How many miles is too many?

[decaturdad]

My son and I are looking for a 135i. We are looking for one that is cheap enough to allow us to do some major mods: new turbos, inter cooler, etc. at the same time, this will be a DD, so it needs to be reliable. I have seen a few reasonably priced ones with 95,000. - 100,000. Would you sink mod money into a car with those miles? If we end up with a higher priced one, we will not be doing major mods due to a limited budget.

My previous one was recently totaled with 62,000 miles and my son's 328 has 140,000.

[kprocivic]

if your planning on heavily modding it miles aren't going to matter as much. meaning the things that fail will have to be replaced once you really get the power up anyway.

[decaturdad]

Originally Posted by kprocivic

if your planning on heavily modding it miles aren't going to matter as much. meaning the things that fail will have to be replaced once you really get the power up anyway.

Thanks. Looking at your sig, that is close to what we are planning. What should we expect to break?

[kprocivic]

pony up for the turbos, waterpump thermo, maybe fuel pump if you wanna get some meth going. all your belts and hoses will crap out around 100k. after that upkeep should be easier.

[Matticus91]

Go N54 for sure (better internals for this work) and stay under 100k, should be fine but don't overlook the usual checks.

[mackeroni]

Originally Posted by decaturdad

My son and I are looking for a 135i. We are looking for one that is cheap enough to allow us to do some major mods: new turbos, inter cooler, etc. at the same time, this will be a DD, so it needs to be reliable. I have seen a few reasonably priced ones with 95,000. - 100,000. Would you sink mod money into a car with those miles? If we end up with a higher priced one, we will not be doing major mods due to a limited budget.

My previous one was recently totaled with 62,000 miles and my son's 328 has 140,000.

No offense, but if your budget is limited, you might want to consider another marque. BMW's are not known for longevity when you start bolting on the high performance gear, or flashing in high performance codes. This becomes even more problematic if you need this rocket to serve as a daily driver. In terms of bang for the buck, I suggest you consider some good old American Iron. I have been absolutely dusted by older Buicks and Pontiacs that have been tuned just right.

Don't get me wrong. I DO love my 135i, I just don't think of it as a good platform for hot-rodding with aftermarket turbos.

Peace

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by mackeroni

No offense, but if your budget is limited, you might want to consider another marque. BMW's are not known for longevity when you start bolting on the high performance gear, or flashing in high performance codes. This becomes even more problematic if you need this rocket to serve as a daily driver. In terms of bang for the buck, I suggest you consider some good old American Iron. I have been absolutely dusted by older Buicks and Pontiacs that have been tuned just right.

Don't get me wrong. I DO love my 135i, I just don't think of it as a good platform for hot-rodding with aftermarket turbos.

Peace

While I generally agree with your statement - an RB turboed N54 is a pretty solid platform and can easily push 500's at the tires.

[decaturdad]

Originally Posted by mackeroni

No offense, but if your budget is limited, you might want to consider another marque. BMW's are not known for longevity when you start bolting on the high performance gear, or flashing in high performance codes. This becomes even more problematic if you need this rocket to serve as a daily driver. In terms of bang for the buck, I suggest you consider some good old American Iron. I have been absolutely dusted by older Buicks and Pontiacs that have been tuned just right.

Don't get me wrong. I DO love my 135i, I just don't think of it as a good platform for hot-rodding with aftermarket turbos.

Peace

Thanks, but I am not looking for guidance on the type of car. I put 35,000 miles on my last 135 in the past two years. Between my son and I, we put 110,000 miles on his current (my old) 328 and I recently added an e92 M3 to the garage. I realize we could do a lot more for the money with other brands. But we want this to be a 135.

[tommyb13662]

Honestly from reading and from videos i have seen online it looks like the n54 is the platform for this type of build. Most of the threads and videos of teardowns on n54's are really clean zero sludge even after 100k+ miles. Biggest issues i think are making sure the fueling is solid. Injectors, lpfp, hpfp, and get a professional tune. Also use meth for safety not bandaid fueling.

[tommyb13662]

Also besides fuel concerns I would be concerned that the high mile cars need a suspension rebuild to keep the road/track performance up. The rest is just maintenance issues you should/would expect from any 100k+ mile car. My car has had zero problems with over 10k miles on FBO and tunes.

[Eyeman]

I think 135s are great modding platforms. That's why i bought mine back in 2008. Basically back then we were making 1M's before the 1M was developed and then so well received. I think picking up an 80k+ mile car and then going crazy is a great idea. I guess my cutoff that I'd try to avoid would be over 120k miles or so unless it was clear that these were mainly highway, non modded miles.

[mackeroni]

Originally Posted by decaturdad

Thanks, but I am not looking for guidance on the type of car. I put 35,000 miles on my last 135 in the past two years. Between my son and I, we put 110,000 miles on his current (my old) 328 and I recently added an e92 M3 to the garage. I realize we could do a lot more for the money with other brands. But we want this to be a 135.

That's great! Hope you find the right 135i. I was just sharing a different view. To tell the truth, I wish one of my boys lived close enough to share a project like this. Best of luck to you both!

Peace

[drunkenup]

I don't mind high mileage and after having bought my 135i with 59k miles, now 75, I might actually choose a 120k mile n54 that's had a new clutch/fw, recent index injectors, belts/pulleys, battery, alt, etc done over a 70k mile 135i that's only had the water pump and only general maint' done (though that is not bad either).

It is to be known that past 100k you are sure to run into a lot of bs that don't need to be addressed. By that I mean adaptive headlight errors, bulb check errors, various electronic failures. The more DIY savvy the better, people sink cash into old DSMs and evos without thinking twice and those are old, unreliable platforms

[6MT_Addict]

As I'm sure you're aware, mileage matters less than upkeep of the car.

Make sure to find out what the OCI was (i.e. Avoid the long dealer recommended OCI cars), was the waterpump done, was coolant/Power steering fluid&reservoir/trans fluid/diff fluid done routinely?

The lower the mileage the better, but IMO a car with 100,000 on the clock with preventative maintenance is more desirable than one with 60,000 on the clock, owned by someone who doesn't even know why the engine needs oil and believes fluids are 'lifetime'

[Cmoney135i]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

While I generally agree with your statement - an RB turboed N54 is a pretty solid platform and can easily push 500's at the tires.

I hear the term rb thrown around a lot, is RB just a turbo company? Or are people referencing RB turbos like RB26dett turbos (from Nissan basically).

Sorry if this is a stupid question

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by Cmoney135i

I hear the term rb thrown around a lot, is RB just a turbo company? Or are people referencing RB turbos like RB26dett turbos (from Nissan basically).

Sorry if this is a stupid question

RB is a small turbo builder for the N54 platform.

That said, if you're going to buy hybrid turbos, I wouldn't waste my money on anything less than Pure. Still undecided on whether to do upgraded twins or just a single swap on mine.

[decaturdad]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

RB is a small turbo builder for the N54 platform.

That said, if you're going to buy hybrid turbos, I wouldn't waste my money on anything less than Pure. Still undecided on whether to do upgraded twins or just a single swap on mine.

That is where we are. Single or twins.

[Matticus91]

Single for big top end power twins for smoother midrange power

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

Single for big top end power twins for smoother midrange power

Well.. If I did single, it would probably be the 6062 with a VM kit. But pure stg 2 is damn tempting due to low total cost.

[Mr Rooty Von Tooty]

A high mileage engine will need a major overhaul before doing any mods. Figure around $8K dollar for a qualified engine re-builder.