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

[xQx]

Yesterday I found my car was sporting a bunch of Index 7 injectors (it became apparent during the first dyno run) - so today it's getting a brand new set of index 12's.

Gotta love escalation of commitment.

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

That's exactly where I intend to go; I've heard nothing but good things about them.

Maybe we can talk it through Sat

[chris_flies]

I hit a number last night. Getting close to that big 200k...

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

I hit a number last night. Getting close to that big 200k...

Maybe I'm not that observant, but I just now noticed that you have a temp gauge in your cluster.

Did you install a new cluster setup to get that option?

Never understood why mine didn't come with one. Any car I ever owned always had either an oil temp or pressure gauge.

Thanks!

[rowsdower]

Originally Posted by Rmtt

Maybe I'm not that observant, but I just now noticed that you have a temp gauge in your cluster.

Did you install a new cluster setup to get that option?

Never understood why mine didn't come with one. Any car I ever owned always had either an oil temp or pressure gauge.

Thanks!

No dipstick, either! Ultimate Driving Machine!!

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by Rmtt

Maybe I'm not that observant, but I just now noticed that you have a temp gauge in your cluster.

Did you install a new cluster setup to get that option?

Never understood why mine didn't come with one. Any car I ever owned always had either an oil temp or pressure gauge.

Thanks!

I installed a 135i instrument cluster, hence the oil temp gauge. I also modified that gauge face to show to the standard 7.5k rpm, and not the 135i gauge's 8k rpm (it's odd that they put the higher tach on the turbo car). Quite a little project, and I still have an odd fault code (doing surgery with EEPROM's may have done that).

And you'll never get an oil pressure reading on these cars without adding an aftermarket sending unit yourself. The one that's there is just an idiot switch that triggers a SES light when the pressure drops past or exceeds a certain point.

rowsdower Oh how I want a dipstick...

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by Rmtt

Never understood why mine didn't come with one. Any car I ever owned always had either an oil temp or pressure gauge.

BMW has always been cheap with the gauges unless you buy the higher end models.

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

I installed a 135i instrument cluster, hence the oil temp gauge. I also modified that gauge face to show to the standard 7.5k rpm, and not the 135i gauge's 8k rpm (it's odd that they put the higher tach on the turbo car). Quite a little project, and I still have an odd fault code (doing surgery with EEPROM's may have done that).

And you'll never get an oil pressure reading on these cars without adding an aftermarket sending unit yourself. The one that's there is just an idiot switch that triggers a SES light when the pressure drops past or exceeds a certain point.

rowsdower Oh how I want a dipstick...

Not sure if I want to go through a cluster swap giving the limited knowledge I have of these cars since I'm still learning. I have had the dash in a few of my Corvettes torn completely apart, rebuilt HUD's, etc...but that is a platform I am comfortable with.

I have seen mention of the P3 Vent Gauge and another called Ultra-Gauge. I may explore those options to see if they offer that feature as it looks to be a simpler install.

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by Rmtt

Not sure if I want to go through a cluster swap giving the limited knowledge I have of these cars since I'm still learning. I have had the dash in a few of my Corvettes torn completely apart, rebuilt HUD's, etc...but that is a platform I am comfortable with.

I have seen mention of the P3 Vent Gauge and another called Ultra-Gauge. I may explore those options to see if they offer that feature as it looks to be a simpler install.

I've heard great things about the P3 gauge. It's a very clean look, and it simply plugs into the OBD2 port. There are also a few sources that will clear a 1M or M3 cluster and code it to simply plug into your car. I chose the difficult, but inexpensive route...

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

I've heard great things about the P3 gauge. It's a very clean look, and it simply plugs into the OBD2 port. There are also a few sources that will clear a 1M or M3 cluster and code it to simply plug into your car. I chose the difficult, but inexpensive route...

Of course...same thing I would do if I were younger and more competent about trying it!

In the past I have blown/screwed up some pretty crazy stuff just trying things out. But I figure it's the best way to learn.

I will admit this car has been a bit of a learning curve for me...but I just attribute it to me being older and set in my ways!!! The bolt-on stuff is a no brainer. It's the other little details such as the retrofit you did that I haven't caught onto yet.

There are so many different ways to arrive at the same end point, just figuring out what is the most effective way of getting there while keeping cost down is the key. I mean I could pay someone to do the work for me, but what fun is that?

With most anything new I try to learn, it typically comes in an epiphany moment...and then I am good. I haven't experienced that yet with all the little intricacies of this car!

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by Rmtt

Of course...same thing I would do if I were younger and more competent about trying it!

In the past I have blown/screwed up some pretty crazy stuff just trying things out. But I figure it's the best way to learn.

I will admit this car has been a bit of a learning curve for me...but I just attribute it to me being older and set in my ways!!! The bolt-on stuff is a no brainer. It's the other little details such as the retrofit you did that I haven't caught onto yet.

There are so many different ways to arrive at the same end point, just figuring out what is the most effective way of getting there while keeping cost down is the key. I mean I could pay someone to do the work for me, but what fun is that?

With most anything new I try to learn, it typically comes in an epiphany moment...and then I am good. I haven't experienced that yet with all the little intricacies of this car!

BMW's have their own quirks and features as our man Doug Demuro would say. (The special sauce is leaky valve cover gaskets) I go to help work on my dad's car, and it all makes very little sense to me (other than it's an inferior VW that's way faster than it has any right to be). It's a whole new language, a whole new platform. That's the cool thing about cars, each manufacturer has their own style that you have to learn and understand...

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by Rmtt

I have seen mention of the P3 Vent Gauge and another called Ultra-Gauge. I may explore those options to see if they offer that feature as it looks to be a simpler install.

I bought the UltraGauge for my car. Really simple to install: Just plug the cable into the OBD2 port. After that, I just set up my desired display parameters and stuck it to the lower part of my console with double stick tape.

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by bmw1racer

I bought the UltraGauge for my car. Really simple to install: Just plug the cable into the OBD2 port. After that, I just set up my desired display parameters and stuck it to the lower part of my console with double stick tape.

That looks pretty good. I wonder if the make an OBD2 "splitter" so that I could still plug into the port without having to disconnect this while using ProTool.

Probably wouldn't work though trying to send/receive at the same time. Still wouldn't be an issue as I can always unplug the gauge when I wanted to access the port.

[Mandinca]

Originally Posted by bmw1racer

I bought the UltraGauge for my car. Really simple to install: Just plug the cable into the OBD2 port. After that, I just set up my desired display parameters and stuck it to the lower part of my console with double stick tape.

Is that the $79 Amazon gizmo ?

[1and1]

Can't use splitter for OBD2 connections, just have to swap back and forth as needed.

Takes ~20 minutes to pull the under dash panel and cleanly route the cable over to the center console so it's out of the way and looks way muchly nicer. That's how mine is set up for coding, logging etc. Much easier to work with that way too.

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by Mandinca

Is that the $79 Amazon gizmo ?

Yup.

I lucked out and found a seller on eBay and bought it for about $40.

[Mandinca]

Originally Posted by bmw1racer

Yup.

I lucked out and found a seller on eBay and bought it for about $40.

I might have to get one, I can scan using MHD on my phone but that's kind of a pain in the ass and I want "real time" monitoring, this looks like just the thing I want.

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by Mandinca

I might have to get one, I can scan using MHD on my phone but that's kind of a pain in the ass and I want "real time" monitoring, this looks like just the thing I want.

As someone mentioned earlier, there's no oil temp or pressure data that's accessible via the OBD2.

[chris_flies]

I FINALLY washed my car today. I still can't say enough good things about the Aero Cosmetics Wash and Wax water-less wash that I use now. I think I've decided on Ohlins when I go to coil-overs. 3DM Motorsports can hook me up with up-rated rear springs (110N/m replacing 70N/m) and 1M valving to match. I wanna make this happen...

[1and1]

If you have to pick one, get a boost gauge that shows vac also. You want to know vac is strong during deceleration & idle or generally loafing around, and that boost is on target. Boosting will tell you how much load your generating. Especially if you understand the relationship between load tuning and boost.

Oil pressure is good- knowing the trends and if pressure is low, when it shouldn't be, is helpful.

Alternatives include some version of AFR/Stoich/EGT. If you can do more than one, then oil temp/oil pressure.

[Gray_Panther]

Originally Posted by bmw1racer

I bought the UltraGauge for my car. Really simple to install: Just plug the cable into the OBD2 port. After that, I just set up my desired display parameters and stuck it to the lower part of my console with double stick tape.

Loving that shifter, old man!

[Gray_Panther]

I bought Jescar (Menzerna) powerlock and Collinite 845 for my 1er and GTI. I am done with coatings, and I enjoy waxing too much!
I plan to use powerlock as the first layer and top it with a layer or two of 845.