2014 BMW M135i Project
Discussion
Hello all,
Long time lurker here, finally decided to post something in here. Been out the car game for a couple years with company cars, but the bug came back and decided to buy myself something. That happened to be a 2014 Pre LCi BMW M135i.
But First, a bit of car history. I've had a fair few cars over my 10 year car history, but i'll only highlight the ones of interest.
First car, MK5 Fiesta Zetec-S. Blew the bottom end up within a couple months of being a 17 year old hooligan and replaced it with a 1.7 Puma engine. Great Fun.
Then came a Skoda Fabia VRS that i wrote off into a field... great times.
A low mileage red 106GTi came next, loved that thing.
Then came an E46 330ci which i loved, ended up modifying a fair bit and it became a bit undriveable! Then the quest for speed came.
I picked up a completely standard MK5 GTi DSG. The car had many guises but ended up being a very well specced track car.
Here is how it ended up.
Brief run down of the spec.
K04 Turbo upgrade
Downpipe decat, custom exhaust, custom filter, HPFP, Airtec front mount, mapped by Rtech to 380bhp and 390lb-ft
Wavetrac LSD
ST XTA Coilovers with KW Clubsport Spring Rates
Cage
AP 6 pots on the front
BBS Magnesium wheels 1 of 8 sets in the world
Semi Slicks
Full BTCC kit
Too many chassis mods to list!
Fun while is lasted, but ended up more hassle than its worth after a lot of track day abuse and 3 trips to the ring.
I ended up selling it very quick on eBay for a price i think it deserved. The next day I bought something else.
2010 Renault Megane 250RS.
Such a great car, improved it with some bits.
Springs, Downpipe decat, semi slicks, Recaro Pole Positions and did some track days in it.
I then sold it and went away from cars for a bit, didn't last long and bought a well sorted Megane 225 Track car
Hyrbid Turbo
R26.R Gearbox
AP Brakes
KW's
Plastic Windows etc
300bhp and 300lb-ft
Was an awesome car, until it let me down with gearbox issues on the way to the ring
Sold it after that and swapped for an E46 M3, forever been my dream car.
Did a few bits to it.
Stripped out, carbon doorcards, KW's, semi slicks, CSL Bootlid.
DId some trackdays in it, but shortly after got made redundant and had to sell unfortunately.
Long time lurker here, finally decided to post something in here. Been out the car game for a couple years with company cars, but the bug came back and decided to buy myself something. That happened to be a 2014 Pre LCi BMW M135i.
But First, a bit of car history. I've had a fair few cars over my 10 year car history, but i'll only highlight the ones of interest.
First car, MK5 Fiesta Zetec-S. Blew the bottom end up within a couple months of being a 17 year old hooligan and replaced it with a 1.7 Puma engine. Great Fun.
Then came a Skoda Fabia VRS that i wrote off into a field... great times.
A low mileage red 106GTi came next, loved that thing.
Then came an E46 330ci which i loved, ended up modifying a fair bit and it became a bit undriveable! Then the quest for speed came.
I picked up a completely standard MK5 GTi DSG. The car had many guises but ended up being a very well specced track car.
Here is how it ended up.
Brief run down of the spec.
K04 Turbo upgrade
Downpipe decat, custom exhaust, custom filter, HPFP, Airtec front mount, mapped by Rtech to 380bhp and 390lb-ft
Wavetrac LSD
ST XTA Coilovers with KW Clubsport Spring Rates
Cage
AP 6 pots on the front
BBS Magnesium wheels 1 of 8 sets in the world
Semi Slicks
Full BTCC kit
Too many chassis mods to list!
Fun while is lasted, but ended up more hassle than its worth after a lot of track day abuse and 3 trips to the ring.
I ended up selling it very quick on eBay for a price i think it deserved. The next day I bought something else.
2010 Renault Megane 250RS.
Such a great car, improved it with some bits.
Springs, Downpipe decat, semi slicks, Recaro Pole Positions and did some track days in it.
I then sold it and went away from cars for a bit, didn't last long and bought a well sorted Megane 225 Track car
Hyrbid Turbo
R26.R Gearbox
AP Brakes
KW's
Plastic Windows etc
300bhp and 300lb-ft
Was an awesome car, until it let me down with gearbox issues on the way to the ring
Sold it after that and swapped for an E46 M3, forever been my dream car.
Did a few bits to it.
Stripped out, carbon doorcards, KW's, semi slicks, CSL Bootlid.
DId some trackdays in it, but shortly after got made redundant and had to sell unfortunately.
Now onto the M135i.
I took 2 years away after the M3 and just had a company car from work. I'm a car salesman for Sytner MINI, so just had some fun mini's for 2 years, love them!
But the itch came back, and being next door to BMW i was constantly tempted.
I wanted something fun, fast, reliable, and not horrendous on fuel as it needs to be a daily. As tempting as an E92 M3 was, the costs that potentially come with it frightened me away after seeing some big bills through work.
M135i's rarely see problems and can be savagely fast when fettled with.
So i found an Alpine white one. The standard spec is:
2014 '64'
65k Miles
Alpine White
ZF 8 Speed Auto
Coral Red leather
Pro Nav
Heated Seats
Tints
The car was standard for all of a week, as I had already started stock piling parts!
First up was 15mm spacers all round.
Then into the workshop for the following:
Maxton design front splitter and side skirts
4" Downpipe
BMS Intake
Forge Charge Pipe
Whilst we were there we put on the M Performance front grilles, much nicer than chrome.
Then, mapping the car. I used the Bootmod3 software from the US for this, couldn't recommend it more. 20mins on the drive way, drives better than standard and is now stage 2 on 99 ron. They say this is between 420-450bhp and around the same lb-ft torque, it feels absolutely mental to drive tbh, i'm still not used to it at all, in the wet its a nightmare.
Now the power was taken care of, I picked up some ST Springs -30mm. Car sits far better and rides better too. That in turn came with some M3 carbon mirrors.
on Springs:
Then came a rieger rear diffuser and carbon rear spoiler lip, always thought there was something missing from the rear of the car.
Last but not least, a steering wheel retrim by Royal, could not recommend this more.
That's it for winter. Booking a ring trip in it early next year and that will bring new seats, tyres, brakes and maybe an LSD.
Cheers,
I took 2 years away after the M3 and just had a company car from work. I'm a car salesman for Sytner MINI, so just had some fun mini's for 2 years, love them!
But the itch came back, and being next door to BMW i was constantly tempted.
I wanted something fun, fast, reliable, and not horrendous on fuel as it needs to be a daily. As tempting as an E92 M3 was, the costs that potentially come with it frightened me away after seeing some big bills through work.
M135i's rarely see problems and can be savagely fast when fettled with.
So i found an Alpine white one. The standard spec is:
2014 '64'
65k Miles
Alpine White
ZF 8 Speed Auto
Coral Red leather
Pro Nav
Heated Seats
Tints
The car was standard for all of a week, as I had already started stock piling parts!
First up was 15mm spacers all round.
Then into the workshop for the following:
Maxton design front splitter and side skirts
4" Downpipe
BMS Intake
Forge Charge Pipe
Whilst we were there we put on the M Performance front grilles, much nicer than chrome.
Then, mapping the car. I used the Bootmod3 software from the US for this, couldn't recommend it more. 20mins on the drive way, drives better than standard and is now stage 2 on 99 ron. They say this is between 420-450bhp and around the same lb-ft torque, it feels absolutely mental to drive tbh, i'm still not used to it at all, in the wet its a nightmare.
Now the power was taken care of, I picked up some ST Springs -30mm. Car sits far better and rides better too. That in turn came with some M3 carbon mirrors.
on Springs:
Then came a rieger rear diffuser and carbon rear spoiler lip, always thought there was something missing from the rear of the car.
Last but not least, a steering wheel retrim by Royal, could not recommend this more.
That's it for winter. Booking a ring trip in it early next year and that will bring new seats, tyres, brakes and maybe an LSD.
Cheers,
thebigmacmoomin said:
Hahaha, that's brilliant. Perfect for me. Court_S said:
Looks ace OP.
What pads are you considering? M4 pads or something a bit more focused?
Most likely more focused. I haven’t even looked tbh. I’ve always ran Pagid RS29’s and love them, but I’ll have an ask about on the forum I guess. What pads are you considering? M4 pads or something a bit more focused?
After the ring (you always get ideas for other cars when you’re there) I reckon an e92 M3 might be on the cards. It’s rare I keep a car over a year tbh!
ChapmanC said:
Most likely more focused. I haven’t even looked tbh. I’ve always ran Pagid RS29’s and love them, but I’ll have an ask about on the forum I guess.
After the ring (you always get ideas for other cars when you’re there) I reckon an e92 M3 might be on the cards. It’s rare I keep a car over a year tbh!
I’m a big fan of the E9x M3. That’s what I really wanted but thought that I’d get cheesed off with the running costs and using it as a daily. If my uncle hadn’t sold his before I was ready to buy, I reckon I might have bought his. It was a nice spec and a nice car that I knew at least part of the history of.After the ring (you always get ideas for other cars when you’re there) I reckon an e92 M3 might be on the cards. It’s rare I keep a car over a year tbh!
Court_S said:
I’m a big fan of the E9x M3. That’s what I really wanted but thought that I’d get cheesed off with the running costs and using it as a daily. If my uncle hadn’t sold his before I was ready to buy, I reckon I might have bought his. It was a nice spec and a nice car that I knew at least part of the history of.
Yeah it will be a daily unfortunately but because of where i work i can get the common faults and issues sorted very cheap. My car is averaging around 25mpg if i dont drive like a complete tool, which is difficult, cant imagine the M3 being toooooo much worse. Jonny_gti said:
Great selection of cars you've had so far, I esp like the ph1 Megane 225, how did you find it compared on track to the Megane 250 you had?
Looking forward to seeing the progress on the M135i.
I'll be honest, the 250 was far too easy. Yes it was fast on track, but a little boring as you couldn't really get anything wrong even driving like an idiot. Looking forward to seeing the progress on the M135i.
The 225 was a lot more fun, more unpredictable and the way it was set up it was rather aggressive, and quicker than the 250 due to everything done.
ChapmanC said:
Yeah it will be a daily unfortunately but because of where i work i can get the common faults and issues sorted very cheap. My car is averaging around 25mpg if i dont drive like a complete tool, which is difficult, cant imagine the M3 being toooooo much worse.
Not going to be a million miles worse than that. The bork factor did worry me a tad, but I guess working where you do will take the sting out if the M Tax.
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