Hello everyone,
For a long time I wanted to make a proper fast one series. I was researching for a lot of time, but I wanted to make something that hasn't been done before. The idea of making the little car AWD, but retaining the DCT trans. There were a lot of unknown things, which I found later on.
I wanted to finish the project almost fully before posting and this is what i did, also the car received a 1M conversion.
The DCT trans was never designed to be awd from the factory. There were no mounting points for a transfer case and the output shaft is short and with different splines.
I ended up using e46 NV124 transfer case. The difference between e46 and e90 is that the e46 is fixed ratio of 62% rear and 38% front. The e90 has a clutch and a motor for engagement and disengagement. Too complicated for now. You can bolt up a e46 transfer case on a 8hp as well.
I had to make a shaft from the trans to the transfer case, which I did. It ended up being a bit too long. I don't have a picture of the shaft.
Secondly, I had to create a adapter flange. I am a university student in Ruse. There are some very intelligent people is there, who helped the creation of that flange
They have some amazing 3d scanners. We scanned the trans as much as we could, the transfer case fully and the two shafts.
This is V1:
This is V2 after the shaft was too long:
They 3d printed the adapter on a 3d printer in order to test fit it on the car. Everything was a perfect fit. I am very thankful to those people in that University.
This is with the plastic part:
I had to cut the underbody of the car to fit the transfer case and make mounting brackets and holes. The rear driveshaft had to be significantly shortened and the front had to be longer. I used everything from e90 330xd, because this was the most available and affordable at that time. They were in bad condition, so they were restored.
The oil pan was difficult to find used at least in Bulgaria. We sourced one from Germany from a e90 325xi, only 80 euro. N55 and N52 oil pans 99% the same. We only had to plug one hole for the crankcase ventilation. I needed front shocks so I got BC racing COILOVERS for xdrive e90. The axles are the same for 330d and 335i and many more. Everything went together smoothly.
I revised the adapter a bit more before giving the file the the guy with the CNC machine. The adapter is going to be made from aluminium 2017, which was the only available grade in my country apparently.
The only current problem i have is the DSC system. It is giving me a hard time. The front hub carrier is different. The wheel speed sensor measures differently, but they are one size.The 135i front speed sensors measure magnetic pulses meanwhile the xdrive configuration uses conventional speed sensors(the same as in the back). I was thinking of swapping a dsc from xdrive, but then the trans is going to act up. I didn't want to do that. I ended up using the original speed sensors and found some fridge magnets and placed them in the holes of the driveshaft ring.
It started showing speed, but not correctly, because the diameter was different. The most right picture is where wheel speed is measured from. Again different.
The car will drive like that, but i want to be as oem looking as possible. I am open for suggestions!
This is the car running for the first time.
Thanks for you time and enjoy your day!
For a long time I wanted to make a proper fast one series. I was researching for a lot of time, but I wanted to make something that hasn't been done before. The idea of making the little car AWD, but retaining the DCT trans. There were a lot of unknown things, which I found later on.
I wanted to finish the project almost fully before posting and this is what i did, also the car received a 1M conversion.
The DCT trans was never designed to be awd from the factory. There were no mounting points for a transfer case and the output shaft is short and with different splines.
I ended up using e46 NV124 transfer case. The difference between e46 and e90 is that the e46 is fixed ratio of 62% rear and 38% front. The e90 has a clutch and a motor for engagement and disengagement. Too complicated for now. You can bolt up a e46 transfer case on a 8hp as well.
I had to make a shaft from the trans to the transfer case, which I did. It ended up being a bit too long. I don't have a picture of the shaft.
Secondly, I had to create a adapter flange. I am a university student in Ruse. There are some very intelligent people is there, who helped the creation of that flange
They have some amazing 3d scanners. We scanned the trans as much as we could, the transfer case fully and the two shafts.
This is V1:
This is V2 after the shaft was too long:
They 3d printed the adapter on a 3d printer in order to test fit it on the car. Everything was a perfect fit. I am very thankful to those people in that University.
This is with the plastic part:
I had to cut the underbody of the car to fit the transfer case and make mounting brackets and holes. The rear driveshaft had to be significantly shortened and the front had to be longer. I used everything from e90 330xd, because this was the most available and affordable at that time. They were in bad condition, so they were restored.
The oil pan was difficult to find used at least in Bulgaria. We sourced one from Germany from a e90 325xi, only 80 euro. N55 and N52 oil pans 99% the same. We only had to plug one hole for the crankcase ventilation. I needed front shocks so I got BC racing COILOVERS for xdrive e90. The axles are the same for 330d and 335i and many more. Everything went together smoothly.
I revised the adapter a bit more before giving the file the the guy with the CNC machine. The adapter is going to be made from aluminium 2017, which was the only available grade in my country apparently.
The only current problem i have is the DSC system. It is giving me a hard time. The front hub carrier is different. The wheel speed sensor measures differently, but they are one size.The 135i front speed sensors measure magnetic pulses meanwhile the xdrive configuration uses conventional speed sensors(the same as in the back). I was thinking of swapping a dsc from xdrive, but then the trans is going to act up. I didn't want to do that. I ended up using the original speed sensors and found some fridge magnets and placed them in the holes of the driveshaft ring.
It started showing speed, but not correctly, because the diameter was different. The most right picture is where wheel speed is measured from. Again different.
The car will drive like that, but i want to be as oem looking as possible. I am open for suggestions!
This is the car running for the first time.
