians if they complete a service or other work under the allocated book time. Allegedly some might say that some staff allegedly might be motivated to cut corners to reduce the amount of time booked.
I have no idea if these allegations are true & thus have to assume all dealerships do a fine job !
I appreciate I may have been over tactful with the wording............"allegedly"
Great car & interesting performance mods.............thanks to OP for updates.
Now that I'm out of warranty I'm doing all the maintenance on the car myself.
Mr911lover said:
Really enjoyable read and love the mods.
I would expect those times to be a bit quicker, is it a case of the BM software not making the most of the turbo? A well sorted stage 2 m140i on a stock turbo should be doing high 7's 100-200
Pretty much exactly that, the turbo isn’t really being utilised at the moment as it’s a stage 2+ OTS map.I would expect those times to be a bit quicker, is it a case of the BM software not making the most of the turbo? A well sorted stage 2 m140i on a stock turbo should be doing high 7's 100-200
High 7’s is a little optimistic for pump fuel on a stage 2 map, having run both mine and a few of my pals cars, however it’s fairly common for people to Chuck a bit of Ethanol in and claim a “great stage 2 time” if you see what I mean.
Mr911lover said:
I'm just going off my friends time's (MHD stage 2 and XHP) running 8.2 in this heat and with 1/2 a tank of fuel. Better temps and less fuel it should dip in to the 7's no problem on 99 ron.
Personally I don't see that happening, I'm absolutely not trying to throw any shade on your mate's car at all, my reasoning is this.The IAT's will make a little bit of difference but not much unless you're running on like a 1-2 degree day, in which case you'll have issues with traction you wouldn't have on a warmer road. The difference in power output between the IAT's at say 28c and 14-15c are fairly negligible really, I was getting 40-45c on my last dyno pulls and it was only 3-4bhp difference than the first cool pulls of the day.
Secondly even if you ran on 1/4 of a tank, I wouldn't advise much lower than that as if the rail pressure drops the car will go into limp mode and throw a drivetrain fault, happens from time to time on the owners forum, but even if you ran at 1/4, that's only say 13 or 14 litres less, which is about 10kg of weight.
I honestly don't think either of those variables will add up to 3 or 4 tenths of a second off the time, maybe 1 tenth really.
My Stage 2 map with the stock turbo and no xHP ran an 8.4 on Dragy, so 8.2 with xHP sounds like a decent quick time for a Stage 2 car to me.
Also remember my car is only on a Stage2+ map, so it isn't actually running a specific custom map to take advantage of the turbo yet. So a 7.3 Dragy time seems quick enough and pretty realistic to me.
Hope that all makes sense!
Edited to add:
Chuck an E30 mix in the tank and switch to a Stage 2 E30 map and you'll easily see a high 7 time on a stock turbo, straight away.
Court_S said:
Some fairly serious mods there, bet it feels pretty pokey now! 
I’ve bought a few bits from Williams recently and have been thinking about his intake hose. Does it just add some extra sound by getting rid of the box?
Thanks, yeah it does. It's felt much faster every time I've done a round of mods, but I've gotten used to them fairly quickly.I’ve bought a few bits from Williams recently and have been thinking about his intake hose. Does it just add some extra sound by getting rid of the box?
It's been about 3 months now, and it still makes me laugh when I give it a good prod, which is a good sign I think. It's definitely what I'd class as a fast car now, in my book anyway.
Court_S said:
Some fairly serious mods there, bet it feels pretty pokey now!
I’ve bought a few bits from Williams recently and have been thinking about his intake hose. Does it just add some extra sound by getting rid of the box?
Basically that's the gist of it yeah. It's a weird one as it made a really noticable difference on my car, but not as much of a difference on Williams own car. If you want to drop me an email with your phone number, I'll WhatsApp you a few video's of the induction sound on mine, when it was stock turbo, WP intake hose and an ITG filter. Give you an idea what to expect.I’ve bought a few bits from Williams recently and have been thinking about his intake hose. Does it just add some extra sound by getting rid of the box?
AW8 said:
I have seen the comments re state of oil filter....I can understand why this may have been concerning.
Allegedly....Some allege that some dealerships give bonuses or incentives to some technicians if they complete a service or other work under the allocated book time. Allegedly some might say that some staff allegedly might be motivated to cut corners to reduce the amount of time booked.
I have no idea if these allegations are true & thus have to assume all dealerships do a fine job !
I appreciate I may have been over tactful with the wording............"allegedly"
Great car & interesting performance mods.............thanks to OP for updates.
To add to that, BMW's reasoning for not replacing the oil filter housing ("which is to be replaced with the oil filter breaks down during removal at first service" - PUMA) was that this was my car's 3rd service.Allegedly....Some allege that some dealerships give bonuses or incentives to some technicians if they complete a service or other work under the allocated book time. Allegedly some might say that some staff allegedly might be motivated to cut corners to reduce the amount of time booked.
I have no idea if these allegations are true & thus have to assume all dealerships do a fine job !
I appreciate I may have been over tactful with the wording............"allegedly"
Great car & interesting performance mods.............thanks to OP for updates.
To me there are only 2 outcomes to that. Either the revised filter suffers with the same issues... in which case surely the PUMA still applies, or...
maybe it's the first oil filter in there still, as it's a pain to get at. The car's had 3 services at BMW main dealers though...
Read into that what you will, either way it's absolutely lousy on BMW's behalf.
Mr911lover said:
I will report back with some better times 
I'm a bit of a dragy fiend and fuel levels and temps play a huge part. Winter vs Summer times will easily vary by up to 3 or 4 tenths. I also know of a Custom tuned (Unicorn) m140 running high 7's 100-200 on the stock turbo and 99 ron.
Hope this hasn't come across as an argumentative post it's just something I have an interest in, I recon with a few attempts and the right conditions your car may surprise you with just how quick it is.
Absolutely mate, look forward to it! Haven’t taken it as argumentative at all, I’m all for a bit of research and development haha! I'm a bit of a dragy fiend and fuel levels and temps play a huge part. Winter vs Summer times will easily vary by up to 3 or 4 tenths. I also know of a Custom tuned (Unicorn) m140 running high 7's 100-200 on the stock turbo and 99 ron.Hope this hasn't come across as an argumentative post it's just something I have an interest in, I recon with a few attempts and the right conditions your car may surprise you with just how quick it is.
I’ve got a Dragy so when the weather picks up a bit I’ll get out for some more runs, with less fuel!
R182 said:
I’m so glad I found this thread while tying to work out what length of timber you can fit in an M140i. At 2400 mm you must have had it resting on the dash!
I’m going to enjoy reading from the beginning!
Haha, handy useless info! Glad it helped I’m going to enjoy reading from the beginning!
It was indeed right up on the dash, I just chucked some sheets and a towel over the dash and centre armrest.
rasto said:
No mods on mine, but in the spirit of 'do it all daily' I'm currently really enjoying using my 140 on Exmoor. A combination of narrow roads, lots of hills and lots of twisty bits with lots of NSL = huge amounts of fun The car is handling all of it with ease, even on damp roads with worn MPSSs. It really is a very good 'small' GT.
Glad to hear it. They really are a phenomenal car for the money. Out of the box they’re cracking but the scope for modification is mental for what’s effectively the entry level BM hatchback. The car is handling all of it with ease, even on damp roads with worn MPSSs. It really is a very good 'small' GT.A bit more preventative maintenance carried out last week.
I changed the rear differential oil for some new Motul oil and also added a magnetic diff drain plug:
The old fluid is pumped out of the diff via the drain / fill plug using a hand pump, and then the new oil is added until it starts to drip out of the drain hole:
Then it's just a case of pop in the new magnetic drain plug and wipe up and the job's a good'un!
Then I changed the oil in the ZF8 automatic gearbox. BMW state this is a sealed for life unit and doesn't need changing, however ZF recommend oil and filter changes at 50-60k miles. I bought a genuine ZF gearbox sump / filter unit (combined) and the correct ZF LifeGuard 8 fluid.
The process is fairly straight forward. Before anything, ensure that you can undo the refill plug on the side of the gearbox, as you'll be buggered down the line if you drain the box and can't refill it. Then simply undo the drain plug on the bottom of the gearbox and allow the old fluid to drain away.
Once the majority has drained out you can undo the 13 bolts holding the sump on and remove the old sump/filter unit.
It's worth checking that the old oil ring has come away in the old filter and isn't still sat in the fluid pickup. The inside looks terrifying
After that, the refill procedure is a bit of an ordeal but it's OK. Refit the new sump and filter, then refill the box by pumping new fluid in until it starts to flow out of the fill hole. Then, with the plug still removed, start the engine and cycle through the gears several times. Then top up the fluid until it starts to flow out again. The final level needs to be set with the gearbox oil between 30-50c, as the fluid apparently expands at different temperatures. You can use ISTA to monitor the gearbox oil temperature.
That's it!
I wasn't in a mad panic to do this job in all honesty as I was a bit worried that it would introduce issues I didn't have if I had problems getting the level set correctly, and I felt that the car had no problems with the transmission anyway. However, it just goes to show how much things can degrade over time without you realising the difference if you drive it everyday, as the gearbox is changing noticeable smoother and is far far smoother when cold than it was.
Very worth doing and I think I'll now do it again at 100k as part of ongoing preventative maintenance.
I changed the rear differential oil for some new Motul oil and also added a magnetic diff drain plug:
The old fluid is pumped out of the diff via the drain / fill plug using a hand pump, and then the new oil is added until it starts to drip out of the drain hole:
Then it's just a case of pop in the new magnetic drain plug and wipe up and the job's a good'un!
Then I changed the oil in the ZF8 automatic gearbox. BMW state this is a sealed for life unit and doesn't need changing, however ZF recommend oil and filter changes at 50-60k miles. I bought a genuine ZF gearbox sump / filter unit (combined) and the correct ZF LifeGuard 8 fluid.
The process is fairly straight forward. Before anything, ensure that you can undo the refill plug on the side of the gearbox, as you'll be buggered down the line if you drain the box and can't refill it. Then simply undo the drain plug on the bottom of the gearbox and allow the old fluid to drain away.
Once the majority has drained out you can undo the 13 bolts holding the sump on and remove the old sump/filter unit.
It's worth checking that the old oil ring has come away in the old filter and isn't still sat in the fluid pickup. The inside looks terrifying
After that, the refill procedure is a bit of an ordeal but it's OK. Refit the new sump and filter, then refill the box by pumping new fluid in until it starts to flow out of the fill hole. Then, with the plug still removed, start the engine and cycle through the gears several times. Then top up the fluid until it starts to flow out again. The final level needs to be set with the gearbox oil between 30-50c, as the fluid apparently expands at different temperatures. You can use ISTA to monitor the gearbox oil temperature.
That's it!
I wasn't in a mad panic to do this job in all honesty as I was a bit worried that it would introduce issues I didn't have if I had problems getting the level set correctly, and I felt that the car had no problems with the transmission anyway. However, it just goes to show how much things can degrade over time without you realising the difference if you drive it everyday, as the gearbox is changing noticeable smoother and is far far smoother when cold than it was.
Very worth doing and I think I'll now do it again at 100k as part of ongoing preventative maintenance.
Evening all.
Brakes are the subject of today's update. Some time back I replaced the original front discs and pads with Brembo items. This turned out to be a colossal error on my behalf. Normally I research things in more depth, however I needed them quickish and I figured Brembo have a good name. Which they do. For calipers.
A bit of googling suggests their discs and pads are not held in the same high regard. The reason for this became quickly apparent after a few decent stops from Dragy runs, as the discs warped badly. At first I thought it was just pad deposits on the discs, so I tried a few decent stops and then cool down driving, however this made very little difference. They've just got worse so I've had to bite the bullet and bin them which is annoying.
Handily the rears were also due for replacement so it was a fairly expensive day out with discs and pads all round.
As replacements I chose Mtec C-Hook discs and Ferodo DS2500 pads. Now this may sound odd, as Mtec are effectively chinese discs imported and then machined in the UK, and they're fairly cheapish all things considered, but bear with me. The other choice without spending a mental amount of money was Zimmermann which are german manufactured and OEM. In the end, I chose MTec as I've used their discs before on fwd french track hatches with no complaints and I've never had problems with warping. Stick with what you know.
I've also used Ferodo DS2500 pads before in the same environment and have always found them to perform well also. Granted the 140i is a lot heavier than a Clio / Saxo, but the discs are also bigger so hopefully they'll be OK. I think they should perform well for a road car anyway, which is all I use the car for.
Onto the job then! I used masking tape to tape around the caliper where you use a punch to knock out the pad retaining pins. I simply did this to prevent chipping the finish on the calipers if the punch slipped.
The rear discs and pads were definitely past their best, however I think they stood up very well to 62k miles use!
The brakes are an easy DIY job, the pad retaining pins punch out, then you can pull the pads out, and the caliper mounts to the hub with 2 x 16mm bolts (rear axle). Undo these and the caliper can be moved out of the way. A 6mm Hex bit is needed to undo the disc retaining screw.
The next photo will hopefully be helpful for anyone doing the job at home. The rear discs house the handbrake shoes and when they haven't been off for 3 years, they don't really want to let the discs go. So I had to adjust the shoes inwards to release the disc so I could remove it. To do this you have to rotate the hub until you can see the adjuster through one of the wheel bolt holes, you can then adjust it in clicks with a flathead screwdriver. I've pointed out the adjuster so you can see where it actually is rather than try and guess with a torch like me
This was all generally dusty and old, so I cleaned up the hub and adjuster with a wire brush and applied some copper grease to the hub before fitting the new disc.
I used some TFR and Bilt Hamber wheel cleaner to clean up all the old baked on brake dust from the calipers and made sure the pad slide areas were clean before refitting the calipers and popping the new pads in:
The fronts are even easier to do as the handbrake mech isn't a factor.
One thing that I did think was interesting was the sheer difference in contact area between the Ferodo DS2500 pads I fitted to the front of the car and the Brembo pads I took back out. Ferodo top, Brembo bottom. The sides of the friction material on the Brembo pads are tapered in to the contact area is less than it could be, as well as there being a large channel cut in the centre.
Anyhow, the job as they say, is a good'un.
This weekend I'm off to borrow a pal's ramp and change the brake fluid out for some fresh Motul fluid, then that should hopefully be the brakes sorted for a while to come. I've bedded the pads in and the bite seems far far better than it's been before.
In 5 days I'm off for a fortnight so I'm hoping to give the paintwork some much needed TLC and the interior. I've not forgotten I said I'd get some pics of cleaning the steering wheel up so I'll sort that out during next weeks cleaning shenanigans and update.
Then it's clay bar and machine polish time before a decent wax up for winter.
Also need some tyres again soon. Bah.
It's still very fast, and very very good fun.
Brakes are the subject of today's update. Some time back I replaced the original front discs and pads with Brembo items. This turned out to be a colossal error on my behalf. Normally I research things in more depth, however I needed them quickish and I figured Brembo have a good name. Which they do. For calipers.
A bit of googling suggests their discs and pads are not held in the same high regard. The reason for this became quickly apparent after a few decent stops from Dragy runs, as the discs warped badly. At first I thought it was just pad deposits on the discs, so I tried a few decent stops and then cool down driving, however this made very little difference. They've just got worse so I've had to bite the bullet and bin them which is annoying.
Handily the rears were also due for replacement so it was a fairly expensive day out with discs and pads all round.
As replacements I chose Mtec C-Hook discs and Ferodo DS2500 pads. Now this may sound odd, as Mtec are effectively chinese discs imported and then machined in the UK, and they're fairly cheapish all things considered, but bear with me. The other choice without spending a mental amount of money was Zimmermann which are german manufactured and OEM. In the end, I chose MTec as I've used their discs before on fwd french track hatches with no complaints and I've never had problems with warping. Stick with what you know.
I've also used Ferodo DS2500 pads before in the same environment and have always found them to perform well also. Granted the 140i is a lot heavier than a Clio / Saxo, but the discs are also bigger so hopefully they'll be OK. I think they should perform well for a road car anyway, which is all I use the car for.
Onto the job then! I used masking tape to tape around the caliper where you use a punch to knock out the pad retaining pins. I simply did this to prevent chipping the finish on the calipers if the punch slipped.
The rear discs and pads were definitely past their best, however I think they stood up very well to 62k miles use!
The brakes are an easy DIY job, the pad retaining pins punch out, then you can pull the pads out, and the caliper mounts to the hub with 2 x 16mm bolts (rear axle). Undo these and the caliper can be moved out of the way. A 6mm Hex bit is needed to undo the disc retaining screw.
The next photo will hopefully be helpful for anyone doing the job at home. The rear discs house the handbrake shoes and when they haven't been off for 3 years, they don't really want to let the discs go. So I had to adjust the shoes inwards to release the disc so I could remove it. To do this you have to rotate the hub until you can see the adjuster through one of the wheel bolt holes, you can then adjust it in clicks with a flathead screwdriver. I've pointed out the adjuster so you can see where it actually is rather than try and guess with a torch like me
This was all generally dusty and old, so I cleaned up the hub and adjuster with a wire brush and applied some copper grease to the hub before fitting the new disc.
I used some TFR and Bilt Hamber wheel cleaner to clean up all the old baked on brake dust from the calipers and made sure the pad slide areas were clean before refitting the calipers and popping the new pads in:
The fronts are even easier to do as the handbrake mech isn't a factor.
One thing that I did think was interesting was the sheer difference in contact area between the Ferodo DS2500 pads I fitted to the front of the car and the Brembo pads I took back out. Ferodo top, Brembo bottom. The sides of the friction material on the Brembo pads are tapered in to the contact area is less than it could be, as well as there being a large channel cut in the centre.
Anyhow, the job as they say, is a good'un.
This weekend I'm off to borrow a pal's ramp and change the brake fluid out for some fresh Motul fluid, then that should hopefully be the brakes sorted for a while to come. I've bedded the pads in and the bite seems far far better than it's been before.
In 5 days I'm off for a fortnight so I'm hoping to give the paintwork some much needed TLC and the interior. I've not forgotten I said I'd get some pics of cleaning the steering wheel up so I'll sort that out during next weeks cleaning shenanigans and update.
Then it's clay bar and machine polish time before a decent wax up for winter.
Also need some tyres again soon. Bah.
It's still very fast, and very very good fun.
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