As planned, I spent some quality time over the past few days with the 1er. Before heading off to our first scheduled stop, I grabbed a quick video of the MHD "Cold Start Noise Reduction" option enabled after letting the car sit overnight -- one of the main reasons I made the switch from BB/BT Cable to apply my back-end flashes. Compared to what the OEM cold start sounds like with catless downpipes, cat-deleted N54 midpipes, and the MadDad Whisper axleback, this is much better for early mornings.
Her pampering session began around noon on Friday when I dropped off the car to address the window tint. When I bought the car last year the windows were tinted at 20% and looked pretty good, but there were two problems: NC requires 35% of light to pass through your window tint in order to pass inspection AND the back glass had became hazy to the point where visibility had been compromised.
A few hours later and the old tint had been removed and replaced with 35% ceramic all around. And I can finally see clearly out of my rear glass after over a year!
I left immediately after to install all of the goodies I'd collected over the past few months. I knew I wouldn't need much clearance under the front of the car, so I used RhinoRamps on the front and extra large jack-stands in the rear.
I had decided to work from front to rear, so the OEM BMW Performance short shift kit was first on the agenda. I already had replaced the stock boot and shift knob earlier on; with the OEM BMW Performance alcantara boot and a weighted ZHP shift knob (an ode to the E46 M3 I owned and loved for many years).
Before I got too deep into the installation procedure, I wanted to get a BEFORE version of exactly what shifting the OEM N54 setup looked and sounded like:
The first order of business was getting off that shift knob. Shift into fourth gear, pull up with force, avoid own face.
After unlocking the clips on the shift boot surround, remove that and pull away the foam padding underneath.
Underneath the foam padding, there is a VERY tough rubber insert that you'll need to remove. This will take some serious coaxing.
Once that is removed, it's time to get underneath the car.
There is one small plastic shield to remove, and then you're granted access to a small sliver of the transmission mounts, driveshaft, and above that, the small clip holding the shift lever in place that we need to remove.
At this point you have a few options. You can remove the midpipes from the rear axle-back and front downpipes, as well as the driveshaft. This will give you very easy access to everything you need to do.
Or you can do what I did, and just remove the bolt and securing nut holding the heat shielding on and bend it downwards to give you more access.
Now you can easily see the circlip. Rotate it so the opening is facing the bottom, slide a screwdriver underneath and push upwards to remove. Mine was filthy with grease and dirt.
Now back up inside the car. Place a screwdriver between the shift lever and the selector rod, move the gear level towards reverse and the two pieces will separate.
Now the shift lever should be completely free and flopping around.
Now it's time to remove the lever. Place two flat-tip screwdrivers in the openings of the bearing slot and rotate 90 degrees. Looking back, it would have probably been easier to have used an open pair of needle nose pliers for this purpose.
After a few tries, I was able to pull the lever up and out.
Now back under the car to remove the carrier. This is where having small hands helps. Mine are average I'd say and my choice to leave the mid pipes and driveshaft in place left me navigating some very tight spaces. To help give me a little more room, and seeing as how transmission mounts were next on the to-do list, I removed the transmission brace from the car.
4 bolts and 2 nuts on bottom of the brace, 2 nuts on the top and it slides right off. I slipped an extra jack under the transmission just in case, but noticed no movement throughout the process.
Now there is a lot more room for hands and arms.
The carrier is held into place by one rear rubber bushing encased in metal and two pin-clips in the front. The rear rubber bushing can be dislodged by inserting a tool into the small opening and pushing upwards, using the leverage of the tool to push the bushing downwards and out of the bracket.
Now that the rear is free, it was time to unhinge the front clips/pins in the center of the picture below. Using a screwdriver, place it under the clip and push it upwards. Once in the full upright position the pins slide outward and now the carrier should be completely free.
Despite being free, this does not mean the carrier is removed. I spent the next few minutes playing Tetris with the available space above the driveshaft, contorting the carrier this way and that until I was finally able to snake it around and out.
Side by side comparison of the two carrier/lever combos.
Now it was time to change over the bushings to the new carrier starting with the rear. This one slid easily off the old, and easily on the new.
And the two front bushings. A small flat tip screwdriver and a soft touch had these out easily.
Some grease and some force had them installed in the new carrier within minutes.
I liberally applied grease to the ball of the shift lever and pulled the bearing and clip into place.
Back inside the car, place the lever into the carrier and align the tabs. At this point you can push the lever down into place and we're nearly done.
I grabbed the new included circlip to connect the shift lever and selector rod and hopped back under the car.
After double checking all the connections and ensuring the shift lever moved freely and without issue, it was time to install the new transmission mounts on the transmission brace we removed earlier.
A nice comparison shot of the two transmission mounts -- the Rogue Engineering mounts on the left, OEM on the right.
Installing these takes seconds, and the tabs make them impossible to mess up the orientation.
Heat shielding bent back into place, bolt and fastening nut bolted down, and transmission brace re-installed.
While I was still feeling energetic about wrenching, I moved on to the next big task -- the Whiteline subframe inserts.
With the rear of the car in the air and the rear wheels removed, locate the front and rear subframe bushings. The rear is in plain sight.
The front is hiding inside here. You'll also have to loosen, but not remove, the diagonal brace attached to this. Go ahead and do this now.
From there I loosened the front bolts until they were almost out.
Then I removed the rear bolts entirely.
By lowering and raising the suspension, the rear subframe bushing inserts can be pushed into place and the bolts reinserted and started, but not tightened.
Here are the rears prior to tightening.
Now fully remove the fronts and lower/raise the suspension in order to place the two front inserts on each side. This is what it will look like once you're done.
Reinsert the front bolts and tighten both the front bolts and rear bolts to 84 ft/lbs to complete the job.
From there i moved on to the differential gear oil change. I don't really understand the reasoning for not having a drain bolt, but that meant we'd need a way to suction out the old differential fluid. You'll need one of these for the fill bolt.
The OTC suction gun worked nicely for sucking out all the old liquid, but only after I attached a smaller diameter hose so I could get down in all of the crevices of the differential.
Once there was no more fluid being sucked out, I took the other OTC suction gun I ordered, filled it with Redline 75W90 and forced the contents into the differential until it began spilling out the fill bolt. I tightened the fill bolt and grabbed the Boost Addictions large V2 differential lockdown brace and bolts. These interlocking washers allow for tightening without having a wrench holding the bolt in place when tightening the nut.
A few minutes later and voila! Don't mind the gear oil soaked handprints all over the braces, I wiped everything down.
The last order of business before going on a test drive was to address my current catch can mounting situation. While the BMS OCC was mounted securely with the included bracket, the other BMS OCC bracket I ordered just wasn't cutting it. I'd used a few different combinations of bolts and metal supports, but it still moved around and made emptying the Mishimoto OCC difficult and time consuming. Some of the bolts I picked up had even been compromised by moisture and had began to rust in just a few months becoming an unwelcome eye sore when the hood was popped.
I explored a few different options before ultimately deciding on the most spacious part of my engine bay, the section right in front of the driver's headlight. The only issue here would be that I would need additional line in order to reach the new mounting spot. Luckily I had some steel braided line lying around that I could use for the throttle body connection and use the entirety of the kit included line to run from the can to the PCV valve of the engine.
I also took this time to tuck away a bunch of wiring very neatly, and add hose clamps to all of the oil catch can connections. In addition, I installed a brand new PCV flapper valve as I had damaged the clip of the old one during countless removals and installations.
And here's the new location of the Mishimoto OCC. I'll order some new matching line when I get a chance, but this will work perfectly for now. Both cans are mounted rock solid, but more importantly, the external PCV system attached to the Mishimoto OCC has to be emptied frequently, and now it can be done easily while the top portion of the can is still attached. Just unscrew and pull off, empty, and screw back on without the need for allen wrenches or removing air filters.
After buttoning everything up and putting all the tools away, it was time to get back in the car and move around the new short shift kit. First feel impressions are that height is seemingly unaffected. The position of neutral is now about an inch or so more to the right than before. Now the gear layout is more in line with what shows on the pattern on top of the ZHP shift knob. Throws are dramatically reduced and each gear clicks into place with a satisfying click. Moving the lever takes more effort, like everything is more tightly wound, but in a very good way. Here's a video of the new movement.
As I backed out of the small complex our garage is in and pulled out on the main road, my first row through the gears left me in awe. No joke. Mouth fully agape. Every single bit of slop in the drivetrain had seemingly been eliminated. Shifting from first into second was no longer a chore. Just a pull and click, right into place without any fuss. As someone who enjoys nailing an upshift across all driving conditions, or perfectly rev matching a downshift, this kit was priceless. Things are fully predictable.
Once the car was fully warm, I was able to up the ante a bit. Not only had the shifting linkage been tightened, but under heavy throttle all the dancing around in the rear end had been eliminated. Finally the car just squats and goes under heavy accelleration. I haven't had time to test anything in the mountain roads around here, but even just floating over interstate roads the rear end feels more planted.
Power adders are fun, but this round of drivetrain modifications was among the most rewarding I've done. I hit heavy boost only a handful of times a week, but I shift gears hundreds of times of day. Because this is a daily driver, I also have no interest in any type of "race car" modifications that compromise drivability for the sake of small increases in performance. This meant that any type of significant NVH (Noise/Vibration/Harshness) was simply unacceptable. I'm elated to share that this combination of mods resulted in no added noise, zero vibrations, and not an ounce of harshness.
It's a damn shame this short shift kit isn't available any longer.
While Winston and I can't roll down the windows for another day as to not damage the new tint, we were still fully utilizing the 1er all day Saturday running errands, shipping out oversized items, and going to the dog park of course. We hope everyone else has had an excellent weekend!
