ESS VT1: Pics of install/review

[ferraribrad]

Kit came after about 4 weeks of ordering from ESS. Customer service was very good.

Did it in a weekend. Took about 12 hours, which includes getting the body work back inline perfectly, and maybe a few beers...








Car is an '08 E92 6MT. Power delivery is great. Car pulls hard when asked, but is also very very streetable. This is the right kit for those who want daily drivability mixed with the occasional trackday autocross event. The great thing is that ESS allows you the option to keep adding more power with the same basic hardware.


Only other mod right now is Remus SST exhaust and Nitto NT05 tires. I'm going to pull the alignment pins and get as much negative camber as I can in the front for the last autocross of the season.

ONLY COMPLAINTS about the install:
1)
Bolts supplied to mount the blower to the bracket were metric thread. Vortech blower is tapped with standard thread...
Yes it could have been a nightmare if I would have torque'd down on those. Ended up finding the right bolts at a local hardware store for about $30.
2)
Diagram/Schematic on step 96 to re install stock AC belt was incorrect. After some time researching online, it appears that diagram is only for cars that were produced in the first month or so of E9X M3 production. It is obvious that is not the correct way the belt goes on because there is no tension when attempted.
Here is the pic supplied:

Overall, I'm extremely happy with my decision
-Brad

[kchu221]

nice! i wanna get this kit also!

[AJ@ESS]

Hi,

I am happy you enjoy your VT1-535 kit.

We had a mixup of M10 vs 3/8UNC bolts from a supplier a few weeks back and our warehouse crew did not catch it until ~3 kits went out. We thought we had covered all those kits with new bolts already, but apparently one slipped through the cracks. New bolts are available free of charge, or you can get a refund if you get them locally. We are very sorry for this inconvenience. It is not really possible to install the M10 bolts as they will not even start to thread to due being slightly to large.

[GIdriver]

Nice!!

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by ferraribrad

Diagram/Schematic on step 96 to re install stock AC belt was incorrect. After some time researching online, it appears that diagram is only for cars that were produced in the first month or so of E9X M3 production. It is obvious that is not the correct way the belt goes on because there is no tension when attempted.
Here is the pic supplied:

Overall, I'm extremely happy with my decision
-Brad

Congrats on the newfound power. This should further illustrate the belt routing point:

2008-5/08 6SPD models (non DCT) belt routing


6/08+ and all DCT belt routing

[GOLFFRR]

awesome! congrats on the new kit, and even more praise on installing it yourself

[Boostin FD]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

Congrats on the newfound power. This should further illustrate the belt routing point:

2008-5/08 6SPD models (non DCT) belt routing


6/08+ and all DCT belt routing

I'm curious why is the belt routing different on dct vs 6spd?

[THE TECH]

Looks good.

[ferraribrad]

Actually you could and I did start it by hand, I only went about a quarter turn after that.
After spending that much on a kit I'm not really worried about a few bucks for bolts, it was more the inconvenience of having to go to the hardware store carrying a blower around and trying to figure out which bolt and tap to buy haha.

-Brad

Originally Posted by AJ@ESS

Hi,

I am happy you enjoy your VT1-535 kit.

We had a mixup of M10 vs 3/8UNC bolts from a supplier a few weeks back and our warehouse crew did not catch it until ~3 kits went out. We thought we had covered all those kits with new bolts already, but apparently one slipped through the cracks. New bolts are available free of charge, or you can get a refund if you get them locally. We are very sorry for this inconvenience. It is not really possible to install the M10 bolts as they will not even start to thread to due being slightly to large.