elias

made my own one of these, cost me effectively $0, had some flatbar lying around and had my brother tig weld it up for me. Thanks for the inspiration, works very well!

Speaking of damage to the car, someone has decided they dont like my car very much and thought it would be a good idea to key it. Not only one side, but both. Absolutely gutted, spend so much time and money on this car just for someone to walk past and decide to f**k it up. Clearly intentional, done both sides, on of which repeatedly with some serious aggression. Occurred on the same culdesac as the previous damage to the front bumper/fender. Honestly don't know why someone would do this, they gain nothing from it. Car is going to the panelbeater on monday, not looking forward to the bill, being a fulltime student money isnt exactly something i have lots of. Spoke to all the neighbors, nobody has a camera or saw anything, and insurance is only 3rd party so will be paying for it myself. Pretty upset and not exactly very encouraging, when people continually find ways to destroy your hard work. Originally the plan was to start racing the car, but that might have to wait a bit now.

yeah i agree, definitely wouldnt want to drill any holes. I just bolted my bracket onto the end of the frame rail using the some bolts. Didnt drill a single extra hole into the car just made the brackets to suit. Can sort of see it in the photo below if you squint. Main reason for making these brackets was to try place the coolers directly behind the 1m rep bumpers air scoops, which should make the ducting simpler. Brakes look awesome!

Awesome work! Did a similar oil cooler setup on my 135i, interested to see how you do the air ducting, yet to do that for my bumper, should provide an improvement in the effectiveness of the coolers. Mounted my coolers onto the frame rail ends, and into the radiator support where the ducting used to attach. (Oem oil cooler has since been removed).

yeah I feel your pain, very frustrating. I never found out who caused the damage on my car but someone seems to have a problem, they bent the mirror forwards on my other car (e91) when it was parked there, and have snapped the mirror off my brother's vintage land cruiser 4 times, clearly more than coincidence at this point. But not much you can do.

I went through a similar process recently getting my Sparco seats certified. Impossible to find an engineers report for the parts I used so I drilled 2 holes into the transmission tunnel and used lvv doubler plates. Bit of a tedious job, but looks very tidy in the end. Only other thing I could think of is to see if maybe you could find an engineering consulting business in NZ that could take a look at the parts you are using and see if they would be willing to write a report attesting to the strength of the rails? Out of curiosity which cert guy are you going through?

cheers for the recomendation, ill take a look! In other news my logbook arrived today, and ive submitted the paperwork for the homologation so I guess its officially a racecar now?

Got round to working on the car again, really not a whole lot left to do on it at this point. Hoping to race Superlap next season so decided the next thing to do was to install harness eyebolts. That being said it definitely does need some bigger swaybars, adjustable end links, a baffled sump and potentially a transmission oil cooler later on... For now i drilled more holes in the car and installed a harness, its an expired one (FIA 2020) that i had lying around but should still be good for MSNZ clubsport events till 2025 and can easily be swapped out for any other 6 point harness. All eyebolts installed with the appropriate MSNZ approved doubler plates. Also got a MSNZ spec fire extinguisher that ive got to come up with a mounting bracket for. In other news, car officially has a MSNZ logbook! Still need to submit the paperwork for the Rollbar Homologation, and then get my motorsport license. Then just a matter of emptying my bank account to buy all the safety gear, trying to race your car is not a cheap exercise haha...

in an ideal world, you wouldnt pass if you had illegal modifications, if you dont, then you dont need a cert

when i went to get my wof fail sheet for cert, they failed me for the noise level of my exhaust but not the fact that i had relocated seatbelt anchorages to the transmission tunnel, just goes to show how they focus on the wrong things often.

looks like a reasonable price to me, these cars aren't cheap. Depending on service history etc N54 can be a gamble, but if you don't mind getting your hands dirty it would be a great buy imo. If you were in auckland Id give you a hand, have gained a fair bit of knowledge on the n54 over the last couple years. N54+dct is a great combo when working right. But at this price don't expect it to be a flawless car, be prepared to keep a bit of money aside for potential DCT service, gasket replacements (valve cover, oil filter housing, oil cooler, sump being the main ones) and possibly water pump, high pressure fuel pump + injectors.

if its the ones for sale on Facebook market place, being sold by Jason Ganley, its these ones, I sold them and replaced them with BC golds. They installed into the car fine, divorced rear. I replaced all 4 springs with BC springs, 8kg/12kg as per BC spec (vs 12kg/14kg that came with the aragosta) but still found them far too harsh for NZ roads, felt every little bump straight though your spine. Very happy with the BC golds I have in the car now, running the same spring set up, but a much smoother damping and large range of adjustability.

could always try see if a slim plate would work better, you can find the dimensions on kiwi plates

is that taken at milford mall? looks familiar haha not far from me

Sweet as cheers for that, much appreciated!

Looking good! Where did you get the headlight lens from and what did you use to seal it back up?

looks awesome, and i bet would be a lot of fun on some twisty roads! Would be cool to meet up for a B road blat at some point, love taking my 135i out on some twisty roads.

Out of curiosity, how much would it cost me if i brought you a stock e87 130i, and wanted it repowered with an n55/dct?

Have considered it, but this one works really well, and i dont mind the silver too much, suits the black grey and silver theme of the car. Dont want to go full black everything, south auckland spec. Thank you sir

SOLD

Car is almost done, for now, just need to mount some harness eye bolts, put in a baffled sump, and maybe some swayers and it'll be ready for some track duties. Some proper photos of it with the new, painted bumper.

Looking for good cndition drivers side sill trim for a 2008 135i. The plastic trim with the m logo that covers the top of the sideskirt in the door jamb. Cheers

Oil coolers all done and can't spot any leaks as of yet, but has only barely gotten to temp once so far. Replace the fender and front bumper got painted and installed. Very happy with how it all worked out. just need to stick the number plate back on and give it a good clean now

wow that looks like one hell of a car, incredible work!

Awesome car, and great value for money, good luck with the sale!