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

[suspenceful]

i_love_cars said:

I think you should've put the money towards something useful like a limited slip diff. I haven't seen a video on it yet so I'm assuming that's still outstanding, as are some other suspension upgrades.

Your 1er is rough around the edges and isn't a show car. This would be like if I added a CF wheel to my E46 M3. Having an alcantara shift boot with factory aluminum interior trim doesn't look that great with a steering wheel that is predominately CF. The steering wheel you have there looks like an afterthought. It's your money of course but the direction you have taken this car is largely about going fast. You have gobs of power now, so why aren't you spending more money to help the car put it down as best as possible? 

I didn't use cash to purchase the wheel, just exchanged apparel printing services for the wheel. My margin is pretty good for printing stuff so realistically this wheel cost me less than $200. I've had it since last year, just finally got around to installing it. Obviously aesthetic mods are personal preference, but I like the wheel. The carbon center trim is a bit much so I might refinish my factory trim to fix the peeling paint and re-install that.

As far as spending money elsewhere, I haven't spent a dime on the car in probably 6 months. I put it away for the winter and nothing needs fixing, it's been running great. I've been enjoying the surplus of cash I never realized I could have by not throwing money at cars. And believe it or not, the car hooks with the Mickey Thompsons in every gear except for 1st. Factory e-diff has been fine so it's hard for me to upgrade a perfectly good-working part. However, an LSD, upgraded axles and a suspension refresh has been on my wish list. The idea of a built motor is becoming more of a 'want' recently as well, so I need to figure out where I want my money to go once I start spending it again.

straight6pwr said:

i like carbon as much as the next guy, but that's a bit over-the-top

Lol, striking similarities! Like I said above, aesthetic mods are personal preference so I appreciate the comment. It's something different, maybe I'll get sick of it once I start seeing it every day. But for now, it's a nice change of pace. It is a lot of carbon fiber, so I might swap out the trim piece for the OEM piece once I refinish it.

[Jdesign]

I have to agree with the taste of others as far as it being "too much." Its your car so it doesn't really matter what we think.

I like your idea of painting the center to tone it down, or you could do the complete opposite and match the rest of the car to the steering wheel? 

[suspenceful]

Jdesign said:

I have to agree with the taste of others as far as it being "too much." Its your car so it doesn't really matter what we think.

I like your idea of painting the center to tone it down, or you could do the complete opposite and match the rest of the car to the steering wheel? 

Lol I hope that's not what everyone sees when they look at my interior now 

[straight6pwr]

that wheel would pretty awesome if the rim was just round. its all the bulges, flat spots, swoops and lines that make it seem racer-boy

[GunMetalGrey]

Tough crowd today huh?
It's not quite my style with the carbon center, but having held it I can assure you guys that the weird shaping is pretty damn comfortable.

[Rekpoint]

I dont mind it at all. I plan on getting a flat bottom alcantara wheel for my e92 once that happens.

I personally think it'll look better with the stock trim though.

[YoungCR]

Wheel quality is impressive, I enjoyed driving a 911 Turbo with a factory CF wheel. I’d say that was a good barter. Excited for more go-fast parts too.

[P_Roloff]

I will echo that all the carbon is not my thing, but it looks comfy and beefy. Might look better with piano black interior trim or something. I sure as hell wouldn't turn that deal down though, for the equivalent of $200 that's a good deal IMO.

Interested to hear what it feels like when actually driving, let us know what you think when you get it on the road.

[i_love_cars]

suspenceful said:

I didn't use cash to purchase the wheel, just exchanged apparel printing services for the wheel. My margin is pretty good for printing stuff so realistically this wheel cost me less than $200. I've had it since last year, just finally got around to installing it. Obviously aesthetic mods are personal preference, but I like the wheel. The carbon center trim is a bit much so I might refinish my factory trim to fix the peeling paint and re-install that.

As far as spending money elsewhere, I haven't spent a dime on the car in probably 6 months. I put it away for the winter and nothing needs fixing, it's been running great. I've been enjoying the surplus of cash I never realized I could have by not throwing money at cars. And believe it or not, the car hooks with the Mickey Thompsons in every gear except for 1st. Factory e-diff has been fine so it's hard for me to upgrade a perfectly good-working part. However, an LSD, upgraded axles and a suspension refresh has been on my wish list. The idea of a built motor is becoming more of a 'want' recently as well, so I need to figure out where I want my money to go once I start spending it again.

That's $200 too much. You asked explicitly what we think about the wheel. So here we are. If you'd get off your lazy ass and make some decent M3 designs, you wouldn't have had to barter for a shitty steering wheel because I'd have paid you cash for multiples of good shirts and then you'd have money to pay a vendor for real performance parts. 

You basically just said that your car is fine as it is, yet have things like an LSD, stronger axles, and suspension on a "want" list. Why would stronger axles even be on the list if your car is just fine? I stand by my statement that your car is not complete, and if all you needed was a set of MT slicks and a shitty factory E-diff to have perfect traction, the entire drag car aftermarket community would be rendered obsolete, yet for some reason it's been around for 50 years and still going strong. Because you actually do need to put some real money into your car beyond just tires to make it maximize the power delivery.

You could have one of the most mechanically well-sorted and high performing N54s in Wisconsin (and the world), but instead you relegate yourself to tacky CF steering wheels.

[gilber33]

Is there an inside joke I'm missing here? Because damn, he just asked what people thought about his steering wheel.

[Jdesign]

GunMetalGrey said:

Tough crowd today huh?
It's not quite my style with the carbon center, but having held it I can assure you guys that the weird shaping is pretty damn comfortable. 

I can tell its really comfy, I just thought the CF look is too much. 

i_love_cars said:

That's $200 too much. You asked explicitly what we think about the wheel. So here we are. If you'd get off your lazy ass and make some decent M3 designs, you wouldn't have had to barter for a shitty steering wheel because I'd have paid you cash for multiples of good shirts and then you'd have money to pay a vendor for real performance parts. 

You basically just said that your car is fine as it is, yet have things like an LSD, stronger axles, and suspension on a "want" list. Why would stronger axles even be on the list if your car is just fine? I stand by my statement that your car is not complete, and if all you needed was a set of MT slicks and a shitty factory E-diff to have perfect traction, the entire drag car aftermarket community would be rendered obsolete, yet for some reason it's been around for 50 years and still going strong. Because you actually do need to put some real money into your car beyond just tires to make it maximize the power delivery.

You could have one of the most mechanically well-sorted and high performing N54s in Wisconsin (and the world), but instead you relegate yourself to tacky CF steering wheels. 

I think you care too much about HIS car.

[REKIII]

I think it looks pretty cool.  Been waffling on Steering wheels for the M and the lotus.  Completely different cars, but the wheels still have similarity.

Good deal on the barter too, not that you had to justify it in any way.

[suspenceful]

Thanks for all of the kind words, and not-so-kind words 

While I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, I like it and I'm glad I got it. I'm excited to see how it feels once I take the car out of the garage. I do plan on finishing my original M-Sport center trim and will at least install it to see if I like it better without so much carbon fiber. I'll be sure to post an update on that so we can open the flood gates again 

[ChrisO]

i_love_cars said:

That's $200 too much. You asked explicitly what we think about the wheel. So here we are. If you'd get off your lazy ass and make some decent M3 designs, you wouldn't have had to barter for a shitty steering wheel because I'd have paid you cash for multiples of good shirts and then you'd have money to pay a vendor for real performance parts.  

Will u cum to one of my threads and roast me next

[GunMetalGrey]

ChrisO said:

Will u cum to one of my threads and roast me next 

We could start the "Weekly Roast" instead of a monthly Member Feature (RIP)

[Jdesign]

I kinda really like that idear!

[REKIII]

I see what is happening.  Do we call him Jake, or Brian?  You decide.

[B C]

[suspenceful]

I've been itching to get some good photos of the 135i now that the weather has started to warm up. So I ran it through the wash and grabbed my camera. My girlfriend was looking gorgeous as always, so I had to jump in a few photos. Here is what I ended up with...

Update coming soon with a new clutch

[suspenceful]

Welp, my Spec Stage 3+ clutch started to slip after only 5k miles at 750whp so I was forced to search for another new clutch. The Spec clutch was only rated at 671 tq, I thought it would be capable of holding more power. My search of 1000+ tq rated clutches led me to research twin disc options for the N54.

As some of you might be aware, there is a new twin disc clutch option for those of us with manual N54's. Xtreme Performance Clutch (or XClutch) is an Australian company that specializes in clutches for performance vehicles overseas. With the recent group buy, I decided to give their clutch a shot given the price is much cheaper than the Motiv or MFactory twin discs.

For more detailed information, check out my complete blog post about this topic****. I also included a video at the bottom of this post that shows the noise and pedal engagement.

I ordered the ceramic version of the clutch, which is capable of holding more torque and is meant for track-driven cars. There is also an organic version for those of you who might not need the 1350 tq rating.

I received the clutch a few days after ordering and was very impressed with the quality! It includes the clutch & flywheel assemblies, metal throwout bearing, pilot bearing, flywheel bolts, machined alignment tool and locktite.

The recommended break-in mileage is 1000 kilometers (621 miles). I noticed that the driveability gets better and all noises quiet down a little after putting on some miles. It will never be as quiet or as smooth as a stock clutch... but it's much more capable than the stock clutch.

Noises:

If you install the metal throwout bearing that is included with the kit, it will produce a metallic whirring noise when the clutch is depressed. This does not bother me, but it might bother some of you who don't like noise.  Please watch my video at the bottom of this post to hear the noise.

The metal throwout bearing included with the kit is recommended and more robust, but this is the OEM-style throwout bearing if you'd like to avoid the noise: https://bit.ly/2Hy6rX3

As with any SMFW or twin disc, you will have low RPM gearbox chatter. While idling and while driving at high load/low RPM, you can hear it. If this bothers you, you will have to stick with an OEM-style DMFW clutch setup. Otherwise, you can raise the idle via MHD to 900 RPMs or so to reduce the chattering.

Driveability:

I knew the ceramic version of the clutch would be a little more difficult to drive than the organic version, so please take that into consideration when reading my review or purchasing the clutch.

The pedal is stiffer/heavier than stock, but not by much. It's effortless to depress, which is good. Engagement doesn't happen until the top of the pedal during release. My stock clutch and my Spec Stage 3+ clutch both engaged a lot closer to the floor, so this took some getting used to. Installing the clutch stop helped, but still has a large area of dead space in the pedal. Again, watch my video at the bottom of this post to see how much dead space there is.

Once the engagement starts, the window is fairly small. You don't have a lot of slipping area, and this can result in a shuttering take-off until you learn the clutch. I've heard that the organic version is a little more forgiving in this sense. The clutch itself is very grabby, just like it should be. I have no concerns about it holding any power I'm capable of making right now (750whp+).