Ruining a Perfectly Good Stripper Like an Idiot

[E92Mthusiast]

Pretty red heeler! I have a blue heeler. great dogs!

[iamtrashman]

Last update was from 2021! Not a ton of crazy changes to the car since then, I have just mostly been enjoying it!

The car sat like this shortly after the last update. I think I took this picture on my trip to get the rod bearings serviced.



In May 2022 I installed a set of Recaro SPG XL's. I had wanted Pole Position ABE's but the supplier I ordered from in Germany realized after I had sent the money that the model/colour I had ordered was out of stock. They offered a discount on SPG XL's as a consolation prize, and I was fine with this as both models have the wider lower harness holes that work with factory seatbelt receptacles. The GTS also used unbranded SPG XL's as well, and I have been happy with these. they are very comfortable.

I used Brey Krause mounts on OEM manual sliders to install them. As has been documented by other users on the forum, this setup is top notch for quality, but with wider seat bottoms, the factory rails are too narrow to mount the seat as low as taller drivers may like. the seat is physically wider than the width between the sliders. If you used a smaller seat like a regular SPG you could likely mount it very close to the floor while retaining a nice OEM slider.

Here are some seat pics, I figured some sporty red mats would match my cool racing chairs, lol.




In June 2022 my wife and I took the car on a road trip through Washington state. We crossed the border near Oroville, turned west near Omak, and took WA SR-20 North Cascades scenic byway into Sedro-Woolley. If anyone is ever in northern WA during the summer and has the time, this road kicks ASS.

Pulled over just south of the border



Between Omak and Twisp




We stayed the night in Twisp, it was a quaint little town. We got up early, grabbed some coffee, and headed out to cross the Cascades.



Once we got up there we got to enjoy some really nice views, and even see some snow at the higher elevations. The road itself was smooth for the most part, and had lots of fun bends, curves, hairpins and elevation changes.




We made a quick stop at Diablo Lake and took in the views. it was really windy up at the viewpoint!





Once back down on I-5, we headed toward Seattle for a couple days. While we were there I met up with my friend Zach and went for a drive. his 335D is a rocketship! Made my M3 feel slow in comparison, but it didn't sound as cool haha.



Our AirBNB host had great taste in cars! A nice E36 M3 and a manual 2.3 190e!



We caught an early morning ferry from downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island to start our loop of the Olympic peninsula. It absolutely DUMPED rain for huge sections of this drive, but a lot of it had enough tree canopy to keep the twistier parts fun. Our goal for the day was make it to Ocean Shores WA. We stopped for the first short (and wet) hike of the day to check out Marymere Falls. The parking lots and the roads that connect all of the camp sites have nice big trees and were really photogenic.



Off we were to Forks WA, and we were about 20 minutes away when we saw a sign that said "NORTHWEST COAST - Cape Flattery - Most NW point in the Contiguous USA"

Well, we were already out here, why not check it out?

The road there was pretty bumpy and had some cool jumps and curves, but what a scenic drive at points! We made our way through Neah Bay and up the Cape Loop road.

The rain was absolutely pouring out here, but we decided we were just going to get soaked and do the short hike anyway. The views were totally worth it!





Off we drove again, backtracking all the way to US-101. As we got there, the rain FINALLY started letting up. The section of road between Moclips and Ocean Shores was incredible. I stopped and took my favourite pictures yet of my car near here.








As we pulled into Ocean Shores, I found a road that just simply drives into the ocean. I think it is for beach access for offroad vehicles, but it looked so absurd that I had to go grab some shots.




The next morning I was admiring the coating of road trip grime all over the car. Looking well loved and well used!




After Ocean Shores we headed back to Seattle to visit a few more friends before heading back to Canada. It was a great trip and the car did over 1000 miles without breaking a sweat from sea level to 5477ft of elevation, torrential downpour, desert heat, and everything in between.

I took it on a couple other trips in 2022 and 2023 and it has been the most solid car I have owned by quite a large margin. I have some updates to the car coming this spring and will post them here when they are done. for now I will close this post out with a few pictures from 2023 after lowering the car slightly.








Thanks for looking!

[reidetailing]

Incredible post.
~Alex

[DanMpower]

Fantastic journal, I really enjoyed reading the progress! Great build and photos too!

[soursamo]

I spy Kelowna?
If so nice to see a well sorted E92 in town, there are a few of us around.

[iamtrashman]

Originally Posted by soursamo

I spy Kelowna?
If so nice to see a well sorted E92 in town, there are a few of us around.

Kamloops, actually. I have only seen a couple other e92's here over the years. there is a few e46's and f8x's kicking around as well, probably nowhere near as many as Kelowna though. Thanks though! Any pics of your car?

[soursamo]

I’m just now getting back in an E9X, my imported E92 arrives in a week.
Had an E90 335i back in the day and currently an E39 M5.

There are a few of us that take our cars to Area 27 a few times a year, hit me up if you’re cruising through Kelowna.

[iamtrashman]

Update time!

Not as pic heavy as the last one, but I knocked out a ton of less visible upgrades and maintenance items this spring.

Our list of work includes:

-Sub2Speedhouse Titanium Catless X-pipe
-O2 sensors
-OEM Grounding strap
-Ferodo DS2500's
-OFHG
-Upgraded metal impeller waterpump
-Coolant flush
-OE Idler and Tensioner pulleys
-Belts
-LCI Grilles
-Bremmen ABS Plastic undertray
-P3 OBD2 Vent gauge

The main job was to install an X-pipe from Alex at Sub 2 Speedhouse. I opted for the standard X placement and a quad resonated setup. This thing is crazy light and extremely well made. Right around 14lbs with the mounting bracket IIRC.



I started by pulling the stock X-pipe and muffler bypas off the car after getting it in the air.



I knew going full catless would be way too loud with the muffler bypass so I opted to reinstall the stock rear muffler. I was a little concerned about whether it would be loud enough as I remember the car being WAY too quiet when it was stock. I was hoping that going to a fully catless setup would be enough to get some volume out of the stock muffler, but still be quiet enough to pass the sound limits at the event I am signed up for in May.

The install was really simple. I put 4 fresh O2 sensors in and new donut gaskets. I had already been through removing the stock X-pipe in the past when I installed the RTD, so I didn't have any trouble here. I also replaced the corroded ground strap that goes from the oilpan to the chassis rail near the header collector while I was in there.


Such a good looking piece, it's kind of a shame no one will ever really see it!

Then I swapped in some Ferodo DS2500's to hopefully handle a bit of track abuse this summer.



While installing the X-pipe I noticed some oil on the oilpan and the undertrays... As the rod bearings had been done recently enough I was pretty sure it was not an oilpan gasket, and although the valve covers weep a small amount I was sure they couldn't possibly be leaking enough to spill into the bellypan area. After a bit of inspection it turned out the oil filter housing gasket had failed and was dripping down the front of the engine and running along the oilpan.

I looked into how to get the job done and determined I may as well swap out the waterpump to a metal impeller version since it needed to be removed anyway, and replace the belts and pulleys. There are two excellent threads on these jobs on this forum.

The OFHG wasn't too hard, but the coolant makes a big mess when you remove the required hoses and waterpump. I didn't remove the block drains to completely flush the system, but I did replace at least 6 liters of coolant with fresh stuff. I elected to use fresh bolts on the OFH.



I priced out new OEM pulleys and tensioners from FCPEuro and it was an eye-watering $700+CAD before shipping and duties to replace everything. Luckily, I came across a thread on here that provides alternative part numbers for matching pulleys from a VW and a Porsche that are exactly the same minus the bolt they come with. BMW does not sell pulleys and tensioners seperately, so this saved a significant amount of money. I reinstalled the fresh pulleys on the original tensioners as they seemed to be fine with no leaks or ears on the rubber boots.

Finally, I pulled the bumper off, blew out and cleaned all of the heat exchangers, installed some new LCI chrome grilles, and put some washers under the upper bumper mounts to improve the infamous e9x bumper/hood gap fitment issues. I still need to install the new new Bremmen undertray, but I am waiting for the end pieces to ship still.

I also installed the P3 OBD2 vent gauge to keep track of DTC's and some other handy readouts like coolant temp and AFR's. I didnt take any pictures of it yet, but I will get some in a future update.



After that I gave it a quick wash and headed out for its maiden voyage after a big pile of maintenance and upgrades.

The stock muffler tips look so good!!



I got my wife to film a few clips of the sounds from outside. I really am loving this setup. It is a little bit raspy, but in a sort of exotic sounding way and not the brutal Chinese straight pipe valved muffler kind of way. The video doesn't do much justice to the sound the titanium X-pipe makes, but it has a really cool kind of howl to it that I was not expecting at all. The four resonators keep the ugly tones at bay, and the volume levels are perfect. It is just as quiet as stock on the highway and only really makes any noise above 1/4 throttle, but when you go beyond 2/3 throttle it has a really lovely bark. It is a shame the stock muffler is so heavy because I think it might just be my favourite sounding setup I have heard!

The chrome grilles really tie the room together..



Anyway, that pretty much brings us up to the present. I have a set of tires I need to install, mess with ride height and alignment to make them fit, and bleed the brakes again before the track day, but otherwise this thing is ready to enjoy for summer! Thanks for looking!

[soursamo]

Looks great! Are you doing the Velocity day at Area 27 in May? I'll be at a June one

[iamtrashman]

Originally Posted by soursamo

Looks great! Are you doing the Velocity day at Area 27 in May? I'll be at a June one

Thanks! Mission may 20th