patsbimmer1

Tried my hand at making a splitter and side skirt extensions. First made some cardboard templates that I fitted to the car and spare front bumper.



Once I had it where I thought looked good, I went to a local sign shop in New Berlin and had them cut me some rough sized aluminum composite. Also know as poly-metal. It's two very thin sheets of aluminum with composite plastic sandwich led between them. Super lightweight yet strong and sturdy.
I traced out the templates and cut the pieces out of the poly-metal with an oscillating tool.



I used the stock mounting screw locations to also secure the splitter pieces which worked out well. Sanded them down and gave em a coat of semi gloss black paint and done. 


Paint isn't perfect as the coating on the poly-metal was still uneven even after sanding. Good part is I can always unbolt it, sand again and repaint down the road. 
I think it turned out nice. The subtle look goes well with the car I think. On to the next project, whatever that may be. 

Bumper repair.
Could I have left this alone? Yes. Does it look better than before? Yes. Does it still bother me? Yes.
Just a temporary fix until I get an M Tech bumper next year and don't have a roached out bumper.
What it started as:

Disassembly:
 
As this being a temporary fix, I did what I could to make it look presentable, but not have this take multiple days. Used 220, 400, and 600 grit sand paper.






I chose not to use body filler with how flimsy these bumpers are and didn't want it to crack. And once again, temporary fix.

Needs wet sand and polish, but looks decent.


Polished up the side markers using the headlight restore kit.

M3 style trunk lip added.


Replaced the angel eye bulbs with LUX V4 ones. Tried my best to polish up the headlights, but they are still kind of pitted. Passenger side is cracked in the top, top corner. So it needs to be replaced anyway. Lenses look much worse in this picture than in person.

 

Ok, so I spoke too soon.  I'm not 100% sure what I hit but when I was driving home from Appleton last night I heard a loud flapping noise so I pulled over at a Kwik Trip and was surprised to find out most of my front lip was missing.  I'm not 100% sure but I'm fairly confident it was not another squirrel. I was right though, the spot that I just fixed held up! 🤣
I don't think I can fix this one so the car is naked for the time being.

#lowlife #racecardaily

Ok, so I spoke too soon.  I'm not 100% sure what I hit but when I was driving home from Appleton last night I heard a loud flapping noise so I pulled over at a Kwik Trip and was surprised to find out most of my front lip was missing.  I'm not 100% sure but I'm fairly confident it was not another squirrel. I was right though, the spot that I just fixed held up! 🤣
I don't think I can fix this one so the car is naked for the time being.

Ok, so I spoke too soon.  I'm not 100% sure what I hit but when I was driving home from Appleton last night I heard a loud flapping noise so I pulled over at a Kwik Trip and was surprised to find out most of my front lip was missing.  I'm not 100% sure but I'm fairly confident it was not another squirrel. I was right though, the spot that I just fixed held up! 🤣
I don't think I can fix this one so the car is naked for the time being.

Not exactly car related but I knocked out the first step of the garage build - insulating the walls. Such a pain in the ass removing the shelving system the previous owner had. Half was built with nails, at least 1000 of them. After getting all shelving removed, I went with R15 in the walls and eyeing up R38 for the ceiling. My plan is to just finish insulation and vapor barrier this summer and drywall / paint next.

No joke, I've hit at least 3 squirrels/chipmunks and my lip continues to take a beating but thankfully I've gotten pretty OK at fixing carbon pieces.  It's not perfect but it's a solid 5 footer.  I could have spent more time sanding the resin after it hardened to get it to conform to the curve upwards better but I figured if anything I just added some stiffness to an area that's bound to get hit again.
Here's how it started:

Here's how it went:


 

No joke, I've hit at least 3 squirrels/chipmunks and my lip continues to take a beating but thankfully I've gotten pretty OK at fixing carbon pieces.  It's not perfect but it's a solid 5 footer.  I could have spent more time sanding the resin after it hardened to get it to conform to the curve upwards better but I figured if anything I just added some stiffness to an area that's bound to get hit again.
Here's how it started:

Here's how it went:


 

I'm two e90's into my life and I'm convinced it's the best mix of technology, tactile feedback, comfort, performance and usability.  It just all makes sense and the performance is so usable.

What a huge difference cleaning that carpet made!

Today was my 2 year anniversary with this car and the weather turned out nice tonight so I ripped the drivers seat out and got go work. What a disgusting mess.

The rain left a slew of mold, coins molded into the carpet and some pretty heavy staining. I knew the grey carpet wasnt going to look perfect given the amount of time I had to do this job and the lack of proper tools I had but I tried my best to get it clean and looking slightly better.

Not perfect, but substancially better. I cleaned up the rest of the interior following the carpets and I couldnt be happier with the car now.

No big update, but now that I’m in my own house and no longer a tiny apartment I was able to bust out the pressure washer again! M3 and E90 both got a much needed deep cleaning. M3 also developed an interesting issue with one of the brake pressure sensors, so that looks fun.
 
136,852 miles

Side story - I sold the Imola parts car that the cinnamon interior came from. Ended up getting the full interior, an Eisenmann exhaust, tons of interior parts I was missing and made a pretty nice profit. Sure I’ll regret not keeping a spare S54 some day

The saddle brown interior idea was short lived. Did my interior mods as seen below and decided it wasn’t even worth giving a go. Love the way the interior looks now and don’t want to mess with it. If you want the interior, will give you a good price on it.
Interior mods:
Glacier Silver interior trim. Similar to the cube trim of the E46, this has a raised texture to it. I love the way it looks in the car.
Sport steering wheel with M sport trim. This was the cherry on top to really transform the interior with the trim. What a difference this makes and looks amazing.
Alcantara ebrake and shift boot with a better conditioned shift surround. Just to freshen it up and some different texture than the dried out leather boots.
I love this interior. I think black sport seats would really set it off.


 

After selling my F30, I bought an F150.  Drove my parents for a little bit and loved it, so I bought my own. Well after 8 months, I decided to move on from the truck and sell it. Loved the vehicle, just didn't love paying for it(economic crisis on the door step as well). MPG wasn't actually too bad, averaged like 17ish even with the bigger tires. On top of that, I wasn't doing anything to justify having a truck and just felt wasteful. 

Day before it sold.
2 weeks before the truck sold, I made a trip down to Chicago to pick up my brothers 2011 328xi. The car was having starting issues and he was unsure what to do with the vehicle. We figured it would be best if we brought it back to the Appleton area for further diagnosis and repair. Car made the 3 hour straight drive back to Wisconsin with out a hitch. It was around this time that I was looking for other vehicle options. I wanted to reduce my payment significantly or not have one at all, so I was looking at E46's, E70 X5's and E90s. My brother decided he wanted to find something newer so would be selling the E90. So I bought it.
2011 328xi Titanium Silver, Black Dakota leather, and Burlwood with 99,863 miles. No iDrive.
Car was running lean on both banks. After some research found it likely to be the valve cover with the built in CCV. VCG was leaking anyway so it was time for it to come off regardless. I also had the OFHG replaced along with the power steering fluid reservoir to address any immediate concern areas. Next will be cabin and intake filter, along with wiper blades.
The car is in very good condition minus a few minor things. Was a 1 owner vehicle up to 72k miles when my family bought it. Has always been garaged kept. 
Silver wasn't my first choice, but the color has really grown on me. I also can't say enough about how much I am enjoying the E90 platform.
Only two things this doesn't have which I want; Xenon projectors and comfort access. Comfort access is nightmare to add, so passing on that dream. I have been reading about being able to use the Euro Bi Xenon projectors and having to make only a few modifications to the harness for them to work as opposed to US which have leveling units.


My brother hit a construction barrel. I am going to do my best to get this looking presentable, but I plan to replace the bumper next year with an M Tech/M Sport one.


(Ignore my dinner)
 
If it's not going to be the weekend car, it has to look good and be enjoyable to be in. I have a fair number of things on the way to address both of those. But will remain largely stock( I say that now).
To start, the steering wheel. The stock one is fine, but we can do better.
Purchased this heated Sport wheel that I have some plans for. But first to clean it. I used Griot's leather 3 in 1 and leather conditioner in conjunction with a Colourlock leather brush, short hair detail brush, and a tooth brush.


You can see how much dirt is caked into the grain.

This was after one pass with the first brush.

This was after the whole wheel. Clean your steering wheels.


Grain clean, nice semi gloss matte finish.
More updates to follow.

Great turnout, About 70-90 cars showed up throughout the day. Seemed that the raffle was rigged as 85% of the winners are active chat/forum members. 
@Jdesigninstantly flipped his win for somecash. Honestly I expected no less from him.  

The auction is LIVE! Bidding ends Tuesday, May 31 at 1:45pm Pacific time! 
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-bmw-2002-59/
 

This is explains a lot because the Black Label Lighting is a Custom Offsets only brand.
This thing is so fucking cool.  I'm not a big one for graphics but the lower black piece and the mountain scene around the back wheels is really fitting for this car.  I love it.

I was squeezing 50 out of it on my way down. I had it in eco mode, was coasting a lot, and was very light on the throttle. Once I hit some rain, I gave up and started laying into it. In the mountains on and off road I got a solid 37-38 using the throttle as an on and of switch 😆
Yes. The original owner that modified it worked at Fitment Industries. he sold it to the owner I purchased it from in Neenah. 
Sewer caps*  (honestly they are centerline 849 PANGEA's) fitting for the lift and tires. 

Was this car up in Appleton? I feel like I have seen it before, but maybe I am just imagining things.

Some cars just have a weird way of finding me. I was not looking for an F30, but then again, I am always looking for cars to buy and sell. After buying a 2008 Tahoe hybrid on a whim to tow my boat, I came across a listing for a unique Alpine white over Saddle brown fully loaded 2014 BMW 328D Xdrive that was lifted, deleted, and tuned. The listing stated that the owner was looking for a truck or Tahoe to trade. I messaged him thinking how dumb I would be to get rid of all of my tow vehicles (after just selling my other Tahoe), but at the same time smart because of the value difference and the possibility of finally retiring my civic hybrid of 327k miles. 
Fast forward a week later and I am a proud owner of another diesel BMW, and what better way to really prove a new cars "worth" other than to take it on a 3K mile road trip through the smoky mountain's.  I did some preparation, fixed some things, and fully inspected the car before I left, but safe to say I made it there and back without an issue.  I was thoroughly impressed by the cars capability by not only climbing up the side of a mountain with a bunch of heavily modded trucks, but keeping up with some other newer BMWs on the tail of the dragon.

For now, Im not really sure what the future may hold for the car, but I plan on keeping it for awhile. I have some thoughts in my head of lowering it back down, but for now, Im just going to do some preventative maintenance and fix some of the odds and ends that it needs. This thread will probably be more of a log for me to keep track of such.
Here is what is done to the car:
Center Line Wheels 18x8 +35 (1 of 1) TOYO TIRES 225/55/18 Open Country Black Label Lighting 30" Single Row Light Bar D.H. VinylWorx Graphics Buzzken - 328d DPF/SCR delete JR Auto Stage 3 Tune Rising Tuning lift & level kit black kidneys trunk spoiler  

We shot another video at work.  I haven't really done much with the car this year other than drive it every chance I can and fix the lip every few weeks from rogue squirrels attracted to the sweet sweet tone of a V8.  Twice these little buggers have jumped in front of me on the same road.  Good news, I'm getting OK at repairing carbon fiber.

 

We shot another video at work.  I haven't really done much with the car this year other than drive it every chance I can and fix the lip every few weeks from rogue squirrels attracted to the sweet sweet tone of a V8.  Twice these little buggers have jumped in front of me on the same road.  Good news, I'm getting OK at repairing carbon fiber.

 

We shot another video at work.  I haven't really done much with the car this year other than drive it every chance I can and fix the lip every few weeks from rogue squirrels attracted to the sweet sweet tone of a V8.  Twice these little buggers have jumped in front of me on the same road.  Good news, I'm getting OK at repairing carbon fiber.