Dax
Active member
So when I started this project back in February 2019 I did not realise how much work, money and time this would take.
I am will tell you what I have done, achieved and still need to do but please for my own sanity do not ask what I have spent.
I bought the car from AVI and on face value the car looked OK but wow was I wrong and so the story begins.
I had huge plans for the car, I want a good all-rounder Track days, breakfast runs and a weapon when I want to play.
The car fitted what I wanted as a starting point, Black on Black manual and N54 on top of that it had a set of nice mags and JB4 and DP’s to get me started.
Within the first month the radio stopped working, water pump went south and crank seal + clutch had to be replaced, I fitted an Extreme Race Clutch (karter Performance imported for me) at the same time I did a Short Shifter kit from BMS
The next thing I did was to have a 3.5’’ single pipe made up, I was following and basing the car on Jake Spence (60 ROLL) this would prove to unhide some more problems with the car (Will explain later)
The whole idea with the car was to do some sort of a Turbo upgrade and so I started doing some homework around single turbo or to stick with Twins, I decided to with the MMP K1’s, the reason for this was I want the car to be driveable in most scenarios and living in Cape Town a big part of that is Sunday mornings driving the mountain passes.
Other mods purchased,
MMP PI (6 x 1050cc Injectors)
7.5" Race Intercooler
2'' MMP Inlets
MMP Charge Pipe
Precision Race works Coils
2 x Walbro 450 pumps
Cool Boost Meth Kit
new Index 12 Injectors
When I purchased the parts I was under the impression it was bolt on and plug and play system well that is what MMP told me, it was not and this had a huge impact on build time, the problem was the back turbo was clocked incorrectly from the dealer, Well for a RHD anyway.
After a few months I took the car to Chris at KB Turbos and the pace of the build was accelerated big time, within a week we started the car after Chris making a custom outlet and re-clocking the rear Turbo.
when I fitted the 3.5'' exhaust and removed all the cats the car started smoking, sorry that is when I realized the car smokes, I have read 100's of posts, I have tried every thing and the car still smokes, 2 catch cans (Low and Hi side) blocked ports.
the other major concern was timing drops in cylinder 5, the tuner could not get the car to run at its best because of this, on pump gas (E20 mix) we could only get 440kw and we could not get the car to run correctly at all with E85.
I assume this was caused by too much oil going into the cylinders (Cylinder 5 is the weakest link when you have PCV problems)
new valve cover upgrade PCV Valve trust me I have done everything possible with no joy,
The last resort was to pull the head,
I have purchased new Pistons and Rods, the head has gone in to be ported and reconditioned but due to COVID 19 it is all on hold.
Cosmetically I have done a lot but still need to complete a few more things, the paint was in a terrible condition.
this was the Bonnet after a polish, I had it resprayed.
The Car now and some more parts fitted:
http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/uploads/user/9606/20191201_101903_597239
[img]http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/uploads/user/9606/img-20191125-wa0002_2313682877.jpg
I am will tell you what I have done, achieved and still need to do but please for my own sanity do not ask what I have spent.
I bought the car from AVI and on face value the car looked OK but wow was I wrong and so the story begins.
I had huge plans for the car, I want a good all-rounder Track days, breakfast runs and a weapon when I want to play.
The car fitted what I wanted as a starting point, Black on Black manual and N54 on top of that it had a set of nice mags and JB4 and DP’s to get me started.
Within the first month the radio stopped working, water pump went south and crank seal + clutch had to be replaced, I fitted an Extreme Race Clutch (karter Performance imported for me) at the same time I did a Short Shifter kit from BMS
The next thing I did was to have a 3.5’’ single pipe made up, I was following and basing the car on Jake Spence (60 ROLL) this would prove to unhide some more problems with the car (Will explain later)
The whole idea with the car was to do some sort of a Turbo upgrade and so I started doing some homework around single turbo or to stick with Twins, I decided to with the MMP K1’s, the reason for this was I want the car to be driveable in most scenarios and living in Cape Town a big part of that is Sunday mornings driving the mountain passes.
Other mods purchased,
MMP PI (6 x 1050cc Injectors)
7.5" Race Intercooler
2'' MMP Inlets
MMP Charge Pipe
Precision Race works Coils
2 x Walbro 450 pumps
Cool Boost Meth Kit
new Index 12 Injectors
When I purchased the parts I was under the impression it was bolt on and plug and play system well that is what MMP told me, it was not and this had a huge impact on build time, the problem was the back turbo was clocked incorrectly from the dealer, Well for a RHD anyway.
After a few months I took the car to Chris at KB Turbos and the pace of the build was accelerated big time, within a week we started the car after Chris making a custom outlet and re-clocking the rear Turbo.
when I fitted the 3.5'' exhaust and removed all the cats the car started smoking, sorry that is when I realized the car smokes, I have read 100's of posts, I have tried every thing and the car still smokes, 2 catch cans (Low and Hi side) blocked ports.
the other major concern was timing drops in cylinder 5, the tuner could not get the car to run at its best because of this, on pump gas (E20 mix) we could only get 440kw and we could not get the car to run correctly at all with E85.
I assume this was caused by too much oil going into the cylinders (Cylinder 5 is the weakest link when you have PCV problems)
new valve cover upgrade PCV Valve trust me I have done everything possible with no joy,
The last resort was to pull the head,
I have purchased new Pistons and Rods, the head has gone in to be ported and reconditioned but due to COVID 19 it is all on hold.
Cosmetically I have done a lot but still need to complete a few more things, the paint was in a terrible condition.
this was the Bonnet after a polish, I had it resprayed.
The Car now and some more parts fitted:
http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/uploads/user/9606/20191201_101903_597239
[img]http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/uploads/user/9606/img-20191125-wa0002_2313682877.jpg
