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

[i_love_cars]

suspenceful said:

Nope, I got a screaming deal on a set of MMP Stage 3 turbos. Package deal with bigger inlets, outlets, port injection and stage 3 fuel pumps.

They have WPC bearing treatment and are ceramic coated. I'll be putting them to the test but there are two people running 30psi and making over 700whp.

You can make 550whp on just 93 pump gas in an N54 with a fuel pump upgrade. But if you're doing the fuel pump upgrade, you might as well utilize it for E85 if available. Meth is nice, but not needed in combination with ethanol unless you want it for cooling purposes.

If you're content with ~450/whp and 500/wtq, the N54 is really the best bang for the buck. If you want to be cheap, you can find an N54 for $7k. Then add used bolt-ons and a tune for $1k and you have a beast of a car for well under $10k. Again, this is mostly straight line power. Upgraded M3 suspension bits and an LSD would go a long ways.

I want to be clear I'm not trying to derail your car's build thread - but I need to address comments made by others that are spreading misinformation about the cost effectiveness of making the M3 faster in a straight line.

(I'd like to see actual dyno vids of any N54 on stock turbos and pump gas (93 octane only) making 550 whp on with proper SAE correction, because I don't think they exist and I'm too lazy to dig). The raw horsepower number is irrelevant because it won't be as good of a powerband as a 550 hp supercharged M3 at all. The ESS 650 kit isn't much more power and if you compare apples to apples fueling (e85), that N54 on stock turbos will get utterly destroyed.

You can get used ESS 550 kits for $4k these days which will make the same power as your car does currently and it will deliver it stronger up top and at speed. 

Go watch Longboarder's YouTube videos from NoFlyZone and other 1/2 mile events on his ESS 650 kit. It shits on every N54/N55 that runs E85/FBO/upgraded turbos that aren't running large singles, and you can get a used ESS 650 kit with tune for like $7k-7500, which again is easily what you're gonna spend on everything for the 135i especially once you factor in the LSD. 

Let's make no mistake - there is NO better platform for making power cheaply than N54 when you factor in the cost of buying the car being so cheap. My only point is that if you sit an N54 side by side with an E9x M3, ignoring the cost of entry for a moment and say "I want to make these cars go fast in a straight line", it only truly starts being cheaper on the N54 in pure modification dollars when you want to exceed 600 whp. 

Carry on.

[suspenceful]

i_love_cars said:

I want to be clear I'm not trying to derail your car's build thread - but I need to address comments made by others that are spreading misinformation about the cost effectiveness of making the M3 faster in a straight line.

(I'd like to see actual dyno vids of any N54 on stock turbos and pump gas (93 octane only) making 550 whp on with proper SAE correction, because I don't think they exist and I'm too lazy to dig). The raw horsepower number is irrelevant because it won't be as good of a powerband as a 550 hp supercharged M3 at all. The ESS 650 kit isn't much more power and if you compare apples to apples fueling (e85), that N54 on stock turbos will get utterly destroyed.

You can get used ESS 550 kits for $4k these days which will make the same power as your car does currently and it will deliver it stronger up top and at speed. 

Go watch Longboarder's YouTube videos from NoFlyZone and other 1/2 mile events on his ESS 650 kit. It shits on every N54/N55 that runs E85/FBO/upgraded turbos that aren't running large singles, and you can get a used ESS 650 kit with tune for like $7k-7500, which again is easily what you're gonna spend on everything for the 135i especially once you factor in the LSD. 

Let's make no mistake - there is NO better platform for making power cheaply than N54 when you factor in the cost of buying the car being so cheap. My only point is that if you sit an N54 side by side with an E9x M3, ignoring the cost of entry for a moment and say "I want to make these cars go fast in a straight line", it only truly starts being cheaper on the N54 in pure modification dollars when you want to exceed 600 whp. 

Carry on.

No worries - this thread hardly ever gets any attention aside from myself so I'm glad to see some activity.

I didn't think you were talking about 550whp on stock turbos. It's doable on upgraded turbos, but definitely not stock turbos. Those max out at about 500whp with all the help they can get. You're right, it's cheap to make <500whp and cheaper to make 600whp+. Sadly, a lot of N54 guys are in the middle ground because they're restricted by auto transmissions.

[SteelBlue]

This is probably the slowest car on the forum.

Sad!

[patsbimmer1]

SteelBlue said:

This is probably the slowest car on the forum.

Sad!

Compared to mine it is!

[Earl]

patsbimmer1 said:

Compared to mine it is!

Shots fired! Maybe a race needs to be setup in Mexico

[suspenceful]

Earl said:

Shots fired! Maybe a race needs to be setup in Mexico

I'm always down for Mexico runs!

[GunMetalGrey]

suspenceful said:

I'm always down for Mexico runs!

The police will track you by using your coolant trail!

[i_love_cars]

SteelBlue said:

This is probably the slowest car on the forum.

Sad!

It's definitely falling short of the official Fastest N54 in Wisconsin and the World resident that we have on this forum!

[suspenceful]

GunMetalGrey said:

The police will track you by using your coolant trail! 

I'm thinking that'll get fixed today 

[SteelBlue]

GunMetalGrey said:

The police will track you by using your coolant trail! 

[suspenceful]

I dusted off the camera and took some awesome photos of both cars:

[Earl]

Your photography has been steadily growing since you joined. Killer shots

[B C]

Stellar cars and photography as always. I never get tired of your work.

[YoungCR]

Love the roller shot of the 328i, great pics as always.

[straight6pwr]

nice shots! how wide of a lens do you use for the wide angle ones?

[bk335]

Great shots!

[suspenceful]

Thanks all - I appreciate the kind words! I'd love to snap photos of some of the cars on this board as well...

[suspenceful]

Doing burnouts as I wait for the turbos to arrive...

[Jdesign]

Camera skills are on point, as well as the cars you point the camera at. 

[suspenceful]

Jdesign said:

Camera skills are on point, as well as the cars you point the camera at. 

Had the girlfriend take this one - credit goes to her. I edited it though