Elias' 135i project

[elias 253]

Finished up the brake bleed, think there may be a small amount air trapped in the system but the car stops pretty well. Also finished up the guard rolling, after bashing them as flat as I could with a mallet without deforming them. Painted any scratches I had put into the underside of the car with the wire wheel, and then put some new seam sealer in to make sure nothing rusts out. Then cut the outer edge of the guard lining to keep it off the tire.

Been very busy with work in the uni break at the moment trying to save up for a limited slip diff, most likely the mfactory one, now a question of wether I order it from Mfactory directly or through speed science, would cost more or less the exact same..

[M3AN 4016]

24 minutes ago, elias said:

...now a question of wether I order it from Mfactory directly or through speed science, would cost more or less the exact same..

In the case that they're the same cost there's no question, Speed Science are based in NZ, you have automatic CGA protection if you buy from them, none at all if you buy from overseas.

[elias 253]

12 hours ago, M3AN said:

In the case that they're the same cost there's no question, Speed Science are based in NZ, you have automatic CGA protection if you buy from them, none at all if you buy from overseas.

that is a good point, I didn't think of that, will definitely keep that in mind, provided speed science doesn't charge me any additional shipping fees since it is a special order item, haven't ordered from them before.

[elias 253]

Cut up the cowl today, decided if I didn't like it it would be easy to get another one from a wrecker etc, especially as a lot of people run the bms filters and no cowl so there's a lot of spare cowls around.

Got these cowl filters from a guy locally who 3D prints them, and they come with rain covers, much cheaper than the bms ones by the time you pay for shipping.

I cut the cowl along the strut braces and left a small piece along the back edge in the middle to make sure water running off the windshield was directed into the firewall drains, sides of the cowl remained intact to ensure watertightness of DME box and brake booster box. Hopefully will hear even more turbo noises now and possibly let some of the hot air escape out the back of the bonnet.

[elias 253]

Decided to swap out my suspension again, changed the coilovers from the aragosta to bc golds, slightly better suited to nz roads as they can be adjusted a bit softer. Ride feels smoother now and quite happy with them, am yet to test them out at higher speeds. 

Been having an issue with severe misfire on cold start, engine misfires for a minute or so, dumps a whole lot of fuel out of the exhaust. Did a log and the fuel trims and cylinder 1 timing correction are all over the place, seems to me that injector 1 is leaking fuel into the cylinder over night, then when the car is started it misfires till all of the fuel is burnt off. 

All my injectors are index 7 so will try replacing the injector with another index 7 or possibly 6 or 8 as ive heard it works fine although not officially recommend. Have bought new injector seals and decouplers so will replace those before putting in a new (used) injector. Just need to find a way of replacing the seal now, seems some special tools are required, although some have had success using a pen cap. 

Also been having 30FE overboots codes, so will need the boost solenoids replaced soon I believe.

The new cabin filter set up is great, no water on the engine bay as the water drain route remains intact, but a lot more intake and turbo noise coming into the cabin.

Lots to do on the car, little time at the moment but hopefully will be all sorted in a few weeks.

[elias 253]

Finally got round to working on the car, replaced both boost solenoids which fixed my 30FE overboost code, pretty straightforward job just have to be careful not to drop the nuts, also wouldn't recommend doing this after driving the car, I burnt my hands about 5 times as they sit right above the exhaust manifold.

Took the car for a spirited drive on some coatsville backroads and car had zero issues, no error codes no overheating, sat at 110deg the whole time. 

Also finally ordered a set of backline taillights, price worked out cheapest through continental cars bmw, should be here tomorrow, should help make the rear end look a little bit more modern.

Also changed up the suspension set up again, more on that later...

[gofaster 99]

1 hour ago, elias said:

Finally got round to working on the car, replaced both boost solenoids which fixed my 30FE overboost code, pretty straightforward job just have to be careful not to drop the nuts, also wouldn't recommend doing this after driving the car, I burnt my hands about 5 times as they sit right above the exhaust manifold.

Took the car for a spirited drive on some coatsville backroads and car had zero issues, no error codes no overheating, sat at 110deg the whole time. 

Also finally ordered a set of backline taillights, price worked out cheapest through continental cars bmw, should be here tomorrow, should help make the rear end look a little bit more modern.

Also changed up the suspension set up again, more on that later...

Hey Elias, where did you buy your boost solenoids from. I'm chasing some codes

[elias 253]

23 hours ago, gofaster said:

Hey Elias, where did you buy your boost solenoids from. I'm chasing some codes

Hey, I bought them from a guy who replaced his as his tuner requested that as preventative maintenance before tuning his car, they worked perfectly fine. For new ones, definitely go FCP euro, 300NZD shipped for a pair, otherwise local wreckers will sell them out of crashed cars, try @HELLBM, or @BM WORLD

[elias 253]

Picked up and installed the new backline taillights today, made a huge difference I think!

left is new, right is old

both done

hoping to order LSD tomorrow, then onto getting wheels painted...

[elias 253]

LSD is on its way, will be a couple months till it arrives from MFactory Europe, ended up being significantly cheaper ordering it from Mfactory Europe than locally. 

Bought a crank seal plate for peace of mind, didn't want to worry about belt getting sucked into engine, although I have replaced oil filter housing and oil cooler gaskets as well as a new belt, better safe than sorry.

Went to install the crank seal plate, removed skid plate, fan, etc etc, and found a lot of oil all over the drive belt... a lot of oil, was getting splashed all over inlets and charge pipe. Appeared to be leaking from the OFHG again, despite having replaced this not too long ago. Installed the crank seal plate cleaned everything as best as I could and drove the car home. Came back the next day and it looked significantly worse again, decided to get the car towed, didn't want to risk shredding the belt, and began taking it apart last night.

Replaced the oil filter housing gasket and oil cooler gasket again, all torqued to spec, hopefully it actually lasts a bit longer this time... not a fun job with all of the mess it makes. spent a lot of time trying to clean all of the oil up, removed all of the pulleys and the tensioner, cleaned them, still need to clean up the harmonic balancer and bottom of the engine. Then some fresh oil, coolant and need to swap an injector.

r

Very mysterious why it was leaking after such a short time, no bolts were loose or snapped gasket was seated fine when removed it, couldn't see anything obvious that was wrong with it.. quite frustrating, but lucky that I spotted it before the engine ate the belt.

 

 

[elias 253]

Cleaned everything up, checked the crank seal, to make sure it wasn't the crank seal plate that had damaged it and caused oil to leak onto the belt, but it was all good, with no rubbing at all, so would definitely recommend the VTT crank seal plate fitment is good. 

Cleaned as much of the oil up as I could, so I can tell if there's still oil leaking, cleaned the belt as best as I could so I could drive home, will source new belt to be safe. Decided I may as well replace my leaky fuel injector on cylinder 1 as I already had a spare one that id put a new seal and decoupler on. Chucked that in to make sure any fuel leak wouldn't thin out my fresh oil I was about to put in. Injector swap was very easy took about 10min. Wrote down all of the calibration values for all 6 and had my friend code them for me. New filter and oil, and coolant top up and bleed, primed the oil pump which almost killed my battery. Car fired up nicely and ran smooth with no issues to report so far.

Just the drive belt to replace now and keep an eye on to see if any oil is leaking out still. Also dropped off the white CSL style wheels for vapour blasting, hoping to have them back end of the week, just need to decide wether I keep them raw aluminium with clear coat or paint them gunmetal grey/shadow chrome, then tires go on and an alignment.

Very happy to have the car running smoothly again, with no more leaky injector thinning out my oil.

[Jacko 2154]

Ive been wiping permetex black sealant on the oil filter housing gaskets, just a smear over the whole gasket before install, havent had one leak again yet (ones got nearly 100,000km on it and still dry), which seems to be better than how they perform when installed dry. 

[elias 253]

On 7/19/2022 at 9:57 PM, Jacko said:

Ive been wiping permetex black sealant on the oil filter housing gaskets, just a smear over the whole gasket before install, havent had one leak again yet (ones got nearly 100,000km on it and still dry), which seems to be better than how they perform when installed dry. 

Thats a good idea, if it leaks for the 3rd time ill definitely try that, hopefully it lasts a little while though, not an enjoyable job with the amount of mess it makes. 

 

In other news got an email from DHL saying my diff is due to arrive within abut 5 days, much sooner than expected. Will probably have to pay import tax though sadly.

Any recommendations for a shop that could swap the Mfactory diff core into my diff housing for me, will give it a go myself but if I don't have the tools or can't figure it out would be nice to know where I could take it to get it sorted, auckland area.

Edited July 21, 2022 by elias

[Jacko 2154]

9 minutes ago, elias said:

Any recommendations for a shop that could swap the Mfactory diff core into my diff housing for me, will give it a go myself but if I don't have the tools or can't figure it out would be nice to know where I could take it to get it sorted, auckland area.

Kayne Barrie Motorsport

 

[Eagle 1662]

1 hour ago, elias said:

Thats a good idea, if it leaks for the 3rd time ill definitely try that, hopefully it lasts a little while though, not an enjoyable job with the amount of mess it makes. 

 

In other news got an email from DHL saying my diff is due to arrive within abut 5 days, much sooner than expected. Will probably have to pay import tax though sadly.

Any recommendations for a shop that could swap the Mfactory diff core into my diff housing for me, will give it a go myself but if I don't have the tools or can't figure it out would be nice to know where I could take it to get it sorted, auckland area.

Literally got just mine. $300 in tax. Took longer to process it and deliver in NZ than it took from UK to NZ.

+1 KBM but it seems hes a bit busy at the moment. Shims and pre-load checking is the real barrier to the DIY route.

[elias 253]

11 hours ago, Eagle said:

Literally got just mine. $300 in tax. Took longer to process it and deliver in NZ than it took from UK to NZ.

+1 KBM but it seems hes a bit busy at the moment. Shims and pre-load checking is the real barrier to the DIY route.

Yeah thats what I was thinking, ive got the tools to check backlash, and from what ive read in 90% of cases the factory shims are reused, since they are used to account for the variation in the dimensions of the cast diff housing, but since diff renters are machined, mfactory machines their centres to the exact same spec as bmw factory ones, so same shims can be used as long as they are kept in the same positions and the same housing is used, however occasionally there seems to be some exceptions to this.

Might give DIY a go and see how far I get, will probably need new diff seals as well...

[gofaster 99]

10 minutes ago, elias said:

Yeah thats what I was thinking, ive got the tools to check backlash, and from what ive read in 90% of cases the factory shims are reused, since they are used to account for the variation in the dimensions of the cast diff housing, but since diff renters are machined, mfactory machines their centres to the exact same spec as bmw factory ones, so same shims can be used as long as they are kept in the same positions and the same housing is used, however occasionally there seems to be some exceptions to this.

Might give DIY a go and see how far I get, will probably need new diff seals as well...

Have you checked in with HellBM? They fitted a Quaife LSD to their N54 130i project which I now own.

[Eagle 1662]

2 hours ago, elias said:

Yeah thats what I was thinking, ive got the tools to check backlash, and from what ive read in 90% of cases the factory shims are reused, since they are used to account for the variation in the dimensions of the cast diff housing, but since diff renters are machined, mfactory machines their centres to the exact same spec as bmw factory ones, so same shims can be used as long as they are kept in the same positions and the same housing is used, however occasionally there seems to be some exceptions to this.

Might give DIY a go and see how far I get, will probably need new diff seals as well...

Yeah pretty much what im about to do but will get it re-checked after or send it away if it needs shimming. Hard to know if some of these people are ending with noises due to sub optimal specs or lack of proper checking, most people aren't likely to follow up\post if they messed it up 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Eagle

[elias 253]

2 hours ago, gofaster said:

Have you checked in with HellBM? They fitted a Quaife LSD to their N54 130i project which I now own.

this is a good idea, will definitely contact ray, always been good experience dealing with him

[elias 253]

26 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Yeah pretty much what im about to do but will get it re-checked after or send it away if it needs shimming. Hard to know if some of these people are ending with noises due to sub optimal specs or lack of proper checking, most people aren't likely to follow up\post if they messed it up 

for sure would be good to get it checked over to make sure nothing gets damaged as a result of improper installation, I am expecting to see some increase in noise etc, as I will also be installing solid UHMW diff bushings at the same time, but will look out for any clunks etc.

[elias 253]

Diff is stuck in customs as expected, filled out the paperwork for the code that you need this morning so hoping to have it in a week or so. 

Got my wheels back from vapour blasting , decided to leave the raw vapour blasted aluminium for now, will probably have them gone over again in a year or so when they start to show corrosion and then either get them painted or clear coated. The current finish is quite unique, not a shiny silver almost grey, quite like it. Tires put on, fitment is pretty good, rear should be fine with no rub I hope but front are a little bit close, and camber is already at its maximum on the bc golds. Unfortunately the hole in the top of the strut tower isn't big enough so the bolts that are used to adjust the camber plates hit the edge of the cutout meaning I cannot make full use of the factory camber adjustment. Am yet to give it a proper test drive to see how much it rubs, and it definitely needs an alignment. Will adjust my ride height and take it in for an alignment next week. Unfortunately being back to uni means no more money and little time to work on the car. 

excuse they messy garage, house is half way through being renovated.

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by elias

[elias 253]

Some photos of how the car looks now

[Tech2P 11]

Ahh so it was you I saw at the meet on Saturday night. Your looked really good man

[elias 253]

2 hours ago, Tech2P said:

Ahh so it was you I saw at the meet on Saturday night. Your looked really good man

At the Westgate meet? Cheers man appreciate it, been a long process 

[Tech2P 11]

16 minutes ago, elias said:

At the Westgate meet? Cheers man appreciate it, been a long process 

It was in the CBD at the rooftop I was gonna come talk to you but we had to leave haha. I enjoy reading through your thread bro I always liked these