[KOWTOWN]

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Been trolling the forums for about a month now since I bought my 335i. Finally was able to run off and take pics that were more than just cell phone pics. Since I did that, I feel like I can finally start my own build thread and take you through what I've down over the last few weeks.


Here it is the day I bought the car, Sept 9th still at the Dealer


There was some things that needed to be address immediately IMO.

The first thing being the amber side markers. So pretty much the day I bought the car I hopped online and picked some up off ebay


Also, the chrome just had to go


There was some minor cosmetic damage on the car before I got it. It looks like the previous over just decided to drive up over a parking curb. It damaged the front grill and sort of ripped the lower bumper backwards.

I started off by fixing the front lower grill. Here is the busted one


Here you can see the other damage to the bumper, how it's all pulled down.



I went ahead and lifted the car up and went to work. I had also bought a new front lip to hide the left over after cleaning everything up. Here is the new lip and the replacement grill


Much better looking


Was finally time for an actual "performance" mod


Out with the old



In with the new


Ok, another cosmetic mod came in too...



Now that we are all caught up to present day....

Here are pics with the real camera I took today during my lunch break, which meant taking them in the absolute worst time of the day to take pictures, but the car was clean so... Off we went

[ProperBimmer]

All good except those stripped grills....remove immediately.

[wdeerfield]

car is coming along nicely! i never understood the appeal of those grill strips but if you like them then keep them on.

[Mike.]

chrome is better than the stripes IMO

[KOWTOWN]

I go back and forth on them TBH. I like that it breaks up the front with some color, but I don't like the chrome at all. I'll probably eventually get a black pair as well so I can go back and forth swapping them out is easy

[Zanity]

Originally Posted by ProperBimmer

All good except those stripped grills....remove immediately.

I agree that the M stripe grill needs to go, its borderline rice IMO, other wise car looks great.

[ProperBimmer]

Originally Posted by KOWTOWN

I go back and forth on them TBH. I like that it breaks up the front with some color, but I don't like the chrome at all. I'll probably eventually get a black pair as well so I can go back and forth swapping them out is easy

Gloss black for the classy but sinister looking win

[mike@x-ph.com]

Sub'd

[F30_SixSpeed]

Nice build! Following along.

[Bimmer Baller]

Nice spoiler on the back I like the clean straight lines where it attaches to the trunk. Where did you get it?

[KOWTOWN]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Baller

Nice spoiler on the back I like the clean straight lines where it attaches to the trunk. Where did you get it?

I took a jump and bought it off Amazon
Here

The quality is pretty good and it came in just under 2 weeks.

I need to go take some more pictures somewhere

[KOWTOWN]

Got some ACS Springs for Christmas and decided to throw them on. Little did I know, I was in for a nightmare and only one of them was my fault

The front(while frustrating while I searched for something for the pinch clamp) went together ok, but just took awhile.

I was stoked to move on to the back of the car because I knew it was going to be a cake walk.

Then, I learned that the previous owned used an impact wrench to put the rear tires on. I couldn't get the damn things off, even with my own impact wrench. I eventually busted out a 6 foot inch long breaker bar and was able to get 4 of the 5 off, but the previous owned rounded off part of that bolt so whenever I started to get enough leverage on it, it would fall off the head. I bought a bolt extractor off Amazon and finally got the damn thing off.

The rest of the back went through great and quick.

Then in the morning I drove the car and... I heard a thump coming from the front of the car. I lift it back up, basically re-do the front and then while torquing the pinch bolt to 60 lbs the damn thing snapped on me... So... It waits another day until I can go to BMW and get a new bolt. Throw that one in there and...? There's still a thump.

That's when I remembered that when I did the end links both wheels weren't up in the air I did one corner at a time. Quickly lift the car up, undo both end links. Then re-do them and the thump goes away.

Anyways, here is it shortly after the springs. I am sure it'll settle a little bit lower than it is in these pics.

















I have also ordered an all black grill that is on the way to get rid of the stripes.

[.BMW.]

Looks great with lowering springs!

[cfm56d7b]

Super classy car! 400M wheels look great. Thanks for sharing pictures.

The choice to use an impact wrench instead of a proper torque wrench to save a few seconds ranks in the top 10 disappointing things someone else can do to your vehicle, whether a previous owner or a less than professional shop.

Any plans to get new exhaust tips?

[KOWTOWN]

Originally Posted by .BMW.

Looks great with lowering springs!

Appreciate it! The inch or so really makes a difference and it should settle a little lower in the next week or so. I do think wheels spacers would really set it off(but they're pretty terrible on wheel bearings)

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Super classy car! 400M wheels look great. Thanks for sharing pictures.

The choice to use an impact wrench instead of a proper torque wrench to save a few seconds ranks in the top 10 disappointing things someone else can do to your vehicle, whether a previous owner or a less than professional shop.

Any plans to get new exhaust tips?

Thank you

Completely agree on it being top 10, next is using tools to put on oil filters making them absolutely impossible to get off. All you need is hand tight, I've never had one leak and I've never needed a tool to get them off. What makes the impact wrench so annoying when putting on wheels is that taking them off become an event. When I had my suspension clunk it took me seconds to pull off each wheel because just a little body weight was enough to loosen them. Instead of getting pry bars and using all my weight

I plan on doing a full turbo back so that'll indirectly fix the tips. The previous owner did a pretty awful job at cleaning them and I was able to get off most the carbon build up off of them, but I agree they still are less than desirable appearance.

[whoismorggan]

Originally Posted by ProperBimmer

All good except those stripped grills....remove immediately.

+2

[KOWTOWN]

Originally Posted by fthurty

+2

I actually just swapped them out yesterday



I apparently was running while I took that second pic, lol.

[whoismorggan]

Originally Posted by KOWTOWN

I actually just swapped them out yesterday

[IMG]https://p9.secure.hostingprod.com/@t...901/Grill1.jpg[/IMG]

I apparently was running while I took that second pic, lol.

MUCH better

[KOWTOWN]

Originally Posted by fthurty

MUCH better

I do appreciate how easy they are to swap out. Now that I still have all 3 grills, if I ever felt the need, I could just swap them out depending on my mood that day LOL

[KOWTOWN]

Just as an FYI, I decided to create an instagram to post details on the build and what not outside of this. If anyone is interested, feel free to follow and I'll follow back, looking to add more board members . I'll probably post more day to day pics on there then the more official pics that I'll post on here(to which now that it's stopped raining, I may be able to actually go do)

Instagram Link

[KOWTOWN]

Bought a new pancake lens, so that is a perfect excuse to go out and take some pics

[KOWTOWN]

Sometimes you don't even have to leave your garage to take a pic