jzx_andy's E92 progress thread
- Thread starter jzx_andy
- Start date
The Subframe is on our car is not very stiff. This plate connects the front and rear struts and decreases flex significantly.
The result is a very subjective feeling and in my personal opinion it was very notable. But i also increased front camber a few days later.
It is a very cheap and easy mod and i can only recommend it.
The result is a very subjective feeling and in my personal opinion it was very notable. But i also increased front camber a few days later.
It is a very cheap and easy mod and i can only recommend it.
I went back through your build and saw you are running the RE rubber trans mounts and Revshift 80A setup. I'm surprised to hear you are having NVH issues enough to camp on it - obviously a fair bit under 1k. Definitely not been my situation. I've not even raised my idle, as vibration at stock idle is intermittent and just noticeable when there (minor enough that I don't care to set idle higher). I'd love to figure out why the difference. @Torgus seems to have pretty low NVH as well.
Shall I take a guess? Xtreme organic twin plate clutch and SMFW
Wondering if that's the issue - the SMFW setup needs more dampening? Would be great to get observations from others on this.
Filippo
p.s. Nice build - I'm liking it!
Thanks man.
Yeah, I'm not entirely sure if there's anything in particular that is making the nvh objectively worse in my case, as opposed to builds like yours and Torgus'. It's not like you can botch up an engine mount install such that the nvh experience would differ significantly. In all fairness I am not concerned one bit with nvh below ~1k rpm as I shouldn't be getting the revs that low anyway.
The clutch/smfw setup was loud even with stock engine mounts. When I completed the manual swap I was taken aback by the smfw chatter and ended up swapping the factory trans mounts in to see if it would improve things. That didn't have a noticeable impact, so the Rogue mounts went back in.
Swapping to the VAC/ATI harmonic damper also did very little in mitigating smfw/twin disk noises under low load/rpm - I'd say by about 20% or so, but it's given me some peace of mind when it comes to high rpm stupidity.
Overall I think it's just a combination of me being sensitive to NVH (self-explanatory as I didn't react very positively to noises from the twin disk setup in the first place haha), and having the factory rear subframe/diff bushings and catback at the time of installing the Revshift mounts.
I'm sure the engine mount nvh and gearbox chatter will be masked significantly once I get a decent exhaust and stiffen up the rear end some more. Regardless, the car does feel great when doing fun stuff
.
Not much to share since last month with regard to the widebody itself.
Still collecting and hoarding parts as usual. Ended up sourcing a bumper from a E90 M3 wreck that is in pretty good shape, and a perfect bonnet from a E92 M3, so the damaged bumpers have gone away for free. Got the second front fender new from BMW.
Here's some pics of the more usable parts that I've sourced:
Stuck on a pair of 335i fender indicator stickers to the M3 items. Thank you to Socket for providing these to me!
Will be selling the dented (white) E92 M3 bonnet from my earlier posts for cheap if anybody wants it - the power dome and hood vents are in perfect shape, and can be cut and welded to a non-M e8x/e9x bonnet.
More recently, I went on a track day. Lots of fun and definitely recommend for anyone. Wish I'd gone sooner when the car was far closer to factory spec.
Also changed the fuel filter this week as a nice bit of preventative maintenance.
Lastly, I've been tossing and turning on colour choices for the exterior, since the M3 widebody conversion presents an opportunity to paint the entire exterior in something nice. Presently thinking about getting the exterior of the car done in Suzuka Grey, which is a VW/Porsche/Audi colour that was offered by BMW as an Individual colour at some point. It looks rather white in photos, but it's definitely closer to an offwhite or very light grey, as shown in the last pic below, when compared to a white sheet of paper.
Need to get a few samples done up to make my mind up - photos/videos are always deceiving.
If anyone has any suggestions/recommendations on a colour choice, I'd appreciate it. Looking to keep the contrast between the exterior paint and engine bay, door jambs etc very subtle, so I don't want to stray too far from light colours. But I want something that pops and will be looking to settle on a choice within the next week or so.
Still collecting and hoarding parts as usual. Ended up sourcing a bumper from a E90 M3 wreck that is in pretty good shape, and a perfect bonnet from a E92 M3, so the damaged bumpers have gone away for free. Got the second front fender new from BMW.
Here's some pics of the more usable parts that I've sourced:
Stuck on a pair of 335i fender indicator stickers to the M3 items. Thank you to Socket for providing these to me!
Will be selling the dented (white) E92 M3 bonnet from my earlier posts for cheap if anybody wants it - the power dome and hood vents are in perfect shape, and can be cut and welded to a non-M e8x/e9x bonnet.
More recently, I went on a track day. Lots of fun and definitely recommend for anyone. Wish I'd gone sooner when the car was far closer to factory spec.
Also changed the fuel filter this week as a nice bit of preventative maintenance.
Lastly, I've been tossing and turning on colour choices for the exterior, since the M3 widebody conversion presents an opportunity to paint the entire exterior in something nice. Presently thinking about getting the exterior of the car done in Suzuka Grey, which is a VW/Porsche/Audi colour that was offered by BMW as an Individual colour at some point. It looks rather white in photos, but it's definitely closer to an offwhite or very light grey, as shown in the last pic below, when compared to a white sheet of paper.
Need to get a few samples done up to make my mind up - photos/videos are always deceiving.
If anyone has any suggestions/recommendations on a colour choice, I'd appreciate it. Looking to keep the contrast between the exterior paint and engine bay, door jambs etc very subtle, so I don't want to stray too far from light colours. But I want something that pops and will be looking to settle on a choice within the next week or so.
Pulled the plug on the JMC Tuning / N54 Developments RHD kit:
Planning on running a Pulsar GTX3582r with a twin scroll rear housing. The kit features an equal length manifold with a bunch of zirconia coated pieces, and looks to be amazing value for money.
Given what happened, I also ordered a Motiv Reflex+ which also arrived. This will control the MAC solenoid, provide sequential port injection control, retains true flex fuel capabilities and might also control a secondary LPFP. Time will tell but it looks like a great bit of kit on paper.
Planning on running a Pulsar GTX3582r with a twin scroll rear housing. The kit features an equal length manifold with a bunch of zirconia coated pieces, and looks to be amazing value for money.
Given what happened, I also ordered a Motiv Reflex+ which also arrived. This will control the MAC solenoid, provide sequential port injection control, retains true flex fuel capabilities and might also control a secondary LPFP. Time will tell but it looks like a great bit of kit on paper.
Not much substantive progress as of late, however the car is going in next weekend to start the process of hacking up the rear quarters and widening them to E92 M3 spec.
Still waiting on the black bonnet to arrive, but I'm more or less committed to the widebody project and don't want to delay things. Am I realistic in thinking the widebody, respray, ST and M3 diff can all be done in 2022?
Anyway, I've got a pair of generic 50mm metal fender flares that can be used as the donor metal for the rear quarters. The E9x M3 rear fenders are about 30mm extra per side at their widest point and I'd like to keep it that way, as I'm not a huge fan of the 50-80mm overfender kits that are available for the E9x platform. This means my factory rear quarters and rear bumper mounts will need to be cut and extended by about 30mm, and the resulting hole will need to be filled with metal and smoothed out to contour with existing body lines from the quarter itself and the other plastic panels that form part of the rear wheel arch.
Here's a quick pic showing the metal flares we've picked up to work with.
These metal flares will need to be cut, shaped and welded in so it looks OEM and lines up with the existing "fender bulge" lines that contour from the sides of the E9x M3 rear bumper (on one side) and the rear 10-15mm of the rear of the E92/E93 M3 side skirts (on the other side) to the rear quarters. The plastic M3 panels will serve as great reference point.
I couldn't find anyone who was letting a E92/E93 M3 shell go for cheap and OEM rear quarters are approx $2k ea plus shipping/taxes, so I settled on premade fender flares with custom work as the way to go about this widening process on a budget. These flares will also allow us to use more metal and much less filler than another job that I've seen on these forums and have decided to emulate. Couple of pics below of the said job.
Raj on the UK section of E90post is the original experimentalist/pioneer with this "OE" E92 widebody conversion and went through the above process. His build is nothing short of amazing, check it out here: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1074528
As an aside, I had an F8x steel BBK show up. These rock the same 4 and 2 pot Brembo calipers found on the F3x 335/340i's with the M Performance BBK option, but with slightly larger and 2 piece ///M rotors.
I managed to grab these for a steal from another forum member who pulled them off his brand new M2C after about 600km odd. No idea if my front wheels will clear them but they were going so cheap that it was a case of "buy first, and ask questions later". Hopefully they will fit and I won't need to size up to 19's. I think these brakes along with everything else that's financially ruined me this year will bring the ethos of the whole build together (ala a mental sounding 3 series M Coupe with some nice F8x bits). So much for having a relatively cookie cutter 6AT ST 335i.
These brakes really are in great shape save for some minor markings on one of the rear calipers - seems like it was scraped against something. The brake lines and stickers on the rear of the calipers all look brand new and the rotors themselves are the same thickness as what's quoted on RealOEM. There are adapter kits to fit these to an E9x 335i with minimal modification, which is great.
Still waiting on the black bonnet to arrive, but I'm more or less committed to the widebody project and don't want to delay things. Am I realistic in thinking the widebody, respray, ST and M3 diff can all be done in 2022?
Anyway, I've got a pair of generic 50mm metal fender flares that can be used as the donor metal for the rear quarters. The E9x M3 rear fenders are about 30mm extra per side at their widest point and I'd like to keep it that way, as I'm not a huge fan of the 50-80mm overfender kits that are available for the E9x platform. This means my factory rear quarters and rear bumper mounts will need to be cut and extended by about 30mm, and the resulting hole will need to be filled with metal and smoothed out to contour with existing body lines from the quarter itself and the other plastic panels that form part of the rear wheel arch.
Here's a quick pic showing the metal flares we've picked up to work with.
These metal flares will need to be cut, shaped and welded in so it looks OEM and lines up with the existing "fender bulge" lines that contour from the sides of the E9x M3 rear bumper (on one side) and the rear 10-15mm of the rear of the E92/E93 M3 side skirts (on the other side) to the rear quarters. The plastic M3 panels will serve as great reference point.
I couldn't find anyone who was letting a E92/E93 M3 shell go for cheap and OEM rear quarters are approx $2k ea plus shipping/taxes, so I settled on premade fender flares with custom work as the way to go about this widening process on a budget. These flares will also allow us to use more metal and much less filler than another job that I've seen on these forums and have decided to emulate. Couple of pics below of the said job.
Raj on the UK section of E90post is the original experimentalist/pioneer with this "OE" E92 widebody conversion and went through the above process. His build is nothing short of amazing, check it out here: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1074528
As an aside, I had an F8x steel BBK show up. These rock the same 4 and 2 pot Brembo calipers found on the F3x 335/340i's with the M Performance BBK option, but with slightly larger and 2 piece ///M rotors.
I managed to grab these for a steal from another forum member who pulled them off his brand new M2C after about 600km odd. No idea if my front wheels will clear them but they were going so cheap that it was a case of "buy first, and ask questions later". Hopefully they will fit and I won't need to size up to 19's. I think these brakes along with everything else that's financially ruined me this year will bring the ethos of the whole build together (ala a mental sounding 3 series M Coupe with some nice F8x bits). So much for having a relatively cookie cutter 6AT ST 335i.
These brakes really are in great shape save for some minor markings on one of the rear calipers - seems like it was scraped against something. The brake lines and stickers on the rear of the calipers all look brand new and the rotors themselves are the same thickness as what's quoted on RealOEM. There are adapter kits to fit these to an E9x 335i with minimal modification, which is great.
So I've been working on the widebody project over the past week or so.
Took the rear bumper off and swapped the carbon kevlar rear crash bar, and sussed out what else needs to be changed to fit the M3 one on. Just need to swap the inner guard liners and plastic side mounts, both of which I picked up from a wreck a few months ago.
Moved on to the front end and started taking things off. I bought the entire front clip off a M3 so off went the factory one.
M3 clip on with the carbon crash bar
Had to deal with a few issues with the fenders not lining up well. Had to undo the Active Steering module from it's bracket and tuck it into the cavity that's behind the passenger side fender. It normally sits just outside that cavity which is an issue with M3 fenders.
Ended up looking like this today
She's looking a bit thicc
Took the rear bumper off and swapped the carbon kevlar rear crash bar, and sussed out what else needs to be changed to fit the M3 one on. Just need to swap the inner guard liners and plastic side mounts, both of which I picked up from a wreck a few months ago.
Moved on to the front end and started taking things off. I bought the entire front clip off a M3 so off went the factory one.
M3 clip on with the carbon crash bar
Had to deal with a few issues with the fenders not lining up well. Had to undo the Active Steering module from it's bracket and tuck it into the cavity that's behind the passenger side fender. It normally sits just outside that cavity which is an issue with M3 fenders.
Ended up looking like this today
She's looking a bit thicc
The past few posts are from about early-April 2022 until a few days ago.
Today's update: 21 May 2022.
Got a few more things sorted.
Had to remove the bumper, passenger side skirt and fender for two reasons. First, the passenger fender needed re-aligning as it was clipping the door slightly. Second, the Active Steering module on my car was also causing issues and blocked the fender badges from clipping in fully.
Relocated and secured the module with some zip ties and double sided tape, and got the troublesome fender aligned properly this time. Plenty of room for the module to sit tucked away and for the fender badges to be fitted later (surprising that the module is about the same size as the DME!) :thumsup:
Then moved on to swapping the original bonnet for the M3 item. The M3 one is a good 5-10kg lighter than non-M, as it's made of aluminium and not steel.
Started mocking things up and realised a few things needed fixing, so off came the bumper again to make sure headlights were all lining up and bolted properly. Then onto aligning the bonnet enough so it'd close and not smash the windscreen on the way to the shop.
Great success!
Starting to see the light at the end of this tunnel. Just need to put the new front liners and ducts in, extend the wires for the ambient temperature sensor and modify the M3 belly pan to bolt up to a non-M front subframe.
Will also need to give it a quick wash and swap the stock wheels over, after which I'll be taking the car in for chopping up and prep of the rear quarters.
This has been a pretty high effort all things considered, but will hopefully be worth it in the end. Nice to know that I've shaved about 20 odd kg's with all these M3 bits so far. Definitely need an aftermarket exhaust to shave some more haha.
Today's update: 21 May 2022.
Got a few more things sorted.
Had to remove the bumper, passenger side skirt and fender for two reasons. First, the passenger fender needed re-aligning as it was clipping the door slightly. Second, the Active Steering module on my car was also causing issues and blocked the fender badges from clipping in fully.
Relocated and secured the module with some zip ties and double sided tape, and got the troublesome fender aligned properly this time. Plenty of room for the module to sit tucked away and for the fender badges to be fitted later (surprising that the module is about the same size as the DME!) :thumsup:
Then moved on to swapping the original bonnet for the M3 item. The M3 one is a good 5-10kg lighter than non-M, as it's made of aluminium and not steel.
Started mocking things up and realised a few things needed fixing, so off came the bumper again to make sure headlights were all lining up and bolted properly. Then onto aligning the bonnet enough so it'd close and not smash the windscreen on the way to the shop.
Great success!
Starting to see the light at the end of this tunnel. Just need to put the new front liners and ducts in, extend the wires for the ambient temperature sensor and modify the M3 belly pan to bolt up to a non-M front subframe.
Will also need to give it a quick wash and swap the stock wheels over, after which I'll be taking the car in for chopping up and prep of the rear quarters.
This has been a pretty high effort all things considered, but will hopefully be worth it in the end. Nice to know that I've shaved about 20 odd kg's with all these M3 bits so far. Definitely need an aftermarket exhaust to shave some more haha.
We've started working on the rear. If anyone is on Instagram, my handle is @Slowpoke_E92. I'll post more frequent updates on there.
Plan of attack is to hack up the M3 rear bumper centre section out, do the same with the original Msport bumper, then graft the Msport centre/diffuser section into the M3 bumper.
Once that's done, we'll have a baseline for cutting and fabrication of the widened rear quarters.
No going back now.
Plan of attack is to hack up the M3 rear bumper centre section out, do the same with the original Msport bumper, then graft the Msport centre/diffuser section into the M3 bumper.
Once that's done, we'll have a baseline for cutting and fabrication of the widened rear quarters.
No going back now.
Hybrid 335i/M3 rear bumper shaping up
The rear bumper is almost done, it's been joined with plastic welding and the joins have been reinforced on the inside, along with some sanding work to the exterior.
Needs a few small refinements then it'll be ready for primer.
We've also stripped out a lot from the boot in order to expose the inside of the quarter panels. Ready to start cutting things soon.
Cabin stripped out and masked. This was done to expose the insides of the rear quarter panels.
The rear bumper is almost done, it's been joined with plastic welding and the joins have been reinforced on the inside, along with some sanding work to the exterior.
Needs a few small refinements then it'll be ready for primer.
We've also stripped out a lot from the boot in order to expose the inside of the quarter panels. Ready to start cutting things soon.
Cabin stripped out and masked. This was done to expose the insides of the rear quarter panels.
The JMC hotside kit arrived today. I have nothing more to say other than, this manifold is a piece of art. Amazing kit for the money IMO. Cannot wait to get the car back and fit everything up, hopefully without issue!
Mocked up the 3 piece manifold together
The insides are so smooth
Showing off the twin scroll vband flange and o2's
Checked to see how a China 1.01 GTX35 twin scroll housing fits up to the manifold flange and DP. Looks good to me.
Mocked up the 3 piece manifold together
The insides are so smooth
Showing off the twin scroll vband flange and o2's
Checked to see how a China 1.01 GTX35 twin scroll housing fits up to the manifold flange and DP. Looks good to me.
Custom rear bumper finished off and primed.
Also had an opportunity to do some minor repairs and prep to the M3 side skirts.
Also had an opportunity to do some minor repairs and prep to the M3 side skirts.
Looking a bit more phat in the rear. Just needs the metal sorted out - hardest part of the entire conversion
We've gotten through week 2 of the custom quarters and here's where it's at right now.
Got one inner guard finished and painted like OEM. Finalised the main flare piece and started shaping the final two custom filler panels. Will be aiming to have this quarter welded up next week, after which it'll be smoothed out and the entire panel will be prepped and given the necessary primer.
My body guy only operates his custom fab/bodywork business 2 days a week, so progress will continue to move a little slower than I would otherwise like, but the work so far has been top notch and appears to be in line with my overall vision.
Got one inner guard finished and painted like OEM. Finalised the main flare piece and started shaping the final two custom filler panels. Will be aiming to have this quarter welded up next week, after which it'll be smoothed out and the entire panel will be prepped and given the necessary primer.
My body guy only operates his custom fab/bodywork business 2 days a week, so progress will continue to move a little slower than I would otherwise like, but the work so far has been top notch and appears to be in line with my overall vision.
Week 3 done and the flare/filler templates for the LHS rear quarter were sorted out. RHS quarter has also been stripped to bare metal. The process with making up the RHS flare/filler pieces should be a fair bit quicker, as we now have a working template that simply needs to be mirrored.
I went to check out progress yesterday and these photos do zero justice. I was absolutely floored with what Dylan from Committed Composites did so far. The custom bumper looks flawless and would pass off as something that BMW made from factory, and the quarters look awesome. While I was initially very hesitant about the job and took a "just send it" attitude, seeing it in the flesh has quelled all doubt and I am very happy with the way things are going.
Dylan has former experience working at a bodyshop that focussed on custom panel/paint, and currently works at a BMW accredited shop. He is an artist, has a proper understanding of my vision for the car and is a proper BMW nut - the guy knows his way around late-model BMW's in particular.
He ended up attacking the rear quarters with a different method to that described in post #47, such that they can be filled and rust-proofed properly using the same method BMW uses from factory, and utilises 3 larger pieces of metal that are cut and hammered/dollied to shape, rather than a higher number of small metal plates which are then hammered and welded.
The custom M3 rear bumper, side skirts and inner guard liners all bolt on like they should from factory
Next step is to weld the LHS quarter together and then fill the inner quarter panel cavitied by accessing them from the cabin.
Once that's done, filler will be applied to the metal and things will be smoothed out so the panel has smooth contours and lines up flush with the rear bumper/side skirts, and retains appropriate panel gaps.
I went to check out progress yesterday and these photos do zero justice. I was absolutely floored with what Dylan from Committed Composites did so far. The custom bumper looks flawless and would pass off as something that BMW made from factory, and the quarters look awesome. While I was initially very hesitant about the job and took a "just send it" attitude, seeing it in the flesh has quelled all doubt and I am very happy with the way things are going.
Dylan has former experience working at a bodyshop that focussed on custom panel/paint, and currently works at a BMW accredited shop. He is an artist, has a proper understanding of my vision for the car and is a proper BMW nut - the guy knows his way around late-model BMW's in particular.
He ended up attacking the rear quarters with a different method to that described in post #47, such that they can be filled and rust-proofed properly using the same method BMW uses from factory, and utilises 3 larger pieces of metal that are cut and hammered/dollied to shape, rather than a higher number of small metal plates which are then hammered and welded.
The custom M3 rear bumper, side skirts and inner guard liners all bolt on like they should from factory
Next step is to weld the LHS quarter together and then fill the inner quarter panel cavitied by accessing them from the cabin.
Once that's done, filler will be applied to the metal and things will be smoothed out so the panel has smooth contours and lines up flush with the rear bumper/side skirts, and retains appropriate panel gaps.
Another week has passed and we've made some more progress.
LHS flare all prepared and painted/coated on the inside. Ready for welding.
Made a lot of progress with the RHS. Just needs some minor work - should have everything welded on by the end of next Saturday. Then onto smoothing and prepwork.
LHS flare all prepared and painted/coated on the inside. Ready for welding.
Made a lot of progress with the RHS. Just needs some minor work - should have everything welded on by the end of next Saturday. Then onto smoothing and prepwork.
Week 5 done and some great progress. Both quarter panel flares have been fabbed, welded, smoothed out and coated. The most tedious and trial/error part of the job is complete.
Now onto filling the inside cavities and smoothing/prepping the exterior skins. Have been told the car will be ready for collection in early September, can't wait to have her back and rip into everything else.
Now onto filling the inside cavities and smoothing/prepping the exterior skins. Have been told the car will be ready for collection in early September, can't wait to have her back and rip into everything else.
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