wasnt m3

It's official, the E30 Picnic this year will be held on Saturday, June 5th 10-3 at Village Park in Pewaukee. Excited to be taking this over this year and even more excited to see an actual event take place!

Thanks Glen for the flier!

It's official, the E30 Picnic this year will be held on Saturday, June 5th 10-3 at Village Park in Pewaukee. Excited to be taking this over this year and even more excited to see an actual event take place!

Thanks Glen for the flier!

You're a big boy. Go get one.

You're a big boy. Go get one.

Yup same fitment as style 5's. I think they look WAY better without centercaps (same with 16" style 5's unless you get those RS style waffles/hex nuts). I got my set for cheap at a junkyard and am planning to use them for track/auto-x wheels eventually

So after 2.5 years with an S4 pissing me off constantly due to half-baked features, I am back in a BMW. Picked up a 2021 X5 40i fully loaded with the exception of no traffic jam assist package because we have no real daily rush hour commute to deal with. The car had to be ordered to spec because people usually make poor decisions when they order these things, so nationwide dealer search showed literally nothing that matched exactly what I wanted. Crazy fast turnaround time since X5s are being built in North Carolina now and not shipping over on a boat, so it took about 3 weeks from the time of order until pickup at Umansky. 
Initially I went to IA since they were close, just to test drive and figured deals would be competitive regardless of what dealer I talked to because we're talking about a new car which levels the playing field quite a bit compared to the used market. This was just as big of a mistake as any one of you reading this would expect. Total horseshit. The sales guy we talked to was 3 months into the job, younger guy, unfortunately did not know about the bad reputation that IA has. I sent my spec to them, came in to chat, and they basically just offered me the current BMW incentives of $3500 total. So the car was 79k sticker, minus 3500 leaving it at around 75.5 for the raw purchase price. I looked at TrueCar and found most people around me are paying 74k for a similarly spec'd example. I talked to the sales guy and explained several things which I thought were well-reasoned arguments to lower the price. The first being that the going market rate is 74k, not 75.5. Also, they tell me they can't keep X3 or X5 on the lots and most of their sales are order/pickup. I said ok but you have 3 X5s on the lot right now as we speak, plus an X5 50i in the showroom, plus 2 of 2 allocations waiting to go into production this week that are not yet spoken for. That's 6 X5s that you don't have sold. Who is to say that your 2 allocations get built and don't also sit on the lot? You have an opportunity to lock up a sale right now for one of those if you would just be realistic about price. Plus I'm giving the dealership the financing kickback. So the sales kid goes back to the manager and as you would expect, the manager wouldn't budget at all because he's a piece of shit. Refused to even bother to negotiate in good faith.
So I called Umansky and immediately they got me a quote for 73,600 on the same car. I mentioned it to IA just to let the sales guy know that I wasn't wrong or blowing smoke up his ass when I said the car would be had for closer to 74k, and he was asking if he could talk to his manager about this offer from Umansky and try to earn my business. I said no, now you get to the learn why it sucks to be a sales guy with a shitty manager, because I already gave that jagoff a chance to negotiate in good faith and I presented fair reasoning in regards to your volume-based business. There is no more opportunity. I'm just going to buy the car from Umansky because they didn't try to jerk me around. 
So anyways, onto the X5 itself. The G05 generation is an insane jump up from the prior gen, and very much needed for BMW since they were starting to fall behind in the mid-size SUV race. The G05 really steps it up and puts it back on top as the overall best choice. I watched a ton of reviews and cross shopped it a bit and while the XC90 offers more luxury, the performance driving dynamics are not there compared to the X5, and the Mercedes GLE doesn't have the driving dynamics that the X5 has, nor the quality of infotainment. This thing feels really good and offers enough customizability in the transmissions, steering, suspension, and engine that it's fun for me to drive as well as the wife. The tech works way better than my Audi. Gesture controls and voice activation are spot on, the fit and finish and upgraded leather are supple, the massaging seats are way above what I got with the audi, comfort access actually works unlike my S4 which 60% of the time it didn't, the kick-trunk feature actually works here...and the list goes on.
In general a huge reason I went with the X5 is because BMW is still using a lot of obvious tactile response buttons that have satisfying clicks, not everything is behind a touch screen. I have a huge problem with how so many cars these days are trying to behave like a smartphone - I don't want to scroll screens and try to tap shit while I'm driving. BMW is still doing a good job of keeping real buttons in the mix for core functionality inside the cabin. The wireless carplay is really good, doesn't cut out like other cars I have heard of that drop connection. I had to order it with M-sport because obviously I had to order it with M sport... and I am very happy that there isn't any M badging on the exterior of the car. I added the "M" brakes which is separate from the M-sport package, and that's the only place you see any M logo badging on the car. I appreciate it because it's not trying to appear to be something it's not. I did get the 21" wheels which unfortunately come with summer tires only, 275 front, 315 rear, so the last week or so has not been driven at all. But with the air ride option, M sport, extended shadowline and the right wheels, it looks really good with the factory drop on air. 
I do intend to keep this car for a long time so I bought it instead of leased, and I paid $5800 for the extended BMW warranty which is 7 years or 100k miles. I thought that was interesting when you look at the cost of the car, and says a bit about how much they expect to go wrong. If you wait like 2 years into ownership and try to get the warranty, BMW will charge you almost 10k for it, and I did some rough math in my head and if you figure most people driving 10-12k miles a year, at time of purchase the 7 year/100k warranty makes sense to be cheaper, but add 2 years of time and you're still on the 100k mile limit, but now you have 9 years total ownership into the car with warranty coverage instead of 7. They are definitely banking on shit breaking after 7 years or roughly 70-75k miles, and none of it will be cheap to fix.
Overall I'm as happy as I can be I guess for what a modern BMW is these days. I do feel like the X5 is still pretty good in terms of balancing luxury with driving dynamics. Steering is appropro weighted in sport, and the car feels relatively precise even on air suspension. The B58 speaks for itself and the zf8 tuning is as good as it gets in an automatic transmission. Again, much better than my Audi, which thankfully will be leaving the stable in June.





 
Lowered in Sport mode:

 
 
 

The people demand sound clips!

Nice work Dan! I'm actually in the middle of finishing up my basement and bar as well.

Nice work Dan! I'm actually in the middle of finishing up my basement and bar as well.

Nice work Dan! I'm actually in the middle of finishing up my basement and bar as well.

100% same page.
bright side is getting home projects done that i thought were 10+ years down the line
when this shit is over, open bar at my place!  
 
 

Alright I'm going to start thinking out loud here. 
So what I was looking at while working on an airbox is the tight radius elbow that leads into the throttle body on my car. The bimmerworld elbow is used to adapt to the 3.5" MAF but seems to have a tighter radius than stock. 
Bends are bad for airflow, and I currently have a tight radius 90 before the throttle body, then a 90 after the filter. Total of 180° of bends.
The E36 chassis needs this bend due to the strut tower location and them being close together, but the strut towers are further back and apart in an E30, and the throttle body is almost entirely forward of it. Random google pic instead of going to my car.




Step 1: New throttle body. I recently stumbled upon someone who put an M60 throttle body (80mm) on an S52. Turns out many years ago Treehouse racing actually made a kit to do this, but I have never seen this or heard about it, and it looks like not many were ever made. The throttle body uses the same TPS, but everything else is different. I picked up one on ebay for $60 shipped. This is the same engine that my MAF is from.




I will be making an adapter that will allow me to bolt this up to my engine, and I will be opening up the hole in the manifold to capitalize on the swap. I will need to make a bracket for the throttle cable as well. 

Step 2: Remove 90° bend at throttle body. If I move my coolant expansion tank to the passenger side of the car (plenty of space) I can get away with running (1) 45° elbow at the throttle body, and keep the rest straight with maybe a small bend to accommodate the filter. Taking 135° of bends out of my intake tubing should help, especially with eliminating the tight radius bend before the throttle body. 

What I'd like to do is swap this stuff while it's on the dyno and see actual results.
The biggest downside is going to be drivability; currently I barely have to breathe on the throttle pedal to cruise, and this swap will amplify that issue. I will make a different throttle arm if I have enough pedal travel to do so. 

I don't think this swap ever caught on because it is likely very pointless on a relatively stock engine, but we're far from that in this thread! 

Got my gift shipped out this morning. Hope you enjoy novelty.
Finally opened my gift. A sweet poster from BMW CCA:

This race was a little before my time, but thanks to the interwebs we're able to enjoy it anyway. Anything with Steve Evans announcing certainly takes me back. Can't wait until next year to get out to some races to smell race fuel and enjoy the sunshine.
 

Phenomenal! Those shots turned out amazing.

Once in a lifetime photoshoot complete. Best money I ever spent on this car: 
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmRWk4i1
 

This morning I took the car by @wasnt m3 at Late Model Throttle to have it dyno'd and make sure my butt dyno has been calibrated correctly.  As I've been driving more the car definitely has felt faster and the dyno confirmed that for me!  This is also the first time I've heard my car from the outside and I was not disappointed.  My favorite part's were TJ asking "Did you know your car was this loud?" and TJ saying "Thank you for putting a smile on my face.".  That about sums up this car.  It doesn't win any contest on paper but the value is in the noise and the feel of the car.  From about 3k RPM I've got full torque and the horsepower just climbs and climbs.  The crescendo of screams coming from the exhaust and the constant gain in horsepower makes it very exciting while feeling predictable.
I picked up about 30whp and 18wtq from the tune and downpipes.
 

I have been ghosting the forums for quite a while as I've been busy with building a garage and a small attached house to sleep in, so nothing BMW-related to discuss. I hope everyone has been well in this crazy ass year we are in. 
10/9/2020 finally acquired a 2007 Imola Z4MR that I have been seeking for many months now. It has been a rough search since the spec I want is not the most common - Imola over black, titanium or carbon trim, heated seats, no nav. Most of these cars are black, or have nav, and many Imola examples have woodgrain trim or a tan interior. 
I had a WTB post on zpost forums that got buried in the classifieds 5 months ago, but a kind soul tagged me a couple days ago on an example that had just gone up for sale on 10/7 and it was local in Waukesha. I pretty much assumed it was going to be a shitbox because how could I be so lucky to find an example that's decent for sale this locally to me? Turns out it is a really nice example very mechanically sound, interior is very good in all the places that matter - cupholders are fucked but who cares they were clearly an afterthought by BMW in the first place. None of the usual Z4 roadster issues are present like cracking center console or busted seat belt holsters. It desperately needs to be cleaned, and my detailer will have his hands on it soon for paint correction and coating since there are quite a few scuffs and expected chips from an 07 with 80k on the odo. 
The car came modded with aFe intake, Stromung mufflers, BBS CI-R wheels in 19" configuration, and ZHP shift knob.
It's interesting to drive after having owned the E46 M3 because while this car is decidedly an S54 power plant,  it is still somewhat removed because the Z4M has the same manual trans as the standard Z4 3.0, it does not have the same trans from an E46 M3. It doesn't feel the same. It's extremely fun to drive, just different. 
I don't have any big plans for this car so this thread will likely die but I wanted to have it here just in case.



 

The wheels are still on backwards 

Upon further review it has been decided that gray cars emitting yellow smoke make for better donuts than yellow cars emitting gray smoke. 

I've been told that yellow is a very gender neutral color. Just trying to keep it "woke" for you guys.

Haven't been on here much lately. Can I make it up to you guys?
received_636637490203959.mp4

Haven't been on here much lately. Can I make it up to you guys?
received_636637490203959.mp4

I've been told that yellow is a very gender neutral color. Just trying to keep it "woke" for you guys.