jzx_andy's E92 progress thread

[jzx_andy]

Hey guys, long time Spoolstreet lurker and E9x/N54 enthusiast from Perth, Western Australia. Figured I'd start a build thread on here since it is one of the very few active performance-based forums that hasn't been murdered by social media!

A few things about myself and my E92

Always had a keen interest in the E9x 335i since they first came out. Seriously considered one in 2014 - 2015, but prices were a tad silly for a tuner car and tuning options still seemed quite limited at the time (especially compared to the Japanese aftermarket scene).

Decided in late-2017 that I'd buy one as prices were starting to drop hard and the cars were at the age and level of depreciation where tidy examples were relatively easy to come across.

Bought a 2008 Alpine White E92 on 13 April 2018 with the intention of making it a fun weekend toy.

It had 129,000km on the clock, M-Sport, comfort access and Individual sound system options, a fairly good service history, MHD stage 1+ tune, high side catch can and a couple of the cosmetic goodies listed below. Best of all, it has 0 wastegate rattle!!!

Did the usual FBO stuff and cheaped out where I could. My long term plans are to throw in a 3.46 OS Giken Superlock in the rear, do a manual conversion and single turbo the thing already (ideally lowmount *lol*). Aiming for around 500-600whp on E85 with a 6062 or a similar Garrett. I'm not really fussed with chasing numbers or times however I will need to take it to the drags or a dyno eventually to ensure everything is healthy - my main goals for the car are to look and sound good, do a good skid and be a relatively fun allround street car without catching too much unwanted attention, but still being different to the well trodden paths that are fbo and/or mildly upgraded twin turbo setups.

When I first got the car:

Some more recent pics

CURRENT STATE OF VEHICLE (AS OF JUNE 2022):

Chassis
• Brake calipers painted in BMW Le Mans Blue
• AKG adjustable front endlinks
• Turner Motorsports rear shifter carrier bushings
• UUC delrin front shifter carrier bushings
• Rogue Engineering transmission mounts
• ST XTA coilovers
• BMW E9x M3 / E82 1M front control arms and rear guide rods
• Manzo adjustable rear toe arms
• Manzo rear camber arms
• Monroe rear shock mounts
• ECS Tuning slotted and drilled brake rotors
• ECS Tuning wheel stud kit
• Akebono ceramic brake pads allround
• Genuine Yokohama Advan RSII wheels (18x9.5 +22 and 18x10.5 +25)
• Yokohama Advan V105 Tyres (245/40/18 and 265/35/18)
• BMW E9x M3 / E82 1M front strut brace assembly
• Revshift 80A poly engine mounts

Interior/Exterior
• E92 M3 widebody front end conversion (OEM carbon crash bars, ducts, panels etc)
• BMW CIC Navigation retrofit
• BMW combox retrofit
• BMW Apps retrofit
• Carplay and Android auto unit
• Genuine BMW E46 ZHP shift knob
• Genuine BMW Performance alcantara shift boot
• Retrimmed flat bottom M Sport steering wheel by Royal Steering Wheel UK
• Customised cluster with white LED’s and E9x M3 variable redline
• Alcantara handbrake boot
• Aluminium pedal covers
• Custom floormats
• Genuine E92 M3 side mirrors (power folding, electric adjustable and auto dimming)
• Genuine BMW Performance E9x M3 / E82 1M carbon fiber mirror caps
• Genuine 335is front bumper air ducts
• Bavgruppe V3 angel eye rings
• Bavgruppe LED front indicator bulbs
• Morimoto 6500k low beam bulbs
• ZKW-R low beam projector lense upgrades
• New genuine headlight lenses
• Depo LCI style tail lights and LED reverse bulbs
• Genuine Seibon E92 M3 carbon fiber front lip
• BMW Performance style quad tip carbon fiber rear diffuser
• Quad exhaust tips
• BMS cabin air filters
• Hydra Performance cabin air filter covers
• Trimmed cowl
• HT black Painted throttle body
• Mashimarho CF headlight caps
• Flow Design rear bumper spats
• KAP Industries fire extinguisher mount
• Dechromed front and rear roundels
• F82 M4 front seats
• E92 M3 rear seats, rear centre console, centre console lid and door cards
• LCI headlight switch and IHKA panel
• AGT Styling carbon fiber alternator cover
• BMW Performance E92 M3 Competition CF spoiler

Engine/Drivetrain
• Precision Raceworks stage 2 LPFP (Walbro 450 fuel pump)
• NXM B58 ignition coil kit
• BMS port injection manifold with Bosch 750cc injectors and Precision Raceworks
port injection fuel line
• Burger Motorsports N54 Dual Cone Intake kit
• High side catchcan and RB PCV valve
• China catless N54 downpipes
• China stock location N54 inlets
• Mosselman oil cooler thermostat
• VAC Motorsports sump baffle
• Turner Motorsports aluminium relocated coolant expansion tank kit
• CSF upgraded aluminium radiator
• VRSF 7” High Density option intercooler
• VRSF chargepipe and BOV delete
• N20 TMAP sensor
• Motiv Motorsports flex fuel module
• Motiv Motorsports E85 compatible fuel lines from fuel filter to HPFP
• Genuine Continental/GM ethanol sensor
• MHD with Stage 2, Ethanol, Flex Fuel, Monitor and Flasher licenses
• Genuine BMW 335is auxiliary radiator
• Genuine BMW 335is front bumper air ducts
• 6 speed manual conversion
• Xtreme twin plate organic clutch kit with single mass flywheel (rated to 1200nm)
• VAC Motorsports / ATI high performance harmonic damper
• Customised 10AN braided brake booster vacuum line
• Clutch delay valve delete

To be done:
• Hybrid E92 M3 / Msport rear widebody conversion
• JMC tuning GTX3582r single turbo kit
• F87 M2C OEM brake retrofit
• Precision Raceworks stage 3 LPFP (dual Walbro 450 fuel pumps)
• Turner Motorsports cowl delete kit
• VTT external PCV kit with dual catch cans and custom AN fittings and AN lines
• GAS M3/1M monoball kit
• Lemforder ball joints for rear trailing arms and rear M3 arms
• Private Label Manufacturing billet rear subframe bushings
• BMW e9X M3 and F30 differential bushings
• Stoptech stainless steel braided brake lines
• E9x M3 DCT differential, axles and driveshaft
• Respray in BMW Individual Suzuka Grey
• Climate comfort windscreen retrofit
• E92 MF CF side skirt extensions
• New front lip to suit E9x M3
• PPF/coating


Thanks for reading - looking forward to actively posting more often around here!

 

[KAIZZER]

That thing looks nice! Welcome to the forum officially

 

[mcleansc]

Looks lovely mate! I love these cars in white.

My downpipes were a PITA to fit as well. Accidentally bought LHD ones and had to fit them, eyeball a new position for the O2 bungs, remove them and have someone fab them in. Managed it on my first try which was lucky but it was a total nightmare.

 

[TiAgAu]

Beauty mate

 

[doublespaces]

Welcome to the visible side!

The xclutch comes in an organic and ceramic right? For your power goals there are decent clutch choices, but I've heard good stuff about the xclutch. Seems to be on the grabby side but good.

 

[mcleansc]

You don't happen to also own a chaser? Just clocked your user name ha

 

[jzx_andy]

You don't happen to also own a chaser? Just clocked your user name ha

I briefly took ownership of a s2 jzx100 mkii back around 2010, but unfortunately after some huge dramas with a local import broker, it never left the docks in Japan. Always had a huge soft spot for them. If it wasn't for N54 powered bmw's, I would have definitely considered grabbing another one!

 

[jzx_andy]

Well it's been a while since the last update and I haven't made much progress other than collecting more parts, as I got married back in January.

Fitted a bootlid handle reverse camera and updated the CIC maps to 2020

Also did a few other things!

Wheel studs

335is aux rad

M3 style cluster with variable redline coded in arty0030:

I also completed a headlight refurb. I ended up getting Bavgruppe V3 round halos, Bavgruppe LED indicator lights, ZKW-R projector lenses, some random China white bulbs for the cornering assist lights and I already had a pair of Morimoto 6500k HID bulbs. I highly rate the Bavgruppe stuff, seems like its all in a completely different league to the generic China stuff that is always hit or miss.

I initially grabbed some China headlight lenses but they did not fit that well. DO NOT use China lenses for e92/e93 - they are rubbish!!! I sorted this out by going for Bimmerjakes lenses and they are soooo worth the extra $$. They claim their lenses are OEM and I don't see any reason to say otherwise, they had the same markings and overall quality as my factory lenses, whereas the eBay/China lenses obviously didn't fit as well, nor did they have the usual OEM style markings.

Opening up the headlights

Poverty work area

Found the reason why one of my outer angel eyes was all yellowed out and looking like crap. I believe something previously fried itself in there as some of the headlight wiring was exposed. Oh well, easily fixed with new rings and some heatshrink.

All back together

How they turned out (I should give the headlight lenses a decent coat of wax)

Very pleased with the results as they basically look like a more modern version of the OEM headlights, which is what I set out to achieve.

Also picked up a few more handling bits, mostly thanks to vtl. I swear this guy is bad for plenty of Aussie e8x/e9x owners' wallets :lol:


GAS front monoballs (e9x M3/e82 1M control arm variant)

Rear monoball kit

Rear subframe bushings - these are made by Private Label Manufacturing

No photos of the M3 rack that I grabbed from the UK, but it's in great nick and only needed a small clean up.

If I get hit with a "work from home" or self isolation order, I might be able to make some substantial progress instead of hording parts. In saying that, hope you are all well and staying safe!

 

[jzx_andy]

Well, car is back on the road for now. Very pleased with the headlights!

 

[mcleansc]

Looks stunning mate! Seriously thinking about spraying mines white

 

[jzx_andy]

It's been a while so here's some pics.

Changed plugs to NGK 97506, did an oil and filter change (Redline 0w40) and threw on an ECS billet oil filter housing cap.

Enjoyed it for a bit.

I ended up grabbing a pair of Flow Designs rear side spats that I plan to skin in carbon fiber so they match the rest of my CF exterior bits. Need to throw on some M3 side skirts and CF extensions!!

Now, I've been slowly hoarding bits for a manual conversion and started work on it last week. Grabbed a 135i box in reasonably good nick, a twin plate organic clutch thanks to Xtreme Clutch (also known as XClutch across the pond), and a bunch of misc OEM bits from PeterY, along with UUC delrin and turner shifter carrier bushings.

Tore apart most of the interior so I could run an OEM hard line clutch pipe from the pedal box to a grommet in the passenger side footwell. This was super tedious and involved cutting the carpet which was pretty scary for an amateur like me.

I ended up bending the tube so I could run it from the passenger side, above the transmission tunnel (and under the dash / behind the head unit etc) and bending it back into shape once it made its way to the drivers side.

PITA clutch pipe :mad0259:

Interior out

Looking more normal and I have 3 pedals now :thumsup:

Hoping to finish off the swap in the next week or two, then tackle the remaining parts that I have sitting around at home (random bushings, oil pan gasket, m3 rack etc). I plan to get an LSD built into my spare 3.46 bolted large diff and thrown in once I drop the rear subframe.

Lastly, I had a China Apple Carplay/Android Auto unit arrive in the mail. Heard good things about it so will see how it integrates with the CIC unit. It is an addon unit and not a screen replacement.

 

[jzx_andy]

Update time!

Well, I did the manual swap. It was a huge undertaking on my own part, especially on jack stands. But I got there.

My Motiv flex fuel kit managed to crap itself at some point during the 6mt swap, so I have a replacement on the way from Motiv

Anyway, here's some piccies:

maiden drive as a manual


Also threw in a retrimmed M Sport steering wheel without paddles and a Carplay/Android Auto CIC box to make the cabin a nicer place to be.

Car is driving great although I'm getting used to the twin plate + smfw noises haha! Very happy with the conversion, car feels so much more engaging to drive and the Xtreme organic twin plate is a freaking awesome clutch. It's super driveable (I've been commuting in it everyday for the past 3 weeks or so, something I have never done with the E92) and it should handle the sort of torque that an unopened N54 would let go at, so I'm confident it will last me a long time. Only put about 450km on it so far, so I am still being fairly kind to it, but it definitely feels a lot more responsive. Can't wait to see how it rips with some E85 in it.

Seeing as I need to be easy on the clutch for now, I might aswell sort out the rear end and get an LSD in asap so I minimise break in km's.

I am hoping to have all my handling/cosmetic mods sorted out within the next few months or so. Slowly getting there with my goals for this car.

 

[derekgates]

Wowwwwww. That's a lot of updates!

Your build log is a fun read; I've considered switching from DCT to 6MT plenty of times but never had the balls to accomplish that. I think AT->6MT is a bigger jump with 'driving feel' though.

That's a cool CarPlay/AA box.



[EDIT]: I had a laugh at the pictures of your girl by the car. When I got my 335is back in 2014 I had a gazillion pictures of the car... and my girl, normally irritated, staring at me.

This one isn't too bad, but normally she is glaring at me while I 'get the shot'.

 

[jzx_andy]

Wowwwwww. That's a lot of updates!

Your build log is a fun read; I've considered switching from DCT to 6MT plenty of times but never had the balls to accomplish that. I think AT->6MT is a bigger jump with 'driving feel' though.

I don't think swapping from DCT to 6MT is worth it personally. The DCT is a stout transmission and xhp development is finally getting there with them! If I had a DCT, I don't think I would have ever considered doing the swap.

[EDIT]: I had a laugh at the pictures of your girl by the car. When I got my 335is back in 2014 I had a gazillion pictures of the car... and my girl, normally irritated, staring at me.

This one isn't too bad, but normally she is glaring at me while I 'get the shot'.

Don't take it personally; girls just have something against white e92's

 

[derekgates]

I don't think swapping from DCT to 6MT is worth it personally. The DCT is a stout transmission and xhp development is finally getting there with them! If I had a DCT, I don't think I would have ever considered doing the swap.



Don't take it personally; girls just have something against white e92's

I agree with you about DCT to 6MT swap but the DCT is the biggest pain in the ass to tune for. I can't run xHP because I have the M3 rear end and M3 GWS for M3 GTS tune (TCU wise anyway)... so xHP won't support this combination since it isn't 'OEM'.

I need to make a build thread, but I started the journey around: https://bmw.spoolstreet.com/threads/n54-dct-w-m3-conversion.3380/post-93937



Rowing gears is still preferred. This is the first car I've ever owned that was automatic... and... it... is... OK. Driver connection is not the best, but it is amazing in other aspects. I still want to row some gears though!




LOL. They have something against our obsession with white e92s maybe.

[EDIT] Had wrong 'start of m3 build'.. needed to be https://bmw.spoolstreet.com/threads/n54-dct-w-m3-conversion.3380/post-93937

 

[jzx_andy]

Things were going well with the tranny swap until ~750km later. Clutch pedal went out in peak hour traffic. Narrowed it down to a broken slave cylinder or a clutch line fitting underneath the car that leaked and lost hydraulic pressure.

In the meantime, I did a few things:

Got a replacement flex fuel module kit from Motiv (somehow the one in my car got busted during the 6MT swap).

Flashed a custom firmware on my China CIC unit. It's much better now and I can use hey Google voice controls for navigation, music etc with the OEM ceiling microphone!

Got a custom alcantara handbrake boot to match the shifter boot

Got some pedal covers

Got some goodies from VAC Motorsports. This one really hurt the wallet. Should be fitting the damper within the next week or so and the baffle whenever I decide to tackle the oil pan gasket, engine mounts etc. Hopefully this will provide some peace of mind in terms of reliability and reduce gearbox chatter while the car is rolling around at low rpm's.

I also got to check out the new G8x M3 and M4 in the flesh a couple of weeks ago as Auto Classic were showing them off via private appointments. Got up close and personal with the pre-production models they had at our local dealer - these are not road legal (as they weren't complied for Aussie roads) and sadly could not be test driven. I heard that they were at our dealer for just one week and then were going to be sent back to Germany and repurposed.

I might be getting used to the front end on the G8x cars - I didn't mind them too much in the flesh. Not a beautiful car and not very BMW IMO as the exterior styling seems very generic to me. Good enough when compared to all the other overstyled cars out there I suppose.

These seats are a ~$7.5k option. Would love to know if these can fit in an e9x haha!

I've left the best part for last here. I finally ordered wheels for my E92. Excited is an understatement!!!

 

[twiztedE60]

SO clean! getting new wheels is always the best. FBO 6MT here, wondering if you had the OEM flywheel? When time comes im debating whether going oem or single mass.

 

[jzx_andy]

SO clean! getting new wheels is always the best. FBO 6MT here, wondering if you had the OEM flywheel? When time comes im debating whether going oem or single mass.

Hey man, thanks!

I didn't have the OEM flywheel. The Xclutch kits come with a SMFW. I think a single mass is worth it. The SMFW noise/chatter issues during low rpm situations I've been experiencing weren't exactly nice, but you get used to it and it's certainly better than having less response and clutch grab.

 

[NoGuru]

Nice build!

 

[derekgates]

Great updates, loving the direction.

I am still shocked by the M3/M4, not really coming to grips on 'liking it'. :\