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

[i_love_cars]

Yes. That.

[suspenceful]

YoungCR said:

Upgraded stock or new? Idk what I'm looking at but more power! 

They're upgraded twins, gonna get started on the install soon!

[Jdesign]

Whats the second one for, and why are they so small? 

[patsbimmer1]

Are these installed yet?  Is it done yet?  Are we there yet?

[B C]

I imagine in the 1800's they rubbed cocaine on their horses nose for a performance upgrade.

This is a good start

[patsbimmer1]

I'm imagining you turning into Kurt Russel's character from Death Proof once this is done.  But instead of a Nova or Charger it's in a 135i.  Not to say your going to turn into a murderer but people may get that feeling after going for a ride.

[B C]

Rub some cocaine on their nose before the ride. It will take the edge off.

[GunMetalGrey]

I think his plan is to see if he can slow down the rotation of the earth.

[suspenceful]

Lol 

No progress yet. Still waiting on the last two batches of parts to come in. Trying to have it back on the road by July.

[suspenceful]

Stock vs. not stock.

[B C]

Probably a bit of a heavy assembly. Is it a difficult to reach area for install? I had enough fun with my M20 stuff and there was a lot of room

[i_love_cars]

Snap said:

Probably a bit of a heavy assembly. Is it a difficult to reach area for install? I had enough fun with my M20 stuff and there was a lot of room

It's best not to think about it. Even with the subframe dropped there isn't much room to work with in the N5x turbo-side of the engine bay. The problem is only amplified by having a larger turbo housing. 

Shop time calls for roughly 11.5 hours +/- to replace/swap turbos on these cars.

[suspenceful]

suspenceful said:

Stock vs. not stock.

Bringing this over to the next page, just because.

Snap said:

Probably a bit of a heavy assembly. Is it a difficult to reach area for install? I had enough fun with my M20 stuff and there was a lot of room

As Jordan said, this job sucks. I wish I could say that I already got my stock turbos removed, but the ones in the picture above are from my friends N54.

[Daggerty]

Top mount makes install so much easier. Bottom mount + no lift = workout

[suspenceful]

Finally cleaned the white car this weekend and filled in some small paint chips.

[suspenceful]

Update on the 135i:

I had a BMW technician friend do some work to the car. I didn't want to deal with dropping the transmission while laying on my back on the floor of my garage. I just wanted to concentrate on the turbo install, so he did the following:

• Replaced upgraded clutch with an even more upgraded clutch (Spec Stage 3+, kept my MFactory SMFW in there)
• New bellhousing bolts, throwout bearing and clutch fork
• Replaced transmission mounts with poly upgraded mounts
• Replaced shifter bushings with upgraded parts
• Replaced rear pinion seal and flush/fill the differential

I picked up the car and expected the clutch to be a pain to drive. Surprisingly it isn't much worse than the OEM 335is/550i clutch. Definitely daily driveable! The shifter feels tighter and notchier, I'm very happy. I put about 30 miles on the clutch and brought the car home to get started on the turbo install. I put the car in the air and took off the front bumper right away.

I don't have the most tools in the world, but I managed to get the subframe and steering rack out in about 4 hours. Another 2 hours and I had the fan, engine mount, downpipes, intercooler, inlets, outlets, water pump, and coolant lines out of the car.

I felt pretty accomplished after all of this. I discovered what coolant tastes like and was covered in grime, but knew I was making good progress. I decided to call it a night and clean up the garage so I could get a fresh start after work tonight again. Next step is to remove the oil pan and replace that gasket, and then remove the stock turbos.

[Earl]

Nice work=) Have you don't any suspension upgrades or a refresh on this yet? I can't imagine how original bushings would feel with all of this power

[suspenceful]

Earl said:

Nice work=) Have you don't any suspension upgrades or a refresh on this yet? I can't imagine how original bushings would feel with all of this power 

Nope, all stock. It's lowered on springs, but that's the only "upgrade". I plan to do rear subframe inserts soon because people say really good things about them. A full suspension overhaul is definitely something I want to do, but probably won't happen for another year or two.

[Earl]

Were the bushings ever done before you? I can't see them being in all that good of shape now if not

[B C]

Green coolant tastes rather nice.

Those pictures scare me, but my ideal car would have 6 feet of clearance on every side of every fastener.

Nice work digging in there!