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04-21-2018, 11:45 PM | #1 |
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Almost 4,000 Miles with My Daily Driven Single Turbo N54 135i
Two months ago today, I began tearing down my 135i in order to remove my failing stock turbos and convert the car to a single turbo using ACF's N54 kit. Three weeks later, working on and off during my spare time, the install was complete. Over the subsequent five weeks between that first fire up and now, I've racked up 3,750 miles of use, broken in the clutch fully, learned how to drive the car over again with all the new hardware, and had to iron out the inevitable kinks involved with a project of this magnitude.
Since I had some free time today, and won't have much in the foreseeable future, I took the opportunity to take advantage of the nice weather and perform my annual polish and wax. Even though this car is a daily in all sense of the word and has spent every day and night outdoors for over two years now, I still like to keep the exterior looking mint. And since I'm transitioning to shorter oil change intervals now that I only have one turbo, even though it had been less than 4,000 miles and only 5 weeks since the N54 had gotten some fresh Motul and a new Mann, it was also time to do my first oil change. I've already detailed the steps I use to paint correct and seal my car earlier in my build thread, but after buffing diligently for many hours, I had something to show for my hard work. Not too bad for now having over 106,000 miles on the odometer. After spending so much seat time in such a short time, and in my previously used "stream of consciousness" style, here are my thoughts on owning a single turbo N54 135i, and in particular the 6062 ball bearing PTE turbo using AC Fabrication's kit:
I need to pick up a GoPro in order to get some better in-car footage, but here's a quick video I was able to make this afternoon including some start up action, walk around, some idle/revs, as well as a quick pull at the end . I wanted to get some audio of the exhaust at full throttle, as well as the external wastegates, so please excuse the fact I had to use my front facing iPhone camera to do so. |
04-22-2018, 06:25 AM | #2 |
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Car looks real nice, man. Digging the no trunk spoiler look
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04-23-2018, 09:28 AM | #4 |
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I've always preferred the wingless look on a lowered car.
OEM M-Sport front bumper with a cheap eBay lip made by Ikon Motorsports for DD purposes. Looks great, is durable, fit fairly well (much better once the self-tapping screws were installed along the bottom), and hasn't really scraped badly on anything in 30,000 miles. http://www.ebay.com/itm/371708063537 |
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04-23-2018, 06:29 PM | #5 |
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Drives: BMW 135i Stage 2
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Location: Fort Lauderdale
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Dude so much respect for the work you put in. Looks amazing. What coilovers do you have? And how much lower did you make the car? I lowered to about a finger gap but I think I like yours better. Thanks!!
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BMW 135i Active Autowerke Charge Pipe, BOV, Intercooler
AFE stage 2 intake Macht Schnell Downpipes BC Racing coilovers M3 control arms |
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04-23-2018, 07:50 PM | #6 |
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Drives: In Exuberance
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Absolutely awesome car! I dig the 128i-like lack of a rear lip
Your paint looks flawless in the pictures, so deep that you could swim in it I'm in the process of polishing and waxing my car, but 172k miles hasn't been very kind on the paint, I really don't expect the above kind of paint greatness from my car... I can't wait to see what else you do to the car, but it doesn't look like there's much left to do, it just looks and sounds so perfect.
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2012 BMW 328i 6-Speed Wagon | Deep Sea Blue with Grey Dakota Leather | Manual Swap, 330i Intake + Tune, 3.15 Helical LSD, Öhlins R&T
(SOLD) 2009 BMW 128i 6-Speed Coupé | Monaco Blue with Black Sensatec | chris_flies' 128i thread |
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04-24-2018, 09:28 AM | #7 | ||
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Quote:
Here are the currently installed mods that resulted in the look above... Wheels: ARC-8 18x8.5 ET45 on the front & 18x9.5 ET58 on the rears. No spacers. Tires: Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 XL 235/40/18s on the front and 265/35/18s on the rear. No rubbing. Suspension: Koni STR.T shocks, Eibach Pro-Kit springs and front sway. Brakes: Rebuilt and powdercoated OEM calipers, ECS 2 piece drilled/slotted front rotors, GEOMET drilled/slotted rear rotors, front/rear Hawk HPS pads. Body: IkonMotorsports front lip on the OEM M-Sport front bumper, OEM BMW Performance side skirts with fmxomar side skirt extensions, OEM BMW Performance carbon fiber rear diffuser. Quote:
There aren't a ton of things left in the pipe line. Perhaps add some additional fueling so I can turn up the boost a bit, but from here on out, I'll just be maintaining and driving as much as I can. If something fails, I usually upgrade, so I'll probably adhere to that way of thinking. |
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04-24-2018, 09:43 AM | #8 | |||
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Drives: BMW 135i Stage 2
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Location: Fort Lauderdale
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Quote:
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BMW 135i Active Autowerke Charge Pipe, BOV, Intercooler
AFE stage 2 intake Macht Schnell Downpipes BC Racing coilovers M3 control arms |
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04-24-2018, 10:08 AM | #9 |
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Very clean and tasteful.
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04-24-2018, 12:06 PM | #10 |
shmo
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chad.. big ups o nthe car man.. looks sweet.. wasx wondering why u had all those parts for sale hahah
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