[CashedUpBogan]

Apparent the new RBs haven't had any smoking issues. Might upgrade them to RB Stealths

[JB4-335]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

Hmm no offence but I don't think I would touch RB turbo's with a 10 ft pole after his track record and BS excuses as to why the seals were failing

Or do you mean your RR700's?

Same here. RB and VTT would be at the bottom of my list. I just don't think I'll ever upgrade my turbos purely because nothing is nearly as reliable as the stockers. They can take some serious abuse.

The thought of spending $7k then there being a good chance having to have them removed and sent overseas and repaired then re-installing doesn't go down too well for me.

Traction in these cars are horrible with an open diff and 300+rwkw. I'd hate to have over 400+ and nowhere to use it. I almost went into a poll the other day going WOT at 80kph. The PSS's are shit also. I have a DCT so LSD is close to $5k. TBH I would prefer a S3 or a new Golf R so you can give it a hit off the line but they don't look anywhere near as good as an E92.

[bradsm87]

Originally Posted by JB4-335

Same here. RB and VTT would be at the bottom of my list. I just don't think I'll ever upgrade my turbos purely because nothing is nearly as reliable as the stockers. They can take some serious abuse.

The thought of spending $7k then there being a good chance having to have them removed and sent overseas and repaired then re-installing doesn't go down too well for me.

Traction in these cars are horrible with an open diff and 300+rwkw. I'd hate to have over 400+ and nowhere to use it. I almost went into a poll the other day going WOT at 80kph. The PSS's are shit also. I have a DCT so LSD is close to $5k. TBH I would prefer a S3 or a new Golf R so you can give it a hit off the line but they don't look anywhere near as good as an E92.

Aftermarket turbos get a bad wrap for reliability because people try to run way more boost than they did with stock turbos, rather than run the same boost and accept the power increase from the bigger turbos alone. The bigger turbos run at a much more reliable shaft speed when run on the same boost and same engine compared to stock turbos. I can't prove it yet but aftermarket turbos should outlast stock turbos for same boost. Obviously, there are exceptions, like seemingly half of all RB turbos.

You've gotta pay to play unfortunately. An LSD is a must. Traction is way, way batter after LSD install. End of story.

S3 and Golf R are very front heavy and you can feel/notice it. Nothing like our cars for steady state cornering grip limits. I could never go back to a front heavy car.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by CashedUpBogan

Apparent the new RBs haven't had any smoking issues. Might upgrade them to RB Stealths

Yeah I would reccomend that option albeit you'll have to weigh up what they'll sell for vs what they'll cost to upgrade?

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by JB4-335

Same here. RB and VTT would be at the bottom of my list. I just don't think I'll ever upgrade my turbos purely because nothing is nearly as reliable as the stockers. They can take some serious abuse.

The thought of spending $7k then there being a good chance having to have them removed and sent overseas and repaired then re-installing doesn't go down too well for me.

Traction in these cars are horrible with an open diff and 300+rwkw. I'd hate to have over 400+ and nowhere to use it. I almost went into a poll the other day going WOT at 80kph. The PSS's are shit also. I have a DCT so LSD is close to $5k. TBH I would prefer a S3 or a new Golf R so you can give it a hit off the line but they don't look anywhere near as good as an E92.

Yup my sentiments exactly, that's why I done the M3 driveline before a turbo upgrade as it would be difficult to put 400+rwkw through the OEM 335i chassis it was flopping all over the place with over 300...

The next stage past 320rwkw or so requires big $ with clutch mod fuel mods chassis and driveline mods unfortunately...

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by bradsm87

Aftermarket turbos get a bad wrap for reliability because people try to run way more boost than they did with stock turbos, rather than run the same boost and accept the power increase from the bigger turbos alone. The bigger turbos run at a much more reliable shaft speed when run on the same boost and same engine compared to stock turbos. I can't prove it yet but aftermarket turbos should outlast stock turbos for same boost. Obviously, there are exceptions, like seemingly half of all RB turbos.

You've gotta pay to play unfortunately. An LSD is a must. Traction is way, way batter after LSD install. End of story.

S3 and Golf R are very front heavy and you can feel/notice it. Nothing like our cars for steady state cornering grip limits. I could never go back to a front heavy car.

Most RB's couldn't flow anymore than 23-25psi anyway, IMO they just suck for reliability...

[_ink]

Originally Posted by JB4-335

Same here. RB and VTT would be at the bottom of my list. I just don't think I'll ever upgrade my turbos purely because nothing is nearly as reliable as the stockers. They can take some serious abuse.

The thought of spending $7k then there being a good chance having to have them removed and sent overseas and repaired then re-installing doesn't go down too well for me.

Traction in these cars are horrible with an open diff and 300+rwkw. I'd hate to have over 400+ and nowhere to use it. I almost went into a poll the other day going WOT at 80kph. The PSS's are shit also. I have a DCT so LSD is close to $5k. TBH I would prefer a S3 or a new Golf R so you can give it a hit off the line but they don't look anywhere near as good as an E92.

You need to take mine for a spin again Ed!

I don't want to jinx myself with my RB's to comment about anything...

[DR-JEKL]

Well no major updates...

I've been busy renovating my house in my 'spare' time (focusing on brushing up on the street appeal) with new gardens, edging, brick wall, driveway, refurbing the front deck painting the house, new window blinds etc etc so haven't had much time for the 335i.

Spent some time here and there on the M3 interior with a thorough cleaning.

I used zymol and duragloss leather cleaner after steam cleaning and sealed the leather with duragloss.



https://www.carcareproducts.com.au/p...leather_system

The front seats looked OK but you dont realise how contaminated they are until you start cleaning them. Unfortunately when doing the front seats I didn't have my phone on me to see the dramatic before and after shots with cleaning them! (the microfibre towels were black after steam cleaning and took several heavy scrubs to remove the buildup)

The rear seats looked very clean before cleaning (next to no use by the look of it) but after steam cleaning, scrubbing with a leather cleaner and a conditioner applied there is an obvious difference.

Before:



Steam cleaning (wipe with a rag after a few quick passes - the steam also opens up the pores of the leather which helps to remove contaminants. After steaming I quickly apply a leather cleaner and start scrubbing immediately)



Apply cleaner and scrub by hand



Ensure to remove all grit/grime from leather seams also



Apply conditioner let soak then buff by hand using soft microfibre cloth (ensure to use a few cloths as they get contaminate dyou dont wash to work the grime back into teh leather)



Closeup of seat prior to cleaning:



Lovely soft supple novillo leather with a matte sheen to the leather after cleaning/conditioning



The front drivers side seat had wear on the side bolster (soft novillo doesnt wear as good as the tough/hard dakota leather found in our 335i's)



after cleaning the wear looked worse for some reason?



I researched online there was a myriad of dye options! swissvax leatherique etc offered solutions but were expensive!

Decided to give this ebay.co.uk option a go and cost about $29 AU delivered (swissvax leatherique etc were $200+)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Leathe...4-m0uioox9GIHA

It comes with 2 x 30ml bottles of dye and 2 bottles of sealer (one matte and gloss) and 2 x application sponges.

I used this video as a guide:

First I sanded the worn squab with 1200 grit wet n dry



(fark looks really bad now hope this dye stuff works out OK!?!?)

Thoroughly cleaned the surface before applying the dye.

I got the novillo fox red pre made by this co and the colour match seems quite good!



I applied 3 coats of fox red dye drying with a heat gun on low heat in between coats, and two coats of sealer by mixing the matte and gloss together.

Finished product (doesn't look 100% I might sand it back and try again I used about 5ml if that so have heaps of dye left!)



The leather had two indentations in the surface as it looked like something had been stored on the seat putting two 'dents in the leather below the headrest



These were massaged out by hand with a heat gun:

[DR-JEKL]

I bought some parts from twenza

For those that dont know, he works in the parts dept at BMW Kariong (Gosford NSW) and is extremely helpful and his prices are on par with ECS etc by the time you factor in shipping costs etc

I needed some counterbalance bolts for my M3 diff driveline vibration issue:



The black and green bolts are counterbalance bolts, whereas the silver is a normal ///M diff flange bolt.

It seems the only difference is the thread is longer on the counterbalance bolts (I'm guessing they're actually lighter than normal bolts) and are applied in the location of imbalance. I'll have to weigh them in the wifeys kitchen scales to confirm!

Also unfortunately my lovely gloss CF roof wrapped was accidentally damaged so I had it removed. It came off easily thank god with a heat gun-carbon demon was very dubious of the VVIVVID8 wrap initially and said the adhesive wasn't as good as avery 3M etc and the film would most likely tear during removal. I think it helped my car had little exposure to the sun as its mostly garaged and it was only done about 8 months or so ago. It took just on one hour to remove and clean any left over adhesive residue from my roof with alcohol.

I then had carbon demon applied gloss black avery film. Mike is a top guy and is extremely meticulous and extremely professional can totally reccomend him:

https://www.facebook.com/carbon.demon/?fref=ts


I also ordered a new windshield surround rubber as mine had started to perish... This was made even worse during the initial roof wrap when they had to lift it to tuck the wrap under the seal, pieces of it started to break off.





By memory the new seal was about $84 from twenza

I'll install this tomorrow and seal it with dodjuice supernatural rubber/trim rejuvinator.

Pics to come...

[Socket]

Wow nice work DrJ... looking awesome

[CashedUpBogan]

Awesome stuff Shane! How are you gonna do the counterbalancing?

[vtl]

Seats look great, you going to still swap them for a set of black? Or going to install the red now?

Those counterbalance bolts look awesome! Really interesting how they've achieved the different weights by just changing the threaded portion.

Maybe you'll be able to get it sorted on the long weekend?

[JJH]

Nicely detailed update, as usual. Looks like you have resolved the worst of the 'new' interior and you should be able to have the re-coloured seat sorted. That novillo leather is worth the effort imo. Good luck with the counter-balancing too.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by Socket

Wow nice work DrJ... looking awesome

Cheers socks

Originally Posted by CashedUpBogan

Awesome stuff Shane! How are you gonna do the counterbalancing?

Well normally BMW mark the location of where or if counterbalancing is required. Since I only discovered this after fitting the diff, according to advan there were no colour marks on my diff flange. So I'll attempt to remove one bolt and replace with a counterbalance bolt. Then trial it by either having the car raised up on jack stands and driving the car up through the gears getting up to the speed where the vibration kicks in (around 70-80 km/h) if there is no improvement then move to the next hole position and repeat until hopefully it comes good..

I'm figuring it will be much easier to do on a lift, and there is a ex bmw mechanic who comes highly recommended who has a small workshop at medowie (Shane Brandon @ 3eleven motorsport). He does chassis tuning for race cars and tuning so I'm keen to give him a go as he's a small one man business AFAIK and local. I've talked to him and he's keen to help out and install my inlets and clutch when I decide what clutch to go with.

Originally Posted by vtl

Seats look great, you going to still swap them for a set of black? Or going to install the red now?

Those counterbalance bolts look awesome! Really interesting how they've achieved the different weights by just changing the threaded portion.

Maybe you'll be able to get it sorted on the long weekend?

I've had 4 guys keen 2 in wa 1 in melb and 1 in sydney. Too much hassle trying to ship to WA, the guy in melb wanted to meet halfway at a place past canberra. I would consider it but its a lot of hassle and i was hoping we would do it at a workshop, he was going to DIY in a carpark somewhere... I dont really have the time as i would have to stay o/nite somewhere but then also thought i may be able to do a roadtrip weekend drive...

The guy in Sydney was keen, he actually arranged to meet the day I collected the seats. We were going to meet, but he called at the last minute to say he couldnt make it, and asked if i could meet him in the city. I didnt have the time as I had to get back home.

So I guessed I will install them this weekend and see if I like them or not If I dont like them, I may do a road trip down to the new sth coast to swap with an interested party from melbourne!

As for the bolts hmm might do them next week

Originally Posted by JJH

Nicely detailed update, as usual. Looks like you have resolved the worst of the 'new' interior and you should be able to have the re-coloured seat sorted. That novillo leather is worth the effort imo. Good luck with the counter-balancing too.

Cheers Jon!

The M3 leather is a drastic improvement on the dakota isn't it. You can definately see and feel the ///M improvements from the steering wheel, much nicer interior, great chassis, awesome looking exterior cf roof etc etc no doubt your enjoying your new M3

[totti84]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

Well normally BMW mark the location of where or if counterbalancing is required. Since I only discovered this after fitting the diff, according to advan there were no colour marks on my diff flange. So I'll attempt to remove one bolt and replace with a counterbalance bolt. Then trial it by either having the car raised up on jack stands and driving the car up through the gears getting up to the speed where the vibration kicks in (around 70-80 km/h) if there is no improvement then move to the next hole position and repeat until hopefully it comes good..

Just be careful with this Shane, an unloaded free spinning diff on jack stands will emit a different noise/whine to a fully loaded diff on the road. So best to check and test drive before and after each attempt. All the best with it

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by totti84

Just be careful with this Shane, an unloaded free spinning diff on jack stands will emit a different noise/whine to a fully loaded diff on the road. So best to check and test drive before and after each attempt. All the best with it

Well its not exactly a whine, its a vibration that can be heard and felt through the car. (albeit I've been whining for months re this issue to anyone who will listen to me haha)

But yeah you're correct it may behave differently without the driveline under load. Nothing is ever easy so yeah it may require a road test with the bolt in each orientation until an improvement is verified!

[titium]

did you install the diff yourself?

nvm just read the previous page

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by titium

did you install the diff yourself?

Nope advan performance did, it was a lengthy ordeal unfortunately and the car spent over 5 months in total @ advan (I have driveline vibration issue that still isn't fully resolved)

Fortunately my 335i only gets driven once every few months so it didnt affect me too much, but the car is so much better to drive with all the M3 driveline mods, BC coilovers, nitto NT05's, wider track of the M3 comp pack rims etc etc

[titium]

that sucks ! 5 months is ages. hopefully this bolt sorts it all out.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by titium

that sucks ! 5 months is ages. hopefully this bolt sorts it all out.

The initial install took over 2 months, and had to return it to them as it had a major driveline vibration. The 2nd stint at advan was a month before xmas and with the xmas break etc meant my car sat there for 6 weeks or so before they got a chance to look at it and the 2nd stint trying to rectify the balancing issue took 3 months.

The driveshaft required modifying to suit the 335 tranny/M3 diff which advan sub contracted out to a driveline shop. The driveline shop stuffed around and couldnt improve the imbalance. Eventually I used some contacts and found another driveline specialist willing to look at it for me, and got the balance improved albeit its still not 100%.

All in all frustrating for both parties in advan's defence they installed all the bits as supplied but it didn't quite go so smoothly, but after spending a boatload on the retrofit it's disappointing its still not 100%

I'll be very happy if the counterbalance bolts resolves this issue (thanks to vtl for discovering this!!)

[vtl]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

The initial install took over 2 months, and had to return it to them as it had a major driveline vibration. The 2nd stint at advan was a month before xmas and with the xmas break etc meant my car sat there for 6 weeks or so before they got a chance to look at it and the 2nd stint trying to rectify the balancing issue took 3 months.

The driveshaft required modifying to suit the 335 tranny/M3 diff which advan sub contracted out to a driveline shop. The driveline shop stuffed around and couldnt improve the imbalance. Eventually I used some contacts and found another driveline specialist willing to look at it for me, and got the balance improved albeit its still not 100%.

All in all frustrating for both parties in advan's defence they installed all the bits as supplied but it didn't quite go so smoothly, but after spending a boatload on the retrofit it's disappointing its still not 100%

I'll be very happy if the counterbalance bolts resolves this issue (thanks to vtl for discovering this!!)

Yeah its been a very long journey getting this sorted! It did seem that you got stuffed around a lot with your car sitting at workshops not being worked on, the local guy sounds really promising. Its really disheartening that the 'experts' weren't able sort it out and you had rely on forum information for a solution. Luckily all the BMW ISTA stuff is available, we would have been stuffed on most other platforms where the factory documentation is unavailable.

Then you can finally do some kms and enjoy the car. I am totally going to do some skid pan days when i finally get my M3 LSD in, you going to do any track days with yours?

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by vtl

Yeah its been a very long journey getting this sorted! It did seem that you got stuffed around a lot with your car sitting at workshops not being worked on, the local guy sounds really promising. Its really disheartening that the 'experts' weren't able sort it out and you had rely on forum information for a solution. Luckily all the BMW ISTA stuff is available, we would have been stuffed on most other platforms where the factory documentation is unavailable.

Then you can finally do some kms and enjoy the car. I am totally going to do some skid pan days when i finally get my M3 LSD in, you going to do any track days with yours?

Yeah that's true, thats why I paid the big $ for advan to do it as i had known they had done quite a few retrofits in the past.

The original grand plan was to join the BMW club and do a host of track days and improve upon my driving skills alas with a newborn bub and the fact that my nearest track is 2hrs away makes it difficult I must admit!

Once I've got it sorted I plan to do a few drive days in it then will eventually organise another oxley hwy trip with a few mates