ShocknAwe 135i Photo History & Build

[Esteban]

Your car looks great Alex. Do you do all the work yourself? I wish I could work on my car but I'm about as mechanically inclined as a monkey. Some say I'm as handy as a gnat.

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by EvenEsteban

Your car looks great Alex. Do you do all the work yourself?

Thanks Steve.

Yes, all work done by me so far. I'm learning a lot and getting much better with both my skill and confidence. I think my tool collection has doubled in volume since getting this car. DIY work definitely makes modifying a car less expensive.

Hoping to be able to put the front mud flaps, new DPs and a couple DV filters on this weekend. I feel like I keep saying this. Something always happens and I miss the opportunity!

[brocklanders]

What size are the front wheels? I want to get wider tires, so I test fit one of my rears on the front. With the stock rear size wheel and tire they didn't clear the strut, I had put a 1/2" spacer and they cleared buy poked slightly too much for my liking. the stock wheel with a half inch spacer makes it a 8.5" with an offset of 40. I wonder if the 235 on the front makes the difference, but you have 235-35 so that is taller then the stock tire, do you have camber and fender work?

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by brocklanders

What size are the front wheels? I want to get wider tires, so I test fit one of my rears on the front. With the stock rear size wheel and tire they didn't clear the strut, I had put a 1/2" spacer and they cleared buy poked slightly too much for my liking. the stock wheel with a half inch spacer makes it a 8.5" with an offset of 40. I wonder if the 235 on the front makes the difference, but you have 235-35 so that is taller then the stock tire, do you have camber and fender work?

19x8 et 45

-1.7 degrees negative camber on front and rolled fenders w/ trimmed bumper clips. It rubbed minorly without the fender work, with it the rubbing is 100% gone.

[brocklanders]

I think I have settled on 225/40 and 235/40 r888 for the stockers. I don't want to change anything as it sits and I should get leaps and bounds of traction over the re050's with the tire change.

[TWMPerformance]

Car looks spectacular, so clean and simple.

Renato
Team TWM Performance

[ShocknAwe]

Small update:

BMS downpipes, new oil, and switched to Redline MTL from D4ATF. Also installed front mud guards finally. Great way to spend MLK Day. Pictures incoming soon!

[ShocknAwe]

Rogue Engineering transmission mounts on the way! Also got some Leatherique for my seats. Will see if that helps clean them up. Will be sure to take before/after shots of the drivers seat, which is especially crudded up at the moment.

[ShocknAwe]

Trimmed up the inner lips of my rear fenders today with my dremel. Then sealed up with some POR 15. Honestly can't get a picture of the work to save my life. They all came out so dark you can't see anything.

This was the result of my broken spring bolt adventure. Ended up deleting the spring bolts entirely, but still using the springs.


Also did a leather clean/treatment for the front seats. Used Lexol conditioner followed by Leatherique Prestine Clean and then just a wipedown. Hard to see in the pictures but the oily deposits are all gone and the spots that were in danger of splitting are now super soft and compliant again. Color didn't really change much, but, theyre black seats! Waddaya want. Best part is they are not slimy whatsoever and it smells like fresh leather rather than the typical "ass in a can" leather conditioner smell.

Before:


After:

[ShocknAwe]

RE tranny mounts arrived in the mail today. Can't wait to pop them in. Also researching poly RSFB/RTABs. Thinking Whiteline 2-piece may be the way to go. Noticed my brakes and clutch aren't feeling as solid as they used to. Probably time for a fluid change there too. 60k miles is fast approaching.

Other news, the vacuum breaker shattered on my outdoor wall hydrant and can't source a new one. Not being able to wash the car is KILLING me.

[brocklanders]

I have the whiteline sub bushings, before install I was worried about nhv but if I could do it over I would go with aluminum.

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by brocklanders

I have the whiteline sub bushings, before install I was worried about nrv but if I could do it over I would go with aluminum.

Would you mind expanding on that?

[brocklanders]

Just from what I've read on the forums, I'm under the impression that most all the noise and vibration will come from the diff bushings. If nothing else I would do powerflex black in the rear subframe, I rented the tool and it was very easy removal and install, obviously for the whiteline bushings but I believe it would have been no problem with the one piece powerflex either. Well worth the money to rent the tool from hpa.

[ShocknAwe]

Some smoked LED sidemarkers came in today, along with some Whiteline polyurethane sway bar bushings. H&R 27mm front sway is sitting in my closet like a stalker. Dinan upper shock mounts in the mail. Parts photo coming soon.

OFHG is leaking, and looks like the OCHG is as well. That will be a fun repair. Just put together the parts list and writing up my procedure. Seems to be fairly involved for 6MT/oil cooler cars. I will likely replace the manifold gaskets while Im at it. VCG doesnt look to be leaking though, so thats a plus. I had planned to get a "big tom" FMIC and rig that up. Bump that to later this summer.

Also started some preliminary "shopping" for new wheels to come after the oem widebody. Projected start for the widebody work is this winter. I've been trying to find something fairly similar to my Alufelgen SF-71s. Looking at LC818, 19x9.5 et 25 front and 19x11 et 25 rear. Supposedly fairly easy to get a 305 out back on stock M3 fenders. Good to have a check list for the body shop.

Here's a photo of them in hypersilver on a black E92M3

[Ultimateone]

Those wheels are beauties

[ShocknAwe]

OK. Snapped some pictures. The sidemarkers are different from the regular variety. Should flow really nicely with the tails once I finish them. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I'm going to take my tails apart and do a little housing work in there.

On to the pics.

Originally Posted by Ultimateone

Those wheels are beauties

Yeah they are pretty gorgeous. And the concavity is pretty amazing too.

[Ultimateone]

Where did you grab the sidemarkers?

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by Ultimateone

Where did you grab the sidemarkers?

Fleabay find. They're made by DEPO. I want to get them installed and make sure they work before giving out the link to the community.

[ShocknAwe]

The sidemarkers are super high quality. The gasket is nice and rubbery, and wraps up on to the lens itself which would help quite well with keeping moisture out.

Big downside, they don't fit. I'm not entirely surprised as I took a gamble, they were for the E46.

To start, here's what my current OEM sidemarkers look like. The lens is in great shape, but the gasket has rotted.


The connector was a little different, but it plugged straight in, no fuss:


And they worked! Look great too:


Wiring slides inside, OEM sized connection restored:


BUT THEY DO NOT FIT!

I didn't take a picture as I couldn't get one and didn't want to risk my paint trying to force it in enough to get it to stay. The spring clip and housing is shifted about 1/3 of an inch on the E46 marker compared to the E90/E82.

Again, they do not fit. Yes they are the same size and shape, but they do not fit. There is no way to make them fit either, aside from completely rebuilding them with the base from an OEM sidemarker. That's a project for someone else. Luckily I purchased from a seller that allows returns. Based on the quality of the unit, I'll just get some that are made for the car.

Too bad really, as they really do look utterly fantastic.

[Segments]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

The sidemarkers are super high quality. The gasket is nice and rubbery, and wraps up on to the lens itself which would help quite well with keeping moisture out.

Big downside, they don't fit. I'm not entirely surprised as I took a gamble, they were for the E46.

To start, here's what my current OEM sidemarkers look like. The lens is in great shape, but the gasket has rotted.


The connector was a little different, but it plugged straight in, no fuss:


And they worked! Look great too:


Wiring slides inside, OEM sized connection restored:


BUT THEY DO NOT FIT!

I didn't take a picture as I couldn't get one and didn't want to risk my paint trying to force it in enough to get it to stay. The spring clip and housing is shifted about 1/3 of an inch on the E46 marker compared to the E90/E82.

Again, they do not fit. Yes they are the same size and shape, but they do not fit. There is no way to make them fit either, aside from completely rebuilding them with the base from an OEM sidemarker. That's a project for someone else. Luckily I purchased from a seller that allows returns. Based on the quality of the unit, I'll just get some that are made for the car.

Too bad really, as they really do look utterly fantastic.

Ahhh, got kind of excited, as Im looking for tinted side markers as well. Let us know if you find a good set ! Build is beautiful by the way man .

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by Segments

Ahhh, got kind of excited, as Im looking for tinted side markers as well. Let us know if you find a good set ! Build is beautiful by the way man .

Thanks for the compliment!

I ended up ordering a set of the DEPO E90/92/82/60 specific led strip sidemarkers today. I know they fit our cars and based on the quality I saw with the others today, they'll be great. We'll see how they look in person.
DEPO LED Strip Smoked Sidemarkers

[Ultimateone]

I think those ones are only 50 at Mod Ba gains