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PranK

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Posts posted by PranK

    My BMW 335i

    in Euro Discussion

    Posted

    I replaced my stupid Pro Vision xenon bulbs which just flickered all the time with Osram replacements. Crazy how expensive these are. Fixed the problem and the light is far superior to the Pro Vision.

    I contacted Pro Vision about them and was told I needed to change my ballasts 🤔. Conveniently they sold the ballasts I needed for ~$300ea. Yeah no. Cut my $100 loss and move on. 

    Also more recently I changed the adaptive headlight controllers as they didn't adapt and were giving an error. The whole front had to come off for that.

    I also ran a little bit of ducting from next to the foglight up near my pods. I'm not sure if that will do anything but thought I'd try. The engine bay temps in the N54 are SO much higher than the N52.

    image.jpeg

    My BMW 335i

    in Euro Discussion

    Posted

    At this point, with the FMIC I could try the MHD Stage 1+ tune. This brought the car to around 390HP.

    On first run I blew the silicon pipe off the charge pipe. The one supplied with the charge pipe was far too short. Managed to pick up a SAAS replacement from SCA which was a good 30 - 40mm longer.

    20230629_134723.jpg 20230629_085639.jpg 20230701_150719.jpg   

    Its pretty crazy how much more power I got for minimal funds. It has a fair bit of lag but it pulls pretty well.

    I can't leave this tune enabled though as the wastegate rattle is really bad when it is enabled. 

    • Like 1

    My BMW 335i

    in Euro Discussion

    Posted

    Then came the new FMIC. A Mishimoto. I could have gone much larger including some 'step' designs which increase the surface area but retain the factory mounts. But, in the end I'm not looking for heaps of power and this was perfect. The quality was top notch and the fitment was spot on. Intake temps came down a fair bit but I didn't note them down and can't remember 😕

    The main benefit of this cooler is the end tanks. The OE end tanks are quite restrictive and also prone to breaking as they're plastic.

     

    20230624_130421.jpg

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    • Like 1

    My BMW 335i

    in Euro Discussion

    Posted

    So, the squealing noise kept getting worse. I booked the car in to BimmerTech to have a few things looked at and while en route, the engine momentarily revved with no drive a few times and then refused to shift out of 3rd. Thankfully this was the perfect gear as I could get going and keep up with traffic for the 15 k's or so to go. These boxes are notorious for strange behaviour when they haven't had a fluid change or service (despite "lifetime" fluids being used by BMW). 

    Hilariously I had a new filter/pan for the box with oil so I could do this job myself. They were in the boot so I got BimmerTech to replace the pan (the filter is built into the plastic box pan) and fluid. They said it was really terrible fluid. I've had no box problems since and the squealing is also gone. Looks like the squealing was from the box. 

    While there I spoke to them about the excess oil consumption. I had been requested by the car to add 1L oil on 2 occasions within a few months of buying the car. BMW's burn oil during normal driving conditions and the on board computer will ask for a top up when it gets low but 2L over about 5 months and 2k k's was a bit excessive. Mech said most likely the valve stem seals (common issue). But he said we could try a thicker grade oil and also an additive that softens the rubber on the seals so we put in 10w-50 with this additive and the car hasn't requested a top up since. 

    I'm not sure what I'd do if the valve stem seals get worse. It *looks* like a DIY job but also super fiddly and easy to screw up. 

    My BMW 335i

    in Euro Discussion

    Posted

    I'd started hearing some strange squealing noises which sounded a lot like the pulleys so, next job was to replace the pulleys and tensioner and whack a new belt on. The pulleys felt a bit rough but weren't particularly bad. The noise continued afterwards. 

    I also replaced the plastic PCV which is prone to leaking with an aluminium one. I also replaced all coils with brand new Bosch OEM ones as the idle was sometimes a little rough. Bosch spark plugs were done  a few weeks later ... Believe it or not, standard plug sockets don't work on the N54, you need a special 'thin wall' socket which I had to order. 

    Buying parts got a whole lot cheaper recently through FCP Euro. In the past buying anything from the states was SUPER expensive to ship and would take forever. FCP now have the package with you within about 10 days and is much more akin to what you'd expect. With shipping the Bosch coils were about $30ea rather than the several hundred locally.

     

     

    My BMW 335i

    in Euro Discussion

    Posted

    I thought it was about time I updated this. I'll try to keep it chronological but apologies if its a little all over the place.

    Not long after doing the rear window seal and (thankfully) before I'd done the front, the windscreen broke. I have windscreen cover and a new one was on in no time and it had a fresh seal so I'm happy I didn't do that part.

    Then came the front brakes. I had bought some 335i calipers to upgrade the brakes on the 330i (348mm v 330mm) and never fit them. So, I decided to rebuild them as I'd never done that before. I sanded them and wire-wheeled them back to fresh metal and replaced the seal and dust covers (which was stupidly frustrating but alas, as is common with BMW's I'd been sent the wrong part.) Painting them came out perfectly, until the fricken clear coat which needed 4 million degrees for 30 mins to cure. As I have a broken oven I had no way of doing this. I did the best I could with boxes and heat guns but it 100% ruined the finish and the calipers had to go on looking far worse than I'd have liked. Although, the reason I chose silver to start with is to make them look clean and not especially 'painted'.  I flushed the brake fluid and replaced the last of the rubber lines with braided.

    image.jpeg

     

    Turbo services in Sydney + options for upgrade

    in General Automotive Discussion

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, hypergear said:

    N55 is a single turbo, that high flow service linked above including ball bearing convetion and something similar to a G33-900 wheel set with line kit.

    N54 are two little singles like a Rb26DETT. They make good power after high flowing, I usually build them to gtx2860 in specs. Wastegate bushing can be repaired. To machine four housings, two new cores and two wastegate flapper / bushing mods, its not any cheaper however. 

    Absolutely wasn't suggesting that the cost wasn't worth it. Was more that it was above what I'd be looking to spend and I wasn't sure how much it would be. 

    Do you know how much the wastegate repair usually goes for?

    Turbo services in Sydney + options for upgrade

    in General Automotive Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Murray_Calavera said:

    I see @hypergear do the N55 turbo, I wonder how similar the N54 is?

    https://hypergearturbos.com/product/bmwn55/

    Wow, thats a lot more expensive than I thought it'd be! There's a lot of off the shelf turbos I can get for around $5k but I'm not looking to replace my inlets, dumps and get a custom tune. I just thought there might be a bit of a basic upgrade to get the most out of them without going too far.

    I did shoot an email to GCG the other day and mentioned high flowing in there, we'll see what they say I guess.

    That said, I'd like to hear from @hypergear regardless if they have a repair service for the wastegate rattle. 

    MLR's Bogan cruise ship

    in Projects, Overhauls and Build-ups

    Posted

    1 hour ago, GTSBoy said:

    Not here to shit on the Yaris, but when faced with the same situation I chose Swifts for my 2 offspring. 2014s to be precise, but as this was a few years ago now, you'd probably be looking either at the very last of that shape or the very first of the new shape, in the same $$ space (which was about $14k, for 30k / 5year old manual cars). We did buy towards the top end to obtain clean examples that had low k's.

    I like Suzuki's engineering (ie, it is still good, unlike Toyota's) and the aesthetics, both inside and outside are a lot better than almost all of the competitors. I couldn't bring myself to consider the shitty Euros (ie Fiesta, et al), the Mazda 2, the horrible offerings from Honda, Daishitsu, etc. Nor the Korean and especially Chinese offerings in that space. It really comes down to Yaris and Swift, and for my money, the Swift is a nicer place to be, simple and very mechanically decent.

    This is not one I'd thought about previously but I do like the swifts. I'll keep this short so we don't go too OT but thanks for this, i appreciate it! 

    Turbo services in Sydney + options for upgrade

    in General Automotive Discussion

    Posted

    Hi All,

    My 335i has the dreaded wastegate rattle which plagues pretty much every N54 engine BMW produced at some stage in its lifetime. Basically the actuator arm sometimes doesnt close the flapper properly and can cause rattles and eventually boost leak. I have no boost leak yet but the turbos can become unable to be fixed if its left long enough.

    The fix is to weld on to the turbos some uprgraded components to make it stronger and adjust the actuator so that the flapper can close properly again. https://vargasturbo.com/product/vtt-n54-waste-gate-repair-kit-rattle-fix/

    This generally costs about $900 per set and is a service that GCG offers. https://gcg.com.au/service-details/BMW N54 Wastegate Rattle Repair-news.html

    I'm wondering if anybody else in Sydney could do this? 

    I have bought a 2nd set of turbos to fix so I can then swap them out in my own time without waiting for the fixes to be done and then I'll sell the ones that come out. 

    Also, the N54 turbos are pretty small and I don't know if this is possible but can they be upgraded in any other way? Possibly high flowed? I'm not sure if high flowing OE turbos is a thing anymore. 

    MLR's Bogan cruise ship

    in Projects, Overhauls and Build-ups

    Posted

    4 hours ago, The Bogan said:

    The big block Yaris basking in bushfire haze...probably should have had it in the sun, but meh, in the end it's still just a Yaris

    20230912_073138.thumb.jpg.cfb9d55d7e520b3a7f90b458a208a86b.jpg

    My motivation for the request was two fold;

    1. I love seeing clean cars. I love detailing videos. 

    2. My 16 y/o is not far away from her P's and I'm keen to learn about more smaller cars. Although I might just buy her a prado :) :rofl2:

    • Like 1
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