2013 BMW 125i 6 on the floor (N52)

[B'stard Child]

rm163603 said:

Sorry for the O/T but is there a thread about the Lotus Carlton? I'd love to know more.

I've sent you a message with a link to the thread elsewhere - I've tried not to make it look like a spammy spam email

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

Court_S said:

Looks nice that. I think the 1 coupe has aged pretty well.

I do like the "hot wash" look

Court_S said:

The N52 is a lovely engine (had it in my 330) and makes a lovely noise. I had the M Performance Carbon airbox which added a lovely rasp near the redline. I wouldn’t pay full price fir it, but if you can find one for sensible cash. I managed to escape the water pump issue.

Another thing for the shopping list - now I know why I don't normally do these threads

Court_S said:

P Torque are another name that I've come across for remapping these. I’m badgering a mate with one to get his sorted out. His makes a pretty good noise on a stock exhaust, loader than my 330 which I guess is due to a shorter exhaust.

I think it's pretty quiet at the moment - I've read people adapting 135i coupe rear boxes to fit and doing something with a golf tee

Court_S said:

Are you going to remove the CDV?

OK you have me there - so I had a goggle "BMW CDV"

https://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f91/e46-clutc...

I do love the internet

Adds delete CDV to list of tasks

Glad to be of service adding things to your list!

I think they’re cracking little things; even my other half’s recently acquired poverty spec hatch has a certain charm and actually isn’t a bad car to drive despite being rather slow.

[B'stard Child]

Court_S said:

Glad to be of service adding things to your list!

I think they’re cracking little things; even my other half’s recently acquired poverty spec hatch has a certain charm and actually isn’t a bad car to drive despite being rather slow.

Meh - If it wasn’t you it would be someone else - just joined babybmw forum - they are way worse over there

[B'stard Child]

Time for a proper clean (warning some product placement may be present)

Snow foamed it - washed it - then set to work with a clay bar and dodo juice detailing spray



Really contaminated the clay very quickly



Panel at a time and followed clay bar with a wash and then lime prime as a prewax cleanser



Then a wash and follow up with Dodo Juice Orange Crush - as I find the citrus element keeps my cat off the car



Was really impressed with how the blue in the carbon black popped out with a decent layer of wax - it really needs a good machine polish but I don't have time for that right now



Obligatory reflection shot



Clay bar at then end of the day



Only used the one bucket wash method (well actually only half a bucket was needed)



Need to get another pot of wax and maybe replace the applicator which is starting to look like Ghandi's flip flop



So one down and 3 more to go

[B'stard Child]

Next up was to do something about the rusty brakes - consequence of using aggresive alloy wheel cleaner and being stood on a car lot for a few months being washed every other day and not being driven



Took the opportunity to clean the inside of the wheel arches while I was at it

Then jenolite the rust bits



Then remove any excess crusty bits and hit again before drying and painting with caliper paint

Fronts weren't much better although they did have new discs and pads



Then a bit of paint



Then a little run out to clean the paint of the discs and heat treat what was on the discs and calipers

Much better





Then it was time for the first mod - get rid of the worn square knob that wasn't comfortable at all and replace it



Normally I'd take the calipers apart and do a proper job but you lot are a bad influence and I'm quite keen now to do a brake upgrade so this is a short term tidy up to stop the rust discs and calipers irritating me......

[Demelitia]

B'stard Child said:

Normally I'd take the calipers apart and do a proper job but you lot are a bad influence and I'm quite keen now to do a brake upgrade so this is a short term tidy up to stop the rust discs and calipers irritating me......

Hopefully not telling you something you already know, but 130i carriers and bigger discs can possibly be used with your existing calipers.

The 6 pot brembo performance callipers were ~£700 delivered from Cotswold Bmw. You get callipers, discs, pads, backing plates, wear sensor and fasteners. I think the full front and rear kit for my 130i was ~£1100; excellent value in my eyes.

[acme]

Apologies to the OP for going slightly off topic here, but is it only the 125 that’s a N52 or also the 135i?

I’ve followed the E91 bearding thread about the N52 and know it’s also found in the 630i & Z4 30si, but didn’t realise it could be found so late in a 1 series. I do love a straight 6 NASP engine.

Cheers

Ps must look up your Senator threads too, we had 3 in succession in the 80’s as a kid, pre the cheese grill ones I assume you’re talking about with the 24v. So have a soft spot for all things Senator. In fact I can’t recall them ever being mentioned on PH!

[Demelitia]

acme said:

Apologies to the OP for going slightly off topic here, but is it only the 125 that’s a N52 or also the 135i?

I’ve followed the E91 bearding thread about the N52 and know it’s also found in the 630i & Z4 30si, but didn’t realise it could be found so late in a 1 series. I do love a straight 6 NASP engine.

Cheers

Ps must look up your Senator threads too, we had 3 in succession in the 80’s as a kid, pre the cheese grill ones I assume you’re talking about with the 24v. So have a soft spot for all things Senator. In fact I can’t recall them ever being mentioned on PH!

Just the 125i and 130i have the n52 for the e8* generation cars.
The 135i used the n54 and n55 engine depending on year.

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

Next up was to do something about the rusty brakes - consequence of using aggresive alloy wheel cleaner and being stood on a car lot for a few months being washed every other day and not being driven



Took the opportunity to clean the inside of the wheel arches while I was at it

Then jenolite the rust bits



Then remove any excess crusty bits and hit again before drying and painting with caliper paint

Fronts weren't much better although they did have new discs and pads



Then a bit of paint



Then a little run out to clean the paint of the discs and heat treat what was on the discs and calipers

Much better





Then it was time for the first mod - get rid of the worn square knob that wasn't comfortable at all and replace it



Normally I'd take the calipers apart and do a proper job but you lot are a bad influence and I'm quite keen now to do a brake upgrade so this is a short term tidy up to stop the rust discs and calipers irritating me......

Brakes look load better. I need to do the ones on my other half’s 116 which are a bit scabby.

[B'stard Child]

Demelitia said:

Hopefully not telling you something you already know, but 130i carriers and bigger discs can possibly be used with your existing calipers.

The 6 pot brembo performance callipers were ~£700 delivered from Cotswold Bmw. You get callipers, discs, pads, backing plates, wear sensor and fasteners. I think the full front and rear kit for my 130i was ~£1100; excellent value in my eyes.

Apparently 123d are also same as 130i

Holding off on brake upgrade right now pending ride on 18’s with non run flat tyres - if it’s still choppy I think I’ll go down to 17’s with slightly taller profiles

I’m not a huge fan of rubber band tyres on big wheels and right now the car visually looks over wheeled and undertyred

[B'stard Child]

acme said:

Ps must look up your Senator threads too, we had 3 in succession in the 80’s as a kid, pre the cheese grill ones I assume you’re talking about with the 24v. So have a soft spot for all things Senator. In fact I can’t recall them ever being mentioned on PH!

I've never done a Readers cars thread on my Senators (or my LC for that matter) so I can't point you in that direction on here

Been a few threads on the older senators in the past but not all are in my bookmarks but you can have a few that I have bookmarked and contributed to

Vauxhall Royale Here

Garlick was very kind in that thread

Garlick said:

Mr Child I officially present you with the PistonHeads 'Biggest Early Vauxhall Fan' award.

Outstanding

Despite owning probably close to 20 Senator and Carlton 6 pot cars and a few 4 pot ones too I’m really a Monzaholic but my 24V monza has never had a build thread on here either - it's end is documented Here It will be reborn eventually but progress is a bit glacial right now

If you want a bit of my senator history it’s covered in the SOTW thread on a Senator 24V Here

I hope you enjoy the threads

[B'stard Child]

Court_S said:

Brakes look load better. I need to do the ones on my other half’s 116 which are a bit scabby.

Was well worth the effort but cooking the paint took a bit of effort - four hard stops from 100 down to 10 mph and then back up to 100 and repeat until I could really smell the brakes and was getting wafts of smoke from them.

Incidently I found out that when you really brake hard the hazards come on automatically - cool trick which I managed to repeat four times

Anyway that got the brakes smoking and once they had cooled the paint was nice and hard

[stevesingo]

B'stard Child said:

Apparently 123d are also same as 130i

Holding off on brake upgrade right now pending ride on 18’s with non run flat tyres - if it’s still choppy I think I’ll go down to 17’s with slightly taller profiles

I’m not a huge fan of rubber band tyres on big wheels and right now the car visually looks over wheeled and undertyred

Non-runflats make a big difference. The fide can be further improved by Birds suspension updates or even Bilstein B12 kit is better than stock M Sport for ride quality.

[B'stard Child]

stevesingo said:

B'stard Child said:

Apparently 123d are also same as 130i

Holding off on brake upgrade right now pending ride on 18’s with non run flat tyres - if it’s still choppy I think I’ll go down to 17’s with slightly taller profiles

I’m not a huge fan of rubber band tyres on big wheels and right now the car visually looks over wheeled and undertyred

Non-runflats make a big difference. The fide can be further improved by Birds suspension updates or even Bilstein B12 kit is better than stock M Sport for ride quality.

I hope you are right because it's a wodge of cash to replace the runflats and then find that I really should have gone down a wheel size from 18 to 17 and a corresponding increase in tyre profile

[bodhi]

Taking off the runflats definitely makes a difference - it's still hardly a magic carpet but far more comfortable, and going to normal tyres got rid of an annoying rattle I had in the passenger air vent. I noticed a bigger difference in grip however - I went to 225/255 due to PS4 availability at the time and it is unbelievably surefooted, even in torrential rain.

Apart from the remap putting PS4's on is probably the best mod I've done for it, and they soon make their money back with how long they last. I can get 25k out of a set of rears now, and my fronts still have 3mm left after 55k.

Have you taken it through a tunnel in 2nd gear yet?

[B'stard Child]

bodhi said:

Taking off the runflats definitely makes a difference - it's still hardly a magic carpet but far more comfortable, and going to normal tyres got rid of an annoying rattle I had in the passenger air vent. I noticed a bigger difference in grip however - I went to 225/255 due to PS4 availability at the time and it is unbelievably surefooted, even in torrential rain.

Apart from the remap putting PS4's on is probably the best mod I've done for it, and they soon make their money back with how long they last. I can get 25k out of a set of rears now, and my fronts still have 3mm left after 55k.

Have you taken it through a tunnel in 2nd gear yet?

Well I’ll see how I get on - you are getting good life out if PS4’s - I tend to wear out all four at the same rate

As for tunnels - we don’t have any in Norfolk (or motorways for that matter)

[acme]

Demelitia said:

Just the 125i and 130i have the n52 for the e8* generation cars.
The 135i used the n54 and n55 engine depending on year.

Thanks for the reply, appreciated.

[acme]

B'stard Child said:

Despite owning probably close to 20 Senator and Carlton 6 pot cars and a few 4 pot ones too I’m really a Monzaholic but my 24V monza has never had a build thread on here either - it's end is documented Here It will be reborn eventually but progress is a bit glacial right now

If you want a bit of my senator history it’s covered in the SOTW thread on a Senator 24V Here

I hope you enjoy the threads

Fantastic thanks, I shall immerse myself in all things Senator

[B'stard Child]

acme said:

B'stard Child said:

Despite owning probably close to 20 Senator and Carlton 6 pot cars and a few 4 pot ones too I’m really a Monzaholic but my 24V monza has never had a build thread on here either - it's end is documented Here It will be reborn eventually but progress is a bit glacial right now

If you want a bit of my senator history it’s covered in the SOTW thread on a Senator 24V Here

I hope you enjoy the threads

Fantastic thanks, I shall immerse myself in all things Senator

No probs - I've been meaning to do another thread on Senator/Carlton/Monza for a while - I might stick it in Readers cars - it's more a confession is good for the soul thread

Edited to add Here it is - part 1

Edited by B'stard Child on Tuesday 27th August 13:00

[Demelitia]

B'stard Child said:

I hope you are right because it's a wodge of cash to replace the runflats and then find that I really should have gone down a wheel size from 18 to 17 and a corresponding increase in tyre profile

When you go to non run-flats, make sure you get ones with a reasonably stiff sidewall, probably stiffer than you’d expect for the car.
I’ve got eagle f1 asy 3’s on, with a 94 load rating on my 130i. The suspension is setup for the stiffer run-flats and the handling can feel wishy-washy without a substitute for that sidewall rigidity. The ride is still fine on 18” wheels, 35 section tyres on the rear.

Edited by Demelitia on Tuesday 27th August 16:17