FS: 600hp 1M clone

[berns]

BIMMERPOST / Classifieds

Asking Price:

Sold

Item Interest

**Email me to chat about the car - alex.m.bernstein@gmail.com**

What can I say… This car is my hero build. I’ve poured a ton of love, time (yes, money) and passion into this project, and I know I’m an idiot to sell it, so you can leave those comments unspoken! However, with a baby on the way, a home purchase on the horizon and a new NA build calling my name, it’s time to pass this on to someone that’s going to love and enjoy it as much as I have.

Before I get into too much detail, I’ll just try to sum up this car for the "too long, didn't read" crew. This is the single most exciting car I’ve ever driven. I’ve worked in the automotive industry for over 12 years on staff for car magazines, and now I shoot commercial advertising for car manufacturers. I have driven almost everything out there, stock & modified, and I can tell you, nothing compares to the experience of driving this thing near or at the limit.

Aside from raw driving pleasure and capability, you’ll never see another 1 like this. You can find an Alpine White 1M. You can even find a few Alpine White 1M converted 135i’s, but they are all unique and built with different formulas. The formula here is: track toy with a license plate, without losing the turbo identity that made the 135/1M so famous in the first place. Totally streetable, a joy in the canyons, and a weapon on the track, and a turbo N54 setup that’ll destroy an S65-swapped E82 all day.

Here's a nice rundown of the build on Hoonigan's YT:

So, if you’re still reading and want to know more about this car and why you should buy it, here you go. If you just want to see the specs, scroll down.

What possessed me to do this?
When I hopped out of my E90 335i 3 years ago, I really wanted something with less weight and more aggressive looks. I’m a huge fan of the N54 motor, so I started looking for 135i’s. Found the perfect example… White, 60k on the clock, single owner, bone stock, needed nothing.

I got right into the car and started setting it up for the track. As quickly as I realized the potential of this chassis, I found its limits in regard to tire fitment. Frustrated at the lack of available wheels and the struggle to stuff wide rubber under the front fenders, I ended up doing the 1M front-end. Of course this would mean that I’d always turn around to look back at the car and yearned for wide rear quarters. One phone call to my buddy Ivan from StrasseSport in Irwindale, the body shop that tackled this project with expert craft and precision, and we’d ordered full 1M rear quarters from BMW. They arrived on a pallet with the rear bumper and sideskirts. What a site that was.

There are easier, less expensive ways to turn a 135i into a 1M, but this car was going to see track time, which meant I wanted real metal rear quarters with OEM fitment and durabiliy, not some mix of FRP flares attached to sliced rear quarters with bondo and filler. My goal from the beginning was to build a GT3 RS / M3 GTS / factory safety car kind of build. Light weight, factory racecar looks, attention to detail. Doing it right meant removing the rear glass, and once the glass was off, I felt foolish leaving the factory steel roof and sunroof intact, so I called iND distribution and ordered their RKP carbon roof. Well, that meant I couldn’t just reuse my beautiful anthracite sunroof headliner, so I bit the bullet (again) and ordered the OEM slicktop headliner from BMW too. When this car left the shop, I was blown away at what we created, and I still am. From little details like the quick release front bumper to the Trackspec Motorsports hood vent and the Seibon carbon hood and trunk, to the OEM 1M rear valence that had its pass-side exhaust outlet hole filled to be a true single-exit 1M rear bumper, this thing has such aggressive presence. It is wide, loud, mean and beautiful simultaneously.

Along the road, I got tired of the issues that plague the n54 with stock rattling turbos grasping for life when they’re run well beyond their intended use and efficiency range. People complain about temperature issues with this engine often, and it’s taken some time to dial it in perfectly, but much of the temperature spikes are due to the stock turbos. They are TINY, and have no place on a racetrack. While there are plenty of options out their for hybrid replacements, I wasn’t confident in any of the solutions, and really wanted to simplify the system, so I worked with John @ CES Motorsport to build a track-worthy single turbo kit around a reliable and badass Garrett GTX-3076R Gen-II. This is a 750hp dual ball bearing turbo with a billet wheel, mounted in T4 twin-scroll format to the CES/SteedSpeed cnc-log manifold. I went with a big 1.06a/r turbine housing to give linear and controllable power, further helping temps, but without much sacrifice in spool since it’s a twin scroll medium frame turbo.

Boost is controlled with a GFB electronic boost controller, tucked away and hidden in the center console ashtray in front of the shifter (channeling Vin Diesel's FD). Leave it exposed or close the lid. Set it and forget it. The boost controller has 5 programmable boost maps, so 400hp, 450, 500, 550, and keep going… All at the press of a button. The car is tuned to run on an ethanol blend on E30. Ethanol helps keep the engine cool, aids in making way more power and is generally a lot safer than pump gas. We run E30 because I wanted to keep the fuel system as simple as possible, and that's as much ethanol as we can run safely within the limits of the high pressure pump and stock injectors.

I’ve got a Bluetooth Fuel-it ethanol content analyzer that’ll show you your fuel mix on your phone, along with upgraded fuel lines and a Fuel-It stage 2 in-tank low pressure fuel pump. While it’d be easy to turn this into a 700whp build, I have no desire to stress the motor more than necessary, as reliability is everything for a track car. With that, I am a fan of simplicity, so I wanted to keep most of the fuel system stock with no additional port injection or overdriven setups for the factory high pressure fuel pump. Injectors and HPFP are both the newest revisions and fuel pressure is perfect on E30 and 20psi. I’ve got a 91-octane pump tune as well, still safe for 20psi, just with much less timing. 91 octane is about 480whp vs 530whp on E30.

I’ve spent hours logging data both on the street and on the track, and I’ve worked closely with Ken from Wedge Performance. This tune is DIALED and custom tailored to my requests. 1M throttle mapping, an aggressive rev limiter that won’t get in the way and close the throttle if you happen to be sideways at the top of 3rd on corner exit. Ken is incredible, and it’s safe to say, he knows this car better than most, so I’d be happy to make the intro for the new owner and keep him on board for future tune updates and needs as required, should there be a setup adjustment or fuel change.

20psi comes in around 3400rpm, and power climbs until you hit the rev limiter at 7300rpm. If you’re on the freeway in 6th, you don’t need to downshift to pass. Lightly feed in the throttle and boost builds quickly with all that load. The E82 is faster in 6th than anything else I’ve driven.. This car is obscenely quick. Fast enough to pass a GT3 RS on the straights, or pretty much anything, with ease, especially since you’ll have faster corner entry and exit thanks to an epic damper and spring setup from Motion Control Suspension & Eibach, plus the aero...

Every arm, bushing and bearing has been replaced and upgraded in this car. I felt there was no need to swap the rear subframe to that from the 1M/M3 since it’s heavier. The benefits from the slight change in rear geometry are negligible, and to date, nobody’s run faster in an E82 at Buttonwillow, so the rear subframe does its job. The subframe and diff bushings are PowerFlex black “track” bushings. I didn’t go solid because I hate the NVH diff whine and clunks associated with solid bushings. Power hits the ground with a Wavetrac LSD, and shifts are a joy with the 3.46 128i final drive from Diffsonline, and an AKG DTM chassis mounted shifter. The motor and trans stay put, even with almost 500lb-ft of torque, shift after shift, thanks to AKG motor and trans mounts.

The Spec Stage 3+ clutch has been bulletproof, and it’s paired with a SPEC billet steel flywheel. Yes, I could have shaved more weight off by opting for the aluminum flywheel, but I prefer some rotational flywheel mass with turbo cars, especially if you’ll be doing any street driving. The flywheel is quiet, and while engagement takes some getting used to, pedal feel is great on the street.

I could go on, and on, and on about this car. I can’t even imagine the hours I’ve put into it, along with friends, partners and shops like StrasseSport and European Auto Source, and my buddy Ken Suen who made some custom track-spec updates to the turbo kit and built the front aero. This car is built to be driven. It has been tested, improved, and it’s set records, and even got me on the podium at some Global Time Attack and Bimmer Challenge events. You can leave it as is, or take it to the next level. You can store it and put stock seats in it, along with the quiet muffler that can be fitted in minutes thanks to a full custom 3” v-band exhaust system. I’ve always been tempted to gut it and get it down below 3000lbs, but didn’t have the heart to go against the philosophy of the build for me. It’s easy to gut a car, but a lot harder to have balance and reserve in a build. This car was a dream for me, and I’ll probably cry when I hand over the keys.

There are some options here to bring the price of the car down.

PRICE TIERS

1. ALL IN - take the car as is, with every part listed, badass 3pc wheels, aero, Recaro's - $42k
2. MOSTLY IN - Remove the 3pc wheels in favor of Apex ARC8's, 18x10 front, 18x10.5 rear, 265/295 Pirelli Trofeo R's - $39K
3. SLIGHTLY IN - Remove the 3pc wheels and Remove the Recaro's, in favor of the Apex wheels and factory black leather front seats - $37,500
4. JUST THE TIP - stock front and rear seats with no cage, Apex wheels, stock brakes, stock trunk with no wing. This option is going to take some labor and time for me, and I'll have to acquire factory brakes. - $35k

Hope to keep this in the community! Thanks for looking.

SPECS
2009 135i, 76k on the clock
6 speed manual transmission
3170lbs wet

Engine
- CES Motorsports Single Turbo kit with Garrett GTX3076R Gen 2, t4 divided 1.06a/r
- Tuned by Ken @WedgePerformance with MHD
- GFB G-Force 3 electronic boost controller with 4-port MAC solenoid
- Fuel-it! Stage 2 bucket with upgraded lines and ethanol content anlayzer
- VTT Billet Valve Cover with dual catch can setup, head ports plugged, fully external PCV
- 3.5bar tmap

Drivetrain
- SPEC stage 3+ clutch with billet steel flywheel
- AKG DTM shifter with DSSR
- AKG 95a motor mounts
- AKG e21 trans mounts with isolating cups
- Wavetrac LSD with 3.46 FD built by Diffsonline

Brakes / Wheels / Tires
- StopTech Trophy BBK front & rear (fresh j-hook rotors, caliper seals, hardware & knockback springs)
- Castrol SRF fluid
- Fikse Profil-10 18x10 +19 3pc wheels or APEX ARC8 18x10.5/18x10
- Motorsport Hardware stud conversion and Titan lug nuts

Cooling
- CSF radiator
- CSF intercooler
- Twin Setrab 19-row oil coolers, custom lines, mounts, Motiv thermostat delete
- Trackspec hood vent

Suspension
- MCS 2-way coilovers with Eibach Springs and true rear conversion 700lbs/550lbs
- Vorshlag camber plates
- E9x M3 steering rack
- SPL Front lower control arms
- BimmerWorld precision front upper control arm bearing kit
- BimmerWorld rear spring arm bearing kit
- BimmerWorld adjustable rear camber and toe arms
- M rear guide rods
- PowerFlex Black Track bushings for rear subframe & diff
- Eibach front & rear swaybars

Interior
- AntiGravity Batteries ATX30-HD lithium ion battery. Weighs 8lbs, holds a charge for over a month, has a bluethooth adapter to check charge and condition. The single best dollar per pound weight reduction you can do.
- Leather Recaro Pole Positions
- OMP 6pt harnesses
- Macht Schnell floor mounts w/ sliders
- Custom leather rear seat delete and 1pc bolt-in custom roll bar powdercoated white
- OEM anthracite 1M sliktop headliner
- Alcantera wrapped dash trim, door handles, shifter and handbrake boot
- E9x M3 leather steering wheel

Exterior
- OEM 1M front & rear bumpers, front fenders, rear quarters, sideskirts
- IND Distribution / RKP Carbon Roof
- APR 135i-spec rear wing and custom chassi mounted quick release front splitter
- Chassis mount splitter brackets and support by Ken Suen (@bigredksr on IG)
- Vicrez front lip
- Seibon Carbon hood w/ aerocatch & carbon trunk (both painted)
- OEM 1M rear valence, custom filled and painted for single turndown tip



















Here's a 1:53.0 at Buttonwillow on 200tw Nexen street tires. An unheard of time on these tires, chasing down a buddy of mine in his 500+whp Corvette Grand Sport with 335s out back...

[vma1788]

I'll vouch for this seller. The car is built with no expense spared and, although tracked, very well cared for.

[berns]

Originally Posted by vma1788

I'll vouch for this seller. The car is built with no expense spared and, although tracked, very well cared for.

Thanks man!

[omgzirra_exe]

vouch, seen it on track, in person, super clean.

[av.auto]

Absolute beauty of a car. Whoever buys this is getting quite a special build.

Side note, just realized you never got 1M mirrors for the car lol

[E34nication]

Just watched the vid of this car a couple weeks ago, incredibly detailed build... and got a pretty serious chuckle out of your pricing tiers. Can't imagine a car of this quality will last long, GLWS.

[smashgordon123]

this is bananas!!!!!

[smashgordon123]

just emailed you...

[StripclubDJ]

Meh

[berns]

Gave the monster a wash and fitted the Apex ARC8's on, sized 18x10.5 rear and 18x10 front with Pirelli Trofeo R's, 295 rear, 265 front. Added some spacers to make them look perfect... Really into this look!

Few people coming to look at the car this week, but it's still available and ready to set some PB's.

[atstevenha]

Thanks Bern, excited to see the car. Down payment made!

[berns]

Originally Posted by atstevenha

Thanks Bern, excited to see the car. Down payment made!

[UberWagon]

Damn, looks like I came across this one a few days too late. Congrats to the new owner!

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by atstevenha

Thanks Bern, excited to see the car. Down payment made!

Steven you're buying it?!? YESSSS Can't wait to see it rolling around DFW soon hopefully!

[atstevenha]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

Steven you're buying it?!? YESSSS Can't wait to see it rolling around DFW soon hopefully!

Yayz can't wait too! Perfect weekend and track car again. See you next week with it. =)

[atstevenha]

Originally Posted by UberWagon

Damn, looks like I came across this one a few days too late. Congrats to the new owner!

Thank you UberWagon, she is going to see COTA in November. Come hang with us!