What did you do to/for your 1er today?

[cerealwars]

Gray_Panther
Hahah, fair question.

We bought turn plates off of Amazon, those were ~$160 IIRC. You can see those in the picture if you look closely.

Then, two plumb-bob string thingies (believe it or not, I am not a professional contractor)
Set of metric rulers
Magnetic digital angle gauge
Angle iron
Steering wheel holder
And probably some other minor stuff I'm forgetting

We had building materials laying around too, which helped.

We are now capable of measuring toe, camber, and caster as derived from camber.

I've personally done five cars on 8 occasions, and can do a toe and go in under two hours if everything isn't crusty. All of them came out better than anything I've received from shops with $15k Hunter machines. Gotta love that book time system in entry-level shops.

For anyone trying to do this, I highly recommend FCP's video on DIY home string alignment.

[Gray_Panther]

Originally Posted by cerealwars

Gray_Panther
Hahah, fair question.

We bought turn plates off of Amazon, those were ~$160 IIRC. You can see those in the picture if you look closely.

Then, two plumb stringy thingies (believe it or not, I am not a professional contractor)
Set of metric rulers
Magnetic digital angle gauge
Angle iron
Steering wheel holder
And probably some other minor stuff I'm forgetting

We had building materials laying around too, which helped.

We are now capable of measuring toe, camber, and caster as derived from camber.

I've personally done five cars on 8 occasions, and can do a toe and go in under two hours if everything isn't crusty. All of them came out better than anything I've received from shops with $15k Hunter machines. Gotta love that book time system in entry-level shops.

For anyone trying to do this, I highly recommend FCP's video on DIY home string alignment.

Awesome thanks!!!

[hunginator]

Originally Posted by jsigone

testing out new Active 2.0 pressure washer

Amazing! Can I ask which pressure washer hose you have? Is that the UBERFLEX?

[jsigone]

Yes I went with the Uberflex 50ft and Active gun. Using 2 of the $20 amazon generic foam cannons, one for paint and another for Rim cleaner mix.

[javinci]

This car has consumed me.

I’ve been busy the last few days with the following:

1. Mishimoto intake tube: looks cool, sounds a bit gruffier?
2. Cutting open an FB marketplace special: a genuine BMW PE which came with a rattle at 1.5-2k RPM, to do some investigation. I found a little piece of plastic or something. After cleaning out the first chamber with the y-pipe, I reinstalled and went for a test drive. Thanked the heavens as it removed damn near all of the rattle. Alas, there seems to be another piece in another chamber downstream, but I can definitely live with this (for now), as it sounded like I was dragging around tin cans tied to string before 😂 (see this

   View post on imgur.com

   for both the rattle and the glory of 5k+ rpm)
3. Installed BMS wheel spacers after having no luck on the local used market for a good set of wheels. 12mm up front, 10mm rear. These are quality products. Could have went for more, but I’m new to this car stuff…
4. Cosmetics: rear debadge & performance style boot spoiler.

How did I do?

Looking to tackle brake pads, Gruppe-M CF RAM (when it arrives) and M3/1M control arms when I get the hardware bits n bolts in-hand. 😮‍💨

[cerealwars]

javinci

This is awesome. Any chance you took pics of the opened up PE? I'm always curious to whats in there. Seen a few E9x ones, not not too much for the e82 PE.

Also lmao that sounded terrible, glad you fixed that.

I need to go for a night drive soon, been too long.

[cblock406]

Originally Posted by jsigone

Yes I went with the Uberflex 50ft and Active gun. Using 2 of the $20 amazon generic foam cannons, one for paint and another for Rim cleaner mix.

I saw your post last night, ordered the same hose, and it was delivered this morning before I left for work. Looking forward to using it, thanks for the tip!

[sliebhard]

New valve cover and VCG while I wait for the new turbos to show up.

Car has been up on stands since December and I’m hoping to have it back on the road by June.

Still left to finish:

M3 FCA
B12 kit
New rotors and pads

[javinci]

Originally Posted by cerealwars

javinci

This is awesome. Any chance you took pics of the opened up PE? I'm always curious to whats in there. Seen a few E9x ones, not not too much for the e82 PE.

Also lmao that sounded terrible, glad you fixed that.

I need to go for a night drive soon, been too long.

Thanks!

I only have that one pic of the Helmholtz chamber / Y-pipe - If I get back in I’ll make sure to grab some. In preparation, I’d also scoured the net for any info on the internals of the E8x PE & came up short as you mentioned. I went into this blind as a bat.

Night drives are great fun indeed. Fortunately/unfortunately that’s the only time I’m ever available to give it a good run.

[cerealwars]

Did stuff

More tomorrow

[MParallel]

Originally Posted by cerealwars

javinci

This is awesome. Any chance you took pics of the opened up PE? I'm always curious to whats in there. Seen a few E9x ones, not not too much for the e82 PE.

Also lmao that sounded terrible, glad you fixed that.

I need to go for a night drive soon, been too long.

You can also do the BMW PE mod on the stock exhaust. Lots of topics about it.
It's been done on my stock exhaust (my previous owner). I prefer the stock tips.

[zx10guy]

Well, my 1'er left me stranded for the first time. Was at a Costco gas station when I tried to start the car with nothing but just a weak click. Tried jumping the car with a boost pack and still nothing. Decided to get a tow. Tow truck driver shows up and tries to jump my car with his bigger jump pack. Still nothing. So off to the repair shop it goes. This is also where we had to learn on the fly how to get the damn DCT into neutral. Never did it before with the engine dead.

I debated having my car towed to my house which isn't that far away to see if I can troubleshoot the problem. But decided to have it towed to my nearby BMW indie repair shop since I had to fly out for work in a couple of days. I did go back and scanned the car which came up with a CAS terminal 50 problem. Looked up some info on this and found that it coulde be the IBS sensor, wiring to the starter, bad starter, bad positive cable in the engine compartment from the jump terminal, bad CAS module, and possiby a bad battery.

Well, shop got it fixed and said the power cable to the starter was almost totally detached off the wiring terminal. They reterminated the cable and the engine fired right up. They also checked the battery and found it to be marginal so that was replaced too.

[Houranimd49]

Originally Posted by cerealwars

Did stuff

More tomorrow

If you have this garage set up in your home, can we be friends? I could use your set up LOL!

[Houranimd49]

Originally Posted by ptgentile

Evening all,

I have been in search of one brake/clutch pad for quite some time.
part #: 35-21-6-771-328 for my manual E91 wagon. I have a new gas pedal (supposedly the last one in stock in the US) and one brake/clutch pad. I know of these as they're on my 135is. Great clean look imo.

There are what seems to be the same three ads on eBay for months. I've ordered from them all and get the same message: "receipt will be delayed with no delivery date specified. Happy to return your payment or await receipt." I waited once for months and finally gave up.

I've tried numerous other sties resulting from Google searches with the same result; not available or wait til they get them which to me seems like they have no way of getting them.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks Paul

Just one or two pages back you would have seen I inquired the same. Unsure if they’ll fit the e91 but worth a look.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...m/35000410099/

[MParallel]

Originally Posted by Houranimd49

If you have this garage set up in your home, can we be friends? I could use your set up LOL!

I was thinking the same. If only I had 1 tenth of that!

[Fishee]

Originally Posted by MParallel

I was thinking the same. If only I had 1 tenth of that!

Lol same.
OMG the dream of having a space large enough for a lift
My downtown garage is the size of a shoebox.

[cerealwars]

Originally Posted by MParallel

You can also do the BMW PE mod on the stock exhaust. Lots of topics about it.

It's been done on my stock exhaust (my previous owner). I prefer the stock tips.

There's good reason for my asking. Stay tuned

—

Houranimd49 Fishee MParallel

This is my homie's garage. I've sort of built my life around cars, and I have an amazing group of five friends who are all into it too. We all have our own standout abilities/skills/tools that we lean on each other for, not to mention wicked selection of rad cars too. We all grew up very frugal. Between all of us, we don't need to call a tow truck, or pay anyone for work. It's a nice reminder of how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to do what I do.

Gotta buy homie a case of beer this afternoon.

[jdt10768]

** interested in the process of modding a stock 128i exhaust into a Performance Exhaust as well . .

and, is the Active-Autowerke ecu flash/tune worth it?? for 15 hp?

[MParallel]

As mentioned, lots of topics about it. Basically welding shut the performated Y pipe inside.

[Houranimd49]

Originally Posted by cerealwars

It's been done on my stock exhaust (my previous owner). I prefer the stock tips.

There's good reason for my asking. Stay tuned

—

Houranimd49 Fishee MParallel

This is my homie's garage. I've sort of built my life around cars, and I have an amazing group of five friends who are all into it too. We all have our own standout abilities/skills/tools that we lean on each other for, not to mention wicked selection of rad cars too. We all grew up very frugal. Between all of us, we don't need to call a tow truck, or pay anyone for work. It's a nice reminder of how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to do what I do.

Gotta buy homie a case of beer this afternoon.

I’ll be friends with your homie too. I can provide medical services if one of you get hurt 😂 jokes aside, that’s really cool, man.

[cerealwars]

Busy couple of days. Finally ditched the sucky dual-mass flywheel that has been plaguing me for 30,000 miles. Lots of work, but so, so worth it.

I can be annoyingly verbose about my thoughts on transmission/shifting feel, so I'll do that in my own thread, likely in the next few days.

ACT Streetlite Clutch PN BM15-HDSS
Turner Lightweight Single-mass Flywheel (19.2lbs) PN 026647TMS01 (Bought the kit on sale for ~$1200 out the door back in February
FCP Shifter rebuild kit - All OE stuff, there's a good deal of things additionally needed too if you want to replace everything.

Largely followed this DIY. All hail FCP.

Also, EfThreeOh's DIY post here

And this post for bellhousing torque specs - I found a lot of conflicting information, but after yielding the aluminum bolts I have confidence that this was correct.

I also did just about all of the "while you're in there" type stuff. I replaced and doubled up on shift shaft seals, I think it was a spidertri post I learned that trick from, so thanks dude!

All of the transmission stuff is now perfect. With all the other minor transmission mods and input/engagement mods, it feels like a proper '90s car now. Outputs match your inputs, whether you botch a shift or nail a rev-match. No trickery or NVH BS. Blissful gentleman's sports car. Such a keeper.

[cerealwars]

Mild DIY PE-type mod. Since I had the exhaust off anyways, figured I'd knock this out. This is an N54 135i muffler I picked up off gixracer a while back. I opened it up and sealed one of three holes, and covered about half the holes in the perforated pipe. Extremely mild, if I were to do it again I'd cover 2 of the 3 holes. But, better to undershoot than overshoot in this case. I frequently bang limiter at 5:30AM, and I like to keep a low profile. I also like to hear my car, and this absolutely helped. Also conveniently only added an extra hour and a half to the job, super worth it.

Rest of my system is bone stock. I tried headers one time and un-did it because they were just too damn loud, and BMWs make better induction noises than exhaust IMO. I think I have it just about where I want it now.

My welds are not the prettiest, but they get the job done.