[ArsE92]

I've had my 2007 E92 335i for almost three years now and I'm getting itchy feet to change it for something a bit more 'special'. However, due to a reshuffle of my priority list it's looking less likely that I'll be changing this year or maybe even next.

So, I'm considering spending some money on it to make it feel like a new car again. I don't want to spend a fortune, but considering I was looking at LCI M3's and 997 2S' I think it would be fair to spend a few grand on the old girl.

It's an SE in Monaco Blue, with the 19" 230 style wheels. I like the way it looks, even with the chrome, so I'm not massively interested in external cosmetics.

So far, in no particular order, this is what I'd like to do:

1 - JB4 and BMS DCI - ~ £500
2 - Audio upgrade - quite happy with the stock audio but I'm always happy to upgrade. I love my music - ~£500
3 - Alpina gearbox flash - ~£100
4 - CCC to CIC upgrade - ~£1500
5 - Tail-light upgrade to LCI - ~£500

What do you think? A nice little 'programme of works' that should reignite my love for the 335i? And achievable for £2500?

Cheers

[AlanYoro35i]

Ccc to cic from makkan cost £1250
Tail light can be had for 300-400 now so make sure u check classifield.

Thats a nice saving of £300-400.

For me i wouldn't bother with intake, i would buy a panel filter and VSRF 5 Inch intercooler with JB4. I was on cobb stage one and it wasn't fast enough, then i got the intercooler. And slapped on aggressive map stage 1 +ic. It was bloody bloody fast!!

[lolololol]

Sure,

To drive more power and make the most of the JB4, you'll need:

FMIC
Downpipes

Then you'll need upgrades to suspension to put the power down (loads of info on forum), then consider braking, all you'll need is better discs and pads rather than BBK.,

Good luck.

[gangzoom]

Spend £££ in the right place and you can just about make the 335 feel 'special'

Ifs its a better drive your after personally I would get the following (I assume you are if your after a M3/911):

1: Better suspension - Birds B3, or similar.
2: Uprated Antiroll bars - Ebiach or similar
3: Quaife LSD
4: Remap/JB4 - Procede

I've also got the Alpine Speaker/Amp upgrade in my car as well as the CCC to CIC, but in my view the above mods will alter your enjoyment of the car far more than changing ICE stuff....but thats just my view.

[AlanYoro35i]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

Spend £££ in the right place and you can just about make the 335 feel 'special'

Ifs its a better drive your after personally I would get the following (I assume you are if your after a M3/911):

1: Better suspension - Birds B3, or similar.
2: Uprated Antiroll bars - Ebiach or similar
3: Quaife LSD
4: Remap/JB4 - Procede

I've also got the Alpine Speaker/Amp upgrade in my car as well as the CCC to CIC, but in my view the above mods will alter your enjoyment of the car far more than changing ICE stuff....but thats just my view.

Out of budget!!

[Ibz82]

Originally Posted by Yoro35i

Ccc to cic from makkan cost 1250
Tail light can be had for 300-400 now so make sure u check classifield.

Thats a nice saving of 300-400.

For me i wouldn't bother with intake, i would buy a panel filter and VSRF 5 Inch intercooler with JB4. I was on cobb stage one and it wasn't fast enough, then i got the intercooler. And slapped on aggressive map stage 1 +ic. It was bloody bloody fast!!

+1 on leave out the dci get a k and n drop in instead!!! Reason is you will lose torque

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by Yoro35i

Out of budget!!

Depends on how you source the parts...

I picked up my Birds B3 kit off the forum for £750 ish, and paid £200 for installing....in my view thats probably the best mod I've done on the car, and much better value for money than spending a £500 on speakers/amp and/or £500 on a set of lights.

But as said thats just my view, and I did all the mechnical mods before doing the bigger ICE stuff, different people choose to enjoy their cars in different ways so all is good

[mob17]

As everyone above has said don't miss out the suspension. In fact i'd do it before any power mods. The weakness in the suspension will just get multiplied and instead of enjoying the extra power you'll just get annoyed even more. I'm keeping my car completely stock in regards to power until all the suspension stuff is sorted.

ICE/CIV: for £500 you're probably limiting yourself to the OEM Alpine upgrade. Its not amazing, but with logic7 subs it can sound decent. Speak to Makkan about this and CIC, he's the main guy on here that really knows it all and can probably put together a BMW from scratch!

[Inq]

Originally Posted by Ibz82

+1 on leave out the dci get a k and n drop in instead!!! Reason is you will lose torque

http://www.n54tech.com/forums/showpo...70&postcount=1

I'd get DCI, since your going with JB4, the only reason I see for not going for it is if you diden't want the extra intake noise.

As for: Alpina gearbox flash - ~£100 If you have a laptop you can buy a diagnostic cable off ebay for 20-30 quid and use one of the DIY's
like http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=873746

Il warn you though, not everyone likes it, it makes normal auto very placid, and Sport very aggressive. I actually drive mine in manual mode more often now.

[Ibz82]

Originally Posted by Inq

http://www.n54tech.com/forums/showpo...70&postcount=1

I'd get DCI, since your going with JB4, the only reason I see for not going for it is if you diden't want the extra intake noise.

As for: Alpina gearbox flash - ~100 If you have a laptop you can buy a diagnostic cable off ebay for 20-30 quid and use one of the DIY's
like http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=873746

Il warn you though, not everyone likes it, it makes normal auto very placid, and Sport very aggressive. I actually drive mine in manual mode more often now.

I have run my car with and without the intakes along with my jb4, and I can tell you the car prefers cold air from outside especially in low revs!!!
Drop in k and n or gruppe m induction kit 1200! Bit out of anyone's price range for an intake.

[Rudz]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

Depends on how you source the parts...

I picked up my Birds B3 kit off the forum for 750 ish, and paid 200 for installing....in my view thats probably the best mod I've done on the car, and much better value for money than spending a 500 on speakers/amp and/or 500 on a set of lights.

But as said thats just my view, and I did all the mechnical mods before doing the bigger ICE stuff, different people choose to enjoy their cars in different ways so all is good

Is that all it takes for a birds suspension swap (2 hrs), I'd read somewhere that it is 4.5 hrs to swap suspensions over ?

[ArsE92]

Thanks all for the replies. Much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Yoro35i

Ccc to cic from makkan cost £1250
Tail light can be had for 300-400 now so make sure u check classifield.

Thats a nice saving of £300-400.

For me i wouldn't bother with intake, i would buy a panel filter and VSRF 5 Inch intercooler with JB4. I was on cobb stage one and it wasn't fast enough, then i got the intercooler. And slapped on aggressive map stage 1 +ic. It was bloody bloody fast!!

I'd quite like to release a bit of induction noise, that was my reasoning for the intake.

So, with the JB4 & intake (£500 (fit myself)), VSRF intercooler (£500 fitted?), & down-pipes (£500 fitted?), I'd probably be looking at a safe 400bhp?

Originally Posted by omaragha

Sure,

To drive more power and make the most of the JB4, you'll need:

FMIC
Downpipes

Then you'll need upgrades to suspension to put the power down (loads of info on forum), then consider braking, all you'll need is better discs and pads rather than BBK.,

Good luck.

I'm not keen to spend £1k on the suspension. Unfortunately my car is just being used for commuting these days, which is 75% motorway and 25% fun A/B roads every day. The suspension as it as at the moment is ok for me I think.

Originally Posted by gangzoom

Spend £££ in the right place and you can just about make the 335 feel 'special'

Ifs its a better drive your after personally I would get the following (I assume you are if your after a M3/911):

1: Better suspension - Birds B3, or similar.
2: Uprated Antiroll bars - Ebiach or similar
3: Quaife LSD
4: Remap/JB4 - Procede

I've also got the Alpine Speaker/Amp upgrade in my car as well as the CCC to CIC, but in my view the above mods will alter your enjoyment of the car far more than changing ICE stuff....but thats just my view.

As above, as I'm mostly commuting then I get a lot of enjoyment from ICE. My current setup is the one above base so it's reasonably ok but could do with improving.

Originally Posted by mob17

As everyone above has said don't miss out the suspension. In fact i'd do it before any power mods. The weakness in the suspension will just get multiplied and instead of enjoying the extra power you'll just get annoyed even more. I'm keeping my car completely stock in regards to power until all the suspension stuff is sorted.

ICE/CIC: for £500 you're probably limiting yourself to the OEM Alpine upgrade. Its not amazing, but with logic7 subs it can sound decent. Speak to Makkan about this and CIC, he's the main guy on here that really knows it all and can probably put together a BMW from scratch!

If my sound system is the one above 'base', is that already the Alpine system? 2 speakers in each door, woofers under front seats, 2 speakers each side in the rear.

Originally Posted by Inq

http://www.n54tech.com/forums/showpo...70&postcount=1

I'd get DCI, since your going with JB4, the only reason I see for not going for it is if you diden't want the extra intake noise.

As for: Alpina gearbox flash - ~£100 If you have a laptop you can buy a diagnostic cable off ebay for 20-30 quid and use one of the DIY's
like http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=873746

Il warn you though, not everyone likes it, it makes normal auto very placid, and Sport very aggressive. I actually drive mine in manual mode more often now.

Thanks for the links. I've already got the diagnostic cable so I just need to find the time to have a tinker. Or get Makkan to do it along with everything else! I'll drop him a PM.

Thanks again

[phil200tdi]

Personally I'd advocate not doing it!!!

I had similar feelings 3-4 months ago, spunked more cash on her (exhaust, suspension etc) and now I'm still keen to switch. In hindsight I hould have just switched out when I got itchy feet and used the cash for that...

My 2p

[Russbmw]

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

Personally I'd advocate not doing it!!!

I had similar feelings 3-4 months ago, spunked more cash on her (exhaust, suspension etc) and now I'm still keen to switch. In hindsight I hould have just switched out when I got itchy feet and used the cash for that...

My 2p

Yeah, I'd agree with that to be honest. Whichever way you look at it, spending £2500 on car you're already not entirely happy with is pissing money up the wall. You'd be better putting the cost towards a new car.

The things you're listing are all good, but it's the kind of thing you think about when buying a car -ie: having that money included in your purchase budget. Not the kind of things you do to try and make the car seem more appealing.

In my experience, once you get the itch to change, it doesn't go away, and anything you do is simply delaying the inevitable.

It's a bit like when you're pissed with your job and want to change - no amount of (realistic) salary increass or perks will make up for the fact you're sick of it and want to leave.

[ArsE92]

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

Personally I'd advocate not doing it!!!

I had similar feelings 3-4 months ago, spunked more cash on her (exhaust, suspension etc) and now I'm still keen to switch. In hindsight I hould have just switched out when I got itchy feet and used the cash for that...

My 2p

Originally Posted by Russbmw

Yeah, I'd agree with that to be honest. Whichever way you look at it, spending £2500 on car you're already not entirely happy with is pissing money up the wall. You'd be better putting the cost towards a new car.

The things you're listing are all good, but it's the kind of thing you think about when buying a car -ie: having that money included in your purchase budget. Not the kind of things you do to try and make the car seem more appealing.

In my experience, once you get the itch to change, it doesn't go away, and anything you do is simply delaying the inevitable.

It's a bit like when you're pissed with your job and want to change - no amount of (realistic) salary increass or perks will make up for the fact you're sick of it and want to leave.

I understand what you are saying but here's how I see it.

The car has already depreciated significantly since I purchased it as an AUC. I've 'lost' around £7k in 30 months I reckon, if the car is worth £10k (it's immaculate, although aren't they all?).

The M3's I've been looking at are all £30k+, as are the 997's. I need to move house next year so that £20k to change cars is better put aside for the house move, no question.

I'm happy with the car at the moment, it's more than capable, but I'd just like to make a few little changes to re-ignite that spark to keep me going for another 18 months or so, then perhaps look to change. I don't mind paying £2k or so for that.

The alternative is to change for something in and around the same price bracket. I'm not sure I could improve on the 335i though.

So yes, delaying the inevitable is exactly what I'm doing, but delaying for 18 months-ish.

You with me?

[Russbmw]

I kind of get it....but ultimately, I don't.

You know it's not what you want long term, but you're prepared to sink a further £2500k (25% at least) the value of the car that you won't see back when you come to sell it in 18 months or less time.

Man, I wish I had that kind of disposable income......

It's your car and your money. You don't need to seek approval on here mate.

As I said, they're good mods.

[JP.Williams]

if your buying second hand now .. or even new ... a lot of stuff he will be able to shift on when it comes to selling the car.

i bet a lot of UK users would pay for Downpipes already imported.
JB4s sell on eBay all the time!
like wise for everything, suspension, audio... everything can be shifted back on.

[AlanYoro35i]

I understand how you feel, i paid 25k for my car 3 years ago and now the car is worth maybe 13k?

Without adding significant cash on top for a trade in , there is nothing in our price bracket can beat the 335i for power/MPG.

since no money to change only make you want something more and you overlook how good your car is.

Let me budget for you for a all round package of upgrading

VSRF intercooler 5" currently out of stock but the 7 inch cost $449 , i expect this to be cheaper for the smaller one so lets say £400 shipped? (install is 2 hours labor, which is roughly £100)

JB4 or Cobb - check the For sale thread in US section and offer to pay the shipping cost for a used one (£200-300)

renew OEM brake hoses,brake fluid service and upgrade to a Red stuff EBC pads or Yellow £220 + 1-2 hour labour in a friendly local garage.

bilstein B14 kit( Ebay £680 from germany -no import tax) or eibach pro springs (£200) fitting varies. The Eibach pro springs greatly reduce roll than OEM springs and comfort is good too.

tracking £100

So this is my all rounder package so a good stage 1 upgrade, i have similar stuff on my car before
( ETS intercooler, CoBB, Yellow pads, SS pad hoses, stoptech brake disc,eibach pro springs)

say you go for the spring kit then would be £1600 for better handling, stoping and more power.

Slap the Alpina map and you won't look back then you will still have 800 for music upgrade.

Ofcourse this won't be the ultimate package but will be the best bang for bucks if you are not looking to spend mega money which quite alot of the members here were suggesting. re Bird B3 suspension kit , i have only seen 2 sets of second hand for sale in my 4 years on this forum.

I would leave Dp's out if you would be worried when MOT comes, i got a friendly garage for back up incase it does't pass on emmissions.

[gangzoom]

I would agree with the guys recommending doing nothing....If your truly board of the car than spending £2.5K isn't going to make it want to keep it any longer...But at the same time spending £20K to change cars when you could be putting £20K towards a mortgage deposit doesn't make much sense either

Every one's priorities are different, I've already decided on my next car (Tesla S P85 version) and stopped spending money on the 335. But given I'm not going to be able to afford one for another 3 years at the minimum I've accepted the fact I'm going to have to 'make do' with what I got now....which lets face it isn't that much of a hardship, there are plenty of worse cars to have than a 335

[ArsE92]

Originally Posted by Yoro35i

I understand how you feel, i paid 25k for my car 3 years ago and now the car is worth maybe 13k?

Without adding significant cash on top for a trade in , there is nothing in our price bracket can beat the 335i for power/MPG.

since no money to change only make you want something more and you overlook how good your car is.

Let me budget for you for a all round package of upgrading

VSRF intercooler 5" currently out of stock but the 7 inch cost $449 , i expect this to be cheaper for the smaller one so lets say £400 shipped? (install is 2 hours labor, which is roughly £100)

JB4 or Cobb - check the For sale thread in US section and offer to pay the shipping cost for a used one (£200-300)

renew OEM brake hoses,brake fluid service and upgrade to a Red stuff EBC pads or Yellow £220 + 1-2 hour labour in a friendly local garage.

bilstein B14 kit( Ebay £680 from germany -no import tax) or eibach pro springs (£200) fitting varies. The Eibach pro springs greatly reduce roll than OEM springs and comfort is good too.

tracking £100

So this is my all rounder package so a good stage 1 upgrade, i have similar stuff on my car before
( ETS intercooler, CoBB, Yellow pads, SS pad hoses, stoptech brake disc,eibach pro springs)

say you go for the spring kit then would be £1600 for better handling, stoping and more power.

Slap the Alpina map and you won't look back then you will still have 800 for music upgrade.

Ofcourse this won't be the ultimate package but will be the best bang for bucks if you are not looking to spend mega money which quite alot of the members here were suggesting. re Bird B3 suspension kit , i have only seen 2 sets of second hand for sale in my 4 years on this forum.

I would leave Dp's out if you would be worried when MOT comes, i got a friendly garage for back up incase it does't pass on emmissions.

Yoro - thanks for this. Really appreciate the effort you've gone to to list all that out.

I've just ordered the JB4 direct from BMS. Enough dithering, let's get this done.

Originally Posted by gangzoom

I would agree with the guys recommending doing nothing....If your truly board of the car than spending £2.5K isn't going to make it want to keep it any longer...But at the same time spending £20K to change cars when you could be putting £20K towards a mortgage deposit doesn't make much sense either

Every one's priorities are different, I've already decided on my next car (Tesla S P85 version) and stopped spending money on the 335. But given I'm not going to be able to afford one for another 3 years at the minimum I've accepted the fact I'm going to have to 'make do' with what I got now....which lets face it isn't that much of a hardship, there are plenty of worse cars to have than a 335

I'm not truly bored of the car. I still think it's fantastic, but I'm looking for that little extra buzz that I used to get from it. I think ~£2k is a sound investment if that gives me that buzz for 18 months or so. It's certainly better value than the other options, in my opinion.

So, JB4 ordered for £411 included expedited shipping (up to 14 days). Let's see if I get stung by Customs.

Next stop - Makkan to discuss the CIC upgrade.

[Inq]

Originally Posted by ArsE92

Yoro - thanks for this. Really appreciate the effort you've gone to to list all that out.

I've just ordered the JB4 direct from BMS. Enough dithering, let's get this done.



I'm not truly bored of the car. I still think it's fantastic, but I'm looking for that little extra buzz that I used to get from it. I think ~£2k is a sound investment if that gives me that buzz for 18 months or so. It's certainly better value than the other options, in my opinion.

So, JB4 ordered for £411 included expedited shipping (up to 14 days). Let's see if I get stung by Customs.

Next stop - Makkan to discuss the CIC upgrade.

The burger tuning guys are normally quite good and mark down the value so the charge is not too high.

[ArsE92]

Originally Posted by Inq

The burger tuning guys are normally quite good and mark down the value so the charge is not too high.

Fingers crossed!