The 130i Thread

[M3AN 4016]

A custom tune is not practical without a dyno, road tuning it is not economically feasible, how else could you measure it?

If anyone claims they can give you a custom tune for your car ask them how they measure the benefits of their work.

Edit: these engine are well known, the shelf tunes that are out there are probably as good as you can expect now, whether it's 270 or 280 horsepower really doesn't matter, just use somebody competent.

Whatever you do, unless you nanny it, your fuel economy will go to sh*t with a performance tune, be prepared.

Edited July 1, 2022 by M3AN

[Jacko 2154]

Bit of an example on chiptunings website of mallarky unfortunately -

Both of the listed examples produce exactly the same power, its the same engine with same basic everything the matters. Yet somehow they have different outcomes...

SAE changed the standard for measuring BHP in 2005/6, (SAE J2723 if anyone cares), so in BMWs case Pre-LCI e8/9x x30i cars got measured against the old standard, LCI cars against the new. New standard is much tighter defined, and resulted in BMW N52s case of a few hp drop. This is why PreLCI N52s are 265bhp, and LCI 258bhp, yet in reality they produce the same power. Various markets require various standards beyond the SAE stuff (like the German DIN standard), and so even more slight variances occur depending on where the car was sold ( and then when the internet starts spreading numbers in a dick measuring contest, and forgetting the real context - Its the same engine with the same DME, same internals, same intake, and same exhaust)

 

Edited July 1, 2022 by Jacko

[M3AN 4016]

This is mine, in so far as an internet picture proves anything...

 

[gofaster 99]

I always ask for a dyno graph that my tunes are based off

The tune I got for my N54 130i is attached

It feels every bit of that.

[ciderbeard 15]

9 hours ago, M3AN said:

This is mine, in so far as an internet picture proves anything...

 

Where did you get yours done or did you flash it yourself?

[ciderbeard 15]

10 hours ago, M3AN said:

A custom tune is not practical without a dyno, road tuning it is not economically feasible, how else could you measure it?

If anyone claims they can give you a custom tune for your car ask them how they measure the benefits of their work.

Edit: these engine are well known, the shelf tunes that are out there are probably as good as you can expect now, whether it's 270 or 280 horsepower really doesn't matter, just use somebody competent.

Whatever you do, unless you nanny it, your fuel economy will go to sh*t with a performance tune, be prepared.

That’s a good point, the 130i is my daily. I work from home a majority of days at the moment but that could change.  Performance tune on a daily crazy?

[gofaster 99]

21 minutes ago, ciderbeard said:

That’s a good point, the 130i is my daily. I work from home a majority of days at the moment but that could change.  Performance tune on a daily crazy?

For your car, you might be better spending the $s on an M3 LCA kit and wheel alignment

[ciderbeard 15]

33 minutes ago, gofaster said:

For your car, you might be better spending the $s on an M3 LCA kit and wheel alignment

What’s the cost on that roughly?

[TonyT 48]

If its any help, Basil tuned my B47 about 3-4 years ago and I've put about 40,000km on it since. Full economy is better post-tune than prior. The biggest improvement is drivability - the engine revs build more quickly and more smoothly, it feels like an engine which loves to rev now. I dont know what the peak numbers changed to (and dont care), but the day to day experience has been worth every cent. I can imagine that for a 130/135 the question of useable traction might be more significant. 

[M3AN 4016]

4 hours ago, ciderbeard said:

Where did you get yours done or did you flash it yourself?

Car came with the tune, I tracked down which one by interrogating the software name/version then hunting through the net.

[gofaster 99]

This is the kit you want.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-control-arm-kit-5-piece-m-upgrade-bmwmcakit

put them in your cart work out shipping at checkout.

[NZ_InFerno 371]

2 hours ago, gofaster said:

This is the kit you want.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-control-arm-kit-5-piece-m-upgrade-bmwmcakit

put them in your cart work out shipping at checkout.

I've had that kit in my cart for a year or so, it was out of stock for a while. 

They also recommend this install kit to go with it, is it needed as well? 

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-control-arm-bolt-kit-31106763928kt

 

[Jacko 2154]

37 minutes ago, NZ_InFerno said:

I've had that kit in my cart for a year or so, it was out of stock for a while. 

They also recommend this install kit to go with it, is it needed as well? 

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-control-arm-bolt-kit-31106763928kt

 

Nah, unless ya butcher a bolt. 

[Brianr70 83]

here a project for the 130i person with deep pockets  https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/3665795710?bof=Z3XmeKdf

[gofaster 99]

2 hours ago, Brianr70 said:

here a project for the 130i person with deep pockets  https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/3665795710?bof=Z3XmeKdf

Out of curiosity, what do you think the car needs (deep pockets wise)?

Do you think starter or something more sinister like engine rebuild

Thanks, John

[NZ_InFerno 371]

30 minutes ago, gofaster said:

Out of curiosity, what do you think the car needs (deep pockets wise)?

Do you think starter or something more sinister like engine rebuild

Thanks, John

I thought he was being sarcastic, with the cheap reserve price, but it likely does need something major like that done. 

Owner has replaced engine previously (curious?) and manual swapped the car so obviously somewhat mechanically competent. Seems to deal in/work on cars by their past listings. 

The fact that they're letting it go cheap and that they're not prepared to fix it is pretty telling. 

[KwS 2425]

Unless it's been done, which I doubt, instantly bank on getting it a cert for the manual swap, on top of getting it going again. 

[ciderbeard 15]

300hp? What engine did he swap in? a 300hp N52? He doesn’t mention any mods to justify the hp.

[M3AN 4016]

I suspect it's a N52MHP where the "M" stands for magic, you almost certainly have one of these engines when you simply know it has 300hp, mainly because you've done all the work on it yourself, and you know it's faster than some of the others you've seen on the internet.

Looks like a reasonable car with a questionable history, if you got away with a new engine and/or potentially some electronics there could be some value in it. I suspect however the current owner knows it's not economical to repair.

[Eagle 1662]

Exactly. He obviously knows far more about the issue than he's getting on. The BS vague description says it all.

[ciderbeard 15]

100% sketchy.  

 

12 hours ago, M3AN said:

I suspect it's a N52MHP where the "M" stands for magic, you almost certainly have one of these engines when you simply know it has 300hp, mainly because you've done all the work on it yourself, and you know it's faster than some of the others you've seen on the internet.

Looks like a reasonable car with a questionable history, if you got away with a new engine and/or potentially some electronics there could be some value in it. I suspect however the current owner knows it's not economical to repair.

You had be going for the first few words thinking there was some weird N52 variant until the M stands for magic then I had a good laugh   

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by ciderbeard

[nick496 268]

Yeah, sounds like you'd be in for a minimum of a starter and new battery to at least see if it can get cranking again.

But seems odd he's not willing to at least throw that much into it considering how much manual 130i's are currently, and he's done a few deals with cars previously.

 

Worst case though something has grenaded in the bellhousing, and you're in for a gearbox + motor replacement. 

I would have thought replacing a clutch slave would require the gearbox to come off, and then someone misplace the trigger wire for the starter... but I've seen stranger things happen.

[ciderbeard 15]

The saga continues with the service from Eurosurgeon.  I just popped the hood to take a look at something in engine bay and the item circled in red whatever it is (this isn't an actual photo because I'm too lazy to walk back up to the car) was loose and sitting on the grey engine cover.  Now pre service it definitely wasn't loose sitting that way.  Is that something they would even have touched during a service?  Possibly just happened to come lose after the service?  Then I just thought id check the coolant, which was showing at the minimum level.  Wouldn't they top up coolant in a service?  Haven't noticed any leaks, if $400 for a service doesn't even include topping up coolant what the hell did I pay for?  

Edited July 3, 2022 by ciderbeard

[Driftit 2078]

Nah that just clips in and holds up the hoses. Possible they had the cowling it clips into off to check back/top of motor. 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Driftit

[Jacko 2154]

7 minutes ago, Driftit said:

Nah that just clips in and holds up the hoses. Possible they had the cowling it clips into off to check back/top of motor. 

The clips are regularly busted too, by apes who cant see where the clip locks, and then they just fall out.

4 hours ago, ciderbeard said:

, if $400 for a service doesn't even include topping up coolant what the hell did I pay for?  

 

Whats the invoice say?