Jake's Epic BMW 135i Build Thread! (5+ Years of Ownership)

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michael1972 said:

Well in that case you would have a big advantage on me if we ran em. Gonna have to wait till I bump up the e85.

To be honest, I didn't notice much of a difference after the BMS E85 flash. It was a similar to the difference I felt after the downpipes. Either way, I'm going to have the weight advantage

michael1972

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To be honest, I didn't notice much of a difference after the BMS E85 flash. It was a similar to the difference I felt after the downpipes. Either way, I'm going to have the weight advantage

So you noticed as much gain has when you installed the dp's. To me that sounds like a significant gain.

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michael1972 said:

So you noticed as much gain has when you installed the dp's. To me that sounds like a significant gain.

I think my butt dyno is broken. The only mod I really felt was JB4. The rest weren't as noticeable.

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Check the two newest posts on www.My1Series.com!

I replaced this crap:

And changed the spark plugs:

There are more pictures and background info on the site.

I had no problem putting bus lengths on an E39 M5 today. The car is a beast.

REKIII

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I had no problem putting bus lengths on an E39 M5 today. The car is a beast.

Most e39 M5's are pretty weak......I say most. We'll line 'em up when I get mine done (someday.....long ways away, hahaha).

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REKIII said:

Most e39 M5's are pretty weak......I say most. We'll line 'em up when I get mine done (someday.....long ways away, hahaha).

Last year when my friend had one (the one you met at Beyond Redline), I was pretty impressed with them. They're definitely nothing to laugh at.

Get her done already!

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Scored a used BMS dual cone intake kit for $25! It sounds awesome.

Read my blog post about it here: www.My1Series.com

Also, you guys love videos here. I had Ben come over and put the GoPro on for a few pulls. Sorry about the wind noise!

First two pulls are 2nd gear. Third pull is 1st-4th gear to 140mph. I let off shortly after passing the car on the left.

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This car has been in need of a good detail and I finally got around to doing it this weekend. First I washed it and went over the whole car with a claybar. I was surprised at the amount of crap the claybar took off. Then I took a picture before I started the cut/polish/wax process. Once I was finished, I took another picture to show the results.

In the photos, you can see a lot of things in my garage reflecting off the paint. The two lines near the middle of the photos are power cords, not scratches. The lighter reflections above those are the power boxes on the light stands. All other bright imperfections are either lights on the ceiling, lights on the stands, or bright objects laying on the ground or on top of shelves. Obviously you can see the reflections of the yellow and red light stands themselves.

I was able to remove about 95% of the imperfections from the paint with this process. The 5% of imperfections that remain are very hard to see unless you're inspecting the car under harsh lighting. It just goes to show how awesome the car looks/feels now. Keep in mind, the "before" picture is when the car was already washed and clean. The marks you see are all swirls or scratches.

This is an animated GIF, it will switch between images.

As you can see, the photos also show the metallic pretty well. It is easy to see in person but hard to notice in photos. Black Sapphire Metallic > Jet Black!

Said and done, the whole process took about 10 hours. I even wetsanded a spot on the rear bumper to get rid of some weird hazing. Well worth it to me.

jc43089

Looks great, I just did a hand polish with Griots Garage "One step sealant" on my '89 and it made a huge difference. The one step sealant is a fine polish and paint sealant in one, I unfortunately don't get around to taking as much care of the cosmetics as I would like and it is a longer lasting than a wax.

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jc43089 said:

Looks great, I just did a hand polish with Griots Garage "One step sealant" on my '89 and it made a huge difference. The one step sealant is a fine polish and paint sealant in one, I unfortunately don't get around to taking as much care of the cosmetics as I would like and it is a longer lasting than a wax.

Thanks man. I actually used a high-speed corded drill with a velcro attachment for cutting, polishing, and waxing. This was my first time doing any sort of paint-correction and I am very happy with the results.

To see a list of products and the process I used, check out the post on my website.

YoungCR

Have you machine cut/polished a car before at all? That's one skill I never got around to learning at the dealer that I wanted to.

patsbimmer1

The car looked great at Dubs in the Valley man! Wish I had a chance to meet you!

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CYoung said:

Have you machine cut/polished a car before at all? That's one skill I never got around to learning at the dealer that I wanted to.

Never. I've applied wax by hand with a small foam pad, but that's it. I bought a 7" variable speed polisher from Harbor Freight for this, but it was too much for me. It was hard to use and I didn't like it. That's when I opted for the high-speed electric drill, it was the perfect speed and very easy to use compared to the large polisher.

patsbimmer1 said:

The car looked great at Dubs in the Valley man! Wish I had a chance to meet you!

Thanks! Same here. Your car looks very similar to my old E36... except mine was a coupe.

patsbimmer1

I am pretty sure yours ended up in the Janesville area. I was doing an event at Blackhawk Tech in Janesville and I swear it was your old car up on an alignment rack a few months back.

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patsbimmer1 said:

I am pretty sure yours ended up in the Janesville area. I was doing an event at Blackhawk Tech in Janesville and I swear it was your old car up on an alignment rack a few months back.

I'm pretty sure it did too. The kid that bought it said he drove up from the Milwaukee area.

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It's been a while since I've updated this thread. A few things have changed...

I wasn't planning on driving this car through the winter months, but the unexpected always seems to happen. My winter beater threw a rod within 1 week of driving it. At the time, we were getting pretty heavy snow so I had no other choice but to drive the 1-series through winter.

The rear tires were bald and I knew they wouldn't get through snow, so I bought a new set of winter wheels and tires from TireRack.

17×8″ Gunmetal MSW Type 85 wheels
225/45/17 General Altimax Arctic tires
OEM TPMS sensors

You can see my blog post about them here. It includes more some more details, review, and a few more pictures.

BMW 135i - Snow by Jake Spence Photography, on Flickr

The car was due for some maintenance so I spent a weekend tidying things up.

Returned to factory pump gas flash for winter season
Replaced broken hood latch and stretched hood cable
Oil change with Motul 8100 5W-30 and MANN oil filter kit
Replaced faulty front brake pad sensor
Installed missing jack pad (front, passenger side)
Replaced broken dome light bulb holder

After getting the car back on the road, it's performed flawlessly. The wheels are great and it purrs like a kitten.

Bobdudeman1988

Going though this thread and i was like, hey thats my garage! Lol glad to see its going well jake, currently defucking a 135 in my garage now lol

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Bobdudeman1988 said:

Going though this thread and i was like, hey thats my garage! Lol glad to see its going well jake, currently defucking a 135 in my garage now lol

Yup! Glad to have your help.

That's too bad about Ben's 135i. Glad you're sorting it out.

Bobdudeman1988

Just wait till im done, it will be mint and lci like

i_love_cars

damn, i wish i woulda known sooner that your beater died. I have a buddy here in Waukesha that does primo work and he just put a new long-block and transmission into a 1994 Civic hatch with a stick, only 124k miles on the car, and he's flipping it for like 2000 bucks. I was tempted to buy it myself but my beater is still functional.

WIBIMMERS

Jake's Epic BMW 135i Build Thread! (5+ Years of Ownership)