New to the 135, have a few questions regarding a future purchase / maybe meetup local

[pwn]

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new to these forums but so far they look to have a lot of great information. I've had one wrx and three STi's so I am familiar with turbo setups etc. Used to be very active in the norcal section on i-club, hoping theres a good community here for the 135 as well . Ideally I'll be getting a white DCT w/ m-package and work from there.

Before I dive in, does anybody with a catless/tuned DCT 135 (ideally some suspension work too) want to meet up for lunch on the peninsula? I work in San Mateo and would love to get a ride in a modded 135 and get some eyeballs on what the end product would be prior to switching from the sti to the 135. I will buy you lunch! I can bring my modded cayman s as well

So on to the next portion:

I had a few questions..it looks like I am probably going to go for an N55 setup. I think I know which suspension I'll install (st coilovers or bilstein B12 + m3 components), I'll probably go with catless downpipes and a berk midpipe and rear section, charge pipe, i/c, dunno what wheels and tires etc. I run forgestar wheels on the porsche, might get those.

My two main questions are based around DCT and the JB4.

DCT:

Are these reliable? Would the clutch slip if I ran full turbo back catless, an intake and an intercooler with some sort of tune? I've never owned an automatic anything, but the paddles are pretty sweet and it would be for my DD so it could be nice. I also don't launch my cars ever, so the DCT wouldn't be subject to that abuse. FBO is considered to be what I've mentioned?

Side note:

The M package is required for the paddles, sport seats, sporty bumpers etc right? What about xenons?

JB4:

Coming from the subaru, base maps w/ cobb for example are good for basic tunes; people get custom tuned (cobb or open source) when they want a more reliable, more specific safer map etc. Also, coming from the subaru world I know better than to go with the procede / anything shiv touches. He has a reputation in that community, at least.

Is the JB4 safe? I've never seen products that claim to autotune, and again our cars always need a manual tune. It would seem that the cobb stuff isn't out for N55 yet, so it leaves JB4 and procede. I'm not looking for debate, just honest opinion. What I don't want is a chip that blindly cranks boost and creates dangerous conditions for the motor.

Shop:

I have a shop for suspension work, but are there any very well known shops for 135 engine work in the bay area? Previously I used GST, LIC or EQ tuning.

Thanks! I really look forward to jumping into a 1 series soon .

Morgan

[WhiteTgr135i]

I came from a 2007 Subaru WRX with the following mods :

-FP18g turbo
-Process West TMIC
-Cobb SF intake
-TurboXS catless downpipe
-Cobb Catback
-Tein S-Tech springs with STi top hats + STi struts
-Cobb F/R sway bar
-Protune by Jon @ HBSpeed 305whp/310wtq at 24psi tapered to 20psi, conservative tune .

After i sold my WRX and bought a 2012 135i with every package except premium and HK system, i will never go back to Subaru. I love manual transmission cars, the connected feeling you get when shifting and pushing in the clutch, but i opted for the 7spd M-DCT.

The M-DCT is very reliable, but once you reach around 400ish hp, the clutch begins to slip. But if your going to be running an intercooler. downpipe, intake, jb4, you will be fine when it comes to reliability. The Jb4 is reliable and makes way more power then an STI or EVO can with just a tune, let alone bolt-ons. If i were you, I'd wait until Cobb releases there AP for the N55, which will probably be in the beginning of 2013. The jb4 is not a chip, it's a piggy back system that removes the stock ecu and jb4 re-tunes ignition timing, boost levels, throttle control etc, so its plenty reliable.

All 135i's come stock with Xenon, so you don't need to worry about having Xenon's on a 135i. The 2011+ 135i's also come with M-sport package, as the 2008-2010's don't. Also, the 2011+ 135i's come with N55 (twinscroll single turbo, made by Borg Warner, or at least the same style turbo as Borg Warner). Hope this helps...

-Tycho

[t02t]

It seems like there's a trend for evo/wrx/sti owners to move on to 135i's lol
I had a 09wrx, cobb stage2, catless dp etc etc etc
The ease to get power from the n54/55 is something you'll enjoy getting used to.. cept the n55 parts cost quite a bit... something like 500 for a catless dp and you're looking at 500+ for any axle backs..(miss the 300$ fullcatback turboxs for my wrx)
With n54 the used market is alot bigger so you' can get some better deals

I have to disagree with the vishnu procede part.
I understand that they blew some engines? or something with the subaru community and everyone runs away when they hear shiv and vishnu.
But if you look more into e90/92 guys and people here you'll find that ALOT of us run procede and i think its safe to say that most of them are trouble free(myself included)
I haven't had the experience with jb so I cant' comment, but you'll find that alot of people prefer procede over jb.. but that's a whole other discussion

Eitherway, not sure if these random facts will help you out, but im sure you'll enjoy the switch to the 135i like the rest of us!

[cooler2442]

The DCT clutch only slips past 450wtq which is only really achieved on the N55 with methanol injection and even then you would have to have it on an aggressive setting. Just going FBO without methanol injection will not have any issues and even with methanol injection if you don't run super aggressive numbers it would be fine as well.

JB4 is one of the best tunes available for the 135i's and is completely safe.

[blutattoo]

DCT is being used without issue by plenty of people here on the forum in some fairly high hp/tq setup's.

Although I have no experience with the jb4 it appears to have the most upside and flexibility. I don't believe any tune is foolproof, but you don't hear any folks posting about how their motor blew because of the jb4.

On a side not, if you don't plan to buy new then consider the n54 motor in the 08-10 135 if big gains are what you are looking for since those motors have a bigger upside with just fbo.

[sparkyblue]

Don't get an N55. Performance gains and many more years of R&D on the N54 allow it to make substantially more power than the N55 counterparts at this point.

I once also was a big BAIC fan and wanted to get into an STI. But things happened and I ended up in a 135i.

In terms of the Bay Area 1addict scene, its fairly quiet and not much goes on around these forums. LUCKILY though, the sister site e90post has a very active California section.

Even better yet, 1-series and 3-series are very similar mechanically. Things like downpipes, intercoolers, chargepipe & bov's, even suspension like coilovers & strut/spring combo, down to the bulbs in our angel eyes are exactly alike. So once you pick up your 1-series, you are free to check the forum marketplace on the much more active e90post. (once again, they are the same site! you even use the same login, and share the same PM box).

Also, in regards to your DCT comment. I'd recommend you stay with the tried and true 6-speed MT. Rowing through gears is unrivaled to pressing paddles on the steering wheel. Especially since you came from the STI crowd which only came in a 6-speed Manual. Not to mention later on, if you do get bit by the mod bug. You wont have to worry about all the transmission issues that could come up. All you would need to do is get an upgraded clutch. A good example of this are with all the single turbo & even RB (upgraded twin-turbos) 6-speed AUTO having issues with their transmission giving out on a 140MPH 5th gear pass. Check it here : http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=769959

Lastly in regards to shops for engine work. Our N54 platform is still fairly new and as of now, the only power mods available are as listed: Tune, Intake, Downpipes, Intercooler, CP & BOV, Meth, E85 and lastly upgraded Single or Twin turbos. As you can see, none of these mods involve much more than simply unbolting and installing new parts in. There are no aftermarket upgrades in the block itself yet. So any shop around the bay should be able to take care of you. If you are really keen on getting work done at some more well known places, I'd recommend Sonic MS in Mountain View.