I felt a feel, then inspiration.

wowie zowie.

I chucked in the 'ol (new) Turner Motorsport intake on my n52. My review: Not even noticeable when you start the car and drive around town in a civilized fashion. Car wakes up dramatically over 3500rpm. Then, it howls like a banshee to redline. Feels good mayne. I have a video on Instagram if you guys feel like hearing what I hear inside the car. @rampelsauce . Also featured in the video, the sound of my coffee thermos rattling around in the passenger side footwell.

More tinkering to come but I'm getting closer to having this car wrapped up. Exhaust and a tune should be the next and final major mods.

The story goes like this.

Had a clunk in my front suspension and popped off my LF wheel while still on snows and stock springs. Had a bent sway bar link from my romp on the lake. But mostly because in my haste I had put the wrong front strut on the wrong side.  I'm a dummy, but no biggie, I'll get to replacing that when it's time for summers. 

Pulled off the right front when it was time to swap springs and put the summer setup on and was greeted with this.

That's a big ope, fellers.

I also put some meme scoops in to match my hotboi heat wrap job i did on my 3 stage intake. Like that, it will likely make zero difference. Ordered up the turner motorsport intake as well, so that's happening. Hoping to get to the exhaust sometime this summer. Also gonna start getting the wagon in better shape cosmetically. Front and rear bumpers are ugly with scratches and failing clear coat.

The X5 got ceramic coated and front window tint to match. Gonna black out the window trim soonish depending on how motivated I get.

And my perfectly average time across all classes for the day. Like absolutely half way. Not bad for running against a lot of cool shit/actual race cars.

There's also video but you'll have to come over and I'll show you on my phone, but over my shoulder so I can pause it and give commentary.

Jdesign said:

Where is that epic sideways pic I saw on FB?

It was a photoshop, never happened.

Anywho, the long n tan wagon has been busy. Did the cheese freeze rally and a FVSCC Lake Poygan autocross.

Replaced shocks/struts all the way around and reinstalled the stock springs. I think I'm going to end up lifting the wagon permanently, going another inch or two up. For commuting it makes the shit Milwaukee streets bareable and makes for a great rally/winter autox vehicle. Doing research on the most efficient ways to lift it. It will end up being a half ass overlander build without all the bull bars and bull shit. More on that later. I'm having trouble posting photos at work, so I'll post some event pics here later.  

Here's a couple that uploaded for now from the cheese freeze.

ASTROCHIMP said:

I may have to consider one then, my N55 isn’t too bad unless I’m in normal drive mode and have to slow down in traffic and suddenly speed back up. It’s usually off a gear or two from what I’d like to be in to get back to traffic speed. Are you going to do a transmission flash too?

Haven't found anyone who does a flash for the 6L45 GM transmission my car unfortunately came equipped with. If you find someone who can, let me know.

gilber33 said:

What does the pedal tuner do? Is it something that actually becomes part of the pedal?

It's basically a signal booster that plugs into the pedal. It eliminates the factory delay by some sort of circuit wizardry. It really wakes the throttle response up.

ASTROCHIMP said:

How’s the pedal tuner? I’ve seen them around but never really felt throttle response was so bad I needed one. Is it night and day or just a mild improvement?

Out of the hole and out of corners the difference is pretty awesome. My biggest complaint about my wagon was that it would search for gears and hesitate while spirited driving and accelerating out of corners. Now the power seems to be right there as soon as you tap the throttle. From a stop even my fairly anemic N52 will make my head hit the headrest. I'd say it's worth the money, and I'm really impressed.

So I got some products in the mail from various reputable vendors today.  Firstly, bimmerworld sent me some goodies, main part being the speed-buster pedal tuner. Installed it right away and looks great!

wow what a change!

Also, from the great state of Ohio comes a piece of tech I've wanted since I was a kid because I was that kind of kid reading dupont registry and dreaming of driving fast and evading the cops. Got a Valentine One gen 2. It has to do with a drive I'd like to do next year. 

Was a good day for mail. Still waiting for my Road America plates. Thank you for reading this, please send money.

m42b32 said:

Took me a minute haha, looks really good. If I didn't put the roof rack on mine occasionally I'd really think about it. 

Now that the roof rails are gone, I need a better front bumper. From the side profile it's painfully pedestrian appearing. And I almost kept my roof rails but decided that I don't really need to haul anything on the roof of this car.

rampelsauce said:

Mayyyyyybe

Took me a minute haha, looks really good. If I didn't put the roof rack on mine occasionally I'd really think about it.

m42b32 said:

Roof rail delete? 

Mayyyyyybe

rampelsauce said:

Huge transformation taking place over here. 

wow.

I'll be hitting up a couple pals this coming weekend to possibly do some more sick mods. Also, Speed-Buster pedal commander thingy coming in the mail, and finally pulled the trigger on a valentine one gen 2. Also took a look at my winters and need to replace two that are fried from the wonky shitbox M3. Nothing too exciting, but stuff is happening.

Roof rail delete?

wow.

I'll be hitting up a couple pals this coming weekend to possibly do some more sick mods. Also, Speed-Buster pedal commander thingy coming in the mail, and finally pulled the trigger on a valentine one gen 2. Also took a look at my winters and need to replace two that are fried from the wonky shitbox M3. Nothing too exciting, but stuff is happening.

Anyway, here's some pictures.

straight6pwr said:

love many things in here, best is: I HAVE A WAGON

I couldn't come up with anything better, so a statement of fact was in order.