What did you do to/for your 1er today?

[kaputt]

Don’t want to take this too far off topic, but the future is probably a combo of gas/electric hybrids, hydrogen, and electric. Electric has a lot of weaknesses that are hard to fully overcome, such as charging time to 100%, losing range from sitting, max range, etc...

I expect to see a lot more progress on the hydrogen fuel cell side in the next decade. But I think most mainstream transportation will still be covered by gas/electric hybrids, hydrogen, and probably still some pure ICE vehicles.

Electric vehicles are cool, but I think they will mostly be relegated to people living in dense cities. Where I live currently an electric car would be great for my commute. Where I used to live in Texas, an electric car wouldn’t have worked at all.

[desertman123]

Cleaned up, painted and rebuilt the first caliper for my cheapo BBK. They're from an E90 335i pre-LCI. Nothing special but definitely look better than the grimy ones we started with.

Pushed the piston out with compressed air, resealed it. Wire-wheeled, sanded and painted with VHT caliper paint then baked in a Goodwill toaster oven.

[MN.BIMMER]

Put on some gloss black kidney grills and a new emblem. It's an emblem off eBay, so fitment is expectedly poor.

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by low135

LOL please show me ANY country that's predominantly full electric vehicles. IC engines are not a relic of the past. They are still very much the present and foreseeable future. Goofy ass statements. I don't care what your non cited "source" at BMW corporate said. From two weeks ago "The company reports a 52.3% sales drop, which makes the EV sales number so small that it even didn't even appear in the press release. Assuming 1,973 sales in April 2018, then this April sales shrunk to 941. So, the share out of BMW's overall volume of sales decreased to 3.6%."

Relic

Laughable.

Norway.

58% of new car sales are electric.

https://electrek.co/2019/04/01/tesla...es-new-record/

[low135]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Norway.

58% of new car sales are electric.

https://electrek.co/2019/04/01/tesla...es-new-record/

58% is a pretty good number for new car sales. What's that put EV to ICE for the whole country? Because that's what I asked for.

Norway is a small country. 5.5M people. Hardly indicative of ICE being a "relic of the past" for any part of the world.

[Gangplank]

Originally Posted by kaputt

Don't want to take this too far off topic, but the future is probably a combo of gas/electric hybrids, hydrogen, and electric. Electric has a lot of weaknesses that are hard to fully overcome, such as charging time to 100%, losing range from sitting, max range, etc...

I expect to see a lot more progress on the hydrogen fuel cell side in the next decade. But I think most mainstream transportation will still be covered by gas/electric hybrids, hydrogen, and probably still some pure ICE vehicles.

Electric vehicles are cool, but I think they will mostly be relegated to people living in dense cities. Where I live currently an electric car would be great for my commute. Where I used to live in Texas, an electric car wouldn't have worked at all.

So ICE are like vinyl

Electric the Cassette Tapes

Hybrid the CDs

Fuel Cell is the MP3?

??

[chris_flies]

Ohlins Road and Track Review:

TL;DR Version: Umlauts do wondrous, fantastic things.

A couple weeks ago, I finally received my set of Ohlins Road & Track coilovers from 3DM Motorsports. A custom spec; 70N/mm Swift front springs, and 160N/mm Swift rear springs, and valving to match their 1M kit. First impressions were phenomenal; packaging was perfection, plenty of stickers were included, and they were just sooo pretty.

As soon as possible, I got them installed in a single day! First driving impressions were good, but my alignment was WAY off, and I was too busy wondering which direction the next crank of the steering wheel would send me in to notice the finer points. I did an alignment in the middle of that week, and it was time for a REAL first impression. Good God, they felt amazing. They were definitely stiffer, and had FAR better body control than my old Koni's. Yet, there was a suppleness and subtlety to the way it drove that I've never seen. It followed every undulation, crest and bobble in the pavement, but it glided over potholes like a well-built off-roader. The truck-ish ride height was a blessing; I could sail over speed humps, fly over potholes, and bomb down craggy back roads without much aplomb. Fantastic. Wayyy down at 25 clicks from full-stiff, it softened up and became a more-than-bearable daily driver unlike ever before. The confidence to carry bewildering speeds through corners was wonderful.

This weekend, I got to test the "track" portion of their name during HyperFest at VIR. Wow. Just...wow. Crank the dampers up to 1 click from full-stiff, and it reaches race car levels of body tightness and bounciness, but it still fails to crash and bang across broken asphalt. You really are paying for the dampers with this suspension, and they are SOOO worth it. The car is two-faced in the best way possible, and I couldn't be happier. Despite a lacking in negative camber up front, I managed a blistering (?) 2:20.13 on VIR's Full Course. I didn't even pull a whole G-force in the corners on that hot lap, which means there's room on the table for even more speed. The car was wonderfully planted and instilled so much confidence. Undulations, curbing, and minor off-track excursions didn't upset the car one bit. It just danced beautifully (very sideways through turn 10 at 100mph was sketchy though).

On to the rest of the car:
It performed flawlessly this weekend. 200 mile drive down was comfortable, despite malfunctioning cruise control. Two days of performance driving in 90 degree weather didn't seem to phase the car, other than dizzying oil temps. Started-up every time, and was consistent in its performance all weekend. The RE-71R's are great. Warmed-up quickly and didn't seem to get unmanageably greasy. The braking performance was astounding (mash the pedal into turn 1, and ZERO ABS interference), but the cornering performance was missing something (probably due to lack of negative camber). Fantastic weekend at VIR. HyperFest was really cool; they had everything you could possibly think of with a motor (even lawn mower racing). Truly fantastic (if busy) event.

What the car needs now:
-It may need a new axle shaft and motor mounts. I'm getting a loud pop-pop-pop when I accelerate from a stop, and there's a MASSIVE amount of slop in the drivetrain. I replaced one axle just last year, so it's probably the other one (obviously lol).

-It may need more power. It just feels gutless until 5th gear (weird, I know) on the straights. When a 90's Civic has to lift-off to let you take your point-by, there's definitely something wrong. It's got the legs in 5th gear, but 3rd and 4th feel weak-sauce.

-It may need more cooling. The oil temp gauge was cresting 260 degrees fahrenheit this weekend, and that's far too hot for my tastes. Also, the power steering seems to be overheated by the end of a session, as the steering wheel is oddly light and the reservoir gets covered in spewed fluid.

-It needs more negative camber up front. -2.3 degrees is a good compromise, but adjustable camber plates would be wonderful to simply adjust from a super aggressive track setting to a mild-ish street setting with a few turns of a wrench.

-The driver's seat needs more bolstering. A Quick-Fit harness can only do so much for one 220-pound speedy boi. Either some custom upholstery work, or finding cloth M3 seats (really rare).

[iminhell1]

I didn't do anything to mine. Weather has been garbage.


But I did manage to help a buddy out with his GTI. He wanted me to stop over and walnut blast it, and I happily said I would.
Well 81,000 miles and no cleaning. It wasn't too terrible but it wasn't good either.
I wanted them perfect so I spent a little more time than I maybe should have, about 30 min per port. It's got that little hole beside each port and that's where a divider goes. First one I tired i got a face full of shells blasting out at me. LOL
Found a couple wooden dowels and that sealed them fairly well.
I couldn't get a good angle at things so I had to come at them from either side and fiddle around.
In the end I think I'm happy with the result. But how it runs will be the ultimate goal. I think he should see a nice gain in power and running better.

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

What the car needs now:
-It may need a new axle shaft and motor mounts. I'm getting a loud pop-pop-pop when I accelerate from a stop, and there's a MASSIVE amount of slop in the drivetrain. I replaced one axle just last year, so it's probably the other one (obviously lol).

-It may need more power. It just feels gutless until 5th gear (weird, I know) on the straights. When a 90's Civic has to lift-off to let you take your point-by, there's definitely something wrong. It's got the legs in 5th gear, but 3rd and 4th feel weak-sauce.

-It may need more cooling. The oil temp gauge was cresting 260 degrees fahrenheit this weekend, and that's far too hot for my tastes. Also, the power steering seems to be overheated by the end of a session, as the steering wheel is oddly light and the reservoir gets covered in spewed fluid.

-It needs more negative camber up front. -2.3 degrees is a good compromise, but adjustable camber plates would be wonderful to simply adjust from a super aggressive track setting to a mild-ish street setting with a few turns of a wrench.

-The driver's seat needs more bolstering. A Quick-Fit harness can only do so much for one 220-pound speedy boi. Either some custom upholstery work, or finding cloth M3 seats (really rare).

Glad you're loving the R&T's!!!

And is that really YOU saying it needs more power now??????? Lol

For the cooling, you can code the fans to come on earlier, that might help the issue. Also adding an oil cooler couldn't hurt.

I didn't realize you don't have camber plates, I had a set of dinans I just let go...

I too have been on the hunt for some M3 seats, I see we are in a competition here

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

Glad you're loving the R&T's!!!

And is that really YOU saying it needs more power now??????? Lol

For the cooling, you can code the fans to come on earlier, that might help the issue. Also adding an oil cooler couldn't hurt.

I didn't realize you don't have camber plates, I had a set of dinans I just let go...

I too have been on the hunt for some M3 seats, I see we are in a competition here

They're simply magical. We need to get together and do some vehicle exchanging soon...

It definitely needs more power (and more noise lol). I think an N54 intake manifold or a cut-up stock manifold (open runners) and an appropriate tune would be nice (it falls on its face past 6500rpm, sadly). I do have the Dinan camber plates, it just needs even more camber. I'll have to look into coding the fan. I have another track day on Saturday at Summit Point this weekend My car's definitely getting used properly.

My poor car also had a run-in with a flying shade (it got windy on Sunday afternoon), so now there's a nice baseball-sized dent in the left front fender.

Open runners, 258wh (IIRC).

[Gangplank]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

Ohlins Road and Track Review:

TL;DR Version: Umlauts do wondrous, fantastic things.

A couple weeks ago, I finally received my set of Ohlins Road & Track coilovers from 3DM Motorsports. A custom spec; 70N/mm Swift front springs, and 160N/mm Swift rear springs, and valving to match their 1M kit. First impressions were phenomenal; packaging was perfection, plenty of stickers were included, and they were just sooo pretty.

As soon as possible, I got them installed in a single day! First driving impressions were good, but my alignment was WAY off, and I was too busy wondering which direction the next crank of the steering wheel would send me in to notice the finer points. I did an alignment in the middle of that week, and it was time for a REAL first impression. Good God, they felt amazing. They were definitely stiffer, and had FAR better body control than my old Koni's. Yet, there was a suppleness and subtlety to the way it drove that I've never seen. It followed every undulation, crest and bobble in the pavement, but it glided over potholes like a well-built off-roader. The truck-ish ride height was a blessing; I could sail over speed humps, fly over potholes, and bomb down craggy back roads without much aplomb. Fantastic. Wayyy down at 25 clicks from full-stiff, it softened up and became a more-than-bearable daily driver unlike ever before. The confidence to carry bewildering speeds through corners was wonderful.

.

Your impressions for DD duty align with my own, even though I don't have camber plates and just the alignment pins out. The ride, control and feel is transformative to the 1er.

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by Gangplank

Your impressions for DD duty align with my own, even though I don't have camber plates and just the alignment pins out. The ride, control and feel is transformative to the 1er.

It absolutely is. It feels genuinely sporty, and is far more satisfying to drive than it was stock.

[rowsdower]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

It definitely needs more power (and more noise lol). I think an N54 intake manifold or a cut-up stock manifold (open runners) and an appropriate tune would be nice (it falls on its face past 6500rpm, sadly). I do have the Dinan camber plates, it just needs even more camber.

Can confirm, I have headers with a BPC tune which bumps up the rev limiter another 500rpm or so... but it makes less and less power the further you rev it so the redline bump is kinda pointless. I shift way earlier.

Do you have M3 arms? That would be the next logic step for more camber. I think you are running 245s though, and M3 arms make rubbing worse (see other threads in the suspension section for a discussion on that).

Although modding cars is fun, for me, there is a special kick I get out of passing much faster cars in my nearly stock 128i. I think I'm done modding mine other than potentially a harness belt and a few other small issues that bother me.

Are you guys having trouble heel toeing? I can't seem to get the brake and the gas at the same time comfortably in this car. In my Miata and my GTI it was no problem. Wondering if someone sells a wider gas pedal cover or an extension... something like this, but for the 1er:

https://www.flyinmiata.com/fm-gas-pedal-extension.html

[tjswarbrick]

Wider pedal may help, but it's mostly the front - to-back offset. Gotta have the brake way down for the pedals to align. Okay for the track. An awful lot of braking for regular street driving.

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by rowsdower

Can confirm, I have headers with a BPC tune which bumps up the rev limiter another 500rpm or so... but it makes less and less power the further you rev it so the redline bump is kinda pointless. I shift way earlier.

Do you have M3 arms? That would be the next logic step for more camber. I think you are running 245s though, and M3 arms make rubbing worse (see other threads in the suspension section for a discussion on that).

Although modding cars is fun, for me, there is a special kick I get out of passing much faster cars in my nearly stock 128i. I think I'm done modding mine other than potentially a harness belt and a few other small issues that bother me.

Are you guys having trouble heel toeing? I can't seem to get the brake and the gas at the same time comfortably in this car. In my Miata and my GTI it was no problem. Wondering if someone sells a wider gas pedal cover or an extension... something like this, but for the 1er:

https://www.flyinmiata.com/fm-gas-pedal-extension.html

The high-rpm lack of power is a result of the 3-stage intake manifold. There's a resonance issue that starts-up and persists past ~6500rpm. That's why the N54 manifold is gaining popularity lately. I don't want to do headers until the very last second on my car. VA emissions testing is the issue (although I'd technically still pass with stock secondary cats). My suspension is pretty well modded (see my build thread), M3 arms were the first thing I did to my car . I was using 245's, but went back down to 225's with my new Bridgestone RE-71R's.

Heel-toeing in this car is just awful. I've got it pretty much nailed on the street, but the track is the issue for me. The pedal goes too far past the gas pedal, and I end up missing it entirely and just releasing the clutch smoothly in the gear I want so I can focus on braking and turning at the right points. Slower tracks where my brakes are a little firmer like Shenandoah circuit at Summit Point, heel-toeing is far easier. It really needs a lighter flywheel, and my car needs a louder exhaust so I can actually hear the engine's speed.

Originally Posted by tjswarbrick

Wider pedal may help, but it's mostly the front - to-back offset. Gotta have the brake way down for the pedals to align. Okay for the track. An awful lot of braking for regular street driving.

It's funny you say that, as my issue is the opposite; the brake pedal goes too far to heel-toe effectively. This is probably an unfortunate side effect of swapping four-piston calipers without getting a larger master cylinder to compensate.

[desertman123]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

The high-rpm lack of power is a result of the 3-stage intake manifold. There's a resonance issue that starts-up and persists past ~6500rpm. That's why the N54 manifold is gaining popularity lately. I don't want to do headers until the very last second on my car. VA emissions testing is the issue (although I'd technically still pass with stock secondary cats).

Do you have MILVS??? They're good for ~10 wheel across the whole band! Shoot me a PM if you need to contact Marty or Bob (goes for anyone reading this).

Could also look into catted aFe headers, but I've heard of those having issues :/
The stocks look so basic compared to aftermarket.

Also no issues heel-toeing but I'm only street driven. I couldn't do it with the bitey stock pads lol.

[rowsdower]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

The high-rpm lack of power is a result of the 3-stage intake manifold. There's a resonance issue that starts-up and persists past ~6500rpm. That's why the N54 manifold is gaining popularity lately. I don't want to do headers until the very last second on my car. VA emissions testing is the issue (although I'd technically still pass with stock secondary cats). My suspension is pretty well modded (see my build thread), M3 arms were the first thing I did to my car . I was using 245's, but went back down to 225's with my new Bridgestone RE-71R's.

Heel-toeing in this car is just awful. I've got it pretty much nailed on the street, but the track is the issue for me. The pedal goes too far past the gas pedal, and I end up missing it entirely and just releasing the clutch smoothly in the gear I want so I can focus on braking and turning at the right points. Slower tracks where my brakes are a little firmer like Shenandoah circuit at Summit Point, heel-toeing is far easier. It really needs a lighter flywheel, and my car needs a louder exhaust so I can actually hear the engine's speed.



It's funny you say that, as my issue is the opposite; the brake pedal goes too far to heel-toe effectively. This is probably an unfortunate side effect of swapping four-piston calipers without getting a larger master cylinder to compensate.

I'd like to try that but I'm not sure if there's a tune for the N54 manifold on an N51. I end up doing the same as you - letting the clutch out gently with no throttle but I feel like I'm beating the hell out of the clutch.

Headers are kind of a pain, and in hindsight I don't think I would do them again. Especially living in an emissions county in TX. I can pass, but I have to flash to stock and there is a whole procedure to follow and a very small window to get inspected before a SES light. I forget where you are going to school in TX, but only certain counties require emissions. If you're far enough outside of the Dallas and Houston you may only need a safety inspection.

https://www.dps.texas.gov/RSD/VI/con...ionTesting.htm

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by rowsdower

I'd like to try that but I'm not sure if there's a tune for the N54 manifold on an N51. I end up doing the same as you - letting the clutch out gently with no throttle but I feel like I'm beating the hell out of the clutch.

Headers are kind of a pain, and in hindsight I don't think I would do them again. Especially living in an emissions county in TX. I can pass, but I have to flash to stock and there is a whole procedure to follow and a very small window to get inspected before a SES light. I forget where you are going to school in TX, but only certain counties require emissions. If you're far enough outside of the Dallas and Houston you may only need a safety inspection.

https://www.dps.texas.gov/RSD/VI/consumerinfo/emissionTesting.htm

I brake fast enough that the rpms get pretty close to where they need to be since they fall so slowly. I'm going to school in Longview, which is pretty far away from anything

[mfindigital]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

Glad you're loving the R&T's!!!

And is that really YOU saying it needs more power now??????? Lol

For the cooling, you can code the fans to come on earlier, that might help the issue. Also adding an oil cooler couldn't hurt.

I didn't realize you don't have camber plates, I had a set of dinans I just let go...

I too have been on the hunt for some M3 seats, I see we are in a competition here

I'd recommend wrecking yards for the M3 seats. I got mine for 225$, driver and passenger combined. Don't forget to swap the seat positioning sensor that lives on the inner seat rail, I did and now I have to get these codes dealt with.

[rowsdower]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

I brake fast enough that the rpms get pretty close to where they need to be since they fall so slowly. I'm going to school in Longview, which is pretty far away from anything

Well good news, Longview is in Gregg and Harrison counties which are not emissions counties. You would only need a safety inspection to register your car.

https://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/vi/ins...nCriteria.aspx

Not sure what hoops you need to jump through if you want to register your car in TX while at college though.

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by rowsdower

Well good news, Longview is in Gregg and Harrison counties which are not emissions counties. You would only need a safety inspection to register your car.

https://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/vi/inspection/inspectionCriteria.aspx

Not sure what hoops you need to jump through if you want to register your car in TX while at college though.

I'll probably keep it VA registered while I'm in school unless my parents move to TX as well (dad's job is trying to consolidate staff locations, and Texas is one of the options). Fortunately I'll be back here pretty frequently to have inspections done...

[rowsdower]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

I'll probably keep it VA registered while I'm in school unless my parents move to TX as well (dad's job is trying to consolidate staff locations, and Texas is one of the options). Fortunately I'll be back here pretty frequently to have inspections done...

Got it. I'd skip headers then.

The Texas tracks I know about are Motorsport Ranch Cresson (southwest of DFW), Eagles Canyon Raceway (northwest of DFW), MSR Houston, and of course COTA in Austin. There are likely more but I've not heard anyone bring up other tracks yet.

I have only been to MSRC, it's where I go all the time. There are 2 tracks that can be combined into one large track (a 1.7, 1.3, or 3.1). The facility is okay, but not great, and it's sort of in the middle of nowhere. It's a lot like Summit Point now that I think about it. I usually go with Apex Driving Academy.

I have not been to Eagles Canyon but they just repaved it this winter and I really want to try it out.

MSR Houston is supposed to be good but it's far (south of Houston).

COTA is supposed to be okay, but it's built for F1 cars, not our scrappy road cars, and it's super expensive. I've heard some horror stories of guys crashing or catching fire, and the track charges absolutely absurd amounts to fix things. $30 per linear foot of damaged armco for example... makes me a little nervous to even do a track day there. Obviously it has world class facilities.

Send me a PM if you have any questions.