Neal

One thing I did notice on my Japan imports was they seemed to have more options than NZ equivalents. My e46 almost had every option available. On the other hand. British ones often have a lower spec such as low end stereo amp/ speakers , no HUD or high beam assist, speed sign recognition but ironically it can self parallel park

Only thing with Jap import M2 is the idrive and connected services takes a bit more programming to sort. Make that part of the sale process or get either local company or these Guys to do the usual NZ maps and change country code , FM tuning etc. eg https://bimmer-remote.com/products/region-change-for-bmw-nbt-evo-id5-6?pr_prod_strat=jac&pr_rec_id=f83b476b8&pr_rec_pid=6269099049134&pr_ref_pid=4480593395767&pr_seq=uniform

My old e46 m3 was a Japanese import. Owned that one for 11 years. Needed the usual M3 servicing. Wasn’t any better or any worse that my NZ new counterparts owned. Brought it at 48,000km and sold it at 189,000km My F80 M3 is a UK import. Seems normal, done 22,000kms E36s were a different story NZ New 325i , no issues, just needed servicing to 220,000 km Imported 328i , auto transmission issues at 120,000 km Imported 318i aka the lemon. Auto transmission issues , most things actually. Suspect the dealer had had the speedo reversed and the car was built by British Leyland workers on a Friday after the pub.

Need to find a motorcycle mechanic that’s use to shimming bike engines and has worked on s54s 😀

Must have a steady hand . Not a lot of room for heat near those neighbouring surface mounted components

Try the kicker amps with a HPF of 60hz on the focals . You may have a dip from 60hz - 100hz range as often boot subs will start rolling off at an acoustic 60hz when set for 80. The 8 inch focals are a good size to get down a bit lower and match the transition point of the sub bass. I think you said the TA on the kicker was automatic. Perhaps redo the auto eq and Ta with the mic held at drivers seat position in front of your nose for the focal channels. Phase alignment of the bass from those speakers will maximise their combined output and bring up the spl on those mid bass frequencies. This can be done with time shifting one side. Here is a phase chart . If speakers are in phase you get a summing effect which is louder. If they are out of phase they have a cancelling effect and the spl drops ( graph from audiofrog )

Good work on sim swap ! 435d gets good diesel mileage 😀

Which BMW charger ? Is it the cteck made unit with lifepo4 setting ? Was thinking about getting one of those 5 amp versions. Havte a Ctek MS5 which has been good and a small motorcycle version . No issues with either but also would like a lifepo4 for the M . I’ve used the MS5 ctek on the M that in lead acid mode but only for charging and stop it manually at 13.3 volts mark.

Other than Dave’s True Story that’s 10 mins of my life I’ll never get back ! BMW should be making elevators to go with it …..

Thanks, thinking I’ll go down a similar route. Was reading that for a non comp f8x the CS edc shock update becomes too harsh with its different shocks so will skip that. Would be good to improve on steering directnesses. Only real complaint with the car have come from an E46 M3 with it’s sublime steering. Use comfort/ sport settings only.

How’s the GTS / CS software now ? I guess you’ve been running it for a couple of weeks now ?

That’s quite good for a 20 y/o. No doubt the recent heat and humidity hasn’t helped.

But equally similar with Turbo gen models F80 with 425hp stated, but dynos at 460 -470 Stage 1 to 500hp , 600 nm stage 2 to 625hp 680nm single turbo build to 1000hp Tyres to 295 / 305 mm respectfully Already has high end cooling Carbon ceramic brakes if not optioned Underbody aero already Extensive chassis / subframe bracing F90 , mods to 900 hp Carbon ceramic brakes etc

Details here . https://silodrome.com/custom-bmw-e9/

Lol yeah , but BMW haven’t made an analogue car since the 2002 ti. Think my old e46 m3 on that list had something like 15 ecus. Even the throttle bodies were fly by wire, DSC between right foot and rear wheels, independent wheel braking , smg had various levels of shift speeds levels etc, three stage butt warmers etc. I think BMW have been slowly fooling M car owners into thinking they are analogue cars 😏 If anything the newer cars enhance the user experience, total customisable damper , steering , engine aggressiveness and gear change settings , brave mode ( all safeties off ) and MDM mode which we all know the D is for drift. Better seats, stiffer chassis etc. Quite a handful to drive compared those older listing. Which is the real drivers car ?

G8X CSL #1 F90 M5 competition #2 F80 M3 #3 Any one of these can can be short shitfted at 3500 -4000 rpm and deal to the majority of the listed so far. And BMW finally have sorted braking performance with these models.

I was looking at my profile and car settings. I couldn’t find any settling for metric verse imperial in the app. In idrive I have litres specificed for fuel consumption. I do find the app does have lag though which isn’t really an issue, but it’s been quite solid. The headlights on is funny though, press the app icon , wait a minute and get a few seconds before they are off again. Also the lock icon will lock car , but doesn’t put windows up. Guessing thats done for safety reasons.

On the sim front BMW registers all the Telematics and ATM modules to the country where the model has been built for. So mine will be on a UK mobile provider and the cars module is effectively “roaming” with it being in NZ. No doubt there would be some costs for roaming but it might be built into BMWs plan with the local provider. With the app there is some lag as a result of roaming, but locking car , turning on headlights ( handy for night parking ) and turning on ventilation fan all seems to work. The 4g connection is also used for updating service history from BMW . When I retrofitted Idrive 6 it had the doner vehicles service history. I had the local BMW dealer update the service history and initially only the new entry was visible. But within a few hours the doner history was removed and all the previous entries for my M3 appeared. The only thing with the roaming is that the emergency SOS feature will go to the UK for triage should it get used. The nice thing with the changes to BMWapp is that no phone VPN is required for country of origin that I’ve seen in other posts.

Finally got the Mybmw app working with my imported car. Fortunately the car came with the 4g version of the ATM module. BMW have registered all the SIM cards in a private APN network of some kind. Looks like BMW have giving exported cars from country of Origin a life line for using the app. My car was brought in Uk. What worked for me In the app there is an option for pre delivery. I put in my vin number and the app was able to do a look up . But the app would post an error if I connected phone to car via usb to complete registration. I then followed the instructions here https://faq.bmw.ee/s/article/My-BMW-App-Settings-Einstellung-Sprache-kA9kU?language=et# So key was to change language from nz English to GB English. I also changed my profile address from my nz home to the postcode I lived in London in 2005 I connected the phone again and the app was able to complete ownership of car and use the app. I changed my profile back to nz so no issues but the only downside is I can’t select my NZ BMW dealer in the app. But remote phone services such as lock / unlock car, turn on ventilation and get fuel status all work as does locate car 😀.

Love it, ironically it’s gone from probably from the most polished , detailed and groomed M3 in the country to looking like a well used track hack 😀

Ended up being too easy, Cradle / USB2 working now. Just took heaps of time to find. Come to think of it , I think id4 had the usb codes like this.

Road temp also plays part. PS4s below 5 degrees in wet make for entertainment. Add bit of hail and traction becomes nil. Entertaining going past a bus stop full of people at 30kmh all crossed up.

On the commute today the car is definitely quieter, less low frequency transfer from what I’m assuming is rear tyre and exhaust noise. Great for audio system , but downside is less “M3” noise. Stereo off and window down required when fanging it ( on a closed road / race track of course ) F80s are too quiet unless in sports plus where exhaust flaps are opened.

I do consider myself fortunate, been a combo of good luck and hard work with long work hours. Wife included. I think you’re right in enjoying the present. Father’s life got cut short before he got to retire, but he still had an excellent life and pursued interesting stuff. But he was certainly looking forward to retirement and was planning travel etc. Almost joined him but got a second chance due to the skill of the medical profession and determination to recover. Life 2.0 I call it. Make a point of living in the present and doing stuff that I enjoy. Also trying to justify spending habits 😀.

I think a bloke has to have hobbies and do things that we enjoy. Had a health scare a couple of years back which changed my outlook to an extent. Make a point of doing enjoyable things. This hobby was has been a good one where I’ve been able to chunk down the work in smaller lots as I’ve gone through recovery. I enjoy the learning process that goes into doing this as I did with the e46 stereo system. Hopefully I haven’t become OCD on this one 😀 Cost wise it has been accumulating but probably only 10% of the purchase price of the car. I’ve got the stereo mentioned with a value of $6k for the equipment in my insurance policy, but time wise if the worst happens I’d probably enjoy building another one ( eyeing up the wife’s SUV as this project comes to a finish 🤣) With this car I’m not at that point of constant worry that I see mates get into with custom cars that they have 1000s of hours of time and are of a high value and never let the vehicle out of their sight. I do daily it and lease carpark which has plenty of parking room and good neighbours, but can break out a sweat if parking in a busy supermarket carpark as many of us BMW drivers do 😀.