[djacinto]

Hey y'all!

Wanted to create this thread to keep track of the mods/maintenance/things I've done to my car since I've owned it.

I've owned my beautiful Imperial Blue f32 since October 2017 with 25k miles and have just crossed 50k in the past year. Since then, I've done many things to the car, mostly in 2021 after my 50k mile maintenance was done.

Here is what I have done maintenance wise:
-sparks and plugs
-NGK 97506 gapped to .030
-Bosch Coils
-fluids
-transmission
-front and rear diffs
-brake fluid
-brakes
-akebono pads
-ECS ss lines
-All front control arms

And a few doodads here and there but those are the big ticket items


And the fun part! mods!

I started off with the Dinantronics sports tuner which was really fun and punchy, but after seeing everyone doing bm3 I really wanted to pursue that... but more on that later

I then got an Active autowerks axleback exhaust which sounds amazing and you can even hear a little burbling, for the price i got it, it was a steal!

Next, I got 624m wheels from someone down in Houston, swapped conti dws 06 non plus tires on in a 255/35/20 square set up. Minor rubbing up front but major cool factor and grip

I then wanted to pursue the performance route again, and I came across a great listing for n26 parts from someone in Cali (thanks Jason). I bought from him a full bolt on kit, the chargepipe, turbo to intercooler, intercooler and high flow down pipe from Evolution raceworks!

Once those were installed, I then waited for a listing for bm3 and just last week, Nick came to the rescue! We transferred license and I flashed straight to stage 2 with the transmission tune to boot. Man does she fly!

I did my first log today (2.27), and would love for someone to take a look at it, but I realized it's extremely long, at 21 seconds, and I'm trying to figure out how to cut down to the 4 seconds I did my pull at. Would love some feedback.

Here is the log in the mean time while I figure it out!
*quick edit: I'm not sure what happened to the log. looking at engine speed, it doesn't look like it picked up the pull so I will need to do another one.*

Thanks for reading so far and I'll be back with pictures soon

Current Mod list:

Cosmetic
-Black dual slat kidney Grills
-Full LED bulb conversion
- LCI Taillights
-624m Wheels
-Continental Extreme Contact DSW 06 255/35/20
-aluminum Car Pedals
- M Sport Steering wheel and door sills
-Gates Innovation G series Key Fob
- Burger motorsport 10f/15r Spacers

Performance:
-Evolution Racewerks
-Intercooler
-charge pipe
-n26 catted downpipe
-Turbo to intercooler pipe
-ftp inlet pipe
-GFB Diverter Valve
-bootmod3 stage 2 with Trans tune
-Wiechers Sport front strut tower brace
-Koni special active w/ Eibach pro kit

Other:
-Avinusa Navigation system
-M Sport seats


Mods to come...
-M Performance brake kit
-M Sport bumper kit

[djacinto]

Current pics

[djacinto]

Reserved

[khoa@x-ph.com]

Nice car build!! Please post some pics.

[djacinto]

Finally installed my gfb diverter valve purchased from a forum member. Man was it a tough job!

Really did not enjoy it but hopefully will enjoy the feeling it provides.

Wrote about this on the "what did you do today" thread but in short, I broke my inlet pipe so a new ftp one is ordered along with a clip for my waste gate actuator arm because it was missing!

weather has been beautiful up until the severe thunderstorm and hail today so hopefully once I get back from my trip I'll install the new parts and comment my thoughts!

[cfm56d7b]

Sharp! Thanks for sharing.

[wyatt.w87]

What a great build! Looking forward to more updates. Thanks for sharing!

[huntersss]

Awesome build man keep us posted!!!

[djacinto]

A few weeks ago now, but went on a fun vacation with the girlfriend. Swapped my wheels for my stock run flats for peace of mind.

She got a little sandy but nothing a little bath couldn't fix.

The power bm3 opens up on these 4 cylinders is great. I absolutely love how it moves now and I'm still getting the same mpg's.

Still wanting (need at this point) to do suspension work with new coilovers cause it would fit with what I have in mind this car should be. I've been talking about it on these forums for a couple years now and I think it will happen later this year.

[djacinto]

Hello everyone,

Happy new year! Hope all is well with your beamers and you're getting plenty of smiles per gallon

Since our last update quite some time ago, much has happened.

In october, we suffered a break in. A burglar broke my driver rear window and broke my glovebox. Replaced those myself after insurance quoted me 1 dollar above my comprehensive deductible. What luck...

After that, in December I took out some of the avinusa head unit peripherals including the oem style dashcam that replaced the rear view mirror's plastic trim piece along with the back up camera. Unfortunately... the rear cam doesn't work too well now and I'm not sure how to fix it. I am thinking of trying to order a new camera and just see if that works. If not, who tf knows?

Also, I finally got some m sport seats! They were from a wrecked '17 4 series and they were a bit rough around the edges but I got some touch up paint and did the proper wiring, and now they run like a dream. One of my top upgrades for sure-highly recommend it if you have base seats. If I see any sonoma beige m4 seats come up though I might have to cop XD

Lastly, on January 7th for the new year, I ordered some new suspension parts from FCPEuro. I ordered the koni special active kit with eibach pro kit and along side that ,ordered new mounting hardware and m4 bumpstops after reading Farkle's thread about the differences.

Super excited for that to come in. suspension doesn't look too hot as my rear bump stops are completely gone and the dampers are a touch soft. I am about 1k short of 60k miles so I'm surprised the suspension isn't holding up better but that extra xdrive weight takes its' toll.

I also came across a pretty good deal on an m performance brake kit. I was very tempted to order as well but decided to do one job at a time. Hopefully that comes soon too!

I will upload pics once everything gets here!

[djacinto]

Install of the Koni Special Active struts and Eibach pro kit has been installed. Alignment was just finished and the car is looking and feeling great!

Install went fairly smooth, took some time with a buddy and knocked it out in about 5 hours, though to be fair it was a lot of learning and figuring things out on the first corner.

Regardless, the car handles and feels like a dream! Bumps are smoothed out and feeling in the road is increased slightly for more feedback. Also, any sort of road imperfections are translated more linearly rather than sudden and jittery on the stock setup. I'm looking forward to taking the car around the local back roads to see the true difference!

Still not a fan of how the camber adjustments are now, though I know it's not easy to change without swapping parts out. I'm looking into options to pursue later on

Edit 2.3.2023: I took the car back to the shop as I noticed the steering angle was off center. In order to go straight, the wheel had to be slightly angled left about 2-3 degrees. After they re-did the alignment, specs are much more in line with expectations with camber being -.5 and -.7 on driver and passenger side. Additionally, toe is much lower at a total of .2 versus .3.

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[djacinto]

Hello friends,

Happy sunday, I hope all of your projects are going well.

Today I was doing some basic maintenance. Swapped out the license plate cover with a liqui moly one I got from Super lap battle, looking super sweet!

Added some air in my tires due to the fluctuation in the weather. Hopefully I can get around to getting some new tires this year. Even though I don't drive often, the continentals I have on have a manufactured date back in 2016. They're just barely starting to develop dry rot and I think it's just their time. Regardless, they've been an awesome set and definitely will be getting the new generation soon.

Checked around the engine bay and noticed my ground strap (part no. 12427621168) is looking a bit corroded. I think it's time to replace, so I'll look around to see where I can get a decent price on it

Other than that, the only thing that is of concern is the middle exhaust hanger right past the down pipe. It seems to be slipping off as when I adjusted the exhaust to move over, about a month later I noticed it had moved off the hanger a touch again. Not really sure what to do since I don't know what causes it other than extra vibration in the exhaust after the ER down pipe and AA axleback. Whatever the case may be, it's only a bit of rattle so it's more of an annoyance than actual issue.

Still watching my timing chain's slack as well. Things still seem to be good and with 60k miles now on the clock, the time is ticking till those chains decide to say goodbye.

Thank y'all for sticking around and until the next post!

[djacinto]

Finally was able to get around to the steering rack thrust bushing replacement.

Bought my kit from FCP euro for 38 bucks, apparently its 60 now lol. Part no. is 32106891974

Initial drive feels too tight as steering wheel doesn't center without me pushing it back, so need to back the threads a bit. Talked more about it in my question thread here, so hopefully an answer will come. Will edit this post once a solution is found