BMW F30 340i (66 plate) **pic heavy
Discussion
Hi All,
Long time lurker, not quite first time poster.
I thought it was about time I maybe shared what I own on the forum, it's nothing special compared to some of the cars on here but it's special to me.
in 2017 I started looking at replacing my brilliant E90 325d, I started looking at F31's and the odd F30 but I was struggling to find the right one (340i in San Marino Blue, yeah I know impossible). Granted there are a few San Marino Blue F31's about, but finding them for sale is another question. After about 6 months of looking on BMW's UAC and the Classifieds I was starting to give up, most were White, Black, Silver or even Estoril Blue and I didn't want any of those colours. Anyway, I'd started thinking about what else was out there that I liked or could afford and then one lunchtime in December I saw a Silver 340i saloon for sale at Williams Liverpool, yes not quite what I was after but it was a spec I was more than happy with for a price I was more than happy with.
So on Christmas Eve myself and my Dad thought we'd go to Liverpool for a nosey as we, used to do from time to time, plus its free brew and cake. Sadly BMW was closed but we still had a mooch around the car while we were there. A few days later we headed back for a proper look around the car and discussed prices, took it for a test drive and I fell in love with the car. I placed a deposit down and I decided to sell my E90 privately as BMW offered me very little for the 325d, so I stuck ad on social media and it took all of 1 day to sell it. Nice guy from London bought it can't help but think living in the center of London and buying a 3l diesel was the best financial decision the guy made but not for me to say ha ha ha.
So the car itself is a 340i M-Sport Plus, bigger brakes, 19" wheels as standard, Harmon Kardon Logic 7, privacy glass and adaptive LED's to name a few things. The 325 wasn't exactly poverty spec but the 340 was certainly another level up, I supposed half of that is because I've skipped the E90 LCI and F30 pre LCI.
The car looked great, granted a little plain jane for something as quick as it was and as I can't leave anything alone I had to modify it.
So I managed to source a genuine BMW M Performance spoiler in Carbon and some Black kidney grills.
That's how it was kept for a few months while I saved up for a few other bits I wanted for the car, including another set of wheels and a full BMW M Performance body kit. So, fast forward a few months and I managed to get myself a set of 763M wheels from CMWheels (I'm not spending 4k on wheels) and got myself the body kit. However, I'm not a fan of the Matte Black or gloss Black kits so I had the front splitter and rear diffuser painted, front to match the car (excluding the bottom bit) and the rear was painted to match the standard diffuser (excluding the centre "diffuser" section). I also got my hands on some H&R Super Sport springs and shortened BMW bump stops.
As some of the eagle eyed may have noticed the front tyres where a little narrow and it drove awful on them, felt like the tyre was rolling over all the time so I went up a size width wise and the difference was night and day.
Took the car to Scotland on a solo road trip for a week. I didn't do the NC500 but just did my own tour starting at Loch Lomond, then onto Glencoe, Fort William, Isle of Skye (NW coast), Ullapool, Kylesku, Inverness, Loch Ness, Fort Augustus and finally Oban.
Obviously had to go Glen Etive, I didn't park in the exact spot because it was battered.
Couple more months passed by and I was really happy with the car, it looked how I think 340's should have looked from the factory only it didn't have a great deal of sound. Now I'd looked at many different options and different systems and I even debated a custom non-resonated centre section. In the end I went with the people who know best and booked the car in at Crewe BMW to have the M-Performance Power and Sound kit fitted.
The difference in the car was phenomenal, sat in the waiting room I heard the car start and I was blown away by how loud it was and when the tech took it out for a test drive my jaw dropped at just how loud it was. It sounded amazing, just very loud from what I was used to with the standard system. Power wise, you can tell it's had a modest increase as can my wallet.
On my trip around Scotland, it really highlighted just how naff just fitting springs was and I should know this as I've never just fitted springs to any of my previous cars. I've always fitted, either springs and dampers or coilovers, I mean even the E90 was on coilovers but the ride was so much better over the standard "M-Sport" suspension. Man maths started taking over, a quick call to Demon Tweeks and a set of Bilstein B14 coilovers were ready for fitting. Now previously excluding the exhaust, I've fitted everything as I like to well 1 save money but 2 I like to tinker but I really could not be bothered doing the suspension myself hence having Tweeks fit them. I've been there in the past for parts etc but never had anything fitted, I expected some kind of decent service but the guy who I was dealing with was second to none. Super careful with the car, took his time, ensured everything was perfect and inline with what I actually wanted. Not only that but I was very particular to how I wanted the car to sit, the H&R springs were just too low. I expected a hefty drop but looking back the car looked ridiculous.
It was around this time I also changed the brake fluid and brake pads for DS2500's with ATE Typ200 (removed the vague all or nothing brakes), now I stop 20yards away from lights ha ha ha.
My Dad likes a trip out so I had him model one of the front units and then a picture on the way home at Chester services.
At this point the car barely got used, I had the suspension fitted and days later we were in full lockdown and it gave me plenty of disposable income as I was no longer driving to and from work as I was WFH. I decided the front and rear bumpers needed a freshen up, the front had plenty of stone chips and about 8 holes in it from when BMW fitted the plate holder and plate, the rear had a mark in it from when I picked it up from BMW. So I booked it in at Travis Auto's in St Helens, to have the rear bumper painted, front bumper plastic welded and painted... along with a new Carbon splitter I'd purchased from Motech. You might be thinking, "well if the holes are being welded how are you going to fit the reg plate?"... Magnets.
I also ordered a magnetic plate kit from my friend Tom who owns Magnaplates, he supplied the kit to the bodyshop and they did the rest ensuring they kept the original plate surround.
While all this was going on I bought myself the "M" steering wheel trim, not the wheel itself but the centre trim. The main reason for this, I don't like the M colours in the stitching and my original wheel comes with the heating element and if I was to buy one from an M2/3/4/ all of a sudden we're spending £400. So £100 later I had an M2 wheel trim, which just made the steering wheel a little more special. It was a relitively simple job, just required a little bit of nouce and some pictures so I knew what went where when reassembling it.
BEFORE
AFTER
Day after picking the car up from the body shop...
I also fitted some Lamin-X to the fog lights to add to the clean look for the front end, light output is exactly the same but they don't stand out like a sore thumb now.
For those interested in how the magnetic plate kit works on my car...
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFAloufjV8X/?utm_sourc...
That was all just over 12 months ago and in the last 3 weeks I've had Graham Martin (St Helens) who is a BMW Indie fit TRW discs and another brake fluid change. As always excellent service from the guys there, again another think I've had to have fitted because at the moment I don't have the time or the space, I'm back in the office now and I literally got no space on my drive.
Added some de-chromed BMW rondels last week and I think we're done ha ha ha.
Well I hope I haven't bored you all too much, it's a lot to cram in to one post (nearly 4 years of ownership).
Thanks
Long time lurker, not quite first time poster.
I thought it was about time I maybe shared what I own on the forum, it's nothing special compared to some of the cars on here but it's special to me.
in 2017 I started looking at replacing my brilliant E90 325d, I started looking at F31's and the odd F30 but I was struggling to find the right one (340i in San Marino Blue, yeah I know impossible). Granted there are a few San Marino Blue F31's about, but finding them for sale is another question. After about 6 months of looking on BMW's UAC and the Classifieds I was starting to give up, most were White, Black, Silver or even Estoril Blue and I didn't want any of those colours. Anyway, I'd started thinking about what else was out there that I liked or could afford and then one lunchtime in December I saw a Silver 340i saloon for sale at Williams Liverpool, yes not quite what I was after but it was a spec I was more than happy with for a price I was more than happy with.
So on Christmas Eve myself and my Dad thought we'd go to Liverpool for a nosey as we, used to do from time to time, plus its free brew and cake. Sadly BMW was closed but we still had a mooch around the car while we were there. A few days later we headed back for a proper look around the car and discussed prices, took it for a test drive and I fell in love with the car. I placed a deposit down and I decided to sell my E90 privately as BMW offered me very little for the 325d, so I stuck ad on social media and it took all of 1 day to sell it. Nice guy from London bought it can't help but think living in the center of London and buying a 3l diesel was the best financial decision the guy made but not for me to say ha ha ha.
So the car itself is a 340i M-Sport Plus, bigger brakes, 19" wheels as standard, Harmon Kardon Logic 7, privacy glass and adaptive LED's to name a few things. The 325 wasn't exactly poverty spec but the 340 was certainly another level up, I supposed half of that is because I've skipped the E90 LCI and F30 pre LCI.
The car looked great, granted a little plain jane for something as quick as it was and as I can't leave anything alone I had to modify it.
So I managed to source a genuine BMW M Performance spoiler in Carbon and some Black kidney grills.
That's how it was kept for a few months while I saved up for a few other bits I wanted for the car, including another set of wheels and a full BMW M Performance body kit. So, fast forward a few months and I managed to get myself a set of 763M wheels from CMWheels (I'm not spending 4k on wheels) and got myself the body kit. However, I'm not a fan of the Matte Black or gloss Black kits so I had the front splitter and rear diffuser painted, front to match the car (excluding the bottom bit) and the rear was painted to match the standard diffuser (excluding the centre "diffuser" section). I also got my hands on some H&R Super Sport springs and shortened BMW bump stops.
As some of the eagle eyed may have noticed the front tyres where a little narrow and it drove awful on them, felt like the tyre was rolling over all the time so I went up a size width wise and the difference was night and day.
Took the car to Scotland on a solo road trip for a week. I didn't do the NC500 but just did my own tour starting at Loch Lomond, then onto Glencoe, Fort William, Isle of Skye (NW coast), Ullapool, Kylesku, Inverness, Loch Ness, Fort Augustus and finally Oban.
Obviously had to go Glen Etive, I didn't park in the exact spot because it was battered.
Couple more months passed by and I was really happy with the car, it looked how I think 340's should have looked from the factory only it didn't have a great deal of sound. Now I'd looked at many different options and different systems and I even debated a custom non-resonated centre section. In the end I went with the people who know best and booked the car in at Crewe BMW to have the M-Performance Power and Sound kit fitted.
The difference in the car was phenomenal, sat in the waiting room I heard the car start and I was blown away by how loud it was and when the tech took it out for a test drive my jaw dropped at just how loud it was. It sounded amazing, just very loud from what I was used to with the standard system. Power wise, you can tell it's had a modest increase as can my wallet.
On my trip around Scotland, it really highlighted just how naff just fitting springs was and I should know this as I've never just fitted springs to any of my previous cars. I've always fitted, either springs and dampers or coilovers, I mean even the E90 was on coilovers but the ride was so much better over the standard "M-Sport" suspension. Man maths started taking over, a quick call to Demon Tweeks and a set of Bilstein B14 coilovers were ready for fitting. Now previously excluding the exhaust, I've fitted everything as I like to well 1 save money but 2 I like to tinker but I really could not be bothered doing the suspension myself hence having Tweeks fit them. I've been there in the past for parts etc but never had anything fitted, I expected some kind of decent service but the guy who I was dealing with was second to none. Super careful with the car, took his time, ensured everything was perfect and inline with what I actually wanted. Not only that but I was very particular to how I wanted the car to sit, the H&R springs were just too low. I expected a hefty drop but looking back the car looked ridiculous.
It was around this time I also changed the brake fluid and brake pads for DS2500's with ATE Typ200 (removed the vague all or nothing brakes), now I stop 20yards away from lights ha ha ha.
My Dad likes a trip out so I had him model one of the front units and then a picture on the way home at Chester services.
At this point the car barely got used, I had the suspension fitted and days later we were in full lockdown and it gave me plenty of disposable income as I was no longer driving to and from work as I was WFH. I decided the front and rear bumpers needed a freshen up, the front had plenty of stone chips and about 8 holes in it from when BMW fitted the plate holder and plate, the rear had a mark in it from when I picked it up from BMW. So I booked it in at Travis Auto's in St Helens, to have the rear bumper painted, front bumper plastic welded and painted... along with a new Carbon splitter I'd purchased from Motech. You might be thinking, "well if the holes are being welded how are you going to fit the reg plate?"... Magnets.
I also ordered a magnetic plate kit from my friend Tom who owns Magnaplates, he supplied the kit to the bodyshop and they did the rest ensuring they kept the original plate surround.
While all this was going on I bought myself the "M" steering wheel trim, not the wheel itself but the centre trim. The main reason for this, I don't like the M colours in the stitching and my original wheel comes with the heating element and if I was to buy one from an M2/3/4/ all of a sudden we're spending £400. So £100 later I had an M2 wheel trim, which just made the steering wheel a little more special. It was a relitively simple job, just required a little bit of nouce and some pictures so I knew what went where when reassembling it.
BEFORE
AFTER
Day after picking the car up from the body shop...
I also fitted some Lamin-X to the fog lights to add to the clean look for the front end, light output is exactly the same but they don't stand out like a sore thumb now.
For those interested in how the magnetic plate kit works on my car...
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFAloufjV8X/?utm_sourc...
That was all just over 12 months ago and in the last 3 weeks I've had Graham Martin (St Helens) who is a BMW Indie fit TRW discs and another brake fluid change. As always excellent service from the guys there, again another think I've had to have fitted because at the moment I don't have the time or the space, I'm back in the office now and I literally got no space on my drive.
Added some de-chromed BMW rondels last week and I think we're done ha ha ha.
Well I hope I haven't bored you all too much, it's a lot to cram in to one post (nearly 4 years of ownership).
Thanks
d_a_n1979 said:
That's a stunning car and fantastic project
Not a fan of black alloys but those look superb & suit the car to a tee
Thanks alot, it's what I think the 340 should have looked like from factory, special but not over the top.Not a fan of black alloys but those look superb & suit the car to a tee
Re Black alloys, I was also in that club but I saw these on an M2 in Satin Black (like mine) and had to have them.
toby-w8jtf said:
Looks superb! I'm going with pretty much the same aesthetic mods on my M235i which I'm sure will really sharpen the looks....
Will you be adding more Phwoaaaah to the mix?
Well the car is around 355hp now after the MPPSK, I did think about a remap but in all honesty it's bloody quick enough. If I was to do anything else to it now, I'd put a LSD on it.Will you be adding more Phwoaaaah to the mix?
I'm looking at getting a Porsche 997 next year so I'm done with modifications now.
BIFCAIDS said:
toby-w8jtf said:
Looks superb! I'm going with pretty much the same aesthetic mods on my M235i which I'm sure will really sharpen the looks....
Will you be adding more Phwoaaaah to the mix?
Well the car is around 355hp now after the MPPSK, I did think about a remap but in all honesty it's bloody quick enough. If I was to do anything else to it now, I'd put a LSD on it.Will you be adding more Phwoaaaah to the mix?
I'm looking at getting a Porsche 997 next year so I'm done with modifications now.
Im currently running 460bhp on mine, stage 2+, wtih xhp stage 3 gearbox flash. far too much power for the chassis as is, so im looking into some suspension upgrades myself.
reefer110 said:
Very nice, does look good on those wheels. I've read a few stories about CM wheels and the quality but assume you've had no problem with them.
Yeah I've heard mixed things since my dealings with them, I did have a set of 359M wheels on the 325d at one point in Silver (looked fantastic). However, after 4 years they did crack so I scrapped them. I did get in touch with them to let them know what had happened and they just offered another set of wheels at trade price... enter the 763M's. These have been brilliant though, maybe time will tell. The guys there though have looked after me in the past with bits so I can't complain.Pistonheader101 said:
the mppsk 340i/440i has quite the cult following. they are going to hold their value really well, considering you can't have noisy valve exhausts like these anymore.
Im currently running 460bhp on mine, stage 2+, wtih xhp stage 3 gearbox flash. far too much power for the chassis as is, so im looking into some suspension upgrades myself.
Serious bit of power, a friend of mine owns DRW Performance and has mithered me about Boot Mod3 and XHP, it would be interesting to see what it would be like with the extra power.Im currently running 460bhp on mine, stage 2+, wtih xhp stage 3 gearbox flash. far too much power for the chassis as is, so im looking into some suspension upgrades myself.
Court_S said:
That looks brilliant OP, it’s no plain Jane now. The wheels looks ace and it sits really well in the B14’s. I think the F30’s have aged well.
The B58 is an impressive engine (I had an M140i).
Thanks for the kind words. The engine is fantastic, sounds brilliant and pulls like a train.The B58 is an impressive engine (I had an M140i).
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