[JJH]

Originally Posted by Romes

Great build and thread mate, this should be promoted to sticky

I've got an e92 335i on the way, and being new to the platform this info has been really helpful.

For sure - I said the same thing exactly two years ago and I am still following the updates!!

[DR-JEKL]

Well I had recently finally completed the oxley hwy run via thunderbolts way with an overnight stop @ Port Macquarie.

This was the route:






I ended up going with a few mates, we had an old porsche 944, evo 7, 13 ford GT, a tasty E92 M3 and a few kwaka's (these guys are only new to bikes hence their P plates!) and an old bloke on his triumph tiger.

Unfortunately we didn't get pics of everyone but here are a few I snapped when we pulled over @ Port Mac:

















We booked a few rooms at the El Paso motor inn:

https://www.booking.com/hotel/au/el-...=0;type=total&

Their superior double room had a huge deck overlooking the water, so we ended up buying a few boxes of TED and camping in our room for the night and smashing the 'free' continental brekky the next morning. This was the view from our deck (certainly was a romantic view for some bromance eh!)



This was the itinerary I had devised (I've been on too many unorganised car cruises etc where people get lost or the final arrival time blows out due to no schedule - hence my slightly OCD approach!)

Meet at Heatherbrae mcdonalds @ 7:45am depart at 8am

Stage 1: Depart Heatherbrae 8:00am – Arrive Gloucester 10:00am (Stage 1 length 127km approx. 2 hrs)

Gloucester fuel stop @ woolworths Caltex to 10:15am

Stage 2: Depart Gloucester 10:15am – Arrive Carsons Pioneer lookout 11am (Stage 2 length 56km approx.45 mins)

Lookout photos/piss stop

Stage 3: Depart lookout 11:15am – Arrive Walcha 12:15pm (stage 3 length: 90km approx. 1 hr)

Lunch @ Walcha pub 30 mins & fuel stop @ Walcha 15 mins

Stage 4: Depart Walcha 1:15pm – Arrive Long Flat 2:45pm (Stage 4 length 133km approx. 1.5 hrs)

Fuel/piss stop @ Long flat

Stage 5: Depart Long Flat 3:00pm – Arrive Port Macquarie 3:45pm (Stage 5 length 50km approx. 0.75 hrs)

Overnight stay @ El Paso motor inn

All in all it's a great drive and whilst it was a long drive we had plenty of stops. This drive has a mixture of roads, hours of extremely scenic long flat straights (I was tempted to open it up and beat my PB!!) and there is one section on the oxley which has 45km's of smooth extremely windy and challenging twisties that has a speed limit of 100 km/h! So you can really get into it and essentially not break the law (there are a lot of tight 2nd gear bends!) and the open straight along the oxley is 110 km/h with no fixed radars (well I bloody hope not!)

Since everyone uses the pacific hwy there is minimal traffic and the only cop I had witnessed in the 2 day trip was in town at Port Mac! (they all sit on the pac hwy also)

The BMW really is a mile muncher and is built for this type of driving it has a comfy quite cabin and cruises effortlessly at 130-140 km/h and overtaking was certainly enjoyable

I had clocked just over 900kms for the trip with a fuel consumption of 9.0L/100 kms which I was pretty happy with as we weren't mucking around in the twisties.

So glad to finally cross this drive off the bucket list, I shall tackle the great ocean rd eventually!

[woosh]

Nice write up Shane! How did the Ford hold up against the BMW's (in the twisties)?

[ATTN]

That's a long drive, I use to drive up to Cessnock and that would make my butt numb, that's just coming from Sydney lol

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by woosh

Nice write up Shane! How did the Ford hold up against the BMW's (in the twisties)?

TBH going down the oxley the ford was at the back of the pack by default and going up the oxley the next day he piked it and drove the pacific hwy so he could get home sooner. I was behind him at one stage and im unsure of how hard he was driving but i had no issues keeping up with it

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by ATTN

That's a long drive, I use to drive up to Cessnock and that would make my butt numb, that's just coming from Sydney lol

Haha in your BMW?

I felt great after a full day of driving, no sore neck knees etc I was really happy with the car with how comfortable it was whereas being jammed into a bucket seat isnt much fun (my mate in the evo was struggling with the harsh suspension and recaro bucket seats) I could have easily drove home again in the same day!

[woosh]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

TBH going down the oxley the ford was at the back of the pack by default and going up the oxley the next day he piked it and drove the pacific hwy so he could get home sooner. I was behind him at one stage and im unsure of how hard he was driving but i had no issues keeping up with it

So in other words... it's a boat lol. Does he have any suspension upgrades? I have an F6 and find it has wayyyy too much bodyroll

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by woosh

So in other words... it's a boat lol. Does he have any suspension upgrades? I have an F6 and find it has wayyyy too much bodyroll

Nah she's only about 8 months old, its certainly no slouch though!

I like the F6's just Ford interiors really let the car down with cheap plastics, gauges, and misfitting interior panels. (reminded me of my old mans old 2009 territory with some bucket seats)

But damn they make some decent power with a few mods and turbo upgrade!

[woosh]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

Nah she's only about 8 months old, its certainly no slouch though!

I like the F6's just Ford interiors really let the car down with cheap plastics, gauges, and misfitting interior panels. (reminded me of my old mans old 2009 territory with some bucket seats)

But damn they make some decent power with a few mods and turbo upgrade!

Does your mate happen to live near Ryde in Sydney? I saw a similar car and numberplate combo a few weeks ago

Hehe yeah the F6 is definitely fun to drive.. until some off-camber corners get thrown into the mix. Interior and everything else I quite like can't wait for the '15 Mustang!

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by woosh

Does your mate happen to live near Ryde in Sydney? I saw a similar car and numberplate combo a few weeks ago

Hehe yeah the F6 is definitely fun to drive.. until some off-camber corners get thrown into the mix. Interior and everything else I quite like can't wait for the '15 Mustang!

No mate he lives in Newcastle. Literally the week he bought it I seen one the same colour with the same decal kit and thought it was his. So it must be a popular colour combo, as you don't see all that many S/C GT's around

[DR-JEKL]

Long time and no updates to my build thread as I've been busy with more home renovations, went to Europe for a month and busy with life...

Spent some time in Austria (my fave country on the trip!) Czech, Slovakia & Germany (mainly so I could go to the bmw welt, museum and factory) and UAE (wow that place blows me away everytime I go there!)

Absolutely loved the Austrian way of life, food, beer and its a beautiful country! Salzburg was one of the nicest places in Europe I've seen (so far!)

If you're ever in Vienna, and would like a schnitzel this place has a huge reputation as being the best schnitzel haus in Vienna.

http://www.figlmueller.at/en/figlmue...lzeile-en.html

Beware though, whilst it was the best schnitzel I've ever had it was also the biggest! It must have been about 14" in dia and came with side a dish of potato salad (also the best ive ever had)







The bmw welt & museum was a tad underwhelming for me personally.. I expected an evolution of display cars E30-F32 M3's/M4 and something similiar for the M5.

Sadly the welt only had the F32 M4 F30 M3, & the new gen M6 vert and a M6 gran coupe (stunning colours!)













































































Had lunch at the bmw welt restaurant (schnitzel!) but even the cafe was very cool!!










I had also organised a factory tour which went for a few hours and was quite interesting yet also you only witnessed a snippet of the full operation over a period of 2 hrs (this was the highlight of the bwm visit and highly recommended)

Whilst I was in Munich I was staying at the sofitel, which was convenient for me as it was close to the train station (main method of transport I used throughout the trip) and it was quite a popular hotel...

I'm not a soccer fan at all, but the day of the bayern Munich game the Sofitel car park was loaded with hot cars. I'm surprised a la ferrari wasnt there!!















































As for my 335i I've had a boost leak.. I've changed all the vac lines, changed CP o ring, installed new boost solenoids yet it still remains. I had a walnut blast, valve cover, RB PCV, and PCV hose installed some time ago and I'm starting to think perhaps I have a boost leak under load from the valve cover PCV....

So I need to get myself organised & dust off the car cover and get the old girl down to advan to get the issue sorted as I've only done 500 kays or so in the past 6 months...

Bloody bathroom reno has taken up a lot of time, but is coming along nicely now! I should finish it in the next week painting and sanding all the gyprock architraves etc...Hopefully in the new year I'll do the 2nd bathroom and laundry and in the meantime find the time and $ to finalise all the parts required for my M3 driveline install to be done @ advan!

Thanks to reece plumbing for their online bathroom designer software! (I didnt buy anything there they're too bloody expensive!)

[donR]

Nice looking bathroom. What are those red wedges and white thigns on the tiles? Something to keep them flat I assume? Did you use a similar device on the floor?

I did a bathroom build recently and getting the tiles right on the floor was probably the hardest in terms of getting the fall right.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by donR

Nice looking bathroom. What are those red wedges and white thigns on the tiles? Something to keep them flat I assume? Did you use a similar device on the floor?

I did a bathroom build recently and getting the tiles right on the floor was probably the hardest in terms of getting the fall right.

The white things are clips and the red things are wedges, so basically to get each tile level you use the wedges to raise it to get it perfectly level

[Socket]

Sounds like a great trip DrJ. Appreciate you sharing the pics of the cars and glad to hear bathroom reno is done, welcome back

[fo55il]

Dr j, u got some cray skills.

[JJH]

What an epic update mate! Glad to see the schnitzel was not much of a challenge for you!! The BMW visit is worth doing but agree that it is definitely overload.

I'm a fan of the rain shower head too ....

[donR]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

The white things are clips and the red things are wedges, so basically to get each tile level you use the wedges to raise it to get it perfectly level

Where do you get them? Bunnings? I might give them a try next time. I assume it takes a bit longer but great for crooked walls.

Must admit I'm a bit envious of your holiday as well!

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by donR

Where do you get them? Bunnings? I might give them a try next time. I assume it takes a bit longer but great for crooked walls.

Must admit I'm a bit envious of your holiday as well!

Any tile shop has everything you need, from grout, to trowels, to tile clips and wedges

As for bunnings well I'm pretty sure they would, but tile shops do for sure!

[CashedUpBogan]

*renames thread to "Australian Home & Garden "*

Hahah back on topic, I saw your car at Advan today, Shane! It was on the dyno. I think it pulled 763kW ATW.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by CashedUpBogan

*renames thread to "Australian Home & Garden "*

Hahah back on topic, I saw your car at Advan today, Shane! It was on the dyno. I think it pulled 763kW ATW.

Haha funny kient!

Yeah dropped her off to see if the boys can suss out the boost leak. I just have an OTS E30 cobb map atm, so I'm guessing it will pull around 270 ish when the boost leak is sorted and than when I have the PTF E50 tune 300 or thereabouts

[naynay]

i love build threads! especially the kitchen!

[Socket]

Originally Posted by naynay

i love build threads! especially the kitchen!

Yeh I love the custom FMIC DRJ has set up in the bathroom to provide instant hot water to the shower and bath