New build! E90 M3
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I took a moment today to knock out the DCT boot today from Coby Wheel. It's not exactly as simple as the parking brake boot was and I reached out to Coby Wheel for some direction which he provided quickly. Part of the instructions included cutting my old leather boot off... which I wasn't really thrilled about. I was fully prepared to do this when I started the project but later figured out I didn't need to.
First step was removing the shift decal and face plate from the knob. I used a small blade screwdriver to pry the decal off then used a torx to take the screw out holding the face plate.
After this I removed the leather boot from the frame using a flat blade screwdriver. Now, this is where you would normally cut the leather boot off of the base of the shift knob then ziptie the new one on. I decided to try and slide the leather boot through the alcantara one and have the new alcantara rest on top of the leather boot. I did this in order to easily revert back to stock without having to buy a new knob/boot assembly. Once I had that done there is a piece of boot that you can slide under the face plate and sandwich in order to have a more seamless look.
Here it is with the face plate resting on top and the alcantara boot resting over the leather boot.
To be honest, once I got to this point I was actually disappointed about the fitment. It looked really frumpy. I decided to put it in the car and see if being on the shift lever helped.
I used some double sided tape to install the decal and popped her in.
I'm much happier with it installed! It's still more bunched up than the leather boot was but I don't mind it at all. I'm really happy with the boot and it was a quick 30~ min DIY that's completely reversible.
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That feeling in your stomach when you ruin a perfectly good part and can never go back to stock again
Looks great though!
But that feeling though :"D
Many cars I have had no qualms about cutting, slicing, etc. but this car I just couldn't bring myself to say "fuck it". I did have the fabric scissors sitting next to me just in case but i'm glad I was able to do it without ruining the original leather.
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I bought a few things recently and yesterday one of them showed up! I ordered a set of VRSF catless downpipes from Extreme Power House last week since ECS will not sell catless parts. I originally wanted Rogue Engineering test pipes from Bimmerworld because the price is great but they were out of stock and when I called it in they told me Rogue was terrible with in-stocks and they estimated at least 2-3 months. I did some searching and found that VRSF made a catless downpipe and it was only $20 more than the Rogue option on sale right now.
I had used VRSF in the past and trusted they would have a quality part at a great price and I wasn't disappointed. The installation was pretty straight forward. Remove the exhaust, measure where to cut, cut out cats, attach new pipes, floor it. The benefit is extra horsepower and increase in eargasms.
There's a few useless pictures and the video doesn't do this mod justice. I have it paired with the Borla Atak mufflers and in my opinion, it sounds phenomenal. It has added more bark and volume to the sound in the mid to upper rev range and added more depth and complexity to the overall tone through the range.. Apparently, without a tune, it has added more power but I can't honestly tell if it "feels" like more power because the noise has changed or if there actually is until I get it back on a dyno. I was worried about it being too loud but at cruising rpm's there is a only a slight increase in volume and it doesn't get loud unless I want it to.
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That sounds excellent! It's funny, I saw an identical silverstone e90 m3 sedan yesterday driving through a neighborhood near me and wondered if it could be you. It definitely wasn't, it certainly did not sound like that!
(and the license plate is different as I now notice)
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those downshifts, tho
That's my favorite part! The crescendo of explosions coming out of the back as I run to 8300rpm is nice but... the rev matched downshifts are my favorite! One of my favorite things is driving around town and downshifting when people are walking around or have car windows open and watch the heads whip around to see what's making such an archaic noise and the confusion when they see my car then the joy that usually follows.
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I bought a few things recently and yesterday one of them showed up! I ordered a set of VRSF catless downpipes from Extreme Power House last week since ECS will not sell catless parts. I originally wanted Rogue Engineering test pipes from Bimmerworld because the price is great but they were out of stock and when I called it in they told me Rogue was terrible with in-stocks and they estimated at least 2-3 months. I did some searching and found that VRSF made a catless downpipe and it was only $20 more than the Rogue option on sale right now.
I had used VRSF in the past and trusted they would have a quality part at a great price and I wasn't disappointed. The installation was pretty straight forward. Remove the exhaust, measure where to cut, cut out cats, attach new pipes, floor it. The benefit is extra horsepower and increase in eargasms.
There's a few useless pictures and the video doesn't do this mod justice. I have it paired with the Borla Atak mufflers and in my opinion, it sounds phenomenal. It has added more bark and volume to the sound in the mid to upper rev range and added more depth and complexity to the overall tone through the range.. Apparently, without a tune, it has added more power but I can't honestly tell if it "feels" like more power because the noise has changed or if there actually is until I get it back on a dyno. I was worried about it being too loud but at cruising rpm's there is a only a slight increase in volume and it doesn't get loud unless I want it to.
Should have told you to use Pynacls this link for 5% off at check out https://www.vr-speed.com/ref/24/
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Should have told you to use Pynacls this link for 5% off at check out https://www.vr-speed.com/ref/24/
I paid $269.99 delivered so I still had a better price but that's helpful to know in the future!
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Most excellent! I think I’m ready to redeem my test drive coupon now
Social distance yourself in a bicycle trailer. You can borrow mine after i get towed around town by Joe
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Most excellent! I think I’m ready to redeem my test drive coupon now
It's still on the table!
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Among my box of Liquimoly that showed up Saturday was also my newest interior upgrade. A cargo net! I know, not the most exciting but for me this was a big upgrade. It's bmw part # 51470010557. For whatever reason BMW stopped installing the front facing hooks closest to the back seats sometime in the 2010-2011 MY but left the tapped holes in the body behind the felt. At my cost it's about $70 to buy the screws, covers, etc to properly at the hooks that BMW should have put in to begin with. $70 isn't a lot of money in the grand scheme but my principles won't allow me to spend that on this absurdity so I figured out what the thread pitch is and ordered two eye bolts off of Amazon and am waiting for them to show up. For anyone else's reference they are M8x1.25. For now I have it hooked under the tray so I can use it and boy did I get to use it this past weekend! Turns out it has limitations and a week+ worth of groceries for a family of 4 exceeds them. Overall I'm happy with it. One of my biggest daily gripes driving this regularly during the salt free months is there is NO secure storage so anything in my car was one spirited roundabout away from certain doom.
I also bought Chemical Guys leather conditioner and gave that a try on the front seats to start and so far I'm happy with the results. After sitting for 24 hours the passenger seat is noticably more compliant. My complaint is that they are a little slicker. The conditioner is a pleasant leather scent but does require some airing out to prevent it from getting overwhelming. A spirited 120 with all of the windows down seemed to do the trick.
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It's little things like a cargo net that make the daily use of a vehicle all that more enjoyable.
truth!
i need one of these. i may or may not have an outward dent on my rear fender because of stuff in the trunk flying about during some "enthusiast" driving.
Dan
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My Amazon eye bolts came in today! They were 100mm in length so they required some trimming and die work but work just fine. $10 eye bolts>$70 BMW cash grab. I've thought about painting them black but I've also reminded myself it's my trunk and nobody will ever see them that's conscious/alive so silver they'll stay.
Also, I gave them a try with a much more reasonable load of beer this past weekend and they passed the roundabout challenge!
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I've thought about painting them black but I've also reminded myself it's my trunk and nobody will ever see them that's conscious/alive so silver they'll stay.
The concours judges won't forgive this
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I gave them a try with a much more reasonable load of beer this past weekend
How was this not the photo you posted?!
That looks like a pretty slick cargo hold setup!
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