Quote:
Originally Posted by splitsecond
Hey man, I've been gawking at your car for the last couple of weeks. I'd been toying with the idea of doing the same experiment, but you've been nice enough to blaze the trail for the rest of us. Thanks for taking the time to explain the "snags" that you had to deal with. I hope you don't mind answering a few questions...
Would you mind telling us all of the extra parts that you had to buy in addition to the bumper/fenders/sideskirts (i.e. that underbelly panel)?
Also, how "time-consuming" was the side skirt mod? I was thinking about doing everything (except for the painting) myself, but since this seems like a bit of a custom job, I'm wondering how much I'd have to spend to get it done by a pro.
And finally, did you ever solve the side marker problem?
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Thanks! Yesterday afternoon I stopped by my BMW dealership and picked up the 1M underbelly plastic cover and windshield washer reservoir. Unfortunately, (apparently) BMW does not sell just the plastic cover I needed and I had to buy the entire plastic "skid plate" cover for under the engine.
I still need to get my 1 back to the shop to get the newly painted parts buffed and to get the reservoir installed. I can do the underbelly plastic cover and depending on how long it takes my area to get power and mostly cleaned up from Hurricane Sandy (my area was affected, but we generally fared better than those unfortunate individuals in NJ and other hard hit areas, so I am thankful for that and my thoughts go out to those more affected by this natural disaster) I might just install the reservoir too -- just easier if the car was up on a lift.
I don't have entire parts list for this conversion compiled yet; however, if you PM me I can send you my BMW dealership Parts Advisor contact information as he has it readily available I'm sure and if you are interested I'm sure he could get you the parts. Just for saying, I am not affiliated with that dealership in any way nor do I or would I make anything on any transactions. For me, I tried to go the ER WBFE Kit, but that fell through and this route (for the parts) ended up being cheaper.
I still don't have the 1M side markers working, but I have not done much with that yet given my schedule and Sandy. My contact at the BMW dealership said he would investigate for me. Fingers crossed it is something as simple as a fuse or that they need to plug into the car and tell the car that LEDs are present or something like that.
Personally, after doing all this the biggest disappointment is that I lost my stock brake cooling ducts in the plastic bits behind the front fender. I did not realize that a 1M would not have built-in ducting for brake cooling like a stock 135 does! However, my oil and water temps were lower than usual the other weekend, but I don't know if that was because of the 1M plastic bits behind the front bumper channeling more air to those coolers or if it was due to the cooler Fall air. I'm sure a combination of both. So the shop that install this conversion for me I am going to work with him to fabricate me custom brake cooling ducts and I'll buy that orange high temp hose to complete the setup.
The side skirts are one-off's (custom) -- a combination of my stock 135 side skirt with the wider front section of the 1M side skirt cut and grafted on. I wish I didn't have to do that as I really liked the 1M side skirt design, but it stuck out in the rear and my budget and time tables didn't allow for me to perform a rear conversion as well. Like I said earlier, if they ever get damaged, I'll have to order the 1M side skirts and do a rear conversion as well. Fingers crossed they never get damaged.
So essentially, the 4 side skirt were each cut into two pieces (total of 8 side skirt pieces). With ~85% of the stock side skirt in tact the front wider section of the 1M side skirt was grafted on (he said ~20 hours of plastic work) to make a final custom stock 135 side skirt with 1M front section. Personally, I think he did an awesome job, but he said he wasn't looking forward to having to do that again, so don't eff'em up!
So for now the two unanticipated "snags" and disappointments are 1M side markers not lighting up for some reason (I had really hoped that they would be plug-n-play) and the loss of my brake cooling ducts (albeit token as they were, but they did function and help as not having them the other weekend was very noticeable). Both of which I hope to resolve before December.
Hope that helps...