135i N54 Manual Project

[PDBoosted]

Hi Guys,

I picked up a car I have always wanted after owning my first N54 which was an auto. Great car but just missed the driving experience of a manual performance car.

So when this came up for sale I decided to go for it.

2008 135i N54 Manual with Coral red interior. Its by no means perfect but with a little TLC this car can be great again.

When I got the car there was a lot of matt black going on. I'm not a fan of matt black so had to get rid of that first.

When I first got the car:

 

[PDBoosted]

With the current lockdown I had some spare time and decided to tackle some of the items that needed attention.

First was the leaky OFH. I picked up some gaskets and items to do a good service on the car before I start driving her.

It had been leaking for a while before so I had to spend a lot of time cleaning up the engine bay.

Getting ready to go under the knife:

Leaky mess:

New gaskets in. Note I didnt want to clean the housing for fear of dirt getting into the housing. So cleaned up the bay once re-installed:

 

[PDBoosted]

Next up was to tackle the matt black on the wheels and mirror caps.

DIY resprayed the wheels. I've done this plenty of times before and works well plus I love the colour:

Before:

Sanded and prepped:

And results:

 

[individj]

mmmmmm those wheels look good man....a lot of car...congrats and enjoy....im not a fan of matte black at all either.

 

[NBN]

that's a brilliant colour you did on the wheels! Looks so much better then the matte.

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

Great job on the wheels. Those ofhgs jobs are damn messy, but VERY necessary. Great work

Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

 

[PDBoosted]

mmmmmm those wheels look good man....a lot of car...congrats and enjoy....im not a fan of matte black at all either.

Thanks bud, I'm quite happy with the result myself!

that's a brilliant colour you did on the wheels! Looks so much better then the matte.

Thanks man! Indeed it does. You miss so much of the wheel detail with matt black.

Great job on the wheels. Those ofhgs jobs are damn messy, but VERY necessary. Great work

Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

Thanks Firi, it was a messy job and with it leaking so long the front of the engine was a mess! Luckily a compressor and some engine cleaner goes a long way.

 

[Spanky]

Great stuff PD!

Really look forward to this build - Seeing as it is an out and out project car raise:

Hope she treats you well!

P.S. Those wheels look sooooo much better.

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

mmmmmm those wheels look good man....a lot of car...congrats and enjoy....im not a fan of matte black at all either.

Thanks bud, I'm quite happy with the result myself!

that's a brilliant colour you did on the wheels! Looks so much better then the matte.

Thanks man! Indeed it does. You miss so much of the wheel detail with matt black.

Great job on the wheels. Those ofhgs jobs are damn messy, but VERY necessary. Great work

Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

Thanks Firi, it was a messy job and with it leaking so long the front of the engine was a mess! Luckily a compressor and some engine cleaner goes a long way.

What most guys dont realise, a leaking oil filter housing when left u checked can lead to oil finding it way on the belts, and if that happens, you gotta be prepared for a big bill.

Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

 

[PDBoosted]

mmmmmm those wheels look good man....a lot of car...congrats and enjoy....im not a fan of matte black at all either.

Thanks bud, I'm quite happy with the result myself!

that's a brilliant colour you did on the wheels! Looks so much better then the matte.

Thanks man! Indeed it does. You miss so much of the wheel detail with matt black.

Great job on the wheels. Those ofhgs jobs are damn messy, but VERY necessary. Great work

Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

Thanks Firi, it was a messy job and with it leaking so long the front of the engine was a mess! Luckily a compressor and some engine cleaner goes a long way.

What most guys dont realise, a leaking oil filter housing when left u checked can lead to oil finding it way on the belts, and if that happens, you gotta be prepared for a big bill.

Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

Thats true, thats why at the same time I picked up a new auxiliary belt. Unfortunately I got supplied a belt thats too short. I inspected mine and it looks fine but I'll get it exchanged for the right part when the lockdown is over.

 

[MikeR]

yeah those rims look great now

 

[individj]

did you sell your apex wheels?

 

[PDBoosted]

did you sell your apex wheels?

I currently still have the Apex wheels...

 

[individj]

oooooohhhh thats gna look dope on here

 

[BeemerFanatic]

Great car, congrats and well done with the paint, what color is that?

 

[AshG108]

Congrats bud and good job on the wheels....looks damn awesome! that colour is wicked!

I need to do my OFHG as well...judging by the looks of it...seems a DIY is possible and quick, will get my hands dirty and get it done as soon as lockdown is over.

 

[PDBoosted]

Great car, congrats and well done with the paint, what color is that?

Thanks bud, its a very rewarding project to take on!

The paint is a product made by Spray-on. Cast iron metallic is the product.

Congrats bud and good job on the wheels....looks damn awesome! that colour is wicked!

I need to do my OFHG as well...judging by the looks of it...seems a DIY is possible and quick, will get my hands dirty and get it done as soon as lockdown is over.

Thanks man!

Its not a very hard job to do. Just messy. But definitely DIY and the parts aren't expensive. Give it a shot!

 

[PDBoosted]

Next on my list of mods was to replace the rear lights with my old set that I wrapped with Lamin-X to look like the face-lifted black lines:

 

[PDBoosted]

The side mirrors were also matt black which I am not a big fan of so I decided to try and wrap them in some gloss CF wrap. Quite happy with how they turned out!

 

[Kaaba1]

Good job...keep up the good work! Good