[Alex.Devol]

So im finally getting round to introducing my car to the forum!
I spent months earlier this year trying to sell my old Audi s5 and searching daily for a 335d or 330d in the right spec/milage but just couldn't find one. I since learned about the similarities between the 325/330 N57 engines and so in May when a 325d LCI e92 came along in perfect spec & milage at a surprisingly low price i settled and bought it. My thoughts were that i could put the money i saved on the engine into modding the car, which i began doing immediately. This is a picture of it just before collection:



I have listed below all the cars present / future mods and realise it's turned into a fairly large project.. i've been a bit apprehensive about posting details here because i expect a lot of people will be of the opinion that this money is wasted on the smaller power plant and would have been better spent holding out for a 335d.. certainly when the later stages are complete and the car starts to take a partially m3-like shape im sure there will be an inevitable chorus of 'why didn't you just by an M3? But the more time i spend on this forum the more invaluable it has become & so now i'm just eager to post details on my project.

So.. Stage 1 has been underway the past few weeks and will be all finished on tuesday! 11/8/12

Stage 1:
Performance
BMW performance BBK (fronts)
swap stock 313's to 19" vmr v710
remove stock bridgestone RFT's, burn them, replace with Goodyear eagle F1 tyres
custom straight through exhaust.

Cosmetic
M3 Style wing mirrors
Prior Design side skirts
Prior Design rear bumper
3m carbon roof wrap
carbon kidney grilles
wrap piano black centre console with 3m carbon
window tints

Then the car is booked in at Birds garage and DMS the following week, Stage 2 will be finished 21/8/12

Stage 2:
Performance
Quaife Limited slip differential
Birds b3.5 / Eibach suspension
Birds b3.5 sway bars
m3 bushings
DMS remap from 204hp to 300hp+/-
(I had initially planned to upgrade fuel injectors but engine doesn't require it, LCI 325d & 330d engines are exactly the same except for software)

I'm aiming to have the rest finished by the end of the month..

Stage 3:
Performance
full sound system upgrade, amp tweeters speakers subs etc.

Cosmetic
Duke Dynamics vented hood
Prior Design Wide front wings
LTBMW 1M front bumper
CSL boot lid



I realise now i could have bought an M3 with change left over for the money i've spent on this car.. fortunately though i haven't for a moment regretted buying the 325d, i have quickly grown to love it in the short time i have owned it and it suits my needs much better than one of its more powerful cousins. The main things for me to consider when choosing this car were:

1) i have a long daily motorway commute and had really started to resent the money being spent on petrol in exchange for the unfulfilling daily drive.
2) i still think i actually prefer the drive of a decent turbo charged car over N/A
3) i missed bmw handling
4) for me the e92m3 is the best looking road car of the last 10 years so if i wasn't going to buy one i wanted something which i enjoyed staring at on the drive just as much!
5) i dont have much room on my license for more points so i drive quite carefully these days, the last thing i need is the temptation that comes when being sat in an M3!

Things are starting to take shape and this is partly thanks to everyone who has posted answers and solutions to my threads the last couple of months and the wealth of information that was already on this forum when i first joined, so thank you very much to all of you!
If anyone has any interest in any of the above i'll hopefully be able to give some opinions on them once the mods are complete, i'll definitely plan to write up on the Quaife LSD because i have a feeling its really going to transform things, and ill post some photos of things as they progress.

Cheers everyone
Alex

[Bobbybmw22]

Post pics when u get the carbon fiber roof wrap

[Slow_335i]

Can't wait to see the end product!

love that color!

[ELD70]

Nice looking car, is it a manual or auto?

[AWBimmer]

[phil200tdi]

I think it looks stunning in the picture as standard.

Slightly nervous of the outcome!! Hope you know what you are doing!

[Alex.Devol]

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

I think it looks stunning in the picture as standard.

Slightly nervous of the outcome!! Hope you know what you are doing!

Me2 if I'm totally honest! Fingers crossed what I have in my head looks as good as I hope it will in the paint.

ELD; it's auto.

Bobby; ill post pics and supplier when it's done mate.

[E92Dan]

Wow sounds like its going to be one hell of a car when finished. Im at birds the day before you,I cant afford all the B3 stuff though, so just lci suspension off a delivery mileage m sport. If it was me I would burn the run flats while they are still on the car mmm dougnuts. Have fun and post lots of pics

[cage911]

Subscribed!

[ELD70]

With the auto I thought about 250bhp was a safe limit as it's (gearbox) not as strong as the 330d? Manuals are stronger and can take 300bhp. Not sure if I am right saying this as all new to me!

[Alex.Devol]

Originally Posted by ELD70

With the auto I thought about 250bhp was a safe limit as it's (gearbox) not as strong as the 330d? Manuals are stronger and can take 300bhp. Not sure if I am right saying this as all new to me!

It was a concern of mine too but apparently they have the exact same drivetrain. This is not the case with Pre LCI 2011 cars though. Lots of contradicting information on here about it, presumably because of confusion between chassis type and age when people post on threads, but DMS have confirmed for me they are the same. I think ecotune also.

[jquan1]

Originally Posted by Alex.Devol

It was a concern of mine too but apparently they have the exact same drivetrain. This is not the case with Pre LCI 2011 cars though. Lots of contradicting information on here about it, presumably because of confusion between chassis type and age when people post on threads, but DMS have confirmed for me they are the same. I think ecotune also.

I thought the exact opposite.

The 335D is only available in Auto as the torque would reach the limits of the manual gearbox. You can get a manual 335d in the USA, but its de-tuned to reduce the torque.

So the auto box should be stronger, saying that, I have a remapped 330D manual, and have not had a gearbox problem, yet.

As you say, perhaps thats pre-lci only - but then why can't you get an lci 335D manual?

[P 5UML]

300+ BHP performance wise!!!!! F ME!!!!

defo let me know how that ends up for you mate as i would be interested in that too!!!!

i havent seen an E92 in that colour before! looks the nuts!

[AdamC]

Love that colour! Don't think I have ever seen one on the road.
Plans sound awesome, looking forward to the updates.

[dobbo99]

awesome colour! not seen a BMW in that shade. looks the bowlacks.

[Alex.Devol]

Stage 1 Complete(sort of)

Just taken the car out of the bodyshop to hand it over to Birds tomorrow, bit premature really as work still had to be done, things will pick up where they left off a week monday. Making progress though!
here's whats gone on so far:


Prior design side skirts fitted. - these need another few coats of lacquer so are showing lighter than the bodywork at the moment, i have had to take the car out of the bodyshop to give it to birds garage for the suspension & LSD so it will go back the following week for the extra clear coats.

Prior PDM real bumper. - i really wasn't sure about going with an m3 style bumper, there's a lot of nice diffusers out there and I was worried about how this would look on a narrower non-M. I had started regretting buying it up until the point i saw it fitted, even before the paint went on it had taken a great shape. The materials prior use are far better quality and give a much closer fit than any of the fibreglass parts i've bought in the past. They seem to get a bad rep in forums but i can't fault the service, value or quality, I've also had to phone their HO in Germany a few times to find out dimensions & wotnot and the staff there were very helpful and spoke great English.

BMW performance BBK (fronts) fitted. - a noticeable improvement over the stock brakes, surprisingly smooth braking too - i was expecting them to be quite sharp and sensitive but they actually brake very gently and gradually as the pedal is compressed, if you slam your foot down though the car stops much shorter than it did. I got them recoded at BMW, not sure how much of a difference that will have made. Bang for buck though i would recommend them, they stop well enough for any road use, look as good as any other BBK and came in at about £800 before fitment which is a lot less than any other branded Kit.

Carbon Grilles. - Love them, from a distance they just look gloss black but on closer look the 2:2 shows up and IMO looks much nicer than the chrome plastic grilles that came on the car.

Custom Exhaust. - First impressions are that i like it, don't know if its a placebo or if it has actually added some horses, it definitely revs better than it did and the sound is an improvement, not a drastic change though. i haven't had much chance to drive the car since i picked it up & it's going to birds tomorrow so I will get back to you on this, i want to properly drive it before passing proper judgement.

Roof wrap. - felt a bit chavvy about it when i first saw it, but after the initial stigma wore off i like it, it ties in the black trim and once the other parts go on will do this even more so. its 2:2 rather than M3's 1:1 and i'm glad i went that way as i think mixing carbon looks a bit messy. It's not been lacquered yet though as it needs a couple of days to settle before coating it, once the lacquer goes on and its glossy i think it will look much better as it will appear a lot darker and become more seamless with the rear tints, shadowline etc.

The 313's are still on the car.. i bought some black VMR v710s which i plan to fit, i thought the more black that went on the car the more out of place the machined grey alloys would look but actually i still like them & am starting to procrastinate a bit over whether to take them off.

Mirrors didn't go on yet either, i'll do them next week. Lot's to do.. i'll keep updating as things progress.


here's some quick phone pictures:

[BoondogUK]

looking sweet... subscribed!

[AWBimmer]

Dude - those Side Skirts looks awesome.... Where did you get them from?!?!?

[yeti racing]

Originally Posted by P 5UML

300+ BHP performance wise!!!!! F ME!!!!

defo let me know how that ends up for you mate as i would be interested in that too!!!!

i havent seen an E92 in that colour before! looks the nuts!

Ditto re the power!

Love the mods/skirts etc

[WilliamS]

Thats an agressive looking Diesel. nice work so far.

[parapaul]

That looks sensational! The old "you get what you pay for" is certainly true in this case

[ctch22]

absolutely gorgeous mate, *love* the colour