What have you done with or to your M3 today?

^ ha...thanks man. I've had 3 pedal cars most of my life. In my 20s and 30s they were a blast. I recently spent quite some time in a manual G80 and definitely feel I made the right decision for me at least going with a DCT car.

Valve covers swapped despite my preference for the old warning label.

DL335D wrote

^ ha...thanks man. I've had 3 pedal cars most of my life. In my 20s and 30s they were a blast. I recently spent quite some time in a manual G80 and definitely feel I made the right decision for me at least going with a DCT car.

i definitely see the perks of DCT..especially in standstill traffic

Bubbles wrote

Valve covers swapped despite my preference for the old warning label.

what the heck happens to some peoples valve covers?!

like mine are year 10 years old and look like your new ones with some black grime on them, not bubbling or peeling at all (until I just said that)

DL335D wrote

^ ha...thanks man. I've had 3 pedal cars most of my life. In my 20s and 30s they were a blast. I recently spent quite some time in a manual G80 and definitely feel I made the right decision for me at least going with a DCT car.

Interesting, don't want bog this thread down, you want to share some thoughts from your G80 drive here?
https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1808780

^^^ I'll post a quick note up here which should make all the E9X owners happy. I came from a stage 1 F80 ZCP (4yrs) to my e92 that's I've had well over a year now. The f80 was fast but that was about it. I never connected with that car.

I drove the G80 for fun, with no intention of moving away from the S65.

Just a few pros and cons I noticed from the G80

Pros:
Very fast, felt just about liked my tuned f80. If you are NA don't ever race one in an e92 as you will get absolutely destroyed.
Solid power delivery and virtually no turbo lag. feels a lot like an NA motor.
Very quiet
Powerful brakes that have very linear bit to them
True GT ride quality- Absorbs the big bumps (potholes) very well
Precise, quick steering rack, though a lot less communicative than E9X.
Comfortable seats
Tons of grip and hides its weight well. Feels like 20-25% more grip than my e92 on 275s squared
A lot of cool tech if you are in to that. I feel that shit takes away from the driving experience.

Cons:
Obviously- not very attractive at all, though better in person and best in black.
7kish read line- we still have 1,300 revs to go!
Steering again - Can't feel what the front tires are doing at all just like f80
Exhaust sounds way too artificial. Not nearly loud enough. Better sound than f80, but not nearly as aggressive. Obviously E9X destroys both.
Lastly the G80 WAY too big. Felt like I was driving an f90

The G80 completely lacks emotion. I won't be moving away from my e92 for a long time.

DL335D wrote

^^^ I'll post a quick note up here which should make all the E9X owners happy. I came from a stage 1 F80 ZCP (4yrs) to my e92 that's I've had well over a year now. The f80 was fast but that was about it. I never connected with that car.

I drove the G80 for fun, with no intention of moving away from the S65.

Just a few pros and cons I noticed from the G80

Pros:
Very fast, felt just about liked my tuned f80. If you are NA don't ever race one in an e92 as you will get absolutely destroyed.
Solid power delivery
Very quiet
Powerful brakes
True GT ride quality- Absorbs the big bumps (potholes) very well, though not as comfortable as E9X
Precise, quick steering rack
Comfortable seats
Tons of grip. Feels like 25% more grip than my e92 on 275s squared
A lot of cool tech if you are in to that. I feel that shit takes away from the driving experience.

Cons:
Not very attractive at all
Can't feel what the front tires are doing. You can feel the rear better than e92
Exhaust sounds so artificial. Not nearly loud enough. Better sound than f80, but not nearly as aggressive. Obviously E92 destroys both.
Lastly WAY too big. Felt like I was driving an f90.

The G80 completely lacks emotion. I won't be moving away from my e92 for a long time.

Thanks mate! I'm not planning to move away from my E90 but still find it interesting to collect input. Never even wanted to test the F80 - looks ok but noise irl and what I read about p delivery easily kept me away. Maybe I test drive the G80 at some point.

DL335D wrote

^^^ I'll post a quick note up here which should make all the E9X owners happy. I came from a stage 1 F80 ZCP (4yrs) to my e92 that's I've had well over a year now. The f80 was fast but that was about it. I never connected with that car.

I drove the G80 for fun, with no intention of moving away from the S65.

Just a few pros and cons I noticed from the G80

Pros:
Very fast, felt just about liked my tuned f80. If you are NA don't ever race one in an e92 as you will get absolutely destroyed.
Solid power delivery
Very quiet
Powerful brakes
True GT ride quality- Absorbs the big bumps (potholes) very well, though not as comfortable as E9X
Precise, quick steering rack
Comfortable seats
Tons of grip. Feels like 25% more grip than my e92 on 275s squared
A lot of cool tech if you are in to that. I feel that shit takes away from the driving experience.

Cons:
Not very attractive at all
Can't feel what the front tires are doing. You can feel the rear better than e92
Exhaust sounds so artificial. Not nearly loud enough. Better sound than f80, but not nearly as aggressive. Obviously E92 destroys both.
Lastly WAY too big. Felt like I was driving an f90.

The G80 completely lacks emotion. I won't be moving away from my e92 for a long time.

Thanks for the review. I agree, the M3/4 is just getting to large. The F10/F90 is already a great large/fast sedan. Even the E9x M3 is questionably large.

Oh well.

Gained 4lbs 🤦*♂️.... sorry roastbeef picked up some used real akra tips to replace my homemade titanium jobby's... the build quality on these akrapovic tips is top notch. I do think the proper tips will improve the tone of the evolution exhaust system, I have been complaining about the noise around town 3-4K RPM with the home made ones.

What's the inlet size of the home made tips?

parking place for M3)

250miles on new rod bearings - normal flight

Grip Addict wrote

what the heck happens to some peoples valve covers?!

like mine are year 10 years old and look like your new ones with some black grime on them, not bubbling or peeling at all (until I just said that)

Track days, salt water breeze, high humidity may contribute to it. It seems to accelerate after the first bubble. The bubbling didn’t bother me, but the oil misting made a mess, it gets everywhere.

SAMM3Y wrote

Gained 4lbs 🤦*♂️.... sorry roastbeef picked up some used real akra tips to replace my homemade titanium jobby's... the build quality on these akrapovic tips is top notch. I do think the proper tips will improve the tone of the evolution exhaust system, I have been complaining about the noise around town 3-4K RPM with the home made ones.

Have those tips ever been heat cycled? Did you pull them off a display? I use Rock N Roll ceramic paste for installation. It’s similar to the OEM paste with the akra kit.

roastbeef wrote

What's the inlet size of the home made tips?

57mm/2.25" which is the size on an akra. the tips are 2.5". To make them I just notched the ti a bunch and then cut some small pieces missing cross sections to act as a natural spring for when they're clamped down. It's a little ghetto but it worked and they didn't leak. They look a little small on the car but a light weight subtle touch. The stainless clamps are half the weight of assembled tip.

SAMM3Y wrote

roastbeef wrote

What's the inlet size of the home made tips?

57mm/2.25" which is the size on an akra. the tips are 2.5". To make them I just notched the ti a bunch and then cut some small pieces missing cross sections to act as a natural spring for when they're clamped down. It's a little ghetto but it worked and they didn't leak. They look a little small on the car but a light weight subtle touch. The stainless clamps are half the weight of assembled tip.

Want to sell those? Send me a pm of a price shipped you'd be happy with.

Made my own arm-rest-delete for $30.

Looks great, but where are you supposed to rest your arm? You are going to have one very unrested right arm.

DL335D wrote

Looks great, but where are you supposed to rest your arm? You are going to have one very unrested right arm.

Dang it! I didn't even think about that - guess it'll just have to hang in mid-air or something.

Silos wrote

Made my own arm-rest-delete for $30.

what is it made out of?

Grip Addict wrote

what is it made out of?

synthetic micro suede, the faux type.

Silos wrote

Made my own arm-rest-delete for $30.

that looks great! what block material did you use on the inner part?

JIYONG wrote

that looks great! what block material did you use on the inner part?

Thanks!

A sheet of ABS plastic from Amazon; I cut it to shape, heated it in my toaster oven, and quickly ran it to my car and laid it on top of the arm rest area so that it would take its shape, until it cooled down.

It's this one if you're interested; .060 thickness at 12x12:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004UBUX5C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1