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

[suspenceful]

I know I'm one of the few N54 owners on this forum, but I'm going to keep sharing my build updates. My buddy Lee has been helping me behind the scenes on some stuff due to my lack of motivation. He's a certified BMW tech. Anyways, on to the updates.

We swapped over all the accessories from my previous motor. Injectors, water pump, HPFP, oil filter housing, tensioner, pullies, etc. Took a peek at the internals while we installed the new valve cover and oil pan gasket. Everything looked minty. Then we fitted the single turbo parts. Everything is coming together nicely. I'm going to walnut blast the intake valves this weekend, then it should be ready to go back into the car.

I've decided to continue with the vlog-style videos for now. Here you can see the full kit installed, and I answer a question I've been asked a lot.

[B C]

This engine. Is this the engine that was owned by a rage drifter? And is the hpfp drive. Off the engine? Or is it electric? I dont know how to direct injection works.

Watching vlog now

[Iceddragon]

Watching the vlog later, just chiming in to let you know the other N54 owners are watching closely lol
I'll be in Appleton starting Feb 5th, if you ever need an extra hand just message me, I'd be excited to help out and learn the ins and outs of this stuff, I still won't have a place to do work on my own car for a while.

[Bassboy3313]

suspenceful said:

... My buddy Lee has been helping me behind the scenes on some stuff due to my lack of motivation ...

[suspenceful]

Snap said:

This engine. Is this the engine that was owned by a rage drifter? And is the hpfp drive. Off the engine? Or is it electric? I dont know how to direct injection works.

Watching vlog now

Yes, this is the engine owned by a hoonigan. I'm glad that he only owned it for a short period of time, and it was enthusiast owned before that. Fingers crossed that it holds up.

HPFP is electric, not belt driven.

Iceddragon said:

Watching the vlog later, just chiming in to let you know the other N54 owners are watching closely lol
I'll be in Appleton starting Feb 5th, if you ever need an extra hand just message me, I'd be excited to help out and learn the ins and outs of this stuff, I still won't have a place to do work on my own car for a while.

#N54GANG

Sounds good, I'm sure we'll see more of each other!

[Jdesign]

suspenceful said:

I know I'm one of the few N54 owners on this forum, but I'm going to keep sharing my build updates.

That's okay, I think Im the only 1jz owner on this forum and its not stopping me. 

Im digging the updates and the vlogs. Im subscribed! 

Now I just have to persuade myself away from the persuasion of you and that a N54 persuading me to add an N54 powered BMW to my collection of pointless bmws. 

(say that 10X fast)

[suspenceful]

Jdesign said:

That's okay, I think Im the only 1jz owner on this forum and its not stopping me. 

Im digging the updates and the vlogs. Im subscribed! 

Now I just have to persuade myself away from the persuasion of you and that a N54 persuading me to add an N54 powered BMW to my collection of pointless bmws. 

(say that 10X fast)

Thanks man! I think the N54 is one of the best platforms I've ever experienced. It definitely has it's downfalls, but man I love this car.

[GunMetalGrey]

Jdesign said:

That's okay, I think Im the only 1jz owner on this forum and its not stopping me. 

suspenceful said:

I know I'm one of the few N54 owners on this forum, but I'm going to keep sharing my build updates.

I'm the only M21 owner on this forum that I know of, doesn't stop me. 

It's more interesting seeing the stuff you don't work on all the time.

[Jdesign]

So whos going to rotary swap their E30? LOL

[patsbimmer1]

Jdesign said:

So whos going to rotary swap their E30? LOL

I don't think anybof us are that stupid!  Although a 4 rotor 2002 would be awesome!

[Earl]

There are quite a few rotary swapped e30's around. They're pretty snotty little buggers

[suspenceful]

Walnut blasted the valves on the new motor so I didn't have to break my back and remove the intake manifold later.

Then.................. the new motor found it's home!

[YoungCR]

We're you satisfied with the harbor freight abrasive blaster? Interested in picking one up. Congrats on the progress, can't wait to see this ripping down the runways again.

[Bassboy3313]

I had the HF blaster when I first started doing powdercoating. It worked ok, but seemed to be very finicky about picking up the abrasive materials and not very consistent either. Seems to be different for everybody tho.

[Jdesign]

Cranking away on this. Progress looks great!

[m42b32]

Awesome progress!

[suspenceful]

Thanks everyone! Gonna keep plugging away at it so it's ready for spring. Still a lot of work and fine tuning to do.

YoungCR said:

We're you satisfied with the harbor freight abrasive blaster? Interested in picking one up. Congrats on the progress, can't wait to see this ripping down the runways again. 

Yeah, this is the second time I've used it for this job. I don't know how it would do in other scenarios though. It doesn't spray with insane power, but it gets the job done. I use a small pick to break up anything that the blaster couldn't remove.

[jc43089]

Dry air is very important for blasting.  I have a Harbor Freight pot type blaster and it works well with my redneck air dryer.  In the linked post is a picture.  It is a piece of 4" PVC with a U of 3/4" copper pipe and  T at the bottom with a pipe coming out the side to have a place for water to pool.  Hang it up and fill it with ice and cold water for good heat transfer and have it between your main compressor and a secondary tank.  It works really well and cost very little.  I put a drain on the bottom of the PVC so when the ice is melted you can drain it into a bucket.

[suspenceful]

If anyone is curious about the walnut blasting procedure, I put a video together. If you haven't already, subscribe to my channel! I'm so close to the 1,000 subscribers I need to stay monetized. You can count on me to put out some awesome content this year. I like the whole YouTube thing.

[Jdesign]

That looks awesome. I will have to watch it later!