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09-02-2020, 08:55 AM | #46 | |
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Glad you enjoy it!
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PS - Once upon a time I had a snowmobile I wanted to sell, so I tossed it on the trailer and brought it to Buffalo Cars and Coffee for some free advertising. Quick update - I dropped the car off at Autocouture Motoring in NJ to have the rod bearings serviced, and I'm glad I did. Matt and his team were courteous and efficient - I'm picking the car up this Friday and driving it back home. Note: Mileage on these bearings is 64,000. I've owned the car for about 3,000 of those miles. In terms of future maintenance, I will continue to change the oil every 5,000 miles with Liqui-Moly 10W60. Since I have a clean slate now, I may even start using the Blackstone analysis as I plan on keeping the car long term.
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09-13-2020, 01:11 PM | #47 |
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Looking good Norb!
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'17 Porsche C4S Sapphire Blue Metallic / Bordeaux Red - Softronic tune - Soul Sport Cats - Soul Exhaust
'13 E70 X5M Black Sapphire Metallic / Bamboo Beige - Full Dinan Suspension - Dinan Exhaust - BPM Sport Tune - xHP Flashtool Transmission Tune |
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03-08-2021, 07:37 AM | #48 |
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Weather is getting better so I took the cover off the M3 and went for a spin
Winter sunsets over Lake Erie are the best, I love living in Buffalo. As I spend more time in the car familiarizing myself, I find that the test pipes and 4 pipe mod sounds amazing but tends to drone. With my daughter getting older I want to spend a lot of time traveling with her this summer, so I am thinking about reinstalling the stock exhaust and modifying it with some vacuum-actuated cutouts. I had a similar system on my Corvette and loved the response of the system. More to come there.
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04-03-2021, 05:12 PM | #49 |
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Forgot to post this update - it actually occurred in June 2020.
The car originally came bone stock mechanically, and like many other enthusiasts I always felt the exhaust was a bit neutered. When a deal came up locally for an inexpensive 4 pipe OEM modded catback, I jumped on it. The only catch was that it had been welded directly to the prior owner's x-pipe and had no tips installed, so it needed some repair. Step 1: Remove OEM stock catback Comparing OEM stocker with modded 4 pipe (no tips) Yup, that won't bolt up. One-tack-at-a-time MIG welds indicating this had likely been done by a DIYer or an exhaust shop. I'm no better of a welder myself, until I pick up a TIG! Still cannot verify what's inside, but based on the LOUD volume with test pipes, it's the most aggressive variation. I was happy to see that at least there were no soot patterns around the seams, so the welds were strong and leak free. The biggest problem was the missing ball flanges, shown here on the OEM stock exhaust. The internet would have you believe these are bespoke German flanges, but I thought I had seen these somewhere before in my other builds... Sure enough, I picked up a set of ball joint flanges from Summit Racing, and they were a direct fit. Doesn't get any closer than this. Here's the part number for the male/female combination in case you need to replace any part of your midpipe to catback connection: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-672325 Trimmed to fit my application: No pics of the welded up finished product, but they looked pretty close to the stock exhaust. Rather than trying to lift the heavy exhaust alone to get the hanger bolts started, I used a trick I learned a couple years ago...instead of bringing the exhaust to the car, bring the car to the exhaust. Heave exhaust onto heavy duty cart: Lower car onto exhaust, start hanger nuts, then simply lift the car back up I also welded in new universal tips, 3.5" in diameter if I recall. Here they are just mocked up. I really need to get pictures and sound clips of the final setup.
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04-04-2021, 08:38 PM | #50 |
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Great thread, thanks for sharing! I have the same car with the DCT rather than the manual. I just had the test pipes (AA) put on and am going to install the alpine tune this week. I love them! Looking forward to see what you do next to get ideas.
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04-07-2021, 12:29 PM | #52 | |
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I am also tossing around the idea of fabricating some velocity stacks for the car, just for fun and to enjoy the sound. Not concerned with power gains. Thanks! Gotta drive 'em, life is too short to let them sit.
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04-28-2021, 11:25 AM | #53 |
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Over the weekend I took a quick trip along the lake to Cleveland with a friend and his E39 M5 to get away from the hectic pace of life. Put about 500 miles on the car (all Thruway there, all back roads via PA Allegheny State Forest on the way back). Averaged about 18-22mpg pushing the car and with a significant aerodynamic disadvantage...
Doing touristy things: Tucked away underneath the hotel for the night. The next morning we made a quick pit stop in Mentor Ohio to pick up a new toy. Covid-based demand for outdoor equipment has forced people to ask outrageous prices for used kayaks locally and they are unavailable locally new, so this was the closest location that had the model I wanted. Enter the M3 truck: Aside from wind noise you wouldn't even know it was there, and rock solid even up to triple digit speeds. We wound our way through the Ohio back roads and entered NW PA, crossing the Pymatuning Reservoir... ...and stopping for a quick break at the Kinzua Dam. The car performed flawlessly; my only complaint was that the exhaust droned a bit at highway speeds. I really need to start that vacuum cutout project...
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04-28-2021, 01:19 PM | #54 |
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Love seeing the M3 get used for fun adventures. Excited to see more build process! I have an interlagos E92 as well. I also came from the N54 world. Still got her going strong alongside the M3.
I wonder if the 4 pipe mod would still have drone without the test pipes. Thinking about doing that or the 2.5 mod soon until I can figure out what setup to go with (or an MPE pops up for cheap) |
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04-28-2021, 01:48 PM | #55 | |
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For me from DC it's about 800 miles round trip, but I have always wanted to visit Cleveland for the R&R HOF and take in some culinary items specific to Cleveland such as Melt Bar and Grill
But I love the picture of your car with the Blue Angels plane! Where did you take that? I am looking to do some very small subtle updates to move my car slightly closer to a Blue Angels type theme without going overboard. Quote:
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05-04-2021, 08:23 AM | #56 | |
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05-04-2021, 08:26 AM | #57 | |
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41.511315408279124, -81.68762279054341 https://goo.gl/maps/fLwYr41VrWasGQb66 Great beer and food in Cleveland, and I'm tough to impress since I'm from Buffalo.
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06-15-2021, 02:36 PM | #59 |
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Back in the day I had a set of M-Parallel replicas on my 6.0 E39. It is one of my favorite wheel designs of all time and looks at home on almost any BMW from the 80s to present. That setup was a 18x8F and 18x9.5R. Loved the lip on the 9.5s but the 8 was just a little weak looking.
Good shot showing the difference between the larger rear lip on the 9.5's. Typical example photo on the manufacturer's website (Voxx)... Knowing how awesome those 9.5s were with the lip, fast forward a couple years to my current E90 335xi, which was itching for a set of summer wheels. I purchased a square set of the 18x9.5s wrapped in 255/35/18s and bolted them up, no spacers involved. The result was epic. So, that brings us to the present day, and I'm itching to put some kind of wheel on the M3. With some rough measurements on Willtheyfit.com, they seem to fit well in terms of offset without spacer, so I plan on tossing the M-Pars on the M3 and seeing how it looks. I'll leave you with a preview shot - it kept defaulting to a sedan rather than coupe, but you get the idea.
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06-16-2021, 08:59 AM | #60 |
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Love me some M pars as well, should look great on the M3!
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'17 Porsche C4S Sapphire Blue Metallic / Bordeaux Red - Softronic tune - Soul Sport Cats - Soul Exhaust
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07-30-2021, 08:50 AM | #62 |
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Back when I owned my C5, I had always dreamed of fabricating some ITBs for that car, and having some nice open velocity stacks to listen to. Life got in the way, we had a baby, and I sold the car for the M3, but I never got over the idea of those stacks...
Enter the $200 spare intake plenum. After a couple hours of careful cutting, the 1 piece plenum is now a 2 piece Lid will go back up on the wall as decoration Cut out the unnecessary bits, but keep the oil drain ports and PCV barbs for future mockup Some more work with a belt sander to remove the sharp corners and smooth out the sides and they're ready to be bolted back on. The sound is simply amazing as I expected. This car has a stock axleback and test pipes, but those are totally drowned out by the sonorous, pulsing intake music. Next up I need to figure out filtration (probably some ITG filter socks) and PCV/oil drain back breathers.
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03-28-2022, 11:52 AM | #63 |
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Update: Big life changes.
Sold my 2009 E90 335i last fall and picked up a 2016 X5 F15 35i Xdrive (I hate that naming system). It's unstoppable in all weather, fun to drive, and very comfortable. I threw on an MHD Stage 1 OTS tune, a BMS intake, and some big ole all terrain tires for the winter. The reason for the new daily was our latest addition to my family, my son, who was born in early February. My daughter (now almost 2) got her first car ride ever in the M3 home from the hospital. Although weather didn't allow me to take him home in the M3, he did get his first car ride in the X5, so both kids are bona fide BMW fans from Day 1. Luckily the weather broke recently so I was able to get the car out of storage and give him his first proper ride. I installed a new battery in the M3 as the old one was original. Need to have a buddy code the car to update some features and register the battery. I also replaced the CR2032 battery in the fob since the car was saying the remote battery was low. The fob promptly stopped working. I spent 30 mins reading threads about syncing the fob and just for fun checked the battery to make sure I installed it correctly. Did you know that watch batteries won't work if the plastic protective sticker is still applied? :facepalm: Open velocity stacks on this car still sound demonic. I can't think of a better sounding internal combustion engine. Finally, I pulled the turbo 6.0 LS/4L80E out of my Crown Vic Police Interceptor and scrapped that car. It was starting to get pretty crusty underneath and I pretty much broke even selling good body panels, doors, glass, interior parts, etc. The motor/trans are going into the new project, a 1984 Jaguar XJ6. Plans for the next few months: M3 needs an oil change, brake fluid flush, and probably some aggressive pads before a track day at PittRace in June with the BMW GVC CCA. Haven't done a track day since late 2018 in my C5 Corvette, so to say I'm excited is an understatement. X5 needs an oil change, new plugs, and will continue to just be enjoyed. XJ6.0 should be done by mid summer. Lots of burnouts and cruising.
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05-16-2022, 11:12 AM | #64 |
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Finally knocked out the oil change on the X5. FCP's warranty program continues to work well.
The billet oil filter tool is awesome and works for both the N54 and N55. I have done hundreds of oil changes on many cars and never once had an issue with a drain plug until now. The plug came out with a high level of resistance, and inspection of the threads revealed they were almost totally stripped out. Cue the "Taps" music... Going slowly with the tap coated in oil and pouring a few quarts of oil through the crankcase worked well to flush it. No leaks. Hooray. Back to M3 content! Important mod - adds at least 10 hp. My buddy bought me a membership, mainly to allow us to attend BMW CCA HPDE's in our region. I have a bunch of track time under my belt in my old C5 Corvette but have yet to take the M3 out, so when he told me about an HPDE at PittRace in June, I jumped at the opportunity to get some seat time. Jaguar is tying up my lift so I went old school and started the track prep in the driveway. New rear tires - Hankook Ventus V12 in a stock size Power Steering flush with Pentosin Brake fluid flush with RBF 600 Power Stop Track Day pads all around Ended up only using one of these. Fluid was very dark. A few random pics of just using it for everything. This car really does it all - daily driver/commuter, weekend adventures, whatever. Side note - randomly found this model at Lowe's by the checkout. No Interlagos, but Alpine will do!
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05-17-2022, 09:53 AM | #66 |
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Ya hands down my favorite thread on this forum. The velocity stacks look kick ass.
You did end up throwing the turbo LS in a Crown Vic? Was looking forward to that.
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