I done did it now... A new toy!

[patsbimmer1]

@JdesignI'm a Regional Service Manager with Farm and Fleet.  My car was pushing the limits of low to get over hump from the ramps to the lift BUT I have gotten much lower cars on the racks to align them.  Ask Justin Torres or Brian Luck if you know those guys.

[Jdesign]

I do know those guys, Justin better than Brian, but I am just looking for someone that I know personally that has a low friendly lift. String alignments are only so accurate.

[patsbimmer1]

Jdesign said:

I do know those guys, Justin better than Brian, but I am just looking for someone that I know personally that has a low friendly lift. String alignments are only so accurate.

I aligned Justin's Passat Wagon when he worked for me, an mk5 Golf that was slammed on static and a few other low cars from either customers or friends of those guys.  It's possible to get low cars up with the help of some strategically placed boards but it's hard for me to commit to showing up to a store to do it.  A guy that used to work for me is at Big Bear and I've talked to a few people who use them for alignments and it's always positive.

[Jdesign]

Yeah, I got an alignment there many many moons ago and have always heard good things.

[patsbimmer1]

A couple updates:

I put my new clutch in this past Saturday.  My old one started slipping in 4th-6th at WOT so I bought a 335is/550i clutch.  It took me about 9-10 hours to get it done, book time is 7 so I was pretty happy with that.  My brother in law was there to help me get the trans out/put in but other than that it's a pretty easy job.  There are 2 top bolts that are a real pain but once I figured out that I could get them from up top it went a lot easier.  The clutch alignment tool I had also wasn't going to work with the OE pressure plate because of the SAC lock that comes on it so I ended up making my own tool with a socket and duct tape.  Worked perfect!  I did have an urge to spray paint my trans silver while it was out... I'm spending too much time talking to Earl.  I didn't paint it.

Now for the test drive... that didn't happen.  Why you ask?  Because my DME fried itself on Friday.  I was driving along when all of a sudden I lost power, CEL came on then started flashing.  I pulled the codes immediately and had a slew of codes that all pointed to bank 2.  I pulled over and immediately thought it was coil packs so I started swapping coil packs between the banks with no change.  I checked wires, wiggle tested components, etc.  I cleared codes and scanned it again and I got a 30bb code which is Internal DME Failure.  Finally, I limped it home (literally) and pulled my DME.  Watched a quick tutorial and learned how to check the mosfets.  Found that I had a bad mosfet for cyl 5 which caused the 30bb which shut down bank 2.  There's a TSB out there for this that confirmed everything.  Snap got me the part # for the mosfet and I found out it doesn't exist anymore so I ordered what I hope is right.  I paid for next day shipping on Friday only to wait until today to get it.  It hit Milwaukee on Saturday am at 5:30am so I was very hopeful i'd see it by late afternoon Saturday.  No such luck.  Thanks for fucking me UPS.

Now, desoldering the old mosfet was as simple as putting my heat gun really close for a few seconds until I could pull it off (which I figured out after attempting to desolder it with my soldering iron).  Tonight I will learn how to solder a surface mount component onto the board and hope it all works.  I'll let everyone know how that works out for me.

[Earl]

Good luck=)

[patsbimmer1]

I got the part today, rushed home and nervously attacked it with a soldering iron while my son attempted to "help" by climbing up to the table and smacking his car on it.  I'm not good at soldering so it looked like shit but it held.  I plugged it in and hooked up my battery to find i had no power at the key.  I freaked out and started probing fuses.  I rechecked the battery and realized I missed a cable.  Got that hooked up and voila!  Power!  I started the car and it ran perfect!  Then I noticed smoke coming near the dme, took a small shit in my pants and shut the car off.  After a quick inspectiom I remembered that my downpipe gaskets were nonexistent and it was exhaust smoke.  Phew!

I went for a drive on a stock tune and she drove great!  One wot in 2nd just to make sure it was running alright and put 5 miles on flawlessly.

#n54problems

[B C]

The anxiety caused by the exhaust smoke and battery cable would surely take a few months off of someones life. How much would a dealer have charged for a new DME had you been an average BMW owner?

[patsbimmer1]

Snap said:

The anxiety caused by the exhaust smoke and battery cable would surely take a few months off of someones life. How much would a dealer have charged for a new DME had you been an average BMW owner?

Well, Brand new I believe is north of $2000 but you can buy used MSD80 DME's for $300~.  It wouldn't have been the end of the world but I wouldn't have been happy.

[i_love_cars]

The real question is this: With a brand new DME is it now an even fasterer fastest n54 in the world and Wisconsin???

[B C]

Defrag and running Malwarebytes would probably speed it up a bit

[patsbimmer1]

Snap said:

Defrag and running Malwarebytes would probably speed it up a bit

I finally updated adobe flashware like it had been asking me to and that seemed to speed the car up quite a bit.  I'm guessing 23 - 37whp easily.

[patsbimmer1]

So I took the plunge today and purchased a set of coilovers.  My stock sport suspension has worn out and after MUCH research I landed on ordering the Bilstein B14 PSS coilovers.  I wasn't looking for a coilover that gave me frame scraping lows and I was really more concerned about quality, warranty and a compliant ride.  After I narrowed my search down I was very seriously considering 2 options:  KW V1 and Bilstein B14 PSS.  KW has a great reputation and with their mail in rebate going on right now I could have gotten them for about $1200.  They have a lifetime warranty, excellent reviews and from what I understand their R&D is top notch.  The only sticking point for me was about ride quality being too stiff.  A lot of what I read said that it was stiffer than the sport suspension.  

I went with Bilstein because of the reviews I read about their ride quality.  We're all familiar with Bilstein as a quality suspension supplier so I wasn't concerned about that.  They put a ton of R&D into their products and are heavily involved in many forms of Motorsports and they back their products with a lifetime warranty.  A lot of the ride quality reviews stated that it was very similar to the sport suspension but seemed to smooth out bumps better while supplying a firm ride when pushed.  

I got them for $915 shipped and I am hoping to get them installed before the Lower Standards Pop-Up for Pups next Sunday!  I'll let everyone know how they ride!

[straight6pwr]

that price is shockingly good

[KaiserRolls]

straight6pwr said:

that price is shockingly good

Don't let higher prices dampen your day

[patsbimmer1]

straight6pwr said:

that price is shockingly good

Yup!  I get some decent pricing from ECS on certain items.  Some manufacturers are priced better than others for me.  This also helped sway my decision.

[straight6pwr]

KaiserRolls said:

Don't let higher prices dampen your day

Dont you worry, heim not letting it get me down.

[m42b32]

straight6pwr said:

Dont you worry, heim not letting it get me down.

Even if it does, I'm sure you'll rebound no problem

[straight6pwr]

m42b32 said:

Even if it does, I'm sure you'll rebound no problem

You're right, I usually stabilize and spring back in toe action, if yaw know what I mean.

[patsbimmer1]

So I got my coilovers installed last week.  No surprises, it's an easy install.  I've done a million sets of struts before and these are no different.  Every time I do an install like this it reminds me how much I need a lift!  

Anyways, on to the review!  My stock sport suspension had 84k on them and I was noticing the degradation in my handling.  These Bilsteins did not disappoint!  I took it for a quick shakedown after the install and immediately noticed the ride quality was phenomenal!  I'd describe it as slightly stiffer than the sport suspension but very compliant over bumps.  It seems to suck bumps up effortlessly but firms up when demanded to in a corner.  Body roll improved tremendously.  My wife knew I was putting new stuff on but had no idea I was lowering it again until she got in it and asked "Is this lowered again?".  The she began to tell me how horrible it was to ride in lowered cars... and then we drove about 50 miles.  She reluctantly admitted it actually rode well.  So it passed the wife test!  

I was concerned about rubbing with my upsized tires but I'm happy to say that with a 245/40r18 f and 265/35r18 rear with a 12mm spacer I have no rubbing!  I have the front on the highest setting and it slightly tucks and the rear is slightly off the highest setting.  It has room to go lower but I really enjoy not having to worry about scraping right now.  I'm an old man.  I don't have any photos with my camera right now so my shitty phone pics will have to do!