N51 2009 128i | New Owner Questions

[elmatias]

Hello, I apologize if this is not the right place to post this.

I just bought a '09 128i SULEV (which means I have an N51)

147000 miles

I wanted to write here to ask everyone with more experience than myself: What should I do first to get the car healthy and dailyable? I want to "reset" all points of failure so they would be under my control now.

And after that, what should be the first upgrades I can do to make some more power coming from the N51. I have seen that a tune with the N51 can take advantage of its 3 stage intake quite well but I'm not too sure.

I have seen online that people remove the stock intake boot for a smooth one, carbon filter delete, cat deletes (where and how many cats on the N51?), air intake upgrades?, upgraded headers?, MILVS?, ECU tunes?

Looking for any and all opinions!

TLDR: just got an N51 128i, what should I do first to get it dailyable and smooth, and then I want to move onto some strong power upgrades.

Thanks!

[William Turner]

You may be disappointed at the lack of response to your post. That may well be because you are asking a fairly common question that has been discussed and answered numerous times. Spending some time searching and reading results will answer most of your questions. If it leads to some specific questions those will probably get more attention.

Having said that did you get any maintenance history from the seller? Can you find out where the previous owner had it serviced and get history information from them? Find where you will have it serviced and have it inspected (there should be a number of competent indy shops in your area)-- even take to the shop that serviced it if the car was local to you. Check to see if there are any open recalls from BMW on the car and if there are have them performed by your local BMW dealer.

If you were to just wholesale perform every service/part replacement a 150K mile 128i could possibly need with no regard for things that may have already been done the total cost would be thousands (probably north of $5K) dollars.

Also based on what I have read on the forum, while some modest power increases are possible at reasonable cost, if you want big power increases you should have bought a 135i -- at least in my opinion. Personally I am just fine with the stock output-- and my previous BMW was an M Roadster with Dinan stage 1 mods and their tune.

[cerealwars]

William's spot on.

Maintenance:
You're almost entirely looking to replace cooked oil gaskets. You can look them up, none are too terrible to replace, the valve cover is pricey though. If you're burning oil, your PCV system is integral to the cover, and if it hasn't been replaced before it almost certainly needs to be. Couple the OPG with motor mounts/trans mounts. Fresh trans fluid.

Most important mod list as a driver's car:
CDV delete
Fatter clutch stop
Rear subframe bushing inserts

Gains are kinda minimal with these NA sixes, best to just enjoy their character and not expect to blow the doors off of anything modern. Hell, pretty sure my girl's Camry is faster in the quarter. A tune is nice, and MILVs/headers add some meat to the midrange.

Also, almost everything non-body specific can be sourced from E9x platform cars, which are much more common in junkyards.

[wayman519]

-Flush all fluids
-Get an obd tool for your phone and keep an eye on water temps.
-check/do the basics like belts, spark plugs, seals and brakes.
-drive the car making note of throttle response, fuel consumption, oil consumption, suspension ride quality, brake peformance and vibrations till the next oil change.

Tackle what bothers you the most. The rest you can search the entire forum with cars that share the same engine/platform. E82 1series is shared with the e90 3 series.