Sillieidiot's Project...Nah not really, more like an update. [Archive] - BMW E46 330 ZHP For Sale Forum

sillieidiot

06-03-2014, 07:12 PM

cross posting, hope it works lol

Was super busy the last couple of days. But here is a nice update.

So yesterday, I spent the day running around picking up stuff that we needed for the short detail/paint correction needed for the clear bra. I dropped off the car to get a few minor adjustments as I mentioned and got the car back the same day. Washed it too so that it could be ready :excited:

Then this morning at 6am, we started the detail so that I could make my 9am appointment for clear bra (I didn't make it :rofl: more on it later).

Brian N. did basically all the work, I only did the parts that required hand polishing lol

Brian started off claying the car, but because of fresh paint, it took all of like 15 mins to do the front and roof lol

Next was the CF roof (used an MF pad w/ Menzerna FG 400)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060002_zpscfd11a39.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060001_zpsa3ce2386.jpg

Then the hood next using a brand new MF pad with the same polish. Here's a shot of him on the vents:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060006_zps358f0ad5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060007_zps0f3009d6.jpg

Didn't take any pictures of the fenders since while he was doing that, i was hand polishing the kidney grill area. I also watched him do the headlights. My headlights weren't that bad, but might as well since it's getting covered too.

Next up was the front bumper:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060008_zps1990c234.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060009_zpsf99d9268.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060011_zps08c58cf7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060012_zps10d3e0bf.jpg

Finally went back to the CF roof to make it extra glossy. Cause you know, that's the most important piece (Used a white foam pad w/ Menzerna SF4500):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060013_zps8a028aeb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060014_zpsb552fe46.jpg

While he was doing the finishing touches on the roof, i hand polished the door cups since that was getting covered too.

Yep the roof looked like glass :str8pimpi. So nice. Then with our crappy phones :banghead:, we tried to take pictures of it cause this would be the only time you'd be able to see it after polishing and before clear bra.

Nothing came out great, but here are my attempts anyways:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060016_zpsb47fcdcd.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060005_zpsf5375b6e.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060018_zps9a22a901.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060020_zpseebcb1a9.jpg

So back to the 9am time. When we decided to go ahead and make the roof more glossy I was already cutting it close. Then I wasted more time by trying to take pictures of it. I ended up 30ish minutes late :lmao: But they were cool about it though.

Special thanks to Brian N. for waking up early, driving up here just to detail :bow: Now go buy the roof already ;)

johnrando

06-03-2014, 10:21 PM

Purdy!

danewilson77

06-04-2014, 04:52 AM

Yum

cakM3

06-04-2014, 05:29 AM

Roof looks fantastic Hieu! :thumbsup I'll be placing my order for the roof next week :)

sillieidiot

06-04-2014, 10:44 PM

Roof looks fantastic Hieu! :thumbsup I'll be placing my order for the roof next week :)

nice

Avetiso

06-04-2014, 11:08 PM

Epic roof.

derbo

06-04-2014, 11:34 PM

The roof. :drool

sillieidiot

07-08-2014, 11:31 PM

I guess i'm getting lazier and lazier to copy/paste the posts. Here's a couple small updates in one post lol

Here's some pictures from when I got my car back from clear bra. It was the same day we did the polishing, but I was too tired/lazy to go through the rest of the pictures.

Anyways, I got a full hood/fenders/bumper wrapped. Along with the CF roof, mirrors, headlights, and door cups. They did a great job @ Protective Film Solutions in Santa Ana :thumbsup:. You can't even see the seams unless your face was directly in it. Especially on my hood where the vents are. That's where you should see the most seams and it's perfect.

Here's a few pictures I took after I picked it up:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060024_zps0727a6ce.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060022_zps91e60cb2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060021_zps1d7d5180.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060031_zps83bc8600.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060033_zpsa8826dca.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060032_zps4c03cecd.jpg

I tried taking a picture of the seam on the bumper line. They had to cut around it since there's not enough surface area for the film to stick if you push it in side. It was hard to capture the seam even still.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060029_zpsf3c0709b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060028_zpsd54967a2.jpg

Then the roof, it still looks as good as when we polished it. Like nothing was ever there :str8pimpi

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060034_zpsbb9034d4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060035_zpsab6e537a.jpg

Obviously, I plan to take better pictures later. It's just I'm not allowed to wash my car right now. Car is getting dirty as hell :(

fast forward to yesterday, I finally did my oil change. It was overdue like 3 months ago since it's been sitting at the shop. Oil was pretty dirty.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060048_zps228e4075.jpg

My makeshift oil drain. The real ones cost too much lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060046_zpsfd2ae0a4.jpg

While I was doing that, I took the time to snap some quick pictures of my lighted door handle LED modules for the members that PMed me about it. I used the e92 ones. The e90 ones have 3 LEDs in them and are larger in size as opposed to 2.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060051_zps7fe74eb3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060052_zps80d95fb6.jpg

I also took a picture of my BMWPedals (now called PedalHaus) heel extension that I had Brian@BMWPedals made. It also lifts the pedal up like 1/4" or something. I forgot the exact thickness. You can see their clutch stop (this was prototype version 2) in the back too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060060_zpsf64a852f.jpg

Overall, I'm happy with the bra so far. I already scrapped on my bumper, and destroyed a little bit of the clear bra that overlapped down the splitters lol I guess I hit it pretty hard, and the film did it's job as best that it could since the scratches in that area were way shallower than the parts that weren't protected. I need to make a plate to protect that area now.

And then another fail happened to me yesterday. I was about to install my SS brake lines, when I realized that I got 2 fronts doh! :facepalm: I bought this like back in July/August 2013 lol Luckily, Robert@EAS is taking care of me on the exchange.

edit:
Just updated my first post with my current mod list too.

Here is my current mod list (as of 6/15/2014):

Vehicle Info
- 2006 330ci
- Alpine White with Black interior
- 6 speed manual

Exterior
- BMW Performance grills
- Challenge CF roof - 1x1 (first one ever made :thumbsup:)
- Custom OEM M3 fenders w/ grill delete, side markers added, inner lip flattened
- Custom OEM Mtech 2 front bumper w/ molded CS splitters & reflector delete
- OEM BMW Euro blind-spot glass
- OEM CSL rails (bought, not installed)
- OEM M3 mirrors
- OEM M3 side skirts
- OEM Mtech 2 rear bumper
- Shadowline Gloss black vinyl window trim (bought, not installed)
- Vorsteiner CSL trunk - DVWP
- Vorsteiner VRS vented hood - Double-sided w/ silver CF vents (race version)
- Xpel ultimate clear bra - full front w/ wrapped edges, door cups, roof, mirrors

Interior
- 35% 3M Crystalline tint all around
- BMWPedals Clutch stop
- Custom AUX input/jack
- Custom BMWPedals - black w/ heel extension
- EAS Silver CF interior trim
- EAS Silver CF tool box
- OEM M3 black non-sunroof headliner
- OEM ZHP Perforated leather steering wheel w/ yellow center line
- OEM ZHP shift knob

Lighting
- Custom lighted door handles using OEM E92 LEDs
- EAS Aurora angel eyes (Prototype)
- F1 Autohaus LED corners/Reverse lights (Prototype)
- F1 Autohaus LED interior kit (Prototype)
- HID fogs lights - 6000k
- OEM E92 LED license plate lights
- Osram CBI bulbs

Suspension
- AST 4100 dampers
- Bimmerworld front adjustable endlinks
- Hyperco springs 550F & 650R
- Mason Engineering front racing strut bar
- OEM BMW front strut reinforcement plates
- Rogue Engineering RSMs
- Vorshlag camber plates

Brakes
- OEM BMW Performance rotors
- Motul RBF 600 fluid
- Performance Friction Z-rated pads
- Stoptech SS brake lines (bought, not installed)

Wheels/tires
- Apex ARC-8s 18 x 9.5 et35 (Square setup)
- Michelin PSS 255/35/18 F/R (Square setup)
- Macht Schnell stud kit - 75mm
- OEM BMW updated center caps w/ chrome ring
- Vorshlag 5mm spacers - front

Transmission/Drivetrain
- Rogue Engineering Octane SSK
- Rogue Engineering SS clutch line (bought, not installed)
- Redline fluid

Exhaust
- Magnaflow full catback exhaust

Thanks man

update:
I got these like a week or so ago.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14060067_zps38ac9414.jpg

BimmerBrakes Gen3 reps. I don't plan on putting them on any time soon though. I plan to send them to Swaintech first to have it coated, then go from there.

Then today, this came in for me:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14070010_zpse13ed548.jpg

They are just the CSL rails. I'll take some pictures of the rails after I put them in I guess.

Torxuvin

07-09-2014, 05:40 AM

:drool Great looking e46. That roof is awesome.

johnrando

07-09-2014, 08:03 AM

More awesomeness!

sillieidiot

08-12-2014, 03:07 PM

thanks guys.

So some updates...

My friend Jason (Devious1) decided to sell his car. So while we were parting his car, I took the change to trade him a couple of things that I wanted. I got his Turner Motorsports sway bars and rear adjustable camber arms.

Some pictures during the install process:

Stock ones:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14080002_zps522ce013.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14080003_zpsf4ca1176.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14080004_zpsb673d0eb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14080005_zps5726e731.jpg

Turner ones (dirty, but still in great condition nonetheless):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14080006_zps5b54cd34.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/14080008_zps6103dd34.jpg

During the install process, I couldn't adjust the front shocks on the ASTs to adjust for preload on the sways because one of my lug nuts were seized so I just left it like that. But the next day, when up on something and then here a loud pop. I was like "damn, I just broke those endlinks." Well turns out, all it did was break the endlink bracket loose. After taking off the seized lug nut, I lifted up to adjust it and all was well. Luckily those endlink brackets can be adjusted, if it was welded on, it would have broken for sure.

Currently, they are set to soft/soft for the front/rear bars. And the rear camber arms is set to -1 deg, cause that's how it was on his car. I plan to get an alignment after i do my lines and lower the front.

Then the next day, I couldn't take it being dirty as hell anymore. So I washed it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/FOT4F5C_zps36f12e94.jpg

Today....

I went to EAS to pick up my rear SS lines finally. It was an exchange because I got 2 fronts instead of a front/rear set. I also bought one lug nut to replace the one that got seized on my stud.

Took some pictures while I was out front lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/WP_20140812_12_04_59_Pro_zps5238f007.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/WP_20140812_12_03_49_Pro_zpsecc23774.jpg

and their newest addition to their shop...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/WP_20140812_12_04_07_Pro_zpsfd2e06d4.jpg

I'm really loving how my car looks right now. I'll probably take care of the SS lines and brake flush + CDV delete sometime this week.

I was going to ask anthony to take some pictures, But decided not to. I'll ask him once i get the shadowline vinyl done and finish the adjustments on the car. That would be my final round of mods for now.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I just put in an order for a custom Autosolutions SSK for my car. It won't be here until like October or something though, I can't wait for it.

lame have to put something down when quoting myself lol

WOLFN8TR

08-13-2014, 05:00 AM

Hieu your car looks amazing! Is that lift your's?

sillieidiot

08-13-2014, 11:03 AM

Hieu your car looks amazing! Is that lift your's?

thanks man. yeah the lift is mines. it's in my backyard. you should get one, makes almost everything easier. actually, now that i have a transmission jack, makes everything easier lol

Hornung418

08-14-2014, 04:47 AM

lame have to put something down when quoting myself lol

Just delete the quote brackets and it will be an original post. You can't link to another forum anyway with quotes, you get an invalid trace file.

Anyway, great updates! Love the lift in your backyard. Looks like a smooth setup.

Sent from my GS3.

WOLFN8TR

08-14-2014, 07:43 AM

thanks man. yeah the lift is mines. it's in my backyard. you should get one, makes almost everything easier. actually, now that i have a transmission jack, makes everything easier lol

Wow thats Awesome! If you only lived closer!

What brand is it? Dare I ask how much?

Vas

08-14-2014, 07:51 AM

Lift in your backyard FTW...

johnrando

08-14-2014, 09:54 AM

So that will come in use when you help me install my (yet to get) sway bar then. :)

sillieidiot

08-14-2014, 11:20 AM

Just delete the quote brackets and it will be an original post. You can't link to another forum anyway with quotes, you get an invalid trace file.

Anyway, great updates! Love the lift in your backyard. Looks like a smooth setup.

Sent from my GS3.

I see, I figured just putting it in quotes would just put it in the quote bubble only and it doesn't actually link to the website.

Wow thats Awesome! If you only lived closer!

What brand is it? Dare I ask how much?

lol yeah, nowadays i'm lazy to just set up the couple of things required to operate the lift. It only goes halfway, but it's because it's supposed to be portable, but even at that height, it's fine. I permanently mounted them anyways, felt safer lol

MaxJax (http://maxjaxusa.com) is what it's called. I got it from Costco on sale. It was like $2k shipped or something. Cheaper than my coilovers lol. The install was what upped the cost for me. Normally you just use anchors in your concrete (that way it's still removable, it's in the video on their site). But my concrete wasn't up to snuff when I tried to install it, so I ended mounting studs into a 3ft concrete trapezoid block and holding it down that way.

So that will come in use when you help me install my (yet to get) sway bar then. :)

yeah it's going to take longer to put the car on the lift than actually swapping the sway out lol

WOLFN8TR

08-14-2014, 01:48 PM

That's really cool, I'm jealous. I like how you can mount it then take it down for storage. :thumbsup

sillieidiot

08-15-2014, 04:01 PM

yeah i originally got it for that. but then time went on, i got extremely lazy. now i just cover it and leave the posts outside permanently lol i only move the power unit and the hoses now.

these days, i wish i had 2 lifts. i do a lot of swapping of parts between people's cars.

sillieidiot

09-22-2014, 09:58 AM

So I got a really bad rock chip on my front bumper. It was so bad that it actually took a chunk out of my bumper, but luckily, with my clear bra on, the chunk is hanging by a little flap. I'm going to glue it back down to minimize how bad it looks. But the rest of the car seems good so far. Just bummed that it happened though :cry:

Then I went to EAS for an alignment last Friday. My settings weren't as optimal as it were last time cause I guess the arms were seized. But I might go back to get it readjusted. If I do, i'll loosen the rear camber arms for them so that they could actually adjust it more.

While I was there, I asked Anthony@EAS to take those really nice pictures of my car again. Pictures came out great (even though we had that weird orangy light from the fire), thanks again :bow:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15250686655_f445cbb52b_o_zps6a63301b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15064165007_b1153635a7_o_zpsa50d585d.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15064044610_738bf675eb_o_zps805296cc.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15247631541_1c3021255c_o_zps70997e33.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15247628761_ecfe2f5293_o_zps4fd2edd5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15064160968_9f255c3fc9_o_zpsbcb042a2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15227718366_aff78fb1d5_o_zps15356178.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15064138527_578ceb3a0a_o_zpsfd53551b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15064135387_c255634924_o_zps8a3802af.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15250700595_072771df73_o_zpsf28c2321.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15064015010_5088b17092_o_zps8d1db4c9.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/15227700226_00e7f5ec6c_o_zps23631240.jpg

My skid plates seem to have done their job though. While my car was on the lift, I checked it out, and i must have scraped on something hard lol

I also did attempt to apply the gloss vinyl before taking some pictures. But I did not like the look of the gloss vinyl at all. From like 4ft away, looks perfect. But from up close, the amount of orange peel bothers the **** out of me. Not to mention, I would have to do the upper trim in 2 pieces rather than one piece since it can't make the bend at the rear window. I may revisit this later once I find gloss black vinyl that looks better when seen up close.

I'm pretty much done as far as exterior goes...for now.

Next up is my custom Autosolutions SSK that is currently being made. I probably won't install it until like winter break probably since I don't have much time nowadays.

car is so much lower now that i lowered the front to get the height to match. good thing i have those skid plates lol

Vas

09-22-2014, 09:59 AM

That is TITS.

WOLFN8TR

09-22-2014, 01:19 PM

Looks Sweet! :thumbsup

OtterEffect

09-22-2014, 01:24 PM

:drool :drool that roof....

Sent from my potato using Tapatalk

danewilson77

09-22-2014, 02:34 PM

Looks great.

The friendliest forum on the planet!

sillieidiot

09-23-2014, 10:37 AM

thanks guys

johnrando

09-23-2014, 11:00 AM

Beauty!

az3579

09-23-2014, 03:45 PM

Loving that gorgeous Alpine White with a carbon fiber roof. :drool

sillieidiot

10-23-2014, 10:38 AM

an update that is not really an update since it's all information you've already seen

Yesterday, I talked to a cool e46 m3 owner on the drive to school. Kind of hard to talk and drive at the same time side by side lol I guess he just brought his Apex to get tires, saw my car and zipped up (he was in his e39) to tell me how it looked. I didn't even notice him until he said hi lol

So today one of my friends brought this link to my attention:
http://www.bmwblog.com/2014/10/22/alpine-white-bmw-e46-330ci-tuning-build/#

Though the info about EAS building my car is wrong, but whatever, I don't mind helping them out.

Then I searched and found out that EAS posted my car on their blog:
http://europeanautosource.com/blog/sillieidiot-s-alpine-white-e46-330ci.html

which led to these tiny blogs picking it up:
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/clean-bmw-e46-330ci-has-more-than-one-ace-up-its-sleeve-photo-gallery-87075.html
http://www.automnews.com/?p=59099
http://www.autonews.name/bmw/bmw-330ci-e46-by-european-auto-source/

sillieidiot

12-04-2016, 02:25 PM

Took awhile to find this thread lol I see that I haven't updated this for a long as time. So i'm just going to quote over the relevant updates. But I don't think I really did anything worthwhile during that time anyways.

Ronald sent me some pictures of my custom Autosolutions SSK awhile back that I was too lazy to post. Posting it now since I'm up early for no reason. Currently it's just the shift lever, selector rod, and that little piece at the end (forgot what it's called). Ronald still has to make the shift arm (or shift carrier for those that don't know). He's been super busy, so that's like all he's done, and he's doing it as a side project so probably not going to finish by winter break for me to install it lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20141029_00415_zps9ae5a068.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20141029_00405_zps09d1364b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20141029_00354_zpsc0a08a89.jpg

Not much of an update here. Everything you guys have seen before. But here's some back story. In August, my car got damaged (not my fault). The damage was mainly the hood, front bumper, headlights, and some aero ducting. I was so sad/angry, I didn't bother taking pictures of how it looked damaged. I just took it to the shop straight that day.

I was ready for the worst with the hood, but my bodyshop told me the clear bra held it together really well that they were able to fix the hood. The damage was around the kidney grills mainly. I got new BMW performance grills since both fell out somewhere on the way to the body shop. It was broken anyways so whatever. I got a new headlight as well since the tabs were broken and transfered my angels over. The front bumper was an easy fix, again clear bra helped.

So like 3 months later, I drove it yesterday to get clear bra installed again on my hood/bumper. Looks good again. I only took two snaps while they were finishing up on the car so yeah.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/DSC_0575_zps86ssvrgq.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/DSC_0574_zpspsnmfyw2.jpg

The only truly new "mod" is that I got some aluminum scrape plates made by a friend. I have been using some temporary plastic ones for awhile now and they are scraped up to hell, but held up. They are pretty thick. I just need to paint the top side black before I install them. The plastic ones are currently on the car in the mean time.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/DSC_0578_zpsn9websy1.jpg

Excuse the fingerprints lol They look too good already in their unfinished form to even put on the car tbh

My current plans are to do all the preventative maintenance I was supposed to do in August in the first place. As for the shifter, I held off on it because of this. I plan to hit up Ronald to get it fully finished early next year when I have some more funds.

Not much of an update. I did an oil change sometime ago. I then bought some Turner hub extenders and put them on. I had a lot of vibration in the front wheels ever since I put on my 5mm spacers. It really bothered me so I finally put on the extenders. It pretty much fixed like 80% of the vibration. I think the other 20% is honestly because I need to balance the wheels lol Since I now only get the vibration at around 65 MPH. It's perfectly smooth up until then unlike before. I also powdercoated the scrap plates and installed them too. It's already chipped, but it saved my bumper. A car turned into me, so to avoid them i hit a dip/hole or something like that. Heard a loud scrape and I was like :ben: But when I went to check, bumper was perfect. The plate is scraped to hell on the bottom and the corner, and there's a chip/dent on the top side. Working as intended lol I'll probably replace them down the line, and make another version with holes in it to clear the screws I have under there for better contact. I'm still using 3M double sided tape and it works perfectly fine.

I kept the stock cap in good condition in case I ever want to put it on. Most likely not lol:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/DSC_0581_zpsjtpigvfo.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/DSC_0580_zpsvrvic1ro.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/DSC_0579_zpsogyrlrve.jpg

As for future plans:
This year I'm supposed to do all my preventative maintenance. And possibly rear end reinforcement and LSD. But my rear bumper's clear coat has been coming off after the rain came (prior damage). It is really starting to bother me, so I think I'll probably take care of that. I might finish the rear fenders while I'm at it, but who knows. I need a good deal on some M3 rear fenders. But we'll see how it goes I guess.

Very small update:

The BMW rental is gone and I can drive the car again. I just got back from a Vietnam trip. Still haven't done any of those preventative maintenance that I was planning on doing. I forgot to buy some things so those are on the way. I almost bought a used TS1 lol

Today, I dressed up my car for Halloween. Well I just gave it some teeth :rofl:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161031_105144_zpsnjuaarak.jpg

Pretty much all I got so far.

sillieidiot

12-04-2016, 02:27 PM

Post was too long so I had to break it up...

I finally have a large enough update worth reading about lol.

I finally got around to starting to install all the preventative maintenance stuff that I've been telling you guys that I planned to do.

Picture of the box of stuff. I was too lazy to take everything out to show you what I actually bought. It's missing some stuff in the picture because I only remembered to take a picture of the box after I already started :facepalm:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_134729_zps4v9qbcnm.jpg

I started like last week. First up, I finally got my custom Autosolutions SSK from Ronald finally. The thing has some heft to it, and looks well made. I like the fact that he etched my name into the side of it lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161122_104923_zpsbnx1hbzv.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161122_105011_zpsedah8r4p.jpg

My buddy, John, came over to help. So up it went. Taking the exhaust off and stuff is so much easier with the lift. I also have a transmission jack, so no one has to like hold the exhaust. But I mean the Magnaflow catback I have is pretty light for two people anyways. We had to lower the transmission to get to the shifter coupling. Man that **** is such a :censor: to get off. I never want to take it off again lol I only remembered to take pictures after the exhaust and everything was off and we already started putting everything in :rofl:

The picture shows the new custom carrier, selector rod, and lever.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161122_144104_zps9kk6ywor.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161122_144109_zpsdojcyn5r.jpg

We did run into a little problem though :( So when I got everything in, and I went up into the car to test it out, I noticed that the shifter was no longer centered. It's like .5" off to the passenger side. It's like basically shifted a whole gate over so neutral is like where 5/6 would be. But since the SSK throws are shorter than what I had before, I could still shift through all the gears fine lol I phoned Ronald, and after some troubleshooting, we think it's the selector rod. From my preliminary findings, it looks like the offset is slightly off.

So there goes that, I just sent him both my factory and his custom selector rod and am now awaiting the new one to be made and sent back. He confirmed that the offset is off like 2mm and that would cause it to be off by up to 10mm at the top.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161122_155553_zpsooqswi6d.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161122_155628_zpsfuyz1vtz.jpg

So when I pull it all the way to the left, it looks like it's centered

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161122_150948_zps7b6yjt60.jpg

Let go, and it's off

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161122_150950_zpssnbjdbg9.jpg

So since I couldn't do anything, I left the car up on the lift for like 3 days to wait for the part since I didn't want to put the car down and lift it back up again. But that was all pointless because over the weekend, it was going to rain :ben: So that meant I had to clean up everything and put the car down so that I could cover my lift and stuff from the rain (since my lift is mounted outside). it rained until like Monday? I think?

On Tuesday, since the car was down I decided that I would just go ahead and start tackling the VCG, DISA and all that stuff. The things that I planned to do that day were:

Clean ICV
Clean TB
Replace intake hoses with Mishimoto silicone intake hoses
Upgrade the DISA with the German Auto Solutions DISA upgrade kit

I didn't take much pictures of what I did then lol All I have are a couple pictures of the G.A.S. DISA stuff.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161129_122543_zpse3akvotm.jpg

Scraping off the molded silicone o-ring part is super time consuming. Here's a picture with the unit fully assembled without the new o-ring installed yet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_233731_zpsccqna6rh.jpg

The Mishimoto silicone hoses have their branding on it everywhere. But as most people who know me, I don't like to have too much of that stuff. I just ended up taking some black electrical tape and putting it on where the logos were to keep it more low key.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_155810_zpsvaz9ajlg.jpg

Then decided to end the day here and cleaned up :P

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161129_143657_zpszsaeiars.jpg

Then Wednesday, John came over again to help me tackle the rest of the stuff. Since we were short on time this was what we got done:

Replace VCG
Replace spark plugs
Remove washer bottle
Cleaned the valve covers and surrounding areas a little.

My engine was pretty clean. In fact, the VCG was still somewhat malleable. It actually made it more difficult to take off the valve cover than when it's all old and brittle. The seals around the spark plugs though were old and basically broke off like chips.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_114141_zpsscwy37ev.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_114147_zpsjcuchvec.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_114101_zpsalfwvb1k.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_114129_zpss7mgx3ez.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_121534_zpsiisc4w0q.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_121547_zpsup59p3bi.jpg

I forgot to take pictures of the plugs, but they did not look good :rofl:

Put everything back and basically cleaned up with time to spare. I don't think you could tell a difference between how it looked dirty and sort of clean here lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161129_123128_zpsax0clckf.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_134719_zpsahl9mnku.jpg

So we actually started to do the next part of my long to do list. Took the electric fan off, and the belts to get ready to do the cooling system refresh tomorrow. And that's pretty much where we're at. It's so much easier to take off the fan on my car lol There's like a ton of room in front of the pulleys now, I'm not used to that.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_135455_zps3vqut6q8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_135510_zpswczfcfgl.jpg

Snapped a picture of the way the serpentine belt goes for reference later. Look at how cracked the belts were :yikes:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161130_134712_zpsll7j8fvg.jpg

Thursday, I planned to tackle the rest of the cooling system refresh. Things to do:

Replace belts
Replace expansion tank
Replace water pump with Stewart water pump.
Replace thermostat
Replace coolant hoses with Mishimoto silicone coolant hoses.
Coolant flush

I decided against doing the radiator because it was still in very good condition. I'll probably replace that on the next refresh. I also didn't do the pulleys yet because I haven't figured out whether I want to do a power pulley set, or just go with OEM again. Or maybe put on a supercharger :idea: which would replace the pulleys too.

Taking off the belts was easy. But man, taking off the expansion tank was ridiculously hard for some reason. I spent like a good 2 hours pulling on that POS to finally get it out. And then the coolant hoses. God dammit, also very hard and also took me 2 hours to take those off. That's pretty much all I was able to do that day lol

Reused my transmission tank to drain the coolant

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161201_110250_zpsogijwvtc.jpg

Expansion tank removed

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161201_121756_zpsl8h9ljaq.jpg

When I took off the expansion tank, I saw this metal cylindrical thing come out. I was like WTF is this?! I've never seen it before. Then I check the new one, I guess it's meant to stay inside the tank. Good to know, I wasn't driving around with random metal parts in my system :lmao:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161201_121734_zpsgbmx9sno.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161201_121743_zps9sqi6ivu.jpg

My radiator hoses are in super good condition. I could totally sell this. Same thing with my expansion tank lol But I probably won't, iono.

Hoses removed, picture taken from the bottom.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161201_135318_zpszuy6qagm.jpg

Comparison of the OEM vs. Mishimoto ones (with the black electrical tape mod)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161201_135305_zpsy4ojnok6.jpg

I need to go buy distilled water for the coolant too. That's pretty much where I'm at. I was busy yesterday, and it's windy as hell so I haven't touched the car. Ronald@autosolutions sent me a text that he shipped out the selector rod, so I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully, it won't be too windy later today and I could try get some more of the stuff out of the way.

sillieidiot

12-04-2016, 02:29 PM

continuing on....

The weather was pretty nice today. John came by again to help knock out the stuff we were working on Thursday. It was pretty straightforward for the most part. Remove the water pump pulley, then thermostat, then water pump. Then put everything back.

Thermostat removed. Looks perfectly fine like all the other parts. Can you tell which one is the new one?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_105658_zps2fud2qsy.jpg

It's the bottom one, for those that are playing along.

Next was the water pump. Nothing wrong with it, but the old one had some rust where to pulley mounts to.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_105853_zpsdxslgfni.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_105901_zpshassfbac.jpg

Thermostat/water pump reinstalled

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_111725_zpswebv27oc.jpg

New belts and the Mishimoto silicone radiator hoses. These fit pretty much perfectly. The only thing was that on the top one, the clamp was hitting the engine hoist bracket. All we had to do was just loosen it and move it out of the way.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_124954_zpsilfaoxx8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_125000_zpszmdf8mbw.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_125005_zpsolnm3n2t.jpg

Then I replaced my washer bottle finally. I deleted my headlight washers back when I did the whole M3 fenders thing. So my washer bottle had always been leaking because factory reservoir had the hole for the headlight washer pump and it kept leaking from there. So I bought a non-headlight washer bottle along with a brand new washer pump to go with it. I'm finally glad to have a working, non-leaking washer fluid pump/bottle now lol :excited:

As you can see, on the bottle on the top right, you have the headlight washer pump. Then that hole you see under it is the one for the normal washer pump. On the bottom bottle, there's no hole/space for that headlight washer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_120417_zpspgaq7m4e.jpg

Then finally went back to put the DISA in, and started putting on the Mishimoto silicone intake hoses. It looks like I ran into the same problem that a few people have reported here where it seems like the hoses are too long :facepalm: Why haven't they fixed this yet?

Here's some pictures to show how much it's off by.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_135846_zpsfew5hcgw.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_135914_zpsydiguwy4.jpg

Pretty much since we were stuck at that point. Just decided to call it a day after I put the cabin air filter housing and stuff back in. This is how it looks currently with everything install except for the air intake stuff.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_135931_zpsqoasdic8.jpg

I'm going to look online to see if there is something I'm not doing right on the intake boots and if there's anything else I could do. In the meantime, I'll be reaching out to them to see if they could provide a solution.

There's not much left to do after this. I won't be free to work on it at least until Monday.

Things to do next week:

Install intake hoses/air filter
Oil change
Fill coolant
Fuel filter
Clean speed sensors
Finish SSK install when the selector rod arrives

That's about it so far. Today is football day, so rest day for me.

danewilson77

12-04-2016, 02:58 PM

Good work!

Sent by the Pixel XL

johnrando

12-04-2016, 05:39 PM

Wow, lots of stuff, noice!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

fw_fw

12-04-2016, 05:53 PM

Man, I got tired just from reading about all the stuff you did.....nice work!!

BMWCurves

12-04-2016, 07:44 PM

Man, I got tired just from reading about all the stuff you did.....nice work!!

+1

sillieidiot

12-04-2016, 10:35 PM

Good work!

Sent by the Pixel XL

Wow, lots of stuff, noice!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Man, I got tired just from reading about all the stuff you did.....nice work!!

+1

lol thanks. Yeah I just hope that my car will start fine lol The last time I did a lot of stuff like this all at once on my buddies car, his car didn't start well :rofl After checking through everything again, it turned out that he did not secure the ground wire for the spark plugs. I remembered that on mines. Hopefully I didn't forget anything else.

sillieidiot

12-07-2016, 09:44 PM

I've been lazy the last couple of days lol Mainly, because I'm waiting on Mishimoto's reply about the intake hoses. I did do something today though

I had a couple hours to spare today so I started working on the selector rod that came in from Ronald on Monday. Install was pretty much straightforward. It looks way more centered now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161207_145032_zpshgmudfxc.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161207_145021_zpsm1rveykh.jpg

Here's a mockup picture I took. Nothing has been screwed on put into place properly. If I had to be picky, I would say it's off by only a couple mm now. But I'm happy with how it is now. Thanks Ronald :thumbup:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161207_150615_zpspsf9unem.jpg

Exhaust and everything back in.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161207_164252_zpsctjkm0wv.jpg

And that's about all the daylight I had. Here's how it's sitting now all dirty.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161207_165943_zpsjl3otlvx.jpg

I'm waiting on Mishimoto right now. They replied to me asking for my invoice and some pictures. Then I haven't heard from them since. Don't know what the deal here is. I'll try to call them tomorrow if I have some time to spare to see what's going on.

Things left to do. I swear this list is like never ending because I keep remembering stuff I need to do after I finish something else :banghead::

Intake boots/air box/filter/DISA (Waiting on Mishimoto)
Oil change
Fill coolant
Fuel Filter
Clean speed sensors
Windshield Cowl
Re-install strut bar

sillieidiot

12-10-2016, 02:39 AM

Some more stuff from yesterday

Took care of a few small things yesterday. I finally put the rubber dust boot back in. It's still such a PIA to get this thing in.

Here is me starting, only to realize that it wasn't going in because it's upside-down :facepalm:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161208_130248_zpsvwxdbtl2.jpg

Got the sucker in though

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161209_120835_zpsojulxyn6.jpg

Then while I had my shifter console apart. I figured it was time to do the ashtray delete that I always wanted to do. Basically I just changed it to another storage tray. It took some minor modifications to get it to fit since that storage tray isn't made for the smoker's package bracket.

Before (taken before I re-installed the dust boot):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161208_130746_zpswzpmo4y9.jpg

This little LED and black plastic cap was in the way. So I pulled the LED out, and dremeled the plastic piece so that it's the same length of the smaller one that you see in front of it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161208_130731_zpsesuprs4h.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161209_122828_zpsxdwj1dzu.jpg

After. The top part of the tray isn't straight because I think I had something lying on top of it for awhile. But it bends back out easily:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161209_124642_zpsq7mwiyjr.jpg

And what am I going to use it for? Just to store my AUX cable lol I did put the AUX cable in the ashtray before, but sometimes it got stuck on the cigarette holder side.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161209_124901_zpsscro0byo.jpg

The next thing I did was clean the speed sensors. Well it wasn't needed at all because they were clean as hell. I don't remember cleaning them. But everything came out easy as hell and the bolts were like barely tight.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161209_131705_zpss3k9xjpe.jpg

So I finished that way faster than I thought I was. So then what to do? I figured, since the wheels are off. Might as well paint the calipers right? lol I was pretty lazy to thoroughly clean them though. So I just did the bare minimum and just spray the **** out of it with brake cleaner and wipe it down. Then I went ahead and painted it using a brush so I didn't have to mask anything off :rofl: I went for a semi-gloss look because glossy would take too many coats :P

Before:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/IMG_0138_zpsacasn96u.jpg

After (Looks glossy in the picture for some reason. Maybe it wasn't dry yet.):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/IMG_0136_zps2ej9onkl.jpg

Yes I know, they are taken from different sides because I forgot to take a before picture while I was painting lol I only realized that I should take a before picture after I finished painting the other 3 calipers already :lmao:

Pretty much all I got done. I just ended up doing more **** that wasn't on my agenda lol

Oh yeah, I wanted to show people the new BMW screw driver. This thing is awesome. They are god damn geniuses lol I loved the one we had, but this one is so much better.

The handle is black

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161209_145538_zpsmse9vuf5.jpg

There's a 10mm socket at the end (as you can see, I have been using it lol)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161209_145553_zpscpkygnro.jpg

On the side you put the screwdriver part in, you have an 8mm socket

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161209_145605_zps2uvlnkfo.jpg

And a slot to put the metal stick in to make it a T-Handle so you can have more leverage for those bolts

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161209_145624_zpsdd9aytci.jpg

Awesome right? :thumbsup: lol

BMWCurves

12-10-2016, 05:36 AM

All good stuff!

Do you have a part number for the bin used in the ash tray delete?

sillieidiot

12-10-2016, 09:56 AM

All good stuff!

Do you have a part number for the bin used in the ash tray delete?

Here you go: 51168208369

BMWCurves

12-10-2016, 10:52 AM

Here you go: 51168208369

:thumbsup

sillieidiot

12-10-2016, 02:17 PM

Not a good day

So today, I decided that I was just going to fill the coolant and start on my other stuff rather than waiting for Mishimoto. Well, I didn't get too far. Pretty much started filling, then I hear something leaking. Looked around, and bam, lower radiator hose is leaking from the connection point :ben: Great another Mishimoto product fail. I haven't even used it yet and it failed on me. So now I gotta wait until Monday to contact them again to get this sorted out. I already fired off an email, but I doubt that will get to them.

I'm unsure of what the problem is, but I suspect it's a bad o-ring.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161210_131919_zpse35fywj4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161210_131946_zpsximnjh2d.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161210_131948_zpsssgbz6dh.jpg

When I took off the intake boots, I was wondering why I couldn't even get the lower one on all the way. Well I found the problem.

From the lip of the TB to the outer edge of the groove it's 3/16".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161210_105730_zpsk5glbi3k.jpg

Hmm, so why is the edge of the lip to the groove on the Mishimoto hose 5/16"? Also, it wasn't cut straight so some sections for 4/16" up to 6/16" (i know, i should simplify the fractions, but it's easier this way)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161210_105351_zpse3q9gpcd.jpg

I marked it all the way around the hose in case I want to cut it later.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161210_111856_zpspqkg9iy7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161210_111850_zpsfyyzuotm.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161210_111903_zpsnchrdfqx.jpg

It's perfect on the OEM hose

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161210_112146_zpsoltqsczd.jpg

I didn't take pictures of this, but I also measured the ICV part. So the ICV connector starts exactly .5" after the TB part goes in all the way. Well they are way off here. So now I need to cut off another 3/8" off that one.

They should have put an alignment tab on the lower hose. It's hard to hold it in place while you're tightening it. It keeps moving back out. Even if the hose were perfectly cut, I doubt I can even get it to the angle that it needs still.

So with nothing done, to make things more tedious for next time. The weather decided to sprinkle/drizzle on me. So that meant I had to clean up and cover the lift. Ended my day early.

At this point, I'm thinking I should try to get Mishimoto to give me a refund and I just go back to OEM. We'll see though.

sillieidiot

12-15-2016, 01:03 PM

Hopefully, after this, I will have only one more update and it's when the car is finished lol

So I finally got into contact with them by calling them. They explained to me that their email system is stupid as **** :facepalm:. So apparently if you email them more than once, you get reset to the end of the queue for each email you send after. Um...why? And if you attach pictures, they don't come in full-size for them either.

I would recommend just calling Mishimoto if you need to contact them and just forgo their whole email system altogether.

Anyways, they are sending me new intake boots that may or may not fit. But either way, they are giving them to me so that if the new ones don't fit, I have a set that I can cut without worrying too much. Also cutting the hoses doesn't void the warranty apparently.

For the radiator hoses, based on those earlier pictures I provided, they said that there's no o-ring. I opted to warranty the hoses, and took them off to send them back. But there is an o-ring when I took it out :confused:, it's just flat as hell.

This is what the o-ring looks like from the defective one

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161214_135447_zpskji5mfie.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161214_135506_zpsn2d3g37x.jpg

This is what it's supposed to look like (taken from one of the non-defective ends)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161214_135454_zpscofwny61.jpg

They said that the hoses are shipped in California so it should be here by Friday. So hopefully it arrives on time, because I fly out Saturday afternoon and I won't be back for like 2 weeks.

Since I had to take the fan out again, and I was lazy to clean it the first time. I took the time to wipe it down a little more this time. Looks pretty new now. Better then being all brown/yellow and dusty lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161214_140520_zpsluvpaxhc.jpg

And then my hood latch seemed like it was catching. Basically the latch part that you pull out (black piece) was rubbing against the actual latch (silver) and after awhile, they get kind of rusty and it makes it harder to pull. I just went ahead and put some synthetic grease on it for now. Maybe, I'll buy a new latch later down the line.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161214_141028_zpsubqq8sjc.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161214_141031_zpsqejc6c23.jpg

johnrando

12-15-2016, 03:36 PM

Wow, lots of work

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

WOLFN8TR

12-16-2016, 03:58 PM

Wow, lots of work.

X2! :applause

anandoc

12-16-2016, 05:28 PM

Wait, so you mean the pull-out thingy should not be rubbing against the actual latch? Hmm...

Lots of good work you are doing here...and thanks for sharing the pics.

sillieidiot

01-01-2017, 05:34 PM

Wait, so you mean the pull-out thingy should not be rubbing against the actual latch? Hmm...

Lots of good work you are doing here...and thanks for sharing the pics.

It rubs on it in normal operation. But when it's new, it's more slick so the latch doesn't tend to catch and it's not as hard to pull the latch up.

mini update:

So I came back from Denver on Weds. The next day, it was sunny so I was able to work on the car. I got the hoses from Mishimoto last Friday I believe. Inspected the coolant hoses and they have all the o-rings on them. Then I re-applied my electrical tape mod :rofl:

As you can see, it looks better in all black instead of with the logos lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161229_121702_zpsm7xputnh.jpg

Put everything in. And did the initial coolant fill until it came out of the bleed screw.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161229_140247_zps7mjlog4d.jpg

Then I went to start it up, and car didn't start :( Well it has been sitting outside for weeks with me being unable to start it lol I checked the voltage and it was like 7v :yikes: Well, then I spent the next couple hours pushing the car out from the backyard into position so that I could get it charged by one of the other cars.

It's alive :excited:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161229_153909_zps7x8xdrbo.jpg

It barely had any gas in it, so I figured I'd drive and get some gas. I still didn't put the air box in with the intake hoses yet, and it still had the stock F-connector. So I was driving around with a huge vacuum leak, and the car felt extremely bogged down from heat soak.

But man the shifter :D Shifts were short and very precise. I love it. I couldn't really try pushing the car a little to play around with the shifter, but it felt really good. Just from that 5 minute drive roundtrip, made me think that it was totally worth waiting two years for it lol. I gotta let Ronald know, once I drive it some more.

Basically that was all the time I had left. It already started to drizzle a little bit. So I just parked the car back into position so that it'll be ready when I come back and it's not raining to do the oil change/fuel filter.

Took a picture of one of the wheels to show how the painted black calipers came out. Looks pretty good.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161229_155854_zpsrz5bjyle.jpg

When I got back inside, I started inspecting the intake hoses that I received. Everything looked good except for the lower boot. The cuts were definitely better this time around. But the lip that goes into the the groove in the throttle body looks like it's melted or some ****. Since it was late, I just fired off an email to them. I don't expect them to reply back for awhile since it's the holidays though.

This was the only good picture I could get showing the defective part.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161229_122743_zpss7vx3l1n.jpg

So last time, they made me pay $10 shipping to get these hoses. They waived $5 as a courtesy for me. Then they waived another $15 prior to that since their policy is to charge per item (so $30 - $15 - 5 = $10). I was still :ben: that I had to pay still even though they didn't get it out on time like they told me they were. Nothing I could do about it.

But I better not have to pay this time to get replacements for the replacements.

Probably won't be another update until the end of next week or something. It's been raining the rest of the week so I couldn't do the oil and fuel filter. Then I leave on Monday for Seattle. Hopefully the car starts when I get back :rofl:

sillieidiot

01-09-2017, 01:03 AM

Finally, it's up and running

So I got back Friday morning. And on Saturday I set out to do work. It was still wet from raining earlier in the morning; but having just come back from Seattle/Vancouver, the weather was too nice to not to go ahead and get something done before it starts raining again like on Monday. My goal was to get it in running condition. So that meant I was going to do the oil change, and work on fitting the intake despite Mishimoto having sent me some more defective ones. I decided to delay the fuel filter because my battery is simply not charge enough. I wouldn't be able to pull the fuse and do a few starts LOL

I don't remember why I took this picture. Probably to show how it was damp? Beats me, but here's a picture

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170107_111546_zpsextm3nhz.jpg

Then started the usual oil change. The oil was dark as hell lol But at least it was still liquid, unlike the rubber/sludge that I saw in a gif on Reddit the other day :rofl:

I also need to straighten out that subframe brace too, but I'll do that another day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170107_112342_zpsy2kqbuf1.jpg

While the car was up, I checked out my scrape plates. They were getting pretty messed up lol It's actually starting to fall off, but I'm going to remake the plates again later so whatever.

Here's some shots to show which part clearly has the most wear

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170107_112547_zps8jyr9yfv.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170107_112558_zpszo5fc8g0.jpg

Done with the easy part :thumbup:

The next part was the intake. So I took everything apart again, including the DISA. I then fitted the defective lower intake boot on the TB to see how it fits. As I suspected. The fit and the angle of the boot was way better due to the better cuts. But, it doesn't sit in the TB groove and doesn't make a complete seal because of the melted section making it wider than the groove.

So since I had sort of a template for the lower intake hose, I started cutting the one that I had to make it fit like the defective one did. I already did the initial cutting on the TB opening side that I had marked a couple updates ago. Those measurements were spot on. For the ICV part, I had to cut an additional 1/8" off the 1/2" I had already taken off :facepalm: That pretty much gave me the angle that I needed, I could not get the lower hose to turn anymore at that point.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures of that part. Actually, I don't have pictures of the whole cutting/fitting/measuring part at all lol

The upper hose they gave me was pretty much exactly the same as what I currently have. At this point, it's all trial & error as I go along.

Brian N. came by to give me a much needed hand. So we started by fitting and eyeballing the cuts :eeps:

Here's an a couple of old pictures I took before to show you what we basically started with with the upper hose fitted

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_135846_zpsfew5hcgw.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_135914_zpsydiguwy4.jpg

So we started cutting the end that goes to the metal connector they have. Our main focus was to get the hose to turn more towards the driver's side (away from the engine) until we could get the opening of the MAF side somewhat parallel to the airbox. We did quite a few cuts, some of them we considered was very aggressive. But even then they weren't enough :wtf: :banghead: The position was pretty much set by the hoses connected to the F-connector. Since I didn't have any hoses to extend that portion, it's more or less near the stock location now. So it's not hitting the DISA like what others have done.

We got it to turn as much as we could and cutting a lot off. I couldn't cut it anymore because then the connector wouldn't fit. After all that cutting, the MAF side still wasn't parallel to the airbox yet :facepalm: Now the intake hose is more to the left, but it's also angled down like an 1" :hmm: From the test fit it looked like I could force it up that inch to get it to the level that I needed, so our next focus was to cut the MAF side of the intake hose.

So the first cut was to cut it to make it parallel to the airbox. Then we cut it so that the MAF angle would be facing down because when you pull up on the intake hose, it's now facing straight up into the air instead of straight into the airbox. That took a few tries to get it right. We got it super close, so all that was left was to force it in the rest of the way. Finally, got that sucker in :censor:

I reused my factory F-connector. It seemed to fit perfectly with a perfect seal so far. There's no leak that I could see. But I have a couple of the aluminum F-connectors if it needs changing. Makes for an even more factory look which is what I like.

Here's what my filter looked like :lmao: I don't remember when the last time I changed it was

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20161203_141336_zpssxwavzz8.jpg

And here is the fruit of our labor :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170107_185419_zpshfifjd2d.jpg

That seriously took a ridiculous long amount of time. Like 4 hour total to make this thing fit. Hence the night picture.

This is how much I had to cut off :thumbdwn:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170107_194145_zps5yoptic1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170107_194326_zps5vropydm.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170107_194504_zpse5rhcvst.jpg

That was literally 1/3 of the hose that we had to cut off just for the upper intake hose alone :tsk: :thumbdwn:

There's even more pieces I cut off before that, but I threw those away before I realized I should have taken a picture.

With that finally installed. I put the strut bar back in. Of course, during the re-install, i drop one of the nuts :banghead: It is forever lost now. But I have plenty of spares, so that was an easy fix.

Some closer shots of our work during the day with the Mason bar installed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170108_152302_zpssklclwup.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170108_152258_zpsdw27new3.jpg

Engine looks good, and car runs now. No leaks as far as I can tell.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170108_152251_zpskmc6qkg1.jpg

Car feels good to drive now. Only thing that sucks right now is that my ZHP shift knob is loose from when I broke it way back when trying to fit it with the Rogue SSK. So it vibrates like crazy and I feel like I could pull it off any time accidentally during a shift lol

Took a picture of the car, just cause it looked good just sitting there lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170108_152509_zpsdz6eslp3.jpg

At least from that angle anyways. My bumper paint is really getting unsightly now :(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170108_152523_zpstzt2vwdl.jpg

It will get taken care of in the future for sure.

Special thanks to Brian N. for coming over and helping me with the intake hose retrofit :bow: :bow:

I don't think I could ever recommend someone to get this. If it were just a little bit a cutting, then sure. But this is too much. I injured myself a few times in the process cutting myself with a really sharp razor. If I weren't wearing gloves, it would be worst LOL Their customer service have been ok at best. When emailing them, it takes at least 2 days to get a reply. Calling them is the best way. But if the CS person you need to talk to isn't there and they ask to take your name to call back. They won't. I've never received that return call.

I'm awaiting their resolution for the defective ones they sent. But it's the weekend, so probably won't receive a reply until Tues. I'll probably call on Monday and see.

So I have only a couple of items left to do now:

Fuel filter
Windshield Cowl

That would finally complete this round of preventative maintenance.

Meanwhile, I added a couple more things to my overall list of things to do/replace like a new shift knob. I probably won't get around to the fuel filter and stuff until next week. I'm letting my dad borrow the car while I work on his new car the entire week. I just hope that it comes back in one piece next week :rofl:

johnrando

01-11-2017, 10:09 AM

Good to hear. Nice work going on there.

sillieidiot

01-11-2017, 10:54 PM

Good to hear. Nice work going on there.

Thanks. BTW, I still have your rear sway I think. Do you still want it?

johnrando

01-12-2017, 12:00 PM

Oh yes, thanks. Forgot about that.

sillieidiot

02-16-2017, 11:57 AM

Still didn't do those 2 remaining things. It keeps raining over the weekend. I did buy new PIAA Si-Tech wipers for the rain. They work well. I think the "treatment" that they make you apply does most of the work though. I still get some streaks, but it's because the wiper goes across my banner and that's when you see the streaks as the wiper comes down. When it goes up, ti's perfect. I gotta replace that banner too, but I'm way too lazy lol

As for the Autosolutions SSK mini-review? Man this thing is awesome :thumbsup: The shifts now are super precise. It always returns to center and doesn't have any slop or play in it. My throw ratio is a little shorter than 30%. I forgot what exactly. But the first week, I kept jamming my hand into the knob because I was expect it to go farther than it should. Then the rest of the time, I wasn't sure if I was actually in 5th or 6th LOL But now that I have gotten used to it, it's nice. I kind of miss playing around when the shifter is in gear now. Before I would have a ton of play in gear and even more so in neutral. Now, all of that is pretty much gone. It's also not as notchy as the RE given the shorter the ratio either. My shifter effort actually got a little easier because now I also have a weighted selector rod. The RE just used the stock one. I totally recommend getting one. It was totally worth waiting the 2 years for him to make it for me lol Thanks Ronald :bow:

As for my other NEGATIVE update :cry: So yesterday night omw to the movies, I was driving along the slowly just going in the slow lane. Then I see this SUV trying to get over in my lane. I let him pass cause I'm not in a rush, and he cuts across from the lane next to me onto the exit which he barely made. Basically my focus was just on him passing so I don't hit him. Then WHAM and then I hear metal just scraping along the ground. WTF?! I didn't even see what I hit, I kept driving and clear the metal dragging sound kept going so I pulled over. So basically I hit something so hard that it took off my scrape plate. I just took it off and threw it in the passenger side. When I pulled into the parking garage, I checked it out :(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170214_223927_zpsou3zuior.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170214_223935_zpsxy94g1ld.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170214_223950_zpspztaco7k.jpg

The plate looks find for the most part

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170215_162743_zpsqpxjhwqx.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/sillieidiot/Serenity/Build%20Thread/20170215_162804_zpspyb9wg3b.jpg

Whatever I hit left some brownish debris. Brian thinks it's some piece of wood :dunno: But I'm surprised at Wayne's mold work though. It's pretty much fine all in the front where he molded it. The only damage is isolated to the part I hit.

I don't plan to fix this until I do my rear fenders now. At this point, I'll probably just buy a whole new bumper and splitters and start over since it's already been injured too many times lol I'm just going to put the plate back on and that should be good. I'm also contemplating on whether I should clear bra the front bumper after. Because I seems that I keep getting the front destroyed lately (basically once a year for the last 3 years), it would be cheaper to just redo it each time then have the clear bra lol Wayne is going to be pissed when I make his do this again :rofl:

As for the LSD and stuff. I'm still waiting on an M3forum member to make the reinforcement plates. Once I get that, I'll start planning to get the whole rear reinforcement and LSD swap done at once.

I'm reinstalling my plate right now. Too lazy to take off the previous tape so I'm just taping over it lol hopefully it holds.

ZHPizza

04-20-2017, 06:20 AM

sillieidiot

04-20-2017, 01:40 PM

Just read through this instead of the massive thread on e46f. Love everything that you're doing here. The square fitment of the 9.5's is my favorite aspect. Do you need the 5mm spacers in front for strut clearance or is that for flushness?

And how's the bumper doing now?

Thanks. Yeah this thread only has stuff from when I finished the fenders I think. While my original thread goes through everything from the beginning lol

Yeah the 5mm was just for strut clearance. Specifically the adjusters on the coilovers. My bumper, it's getting more messed up by the day lol Now that I damaged it, I don't really care too much so I just scrape and hit things. Since it's been damaged so many times, I'm planning on buying a new bumper & splitters and do it all over again. My bumper kept cracking from being fixed too many times anyways.

sillieidiot

02-19-2018, 08:24 PM

Yep, not going to replace all those photobucket links. It took forever on my original thread lol So continuing on....

Hello guys. How has it been going? I've been fairly busy with the new job and everything. So I'm pretty much out of town all the time now. I'm about to head out to another project as well. Felt like I haven't done **** to my car in forever. But I just realized it's only been a year :facepalm:

Anyhow, I finally have another worthy update. This one has been a long time in the making :excited: But all the pieces have finally come together. So I guess this is the mod for this year.

Brian, pointed me out to an M3forum member that was parting out his car like iono 6 months ago. Hit him up for the rear fenders. He said it would take awhile to finish parting before he can give me whatevers left. Fast forward to today, he was nice enough to even deliver the car to me (well to Wayne). :thumbup:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4658/39656940674_60b68aa8c2_b.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4749/39656939234_dbcd1f6516_b.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4603/39656937824_8a62fbf698_b.jpg

The car is actually in really good shape, other than that front part. There's a lot more parts on the car than I expected there to be. I saw that he left the window trims, so I'll probably install that on my car in the mean time. Delay getting the gloss black trim for a little while longer lol

I'll be dropping my car off on Thursday. I probably won't see my car finished until like the end of the year :rofl: I'm still keeping my MT2 for the rear. Which I haven't seen anyone done, so we'll see how Wayne does this. He's already trying to convince me to go M3 rear :tsk: But yeah, there you go. Now I gotta go :bump: Brian N.'s build thread ;)

johnrando

02-20-2018, 11:18 AM

:hi

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

sillieidiot

02-23-2018, 12:34 PM

:hi

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

:hi

Lifted it up so I could put the ARC-8s back on before dropping it off to the body shop.

Hit this like a month ago. Finally got the car up to check. Looks nasty :eek: Now I know I gotta replace that brace when the car comes back.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4619/39548053385_8aa3d2f9fe_b.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4623/39548051965_6d5eb0563a_b.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4631/39548049985_c7b4236c85_b.jpg

Dropped off the car yesterday as well :cry:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4618/40444363231_5ea0e61581_b.jpg

johnrando

02-23-2018, 12:47 PM

Nice! Keep us posted.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

sillieidiot

09-15-2018, 01:29 PM

Ending up actually starting the work myself cause no one replied to me here. But now I'm lazy over the weekend so I decided to update my progress thread instead.

Ok so I got my car back. Sadly, it's not done :rofl: I had an issue with the CF trunk that I bought from Streamline. Fitment was not as described and going back and forth with the seller for months so that delayed the process :thumbdwn: Since I needed to keep test fitting/take pictures of the trunk on the car and stuff. And I could only do this every 2-3 weeks because I'm out of state when I work. Trunk issue still not resolved, so I'll be keeping my current trunk for the mean time.

Anyways, I had to take it back because I needed to smog the car. I have been away for work since I dropped off the car so I haven't had time. So I had Wayne put on my trunk, didn't matter about fitment, I just needed it to be fit to drive. Got the car back like 8/14. Then I left for work, then right after went to Vietnam to take care of something.

Came back 8/28.

Got the car smogged. So I figured since I have the car back, I'm going to take care of a few things that I have been meaning to do before I give it back to the shop.

9/3 (Labor Day) update.

JR and I did some work. Originally I was supposed to a bunch of things to my car, but I got lazy because I knew that I have to order some parts later and will be lifting the car back up.

Done on my car:
- Replaced springs from 650R/550F Hyperco to 560R (10k)/448F (8k) Swift springs. I had them forever, but was lazy :rofl:
- Changed caster on Vorshlag camber plates back to the OE position in the center to accommodate the caster change from the Z4M FCABs. This in turn now increased the amount of positive camber I can have now. The shaft of the strut was hitting the sides and limited me to a minimum of only -2.4 deg.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1861/30799736848_20b6fa09fd_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEGHE)

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1900/30799736078_b907f16700_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEGuo)

On his car:
- Diagnosed the clunk that he's been hearing on his front suspension. Turned out it was a bad end link. The same one we tightened last time. Took both end links off. He will be ordering new adjustable ones.
- Replaced his front corner bulbs with stealth bulbs to get rid of the egg yolk.
- Upgraded his old fluted fog housings to the newer clear glass ones.

Then ordered parts I needed and took advantage of the "sale" FCP euro had. Not really much of a sale, but the couple of things I wanted were so might as well.

9/12 update.

I got my parts. Was super excited to see them and get them out of the way :excited:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1874/30799734658_88a9c4e455_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEG4U)

Then as I was going through them to make sure everything is there. They didn't give me the transmission mount. Ok no problem, I can do that later. Then I check the FCABs…hmm they look the same. :hmm: Maybe it's not side specific? Check pictures on FCP. God dammit, I have 2 of the same sides :facepalm:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1888/30799734028_fc63601aaf_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEFT3)

Called them up to get this sorted out. In the mean time, I will install all the other pieces I got first.

9/13 update.

I attempted to work on the car. I didn't get much done. I wasted 3 hours, getting the car up, taking pictures, and browsing the forums :lmao: Then spent like 40 mins hammering out my underbody brace. I contemplated on cleaning it, but got lazy. Then I decided to finally check to see where my oil leak was coming from. Yep, CCV. Inspected other parts of the car…motor mounts totally need replacing. All the bushings I'm about to replace are shot too.

I looked at the tires, I knew that there were really bad. But yeah, it's bad. I need to find some spares for now for sure just to get the car to EAS to get tires.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1884/30799732688_c7439c5f2c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEFtW)

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1849/44620995762_0aa479ea14_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2aZ1gt9)

They look like that on all 4 corners lol

Oh I finally found that strut mount nut that I dropped like a year ago. Now I don't have to buy a new one sweet.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1861/30799729778_43b5eeefce_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEEBL)

Took some pictures of the underbody of the car.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1882/30799738158_af70d7137d_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEH7f)

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1860/30799737978_ac31caa2e8_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEH49)

You see all that damage to the brace and exhaust? I have no idea :wtf: it was. Seriously looks like guts and teeth :eek:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1888/30799729248_12750e8043_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEEsC)

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1875/30799727538_9e424f169f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEDX9)

Here is the end result after I hammered the brace. Looks a lot better. I was too lazy to clean, so I will revisit this later. It can't go on until FCP euro gives me that other FCAB anyways.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1842/30799726868_29ef166334_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEDKA)

Then I had to clean up because dinner plans. I was able to get started on the control arms. On the passenger side, it's like 90% off. I just need to use the pickle fork and sledge to separate inner balljoint. The driver's side is like 70% done. Need to pickle fork both the balljoints.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1850/30799725078_1c4fc54ddf_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NVEDdJ)

Yesterday.

Didn't get much done. I spent some time cleaning the oil pan while I was sitting under there thinking of what I was going to try to do.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1850/42880267230_342ed6948f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28kbzwf)

Then attempted to take off the control arm on the driver's side. Basically gave up on that for now lol The angle that I need to be for the pickle fork to do it's thing in is made for like right-handers. I'm left handed :facepalm:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1861/29752778227_0a0b38d227_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Mk9LoX)

So I'm like **** this, go to the other side since it'll probably be easier for left-handers. Well…what do you know? Comes off easy as hell. I didn't even use PB Blaster at all on that side. :woot:

I'm upgrading the control arms to ZHP control arms.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1898/29752777017_a84634f27f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Mk9L36)

Then I attempted to put in the one correct FCAB I have. Hammered it like 90% of the way, then had to clean up and leave for the day.

So close, yet so far…
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1863/29752776067_9b69450e0c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Mk9KKH)

Don't know if I'm continuing the work today. But i'm definitely taking tomorrow off because football.

sillieidiot

09-20-2018, 11:05 PM

9/17 update.

My buddy Pat came by to give me a hand for a bit. Got the driver's side control arm off, quick and easy. :thumbup:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1952/44768255412_e29882bb22_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bd21CC)

Then we attempted to continue hammering the Z4M FCAB that I had installed 90% of the way. That **** was not moving :angry: I hit it so hard with my mallet that I broke the mallet :ben:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1953/44768254562_ebd8f048d7_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bd21nY)

After like 30 mins, we were like :censor: this, do something else. Went to do the tie rods. Everything went smoothly and easily. I didn't measure the tie rods like you were supposed to though. Just eyeballed it lol

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1943/44768253442_6ec662058e_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bd213E)
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1841/44768252692_9d5757b4af_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bd1ZPJ)
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1886/44768252362_24881e89de_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bd1ZJ3)

Then went back to the FCAB. Decided to just take the new control arm off to see if we can just bang it outside of the car. It seems like it's even harder to do off the car and without a rubber mallet.

So that's it for the day. I'm going to buy a new mallet tomorrow and start over. I'm hoping that my other FCAB from FCP euro comes tomorrow that way I can get them both installed. Then I can finally put the car down.

9/18 update.

FCP euro, where the :censor: is my FCAB and transmission mount? Been like a week since I told them and it's still not here. Still have no tracking. They told me they sent an email with tracking, didn't get that. First time using them, not having a positive experience so far...

Anyhow, JR came by for a bit. We worked on changing out his corner bulbs because one side is dead already. That took like 30 mins or so.

Then we tried to put in the FCAB I had on. Didn't work. The wood just took way too much power out each hit. Then decided to go to Home Depot and buy a new rubber mallet. Bought the heaviest and most expensive one they had.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1846/44768252062_a54bc38c4e_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bd1ZCS)

Came back and even with banging the **** out of it, didn't do anything. Seriously?! :ben: How the hell is it this hard? I know that when I was doing it before, it went it in not too bad. So I decided that I’m going to take it off and start over. Couldn't take it out by hammering. So went to AutoZone, returned the pickle forks and rented a 3-jaw puller.

Bushing came off easy. Then lubed it up with some quick detailer and bang the **** out of it. Went in way easier this time. So my original hypothesis was correct in that since the lubrication dried, that's why it was so hard to move. Good to know. Next time, finish the FCAB install in one sitting :facepalm:

Dam you POS bushing :rofl:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1896/44768249832_2c5b89aec9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bd1YYq)

Looks good though now that it's in.

JR then had to leave before he hit traffic on the way back home. Meanwhile I was sitting there deciding whether or not I should go in. Decided to do the steering coupler. It was way easier to do on the lift. Literally like a 5 minute job.

Old vs. New:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1911/44768250652_e6ed5bd663_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bd1Zdy)

And that was it. No parts meant I couldn't do the other side. I could have taken off my exhaust to prepare for the transmission mount. But I didn't want to commit to doing it yet :rofl:

The only thing I did today was post that rant in the other thread about all the crap I had to deal with. Here's to hoping the part arrives sometime this week. Also, even though it lists the correct part # (like it did the first time). It damn well better be the correct part this time.

johnrando

09-21-2018, 09:14 PM

No love for the help from your buddy John? :)

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

sillieidiot

09-22-2018, 12:35 AM

No love for the help from your buddy John? :)

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Well I refer to you as JR off the forum, which is already in the post lol It's cause I know too many John/Jons that own BMWs. I already designated Jko as ZHP Jon. So I always referred to you as JR (spelled out) for your initials lol There's a masturbating Jon and a Rich John too :rofl

johnrando

09-22-2018, 06:04 AM

Lol. All of my beach tennis friends call me JR so that works. I'll be ready for the next steps.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

sillieidiot

09-24-2018, 11:43 AM

Finally done with all that crap. I just got an email from FCP euro for the refund on shipping. I didn't even bother to ask for the refund tbh because it was only $10. It doesn't really satisfy me.

9/22 update.

OMG, the part arrived from FCP euro faster than I thought it would. :yikes: I immediately checked to make sure it was the correct side that I needed. Cool perfect :thumbup:, the transmission mount was also there. Finally, I can finish up the car.

Since my car has been sitting on the lift for like over a week, there was quite a build up of air in the system. So when I went out, I wasn't able to lift the car up to the highest setting. Well I could, but I wasn't comfortable with doing so. It was on the first setting, so I just did everything there. I decided that I would forgo the transmission mounts for now because that requires taking off the exhaust. It would be easier on the highest setting. So I'll do it next time.

Putting the FCAB on was quick. Took like 2 mins tops. For the most part, the remaining bits that needed to go on didn't take long. Probably like an hour total to put on the control arm, under body brace, and the splash shield. :craig:

Last shot before I put the splash shield on.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1936/31020192558_23934f7aa0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Pg9Awb)

It actually only took me longer because my tires were so bad, I went ahead and put on a couple spares I had. I moved the ARC-8 rears to the fronts which surprisingly had better life than the fronts for some reason. :hmm: Then an M68 in the rear and an X5 spare wheel on the other side.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1961/31020191778_654514c654_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Pg9AhJ)
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1919/44893432311_5375ed8387_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bp5zn2)

Today's update.

I spent some time to do some maintenance on my lift. Cleaned it a little. And bled it to get all the air out. Now it's back to full working condition. Good as new. :thumbsup:

Last picture for the day. I raised the fronts up like 1 full turn. Don't think it made a difference.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1901/29956607387_7396677b85_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/MDarGP)

I was originally set to buy new tires as well. But that timeline got pushed back due to this parts incident. I did contact EAS to see if they could get me anything today (I have to drop off my car on tomorrow). But if not, I'll just take it to Wayne's as is, and the tires can go on when I get the car back.

So with all these done, the car is ready for tires, then alignment. Technically, I need to do the RTABs (which I have sitting in a box somewhere). But I'm bundling that with my rear reinforcement at a later date.

az3579

09-24-2018, 11:50 AM

Man those rear wheels look so freakishly small from the angle those photos were taken! lol

sillieidiot

09-24-2018, 12:18 PM

Man those rear wheels look so freakishly small from the angle those photos were taken! lol

lol they would probably look even smaller in the fronts with my m3 front fenders

johnrando

09-24-2018, 07:16 PM

Glad ur set. Let's get back to work!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

sillieidiot

10-28-2018, 03:43 PM

So as many of you guys know, the ESS TS S/C has been discontinued. I was planning to purchase it next year right after I got my rear fenders taken care of. Well Tom@EAS told me when I went to buy something that ESS told them that it's no longer for sale from any vendors. There goes that plan. I contacted ESS and originally, they told me yeah that’s it. :( I say originally, will come back to that later.

After hearing that, I decided that I'm going to use my funds for a different purchase since my car is essentially finished with no S/C in sight. Put down an order for a Tesla Model 3. Got the long range RWD version. :excited: was debating on car or S/C so no twinscrew made it easier.

Ok so now going back to what I mentioned earlier. A week later, I'm in a world of pain LOL :rofl: My Model 3 was getting delivered, and AJ tells me that there are 4 complete units still left and that I can buy one directly through him. Seriously?! :banghead: :ben: :censor:

I mulled over it for a few days. Then I decided to just go ahead and buy it too. :facepalm: I'd regret not getting it later tbh. Went ahead with the TS2+. So now I'm in a world of pain trying to come up with the money for both lol I have to work a ton more now to make this happen. I'll probably be gone for most of next year due to this. My friend, John T. wanted me to give him an honorable mention for helping making it happen lol So there is it lol

So for my Model 3 delivery. Originally, the car came with rear bumper damage. It was broken. They tried to tell me they can't fix it and I should take it as is. Yeah right. Refused delivery. So crisis averted for a bit money wise. I was able to put that towards the TS2+ first now.

Fast forward to yesterday. I'm took delivery of the Tesla again. So now the LR RWD models can no longer be ordered. So I have to take delivery of this car no matter what and go through the service center to fix stuff with it after. Here's some pictures of it.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1902/43774473140_87bbb33392_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/29GcBMw)
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1964/45541825442_bc22a37d51_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2conL3W)
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1965/31734633558_059b33b2d1_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/QmhhWs)

This car was a lot better than the last one. There's really only a front bumper issue with the paint. It's like it wasn't completely painted. But as far as panel alignment and everywhere else, it looks good.

Plans for the car is to get that bumper fixed, then immediately get clear bra. No other mods since my money is now all gone lol

I also got a notification that my TS2+ is on it's way. It'll come on Halloween night. Well that sucks, because I fly out again on the 30th. So not only do I not get to play with my new car, I don't get to open the supercharger to marvel at it. Hopefully I'll come back in like 10 days. It better not get stolen. My house has been a target lately.

I also have to figure out what I'm going to do with my headers. I'm definitely going to put it on for the TS2+. My original plan was to test fit first, then send it off to Swaintech to get it coated. That is like so much work because I will have to do the install twice. So now I'm thinking about just sending it to get it coated without first test fitting, then installing it once it came back.

I still have to find some high flow cats for it. I just can't handle the gas smell all that much nowadays. When I was a kid, **** smelled good. Now, not so much. Any suggestions for some cheap high flow cats I could use for now?

I got quotes from EAS for the S/C install as well as VANOS seals, motor mounts, and headers. Seems like it's going to be expensive to get everything else done at the same time. The S/C labor isn't too bad though. Now that I'm low on funds, I might have to go ahead and do the VANOS seals, headers and motor mounts on my own. Probably the transmission mounts too cause I'll have to take off the exhaust anyways. I'm debating on doing the S/C install on my own. :b:

I also need to get a baseline dyno before doing all of this. So much work. We'll see though. I'll figure out everything when I get back from the next project. I'll definitely be enlisting for some help to install these things probably.

So little time to do all the crap that I need to do.

sillieidiot

03-19-2019, 06:08 AM

Ok so I've been gone for forever to Huntsville, AL. I hate that city now. They tried to deploy 100 people to do like what a team of 600 people would normally do. Then it rained all the ****ing time, with no sun either. I tried to go home after 2 weeks, but my PM told me she needed me an extra week. Switched me to nights :facepalm then the week after, I tried to go home again, and the PM kept me there for 2 more weeks :ben: And she switched me back to days OMFG. It took me the entire week to just get used to nights because I had no days off. Seriously, I was getting depressed. I thought about selling my car LOL My friend's wife told me to keep it cause it was pretty :luv Iono how that works, but it worked lol

Ok rant over. So I have some updates on my car. Let's see. From what I remember my last few updates were useless and didn't describe **** about why my car is taking so long lol

First, I dropped my car off last year to Wayne. Deadline was whenever, just work on it on your spare time because I'm always gone for work anyways, I won't miss it. (I actually do miss it though :() Well, then for 8 months, I was dealing with the stupid ass Streamline CSL trunk BS. Back and forth between work out of state and going to my car to try to fit/measure the trunk to show to this dumb ass that it doesn't fit. Then after awhile we work out a deal that he will refund me. Then what? Well shipping to your country costs more than the trunk LOL So he didn't want to do it. So 8 months later, what do I have? This POS bad fitting (but really light) CSL trunk. Had to call my CC to get a chargeback to get my money back. So that delayed the whole thing by 9 months.

Then, I had to smog the car, took the car back for a month. Delayed again. At the same time, Miss Samantha was buying a car M240i, sold her car so she borrowed it, sort of.

Gave the car back at the end of last year basically, and he started working on it a little. Most of the work was just taking off the rear fender off the M3 shell without destroying it.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4803/46862378002_0f313c163a_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ep4Wjw)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7824/46862377162_da6dfd50a6_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ep4W53)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7811/46693785934_94f059b1be_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2e9aRLJ)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7861/46862377552_436ebaa24e_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ep4WbL)

Ok now we're caught up lol While I was at work in that last project I was ranting about, my TS2 was done being coated by the guys at OC Custom Coating. Luckily they were cool with me not being able to pick it up for a month while I was being held captive. :banghead:

I picked it up today. So they ended up coating basically then entire supercharger because it was easier to do without taking the S/C apart. I chose to do their coating that had their best heat dissipation properties. It's not exactly like a black. It's more like a really, really dark grey. But that's only if you see it in like bright sunlight. It looks black otherwise though. It should look good once installed. :excited:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7800/46501726065_32d45d082e_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2dRcv4F)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7885/47416922271_5c682f44b8_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ff581B)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7915/46501725205_dc07b67cd6_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2dRcuNR)

Then I drove straight to EAS cause they are like down the street from these guys. Hung out with Tom for a while talking about random ****. They asked if I will get the TS2 installed this decade LOL Then put the SC on a cart they had and pushed it to the back.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7889/47364138522_d2e24302a9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2fapAeY)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7927/47416921771_ac4b619ac8_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ff57RZ)

After that, I drove to Wayne to see some progress on the car. Looks like he started really working on it. The rear fender is off on one side. Rear windows and stuff are out, and the car is covered in white dust lol Car is ridiculously dirty. He showed me the problem areas that he was working on to get the inner fender part to work. Told me that I wasn't rubbing on the outside on the fender lip (cause I pulled the **** out of it knowing I would do the rear fenders lol). But I was lightly rubbing on the inside. Should be fixed after this though lol

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7900/46501722885_75dfe69dfe_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2dRcu7R)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7852/47416919881_e0d5842dc9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ff57ip)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7818/47364137402_0de4ace6bd_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2fapzUE)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7831/47364137002_0d1294c7e1_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2fapzML)

My lonely good trunk just sitting here. Iono wtf happened to the other trunk lol

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7902/46501720895_64250ac659_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2dRctwx)

I just wanted a macro shot here :rofl: I guess they didn't break my CF roof taking off my windshield again?

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7862/46501720085_fbce549aaa_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2dRcthz)

So yep, I'm only back for 12 days, so I tried to do all that **** all in one day. I have to leave again on the 30th ugh. So now the car is just waiting on Wayne to finish it so that the rest of the stuff can get done.

So when Wayne's done here's a list of **** I need to do:

Get oil change.
Possibly need to replace the battery again
Do VANOS seals
Replace the radiator hose that will be under the SC because it'll be a bitch later to do.
I decided to hold off on the headers and just do that later one after warranty is over when I get Frank Smith or whoever to tune it and take that into account.
Get tires
Get an alignment
Possibly do motor mounts
Replace transmission mounts

Basically, I'm just trying to lower the cost of install from EAS for now.

I feel like I should redo this entire project thread. I do have all my update posts saved in OneNote. The only thing that sucks is the smileys are different so I would have to go back and fix them all.