dragonz

Catless Downpipes I have catless downpipes, got cheap ones, work great. MHD 2+ tune I had the opportunity to do some emmissions testing on a few vehicles as a part of a research project, so I slotted mine into the test group. Was done at a VTNZ station & they checked the cars over. Noone noticed the lack of cats in the downpipes (they are fairly buried and the secondary cats are visible, so it needs someone knowledgable on these cars to pick it up). Long story short, mine was a little "dirty" on its emissions when cold, but once warmed up, it was as clean as any other car tested. If challenged, take it for a strop round the block & tell them to stick the sniffer up a tailpipe. They will give up & pass you as your car won't fail unless it has other issues. I was worried that the MHD tune might over-richen it, but no issues at all. Vibrations My car has a very slight vibration noise just above idle, then sweet as. one of the pipes is just very slightly contacting an unidentified bracket & this makes some noise. Get the car up on stands, start the engine & go looking. Ideally get someone in the car to vary the revs up & down until you hear the vibration & follow the noise. Welding gloves highly recommended for this exercise btw Pops and Bangs Nope, have none, but have had experience in a variety of cars. The most likely cause is an air leak in your exhaust, most likely the joint where the downpipe comes off the turbo. The closer to the exhaust port of the cylinder, the more likely to pop and bang. As a younger hoon, I used to deliberately make my car exhausts bang, but as a more refined gentleman I do prefer to fly under the radar a bit more

I have a VSRF intercooler, but I got the downpipes from HZ. The VSRF intercooler looks identical to the HZ ones......... Fitting the downpipes was a battle, but I got them in without dropping the subframe. You just have to be patient & determined..... Getting the stockers out was harder than fitting the new ones. However, they don't line up perfectly at the junction to the rear exhaust system, so I made a 3mm spacer & used 2 gaskets on the one side that came up slightly short. I suggest getting MHD flasher set up on your phone, allows you to load a tune to get the best from these mods. I also have the XHP flasher for the auto, wow, big difference, I'd do this before the engine mods if I was starting again

The car up on my hoists I have a set of hydraulic ramps that are supporting the front of the car, & a pair of air/oil single post hoists that I used to lift the rear

Some pics of the repaired tank & the new foam blocks I put in place. As I had purchased a new vent hose I put it on, even though the original wasn't leaking. It did have a slight rub mark, but could still be used. Sing out if anyone needs one ?

A couple of pics of the damaged tank

So it's almost a year since I got my 335i, & for the most part I would only partially fill the fuel tank, because why cart more gas than needed. However on the few occasions that I did fill the tank, I would notice a very strong raw petrol smell until the fuel level got down to 1/2 tank or below. Read a couple of things that indicated an issue with the carbon canister in the venting, priced replacement & thought f**k that, & carried on regardless. Then one day after filling the tank, I parked the car across a slope, with the drivers side down hill. As I got out of the car I saw petrol dripping from just in front of the right rear wheel. After getting over the shock, I turned the car round so it was across the slope the other way & once I was happy that there was no more fuel running out, went about my business for the day. Started digging & found that there have been a number of the E90 series cars with this issue, & it appears that the breather hose that runs from the top of the tank to the neck of the fuel filler could be damaged due to excessive movement of the tank. So, last week was a quiet week for work, & I finally got the chance to get under the car & repair the issue. I had bought a replacement vent hose, & expected that it would be a fairly simple, if somewhat laborious, task, to lower the fuel tank sufficiently to get to the breather hose & replace it. More fool me! When I got to that point, I discovered that the breather spigot that the vent hose clips onto had broken out of the fuel tank completely! This then necessitated the complete removal of the fuel tank. For those who have not had the pleasure, this requires removing the driveshaft & the handbrake cables (I had already removed the exhaust system) & this is where the fun starts. To remove the driveshaft requires a 50mm open-end spanner & lots of brute force to undo the coupling point with the diff. To remove the handbrake cables, requires gutting out & removing the entire centre console! Once I had the tank out & could see the damage, I called BMW for a price. $1530+GST, & special order from Germany! Further explicatives followed for some strange reason! Fortunately, many years ago I had sold some fellow car enthusiasts a tig welder, & they happen to run a company Plastics Constructions, in Avondale. I gave Richard a call, "can you weld a plastic fuel tank?". He checked the material, & "yes no problem" was his reply. He made a beaut job of it, & it's now probably stronger than the original. So, if you notice strong fuel smells when you fill the tank, this may be something to watch for. Another check I would suggest, is to lift the rear of the car when the tank is empty, & make sure that the tank is tightly held by the securing straps. I was able to move my tank up & down by more than 10mm when I got underneath, & I have fixed this by putting thicker heavier foam blocks between the tank & the bodywork when I reinstalled the tank. I still need to finish reassembly of the interior & final bolt-up of the exhaust, but at least my car won't leak petrol any more. I will post some photos of the process & what to look for when I get the job completed

I have inhex sockets of all sizes, along with equipment to lift & work on cars, bikes, etc. Come out to the wild west & we can have a look-see

I'd be interested for my 335i

Had the car on the dyno the other day, pleasing to see the performance is right on par for this model. 197kW at the wheels.

I have spoken to other installers since, that say they can have both the cellphone & stacker working, but I haven't found out if they use the same hardware. Would be good to have both. I'm one of those funny people who still buy LP's & CD's & the like, & like to have all the options :)

well I got the Bluetooth & Nav sorted through OBD Tech. Was a little bit of a runaround, as the first module was faulty, but we got there in the end. the Kufatec unit that goes in replaces the CD stacker connection, so lose that functionality, but the rest of the setup more than makes up for that. Car is running like a dream, really happy with it.

as we all know, this thread is useless without pics

Hi there, new to the forums & new BMW owner. I recently bought a low mileage (61K) 2007 335i Cabriolet hardtop & am loving the car. Crisp performance & handling, combined with top-down motoring (helps me keep my speed down but still have fun) It's the 6 speed auto, but I'm enjoying the paddleshift, so not missing having a 3rd pedal at this point. It was a Singapore import, & has been in the country for a couple of years, but is missing owners manuals, & I want to upgrade the nav to NZ maps & add Bluetooth streaming. Does anyone have manuals for these cars, or can you suggest where to buy? Any suggestions on adding the Bluetooth phone connectivity & updating the nav for NZ? TIA Phil