[ATTN]

I read 20 pages and all 440 posts, great write up and definitely a nice journey with a lot of informative information. Good luck with the sale mate.

Free bump!

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by ATTN

I read 20 pages and all 440 posts, great write up and definitely a nice journey with a lot of informative information. Good luck with the sale mate.

Free bump!

Thanks dude, I had created this thread in hope that it would be a 'guide' for anyone else new to the platform as when I 1st got my 335i I couldn't find a thread which contained a detailed build just tidbits of information i various threads/forums.

As for the sale, I think I'm just going to keep her as I have had quite a bit of interest alas everyone only wishes to pay market price for the car (which is fair enough as they always say a modded car isn't worth anymore than a oem car-sometimes less!)

I shall have a small update to the build shortly

[DR-JEKL]

Well it certainly has been a long time in between updates purely because nothing has really happened and I have been flat out!

I had a POS Mitsubishi Verada sedan, I decided to sell that and buy another POS, a magna wagon.

The daily beater is pretty comfortable, and its great for chucking shit in the back along with taking the dogs to the beach of a weekend





Then bought the wagon:



It's crazy how cheap these things can be bought for, and the parts also. Of course it has the obligatory oil leaks, stuffed tyres, shitty oem sound system so I have spent more than the initial purchase price on tidying it up and repairing everything and adding a killer sound system with everything bought on a budget off gumtree (morel splits, mtx amps ad 12 mtx sub)

Anyway enough about the fagna, as mentioned I have been extremely busy with this:



(Thanks to Gerry for his chariot duties in his beautiful alpine white M3!)

& these little guys required 24/7 care for 3 weeks!









So now I can start spending some time & $ on the bmw!

I have never bothered with a SSK before in any of my previous cars, but a lot of guys state they are great so I have decided to bite the bullet and purchase a UUC SSK:



I have heard install is a bitch so I will get advan performance to install her for me!

I also got around to finally fitting the M3 carbon leather interior trim kit with LCI starter:









So all the M3 items swap over except for the front centre console, I have tried a few local trimmers and I have been having problems sourcing a supplier of black synthetic leather that's thin and has the same oem finish (somewhat matte with no grain effect in the leather just a smooth finish)

Grain:



Smooth:



Just need to decide on if I will just go for the normal grain leather, or wrap it in vinyl until i find what i want...

Shortly I will then finally doing the M3 driveline swap and a heap of maintenance related items also, stay tuned

[JJH]

You sure have been busy mate but at least you've found some time for 335i stuff too. Glad to hear you are keeping it and continuing with the build. I will look forward to your opinion on the UUC SSK and your experience with the M3 driveline install.

[naynay]

hands down the best build thread ever!

[froop]

Congrats Shane! (On everything in that post, especially the nuptials haha)

[Rajvosa]

fantastic build thread. the car is looking great

congrats on getting married!

[sbce90]

Congrats on all.. and those dogs!

[DR-JEKL]

Cheers Guys

[DR-JEKL]

I had some 3M 1080 vinyl wrap laying around so I decided to wrap the centre console. I took my time and it turned out OK (a few novice errors, and being kinda fussy it aint perfect but im reasonably happy with it)





Totally transformed interior from this:



To this:



The interior is looking much better now!! I would like to install the updated CIC idrive, but tbh I hardly use the idrive as its just a weekend car and the $ would be utlised to more effect elsewhere on the car...

Tomorrow the car is booked into advan to have the UUC SSK installed, along with the cdv delete (yup still haven't done this mod!) and a battery register (had a replacement bosch battery for ages without registering it )

[JJH]

That looks great and is quite a transformation from the wood grain! Is that 3M vinyl a black brushed alu finish? It looks fab with the carbon on the dash and door trims.

[kaitan]

Hey shane I thought you are selling the car lol?? You are still putting money into it?

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by JJH_335

That looks great and is quite a transformation from the wood grain! Is that 3M vinyl a black brushed alu finish? It looks fab with the carbon on the dash and door trims.

The wrap is brushed black metallic wrap, it has a textured finish like real brushed Al and a small amount of 'fleckle' in the sun like a metallic paint.

It doesnt look too bad against the m3 cf leather, at this stage I wont worry about getting it wrapped in leather.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by kaitan

Hey shane I thought you are selling the car lol?? You are still putting money into it?

I had put it on the market, but sadly the best offer I fielded was $43.5K. On face value one might think that's a pretty good offer, but under 2 years ago I paid a lot more then that and have put $20k or so into it. Of course all cars depreciate but at the end of the day I didn't have to sell so have decided to just keep her and the home renovations can wait!

[DR-JEKL]

Well I had the UUC SSK installed today @ Advan and yup it makes a big difference!

The shifts certainly aren't any 'notchier' and tbh I didn't notice much difference in terms of more effort being required. The shift feel is slightly different (it's difficult to describe but it has a more solid feel to it with more weight in the lever) and the throw feels almost half as much, I really noticed the difference on the 2nd - 3rd shift.

Pete hadn't had too much experience with the UUC shifter, one difference he did pick was that the UUC doesn't have a rubber type bushing in the lever itself and he said it may vibrate more. Fortunately it doesn't if anything it vibrates less (I'm thinking due to the heavier mass?)

I'm really glad I got the pro's to do it, as they had it up on a hoist and the whole exhaust system had to be dropped to do the install! Pete @ Advan really is a gentleman amongst the other typical cowboy mechanics and my 4 hr return trip to get the ssk install speak volumes on the quality of his workmanship!

All in all it's a great mod with tangible differences. It certainly has proven to be one of my best mods so far!

I had a chance to speak to Pete about the M3 driveline install, and a few other maintenance related things I wish to get done to the car. I'm keen to get one of the famous Advan carbon buildup handjobs, and since a lot of components will be disassembled I will look at getting a new HPFP, oil filter housing gasket, rocker cover & gasket, water pump/thermostat at the same time to save some $ on labour costs whilst everything is disassembled.

But before I get all this installed I have to chase up some further parts for the m3 install!

[JJH]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

All in all it's a great mod with tangible differences. It certainly has proven to be one of my best mods so far!

Good to hear you reckon it's worth it!

I agree about the vibration - it is less with the UUC. I had some vibration with the standard shifter after I put on the stubby ZHP gear knob. It was gone after the UUC was installed.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by JJH_335

Good to hear you reckon it's worth it!

I agree about the vibration - it is less with the UUC. I had some vibration with the standard shifter after I put on the stubby ZHP gear knob. It was gone after the UUC was installed.

Thanks for the recommendation

It certainly aint cheap being around $600 ish installed, but totally worth it!

Just curious, is your gear knob a tad skewed with the UUC SSK? When I look at the 1-2-3-4-5-6 on top of the knob it's a tad out of centralisation

[JJH]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

Just curious, is your gear knob a tad skewed with the UUC SSK? When I look at the 1-2-3-4-5-6 on top of the knob it's a tad out of centralisation

Yes, it is. But as it leans towards the driver's side, I can only think it is actually a good thing. The shift action only becomes smoother after a 'wearing in' period.

Relatively expensive it may be after installation but quality components do sometimes cost. As you've said, well worth it and it makes the driving experience more enjoyable.

[DR-JEKL]

Gave the old girl a detail today, the water was beading much better after the zymol treatment!































My dog getting impatient wanting to go for his daily run

[JJH]

That's some serious water beading going on. You could almost blow dry with a leaf blower and be done in a couple of minutes ....

In your post #450 you mentioned doing the cdv delete. Did you get that done? Can you detail this with what parts were used and the results. Looking to do this myself soon and would appreciate your opinion on the mod.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by JJH_335

That's some serious water beading going on. You could almost blow dry with a leaf blower and be done in a couple of minutes ....

In your post #450 you mentioned doing the cdv delete. Did you get that done? Can you detail this with what parts were used and the results. Looking to do this myself soon and would appreciate your opinion on the mod.

That's actually what I do to dry the car off (with a leaf blower)

Then I just apply a small amount of detailing spray to a waffle towel and dry off any panels with small amounts of water reside/runs left remaining.

I cannot give you too much details as Peter @ Advan performed the 'CDV delete'. I asked Pete wether I have to buy a BMS CDV delete etc, but he just removes the small plastic restrictor from the CDV. This restrictor limits flow, thus once removed it should act as a normal clutch operation.


TBH I haven't driven the car a great deal since last week to notice a great deal of difference. I do know sometimes in traffic I would want to do a quick little launch and the car would kinda bog down, I'm hoping the CDV delete will prevent this from reoccuring!

[JJH]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

I asked Pete wether I have to buy a BMS CDV delete etc, but he just removes the small plastic restrictor from the CDV. This restrictor limits flow, thus once removed it should act as a normal clutch operation.

The BMS info says theirs has the restrictor 'modified' in some way so as to give normal flow. I have also seen a DIY where the restrictor is removed, much as Pete seems to do. But I've got myself a manual M3/1M valve which is claimed not to have this plastic restrictor so you get normal clutch operation. Maybe I could have saved myself $11 and done it Pete's way.