My BMW 335i

[PranK]

Yeah the other option to driling out and replacing the bushings is to adjust the wastegate actuator arm, basically you make it longer and it pushes the flap shut.

The good news is that its just a noise atm and even then only at cold start. I dont really need to think about fixing the turbos just yet.

Oh, the tune I'm considering from MHD has a rattle eliminator. It basically changes how the arm from wastegate works but comes at the cost of more lag. I dont fully understand but might be a bandaid until I need to change them.

[PranK]

Sorted out my horrible headlights. It's worth mentioning that the Mother's plastic polish was absolute crap. Once I switched to Meguiar's plastix it was so much better and easier to use.

I think I'll eventually clear coat them for better longevity.

[PranK]

Found a rare moment of motivation and energy on the weekend.

Drained the power steering reservoir and replaced it. The reservoir contains a non servicable filter and who knows how old it is. New genuine reservoir and then flushed contents 4 or 5 times with Liqui Moly CHF11S. Steering was a touch heavy and occasionally clicky, the fluid that came out was a bit nasty and while steering is still heavy (compared to the 330i), its no longer clicking.

Also, as all the front and rear windscreen seals are shot, I got to removing the old ones and managed to fit the new rear upper. I need to source a new front lower seal but I'm getting a new windshield in next week due to a crack so I'll do front after that.

 

New upper rear looks so nice.

I checked the brake fluid and found there is so much sediment in there.

I actually bought a front pair of 335i calipers to put on the 330i but never used them. I'm going to clean them up and paint them silver, I'll do the seals in them while they're out and then when I fit them I'll put in the HEL braided lines I've got and flush all the brake fluid.

I'll try to source some nice pads and DBA T2's in the meantime so I can just get all the brakes done in one go.

[GoHashiriya]

On 3/7/2023 at 3:28 PM, PranK said:

Found a rare moment of motivation and energy on the weekend.

Drained the power steering reservoir and replaced it. The reservoir contains a non servicable filter and who knows how old it is. New genuine reservoir and then flushed contents 4 or 5 times with Liqui Moly CHF11S. Steering was a touch heavy and occasionally clicky, the fluid that came out was a bit nasty and while steering is still heavy (compared to the 330i), its no longer clicking.

Also, as all the front and rear windscreen seals are shot, I got to removing the old ones and managed to fit the new rear upper. I need to source a new front lower seal but I'm getting a new windshield in next week due to a crack so I'll do front after that.

    

New upper rear looks so nice.

 

I checked the brake fluid and found there is so much sediment in there.

I actually bought a front pair of 335i calipers to put on the 330i but never used them. I'm going to clean them up and paint them silver, I'll do the seals in them while they're out and then when I fit them I'll put in the HEL braided lines I've got and flush all the brake fluid.

I'll try to source some nice pads and DBA T2's in the meantime so I can just get all the brakes done in one go.

That's both surprising and unsurprising, surprising it hasn't lasted and unsurprising since, now I am a BMW owner again - previously owned an E46 - I'm realising how broken everything is comparatively to my R34 which is 9 years older. I can't really trust BMW these days and will be stuck in 5-10 years when I need another RWD car to f**k about with - still do like driving them though.    

[PranK]

I had a big dent on the boot. I'd already decided to either get a new boot lid or even just a small lip wing that would go over the dent so I figured i'd try to fix it myself.

Before;

So, I attacked it with a slide hammer, some glue and a microfibre-wrapped hammer.

 

Gotta say, I was pretty impressed. Its not perfect but I don't hate looking at it now.

 

[GoHashiriya]

5 hours ago, PranK said:

I had a big dent on the boot. I'd already decided to either get a new boot lid or even just a small lip wing that would go over the dent so I figured i'd try to fix it myself.

Before;

 

So, I attacked it with a slide hammer, some glue and a microfibre-wrapped hammer.

 

 

Gotta say, I was pretty impressed. Its not perfect but I don't hate looking at it now.Fetching info...

 

Yeah that was a pretty good outcome. Fortunately for the BMWs there are an abundance of poverty spec e90s enroute to the scrapyard you can get the cosmetic parts from. Mine came with hideous beige interior in equally as hideous condition - used black cloth interior can be found on UK eBay for £50-£150. 

[PranK]

On 24/03/2023 at 8:46 PM, GoHashiriya said:

Yeah that was a pretty good outcome. Fortunately for the BMWs there are an abundance of poverty spec e90s enroute to the scrapyard you can get the cosmetic parts from. Mine came with hideous beige interior in equally as hideous condition - used black cloth interior can be found on UK eBay for £50-£150. 

Yep, this was confidence inspiring I knew if I stuffed it up I'm only $200 away from a fresh one.

[PranK]

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.

 

[PranK]

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.

 

 

[PranK]

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. 

[PranK]

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.

 

[PranK]

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.

     

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. 

[PranK]

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.

[PranK]

Although I do very few k's, I was starting to rip through my Federal 595's on the street so I decided to get street rims. Especially as I have hardly been to the track recently (besides a day at Luddenham).

I found some F30 3 series '403 M' style wheels and got some tyres for them. 

I really don't like the polished face on these rims so have already done something about that. Will update on that soon.

 

[PranK]

So, I'm pretty excited about this. I found a guy on gumtree with some ~100k's old turbos for sale. I asked if they had wastegate rattle and he said he didnt know but it's a safe bet at this age that they do. We got to talking and he said that he used to own a turbo shop and I asked if he'd be interested in fixing the flapper on the used turbos and selling to me as 'repaired' and he said he would.

Top bloke in the end and for about ~$750 I got a pair of repaired turbos. (note that the going rate to fix the flapper is anywhere between $600 - $1k alone without the turbos.) 

They arrived on Monday and look great with the actuator arm and flapper all tight with no play.

 

  

 

I can see why BMW hid these turbos underneath everything else. They're far from impressive and look like pretend turbos they're so small. 

[PranK]

Oh and a quick trip back to the brakes. They kinda suck. They shook like nuts before I bought the car and the dealer changed them all and obviously used cheapest parts available. Although they're 18mm bigger diameter than the 330i's 330mm they dont have anything like the bite that car has with DBA slotted rotors and Bendix ultimates.

I think I have posted earlier that I'll get the DBA rotors again and maybe some Yellowstuff or even the Hawk HP pads.

[PranK]

So, apparently the N54 can suffer from oil starvation at track G's. Its not quite as bad an RB26 but still possible. 

As my oil pan has to come off to get a new seal I thought I'd look into baffle options. There are some out there but they're definitely not perfect and you still run a bit of a risk.

Then today, I found that I can fit an aftermarket oil pressure sensor which is monitored by the car as usual but my tuning app (MHD) can tune the car to protect itself with various pressures. A 'soft' warning will tell you to take it easy while a harder warning will actually kill power to protect internals. Sounds freaking cool and as I said it just piggy backs off my existing tune software.

https://nexsysmotorsport.com/n54-oil-pressure-sensor-kit/

The lads at Zero to 60 have a video showing the pissy install and features. 

 

I've already bought it (approx $340 delivered) and not sure I'd worry about a baffle as well. My car will be going in soon for the oil pan and turbo swap.

[soviet_merlin]

That is pretty cool indeed! I like it when things like that integrate cleanly.

Had a discussion around warnings and engine triggers around oil pressure with my mechanic. I was asking for cutting power when it gets risky but they argued for doing warnings only. Because cutting power can be dangerous in some situations, such as in the middle of an overtake on the road or in the middle of a corner on the track. And the readings aren't necessarily always reliable so could cut even if there is no issue. Apparently they are dealing with false warnings on track cars quite a lot. Overall sounded convincing to me.

[joshuaho96]

10 hours ago, soviet_merlin said:

That is pretty cool indeed! I like it when things like that integrate cleanly.

Had a discussion around warnings and engine triggers around oil pressure with my mechanic. I was asking for cutting power when it gets risky but they argued for doing warnings only. Because cutting power can be dangerous in some situations, such as in the middle of an overtake on the road or in the middle of a corner on the track. And the readings aren't necessarily always reliable so could cut even if there is no issue. Apparently they are dealing with false warnings on track cars quite a lot. Overall sounded convincing to me.

It's probably fine to set a conservative rev limit like 4000 RPM. On the street you really don't need more revs/power than that. That way if the sensor is broken and reporting a false 0 pressure signal you can still drive the car, but on track if it is accurate you're forced to calm down and investigate the issue instead of just hoping for the best and possibly spitting conrod bits all over the track.

[PranK]

From my understanding, thats exactly how it is configured, it adds a rev limiter which is set to a conservative level, rather than a cold power cut. Unfortunately (or, fortunately) I'll have no real way of testing it when it arrives! 🤣