elias

Been a minute... very busy time. Engine is back in the car, everything is connected back up.

Cut and welded the chargepipe and throttle body for a wiggins style clamp, bonnet latch got zinc coated and a few other bits and pieces tidied up.

Downpipes are back in also, very painful job, o2 sensors back in and new exhaust is almost finished. Full stainless 3inch exhaust from the downpipes back, with a single adrenalin r louvre baffle resonator. 

All thats left now is the oil cooler setup, parts are on the way, fresh aeroflow oil coolers and all teflon line and fittings. Also will be putting in a check valve and a tee to allow for an accusump to be fitted at a later stage. 

Parts should arrive soon and then it will be ready to be fired up and dyno tuned. Will try and keep this updated more often.

CCC iDrive unit from a 2008 135i.

$500

can also come with the controller for extra

yep sold. I do however have a set of style 386 wheels for sale if you're after 1 series wheels.

Looking for single replacement wheel, not a full set. Either 18x8.5 et45 or 18x9.5 et58 in a APEX EC-7 preferably in grey. Hoping someone has one lying around from a crashed car etc

Cheers!

Has been a busy few weeks but have managed to get a fair bit done. Took advantage of the long weekend (Auckland Anniversary) and pulled to old motor out the car. Wasn't too bad of a job, a bit messy with all the coolant and oil that keeps spilling out and a few bolts that were a little tricky to reach but not too bad all in all apart from the downpipes that put up a real fight. So, old motor is out, most parts stripped off it. New motor is mostly assembled apart from the hot side. Turbos will be getting dropped off for a rebuild and slightly different CHRAs tomorrow. 

Have since installed a VAC sump baffle in the new motor, put on the sump with a new gasket and new bolts torqued to NEWtis spec of course. Valve cover is on, also new genuine gasket, same with oil filter housing vanos solenoids etc etc, all new gasket the whole way round and new bolts where applicable. Injectors are in again new seals and decouplers. Front main seal going in soon, wiring loom is half on. Waiting on turbos before i install water pump and thermostat. Then inlets and outlets will go on and the motor can go back in the car. I have cleaned the entire empty engine bay subframe steering rack etc and installed new Condorspeedshop engine mounts, have matching ones for the gearbox also. Have also stripped and cleaned the inline oil thermostat to ensure there are no metal bits in it and reassembled it with a 93C insert instead  of the 85C insert to help car reach operating temp when street driven. 

Some photos below.

Front end of the car coming off

Engine coming out

Sump baffle going in

New motor with baffled sump installed

New genuine gaskets

Inejctors getting new seals and decouplers

Engine bay being cleaned up

Valve cover and injectors on the new engine

New engine mounts

Loom half on

Oil thermsotat rebuild

A bunch of parts have arrived, the entire ECS tuning order of all the gaskets and one time use bolts, as well as the rod bearings. Condorspeedshop engine and transmission mounts showed up too, as well as some oe braided vacuum line. Also got the aftermarket oil pressure sensor and wiring i will be hooking up to the ECU as from factory there is only a pressure switch.

Pulled the sump back off again, oil pump back out, and began replacing the rod bearings.

Pretty straight froward job just have to pay attention and be careful, and make sure to work in a clean environment. Did rod bearings one at a time, cap off,

push rod off crank, remove both bearing shells, clean surfaces, install new rod bearings, clean crank shaft, install dry with plastiguage, torque back down with old bolts, remove cap, check clearance, clean up plastigauge residue, lubricate bearing surfaces and crank, bolt back together with new OEM rod bolts and torque to 20nm + 2x 70* as prescribed by bmw NEWtis. Just got to do it 6 times.

Then put the oil pump and tray back on, all new bolts once again, torqued and stretched to spec. Then placed sump back on, not putting on new gasket/bolts just yet as I am still waiting for VAC motorsport to ship my baffle, they are being extremely slow. 

In the meantime, trying to organize turbo rebuild, also need to order 6x new injector seals and decoupling elements from bmw as well as a coolant temp sensor. Will also need new oil coolers... but getting there.

Been seeing lots of interesting videos of turbolamik 8hp swaps which have me intrigued, the shift times look pretty damn quick...

22 hours ago, M3AN said:

Since it apparently happens so quickly, wouldn't you be best advised to keep the tools? And perhaps hire them out from time-to-time to recoup the cost?

that is correct, but i will be installing a catch can which reduces carbon build up, and it will be quite some time before the car does enough kms to require another walnut blast, as it is not daily driven, so probably wont be required for a few years yet. Been offered enough money for the tools that i could buy/make them again for less anyway. In the meantime with all the parts im needing/wanting to purchase it makes more sense to put the money towards that.

Put the rod bearing back in, and decided to do the walnut blast while i wait on gaskets and rod bearings to arrive. Found the genuine bmw vacuum to intake port adapter, media blasting lance, large bag of walnut media locally, and then got a portable sand blaster from SCA.  Already have a shop Vac and a Air compressor. Brother machined a brass adapter on the lathe to get the lance to fit the blasting gun, and it all worked pretty well. Intake valves are now nice and clean. Will be selling the tools now that i no longer need them so let me know if anyones keen to do their N54. Definitely worthwhile doing, this engine only had done 89,000kms and the valves were caked. happens very quickly due to the motor being Direct Injection and there is no fuel to was the valves clean as you would have on a port injection engine.

Before and after

12 minutes ago, Toast said:

I've got a DCT 335i coupe that's going up for sale soon, might be able to break and get the sale price back in parts?

Appreciate the offer, but unfortunately don't have the time or space to break a car

@HELLBM out of curiosity what's an 8speed swap worth in comparison to the DCT?

Have been busy finishing off cleaning the engine, now that ive removed everything, all bolts in labeled bags.

Also been ordering parts for the new engine. All new gaskets for the motor, everything from oil pan to oil filter housing, font and rear main seals, vanos solenoid seals, valve cover gasket, complete turbo install kit (all manifold studs, nuts oil/coolant feed and drain gaskets/o rings, intake and exhaust manifold gaskets etc, basically everything except the head gasket. Rod bearings and rod bolts on the way also as well as a new drive belt. New solid UHMW engine and gearbox mounts ordered from Condor speedshop also as well as a oil pan baffle from VAC motorsport. Now just a matter of waiting for parts to arrive...

In the meantime I have also purchased walnut blasting tools, managed find the official bmw service tools for sale locally, so will be cleaning the intake valves soon.

Got bored waiting for parts so I decided to take the oil pan off, oil pump out and pull a rod cap off, rod bearings looks in good shape, but will be getting replaced regardless, just wanted to see their condition as an indication of main bearing condition. In the meantime will order new oil cooler cores as I don't want to risk reusing ones that have metal in them from the old motor, and one I pull the old motor out I will be sending turbos off for a rebuild too.

Car should be absolutely mint once its back together, tempted to try make a stainless exhaust from the downpipes back...

Been a minute... Have been very busy with work. Recently acquired a new motor for the car, 89,000km semi complete engine, missing a bunch of bits but I plan on using most of my own parts from the old engine anyway. Collected it from Kamo, just north of Whangarei with a trailer and the trusty E91, and have been stripping it down and cleaning it up in preparation for a thorough refresh.

It will be getting all new gaskets all round, new rod bearings and a baffled sump. Still need to order the parts for it, hopefully will get around to it in the next week or so. Had a look under the valve cover and pulled the sump off and it all looks exceptionally clean, no sludge whatsoever.

Have also managed to acquire some VTT high flow turbo outlets, as the factory RHD outlets have a kink in them which reduces the flow. Was a lucky find on marketplace as they are very hard to find nowadays, seemingly discontinued.

12 hours ago, Vass said:

Yeah ran into the same issue, took me a while to figure out what the deal was. Noticed it only happened with larger images but anything up to 2 MB went through without issues so that seems to be the cutoff. I've just been downsizing the resolution prior to posting.

sweet ill give that a go thanks!

how large is too large? images are between 2 and 4 MB.

Wont let me add images to my post, says upload queued, but never loads.

Just now, HELLBM said:

With a dif and drveshaft $4500.

Obviously best to go for Aussie deal for $3000

yeah i mean depends on shipping and buying overseas is always a risk, and always been happy with the parts ive bought off you, will give it some thought, appreciate your help!

20 hours ago, HELLBM said:

$3750

Ebay prices: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/126107350848

is that for box only? from what id understand id need driveshaft and diff too to keep the DCT happy, as well as wiring and the shifter. Yep ebay prices definitely are up there, and some local NZ wreckers are charging 7k, but can get complete conversions for 3000AUD in Aus.

4 hours ago, HELLBM said:

Still have plenty @HELLBM

How much did you say you were after for them? can't remember, can get them for about $2500 in Aus but finding reasonable freight is the hard part.

Hello,

Anyone here every shipped any large/heavy items from Aus to NZ? If so what company did you use?

Cheers

Anyone parting out a DCT 135i, 335i etc. Looking for a DCT, found one in Aus but shipping is extremely expensive as youd expect.

12 hours ago, Polignac said:

Thinking of getting it. The original white plates need to be returned?

yes, I have black plates on my car, need to return your original ones. In certain lighting conditions they definitely can be harder to read as they blend into a sort of grey colour. You can also get 'slim' sized plates at no additional charge, which in my opinion look much better, ive attached a photo below.

1 hour ago, charles28 said:

A good time for a turbo CHRA upgrade.   

yeah will be looking into turbo options once the engine is out. Will all depend on how much the new engine and all the gaskets, bolts, seals etc cost me

On 11/14/2023 at 9:06 PM, Cement said:

Dang that's a shame it's not getting a rebuild on your terms but maybe a great opportunity all the same ... looking forward to the motor build thread already

haha ill have to strip it first and see if its worth rebuilding, my guess is no, crank is probbly way too cooked. At this stage the plan is to buy a sub 100k kms motor, do rod bearings, baffled sump, all new gaskets and maybe a turbo refresh, and then put it in the car.

On 11/15/2023 at 12:03 AM, Vass said:

Bummer man, hopefully no damage done to any of the mods you've fitted and easily transferred over to the new(er) motor. Long road ahead but super rewarding no doubt, keen to keep following the journey.

Honestly I'm a bit puzzled and impressed by how you've managed to fund and execute such a build whilst still being a uni student? Only car I could (barely) afford to keep going back in my uni days was an old rustbucket Nissan Primera, and even that was a hand-me-down from the parents 😅 How do you do it? 

Yeah from what i can see so far there's no damage to anything, will probably replace oil coolers if i find large amounts of metal in the oil though. In regards to how i afford it, i guess the secret is I live at home still while studying, I barely attend uni lectures and I work one day a week during the semester, and full time every holiday, break etc. Last summer for example I worked for a company doing Louvre roofs. Did that 9hours a day 5 days a week from the day my last exam finished for the year in November until the first day back in February. You'd be surprised how much money you can make even at 25/hr. The other secret is not spending much money on anything else. I made about 800/week and spent 750 on car parts haha.

Looking to buy a N54 engine. Dont need all the ancillary bits, will just swap everything over from my blown one. Preferably 6 bolt crank but open to anything, dont want high kms and cheap is good.

Raced the car at a Hampton downs single car sprint where it performed flawlessly ad managed to take home 9th place. Was a big day for the car, literally melting tires on track. Oil temps were perfect, not getting hot at all, cooling upgrades working well. 

Then this past weekend, drove down to Ngutunui for the 9km long hillclimb. Raced the fist run, and as I was rolling back down the hill the car stated making some very bad noises. Didnt want to hold up the event but eventually had to pull over and stop because the noise kept getting worse. Inspected the car and couldnt see anything. Tried starting it again, slow crank, turned over and made the most horrible metal clanking noise ive ever heard. Got towed down the hill by the race control ute. The trailered it home, was a long day. Havent had a chance to open it up yet but 99% sure it has a spun rod bearing, and judging by the noises the crank is beyond fcked.

So its time for a new engine. Waiting for garage rennovations to be done (about a month or two) then i will start tearing the car/engine down and hopefully source a new one, swap everything over and slap it in. Planning on doing a baffled sump, and fresh rod bearings for the replacement engine.

Pretty gutted that it died, but still came 10th on the day with only 1 run, so clearly the car's potential is there to do well.