2011 e90 M3 ZCP Interlagos Blue Journal

[akkando]

Removed the CF mirrors and put the stock IB mirrors back and dropped the car off at the detailer for a two stage correction and ceramic coating. The paint has had a hard life and excited to see what it looks like when finished. Bumper is too chipped to matter but hopefully everything else comes out nice!

[BayE30]

LoL thats my friends detail shop in this pic, for sure.

[akkando]

Originally Posted by BayE30

LoL thats my friends detail shop in this pic, for sure.

I'll do an update to this post when I have the car back.

[GoodTime]

Can't wait to see it!

[akkando]

Just one new pic for now

[akkando]

Car was paint corrected and coated. IB mirrors went back on for this process. CF went back on later.

[akkando]

Added a red start/stop button. Pretty easy mod.



Add matte black M3 badge. I now feel I need CF spoiler and black exhaust tips. Thinking Corsa exhaust.



Went for a drive or two

[akkando]

Installed Eventuri Carbon Fiber Plenum. It sounds amazing and it's many times louder than stock even with the rest of the intake and filter stock.










For whatever reason when the audio is recorded it sounds basically the same as the OEM plastic plenum but it sounds much more dramatic to the ear in person. It only gets loud at wide open throttle though for better or worse, meaning when driven normally the car sounds stock. When driven in anger the car sounds like a wild animal.

[DJiGGs]

Damn that looks good. Looks like the paint is still wet haha!

[akkando]

I had my e90 M3 palladium silver swapped for black only because I wanted rear fold seats and it's impossible to find folding seats in that color for the e90. I was lucky that marco44 had a full interior in black for sale off a car he was parting out and he would do the swap for me while I kind of sort of helped/hung out. The advantage of doing this locally with a car being parted out was I don't have to deal with freight shipping and any bolts, nuts, tabs, brackets, wiring, whatever was there on the car so I didn't have to hunt down all the misc parts except four tabs that were on the donor car that couldn't be removed. Good news was BMW parts department had them for $0.44

The old palladium seats were in great condition and I am sad to see them go (up for sale in interior forum section) but, I am very glad to have the additional utility of rear fold seats! Other advantages are that black is easier to keep clean, looks classier, and meaner at the same time.

From this





To gutting it out



To this








The black seats are also heated while my silver seats were not. However for whatever reason when tested with an HVAC with the correct buttons only the driver seat worked. We tested another passenger seat and it still didn't work so at this point I think a fuse or coding issue or even batter as the car was complaining about low battery. Currently waiting for an HVAC with heated seat buttons to get to me before I sort this out

An oh shit moment was that the car was complaining there was an airbag/restraint issue with the passenger seat at some point during the swapping of seats to trouble shoot the heated seat issue. I used bimmerlink to app over OBD to read and clear the codes and everything was fine no more error. Either we got slopped and turned the car on when we didn't have everything wired correctly, or the battery was just low, or we should have never had the battery connected in the first place while doing this. Anyway for anyone else who sees this error when doing a swap the error will NOT go away when the problem is fixed. The code is stored and the car will complain until the error is cleared.

[Drifter2090]

I'll miss the Palladium but the fold down rear is a must!

[nyc_dude]

Gotta finish the engine bay off with the Eventuri CF Intake and air box cover. I went with a custom painted V8 plenum by IND...in the mail.

You need to ceramic coat that sweet Eventuri plenum.

No PPF? Yeah you have to respray any bumper for an old car before ceramic coating. I have to do the hood and front/rear bumper before PPF and ceramic coating in the Fall 2020.

Gorgeous Interlagos Blue M3 in the California sun.


Cheers

[akkando]

Originally Posted by nyc_dude

Gotta finish the engine bay off with the Eventuri CF Intake and air box cover. I went with a custom painted V8 plenum by IND...in the mail.

You need to ceramic coat that sweet Eventuri plenum.

No PPF? Yeah you have to respray any bumper for an old car before ceramic coating. I have to do the hood and front/rear bumper before PPF and ceramic coating in the Fall 2020.

Gorgeous Interlagos Blue M3 in the California sun.


Cheers

I didn't get the Eventuri CF plenum for looks, I just got it for the huge sound upgrade. Also I like that it's supposed to match the OEM specs for fitment and looks. Perhaps if an officer sticks their head in my engine bay they'll be looking for an intake elbow and not a plenum and if they ask I'll say that's OEM spec look it up! I'd like the elbow and air box cover but it's pretty expensive and not sure that it does anything for sound at this point.

Yeah painting the bumper and hood to deal with rock chips would have been good before paint correction and ceramic coating but I would have wanted the bumper reflectors shaved and I'm not thrilled with replacing the OEM paint, worrying about color match, and worrying about them having to blend to other panels for a match. It would have added a lot of additional cost. I'm just glad that the car is easier to wash now and I'm not distracted by tons of tiny scratches every time I look at the car. The bumper and hood are a mess though. I figured if I ever did get them painted, in theory they won't need a paint correction, just a coating.

[Space Fox]

I love when people try and tell you all the things you "need" to do with your car. The thing looks gorgeous! Having a grey car really makes me appreciate colors and blue is one of the best on this platform. So jealous of the Eventuri. I just jumped in on the group buy for the Carboproject plenum (the 1/2 Eventuri). I'm hoping the sound is close to comparable.

[akkando]

Originally Posted by Space Fox

I love when people try and tell you all the things you "need" to do with your car. The thing looks gorgeous! Having a grey car really makes me appreciate colors and blue is one of the best on this platform. So jealous of the Eventuri. I just jumped in on the group buy for the Carboproject plenum (the 1/2 Eventuri). I'm hoping the sound is close to comparable.

the carbo project might be better really because the fitment will actually be 100 percent OEM and way less risk of a defect or failure later. Sound wise I couldn't say but I'm sure it will be louder than the elbows or airbox covers. I'm guessing the trumpets being CF on the inside makes a difference an I assume on the carbo the trumpets are still OEM.

[Space Fox]

True on the fitment front although I don't think I've heard of any fitment issues with the Eventuri plenum. I've heard the sound is great think you're right on the CF trumpets and base making a difference. There's quite a bit signing up for the group buy so hopefully we'll get a side by side comparison at some point.

Cheers on the plenum and the car! Great work.

[bmwmdistrict]

Just wanted to say your car looks absolutely gorgeous. I love how a 10 year old M3 looks better than half the new cars on the dealer lots today. Great work and remember... it's your car, do what you want to do.

[RebL]

where in the bay area are you? i’d be nice to see another local ib e90!

[akkando]

Originally Posted by RebL

where in the bay area are you? i’d be nice to see another local ib e90!

I'm in SF near where the 280 and 101 meet.

[RebL]

Originally Posted by akkando

I'm in SF near where the 280 and 101 meet.

cool! i’m in half moon bay but around san mateo often and sometimes daly city. not much driving with everything going on but if i’m ever in your area i’ll message you! i have a buddy in sf with an ib zcp e46 m3 we can put them all together for a pic lol

[akkando]

Originally Posted by RebL

cool! i’m in half moon bay but around san mateo often and sometimes daly city. not much driving with everything going on but if i’m ever in your area i’ll message you! i have a buddy in sf with an ib zcp e46 m3 we can put them all together for a pic lol

Please, I'd much rather head down to half Moon Bay, I do all the time to drive La Honda or around Cañada road.

[akkando]

Reserved