Project 1 | The Journey To Bimmerfest

Nate@IND · 05-18-2010, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jzhang

you guys rolling in with ind?!!?

Yep we are rolling together! Good guys at the STO.

Amazing 1 Johan and enjoy your first year at Bimmerfest

1013mm · 05-18-2010, 05:48 PM

NICEEE!! Cant wait to see this!

WheelSTO · 05-18-2010, 10:14 PM

It is only 4 days to Bimmerfest and I can't wait to be there.
Nate@IND; thanks for all your help. You guys have really helped us a lot, not only on this project but throughout the years. I only hope that we had been an instrumental part your business as well.

Now, back to Project 1....

Today, I am going to share with you, some of the smaller parts that went into the car (literally smaller). The wheels, exhaust and aero drastically change the way the car looks to the naked eye. Some of the products I will share with you may lack similar effects but it really adds to the total bad-assness (made this word up) of the car!

Pivot 3-drive Flat Throttle Controller

The Pivot 3-Drive Flat Throttle Controller is the first of its kind and the only one in the market. There are a few different throttle controllers for the modern throttle by wire cars. Most of these systems only "boost" the throttle response of the car, much like the "Sport" setting on a lot of the BMW's with sport packages.

However, the Pivot 3-Drive Flat Throttle Controller has 12 different modes: 7 in the "sport" mode and 5 in the "Eco" mode. Settings in the sport mode really allows you to fine tune the amount of throttle response that you are happy with. The Eco mode allows you to lag or retard the throttle response. Why would you want to do that? Well, I have a couple of reasons: when i give me moded 135i to the Valet and when (god forbid) ever need to lend the car to some one else.

Installation is also really easy. Pivot has really created an innovative product by allowing this to be a plug and play solution with simple installation through the OBD port.

Pivot Hybrid Triple Gauge System

We have been supplying and selling the 3D Design Gauge pods for the BMW cars for quite some time. We also supply them with top of the line STACK Gauges. However, this set up is not an easy one. The oil pressure / Oil temperature / exhaust temperature as well the water temperature gauges need to be tapped into the respective sources to function and they are often expensive with labor for installation being not very "DIY" for the average Joe.

Again, Pivot just made this a non-issue with their triple gauge system for the BMW 135/335 cars. The gauges read boost / water temp / exhaust temp. Boost reading is done by "T" connection to the vacuum line on the diverter valve side and the temp gauges obtain accurate readins from connecting to the OBD ports. That is simple and fun. The only downside, if any is that they read in kPA and degree celsius, which I really like as it makes the car unique.

3D Design Gauge Pod

The quality of the construction of the 3D Design products are out of this world. This gauge pod fit perfectly and was flawless.

So, how do we tie in 2 components to 1 OBD Port? Well Pivot had a solution for that too. A simple plug in adapater that will allow you to run 2 Pivot OBD compliant products.

Here is a picture of the entire set up (parts only) laid out...

Bellof Sirius LED Ring for BMW

Bellof is a very well known Japanese bulb and lighting solutions company. They are very well known for making high quality HID solutions as well as LED bulbs for automotive applications.

Amongst the many brands of Angel Eye upgrade bulbs, we have decided to go with the Bellof Sirius LED Rings. Bellof has 2 distintive features: the bulb brightness remains steady even through ignition process, proprietary circuitry to stabilize current into the bulb and most importantly features 4 LED bulbs to increase the brightness while positioning them strategically, so that they travel through the entire figure 8 of the Angel eyes.

Again, the connection and installation was top notch and everything fit easily and quickly.

ARC Power Brace

It was also time to stiffen the car a little bit, with the power that is going in. I had always wanted to put a nice shiny strut bar in the car. Give the car a little bit of a flashy look to the engine bay while stiffening up the car a tad bit. Of course, we decided to source only the best for this job. We opted for ARC Power Brace to handle this task.

The ARC Power Brace was just an amazing piece of piece. It was well made, precision crafted from Aluminum and steel. the cross bar is aluminum while the mounting points were made of steel.

ARC also makes a really nice brace for the rear struts but we did not want to go overboard, this time. They also have these braces in a combination of Aluminum and carbon fiber, which we didn't opt for as we had no other carbon fiber pieces on our car.

CPM Lower Reinforcement.

I was not sure what to make of this product at first. But, when our friends in Japan told us that this is the hottest item for BMW in the market right now, we had to try it.

What does it do?

It goes in place of your lower brace (not replacing it) but under the panel to hold the car together. It is supposed to really add rigidity to the car. I don't know if it did, but it sure was a nice piece and we had to put it on.

Well, this is it for this edition. Again, no pictures of the products mounted on the car itself. You will get to see them at Bimmerfest when we unveil the car!

BSM 135i · 05-18-2010, 11:42 PM

^^^^^DAMN!!!! i can't wait to see all those little goodies first hand!! especially the Bellof AE's

1013mm · 05-19-2010, 12:01 AM

if you guys start importing bellof angels. please let me know.

Das Ein · 05-19-2010, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jzhang

if you guys start importing bellof angels. please let me know.

x2!

BrokenVert · 05-19-2010, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Das Ein

x2!

X3

1013mm · 05-19-2010, 03:24 PM

all i know is that those bulbs range from 200-300 USD

I'm still willing to try them out!

Simon_135i · 05-19-2010, 03:38 PM

Someone said new AE?????

1013mm · 05-19-2010, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon_135i

Someone said new AE?????

studie has been using this one they replaced the brex with the bellof. minor differences. not sure about the day though...

WheelSTO · 05-19-2010, 08:16 PM

Bellof is an amazing brand.
They have really taken the flickering and heat issues out of the equation on these new LED Rings.

I am still working out the pricing on these things as well as the ARC strut tower braces.
Will update everyone as soon as I get them.

The best is yet to come..... stay tuned on this thread!

wu2x · 05-19-2010, 10:07 PM

interested in the Bellofs too

Ryan@IND · 05-20-2010, 01:08 AM

Hi guys,

I am back to give you guys more updates on what we did on our Project 1. For this episode, I really have the honor of introducing another new product and offering from 3D Design.

3D Design Full Caron Fiber Hood with Vents and Aerocatch Hood Pin

When we visited Tokyo for earlier this year, 3D Design had built a prototype Carbon fiber hood for the BMW E82 135i. We fell in love with the product immediately. The quality of the carbon fiber construction was top notch as always and the hood was so light that we could hold the entire hood with one hand. Not a single strand of Carbon fiber was out of place and the dense 1x1 weave was a sight to behold. It was actually like looking at the roof on the E92 M3 or the E63 M6. Simply perfect!

The 2 best features of this HOOD are the vents and the Aerocatch hood pin. The vents are very different from the many vorsteiner vents that we have seen. The angle of the fins were more severe and really added an aggressive dimension to the hood. "Function over Form" was key on this design for 3D Design as they made the openings of the vents larger for better "venting" For many of you worried about water getting in, "Fear no more". the vents come with an undertray that collects water and debris from the outside so that they do not splatter all over your engine bay.

The other great feature is the Aerocatch hood pin. We took the traditional lock and latch out and used this "already attached" hood pin to secure the hood to the body of the car. It added another level of "Raciness" to the car. the aerocatch hides all the internal mechanism (which is silky smooth, by the way) and looks very clean and classy from the outside.

Combination of a severe drop and the Front lip gave about 3" of clearance from the ground. We had been daily driving this 1er with the 3D Design front lip for close to 2 years now and the original front lip had taken a beating. We hit a full block of ice (the size of a basketball) head on and hit multiple potholes and that damaged the lip. We had to put on a nice and shiny one for Bimmerfest and with the help of the guys at IND, we had one freshly painted for Bimmerfest.

Of course, we complimented the hood and front lip with other parts by 3D Design. The Carbon fiber rear diffuser and Rear trunk lip spoiler just tied everything together nicely, on the outside.

For interior, we already had the full aluminum pedal set and foot rest and floor mats by 3D Design.

We had been waiting for some extra bits in the form of a shift knob and e-brake handle, but they were not ready for delivery. These new accessories were to be release sometime in June.

Oh well.... I guess we all have to wait for that one. Here are some pictures to who you what they look like.

Although, the shift knob and e-brake handle are not quite available yet, we will be sure to let you all know, the moment they are ready.

thanks for viewing and hope you are enjoying the updates. It is my hope that this will put the 1 series on the map at Bimmerfest. Show everyone that the 135i is not just a smaller Bimmer, but a truly unique piece of machinery with the potential to look and perform as well as some of the bigger BMW's out there.

- Julius -

Ryan@IND · 05-21-2010, 01:48 AM

2 Days to Bimmerfest.

Our flight into LAX leaves in approximately 5 hours from now (6:30am central time) and I have yet to pack. I am excited as well as nervous about making the trip out west to Bimmerfest. Sure, I have been to lots of car events, but not to the scale of bimmerfest, except for SEMA, which is more commercial than a celebration of Bimmers like Bimmerfest.

So, why am i up this late? Well, it is really to write up the last episode of our Journey to Bimmerfest. The only story left to tell is that of POWER. Not about accessories or the aesthetics, but about pure power.

Intake: aFe / Synapse Bov Kit / Macht Schnell Air Scoop

As you all know, we have had the aFe dual cone intake in our car for quite some time. The aFe has worked great for us. We haven't felt heat soak issues or any other potential issues with the intake. Sound is not too aggressive, which we like and the dry filter really is Easy to Clean!

We also have the synapse Blow off valve to relieve some of the excess pressure in the charge pipe. Besides, the sound of that pressure release is menacing!

The intake gets a little bit of help from the Macht Schnell air scoops. the scoops were a breeze to install and the smooth surface without kinks seemed ideal for air flow into those BMW snorkels.

ECU Tuned by ESS Tuning

We have gone through 2 different ECU tunes and we were not happy. One was constantly limping and the other was just not smooth, although produced lots of power. Also, the Check Engine light issue without Cats was not an issue that could be taken care of by either of the previous systems.

This time, we got help from our newest Partner: ESS Tuning.
ESS was in town to help tune one of the IND's amazing supercharged cars. And AJ was nice enough to spend a little extra time to diagnose the car and tune it to Stage 3 Power level. ESS Tune is amazing. OEM level of stability and driveability. Smooth with release of abrupt power when you gas it. Transition is smooth and We are ecstatic about this one. (more to come on this later).

(^ not our car: just for reference. Will dyno the car after bimmerfest).

Now, the grand finale and the best thing about our new version of "Project 1", the EXHAUST. Before, I begin, I want to thank the following partners/friends/vendors.
- Macht Schnell for the sponsorship on the amazing set of 3" down pipes
- Berk Technology for the sponsorship of the resonated mid section
- 3D Design for rushing us an quad exhaust that will fit the US Cars

Let me start by saying that we are actually honored to partner up with companies like Macht Schnell and Berk Technology. All the products are designed with function in mind and the quality of fit and finish could not be made any better. We have experience with exhaust components from all over the world and I can confidently say that Macht Schnell as well as Berk Technology will parallel all of them in quality.

We first took down our old and worn out, rattling R^2 down pipes. The DP was as hard to take out as it was to put on. I could not wait to get rid of those R^2 parts. On the other hand, the Macht Schnell DP went in without fuss.

In order to make this system a full system, we opted for the Berk Technology mid section. This is a resonated section without the secondary cats. Bends were smooth and fitting was a breeze.

We have always been a fan of the quad tip look on the 1er. Lucky for us, 3D Design has just finished developing a full bolt-on quad system that untilizes the valve technology like the stock exhaust to regulate back pressure.

Most Quad systems were built around the Euro spec cars without the huge chunky vapor canisters that we have in the US. Therefore, modifications were necessary. WSTO co-developed an exhaust with 3D design to suit the US market. The exhaust that we received is the first US prototype.

Before we could even break it in, we had to load the car on the truck to take a ride to Pasadena, CA. the sound is amazing and I am sure that power delivery will be spectacular.

This is it for "2 days to Bimmerfest" Hope you enjoy this read and the pictures. And I hope to see many of you at Bimmerfest at the "WSTO" Booth to see the car in person.

Again, big "thank you" to:

- 3D Design Japan
- Lager Corporation
- Mackin
- Rays Engineering
- Macht Schnell
- Berk Technology
- VS Motorsports
- IND
- Xtreme Graphics

(^ no particular order and sorry if i missed anyone. it isn't intentional).

WSTO could not have done this by our self and lucky to have your support and friendship.

I love this picture:

Simon_135i · 05-21-2010, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Julius@WSTO