[chet82]

I agree with you , I have the same grills too (Same seller) . They look good Well done Car looks Great .

Cheers

[terminator335i]

Originally Posted by chet82

I agree with you , I have the same grills too (Same seller) . They look good Well done Car looks Great .

Cheers

Yeah, took me some time to find the exact grill I wanted. Let's see how long I keep them before changing to something new...

[terminator335i]

Here's another DIY thread for those interested in changing their Kidney Grills...

Kidney grill DIY

[IXVXI]

Good looking grills; I had my eye on these at one stage. But ended up with the OEM M performance.

Are the Double slatted grills metal?

[terminator335i]

Originally Posted by IXVXI

Good looking grills; I had my eye on these at one stage. But ended up with the OEM M performance.

Are the Double slatted grills metal?

Nah no metal, pure plastic. My OEM MSport ones were also plastic. They weighed exactly the same. Light as a feather.

[terminator335i]

Mod 9: Chargepipe upgrade (Evolution Racewerkes)

As many have already known, the stock Chargepipe on the F30 is made of plastic. If you are running a tune, it was noted that some and only some people have had this factory component fail, via cracking or popping off the connection with the Throttle body, with the higher boost. This is considered to be a "Safety Supporting Mod" in the case that this ever comes up. It is not a performance Mod and it won't give you any more power or sound. As I slowly get closer towards FBO status, this was on the list.

Ordered the parts online and got to work over the weekend.
Job took approx. 1.5 hours to complete. The installation manual that came with it was not very helpful, but I had a very good friend to help me do the work. Note to all who do this: You need to have the car on a lift or Jack ramps to remove the connection with the intercooler.
A brief overview of a DIY:

1. Put front of car on Ramps.
2. Remove Factory Airbox and engine cover
3 Disconnect the TMAP sensor
4. Remove the undertray plastic holder underneath the front of the car to get access to the intercooler
5. Pry open the C-clips that connect the Chargepipe to the Intercooler (under the car) and the Throttle body (engine bay). The lower connection is very tricky and can get frustrating but took a bit of effort. Once both connections are out, remove the OEM chargepipe.
6. Unscrew the connection to the TMAP sensor on the OEM chargepipe, and screw it onto the new charge pipe.
7. Place the new ER two piece charge pipe, one connecting to the Throttle body, the other to the intercooler. Connect these two pieces together with the supplied O-ring clamps and the plastic joining connector. Use the factory C-clamps to clamp the new chargepipe to the throttle body and intercooler.
8. Re-connect the T-Map sensor into the connection.
9. Re-connect the airbox
10 Bolt the undertray back onto the car.

[x328x]

Coming along nicely. This supposedly increases throttle tesponse and i think reduces turbo lag. U notice anything

[terminator335i]

Originally Posted by x328x

Coming along nicely. This supposedly increases throttle tesponse and i think reduces turbo lag. U notice anything

Nah...just a piece of pipe.
No increase in performance.
But I feel safer when going Full WOT!!!!

[chet82]

Soon front of my car is going to just look like that :P , except the DRL lights. I am going to put m-sport kit on as soon as i return from overseas.

[terminator335i]

Originally Posted by chet82

Soon front of my car is going to just look like that :P , except the DRL lights. I am going to put m-sport kit on as soon as i return from overseas.

Make sure you post up some shots for others to see...

[terminator335i]

Mod number 10: LCI AC trim with illuminated Ambient lighting

An interior upgrade mod. A few of the Aussie guys has already done this mod and really like it.
Ordered the piece some time ago, but never got around to installing it, so finally did it today.

Happen to stumble upon this Mod in the DIY section written by a very wise forum member named Dante!!!

Here's the link to his thread with all the details of it:
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1165755

The youtube clip to remove the trim was quite handy, but it took me some time to try and figure out how to remove the OEM middle console panel (with all the buttons) from the OEM trim. I ended up using a credit card and various plastic membership cards from my wallet to pry open the clips. Once it came off, I inserted it into the new AC LCI trim, clipped it on and re-installed it. Dante goes through the connection of the Y-cable very well, and has also written up details of how to build one if you are keen. The AC LCI trim piece can be ordered through your local dealership. See the linked thread above for further details on the retrofit.

Word of advice: anyone who is gonna do this Mod, you gotta be patient, especially when unclipping the plugs, because they are a BITCH to remove!!! (some of them have tabs that hold it in, so don't just yank on it). Not a hard Mod, but can be frustrating.
Anyways, took some photos of the process with my rheumatoid arthritis shaky hands using the phone camera, so quality isn't great....

[terminator335i]

Mod 11. ECU Bench flash tune

So its been some time now since my last update, so thought I might let everyone know how the car is running. When I first purchased the car, ECU flash tuning was not yet available for the F-series platform, hence I went with the Piggy back system, but once released, like many others it was a must.
Please note that I have had my car flashed tuned for some time now and wanted to give it a length of time before I expressed my thoughts on it so others can see how well and safe it performs and here are the results:

Pre flash tune (With Bolt on parts - Full exhaust, Intake)
Made 197RWKW
Made 370NM WTQ
I think no doubt that it is crucial to always do a dyno before flash tuning to get a realistic baseline. No point in doing a straight dyno after you've tuned it cos you won't know your actual gains.

After flash tuning
Made 250RWKW or 335whp
Made 520NM WTQ or 383W ftlb

That's a substantial +50kw and over 150Nm of extra Torque to the wheels.
Note that this is only with Intake, Exhaust (Full turbo-back) and tune alone running on 98fuel.

A stock F30 335i makes 225KW (300hp) and 400NM (300ftlb) to the motor advertised by BMW
and to the wheels make 185KW (247hp) and 350NM (260 ftlb) on the same dyno performed on another car.

According to the tuner:
This is at a pretty safe tune of 15psi on the Stock Borg Warner turbo.
Stock cars run around 8 - 9psi of boost.

The stock turbo is maxed out at 18psi. We can tune it to run at 18psi to see higher gains, but you are maxing out the turbo and sacrifice the longevity.

Also I am running only straight 98 RON (No meth, no E85 mix), higher gains will be seen, but this is my daily and I cannot be bothered mixing fuel everytime I refill.

While most people look at power gains, to me this is not the critical goal, it is actually the Torque gains and I am extremely happy with it.

The car is now virtually on par with a Stock F80 M3 (in terms of Power and torque figures ofcourse).

It is very smooth, and has been running without any issues on the car for some time now. The previous CEL I got from my downpipe upgrade is no longer seen (as the High flow cats is incorporated into the tune).

[x328x]

Impressive stuff. Tell us more about the flash process. How they do it and how do they tune it. Also do these guys do flash tune for n20 328's.

[Pyro335]

Good results Term! Will be looking to do something like this with mine once it is out of warranty. Im not a massive modder (more cosmetic items) - so aiming for 250rwkw is pretty decent to me!

[Freestylerfalcon]

where did you get it tuned mate??

[terminator335i]

Originally Posted by x328x

Impressive stuff. Tell us more about the flash process. How they do it and how do they tune it. Also do these guys do flash tune for n20 328's.

n55 E-series (ie LCI e90s, e80s etc) can be flashed tuned via OBD without removing the DME.

All F-Series cars has a completely different DME to the E-series cars. I believe it is a Bosch system, where it cannot be cracked yet to enable "DIRECT" FLASHING via OBD alone. So for you to tune it, The DME must be first removed from the engine manifold and then 'unlocked' (this process is called "Bench Flashed" ). You can also remove a certain "hidden disclaimer" feature on the DME which allows the dealers not to detect the car has been flashed tuned every time you service it because they will plug it into their scanner via OBD port. Once the DME is refitted in, it can be directly Flashed tuned via OBD port. You only need to Bench Flash it one time to unlock it. Any future tuning can be done via OBD alone. This means that you can load a different tune/ updated tune or flash back to stock and reflash again endlessly. The unique feature about this is that if you take your car in for service at the dealership, they sometimes do a software update. This can potentially (may or may not) remove your tuning software. But once serviced, you can upload the tune again into your car via OBD alone (bench flash not needed). My tuner gave me 5years of free tuning again if my car had to be flashed back to stock or if tuned removed by software update or any dramas experienced with the tune itself. That my friend is where you pay good money to ensure that you get the most out of it and how well they stand by their tunes and their business.

There are two workshops that I know of in Melbourne that can do this.
A. Southern BM.
They remove the DME and bench flash it. They use ESS tuning software - I think that is American based company.

B. Evolve technik.
They remove the DME and bench flash it. They use PP Performance tuning - German tuning company.

The other workshops who "Claim" to do flash tuning, are only a third party, who remove it and send it off to get the DME bench flashed and unlocked, then re-install it back into your car. If you go with other workshops, you need to ask them this.

Best to go straight to the source yourself.


Please be aware that it isn't as cheap as flash tuning in the E-series.
It's a hefty price but I would highly recommend doing it properly.
If you don't wanna drop some coin, then I say keep it stock.
The F30s are a beautiful smooth car in stock form.
I'm pretty sure these guys also tune the N20 as well not just the n55 but best to call them.
I'm not the only one that have had my car flashed tuned, there are countless others that aren't on the forum that have had it already and I know a few of them, and not a single one has had an issue with the tune. It would however be worthwhile to upgrade the charge pipe though (as a safety precaution).


My 2c

[terminator335i]

Originally Posted by Pyro335

Good results Term! Will be looking to do something like this with mine once it is out of warranty. Im not a massive modder (more cosmetic items) - so aiming for 250rwkw is pretty decent to me!

Mine is still under warranty mate when I started tuning it (and still is!) but I guess that's the Modders life

[terminator335i]

Originally Posted by terminator335i

Mine is still under warranty mate when I started tuning it (and still is!) but I guess that's the Modders life

Modders life be like

[terminator335i]

Originally Posted by Freestylerfalcon

where did you get it tuned mate??

Evolve technik (see dyno graph)
(They are in box hill north)

[IXVXI]

Wow thats some serious power. Congrats!

[Mountain_Commando]

Originally Posted by terminator335i

Ok, so I’ve had the car for more than a year now...

Looking good termy.

My mods are quite similar to yours. I'm on the exact same page as you on the Racechip, with regards to bang for the buck and ease of installation. I was able to crank up the settings on mine all the way to F2 (from stock B1) and it became a totally different car.

Did you experience any issues in getting the downpipe to play well with the Racechip? In my case, once I installed the BMS Intake and a catless downpipe, the car is VERY jerky with the Racechip engaged. The only solution has been to lower the settings all the way back down to B1, and even then the car drives jerky whilst cold.

I talked to RC and they said that a true solution would have to be an ECU tune. The upside of RC, i.e. ease of installation due to only 2 sensors, can be a downside when you start adding bolt on's.

[terminator335i]

Originally Posted by IXVXI

Wow thats some serious power. Congrats!

Haha... nah man my car's got nothing....u want serious power? Check out the new Tesla Roadster.....