My brave pill: E92 BMW 335i with the infamous N54 engine
Discussion
WhisperingWasp said:
Looking good and glad to see the troubles appear to be behind you.
I've now added a roof rack and bike carriers to mine (Thule, not BMW) but haven't actually carried anything yet so it is just ruining my MPG
. Looks purposeful though!
Thanks. I've now added a roof rack and bike carriers to mine (Thule, not BMW) but haven't actually carried anything yet so it is just ruining my MPG
. Looks purposeful though!Maximum scene points there!
I can’t say that I really notice the difference in fuel economy with or without it. Which bars did you fit? I used Thule Edge Wingbars because they’re pretty quiet, don’t overhang and are black.
KPB1973 said:
I have a stage 1 N54 in my Z4 35i. It's chalk and cheese to the standard engine. I recall that you got some work done in Nuneaton, so if you're East Mids / Leicester / Hinckley way you're welcome to try it.
Thanks for letting me have a spin in your car this afternoon; the stage one map is night and day different to the stock N54. It really does wake the engine up, a lot. It’s so much more punchy and third gear is very effective! I need to get off my arse and get the map sorted. Hopefully with the clocks changing this weekend I’ll have more time in the evening to get my DCI's refitted, fit the solid charge pipework and new intercooler.
The E89 Z4 surprised me too. As I said, I’d always ignored them but it was a really nice car.
Court_S said:
KPB1973 said:
I have a stage 1 N54 in my Z4 35i. It's chalk and cheese to the standard engine. I recall that you got some work done in Nuneaton, so if you're East Mids / Leicester / Hinckley way you're welcome to try it.
Thanks for letting me have a spin in your car this afternoon; the stage one map is night and day different to the stock N54. It really does wake the engine up, a lot. It’s so much more punchy and third gear is very effective! I need to get off my arse and get the map sorted. Hopefully with the clocks changing this weekend I’ll have more time in the evening to get my DCI's refitted, fit the solid charge pipework and new intercooler.
The E89 Z4 surprised me too. As I said, I’d always ignored them but it was a really nice car.
Yours looks amazing in the flesh, and I look forward to reading more about your plans to evolve it.
I think that this thread gets such good engagement from other P'headers because you come across so well in your writing. It was nice to find out that you are equally as genuine and personable in real life.
KPB1973 said:
My pleasure Sam. It was great to meet you and thank you for the compliments on my Z4. I agree; they are a bit of a surprise in N54 form and the car has proven to be much more capable than I ever expected. The extra shove from the tune really does wake up the whole package and make it a bit of a mini hotrod.
Yours looks amazing in the flesh, and I look forward to reading more about your plans to evolve it.
I think that this thread gets such good engagement from other P'headers because you come across so well in your writing. It was nice to find out that you are equally as genuine and personable in real life.
Thanks for the kind words. I’m just a car nerd who is afflicted with a love for older BMW’s and am very happy chatting guff about cars!Yours looks amazing in the flesh, and I look forward to reading more about your plans to evolve it.
I think that this thread gets such good engagement from other P'headers because you come across so well in your writing. It was nice to find out that you are equally as genuine and personable in real life.
I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t been looking at the classifieds this afternoon!
Not the most rock and roll update, but I started stage one of my post clean. I decided to attack the wheel arches and wheels.
First up, it was time to pop it onto axle stands.
Manky wheels ready for cleaning.
The wheel arches where looking pretty grotty after the winter.
Whilst the arches were soaking in a strong snow foam, degreaser and APC concoction I started drenching the wheels in tar and fall out remover. Despite being cleaned yesterday, there was a lot of contamination on the wheels.
Whilst the wheels were soaking, I scrubbed and rinsed the arches. Looking much better.
The plastic liners, suspension parts etc were all coated / dressed in a Chemical Guys product for wheel arches.
The wheels were then rinsed and re-soaked in Korrosol until contamination stopped reacting. Final rinse, dry and taken into the garage for ceramic coating. All done.
The wheels are now in the garage for the next 24 hours at least whilst it goes off.
Pretty sure my neighbours think that I’m completely off my rocker. Hopefully the weather holds tomorrow so I can get stuck into the paint; wash, decontamination, wash, clay bar, DA polisher, glaze and a couple of coats of Fusso wax.
First up, it was time to pop it onto axle stands.
Manky wheels ready for cleaning.
The wheel arches where looking pretty grotty after the winter.
Whilst the arches were soaking in a strong snow foam, degreaser and APC concoction I started drenching the wheels in tar and fall out remover. Despite being cleaned yesterday, there was a lot of contamination on the wheels.
Whilst the wheels were soaking, I scrubbed and rinsed the arches. Looking much better.
The plastic liners, suspension parts etc were all coated / dressed in a Chemical Guys product for wheel arches.
The wheels were then rinsed and re-soaked in Korrosol until contamination stopped reacting. Final rinse, dry and taken into the garage for ceramic coating. All done.
The wheels are now in the garage for the next 24 hours at least whilst it goes off.
Pretty sure my neighbours think that I’m completely off my rocker.
Hopefully the weather holds tomorrow so I can get stuck into the paint; wash, decontamination, wash, clay bar, DA polisher, glaze and a couple of coats of Fusso wax.The bloody weather was not cooperative this morning to car cleaning as it was s
tting it down….again.
Whilst the car was on axle stands and a bit higher than normal, I decided to spend some time on the lower, hard to reach places that I hate detailing. So, front and rear bumpers, vertical part of the boot lid and side skirts were detailed after the car had a quick wash.
They all received the following:
Excuse the ridiculous ride height, I’d literally just popped they wheels on and taken it off the stands.
tting it down….again.Whilst the car was on axle stands and a bit higher than normal, I decided to spend some time on the lower, hard to reach places that I hate detailing. So, front and rear bumpers, vertical part of the boot lid and side skirts were detailed after the car had a quick wash.
They all received the following:
- clay bar
- polished with a 75mm purple hex logic pad and Menzerna 2400 polish
- polished with a 75mm purple hex logic pad and Menzerna 3800 finishing polish
- wiped down with panel wipe
- KKD glaze applied
- two coats of Soft99 Fusso coat
Excuse the ridiculous ride height, I’d literally just popped they wheels on and taken it off the stands.
Court_S said:
d_a_n1979 said:
Looks spot on that Sam...
Missed a bit though
Or hang on...
"You can do mine next..."
Don’t you start! Missed a bit though
Or hang on...
"You can do mine next..."
The annoying bloke who use to say that all the time is apparently moving back soon….joy. Get it here all the time pal. Or some of the neighbours I have good relations with will WhatsApp me and ask me to stop showing up their cars haha
I do our elderly neighbours car for him once a fortnight, when I do ours... Nothing in it bar he has a clean car to infrequently use...
I get a crate of ale every Christmas
d_a_n1979 said:
Haha
Get it here all the time pal. Or some of the neighbours I have good relations with will WhatsApp me and ask me to stop showing up their cars haha
I do our elderly neighbours car for him once a fortnight, when I do ours... Nothing in it bar he has a clean car to infrequently use...
I get a crate of ale every Christmas
This bloke is just a knob. He’s sooooooooooooooooooo annoying; always telling me how crap BMW’s are and pointing out any imperfection on the paint like stone chips etc. I get nothing but bloody bother. I was chuffed when they moved last summer and was gutted to hear that they’re moving back.Get it here all the time pal. Or some of the neighbours I have good relations with will WhatsApp me and ask me to stop showing up their cars haha
I do our elderly neighbours car for him once a fortnight, when I do ours... Nothing in it bar he has a clean car to infrequently use...
I get a crate of ale every Christmas
Looking great - and glad to hear that the mechanicals seem to be a distant memory now. Are you planning on an MHD S1 map?
What CG product did you use on the arch liners? I'll be re-fitting my front end this weekend (hopefully!), and the plastics could all do with a nice bit of TLC ...
What CG product did you use on the arch liners? I'll be re-fitting my front end this weekend (hopefully!), and the plastics could all do with a nice bit of TLC ...
christhreadgill said:
Looking great - and glad to hear that the mechanicals seem to be a distant memory now. Are you planning on an MHD S1 map?
What CG product did you use on the arch liners? I'll be re-fitting my front end this weekend (hopefully!), and the plastics could all do with a nice bit of TLC ...
Thanks. I’m still tempted to take it to P Torque to get the engine and gearbox mapped. If nothing else for the dyno runs before and after. He did a grand job on the 125i. What CG product did you use on the arch liners? I'll be re-fitting my front end this weekend (hopefully!), and the plastics could all do with a nice bit of TLC ...
I used a product called Bare Bones.
Court_S said:
Thanks for letting me have a spin in your car this afternoon; the stage one map is night and day different to the stock N54. It really does wake the engine up, a lot. It’s so much more punchy and third gear is very effective!
I need to get off my arse and get the map sorted. Hopefully with the clocks changing this weekend I’ll have more time in the evening to get my DCI's refitted, fit the solid charge pipework and new intercooler.
The E89 Z4 surprised me too. As I said, I’d always ignored them but it was a really nice car.
I think the stage 1+ is the sweet spot and without an LSD traction is going to be a major issue even in the dry going to stage 2.I need to get off my arse and get the map sorted. Hopefully with the clocks changing this weekend I’ll have more time in the evening to get my DCI's refitted, fit the solid charge pipework and new intercooler.
The E89 Z4 surprised me too. As I said, I’d always ignored them but it was a really nice car.
Plus fitting the downpipes is a royal pita,
bargeista said:
I think the stage 1+ is the sweet spot and without an LSD traction is going to be a major issue even in the dry going to stage 2.
Plus fitting the downpipes is a royal pita,
Good to know. Plus fitting the downpipes is a royal pita,
Yeah, having been under the car there isn’t much room to get at the primary cats plus having just had an expensive alignment done, dropping the front sub-frame isn’t very appealing.
These arrived today:
A pair of M3 paddles (from Stone Automotive who has a YT channel). The NRW ones are quite big and I can’t Devi’s if I like them or not. I think I’ll need to buy some new adapters because you have to glue the paddles in place so it might be a short while before they’re fitted.
A pair of M3 paddles (from Stone Automotive who has a YT channel). The NRW ones are quite big and I can’t Devi’s if I like them or not. I think I’ll need to buy some new adapters because you have to glue the paddles in place so it might be a short while before they’re fitted.
Somewhat frustrating evening fiddling with my car tonight.
I had some wife and child free time, so I thought I’d chuck in my solid charge pipe and the DCI’s that I removed in January.
Having watched a few videos, the chargepipe looked like a piece of piss to install. The reality was a bit different; it was such a tight fit over the throttle body especially with a new OE o-ring. There’s sod all room and my arms are shredded.
Ready to start removing the air filter etc.
With the airbox removed, the you can see the stock charge pipe which is made of cheese. I wanted it replaced before the car gets mapped.
It came out easily enough.
New one-ring fitted to the new charge pipe and the sensor swapped over.
This where the fun began, trying to get the bloody in place. After copious amounts of swearing and frustration, I managed to get the damn thing fitted. It certainly didn’t just pop in place like in the videos.
There was even more frustration when I tried to fit the DCI’s. I had to remove and refit the charge pipe a few times to get at bolts for the OE and replacement bracket for the steering fluid reservoir. I then got round to fitting the first DCI only to find that it classed with the diverter valve which is higher due ti the way it fits to the replacement charge pipe. wk.
The chargepipe was then removed / refitted a couple of times to get the brackets swapped over again. Eventually the chargepipe was refitted with the stock airbox.
Given that I’m looking to add more power shortly, I decided that the solid pile was more important than the DCI’s.
I had some wife and child free time, so I thought I’d chuck in my solid charge pipe and the DCI’s that I removed in January.
Having watched a few videos, the chargepipe looked like a piece of piss to install. The reality was a bit different; it was such a tight fit over the throttle body especially with a new OE o-ring. There’s sod all room and my arms are shredded.
Ready to start removing the air filter etc.
With the airbox removed, the you can see the stock charge pipe which is made of cheese. I wanted it replaced before the car gets mapped.
It came out easily enough.
New one-ring fitted to the new charge pipe and the sensor swapped over.
This where the fun began, trying to get the bloody in place. After copious amounts of swearing and frustration, I managed to get the damn thing fitted. It certainly didn’t just pop in place like in the videos.
There was even more frustration when I tried to fit the DCI’s. I had to remove and refit the charge pipe a few times to get at bolts for the OE and replacement bracket for the steering fluid reservoir. I then got round to fitting the first DCI only to find that it classed with the diverter valve which is higher due ti the way it fits to the replacement charge pipe. w
k.The chargepipe was then removed / refitted a couple of times to get the brackets swapped over again. Eventually the chargepipe was refitted with the stock airbox.
Given that I’m looking to add more power shortly, I decided that the solid pile was more important than the DCI’s.
Good effort, swapping out the charge pipe is a good job to get done. It really looks like it should be simple, but it it is difficult to get a solid pipe in place and I had more space with the N55 than you!
Can I ask which spoiler you ordered? I followed an M3 for a little way the other day and the lip spoiler adds to the rear view.
Can I ask which spoiler you ordered? I followed an M3 for a little way the other day and the lip spoiler adds to the rear view.
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