Elias' 135i project

[elias 253]

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...

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by elias

[M3AN 4016]

1 hour ago, elias said:

Also got a MSNZ spec fire extinguisher that ive got to come up with a mounting bracket for.

Just fabricate or buy one of these:

https://southernbm.com.au/products/kap-industries-fire-extinguisher-bracket-e-series-f-series-g-series-q5gjn

I suspect it will be cheaper to buy one by the time you've cut and powder coated your own.

[elias 253]

On 7/3/2023 at 6:00 PM, M3AN said:

Just fabricate or buy one of these:

https://southernbm.com.au/products/kap-industries-fire-extinguisher-bracket-e-series-f-series-g-series-q5gjn

I suspect it will be cheaper to buy one by the time you've cut and powder coated your own.

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?

[Ooonst 4]

On 3/24/2023 at 5:37 PM, elias said:

Car has been parked up on a quiet culdesac near my house due to having no wof or rego, waiting on cert. Parked there as my driveway doesn't have any room, and house is halfway through renovations. 

Someone hit the car while it was parked, and damaged the front bumper and fender as well as a small scratch in one of the brand new wheels. Didn't leave a note or anything, so ive got no idea who it was, and my insurance is only 3rd party. So looks like im going to have to pay to have it fixed myself, pretty shitty thing to do.

Spend all these hours working on making the car as nice as possible, just for some c**t to f**k it up.  😡

Nobody saw anything and no CCTV. 

Got a good plan for getting fixed and looking better than before at least but going to take a bit of saving, with being a uni student.

 

 

Great thread! Very impressive build! Sorry to resurface your bad memories but I just wanted to say I've had 3 similar experiences recently. One of my cars got hit on the rear drivers quarter a few months back and I booked it in for the panel beaters (3 month wait list... ) Finally got it in there, got the work done under insurance ($400 excess, about $2k worth of work?) and had it parked on the street all of 2 days - Friday to Sunday before some other ass hat hit me in EXACTLY THE SAME PLACE! I won't be getting it fixed again until I have a garage.

After this experience I bought a dash cam and hard wired it into my 335i for security duties, sure enough, someone scraped the front drivers quarter a couple of weeks back... I have accumulated quite a bit of damage on this part of the car now (someone also opened like a van door over the top of the quarter/hood causing a massive scratch, clear coat is blistering - black car parked in the direct sun...) so it really needs to get into the panel beaters! I've been through a load of the videos and still not able to locate any solid evidence of when that scratch might have occurred.

Again, reluctant to get this one fixed until I have a safe place to park because where I live is clearly a massive liability for these sorts of parked prangs and it seems that no one leaves notes anymore... 🤬

[elias 253]

On 7/10/2023 at 8:04 AM, Ooonst said:

Great thread! Very impressive build! Sorry to resurface your bad memories but I just wanted to say I've had 3 similar experiences recently. One of my cars got hit on the rear drivers quarter a few months back and I booked it in for the panel beaters (3 month wait list... ) Finally got it in there, got the work done under insurance ($400 excess, about $2k worth of work?) and had it parked on the street all of 2 days - Friday to Sunday before some other ass hat hit me in EXACTLY THE SAME PLACE! I won't be getting it fixed again until I have a garage.

After this experience I bought a dash cam and hard wired it into my 335i for security duties, sure enough, someone scraped the front drivers quarter a couple of weeks back... I have accumulated quite a bit of damage on this part of the car now (someone also opened like a van door over the top of the quarter/hood causing a massive scratch, clear coat is blistering - black car parked in the direct sun...) so it really needs to get into the panel beaters! I've been through a load of the videos and still not able to locate any solid evidence of when that scratch might have occurred.

Again, reluctant to get this one fixed until I have a safe place to park because where I live is clearly a massive liability for these sorts of parked prangs and it seems that no one leaves notes anymore... 🤬

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.

[elias 253]

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.

[elias 253]

On 7/3/2023 at 6:00 PM, M3AN said:

Just fabricate or buy one of these:

https://southernbm.com.au/products/kap-industries-fire-extinguisher-bracket-e-series-f-series-g-series-q5gjn

I suspect it will be cheaper to buy one by the time you've cut and powder coated your own.

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!

[Eagle 1662]

1 hour ago, elias said:

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. 

Lots of trash around that obviously gain enjoyment from damaging nice things, if your car average condition common car im guessing it wouldn't have happened. I wouldnt own anything nice if i had to park on the street for reasons like this.

[M3AN 4016]

1 hour ago, elias said:

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.

Yeah, that f'ing sucks dude, so sorry to see that, you have my sympathies (although I know they don't really help).

I'm angry for you. 🤬

[elias 253]

57 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Lots of trash around that obviously gain enjoyment from damaging nice things, if your car average condition common car im guessing it wouldn't have happened. I wouldnt own anything nice if i had to park on the street for reasons like this.

yep, not a single other car on the street has been damaged. Yeah only park it there due to ongoing house renovations which means no garage and a cross lease driveway with an unfriendly neighbour. Once fixed I will find somewhere else to keep it, had enough.

 

46 minutes ago, M3AN said:

Yeah, that f'ing sucks dude, so sorry to see that, you have my sympathies (although I know they don't really help).

I'm angry for you. 🤬

I appreciate it regardless! Pretty gutted but not much I can do, I will get it repaired and learn my lesson not to park it in public places anymore.

[arktis 58]

Aids. Makes me realise how lucky I've been street parking my car. There are a couple of little scratches, but nothing like what you've had to put up with. Sorry dude.

[elias 253]

Took the car out for a drive and decided to take some photos last night before dropping it off to get the speed stripes fixed today.

[elias 253]

Got the car back from the Panelbeater this evening, looks the best it ever has. Both doors and the rear quarter resprayed. If you ever need panelbeating/paint work done in Auckland I can't recommend Neville at Bute Collision Repair Browns Bay enough, absolute legend always does an amazing job and very reasonable prices, this job was 1/5th the cost of what other places had quoted. Safe to say i wont be parking it on that Culdesac anymore.

[elias 253]

Not much been happening with the car lately, but finally got the rollbar homologation done so its all officially MSNZ approved now, logbooked, homologated, got my car club membership and M grade license so ready for a hillclimb later in the year. Still need to get around to measuring correct swaybar endlink length and order a set of adjustable ones.

[elias 253]

Been a while since I posted in here, been very busy with my (hopefully) last semester of uni. Took the 135 to tis first msnz event, doctors hill road hillclimb. Really enjoyed it and the car did really well! Managed 13th/34 on the day, not bad considering it was my first event and there was quite a few pretty serious racecars. 

[elias 253]

Had so much fun at the hillclimb I decided to take it to another event, Hooncorp event at the mere mere drift track.  Was great fun and ended up 4th/37 on the day, only one second behind a purpose built turbo 1UZ swapped e36 coupe on 265s. Car performed flawlessly once again, albeit oil temps getting up there, not an issue on a short 2 lap sprint, but definitely something to think about for longer events. Stoked to be putting the car to use, halfcage, harness and bucket seats aren't just for decoration.

[elias 253]

Signed up for a couple more events in November, one of which is a 9km hillclimb near raglan. Longer event has me worried about oil temps, as they were getting high after a 1minute hillclimb, despite already having two big oil coolers right behind the vents in the front bumper. 

Managed to find a good deal on a oem oil thermostat delete plate and mishimoto inline oil thermostat. Installed that yesterday, took a little while to do, had to redo quite a few an lines, figure out where to put everything, bumper had to come off etc. Got it all plumbed in now, fresh oil and filter and should be good. This is a 85C thermostat, oem is 100C, only done a couple little drives but definitely significantly lower oil temps so far. Will post photos soon.

[Cement 871]

Car looks great doing what you've planned for it to do 🏅Must be a bucket load of fun, and nerves !!

A trip to Meremere this Friday ? 😅 I'm going to take the car to see how it goes compares to my historical cars (maybe 18 years ago ?!) ... weather is not looking great so hopefully it's worth going.

[elias 253]

On 10/22/2023 at 8:30 AM, Cement said:

Car looks great doing what you've planned for it to do 🏅Must be a bucket load of fun, and nerves !!

A trip to Meremere this Friday ? 😅 I'm going to take the car to see how it goes compares to my historical cars (maybe 18 years ago ?!) ... weather is not looking great so hopefully it's worth going.

thank you, yeah its been doing pretty well! Definitely a lot of fun, doing my best not to crash it. 

haha I don't think my car would be any good for drag racing, would be nothing but wheelspin! Hopefully the VQ goes well

[elias 253]

Been getting an intermittent misfire on Cylinder 3. Really odd one, some days when driving down the motorway and trying to smoothly accelerate (high load, low rpm) it breaks up and starts shaking, doesn't recover until you pull over and clear codes, then drives fine as long as you stay out of boost. Swapped coil and plug to Cylinder 2, went for another drive, same issue. Try do some data logs the next day to log fuel mode to try diagnose potential injector fault and car drives perfectly under WOT all the way to redline no issues. Decide to swap out nectar in Cylinder 3 anyway as I need it running properly for Hamptons sprint this coming weekend.

Install new seal on injector, compress it etc, start pulling out old injector and notice a part of the injector is missing, the metal claw shaped bracket is missing a piece, the bit that rests against the head. Luckily I manage to catch it between my finger tips before it fell into the bore, scary moment!! New injector goes in, coded with protools and so far no issues, but then again neither was there on the last drive...

Will drive it a couple more times during the week to see what happens but hopefully the new injector has sorted it!

[elias 253]

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.

[Cement 871]

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

[Vass 831]

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? 

[elias 253]

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.

[charles28 136]

3 hours ago, elias said:

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.

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.

A good time for a turbo CHRA upgrade.