Suspenceful's 2008 BSM 135i build thread!

[chadillac2000]

This was a pleasure to read through! Looks like we made a lot of the same decisions. Your car seems to be doing great at 21-22psi with inlets. I daily basically the same setup at 17psi, but have worried about drastically reducing the life of the stock snails at higher boost levels than that. Then again, from what I have gathered from other posts, a ST conversion is in the works once anything goes awry with the OEM turbos. Should probably be my plan as well...

Nice ride!

[Stuntz]

In for updates. Your car's videos are what made me buy my 135.

[Segments]

Literally one of my favorite cars on this forum, has inspired a lot of what I've done with mine, great work.

[suspenceful]

Originally Posted by chadillac2000

This was a pleasure to read through! Looks like we made a lot of the same decisions. Your car seems to be doing great at 21-22psi with inlets. I daily basically the same setup at 17psi, but have worried about drastically reducing the life of the stock snails at higher boost levels than that. Then again, from what I have gathered from other posts, a ST conversion is in the works once anything goes awry with the OEM turbos. Should probably be my plan as well...

Nice ride!

Originally Posted by Stuntz

In for updates. Your car's videos are what made me buy my 135.

Originally Posted by Segments

Literally one of my favorite cars on this forum, has inspired a lot of what I've done with mine, great work.

Thanks guys. The car has been running great on ~22psi all summer. No hiccups. I just drove 600+ miles to the NoFlyZone event and made 50+ passes down the 1/2 mile strip. The car didn't skip a beat.

Videos to come.

[suspenceful]

Was able to throw my car on a DynoJet a few weeks ago.

2008 BMW 135i (N54 6MT)

• Stock turbos with 115k miles @ 23psi peak
• JB4 custom map 6 with MHD BMS E85 KR flash
• Full bolt ons, inlets, E40 with 1 gallon of race gas

The best numbers were 448whp and 501wtq with SAE correction. It looks like everyone on here uses STD correction instead and that converts to about 468whp and 523wtq!
Watch the video, the car scared the guy behind the wheel

[suspenceful]

Also, who doesn't like epic burnout pics and videos?!


Burnouts for America by Jacob Spence, on Flickr


Deuces by Jacob Spence, on Flickr


Fall Leaves by Jacob Spence, on Flickr

[chadillac2000]

Killer content as always. That first pic -- awesome!

[suspenceful]

Today is a sad day...

[suspenceful]

It's been a long winter. I picked up a new daily driver - it's a 2010 328i M-Sport with a 6-speed manual transmission. I lowered it on an H&R Sport Cup kit with SP front perches and added matching APEX ARC-8s. Black kidney grilles, LUX angel eyes, LED fog lights, interior lights, etc. Love the car.

Anyways, I ordered a set of MMP Stage 3 turbos, port injection, and stage 3 fuel pumps. Clutch has to be ordered yet. I'm shooting to crack 700whp by July. Just replaced the water pump again because it cracked. Enjoying the car until the turbos arrive.

Took a few pictures of both of my cars:

[chadillac2000]

Originally Posted by suspenceful

It's been a long winter. I picked up a new daily driver - it's a 2010 328i M-Sport with a 6-speed manual transmission. I lowered it on an H&R Sport Cup kit with SP front perches and added matching APEX ARC-8s. Black kidney grilles, LUX angel eyes, LED fog lights, interior lights, etc. Love the car.

Anyways, I ordered a set of MMP Stage 3 turbos, port injection, and stage 3 fuel pumps. Clutch has to be ordered yet. I'm shooting to crack 700whp by July. Just replaced the water pump again because it cracked. Enjoying the car until the turbos arrive.

Absolutely phenomenal pictures of both of the rides. I'm sure it's nice having that daily driver. I love having both the E60 or the E82 at my disposal. The dual-Apex setup is incredible. It's really hard to beat that spoke design on a BMW in my opinon. I really wish the E82 could achieve the same kind of concave look.

I'm glad to hear you've reached a decision in regards of what route to take for stock turbo replacements. Those stage 3s, port injection, and the dual Walbro fuel pumps should really wake things up! Definitely a bummer about the water pump, never a fun job, especially given the fact that you'll more than likely have to take it back out again for the installation of the turbos.

Are the stock turbos still hanging in there after all the passes on high boost? I'm about to throw on my 3.5 bar tmap sensor, and have picked up a tablet/cables for MHD so I can abandon the BB method of backend flashing, utilize the quiet start mode, etc. I'm currently deciding on whether to go with one of the MHD OTS tunes, or something from Wedge/Trebila/etc. so I can turn the boost above 20psi and would love to hear your input on some of your experiences recently.

[suspenceful]

Originally Posted by chadillac2000

Absolutely phenomenal pictures of both of the rides. I'm sure it's nice having that daily driver. I love having both the E60 or the E82 at my disposal. The dual-Apex setup is incredible. It's really hard to beat that spoke design on a BMW in my opinon. I really wish the E82 could achieve the same kind of concave look.

I'm glad to hear you've reached a decision in regards of what route to take for stock turbo replacements. Those stage 3s, port injection, and the dual Walbro fuel pumps should really wake things up! Definitely a bummer about the water pump, never a fun job, especially given the fact that you'll more than likely have to take it back out again for the installation of the turbos.

Are the stock turbos still hanging in there after all the passes on high boost? I'm about to throw on my 3.5 bar tmap sensor, and have picked up a tablet/cables for MHD so I can abandon the BB method of backend flashing, utilize the quiet start mode, etc. I'm currently deciding on whether to go with one of the MHD OTS tunes, or something from Wedge/Trebila/etc. so I can turn the boost above 20psi and would love to hear your input on some of your experiences recently.

Thanks man - I also wish the 1er would allow for more concave wheels. They look so good on the 3-series!

My stock turbos are still hauling ass. I daily it at 22-23psi and go WOT through all the gears a few times per day... it's an addiction. Multiple 1/4 and 1/2 mile events every year. The car gets driven like it should be and everyone knows it. All the locals are astounded at how well the car has held up and how fast these N54s can be.

The turbos rattle like a son of a bitch (have since I bought the car at 80k miles). But I haven't heard the rattle since tuning it out via JB4 over a year ago. No smoke. I've maintained the car as best as I can. New plugs, coils, injectors, walnut blast, oil changes, etc. The turbos show no sign of giving up and they're original to the car. I'm only upgrading because I want even more power.

I run the BMS E85 backend flash via MHD paired with Map 6 that I set custom boost targets and duty biases. You can do the same with the 3.5 BAR sensor without a custom tune from someone else. The car runs great on E45 fuel mix with all of my mods and settings. I will probably go with Trebila or Justin for a custom tune once I get the MMP turbos.

[acoustix]

always loved how your car sat. the other day i hit a nasty railway tie that ended up destroying 2 drivers side rims as well as the tires so i have finally decided to pull the trigger and get a set of ARC-8's.

My question for you is on the eibach pro kit how much camber adjustment did you have to make on the front to fit that 235?

i plan on going MPSS with ET45 235/40/18 and ET58 265/35/18.

[suspenceful]

Originally Posted by acoustix

always loved how your car sat. the other day i hit a nasty railway tie that ended up destroying 2 drivers side rims as well as the tires so i have finally decided to pull the trigger and get a set of ARC-8's.

My question for you is on the eibach pro kit how much camber adjustment did you have to make on the front to fit that 235?

i plan on going MPSS with ET45 235/40/18 and ET58 265/35/18.

Yikes! That sucks.

The front camber pins are removed up front on my car. I had the roll the front fenders flat so it didn't rub. Every once in a while it will rub on the metal bumper/fender tab. You can trim this down along with the fender liner if you have issues.

I have MPSS in the same tire size on my APEX wheels. ET45 in front and ET62 in back with a 10mm spacer.

[suspenceful]

Patiently waiting for the new turbos to arrive...

[swagon]

That last shot of the E90 is money. Those cars are timeless.

[35Past1]

Very nice car and progress. I have been following this car for some time, and have read your reviews on the parts installed on your website. One of the nicest 1's around.

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by suspenceful

Patiently waiting for the new turbos to arrive...

Gahd that's a sexy shot. Alright you've convinced me to do a shoot with my car lol

[suspenceful]

Hmm... what do we have here?

[chadillac2000]

Can't wait to see how these perform and the install goes. Please do document as much of the turbo replacement process as possible. I'll be doing the same thing in 3-4 months, and would love to know how you tackled it.

[suspenceful]

Stock vs. not stock.

[Kturbos]

Mother Of God. Can't wait until you unleash the beast.

[suspenceful]

Update on the 135i:

I had a BMW technician friend do some work to the car. I didn't want to deal with dropping the transmission while laying on my back on the floor of my garage. I just wanted to concentrate on the turbo install, so he did the following:

• Replaced upgraded clutch with an even more upgraded clutch (Spec Stage 3+, kept my MFactory SMFW in there)
• New bellhousing bolts, throwout bearing and clutch fork
• Replaced transmission mounts with poly upgraded mounts
• Replaced shifter bushings with upgraded parts
• Replaced rear pinion seal and flush/fill the differential

I picked up the car and expected the clutch to be a pain to drive. Surprisingly it isn't much worse than the OEM 335is/550i clutch. Definitely daily driveable! The shifter feels tighter and notchier, I'm very happy. I put about 30 miles on the clutch and brought the car home to get started on the turbo install. I put the car in the air and took off the front bumper right away.





I don't have the most tools in the world, but I managed to get the subframe and steering rack out in about 4 hours. Another 2 hours and I had the fan, engine mount, downpipes, intercooler, inlets, outlets, water pump, and coolant lines out of the car.











I felt pretty accomplished after all of this. I discovered what coolant tastes like and was covered in grime, but knew I was making good progress. I decided to call it a night and clean up the garage so I could get a fresh start after work tonight again. Next step is to remove the oil pan and replace that gasket, and then remove the stock turbos.