[335iLondon]

Hi all,

Have obliterated my weekend reading the massive amount of info on this forum!
Weirdly addictive! :s

I have a 335i msport and am keen to get modifying.

First up is brakes, as they need replacing anyways - am looking to go for cool carbon pads and possibly changing the lines, does anyone have advice as to if this is required?

Secondly I have a budget of around 1500 to spend before summer, and my planned trip to the 'ring

What would you guys go for mod wise for the budget?
Tempted by bmw performance engine/cooling pack as not after massive power increases just a bit more in the top end and a decent chance of running the car for 60k (only 20k on the clock atm)

Alternatives would be spend more on brake/bmwperformace wheels

Once I have some more dosh I would like to go for the dynamics package from birds - but the bank acc is a way off allowing this just yet!

Any help appreciated!!

[willhollin]

Quaife

[Mike in Hampshire]

Originally Posted by 335iLondon

Secondly I have a budget of around 1500 to spend before summer, and my planned trip to the 'ring

What would you guys go for mod wise for the budget?

OK so let's say the brakes are sorted, but you have a stock 335i and £1500 and you want to get the best out of the track (i.e. the 'Ring)?

Go to Birds, Quaife LSD, job done. More like £1800 though.

No point in power if you can't put it on the track. No doubt others will tell you about about intercoolers and another oil cooler but I still say the Quaife LSD is the best mod I've had done, performance-wise.

If you can stretch to another £500 - Evolve's remap is £500 of brilliant value. But you need the LSD to make it count.

Mike.

[335iLondon]

Cheers for the feedback, excellent advice I suspect,
but in terms of being economical with the timing of installs, am I right in thinking there is a saving to be made if I was to wait and have the LSD at the same time as the suspension mods?

Mike, are you running the LSD with stock suspension, if so how does this handle?

Im defiantly not in a big hurry for more power but it is still very tempting to go out and splash some cash on 50 extra bhp

Maybe I was not clear enough in my OP, I do plan on doing a fair few mods over the next few years, but want to retain as much reliability and everyday drivability in the process (otherwise whats the point!)

[m1bjr]

The Quaiffe is superb with oem suspension.

The install probelms can arise from stiffer rear roll (bars or springs) and NOT having the LSD.
Especially crap in the wet in that case. So I agree to go with an ATB diff every time.
It's a 'real world' mod and serves you well on the road.

Suspension mods will give limited benefit on a road car, and less except in expert hands on a circuit.

The brakes are weak but the ring isnt 'that' hard on brakes like some places (Rockingham).
I would make sure they are in good order, bleed and refill with Motul RBF600 or Castrol SRF.
Forget the SS lines - oem lines are tough on most new cars and you will pay a lot for a little bit of 'feel' which is subjective and adds nothing much.

Have you done any track work before?
If not be VERY careful at the green hell.
It's harder on you than it is on the car.

Spend the spare cash on some driver training.
Best £ you will ever spend, period.


Steve

[zltm089]

An LSD would fit the budget...maybe squeeze in some more power by getting a remap or Piggy back ecu system...

[rogerxp]

Doughboy (Mike) is your man. His touring 335i is highly modified and certainly a font of knowledge (amongst others on here).

[335iLondon]

Ok thanks to all for your input, I think the best options for me are pagid pads, as the standard ones need replacing anyway!
Have a quote from birds for sub 200 quid so that's an easy one for starters.

Thanks for the advice on the lines, in retrospect I probably won't need this upgrade.

I have also got a price for just over 1700 for the diff, and am seriously tempted to push the button.

In my mine I think the diff this year and then the perf upgrade for engine and exhaust early next.

Just need to wait for tires to perish then will swap to conti 5p (irc ref for those) as run flats are stupidly uncomfortable.

Yes I have done a few track days before, although not in my own car, I am by no means an expert though.
So driver training maybe money well spent.

Does anyone have any experience of this?
Where? And who is best for it? Recommendations?

Once again thanks for the help!

[m1bjr]

You can get a dedicated tutor to go with you to any track in the South for about £300 a day or less.
I have spoken to a couple of amateur racers who make some extra cash doing this and this is about best value in my opinion.
I'm a big fan of both Motorsport Events (Ed and Nat run mostly airfield days) and Bookatrack (very professional outfit, fully equipped and can hire).
The airfiled stuff is quite handy if you are in a new/unknown car, you can push the envelope with minimal risk and cheap tuition to sharpen skills (<£60/hr typically) and a day out about £120.

Exhaust mods yield very small gains. Start with a JB4, or a tune, and some cone airfilters and see how you like it

FWIW I use JB4 on autotune, KN filters no airbox, Bastuck exhaust, H&R ARBs (20mm rear), Hartge dampers, Quaiffe LSD and M3 rear subframe bushes.
Tyres are Falken 452 on CSL reps and brakes are newly fitted EBC groved and dimpled with yellowstuff and RBF600 (this IS a road car lol)
The single biggest gain in perormance for track is the diff, even on the oem car.
Aero pack from Teddy at SSDD but has no noticable performance gains - the F-Off great wing on my S2000 was a real working accessory!
Best fun per pound is definately the Jucebox4.

Bastuck clocked at 94db recently, but sounds louder. Bassy but comes alive and howls at about 4k rpm.


Steve

[Mike in Hampshire]

Originally Posted by 335iLondon

Mike, are you running the LSD with stock suspension, if so how does this handle?

No, I've got the Birds B3.5 full monty suspension, as well as the Quaife, and an Evolve remap.
To be honest, the remap is the most fun bit, an extra 60 hp plus loads more torque is bound to be, no? Brilliant VFM.
The Quaife LSD is brilliant and I'd say is "very good" VFM. As others have said, it is useful in daily driving too. Vital on track, I would think.
With hindsight, the Birds suspension, whilst very good indeed, was an indulgence. I suppose I'd say "average to good" VFM on that one.

Oh, I also got the Conti 5P's........recommended (but not cheap).

Enjoy the car!

Mike.

[335iLondon]

Cheers, for the info steve, I am tempted to shy away from a piggyback system JB4 etc, I think for the power increase I would go for the BMW performance engine pack, as the extra cooling seems like a good idea for longevity.
Then later on go for a full remap from DMS, but would not want to until I have completed LSD, AP Brakes and get off these bloomin RFTs with some new lightweight wheels.

One thing I am interested in, is how tricky it is to swap out air filters, I will do a proper search and read up on here in a sec, but if you have specific feedback from your experiences would be appreciated.

[idnan]

How about installing a larger FMIC and oil cooler and then something like JB4 or Evolve/DMS remap.

The BMW performance pack will be a lot of money for items which aren't proven to be better than the aftermarket alternatives.

As far as air filters are concerned, you can either put in a performance filter element into the standard airbox or use a cone filter with or without an air feed. I don't think there is a significant advantage compared to the original setup and some of the dyno figures in the Engines section of the forum prove it.

[335iLondon]

Could anyone shed some light as to if the JB4 or a remap by Evolve should be the preffered option.

The cool functionality of the JB4, book gauge on dash etc has me tempted.

Long term users, I would welcome any feedback of how you have found it a year on etc...

[neil@JuicedUpTuning]

Originally Posted by 335iLondon

Could anyone shed some light as to if the JB4 or a remap by Evolve should be the preffered option.

The cool functionality of the JB4, book gauge on dash etc has me tempted.

Long term users, I would welcome any feedback of how you have found it a year on etc...

Hi,

We are the UK BMS Juiced Box dealer. All tunes comes with the 14 days money back guarantee. Try it and if you dont like it send it back for a full refund

Lots of info on our site and if you have questions plenty of people here are running the JB4 or the JB+

www.juiceduptuning.co.uk

Cheers

Neil

[335iLondon]

Neil,

very close to pushing the button, do you do a forum member deal?

Also interested in the KN panel filter.

[m1bjr]

There are many thousands of people who run the JB3/4 with great success.
Many in the US who track the cars regularly plus meth injection, NOS - the whole hog.
Its safe and proven, easily removed, and you can sell it on when you sell the car
A whole world of 335i/135i N54 engine tuning here:-
http://www.n54tech.com/forums/index.php

Go for the dual cone, not the panel when ordering a JB4.
Panel offers smaller real gains, but both will attract the same insurance premium.
It's not that noisy, but you can 'just' hear the whoosh of the turbos spooling and little of the recirc dump valves without the oem airbox.
The dual cone alone can give up to 15bhp, the panel much less.
The key here is removing the restrictive airbox. All these mods are done to death and proven thousands of time over btw.
Pure HP gains are not the major issue, its longevity and better induction means less load on the turbos = less heat input for the intercooler to manage.
My choice would be tune+DC intake, then an intercooler, then downpipes (maybe).
The car will deal with it okay, you'll light up tyres but it handles okay out of the box.

BMW over engineer (and over price) what is a very mild tune.
I run my cars hard and occasionally track them, so far no issues with heat and oem oil cooler either.

The difference in driving dynamics with a tune is night and day. Seriously addictive and zero impact upon fuel consumption for me.
You WILL wonder how something so cheap can make a quick car a fast car and with the output it should have been built with.

Neil is your man.
Hes the official UK distro for BMS so you'll have no problem there.
And a 14day trial?
Mad not to

[neil@JuicedUpTuning]

Originally Posted by 335iLondon

Neil,

very close to pushing the button, do you do a forum member deal?

Also interested in the KN panel filter.

We carry the S&B panel but recommend the DCI.

No forum discount as we aggressively price to match US pricing where possible. Prices have just been lowered so your effectively getting a discount

Last JB4 unit sold yesterday but new batch coming in approx 10 days.

Originally Posted by m1bjr

There are many thousands of people who run the JB3/4 with great success.
Many in the US who track the cars regularly plus meth injection, NOS - the whole hog.
Its safe and proven, easily removed, and you can sell it on when you sell the car
A whole world of 335i/135i N54 engine tuning here:-
http://www.n54tech.com/forums/index.php

Go for the dual cone, not the panel when ordering a JB4.
Panel offers smaller real gains, but both will attract the same insurance premium.
It's not that noisy, but you can 'just' hear the whoosh of the turbos spooling and little of the recirc dump valves without the oem airbox.
The dual cone alone can give up to 15bhp, the panel much less.
The key here is removing the restrictive airbox. All these mods are done to death and proven thousands of time over btw.
Pure HP gains are not the major issue, its longevity and better induction means less load on the turbos = less heat input for the intercooler to manage.
My choice would be tune+DC intake, then an intercooler, then downpipes (maybe).
The car will deal with it okay, you'll light up tyres but it handles okay out of the box.

BMW over engineer (and over price) what is a very mild tune.
I run my cars hard and occasionally track them, so far no issues with heat and oem oil cooler either.

The difference in driving dynamics with a tune is night and day. Seriously addictive and zero impact upon fuel consumption for me.
You WILL wonder how something so cheap can make a quick car a fast car and with the output it should have been built with.

Neil is your man.
Hes the official UK distro for BMS so you'll have no problem there.
And a 14day trial?
Mad not to

Cheers Steve Yeah 14 day BMS money back guarantee!!!

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by 335iLondon

Cheers, for the info steve, I am tempted to shy away from a piggyback system JB4 etc, I think for the power increase I would go for the BMW performance engine pack, as the extra cooling seems like a good idea for longevity.
Then later on go for a full remap from DMS, but would not want to until I have completed LSD, AP Brakes and get off these bloomin RFTs with some new lightweight wheels.

One thing I am interested in, is how tricky it is to swap out air filters, I will do a proper search and read up on here in a sec, but if you have specific feedback from your experiences would be appreciated.

My 2c:

- If you want to be able to not only drive fast on the straights but also in the bends and corners, go for the LSD. Not cheap, but otherwise you won't be able to put the power of a remap to the ground properly.

- Don't go for the BMW Performance pack. You'll be disappointed with the mild power increase (compared to a proper remap), and the extra cooling is just placebo as it's the oil that runs too hot in the N54 and not the water cooling system. Bad VFM.

- You don't really need AP BBK unless you'll track your car regularly. Upgraded brake pads (I have Cool Carbon but there are others that are good too) will be largely sufficient, also on the 'Ring.

- If after the LSD you got some spare cash, use it to get a remap (DMS or Evolve are both very good; then there's also GIAC that I have myself and which I'm very pleased with). Piggies aren't bad either, I had the JB3 for a few months, but in terms of longevity and reliability I would always go for a proper remap.

- Then get rid of the RFT tires and go for proper tires like the Conti 5P or Michelin Pilot Super Sport.

- Lastly, do other mods like intercooler, additional oil cooler and different intake. The latter is really only useful with maxed-out boost, otherwise it's just cosmetic. And BTW, another air filter in the stock box is also placebo. Been there, done that.

Hope that is helpful - and looking forward to meeting you this year on the 'Ring!

Alpina_B3_Lux

[335iLondon]

Guys, Thanks very much for all your feedback.

It really is appreciated, as whilst there is alot of info on the yanky forums, I feel they go about tuning with different objectives so opinions are a little less relevant. (why so obsessed with quarter mile times! haha)

I think I may have concluded, my plans. (will probably change my mind by tomorrow! lol)

1. New pads - ebc yellow stuff with new fluid
2. Quaife LSD

Stage 3 is still undecided, either BMW performance wheels w/conti 5p's
or
DMS remap

TBH the state of my current tires and funds will probably dictate this.

Should be a pretty effective change and with extra performance I may well be driven to get the suspension setup sorted with M3 bushes etc.

[ciomas]

Originally Posted by Alpina_B3_Lux

My 2c:

- If you want to be able to not only drive fast on the straights but also in the bends and corners, go for the LSD. Not cheap, but otherwise you won't be able to put the power of a remap to the ground properly.

+1

I'm with Marcel on this one. Quaife isnt really an LSD as in true M limited slip diff but does the job just fine and has completely transformed my car - a 335i is unable to put the stock power down properly so its easy to imagine what will happen if you incrase it.

M.

[m1bjr]

The HUGE plus points of the Torsen diffs (Quaife) is the total lack of maintenance on a road car.

Maybe change out the fluid at 40k or more, but I doubt it would be needed.

Other plus points are lifetime waranty to the original purchaser.