135i Build - track toy with a license plate

[Ginger_Extract]

Understeer issue is the sway bars. Even stock ones are big enough to throw balance out of whack. Throw in the terrible binding effect most every front bar seems to have on these cars and it's a recipe for failure.

Unhook both the front and rear bar and report back. Car will be faster with no bars at all and stiffer springs. Mentioned this before and got a bunch of flack, but it works. These cars have a natural oversteer tendency with no changes other than front bar delete.

With no sway bars, at all, a "balanced" car with a square tire setup will have spring rates around 500-550F/800R, give or take, depending on tire size and how sticky they are. Scale the rates up/down depending on how much/little tire the car has.

[Marc08EX]

Damn your car looks badass.

Not sure if you've done this but did you widen the front section of your side skirts to match the 1M fenders? Not sure from your most recent update.

[berns]

Originally Posted by Marc08EX

Damn your car looks badass.

Not sure if you've done this but did you widen the front section of your side skirts to match the 1M fenders? Not sure from your most recent update.

Nope, I ran the 1M front with stock 135i skirts and it didn't bother me. I actually kind of liked it.

But now I'm fitting the 1M skirts with the rear quarters and rear bumpers to match.

[Marc08EX]

Originally Posted by berns

Nope, I ran the 1M front with stock 135i skirts and it didn't bother me. I actually kind of liked it.

But now I'm fitting the 1M skirts with the rear quarters and rear bumpers to match.

SWEET! Now that would look awesome

[ajsmithvmi]

Originally Posted by berns

Would be really cool to build a duct underneath it but there is so little room in there for anything.

A crazy thought is to run without a rad fan. I removed mine recently to install a second aftermarket oil cooler and without the fan, there is some room to get creative with a duct of some sort.

I've heard of some track cars running sans fan, but I imagine cooling down the car after a session would be dicey unless you had an air mover you could power up and blow at the radiator and oil coolers.

[berns]

Originally Posted by ajsmithvmi

A crazy thought is to run without a rad fan. I removed mine recently to install a second aftermarket oil cooler and without the fan, there is some room to get creative with a duct of some sort.

I've heard of some track cars running sans fan, but I imagine cooling down the car after a session would be dicey unless you had an air mover you could power up and blow at the radiator and oil coolers.

With the california heat and odds of sitting in some road traffic, and having removed and replaced OEM fans with aftermarket units in the past on my E46 M, it's not something I plan on doing.

I'll be replacing the heavy and overkill VRSF intercooler with a lighter core that should increase flow to the radiator some more as well.

[ajsmithvmi]

yeah these cars without fans were not street driven. it would be suicide if you got caught in traffic.

[rac]

Originally Posted by berns

definitely still battling understeer.

Into or out of corners?

[st-pierre]

Originally Posted by berns

With the california heat and odds of sitting in some road traffic, and having removed and replaced OEM fans with aftermarket units in the past on my E46 M, it's not something I plan on doing.

I'll be replacing the heavy and overkill VRSF intercooler with a lighter core that should increase flow to the radiator some more as well.

What intercooler are you thinking of going with instead of the VRSF?

[gmagnus7]

Originally Posted by berns

...Ruined my beautiful Seibon hood with this Trackspec hood vent, built for the E92 M3. This should make a big dent in my temp issues, though, so I'm willing to sacrifice looks for glory...

Do you think that vent would work on a stock E82 hood? I want something similar to vent the dirty/high pressure area behind the hood. I like the vorsteiner hood but the holes are so tiny I cant imagine it would be effective at all.
This is the one im thinking of, took it off another thread.

[berns]

Originally Posted by rac

Into or out of corners?

Mostly mid-corner during sweepers and corner exit.

Originally Posted by st-pierre

What intercooler are you thinking of going with instead of the VRSF?

Going with the new CSF Intercooler. I'll update you guys when I get it and weigh both of them and take logs before and after.

[Tiago@VRSF]

The build looks great man, let us know if there's anything else we can set you up with!

[berns]

Originally Posted by Tiago@VRSF

The build looks great man, let us know if there's anything else we can set you up with!

Thanks Tiago!

Some progress from today:

- Gutted the trunk
- Pulled out the roll bar
- Seats are out
- Steering wheel had to come out
- Headliner and interior panels removed
- Sunroof glass and shade are gone

Only thing left to remove tomorrow is the sunroof motor and track itself. Then it's time to drill out the spot welds for the quarters and the roof. Never done that before but we'll see how it goes! I have about 2.5 days into the teardown of the car. Tiring but fun.

Not sure what the part number for the OEM 1M headliner and front dome light is but I'm curious what it costs. I might just end up reusing my sunroof headliner since it's already black from being the M Sport 135i.

Also removed the rear seat belts and receptacles and I think I'll gut the rear door cards, they feel surprisingly heavy. Might consider selling my current roll bar and going for a more traditional SCCA style hoop out of thinner "1.75 x ".095 to save some more weight. Not going to be easy to get this to 3000lbs without sacrificing interior comforts.

[rac]

Originally Posted by berns

Mostly mid-corner during sweepers and corner exit.


.

My biggest regret as far as front end push under power goes is getting a torsion style LSD.
At the time I was thinking about daily driving low maintenance but in hindsight I hate how it feels getting power down on a sweeping exit. No suspension magic will change it's tendency to want to straighten up. So my suggestion is change your diff setup, otherwise you will always be fighting this.

[amg6975]

Originally Posted by berns

Not sure what the part number for the OEM 1M headliner and front dome light is but I'm curious what it costs. I might just end up reusing my sunroof headliner since it's already black from being the M Sport 135i.

Amazing build. The 128 was available sans sunroof and with the M-Sport, so that headliner may be easier to find?

I believe the PN is 51448045115 or -117 if you have the alarm.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_6954

[berns]

Originally Posted by amg6975

Amazing build. The 128 was available sans sunroof and with the M-Sport, so that headliner may be easier to find?

I believe the PN is 51448045115 or -117 if you have the alarm.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_6954

Seems like it's 117. Always so confusing with all the coding and random words. 115 looks like it's beige and 117 is the anthracite.

Not sure how the core would work on real OEM with sending in an anthracite sunroof headliner but I can certainly look into it.

Otherwise, without a core, it's just about $1000. Unless someone wants my mint anthracite headliner for $500, I guess I could justify it then. Lots of the things to sell. If anyone needs any of this stuff, let me know. Otherwise I'll make some new threads.

- Anthracite headliner for sunroof, with sunroof shade.
- APEX ARC-8 18x9 +42 front, 18x9.5 +58 rear - hyper silver, will fit with stock 135i fenders front and rear and 255/35 front, 275/35 rear
- VRSF 7.5" Race Intercooler
- Stock 135i Front Bumper, Hood, Rear Bumper, Side Skirts, Front fenders
- Sunroof glass, motor and entire assembly
- E9x M3 Front control arms
- E92 M3 front and rear sway bars
- OEM 135i brakes (grey calipers, good condition)
- Stock M-sport suspension

Local pickup in LA preferred for all of this.

[amg6975]

Originally Posted by berns

Seems like it's 117. Always so confusing with all the coding and random words. 115 looks like it's beige and 117 is the anthracite.

Not sure how the core would work on real OEM with sending in an anthracite sunroof headliner but I can certainly look into it.

Otherwise, without a core, it's just about $1000. Unless someone wants my mint anthracite headliner for $500, I guess I could justify it then. Lots of the things to sell. If anyone needs any of this stuff, let me know. Otherwise I'll make some new threads.

- Anthracite headliner for sunroof, with sunroof shade.
- APEX ARC-8 18x9 +42 front, 18x9.5 +58 rear - hyper silver, will fit with stock 135i fenders front and rear and 255/35 front, 275/35 rear
- VRSF 7.5" Race Intercooler
- Stock 135i Front Bumper, Hood, Rear Bumper, Side Skirts, Front fenders
- Sunroof glass, motor and entire assembly
- E9x M3 Front control arms
- E92 M3 front and rear sway bars
- OEM 135i brakes (grey calipers, good condition)
- Stock M-sport suspension

Local pickup in LA preferred for all of this.

I'm pretty sure -115 is what you're after. RealOEM is confusing af, the options are before the part number, not after. http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part...&q=51448045115 I also don't know what's up with the core. getbimmerparts.com has it listed for $792 and doesn't mention a core.

How does the intercooler look? I'm in the market for one, but am in NY. Send me a PM with deets if you want, if it's in pretty good shape I may take it off your hands. Also in the market for a full set of 17 or 18x9 et 42's but I think I want Hyper Black.

[st-pierre]

Hey Berns did you think about switching the rear quarter windows for polycarbonate ones like Hard Motorsports offer? They seem to only offer them for 3 series, but finding some for 1 series would save a little weight.

[berns]

Originally Posted by st-pierre

Hey Berns did you think about switching the rear quarter windows for polycarbonate ones like Hard Motorsports offer? They seem to only offer them for 3 series, but finding some for 1 series would save a little weight.

Not interested in going full racecar yet and getting rid of glass. Some things will add weight but I don't want to make any crazy sacrifices yet. Maybe one day I'll gut the whole thing with a cage, but not now.

[Suprgnat]

Originally Posted by st-pierre

Hey Berns did you think about switching the rear quarter windows for polycarbonate ones like Hard Motorsports offer? They seem to only offer them for 3 series, but finding some for 1 series would save a little weight.

https://www.plastics4performance.com...ndow-kit.html?

[trainerjon]

Are you selling your roll bar?

[iminhell1]

Spring rates,

I don't know if the raw number is as important as the corner balance of the car. Frankly one without the other is useless information.
Seen someone mention dropping the front by 1/4" and it helped. But without knowing the weight balance that doesn't say much.


A good system here would be for people to post spring rates along with corner balance info. IMO