[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by hks200

Shane!

car looks mint mate! guess who has joined the dark side! haha

Hey Wes!

Well it's a logical step mate, I'm sure you'll miss the crisp turn in and responsive chassis of the tezza! I've only just got my car handling sweet like my IS after 3 years of ownership!

So you've bought a 130i?

Did you end up selling Jeff's car and rims??

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by Rub3n

Mr handling! What's the difference between the br and er coilovers? How much improvement were these for you? Any better for drifting?

BR are entry level, ER have remote fluid reservoirs, and independent damper adjustment (bump & rebound).

By memory the BR's were $1299 and ER's were something like $2199?

I cant quantify how much of an improvement the BC's were for me as I had the full M3 driveline installed at the same time along with r compound tyres pretty much... So went from a rather ordinary setup (oem m sport) to a pretty damn sweet handling setup!

In terms of ride comfort the BC's are actually pretty good. Initially they were way too harsh, back off the damper 7 clicks and it transformed the ride (almost oem like) and the damper adjustment is really good. No weird noises or clunks just yet, at this stage I've barely driven the car though really

[hks200]

yep got a 6MT sapphire black 130i M Sport. Fun little car, requires less steering input than the tez to turn the same amount. Handling wise yeah the tez is fantastic however the 130i is incredible for a stock car. In regards to Jeffs car, got the rims and mtech rear bumper in my garage haha.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by hks200

yep got a 6MT sapphire black 130i M Sport. Fun little car, requires less steering input than the tez to turn the same amount. Handling wise yeah the tez is fantastic however the 130i is incredible for a stock car. In regards to Jeffs car, got the rims and mtech rear bumper in my garage haha.

Ahh nice they're a good lil package and no doubt you'll enjoy the torque that motor chucks out over your tez!

Jeez still! whats he chasing for the rims and bar in terms of $?

[DR-JEKL]

No updates the past few months unfortunately!!

We had our baby girl Annika 3 weeks ago





No baby these days goes without the obligatory pro photography pics:



(obligatory behind the scene smartphone pic!)

Yesterday I decided to spend some time with my other baby (the bmw!) and hit vtl up to code my m3 cluster. A few months ago I sent him my cluster to have a new chipset soldered into the board as what happens is the cluster is essentially paired with the car so the cluster has all the data associated with the VIN of the parent car. So when you go to transfer the cluster to a different car it has different modules etc so certain functions dont work (I had issues with a cruise control malfunction error and no electronic oil level)

So once Vince does his soldering of the chipset, he then sends you back the cluster and you have to code the car and calibrate the dials.

refer to pics of the soldering here:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=609

So when I spoke to Vince he was like im busy monday night, but im free now if you are.

So rushed about got the laptop out and my cable, Vince remote connected using teamviewer. We had issues for ages trying to connect to the car... went through basic stuff is ignition on, cable plugged in yup yup... I told him the cable was recommended by a mate i know with an F30 who codes them, who recommended the cable I'm using to work on the E9X. Vince is like ahh does it plug into your USB? nope it was a ethernet cable... Vince is like hmm well that's your problem, they don't work on an E90... Doh!

Not many BMW guys in Newcastle to loan a cable from, but i recalled my mate Gerry with his white E92 M3 had a CIC system installed and coded recently. Fortunately he was home and could loan me a cable.

Finally got the correct cable, then Vince had further issues (I hadn''t installed the extension pack software - no doubt Vince was rolling his eyes at me haha) he sorted that out and voila finally had access to the car!



So the procedure was to remove the cluster fascia and place each dial onto the cluster (Vince sends the cluster back without dials)



remove the four screws and unclip the fascia apart:



Vince then sets a gauge to a predetermined value i.e 7k rpm and asks you to install the needle to the 7k rpm position. Once in place he then sets the gauge to various points i.e 3k rpm 5 rpm 6 k rpm so you can check accuracy.

This work was extremely fiddly as i have big hands, and when you're purshing the needle on it's right on the graduation but as you let the needle go the needle deflects to just below or above the desired point... And also it depends on the angle you're viewing it from, as the speedo is to the left slightly of your vision it may look below or above 0 km/h but when you tilt your head left in alignment with the dial its smack on 0 km/h.

This part took me about an hour (I'm kinda fussy!) then once the dials were all set Vince coded the car, cleared some associated faults logged (cruise control, fuel pump sensor related codes - unsure of how old they were but most likely back when i had installed my stage 2 lpfp and had a few codes pop up which is normal and since i had a new LPFPS installed when the stage 2 lpfp was installed im not concerned)

Took her for a blap today and after 2 years or so i finally now have cruise control and a functioning e dipstick and a fully functioning M3 gauge cluster thanks to Vince!!

Cant thank the guy enough, the M3 steering wheel and gauge cluster really add to the 335i interior and take it to the next level, and a 330 km/h cluster lets everyone know this car means the biz

The car got some further love today with a new cabin filter:



(Probably should have done a M3 filter conversion as vince said!!)

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228781

And finally replaced the broken tweeter mount (my mate broke it when he was removing the mirrors to spray the window trims black)



Unclip the tweeter from the housing:



Broken tab on the tweeter housing:



Next step now is to get the car back to advan performance, to try and nut out the vibration issue that's occured since the M3 driveline was installed (seems like a tailshaft issue vibration that occurs from 70-80 km/h and is constant even when on/off the throttle)

[vtl]

Glad the clusters in finally!

Will definitely try and sort out a way to calibrate the dials on the bench instead of doing it on the car with the steering wheel in the way. Such a fiddly process haha.

I have a harness plug for the instrument cluster (came included on the one I had) so hopefully I can just power it up and wire up my DCAN cable to it.

[Socket]

Congrats on the new addition to the family mate

Very cute.... especially when they are sleeping

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by vtl

Glad the clusters in finally!

Will definitely try and sort out a way to calibrate the dials on the bench instead of doing it on the car with the steering wheel in the way. Such a fiddly process haha.

I have a harness plug for the instrument cluster (came included on the one I had) so hopefully I can just power it up and wire up my DCAN cable to it.

Yeah I would have been happy to pay extra for bench calibration! Almost dropped a dial down inside the dash at one stage!!

Cool good luck with the next one, great that someone has nutted this out!!

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by Socket

Congrats on the new addition to the family mate

Very cute.... especially when they are sleeping

Thanks sock, she's a damn good sleeper

[woosh]

great progress. and congrats on the junior!

[tawfeeqh]

congratz on the little one mate!

[_ink]

Grats Shane! Shes beautiful mate.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by woosh

great progress. and congrats on the junior!

Originally Posted by tawfeeqh

congratz on the little one mate!

Originally Posted by _ink

Grats Shane! Shes beautiful mate.

Thanks boys

[JJH]

Congrats on the little girl mate - glad for you and the missus she's a good sleeper. Great to see progress on the other baby too!!

[iliketurtl3s]

Congrats Dr j. She is beautiful

[Flex68]

Loving this build

[DR-JEKL]

Sadly my car has had a summer vacation at advan performance, in an attempt to solve a driveline vibration issue after fitting the M3 driveline.

The M3 diff has a different flange, thus the 335i shaft is cut and shorted and the rear section of a m3 compatible shaft is cut and welded to the rear of the shaft. The driveline specialist who performed this work for advan attempted to rectify it but apparently didn't solve the issue with rebalancing (you would think since the bulk of the originals haft was used the centre bearing etc would be all OK)

The shaft was recently sent out to a 2nd driveline specialist for rebalancing and Pete was expecting it back last Friday, so hopefully this solves the issue...

In the meantime I was discussing the issue with our resident ISTA expert Vince, and he came across a few interesting discoveries with the M3 diff in the ISTA. Apparently the driveline is setup to quite fine tolerances and each diff is balanced after assembly (you'll see a little round recess drilled in the flange - this is the method of correction where material is removed from the point of imbalance to ensure its precisely balanced)

drilling of the flange to remove imbalance:



In addition to the machining of the diff flange for balancing correction, there is counterbalancing on the bolts where the driveshaft connects to the diff flange as required for fine corrections (i.e if they cant get the diff perfectly balanced at the factory the technician marks the diff as OK or requiring addition counterbalancing - this is determined by the coloured mark on the diff)







Example of marks:



prior to 08/09 the counterbalancing was done with the use of washers on the marked hole )as indicated by the colour mark by the bmw factory tech) or after 08/09 special bolts once again as indicated by the colour marks. The diff I had was from a 2011 build M3 so if it required counterbalacing, it would require bolts.



bmw part #26112284154 black
bmw part #26112284153 green
black bolt is for blue marking
green is for yellow marking
if diff has white marking no counterbalance bolts required

special thanks to Twenza from the forums (he is a parts guru at Worthington BMW - Kariong nsw dealer and reccomend contacting him for parts you require) got me some prices for these bolts, he had some trouble as they weren't in the system as it seems no-one has ever ordered them and he discussed it with the workshop foreman who said they weren't aware of these counterbalance bolts..

They're a special order from Germany, and since I have no markings visible on my diff I would have to order both and attempt to find the orientation they should be mounted by installing driving the car and checking and removing and changing the position etc (not an easy task to do...)





I'm hoping the car doesn't need these bolts, as my diff has no marks so it will be a long process in attempting to locate the correct position on the flange which requires the counterbalance bolt...

In other news I decided to upgrade the wife's corolla to a VW Passat as its a much safer car for our bub and a lot roomier for all the baby stuff!







I spent a few months researching cars and passats and decided on a TDI as they have the best mix of performance and fuel economy. I've been quite happy with it, driving it on the highway it returned 4.6L/100kms and in the 7's around town. It has lovely soft nappa leather a good stereo oem satnav and a few cool optional extra's such as auto park assist 2 (my wife cant reverse park) and built in rear booster child seat

park assist 2.0

VW booster seats:



The seat base has a button where the seat base higes up and clips into a raised position, and there is a leather roller coaster ride type shoulder support.

The DSG is a huge improvement over the 09 jetta TDI I had but still somewhat frustrating at times being slow to respond when taking off....

Finally another new mod that's piling up among the parts in my garage awaiting for the cars return to install!

So a Sydney forum member Tom had advertised his M3 seats for sale for quite a while and I caved and decided to purchase them. The funny thing was I had considered buying them before Tom did back in 2103 (?) but hesitated as I wasnt 100% convinced on fox red.. Before I could mull it over Tom had snapped the seats up back then, and that sorta made me feel better as my oem dakota seats are in really good condition... Since then I've not seen a set pop up for sale only in the UK. I had considered importing a set but being bulky they would be expensive to ship and also quite fragile as the leather would no doubt get crushed or damaged during shipping... I've always loved the nvillo seats the leather is extremely soft, with much improved bolstering over the 335i seats and really gives the M3 cabin a top shelf german performance car ambience which reeks of quality and style!



So initially I was thinking I may dye the novillo fox red black with a leatherique dye kit which is approx $3-400

Decided that might be a tad risky and perhaps trade an existing M3 owner who has black for the fox red seats as it seems to be a popular colour as 90% of E92 M3's come with black..

Mulling it over I think the colour may grow on me, as I dont like it in the M3 as it looks too garish with the extended leather on the dash door trims etc etc but if I keep the door trims black and the centre console lid black it's not too garish at all:

OEM M3 with extended leather



retrofitted into a 335i with black door trims





So I'm thinking I may give the seats a really good deep clean and install them and see how they look!

These seats are also heated, whereas my oem seats weren't. In winter it's definately a nice feature, and according to Tom he just plug in the seat heater switch and the were PnP!

Got a price from twenza for a new switch (heated seats and PDC button) bit they were $437!! it seems it comes in as a kit and you build the switch to suit your cars options (i.e PDC, rear blind, auto stop/start etc)



So I decided to look for a used item and Vince found me a used item from Europe for $80 delivered



I also bought a replacement console from that M3 in QLD that everyone had been raping parts from! Since I bought my car it has had the top oft touch plastic layer all scuffed and flaked off the side of the console where the seat belt had rubbed up against it. Since I was much taller then the prior owner i have the seat extended against the stops, you can see these scuffs. So this fresher console will look much nicer and has the novillo leather console lid also



The car is turning into a M3 wannabe with the mirrors driveline, brakes, chassis components, rims, gauge cluster, trim, seats, gloss carbon roof etc I must admit! But hey the M3 was unobtainable for me going back 4 years ago when I bought my 335i!

The M3 bodykit components will complete the car in terms of aesthetics if I decide to go that way before upgrade the fuel system or clutch!

[Brule]

Sounds like its been a battle.

Hope its sorted soon

[EB89]

Stick the seats in man, try them out for a few weeks, the red is awesome in my opinion, I'd love it in my car.

Hopefully you get the balance issue sorted soon!

[JJH]

Hope you get that driveshaft balance issue sorted without having to endure too much pain with trial and error.

As for retrofitting the M3 seats, I agree with your comment that simply swapping just the f & r seats will give a much more toned down effect than the full blown fox red interior. Personally, I think the fox red interior and your Space Grey is a killer combo. So don't think too hard - just get them in, especially now that you have the seat heater switches sorted!

[Socket]

Nice work DrJ +1 to above, red will look awesome with the space grey. Easy job to drop them in and then see if you want to do the door panels etc... I've got a DIY in progress on the door cards if you do decide to go that way
Hope the balancing gets sorted nothing worse then spending money and things not being perfect... also congrats on the new car... very clean.. assuming no mods planned (just yet) lel

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by Brule

Sounds like its been a battle.

Hope its sorted soon

Thanks Brendan, the boys at advan shall nut it out eventually

Originally Posted by EB89

Stick the seats in man, try them out for a few weeks, the red is awesome in my opinion, I'd love it in my car.

Hopefully you get the balance issue sorted soon!

They're growing on me, the missus wasn't happy with the colour at all haha

Originally Posted by JJH_335

Hope you get that driveshaft balance issue sorted without having to endure too much pain with trial and error.

As for retrofitting the M3 seats, I agree with your comment that simply swapping just the f & r seats will give a much more toned down effect than the full blown fox red interior. Personally, I think the fox red interior and your Space Grey is a killer combo. So don't think too hard - just get them in, especially now that you have the seat heater switches sorted!

Yeah major 'changes' always seem to cause bugs to iron our unfortunately!

The seats have a few little scuffs, indentation damage and need a good clean. I'm going to attempt to repair the indentations and dye the scuffed damaged area on the bolsters so they look a lot more presentable.

Originally Posted by Socket

Nice work DrJ +1 to above, red will look awesome with the space grey. Easy job to drop them in and then see if you want to do the door panels etc... I've got a DIY in progress on the door cards if you do decide to go that way
Hope the balancing gets sorted nothing worse then spending money and things not being perfect... also congrats on the new car... very clean.. assuming no mods planned (just yet) lel

Cheers socks, yeah man no doubt you're testament to that also sounds like your RB issue is still unsolved? Glad I didn't go the RB route personally TBH they sound like nothing but a headache

As for the doorcards I was keen to buy a set of black nappa cards but that M3 in QLD he only has the rears left available Guess I'll stick to my oem dakota door trims.

Haha not too many mods for the VW, just plates new michelin tyres, servicing, window tint etc maybe a tune down the track as apparently with a tune they out out 450 Nm (only a little 4 banger 2.0 TDI)