Jake's Epic BMW 135i Build Thread! (5+ Years of Ownership)
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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.
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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.
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Were the bushings ever done before you? I can't see them being in all that good of shape now if not
Not that I'm aware of. I'm sure the car could definitely use a refresh...
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!
Sadly, this was the blue stuff. Doesn't taste nearly as good, but thanks!
Any plans for an LSD?
Eventually, yes. I'm sure it will need one. Probably a winter project - I'm tapped for funds right now.
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I'm really surprised the one series don't have a factory LSD besides the 1M? Is it available as a factory option at least?
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I'm really surprised the one series don't have a factory LSD besides the 1M? Is it available as a factory option at least?
It really needs one, even in stock form. But they had to do something to set the 1M apart since it has the same motor
I'm not sure if it's a factory option, I doubt it because I've never seen anyone post about having one.
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Made a little more progress last night. Got the turbos out and all oil/coolant lines off. Unbolting the manifolds was the easy part. Removing the coolant and oil lines from the block and from the turbos was a painful, tedious process since I planned on re-using the lines.
I started to remove the PS pump/pulley so I could remove the oil pan, but didn't have a large enough torx bit to loosen the tension on the belt. I'll grab one today and get back after it tonight. I'd like to drop the oil pan and clean everything up while replacing the gasket. Then I'll do the oil filter housing gaskets and start putting things back together!
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Never re-use those oil and coolant lines. They are cheap shitty rubber. Replace all of them, especially at your high mileage, and especially while you still have the turbos out and hopefully haven't re-installed everything yet.
Once you have the car back together, in case you do not know the proper priming process for turbo replacements on N5x cars: (Assuming you have relieved fuel pressure and disconnected the fuel pump fuse and ran the car until it died prior to starting this project like you should have) - crank the engine (push the start/stop button) 7 times for 7 seconds each time to prime the turbo with oil. Reconnect the fuel pump fuse. Then run the car for 2 minutes at idle, giving it no revs at all, then shut it off and let it cool. Once cool, start again for 15 minutes, again at idle with no revs. Shut it off and let it cool. Once cool, do a final run at 30 minutes, at idle, no revs.
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
Never re-use those oil and coolant lines. They are cheap shitty rubber. Replace all of them, especially at your high mileage, and especially while you still have the turbos out and hopefully haven't re-installed everything yet.
Once you have the car back together, in case you do not know the proper priming process for turbo replacements on N5x cars: (Assuming you have relieved fuel pressure and disconnected the fuel pump fuse and ran the car until it died prior to starting this project like you should have) - crank the engine (push the start/stop button) 7 times for 7 seconds each time to prime the turbo with oil. Reconnect the fuel pump fuse. Then run the car at WOT for 20 minutes before hopping on the highway and challenging everyone to a 60 roll.
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I'm really surprised the one series don't have a factory LSD besides the 1M? Is it available as a factory option at least?
No factory option. The first modern non-M car to get an optional LSD was the M235i.
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Never re-use those oil and coolant lines. They are cheap shitty rubber. Replace all of them, especially at your high mileage, and especially while you still have the turbos out and hopefully haven't re-installed everything yet.
Once you have the car back together, in case you do not know the proper priming process for turbo replacements on N5x cars: (Assuming you have relieved fuel pressure and disconnected the fuel pump fuse and ran the car until it died prior to starting this project like you should have) - crank the engine (push the start/stop button) 7 times for 7 seconds each time to prime the turbo with oil. Reconnect the fuel pump fuse. Then run the car for 2 minutes at idle, giving it no revs at all, then shut it off and let it cool. Once cool, start again for 15 minutes, again at idle with no revs. Shut it off and let it cool. Once cool, do a final run at 30 minutes, at idle, no revs.
I'm all for priming oil but what is the reason behind idling it for a combined 47 minutes? Are these engines prone to air bubbles trapped in the oil?
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Never re-use those oil and coolant lines. They are cheap shitty rubber. Replace all of them, especially at your high mileage, and especially while you still have the turbos out and hopefully haven't re-installed everything yet.
Once you have the car back together, in case you do not know the proper priming process for turbo replacements on N5x cars: (Assuming you have relieved fuel pressure and disconnected the fuel pump fuse and ran the car until it died prior to starting this project like you should have) - crank the engine (push the start/stop button) 7 times for 7 seconds each time to prime the turbo with oil. Reconnect the fuel pump fuse. Then run the car for 2 minutes at idle, giving it no revs at all, then shut it off and let it cool. Once cool, start again for 15 minutes, again at idle with no revs. Shut it off and let it cool. Once cool, do a final run at 30 minutes, at idle, no revs.
Ugh, it's like $500 for all new lines. That's a nice chunk of LSD money. I'll be cleaning them up, blowing compressed air through them, and inspecting them. I want to replace them, but was very careful about removing them. We'll see.
I didn't relieve fuel pressure and let the car die. I was planning on disconnecting the injector harness and letting the engine crank over to prime the turbos.
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I'm all for priming oil but what is the reason behind idling it for a combined 47 minutes? Are these engines prone to air bubbles trapped in the oil?
You could probably get away with less (just a single startup of the car) but the reasoning is that the oil takes forever to warm up in these cars at idle, although it's summer so Jake's car may cycle faster. Mine took a long time to warm up due to ambient oil temp being so much lower cuz I did my install in winter.
2 reasons - first is making sure you get the turbo bearings lubricated fully at normal operating oil viscosity which is safer at idle. Driving the car which is prone to accidentally getting into boost puts you at risk of damaging those brand new bearings before everything is properly lubricated. Secondly, you want to make sure that there's absolutely no leaks anywhere at normal operating temperatures before putting subframe and everything back in because taking it all apart again would be....frustrating to say the least.
I think you know these things already - it's really just the fact that oil takes longer to warm up on these cars so the idle times seem very long. Having a cold oil cycle for a couple minutes followed by another medium-length cycle is just iterative testing recommended by the BMW techs I talked to before going through the install myself. Personally I wouldn't be concerned as long as the car is allowed to cycle to full temperature at idle before putting it on the street
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
Great to see progress! Keep it up! When's the murder box going in the passenger seat?
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Great to see progress! Keep it up! When's the murder box going in the passenger seat?
Thanks man! I'm not quite sure what you mean by murder box in the passenger seat though
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Thanks man! I'm not quite sure what you mean by murder box in the passenger seat though
I've also been trying to figure out what it could be...
Did Ben get a temp gun yet? If so, borrow Ben's temp gun
What's a temp gun?
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