My Fun 130i (E87 LCI Motorsport Auto)

[Jacko 2154]

Meyle make consistently good sh*t, the Meyle HD stuff is consistently extra extra good. 

[M3AN 4016]

On 6/21/2020 at 2:54 PM, M3AN said:

That's interesting, thank you. Having said that:

• Front camber at 1*10' isn't as much as I'm expecting to get and I'll ask for as much as I can get, anything up to about -2*30' is fine for a street car, the more the better (I'm expecting closer to 2*).
• Front toe is what I was going to ask for (+0*10'). edit: nope, I want -0*10' 
• Rear toe is +ve which is fine but I don't want that much (I was going to go for +0*05').
• Rear camber is just "maximum please" as there's very little adjustment.

 It'll be interesting to see what I end up with, will post the sheet.

Further to this, I might have been reading the link incorrectly... but if so the outcome is strange. Upon second review it seems they have +ve toe front and rear which I absolutely do not want, that's far too conservative. 

Quote

The more power a car has the more positive toe it tends to run, especially on the driven wheels. On road courses this is required for stability in high speed corner entries and for the car to exit corners going straight under throttle rather than going into a drift, or powerslide, and tracking straight is obviously a desired characteristic of a street car. That said, road course cars try to minimize toe in to reduce drag and increase tire life.

Given that I don't have the power of an M3 and don't expect to be driving it like a madman I'll probably go for the original I had anticipated which is -0*10' toe out up front and +0*05' toe in at the rear. If the guys at Autolign look at me sideways when I ask for this I might reconsider. ? 

[Olaf 3317]

I've had zero-toe alignments on my e46, I like them.  I've a friend (former racer) who always zero-toes his cars.  Sharper turn-in response, though without the relative centring one needs to be a bit more coordinated between steering input and throttle at all times.  Some folks never get comfortable with this.

I've never tried toe-out, I guess that's wanting to dart into a turn whenever it gets a little more turn, or weighting/camber?

Whatever you get, it'll be a learning experience and certainly a step on the journey with a fun car!

[M3AN 4016]

12 hours ago, Olaf said:

Whatever you get, it'll be a learning experience and certainly a step on the journey with a fun car!

Yes, and to be honest, if I don't like it I can get it changed again.

My M3 is zeroed out front and rear and I quite like that, really just want to try something a bit different.

[Jacko 2154]

Cant find the alignment sheet I have, have so many receipts its a bit of needle haystack situation (never add it up...), but FWIW what mine runs is as much front end camber as possible, from memory its 1.6,  the rest is E92 M3. 

[M3AN 4016]

Alignment done (at Autolign Mount Wellington) so it's no longer dangerous! Alignment guys actually had to wind the toe out before they could get an initial reading it was so bad! They didn't think my settings were silly suggesting I'll get pretty aggressive turn-in with perhaps mild understeer when really pushing the front end and I'm good with that. They were very complimentary about the coilovers, said they were some of the nicest they've seen from a brand they've never heard of. They said the shock bodies were massive and that's a very good sign and they even mused whether they might have even been hand built. The accompanying hardware (adjusters etc) are also high quality aluminium and apparently easy to use.

Anyway, they did everything I asked for but interestingly couldn't dial in as much front camber as I expected. And they tried but couldn't get every measurement perfect on each side... I have 0.1 degrees less camber on the left than on the right, they suggested (cheekily) that with the driver in the car that would even out. ?

I'll scan the sheet when I next go into the office but in the meantime:

• Front toe: 10' toe out (-0.6mm)
• Front camber: L -1*06' R -1*12'
• Rear toe: 7' toe in (0.4mm)
• Rear camber: -1*48'
• Also evened out the rear end by lifting the RHS by 10mm and the LHS by 6mm.

That's also more rear camber than I expected but I'm not concerned about it unless it causes me traction problems which I'll test out when I take it for a proper drive on the weekend. ?

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by M3AN

[qube 3570]

autolign?

[M3AN 4016]

52 minutes ago, qube said:

autolign?

Yes, sorry, will update my previous post. 

[Jacko 2154]

So whats the verdict? 

[M3AN 4016]

10 hours ago, Jacko said:

So whats the verdict? 

I haven't had a proper opportunity yet... drive home in the rain yesterday and a commute in traffic to and from the office today. ?

Probably not tomorrow either but I'm hoping to get out this weekend. It feels fine in "commute" mode, nothing too sharp or pointy although I do sense a tiny reduction in rear traction... could just be the cooler and wetter days recently but the DSC light seems to be a little easier to provoke.

[GorGasm 563]

Have found rear camber significantly impacts straight line grip.

[M3AN 4016]

More bits from FCP, the delivery box was destroyed, was happy to find everything intact! 

Cabin filter, 2 x oil filters, drop links for my M3 sway bar, BMW Performance pedal covers (they chose not to ordain RHD markets with a dead pedal cover), and some random screws.

 

Edited June 29, 2020 by M3AN

[M3AN 4016]

Never got time to post a pic of these before I had to head off for a long weekend. Total PITA install but I like the result.

[M3AN 4016]

And, having just knocked off ~300km's over the weekend to the Coromandel and back to Aucks in everything from dry and sunny to torrential I can say I'm happy with the following settings... no rear traction issues, just proper throttle management. Hardly saw the DSC light (thanks LSD). Rear end is still rubbing even +10mm but that's down to the wrong offset wheels which will need to go back on the M3 eventually anyway.

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by M3AN

[M3AN 4016]

New cabin filter in, one that came out was dirty but not terrible, probably replaced already at some time during the car's life. Much, much easier than the PITA e36 equivalent which is at the back of the interior centre console.

I also installed the e92 M3 front anti-roll bar and new droplinks and am slightly amazed at how much a difference it's made, it's noticeably stiffer and really aids turn in. In fact I'm glad I didn't install it immediately before or after the alignment as I might not have been able to tell the difference with so many changes. The replacement drop links are much beefier than the originals that came out.

This thinner section on the 130 bar and bushing flanges on the M3 bar are the only obvious differences between the two bars but there may be other meaningful ones, they weigh about the same.

However the aluminium M3 brackets and captive bushes are far superior (and lighter) than the originals.

And finally the replacement droplinks are also superior.

Edited July 11, 2020 by M3AN

[M3AN 4016]

So I picked up these genuine BMW E87 LCI taillights today for a steal from Trademe, $100 including bulb holders and bulbs (and since @Jacko obviously didn't want them I couldn't let them go so easily, nobody else bid). They're lightly used (auction said unused) but at fifty bucks each I'm not complaining. Got them home and discovered something that pleased me immensely, they're evidently Blacklines which I've been wanting since I got this car. Having said that, I can't tell the difference between these and mine so perhaps I already have Blacklines? I didn't think so. Not Blacklines, the black trim with the Blackline part number is used on multiple light assemblies.

Edited August 29, 2020 by M3AN

[qube 3570]

they are blacklines .. you can tell because there are.. black lines.. in the centre part of the light between the two white parts.

see photo below

[M3AN 4016]

It's a bit confusing tbh... all LCI lights have the LED strips (the lines as you call them) and there's 4 of them. On the pre-LCI's (like your pic) there are 3 lines but they're not LED strips. None of mine are as dark as the LHS ones in your pic. ? 

[qube 3570]

if im not mistaken, the diff between pre lci and lci is this:

and the black lines is the addition of the lines that go along the centre part of the light to create contrast between the red and the black

 

[Jacko 2154]

42 minutes ago, M3AN said:

So I picked up these genuine BMW E87 LCI taillights today for a steal from Trademe, $100 including bulb holders and bulbs (and since @Jacko obviously didn't want them I couldn't let them go so easily, nobody else bid). They're lightly used (auction said unused) but at fifty bucks each I'm not complaining. Got them home and discovered something that pleased me immensely, they're evidently Blacklines which I've been wanting since I got this car. Having said that, I can't tell the difference between these and mine so perhaps I already have Blacklines? I didn't think so.

 

 

Stupid trademe remind me thing didnt work! 

[M3AN 4016]

On 8/15/2020 at 3:41 PM, qube said:

if im not mistaken, the diff between pre lci and lci is this:

and the black lines is the addition of the lines that go along the centre part of the light to create contrast between the red and the black

 

Yes, that's the difference between the stock lights but Blackline's for both pre- and post-LCI look very similar. The ones for the pre-LCI (called Blackline "Lows") have 3 non-LED bars whereas the LCI ones (Blackline "Highs") have 4 LED bars.

• Blackline Low = LCI look, 3 reflector bars, designed for pre-LCI and halogen cars
• Blackline High = LCI look, 4 LED bars, designed for LCI Xenon cars

However, the 'Highs' will work with pre-LCI and halogen cars also, just the LED bars won't light up. You can wire them into the license plate lights and code them as DRL's if you want them to light up the same as the LCI Xenon cars. 

So, always get the 'Highs'. 

Apparently all lights have all part numbers on the back surround so that part number in this case is not definitive.

Mine have turned out not the be Blacklines.

Edited September 25, 2020 by M3AN

[qube 3570]

got a migraine trying to read and understand that.

I think im just gonna call it what it is - they are taillights. woop woop.

[M3AN 4016]

23 hours ago, qube said:

got a migraine trying to read and understand that.

Tell me about it, wading through it to find the right bits and what to avoid was taxing.

Edit: summarised it so people can actually understand it. ?

Edited August 16, 2020 by M3AN

[M3AN 4016]

I had the wrap and having done the exploration on Blacklines I thought I'd have a go... they look awesome...

...from a distance! ? The first wrap I've ever done and it's a shocking job. The angles and creases in the lights are not suitable for a beginner to attempt. I had enough wrap for three lights so I had three goes, they got progressively better but at the rate of improvement I'd need to do another 20 to get it right. 

I realise you're not meant to wrap lights but these still work fine and they're no darker than the official Blacklines. These won't pass a warrant because the bubbles and creases in the tint are obvious but hey, I have two sets of lights.

This is enough to convince me I need official Blacklines.

[M3AN 4016]

What might this at the back of my engine bay be? It's etched with  'Orange Wolf' (same brand as my exhaust and coilovers) and has a directional arrow implying it's a one way/check valve.

Edit: solved - https://www.gulfstream.co.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=127

Edited August 29, 2020 by M3AN