Chadillac2000's 2008 135i Road Warrior Daily Driver Build Thread
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This is one hell of a build thread! Great read and awesome photos!
Glad to see you made it over here. I followed your posts on the other forums as well. Quick question that I’m not seeing in any of your posts -when you went RB/Dual CC did you tap and plug the head? Keep up the great work!
Ah you d!ck. Feel like I need to go out and work on the car now. Err..umm..I mean, fantastic build thread.
Seriously tho, kudos for staying true to DIY and keeping the work done to a high caliber.
Seriously tho, kudos for staying true to DIY and keeping the work done to a high caliber.
Thanks for the warm welcome anyone!
I have yet to tap/plug the head in conjunction with my RB External PCV system. I weighed the pros/cons of doing it when I had my valve cover off for replacement, but ultimately decided not to given the purpose of this car/build.
I have yet to tap/plug the head in conjunction with my RB External PCV system. I weighed the pros/cons of doing it when I had my valve cover off for replacement, but ultimately decided not to given the purpose of this car/build.
Since my last post, I've continued to make my 135i work hard nearly every single day. I've made this car live up to the road warrior name, putting nearly 700 miles on it each week and enjoying every second along the way. Each morning with the clutch in and a push of the ignition button, the engine fires right up with no hesitation, releases a quick roar, then quickly settles down to idle because of the Quiet Start mode embedded within the MHD tune. I continue to find this coupe practical, comfortable, quick as hell, and an absolute blast to drive through a number of different driving situations.
I know my driving experience would be greatly enhanced by installing the GC Lite and other mods I have sitting in my spare room, but I still haven't been able to pin down an exact time to start this tedious teardown. In the meantime, my mileage is continuously increasing and that means more maintenance. Not only was it time for an oil change with fresh Motul, but also time for a new set of NGK plugs as its been about 18,000 miles of E40 and 20psi since they were last changed.
Before we get to that, I wanted to share a few purchased I've been meaning to pull the trigger on. I've become less and less satisfied with the hodgepodge of different jacks and jack stands that I have access to at the shared garage I use, so I wanted to grab some new hardware that would be more suited for my setup.
For jack stands I went with Esco 10498 low-profile units with the included large circular rubber jack pads.
For the jack, I went with the Sunex 6602LP 2 Ton, Low Rider Service Jack, which I picked up off Amazon for $217.99. I chose this because of the 2.75" to 24" height range, which would allow me to use it on the 135i and my Cayenne. Regarding the turbocharger replacement that I'm about to undertake, this should allow me to get the car high enough off the ground to comfortably work for a week or two.
Aside from the extreme weight (close to 100 pounds), this jack is impressive and looks phenonemal. Unfortunately, it arrived with no upper handle. Because of the hassle of returning such a heavy item, Amazon instead gave me a 50% refund. I was able to easily replace the upper handle with one off an old jack laying around the garage.
The finishing touch for the Esco stands were these Pivot-Top posts made specifically for the BMW jack pad by Reverse Logic. Now I'll no longer need jack pad adapters or worrying about breaking the pads themselves by destroying them with y-shaped jack stands.
I was a little disappointed to see that the Sunex jack wasn't long enough to fully reach the middle jack point under the engine by itself, but it got impressively close considering this car is lowered with a front lip. Using a smaller jack on one of the front jack pads using an adapter would still be necessary to get the new Sunex jack deep enough under the front bonnet.
I was very satisfied to see the Pivot-Top posts slide smoothly into the jack pads. This height provided ample room for an oil change and the jack stands still have plenty of upward range; range that I'll utilize when swapping turbos.
Sticking to the 5,000 mile oil change interval I've been adhering to lately, the old Motul X-Cess 5W40 oil was drained and replaced with 7 quarts of new Motul X-Cess 5W40, a new Mann oil filter and o-rings, and both catch cans were emptied. Since I drive this car so often, it only takes a few weeks before my Mishimoto OCC + RB external PCV needs dumping. As expected, after emptying the can a few weeks ago, today it was half full again. After 10,000 miles I checked the BMS OCC to find less than a teaspoon of oil coating the inside. I may get rid of that OCC altogether when replacing turbos. After addressing oil concerns, I then turned to the ignition. Eventually the old NGK plugs were out and looked pretty good from front to back. This came as no surprise however, as they've had zero misfires over their life.
In addition to taking out the spark plugs, I also disconnected the injector electrical connections in preparation of performing a compression test--just to ease my mind about my smoking when coming to a stop. I'm fairly positive that the issue stems from leaking turbo seals, but I wanted confirmation there wasn't something more serious going on before I went through the trouble of upgrading to higher flowing turbochargers. For this, I utilized the OTC Deluxe Compression Kit. This was easy to use, had the correct insert, and worked perfectly.
With the engine warm, but not hot, I left the spark plugs out and one by one hand tightened the compression tester in cylinders 1-6. Each time I would go inside the car, depress the clutch, and let the car turn over 10 times. When it was all said and done, my 92,000 mile N54 passed with flying colors.
Afterwards, 6 new NGK plugs were installed and shouldn't need replacing until closer to 110,000 miles (or when I upgrade turbos), whichever comes first. And while I reinstalled the stock coils with around 25,000 miles of use on them because they were working perfectly at current power levels, reinforcements have arrived for the increased power right around the corner. I'll probably hold on to these and just install everything all at once closer to Spring.
I know my driving experience would be greatly enhanced by installing the GC Lite and other mods I have sitting in my spare room, but I still haven't been able to pin down an exact time to start this tedious teardown. In the meantime, my mileage is continuously increasing and that means more maintenance. Not only was it time for an oil change with fresh Motul, but also time for a new set of NGK plugs as its been about 18,000 miles of E40 and 20psi since they were last changed.
Before we get to that, I wanted to share a few purchased I've been meaning to pull the trigger on. I've become less and less satisfied with the hodgepodge of different jacks and jack stands that I have access to at the shared garage I use, so I wanted to grab some new hardware that would be more suited for my setup.
For jack stands I went with Esco 10498 low-profile units with the included large circular rubber jack pads.
For the jack, I went with the Sunex 6602LP 2 Ton, Low Rider Service Jack, which I picked up off Amazon for $217.99. I chose this because of the 2.75" to 24" height range, which would allow me to use it on the 135i and my Cayenne. Regarding the turbocharger replacement that I'm about to undertake, this should allow me to get the car high enough off the ground to comfortably work for a week or two.
Aside from the extreme weight (close to 100 pounds), this jack is impressive and looks phenonemal. Unfortunately, it arrived with no upper handle. Because of the hassle of returning such a heavy item, Amazon instead gave me a 50% refund. I was able to easily replace the upper handle with one off an old jack laying around the garage.
The finishing touch for the Esco stands were these Pivot-Top posts made specifically for the BMW jack pad by Reverse Logic. Now I'll no longer need jack pad adapters or worrying about breaking the pads themselves by destroying them with y-shaped jack stands.
I was a little disappointed to see that the Sunex jack wasn't long enough to fully reach the middle jack point under the engine by itself, but it got impressively close considering this car is lowered with a front lip. Using a smaller jack on one of the front jack pads using an adapter would still be necessary to get the new Sunex jack deep enough under the front bonnet.
I was very satisfied to see the Pivot-Top posts slide smoothly into the jack pads. This height provided ample room for an oil change and the jack stands still have plenty of upward range; range that I'll utilize when swapping turbos.
Sticking to the 5,000 mile oil change interval I've been adhering to lately, the old Motul X-Cess 5W40 oil was drained and replaced with 7 quarts of new Motul X-Cess 5W40, a new Mann oil filter and o-rings, and both catch cans were emptied. Since I drive this car so often, it only takes a few weeks before my Mishimoto OCC + RB external PCV needs dumping. As expected, after emptying the can a few weeks ago, today it was half full again. After 10,000 miles I checked the BMS OCC to find less than a teaspoon of oil coating the inside. I may get rid of that OCC altogether when replacing turbos. After addressing oil concerns, I then turned to the ignition. Eventually the old NGK plugs were out and looked pretty good from front to back. This came as no surprise however, as they've had zero misfires over their life.
In addition to taking out the spark plugs, I also disconnected the injector electrical connections in preparation of performing a compression test--just to ease my mind about my smoking when coming to a stop. I'm fairly positive that the issue stems from leaking turbo seals, but I wanted confirmation there wasn't something more serious going on before I went through the trouble of upgrading to higher flowing turbochargers. For this, I utilized the OTC Deluxe Compression Kit. This was easy to use, had the correct insert, and worked perfectly.
With the engine warm, but not hot, I left the spark plugs out and one by one hand tightened the compression tester in cylinders 1-6. Each time I would go inside the car, depress the clutch, and let the car turn over 10 times. When it was all said and done, my 92,000 mile N54 passed with flying colors.
Afterwards, 6 new NGK plugs were installed and shouldn't need replacing until closer to 110,000 miles (or when I upgrade turbos), whichever comes first. And while I reinstalled the stock coils with around 25,000 miles of use on them because they were working perfectly at current power levels, reinforcements have arrived for the increased power right around the corner. I'll probably hold on to these and just install everything all at once closer to Spring.
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I got an aluminum jack, I can tote it around pretty good but it can't reach the subframe jack point either and my E93 is stock height. I like those jack stand pad adapters... I bought an adapter for my jack, but since I don't have them for my jack stands its useless since the pads are messed up. Is there a reason we don't just make replacement pads which don't have this shape? Is there a problem with just jacking onto the jack pad and screwing it up? Because that is what I'm doing. It did destroy the rubber cover on my floor jack though.
Just an FYI letting the car rotate more than 5 times during a compression test is too many. Basically you have exhausted all the possible compression at that point which can skew readings. Exactly 5 rotations for each cylinder will give you the proper results.
Yeah, the jack stand adapters are the main reason I went with this setup. I was on the fence until I saw the Reverse Logic posts. I too have considered why there aren't aftermarket jack pads that are more appropriate for standard jacks and jack stands. I don't think there's a real problem with just jacking up the jack pad directly aside from messing up the rubber pad on your jack. For years I've used y-shaped jack stands directly on the jack pad with zero issues and the car has always been extremely stable. By the 200,000 mile mark on my E60 535i, mine were completely chewed up however. Hopefully the set on my 1 will stay more intact with the new equipment.
Thanks for the clarification Tony. I tried to do some research before on the proper procedure for the N54 and I heard conflicting things on whether or not all the plugs needed to be pulled, as well as how many rotations were required. I ended up taking out all the plugs, but sounds like I went about double the amount of rotations needed unfortunately. I'll definitely keep that 5 mark in mind next time. I was also working alone, so I wasn't sure how quickly the gauge was getting up to an accurate reading.
@Tony@VargasTurboTech How could it skew readings? I've never done more than 5, and I have never heard it could skew readings. I just heard it was unnecessary and there was no need to rotate the engine during a state of low oil pressure more than necessary (especially important on old flat tappet lifters in older v8's)...but nobody I know has ever mentioned skewed readings.
When you consider that most floor and bottle jacks have a flat surface, jackstands often having a curved surface to help grasp the vehicle, makes me wonder what a good shape would even be. Perhaps just a hunk of plastic with a rounded side.
Not a big update, but ordered a dedicated bracket directly from Mishimoto to secure my OCC connected to the external PCV. I ran it closer to the firewall next to the BMS OCC for a while, but eventually moved it closer to the front headlight. I'd rigged up my own homemade bracket, but liked Mishimoto's in-house polished design better. When installed as originally intended I had some interference with the front inlet, but flipped over and it works perfectly. It gives the can just enough clearance around my inlets, headlights and chargepipe to empty without messing with any of the screws or brackets. Looks loads better too.
Nice, The mounting location up near the headlight results in catching more water condensation I think, the further from the heat the more of that white stuff will accumulate there. I have a dual can setup and FF billet bracket, but just haven't nailed down the perfect spot yet.
Yes, this is true. I find the contents of the can to be much more reminiscent of snot than oil during the colder months in this location. And I have to empty it every 3-4 fill-ups, as to where I can probably get double that in the warmer months. This new location makes it super simple to empty, so it isn't a huge hassle. Keep in mind, this is also a car that sees about 600-700 miles a week of use at mostly highway speeds, so my low-side OCC catches a ton of blow-by.
Only time will tell. I had all intentions of going ST as soon as my stock twins started to go, but winning a large discount at VTT through a forum promotional drawing pushed me into going with upgraded twins instead. Compared to the cost of going single turbo, it was an easy decision. I have no allegiance with anyone, which means I will be giving a very unbiased review of the whole experience. I haven't dealt much with Tony throughout the entire process, but dealing with Chris has been a pleasure. As for the hardware, once everything is installed in February-March 2018, I'll be sure to keep everyone updated.
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In other news, Asheville got its first snow of the winter months, around 8 inches or so. The 1er, still sleeping outside every night, took it like a champ. This isn't her first time being frozen in place until the snow melts.
Wheel arch shaped icicles.
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As my odometer rolled over 97,000 miles, yet another oil change was in order. It also gave me the opportunity to install the ECS billet oil filter cap I ordered recently. I admit, this was purely for looks. And eliminates one more specialty tool I have to keep in the toolbox. I've always used the BMS oil filter cap tool for removal, but no need with this.
New filter and o-rings in place.
And tightened down to 25 Nm.
New filter and o-rings in place.
And tightened down to 25 Nm.
