jzx_andy's E92 progress thread
- Thread starter jzx_andy
- Start date
Pretty happy with how they fit. Needs a bit of finesse with the alignment and height settings.
Front is about 80% on where I want it, maybe a tad higher and a bit more camber on the left hand side to minimise poke and rubbing when close to full lock. Rear needs a slight raise and a touch of camber.
Front is about 80% on where I want it, maybe a tad higher and a bit more camber on the left hand side to minimise poke and rubbing when close to full lock. Rear needs a slight raise and a touch of camber.
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Spruced up the interior with a pair of F82 M4 front seats and OEM Individual piano black interior trim pieces. Certainly looks different from when I first got the car
Been a while since I last posted in here.
I ended up painting my wheel hubs and calipers. Pretty happy with the outcome:
Quite some time ago, I got a bucketed Walbro 450 installed by a local shop who supposedly specialise in N54's. I didn't have the best experience with them at the time due to unexplainable delays and workmanship that seemed pretty average on its face (I found a bunch of loose bolts around the engine bay etc). They ended up giving me a massive discount at the time I picked up my car, so I told myself I'd never let a shop touch my car for anything other than recall work. :mad0260:
Almost immediately, I realised that my fuel would leak when filling up to the brim. I basically stopped filling my car up completely for a while, as I didn't want to go back to that shop, and I had bigger fish to fry in terms of power mods. I mentioned in my last post that my fuel level sender was reporting incorrectly. This was because my car had ran out of fuel on two separate occassions despite not reading empty. The first occassion was about 2 years ago - my motor was starved of fuel when the car was reading ~50km to empty. At the time, I assumed that having an aftermarket LPFP basically meant you should never run your car to that low of a fuel level.
The second time happened during my trip down South. The motor starved when the car was reading a fuel level of about 20%. While 20% is much higher than what it read the last time it was starved, I'd gone through my LPFP install very briefly before the trip and changed things around (see post #78 above).
I was lucky as we had a convoy of cars for the roadtrip, and a service station was 15 minutes away from where the E92 decided to rest. Got a jerry can, topped her up and off we went. Here's a couple of happy snaps from the trip:
By the time I got home, it seemed that a fuel level sender or both of them had some sort of fault. Shortly after getting home from the roadtrip, I disassembled the LPFP and fuel filter assemblies to get to the bottom of the issue. Both senders were working fine and were not obstructed in any way. So I started browsing LPFP install videos to see if the shop who fitted mine had made a mistake. return lines from the fuel filter just hanging around in the fuel pump side of the tank, rather than feeding directly into the bucket. I promptly secured them with nylon zipties, and my fuel starvation issue seems to be completely resolved!! :happyanim:
In more recent news I did a much needed walnut blast and ended up ordering a PI manifold, B58 coil kit, PI injectors, secondary fuel pump, MAC solenoid and a few other small bits. Slowly gathering parts for a single turbo conversion. Leaning toward a Gen 2 BB Precision 6062 or Garrett GTX3582R at the moment.
In the meantime, I'm hoping to sort out the rear end and continue fixing some of the things that I haven't been completely happy with (stock looking calipers and rusted out hubs was definitely one of those things lol). The PR coils are next up on the list as they're bulky and just annoying to live with. Engine cover doesn't sit nicely with the PR coils (you have to remove the engine cover if you just want to top up oil, and remove the coil bracket etc if you want to change your plugs, etc).
A couple of random pics below of usual. Don't mind the dirty valves, that was before we made a 2nd pass and scraped stuff up manually. I forgot to get pics of the finished intake ports/valves that came up quite nice.
I ended up painting my wheel hubs and calipers. Pretty happy with the outcome:
Quite some time ago, I got a bucketed Walbro 450 installed by a local shop who supposedly specialise in N54's. I didn't have the best experience with them at the time due to unexplainable delays and workmanship that seemed pretty average on its face (I found a bunch of loose bolts around the engine bay etc). They ended up giving me a massive discount at the time I picked up my car, so I told myself I'd never let a shop touch my car for anything other than recall work. :mad0260:
Almost immediately, I realised that my fuel would leak when filling up to the brim. I basically stopped filling my car up completely for a while, as I didn't want to go back to that shop, and I had bigger fish to fry in terms of power mods. I mentioned in my last post that my fuel level sender was reporting incorrectly. This was because my car had ran out of fuel on two separate occassions despite not reading empty. The first occassion was about 2 years ago - my motor was starved of fuel when the car was reading ~50km to empty. At the time, I assumed that having an aftermarket LPFP basically meant you should never run your car to that low of a fuel level.
The second time happened during my trip down South. The motor starved when the car was reading a fuel level of about 20%. While 20% is much higher than what it read the last time it was starved, I'd gone through my LPFP install very briefly before the trip and changed things around (see post #78 above).
I was lucky as we had a convoy of cars for the roadtrip, and a service station was 15 minutes away from where the E92 decided to rest. Got a jerry can, topped her up and off we went. Here's a couple of happy snaps from the trip:
By the time I got home, it seemed that a fuel level sender or both of them had some sort of fault. Shortly after getting home from the roadtrip, I disassembled the LPFP and fuel filter assemblies to get to the bottom of the issue. Both senders were working fine and were not obstructed in any way. So I started browsing LPFP install videos to see if the shop who fitted mine had made a mistake. return lines from the fuel filter just hanging around in the fuel pump side of the tank, rather than feeding directly into the bucket. I promptly secured them with nylon zipties, and my fuel starvation issue seems to be completely resolved!! :happyanim:
In more recent news I did a much needed walnut blast and ended up ordering a PI manifold, B58 coil kit, PI injectors, secondary fuel pump, MAC solenoid and a few other small bits. Slowly gathering parts for a single turbo conversion. Leaning toward a Gen 2 BB Precision 6062 or Garrett GTX3582R at the moment.
In the meantime, I'm hoping to sort out the rear end and continue fixing some of the things that I haven't been completely happy with (stock looking calipers and rusted out hubs was definitely one of those things lol). The PR coils are next up on the list as they're bulky and just annoying to live with. Engine cover doesn't sit nicely with the PR coils (you have to remove the engine cover if you just want to top up oil, and remove the coil bracket etc if you want to change your plugs, etc).
A couple of random pics below of usual. Don't mind the dirty valves, that was before we made a 2nd pass and scraped stuff up manually. I forgot to get pics of the finished intake ports/valves that came up quite nice.
Small update.
Noticed a small leak coming from my OFHG area so decided it's time to do some maintenance. Maintenance also includes modifications, right?
List of things that have been done or need doing before the car goes back on the road:
Oil pan gasket swap
Revshift 80A engine mounts
VAC oil pan baffle
GAS 1M/M3 front control arm monoballs
Fresh ofhg and oil cooler gasket
Fresh orings for the mickey mouse fitting and oil cooler lines
Mosselman oil cooler thermostat housing
B58 coil kit
Hydra performance cowl cowers
Turner relocated coolant res
CSF radiator (manual)
Low profile drain bolt for radiator
Fresh waterpump and thermostat
Fresh gaskets for the turbo oil drains (I think one may be leaking, may as well sort it out while the subframe is dropped)
Sort out a loose turbo/downpipe vband clamp
Plumb 335is auxiliary radiator into coolant system
Automatic/DCT oil cooler delete (plug coolant lines that go to heat exchanger, delete heat exchanger and transmission cooler lines)
Change power steering pulley to metal item
PI manifold, phenolic gasket and PI fuel line
M3/1M strut brace kit
Custom cowl modification
Custom length AKG endlinks
Wash/detail engine bay and wheel wells
Fix leaking wiper fluid bottle/line
Fill oil and coolant. Bleed.
Fit BMW performance CF spoiler
Probably missed a few things lol.
Still got a long way to go as the subframe hasn't been dropped yet and I've only done about half of the coolant system stuff. Progress pics:
There is a large cavity near the upper hotside of the motor which will need rectifying courtesy of Garrett or Precision.
Noticed a small leak coming from my OFHG area so decided it's time to do some maintenance. Maintenance also includes modifications, right?
List of things that have been done or need doing before the car goes back on the road:
Oil pan gasket swap
Revshift 80A engine mounts
VAC oil pan baffle
GAS 1M/M3 front control arm monoballs
Fresh ofhg and oil cooler gasket
Fresh orings for the mickey mouse fitting and oil cooler lines
Mosselman oil cooler thermostat housing
B58 coil kit
Hydra performance cowl cowers
Turner relocated coolant res
CSF radiator (manual)
Low profile drain bolt for radiator
Fresh waterpump and thermostat
Fresh gaskets for the turbo oil drains (I think one may be leaking, may as well sort it out while the subframe is dropped)
Sort out a loose turbo/downpipe vband clamp
Plumb 335is auxiliary radiator into coolant system
Automatic/DCT oil cooler delete (plug coolant lines that go to heat exchanger, delete heat exchanger and transmission cooler lines)
Change power steering pulley to metal item
PI manifold, phenolic gasket and PI fuel line
M3/1M strut brace kit
Custom cowl modification
Custom length AKG endlinks
Wash/detail engine bay and wheel wells
Fix leaking wiper fluid bottle/line
Fill oil and coolant. Bleed.
Fit BMW performance CF spoiler
Probably missed a few things lol.
Still got a long way to go as the subframe hasn't been dropped yet and I've only done about half of the coolant system stuff. Progress pics:
There is a large cavity near the upper hotside of the motor which will need rectifying courtesy of Garrett or Precision.
Nice update
Looks like ECS coolant reservoir. Where did you score the cowl filter covers? Cheers
Hey fellas, thanks. The coolant reservoir is the ECS/Turner kit, and the cowl filter covers are BMS filters with Hydra Performance covers.
How do you like the turner coolant reservoir? It's so damn expensive for what it is...but it looks nice.
The kit is complete and quality is acceptable. But let's face it, it's just a metal container with a couple of brackets.
Definitely felt the N54 plastic delete tax with this one. It is also unfortunate that ECS/Turner are the only ones selling a complete metal reservoir kit for this platform.
Got her back on the road. Ended up painting a headlight cover that was terribly mismatched.
Managed to put about 70km on it today and damn upgraded poly engine mounts do have some NVH. The added NVH is at idle or lower (like when you don't takeoff properly and the revs dip a bit below idle). Mine is set to 1k rpm due to the clutch and fw, but the added vibration from these mounts is pretty noticeable. At this point, I definitely wouldn't recommend if you haven't raised your idle past 600 or whatever the stock figure is lol, it is much worse than what it is at 1k. Hoping it will die down a bit as these mounts get broken in, otherwise I may swap the coldside mount for OEM.
Still to do:
Trim engine cover and cowl, refit
Wash car
Fix leaking wiper fluid bottle/line
Fit BMW performance CF spoiler
GAS 1M/M3 front control arm monoballs
Secondary LPFP and replacement fuel filter install
Valve cover job and head port plugging (will likely put this off for a while)
Managed to put about 70km on it today and damn upgraded poly engine mounts do have some NVH. The added NVH is at idle or lower (like when you don't takeoff properly and the revs dip a bit below idle). Mine is set to 1k rpm due to the clutch and fw, but the added vibration from these mounts is pretty noticeable. At this point, I definitely wouldn't recommend if you haven't raised your idle past 600 or whatever the stock figure is lol, it is much worse than what it is at 1k. Hoping it will die down a bit as these mounts get broken in, otherwise I may swap the coldside mount for OEM.
Still to do:
Trim engine cover and cowl, refit
Wash car
Fix leaking wiper fluid bottle/line
Fit BMW performance CF spoiler
GAS 1M/M3 front control arm monoballs
Secondary LPFP and replacement fuel filter install
Valve cover job and head port plugging (will likely put this off for a while)
How was the fit and finish on the Intake Manifold? Looking to order the same one here soon. Car looks Great!
Yeah I think its NVH sensitivity, plus the mounts are brand new. Its perfectly fine above 1k but yeah I think they'd be terrible for anyone on a stock idle. Hoping they'll improve a little as they break in.
Thanks man. Very happy with the intake mani. I ordered it straight from the manufacturer off Alibaba and saved myself about $100 odd. PI fuel line fitment is a bit tricky, as is chargepipe fitment, though I fitted a lot of junk around the lower/main chargepipe areas which would have added to difficulty.
I ended up getting some M3 rear end bits, with a full set of basically every fastener for a E9x M3:
Diff housing cleaned up OK and looks beefy next to a large housing 335i diff.
Unfortunately one of the CV's is gone, so this project has been delayed and I'm now on the hunt for a RHS M3/1M rear axle.
In other news, I had the opportunity to vulture heaps of parts from a couple of E9x M3 wrecks and picked up various interior and exterior bits, carbon kevlar crash bars, any good front and rear liners, and basically anything else that was up for grabs and could help me bolt M3 body panels to a E92 non-M.
I've basically committed myself to bolting on a E92 M3 front end and side skirts, and running a hybrid M-Sport/M3 rear bumper setup with custom rear quarters. This means the car can have wider tyres allround and likely a lot less silly camber on the rear - less stance and more raceboi! While buying a better fitting set of wheels is the more sensible option, I love the Advans in this spec, I've always want to rock some bigboi wheels and this is the only way it can be done such that the Advans are kept and made more functional.
While I have amassed a bunch of parts, there are still a lot of random bits and pieces needed like a few front guard liners, headlight/bumper brackets, LHS front guard, underbody splash trays and very likely a new front bumper and bonnet.
Got all the bits home then realised the bonnet came off a E90 M3, which doesn't fit E92/E93, so back it went. The seller was great to deal with and refunded me no questions asked - he even gave me a damaged E92 M3 bonnet for free to make up for it.
Also got a pair of damaged bumpers while I was there. Have since vultured all the miscellaneous bits from them, like side mounts and headlight washer nozzles and covers, but I think they will be destined for the bin as a brand new one from BMW Sydney is about $1,300 AUD shipped, which isn't as crazy as I thought dealer pricing would be on a M3 front bumper. Not sure how fixable the white bonnet is, as e9x bonnets are aluminium and most of the damage is near the body lines, but I'll see how close I can get it before I start looking for one that's in good shape.
This M3 widebody replica project is a massive undertaking and basically means the car will be cut up and completely resprayed. I don't intend on doing this until I have everything and also have someone in line who can do a perfect job with the rear quarters. The workmanship on the rear quarters and paintjob are what will either take this build to the next level or completely destroy it, so I'm not taking this lightly.
I am considering changing the exterior colour to BMW Individual Brilliant White, as it's a bit different to plain old white, but close enough to Alpine White 3 so the door jambs etc don't look too obvious. I do not want a full respray lol. The Brilliant White colour uses Alpine White 3 as the base, but has a pearl/metallic top added on top. Here's some pics of what I'm aiming for colour wise, minus the CF roof of course.
I would also like to graft the 335i lower section into the M3 bumper as I think it looks far nicer than the E9x M3 rear grille/diffuser/exhaust section). I think something like this will look awesome.
Diff housing cleaned up OK and looks beefy next to a large housing 335i diff.
Unfortunately one of the CV's is gone, so this project has been delayed and I'm now on the hunt for a RHS M3/1M rear axle.
In other news, I had the opportunity to vulture heaps of parts from a couple of E9x M3 wrecks and picked up various interior and exterior bits, carbon kevlar crash bars, any good front and rear liners, and basically anything else that was up for grabs and could help me bolt M3 body panels to a E92 non-M.
I've basically committed myself to bolting on a E92 M3 front end and side skirts, and running a hybrid M-Sport/M3 rear bumper setup with custom rear quarters. This means the car can have wider tyres allround and likely a lot less silly camber on the rear - less stance and more raceboi! While buying a better fitting set of wheels is the more sensible option, I love the Advans in this spec, I've always want to rock some bigboi wheels and this is the only way it can be done such that the Advans are kept and made more functional.
While I have amassed a bunch of parts, there are still a lot of random bits and pieces needed like a few front guard liners, headlight/bumper brackets, LHS front guard, underbody splash trays and very likely a new front bumper and bonnet.
Got all the bits home then realised the bonnet came off a E90 M3, which doesn't fit E92/E93, so back it went. The seller was great to deal with and refunded me no questions asked - he even gave me a damaged E92 M3 bonnet for free to make up for it.
Also got a pair of damaged bumpers while I was there. Have since vultured all the miscellaneous bits from them, like side mounts and headlight washer nozzles and covers, but I think they will be destined for the bin as a brand new one from BMW Sydney is about $1,300 AUD shipped, which isn't as crazy as I thought dealer pricing would be on a M3 front bumper. Not sure how fixable the white bonnet is, as e9x bonnets are aluminium and most of the damage is near the body lines, but I'll see how close I can get it before I start looking for one that's in good shape.
This M3 widebody replica project is a massive undertaking and basically means the car will be cut up and completely resprayed. I don't intend on doing this until I have everything and also have someone in line who can do a perfect job with the rear quarters. The workmanship on the rear quarters and paintjob are what will either take this build to the next level or completely destroy it, so I'm not taking this lightly.
I am considering changing the exterior colour to BMW Individual Brilliant White, as it's a bit different to plain old white, but close enough to Alpine White 3 so the door jambs etc don't look too obvious. I do not want a full respray lol. The Brilliant White colour uses Alpine White 3 as the base, but has a pearl/metallic top added on top. Here's some pics of what I'm aiming for colour wise, minus the CF roof of course.
I would also like to graft the 335i lower section into the M3 bumper as I think it looks far nicer than the E9x M3 rear grille/diffuser/exhaust section). I think something like this will look awesome.
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Over the last week, I got to work on fitting some of the interior bits from the M3 wreck.
Ended up giving the M3 rear seat assembly, M3 door cards, rear centre console and centre console armrest a good clean. This may be some OCD level E9x autism, but the M3 rear seats, centre armrest and door cards all have Novillo leather, which is a bit finer and supple than the Dakota leather found in the factory non-M's. I mainly grabbed them as the Novillo is a closer match for grain with the Merino leather that's found on my front seats. Also got LCI cupholders and driver's light switch from that wreck which were nice to have.
Restored all the leather bits with Leatherique Rejuvenator and Prestine Clean (this stuff is amazing) and fitted everything up. Here's some quick pics that I snapped the other night.
The rear centre console and cupholders are looking a little average. I may remove the soft touch coating from them, which is something I previously did to all the plastic pieces found on the front half of the interior.
Car is meant to head out to an amateur track event in the next few weeks which should be some good fun. Never pushed the car that hard as I've never taken it to a track, so will be interesting to see how the car and I both behave in that setting.
Ended up giving the M3 rear seat assembly, M3 door cards, rear centre console and centre console armrest a good clean. This may be some OCD level E9x autism, but the M3 rear seats, centre armrest and door cards all have Novillo leather, which is a bit finer and supple than the Dakota leather found in the factory non-M's. I mainly grabbed them as the Novillo is a closer match for grain with the Merino leather that's found on my front seats. Also got LCI cupholders and driver's light switch from that wreck which were nice to have.
Restored all the leather bits with Leatherique Rejuvenator and Prestine Clean (this stuff is amazing) and fitted everything up. Here's some quick pics that I snapped the other night.
The rear centre console and cupholders are looking a little average. I may remove the soft touch coating from them, which is something I previously did to all the plastic pieces found on the front half of the interior.
Car is meant to head out to an amateur track event in the next few weeks which should be some good fun. Never pushed the car that hard as I've never taken it to a track, so will be interesting to see how the car and I both behave in that setting.
Thanks. Is this an OEM m3 undertray that's been hacked up to clear the subframe/brace?
