E81 130i story

[Missioner]

Actually in the old days it was the Villian who drove a black car.

It's only recently with the emergence of anti-hero style plots do we see more main characters in black cars.

To use your Vin Diesel example, in FF1 he is the bad guy and Paul Walker is the hero of the story. Paul's cars are all colours other than black. It was only in FF4 that Vin's cars became "not black" as the story had progressed to make Vin's character the "hero".

 

[CA_130]

... Even better then :cartel:

---

last one, I swear !

I almost forgot what is possibly the best racing livery, next to the lancia martini colours

The JPS Lotus 79 ground effect car

end of sentence, full stop, I promise to return to our regular scheduled program.

 

[golfer23]

i concur with him being a villain.....#trophygate

 

[CA_130]

lol.

#antihero.

---

Getting back to the main story,

I've had my eye on a few M-performance bits ever since I discovered their existence. The M-perf steering wheels and seats are lustful, astonishing, and coveted by one and all.

Unfortunately they are rare, and unattainable by most with people with a 9-5 job :hammerhead: You need some diamond smuggling/drug dealing money for that.

Fortunately, there are more bits and bobs than those two holy grail items for us peasants and plebs :smilebounce:

And I managed to land my grubby paws on a few of these along the way. My latest edition, was the manual Mperf gear knob :joy:

I planned to do the entire BMW SSK - (Short Shift Kit) but these parts are no longer even in production, and a mission to track down second hand :argh:

 

[CA_130]

So after months are staring at my knob, and having no luck sourcing the rest of the SSK components, I decided to just swap the knobs out.

When I bought the car I had the gear lever unsuccessfully repaired, and subsequently replaced with a new unit. So I knew how easy it was... in theory...

After driving around with it in the cubby, I decided I'd kill some time while my wife was in the butchery, nothin like a parking lot job :roflol:

After unclipping the leather with some gentle persuasion, it was time for the removal. There are no screws, clips, or strips holding the knob on, and it simply "pops" off with some force, straightforward ! right ?

Yes it is, I had done this before, and apparently reinstalled, the now old knob, a bit too well. It took and enormous amount of force to pry/yank it off, to the point where my thigh started to pain, from supporting my forearms.

A few times it felt like I was about to break something, but I bit down, I flexed both biceps, let off a few manly grunts, gave it some more willy, and WHACK !

... smacked myself full force in the face :hammerhead::roflol::roflol::roflol::roflol:

a swelling lip and taste of blood was a gentle constant reminder, that technique over power is very underated these days :fencelook:

but it got the job done, and the ergonomics and Aesthetics are well worth it !

8/10 will get smacked in the lip again :thumbs:

---

the knob itself is a nice weighted aluminium and alcantara piece, that is straighter and much shorter that the factory knob(s)

it takes a little muscle memory re-calibration, but its a nice little upgrade.

 

[Missioner]

Snap on the vape.

I joy Genie.

 

[gavsadler]

Had a good lol at this last update

I also yanked on my knob last month but it was a much more pleasant and less painful exercise than what yours seems to have been.

I’ll update my thread in due course....

 

[SHABSFS]

wow

your diy skills are amazing

 

[CA_130]

@missioner, it a wismec reuleaux rx gen 3 dual, I've now got a Blitzen attached to the top of it and couldn't be happier, default starting power is now set to 135 watts as opposed to 66 before :roflol: smooth, tasty, lots o clouds and long life :cartel:

---

@gavsalder glad you could get a chuckle out of it :crazylaugh: I definitely still do at some of the things I have done in the past :roflol:

Thank you, please do update, I've always enjoyed and learnt from them. Thanks for taking the x35i and S62 plunge, already discovered quite a bit, and I'll use them to help map out some decisions in the future raise::fencelook:

And while you're at it, I noticed the M3 isn't in your signature :fencelook:

---

Thanks @SHABSFS,

Its not all me, and I have a far way to go to get to where I wanna be, but I enjoy the experience thoroughly, successes and failures alike, and that is more important than anything, and whats importanter is being able to take it to the face every once in a while as well :roflol:

 

[Danny2]

nice work done on this car.. :bravo:

 

[CA_130]

Thanks @Danny@DSCmotorsport

A quick shot I took next to a mates new M140i earlier this year

 

[Captain_Stealth]

E81 still looks better


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CA_130]

E81 still looks better


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Captain_Stealth

 

[CA_130]

Its been quiet in here for some time, and life has had me busy, but I figured I try and dust the cobwebs away, even if it is just for a little while.

 

[CA_130]

So mid last year the CT fanatics wing decided to have a dyno day, and having never really had a car worthy of a dyno run before, I got excited and signed the 130 up !

It took quite a bit of egging on bribery, and false promises to get some buddies to join, but ultimately I succeeded (smileyface)

Got there nice and early relative to the crowd, and waited my turn in line.

Not having done this before, I wasn't sure what "prep" needed to be done, or how to "maximise" the output. I ended up idling the car warm probably to the point of heat soak, and the first run they did with the fan off, I can only assume that this is to warm up cold cars, and prevent engine damage, which TBH is the the only I cared about.

Anyway, one car goes up, does its 2 runs and drives off, some time passes, and the next guy goes up, runs, does the same, some time later another car, and then another, and another.

Eventually after what felt like an eternity, I pulled up to the treadmill, not really sure what to expect, but in my mind, from what I've seen on the forum, I was expecting 135-ish...

They strap my baby down, and run her through the gears, 1st gear, 2nd gear, 3rd, 4th... and hold.......

they hit the keyboard and off they went for it ! spinning the rollers and pegging the needle, the first results were in

... 160 kW and 271,7nm (jumping for joy)

 

[CA_130]

At this stage I was confused by the numbers, but decided to not give a ####, whatever it was, was more than I expected, and they were about to turn the fan on for the second run

Which at this point, seemed to be the hail-mary for all the previous cars. So I was excited to say the least.

The rolled her through the gears again, got to fourth, and held... hit the button and hit the pedal, away we went !

I was nervous and excited, and just as I was starting to enjoy the sound of the N/A 6pot being rung out! the run was over.

175 kW and 286nm !!

I was over the moon ! not for the numbers, the proof was finally in the pudding, she's a keeper, all the preventative maintenance, warm ups and cool downs and care put it have shown dividends.

 

[CA_130]

they rolled the car off the dyno, and I went to pull her into a parking bay, many many girly giggles were uttered, and many high fives were given.

I went in with no expectations, and just had a really good time seeing everyone else's cars and mine. I've learnt a few things on that day

1. People have a hard time swallowing the truth, if they dyno doesn't show what they want, suddenly its "this dyno is stingy", usually followed by "f@@k this thing, where's the ethanol" and " try it again, let me put it on map 3 quick".

Lmao, busters.

2. Don't heat soak the car

3. The reason everyone drives off is to clear the error codes

4. I need to figure out how to trigger the "SPORT" mode. In auto cars there's a button, but in the manuals it looks at the driving inputs, and makes a host of changes ! trust me you can feel it, and you know when its activated, (brake pedal preloads/primes, throttle response is much sharper, and some internal engine changes) but I cannot turn it on at will. If anyone has any insight, please comment and let me know, it will be appreciated.


so by the end of the morning, this is how the results were looking

after my last run, they needed to repair the dyno, so it was gatsby time, the friends all went up and did their thing, and at the end of the day I went home with a trophy. Not bad for my first dyno day

 

[CA_130]

Anyway, if you've read this far, thank you, and here are some cellphone pics of the day

adding a little vape effect for some mystery

 

[CA_130]

 

[CA_130]

The next day came around and I decided after the stellar performance, she deserved a bath

PS, she needed it

while I was getting started, my mate rocked up, we pulled out the foam cannon, and got to work on both cars

Apologies for those of you getting bored of seeing my car, but I just can't get enough of it when its clean, the paintwork just looks so deep !