//steve\\ - 2012 Alpine White E92

[911r]

Originally Posted by //steve\\

Since my last update I did finally get the MCS shocks on the car. It's a 2WNR setup with 500/800lbs springs. I can honestly say so far if I lost any comfort moving away from the Bilstein B16 Damptronic it's almost unnoticeable. What I did gain was a little sharpness that I felt the B16 was lacking. I've also just left them on the recommended settings from MCS right now which are just a bit towards the softer side from about the middle of the adjustment range. As I drive more I'll tinker a bit.

My only complaint with this switch was my move to the Bimmerworld shorter endlinks that are required. They just simply aren't as nice as the outgoing SPL I had. I'll likely replace these at some point. The joints are looser and they make some noise that I didn't have before and I'm 99.9% sure it's the links. It does appear there are proper length links from SPL off the shelf that are meant for one of the F series cars so unless I look for something else custom that will probably be the route I take.

I still need to trim holes in the rear trunk lining for the shock adjusters and then reinstall it all.

I did pick up a Brey Krause mount for my Recaro bucket I've had for years so I'll be sticking that on the driver side soon just so I can get an idea how drastic the change to a full bucket seat is in this car and weather it's something I want to leave or something I just hold onto to swap in for the times I really want the extra holding a bucket provides. The Recaro Sportsters are a great in between but they definitely do not hold like a bucket seat and a few times I've really wished I was more secure.

After a good bit more driving too I can say I'm definitely happy with the Autosolutions shifter. For a functional perspective it still isn't the CAE but it looks far more at home for the state my car is in today and I'm ok with that.

I also purchased a Stage 1 tune from Epic and that was a nice bump. Nothing that's going to blow you away but you can tell there is just a little extra there. I intend to do test pipes and their Stage 2 tune in the near future. I considered several tune options but Epic seemed to be one of the few that just simply didn't have any negative reviews (aside from price). You get what you pay for though and Randy@Epic has been very responsive.


Took a few more shots over the weekend at a local spot I really like and then did a bit of exploring.

[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3b30dcd5_b.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...651f81df_b.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...11d92fde_b.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e6927d96_b.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e1ae5c46_b.jpg[/IMG]

SPL will make custom end links for you (for pretty cheap too!) just shoot em' an email. Beautiful car!

[CSL_DNA]

Originally Posted by //steve\\

These photos though!

[wyatth]

Meh. Photos and car are alright, I guess.

[HELROTM3]

Originally Posted by wyatth

meh. Photos and car are alright, i guess.

🤦🏻*♂️

[Epoustouflant]

Love the car Steve, such a classic, well executed look with quality parts.

[SAMM3Y]

I Absolutely love how you can see nothing but rotor behinds the e88's.. perfection

[//steve\\]

Originally Posted by SAMM3Y

I Absolutely love how you can see nothing but rotor behinds the e88's.. perfection

One of my favorite things

[//steve\\]

I need to take some photos but I did get the Recaro bucket installed and was able to go for a quick drive.

The switch to the bucket dropped ~20lbs off the car. I think the weight difference between the Sportster and Pole Position on my non scientific scale was 22-23lbs and I'll say the rail components are a wash. I did find a piece on the OE slider that appeared to be not needed so I took it off too.

Like others have noted if you just slap the rails on in the same positioning for OE rail you'll end up with a seat that's a bit off center towards the door. What I did was mount both brackets on the side of the rail that put them towards the center of the car (Brey Krause even notates you can install them on the inside or outside of the OE rail) and then due to the width of this seat I also spaced out the most inner rail even farther towards the center using some of the supplied spacers from BK. This seemed to shift the seat just enough inward that it looks centered to me.

The seat sits a solid 2" lower than stock and I have it mounted on the highest holes available. The pedals feel easier to use too sitting lower and the whole car just feels different now that I'm lower and more secure. I'm looking forward to getting in a bit more driving with this. Getting in and out does require just a bit more effort but I'm used to getting in and out of this very seat from a S2000 which is lower and has a smaller door opening so it feels pretty easy in the M3.

[wyatth]

Originally Posted by HELROTM3

🤦🏻*♂️

Steve’s my buddy, he knows I’m joking.

[LeveragedTiger]

Originally Posted by //steve\\

Since my last update I did finally get the MCS shocks on the car. It's a 2WNR setup with 500/800lbs springs. I can honestly say so far if I lost any comfort moving away from the Bilstein B16 Damptronic it's almost unnoticeable. What I did gain was a little sharpness that I felt the B16 was lacking. I've also just left them on the recommended settings from MCS right now which are just a bit towards the softer side from about the middle of the adjustment range. As I drive more I'll tinker a bit.

My only complaint with this switch was my move to the Bimmerworld shorter endlinks that are required. They just simply aren't as nice as the outgoing SPL I had. I'll likely replace these at some point. The joints are looser and they make some noise that I didn't have before and I'm 99.9% sure it's the links. It does appear there are proper length links from SPL off the shelf that are meant for one of the F series cars so unless I look for something else custom that will probably be the route I take.

I still need to trim holes in the rear trunk lining for the shock adjusters and then reinstall it all.

I did pick up a Brey Krause mount for my Recaro bucket I've had for years so I'll be sticking that on the driver side soon just so I can get an idea how drastic the change to a full bucket seat is in this car and weather it's something I want to leave or something I just hold onto to swap in for the times I really want the extra holding a bucket provides. The Recaro Sportsters are a great in between but they definitely do not hold like a bucket seat and a few times I've really wished I was more secure.

After a good bit more driving too I can say I'm definitely happy with the Autosolutions shifter. For a functional perspective it still isn't the CAE but it looks far more at home for the state my car is in today and I'm ok with that.

I also purchased a Stage 1 tune from Epic and that was a nice bump. Nothing that's going to blow you away but you can tell there is just a little extra there. I intend to do test pipes and their Stage 2 tune in the near future. I considered several tune options but Epic seemed to be one of the few that just simply didn't have any negative reviews (aside from price). You get what you pay for though and Randy@Epic has been very responsive.


Took a few more shots over the weekend at a local spot I really like and then did a bit of exploring.

Are you referring to Front Sway-bar End Links? If you do get new SPL ones, would like to know the length that you end-up getting.

I recently switched to MCS 2WNR as well and have a few thoughts from my experience.

1) For the trunk trim, I used a drill and then tin snips to cut 'windows' to access the rear shock adjustment knobs. Happy to take photos if you want an idea of what someone else did.

2) I found the factory compression settings to be too soft. I'm on 600/900 springs mind you, but I have the front compression on 8, and rear on 7. I did however find the factory rebound to be too fast and bouncy for road driving, and have that down to 6 now. On the track I run 8/9 for the rebound setting.

Enjoy the setup - I'm in love with mine!!

[Drifter2090]

Man those brakes look amazing behind the E88's!

[derbo]

Originally Posted by LeveragedTiger

Are you referring to Front Sway-bar End Links? If you do get new SPL ones, would like to know the length that you end-up getting.

I recently switched to MCS 2WNR as well and have a few thoughts from my experience.

1) For the trunk trim, I used a drill and then tin snips to cut 'windows' to access the rear shock adjustment knobs. Happy to take photos if you want an idea of what someone else did.

2) I found the factory compression settings to be too soft. I'm on 600/900 springs mind you, but I have the front compression on 8, and rear on 7. I did however find the factory rebound to be too fast and bouncy for road driving, and have that down to 6 now. On the track I run 8/9 for the rebound setting.

Enjoy the setup - I'm in love with mine!!

I just ordered SPL endlinks 11.4-12.9" last week and I believe they should be arrive this week for a weekend install. I emailed them to ask for the custom length. FWIW, they have a competitor trade-in program that gives you 25% off if you send a competitor's product you are replacing.

[//steve\\]

I've had the car for 1 year now!

I'm long overdue for an update.

Recaro Pole Position on BK mount
I still love having the Recaro bucket so I haven't swapped it out at all. I have noticed a buzz when the car is idling that seems to be coming from the rail that goes away when I sit in it. I may need to double check all bolts. The BK mount is incredibly sturdy though so very happy with it. I may try to rig up my electric sliders from the OE seats with these but not something I'm in a rush to do. The seat really does make a solid difference in the way the car feels and letting you feel what the car is doing. The downside of running a bucket seat is it's very hard to go back the other way once you've experienced it. I may feel differently if it was a daily driver but it's not. I may look at a Leather Pole Position ABE down the road so that I can have the bucket and something that matches a little better.


CarboProject Plenum
I got in on the CarboProject plenum group buy and was in the first round. The part looked amazing but for me the sound wasn't anything close to different enough to be worth keeping. When I opened the box I was very excited with what I saw. It seems as though they made a slightly change to comply with TUV regulations and made the lid a bit thicker than previous versions. For the second round they offered an "export" version that had the original thinner lid that likely would have given me the sound I wanted. I will note my car has a BMC filter and at least one other member noted the same thing that with the BMC filter the plenum made almost no change in sound. A bit disappointing as we weren't notified of this change and I'd bet most people bought it for sound, not the look of a carbon lid only. Stock is back on the car and will likely stay until I just buy a full carbon Eventuri or Karbonius.






DO88 Transmission Cooler removed
I finally removed the DO88 trans cooler and put the stock one back on. This was an item on my list from day 1. I assumed it would be messy and it wasn't at all. I did decide to change the trans fluid while at it so that may have helped. Now that I've driven around the car a few times since I should probably check the fluid level again. Everything feels good. I'll note that for anyone with a manual the OE cooler has a plate blocking airflow to half the unit so if you think you may need/want a little extra cooling it's as simple as remove the bumper and pull the plate. Double the airflow for $0. While I haven't been around these cars for too long I've never once come across a documented issue of trans fluid temps/issues on the manual. I do know it's a serious issue for DCT cars that are tracked but not the case for me.


Coolant/Rad hose maintenance
I noticed when doing the Carbo plenum that the upper rad hose seemed to have a drop or two of fluid on the bottom where it meets the radiator. It's a cheap part so I'm just going to replace it and do a coolant flush. I also noticed the small hose that runs to the reservoir seemed as if it was leaking from the inside out...not to the point of leaking wet fluid but the end of the hose kind of had dry crusty coolant. I bought a replacement part for that and will just do it all at once. Works for me because I have another part to install that requires pulling the fan and I can do it all in one shot.


BBS RIA replacing the E88
I've had my eyes on the RIA for a long time now and despite trying to look at every single picture of them I could find on the Internet I still couldn't decide if I really liked them so I bought a set. I'd love to have kept both but just not in the cards especially when I have a huge list of other wants.

Wheels are 18x10 +25 front and 18x10.5 +22 rear. I'm running the same 265/35 and 295/30 Michelin Cup2 tires that came off the E88.

I've always personally preferred the one piece/monoblock wheel to a multi-piece wheel. That said now having had both I think for the E9x I ever so slightly prefer the multi-piece. I have a few other ideas and I could possibly end up on E88s down the road again. For now I think I'll hold off until these tires are dead.

A few shots of how the car sits today












What's Next?

Near future I'll do some kind of primary cat deletes and get the Stage 2 upgrade for Epic tune that's on the car now. I picked up some Rouge Engineering pulleys as well so I'll do those when I fix the radiator hose. Aside from that it's going to be some basic maintenance.

For 2021 I'd like to work on the car a bit less and drive it more. Hoping to do 1-2 track days.

[HELROTM3]

Stunning! What does removing the DO88 trans cooler achieve?

[DanMpower]

LOVE the look with the RIAs.

[//steve\\]

Originally Posted by HELROTM3

Stunning! What does removing the DO88 trans cooler achieve?

It's pointless for a manual trans car. No one has ever reported cooling issues with the manual trans. BMW even has half of it blocked from the factory. If you think it needs more cooling, just pull the block off plate and you've doubled airflow through it so that's what I did. It also adds a bit of weight up front which is the last place I want it. I'd argue it's negligible as it's probably less than 5lbs but still, principal of it all.

[ForTheLoveOfTheDrive]

Wow, truly impressive build. I really enjoyed reading your awesome journey. What’s next?

[//steve\\]

Updated my last post with a bit more detail.

[E9xx]

how does the Pole position compare to the Sportster CS? I've sat in both but cant decide which to go with.. Mines not my daily

[//steve\\]

Originally Posted by E9xx

how does the Pole position compare to the Sportster CS? I've sat in both but cant decide which to go with.. Mines not my daily

For support you can't really compare. The Sportster is better than stock but not by any significant amount. It's hard to top the feel you get out of a true bucket seat. I've been running the Pole Positions for 10+ years at this point. This current one I actually bought back when I had my 3rd S2000 so it's been with me for 6-7 years now.

If you aren't racing I'd seriously look at the non FIA certified ABE version you can only buy out of Europe. It's a little more every day friendly. Just a little extra room at the hips and I believe the upper part of the seat is just a little more open/flat than the standard.

[//steve\\]

I did also finally replace my leaking upper radiator hose. I still can't see what was wrong with it. I just started to notice a drip or two under the car on occasion and found that the bottom of the hose where it meets the radiator felt wet. It's a cheap part though so why not.

While I had the hose off I pulled the rad fan too so I could install the Rouge Engineering pulleys so we'll see if those make any difference at all driving the car. Install was pretty simple/straightforward on those. Parts quality looks good too.

[///Mobbin]

Just came across this thread, great photos throughout and great looking car!

I also have an alpine white E92 and silver RIA's so I may be a bit biased, hah.