Finally Joined the Longroof Club

[m42b32]

76k

m42b32 said:

Other than that, I'm just going to enjoy it as is for now! 

Why do I even try to tell myself this lie...

Got a deal on some AFE catless midpipes (ceramic coated too) to turn up the BMW performance exhaust a bit, and have a euro-market air intake box and European headlight switch (enables rear fogs, for maximum euro-ness) on the way from eastern Europe. Looking forward to digging into this!

I'll also be taking this to the RA autocross on the 23rd, should be a good time

[patsbimmer1]

m42b32 said:

76k

Why do I even try to tell myself this lie...

Got a deal on some AFE catless midpipes (ceramic coated too) to turn up the BMW performance exhaust a bit, and have a euro-market air intake box and European headlight switch (enables rear fogs, for maximum euro-ness) on the way from eastern Europe. Looking forward to digging into this!

I'll also be taking this to the RA autocross on the 23rd, should be a good time

Isn't there a lego mod for the rear fogs?  I thought I saw something about installing a lego behind the dead panel to enable the rears since they were prewired.

[m42b32]

patsbimmer1 said:

Isn't there a lego mod for the rear fogs?  I thought I saw something about installing a lego behind the dead panel to enable the rears since they were prewired.

Yup! That's basically what I'm doing with mine, except instead of modifying the dead panel to function as a button I found a euro switch with a rear fog button for like $8 from the same place I'm getting the intake box from. The switch is the wrong one for a car with xenons/rain sensor/etc. and doesn't have the aluminum trim on the knob, so I'm going to swap over the rear fog button (and the white piece behind it that people substitute with a lego/wire nut/etc) into my original switch.

[Rekpoint]

Oh no! This thing is going to sound even more KILLER?!?  Shame.... 

[m42b32]

Got this out for the autocross at RA on Sunday, had a blast!! It handles pretty well considering it's on worn/mismatched tires... some 18's with wider front rubber and matching tires front/rear should do a lot to counter the massive amounts of understeer I was experiencing (the slippery slope of motorsport is real). Ended up in 6th of 8 in D street, and 77th out of 128 overall, not bad!

[wasnt m3]

Your car looks at home at RA. Pic from the hawk.

[m42b32]

wasnt m3 said:

Your car looks at home at RA. Pic from the hawk.

Thanks! That's a nice pic!

[Jdesign]

So this is a noob question, but I  thought that those headlights with the LED grid style turn indicators were specific to diesels. I assume I  am incorrect in making that assumption?

[m42b32]

Jdesign said:

So this is a noob question, but I  thought that those headlights with the LED grid style turn indicators were specific to diesels. I assume I  am incorrect in making that assumption?

Those are the e90 LCI xenon headlights which were available as an option on all e90's from 2009-2012, so it's possible that the 335d only existed as an LCI model and because it was more expensive it probably regularly got the optional headlights? Not really sure!

[suspenceful]

Any LCI (2009+) E90 (sedan) or E91 (wagon) will have those headlights.

God, this wagon looks so good.

[GunMetalGrey]

Yeah, this thing is extra tasty. 
Those wheels do it for me.

[m42b32]

76.6k

Got some time to play on the wagon for a bit tonight, installed the goodies I had shipped over from Lithuania!

First up was the headlight switch. The top one is the one I bought with the rear fog button, the bottom is my original switch with the silver accent on the switch that I wanted to retain. 

Took only a few minutes to pull them both apart and swap the rear fog button and related parts over to my switch:

I installed the switch and noticed that the rear fog button was not back-lit, so I pulled it back out, took them apart again to find out why. Turns out the US spec headlight PCB has the buttons for the rear fog, but the board is missing the LED that provides the back lighting (US board above, euro below). The PCB of the euro switch is for a car without auto-leveling/xenon lights so I couldn't just swap boards unfortunately. I didn't want to potentially ruin things by getting fancy with a soldering iron, so I accepted the lack of a lit button for now. 

With the switch reinstalled, they work! Pretty neat little mod for added euro-cool-points.

Normal tail lights:

Rear fogs turned on:

The indicator on the dash (yellow fog light icon) works as well. It amazes me that just changing the switch enables all this. 

I also installed the n52 euro air intake box. The standard box has a smallish panel filter and a restrictive charcoal filter. Additionally, the entire box must be removed to access the filter. The euro box has a cylindrical filter with much more filter area, a larger intake box volume, and no charcoal filter, so it provides a minor performance increase, looks way better, and allows you to access the filter by simply removing the lid. Install is really simple, I just had to swap over the US spec MAF and the mounting grommet things. 

Original US spec intake box:

Euro box fitted without the lid (I have a new filter arriving tomorrow) 

Install complete:

I've only driven about 10 miles with it installed, there is a little bit more intake noise and the car seems to be a bit more rev-happy. Not sure if there is an actual performance improvement or just a post-mod placebo effect, but for how cheap I got the parts I'm happy with it!

[P_Roloff]

Those rear fogs are sweet! Was the charcoal filter the only reason for the U.S. cars getting that air box? Kinda interesting that even on nearly new cars there’s still significant differences like that between what we got and what they got across the pond.

[m42b32]

P_Roloff said:

Those rear fogs are sweet! Was the charcoal filter the only reason for the U.S. cars getting that air box? Kinda interesting that even on nearly new cars there’s still significant differences like that between what we got and what they got across the pond. 

From what I found, the charcoal filter's function is to stop positive crankcase ventilation (contains oil and fuel vapors) from venting to atmosphere when the car is shut off. The US apparently requires that these filters be on newer cars, so BMW probably had to design a US spec intake box to accommodate it (looks like a second air filter behind the actual air filter), while the rest of the world got the intake box they could design more freely.

[straight6pwr]

did you match plate numbers?

[m42b32]

straight6pwr said:

did you match plate numbers? 

Yup! I went for the collector special plates that have the same number as my collector plate, it was like $15 more at registration so I figured why not, sort of fun.

[m42b32]

78.5k

With a couple inches of snow in the forecast for Friday I made the switch to the snow tires off the e36. I won't be raking in the Instagram points with these but thankfully it doesn't look as awful as I thought it would. I lost the screws for the center caps so I'll have to find some new ones. TPMS light is on (no sensors in the wheels) so I may look into coding that out, an emulation module, or just ignore it. Ignoring is the cheapest and easiest so that's probably what will happen. 

#fitment

[Rekpoint]

Thats what I call fitment 

[Jdesign]

figment

[m42b32]

78.7k 

Friday was probably the first time the car has ever sat in below-freezing temperatures for an extended period of time. I started it up after work and it went like this: *ding* standard sub-37F 'its cold' reminder, *ding* TPMS malfunction (snow tires).........*ding* low coolant warning....*ding* brake lamp failure.  Nice. 

Low coolant is likely just from thermal contraction, I haven't found any signs of leaks but topped it up and will keep an eye on the level. Turns out the brake light bulbs are some goofy type (P21W/1057/7506) that napa, o'reilly's, and even batteries plus bulbs didn't have, had to order new ones online. 

Driving around in the snow on Friday was entertaining and I didn't have any issues with grip when needed, I'm glad I went with the sportier RWD versus getting an xdrive. An xdrive on snow tires would be a beast though that's for sure. 

I also popped in a new serpentine belt and idler pulley on Saturday. The tensioner was replaced in the last year, but the belt and idler were original and definitely due for replacement. Next on the list is the valve cover gasket and water pump/thermostat.