Chris Welter

Heat wrap will give you better fuel consumption, better turbo spool and wont heat everything in the engine bay to a million degrees. Make sure you get a good brand and soak it in water before you apply it. There is a lot of opinions about wrap on the internet, but if done right it makes a drastic difference. The stuff doesn't exist because it doesn't work. The only way I could see a manifold cracking would be due to weight and vibration without being properly supported. Ceramic coating is nice and I have had it on non-turbo manifolds before(mostly hondas) and it seemed to hold up fine. My issue with it is cost and effectiveness. Besides that though it also looks better than a mummy wrapped manifold.

Here's another shot as of recent.. Dominator is installed and wiring is ran. Put the front on to figure out the cooling and the turbo/exhaust situation.
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I would be interested to read that article if you do find it. I know that with the N54 if you removed the Ecu cover and that shelf that goes over the engine the amount of heat/air that poured out onto the windshield was unreal. Provided rain or washing the car at that point was prohibited but for hot weather and drag racing it worked out well. A good thing though is the wiring and all the heat sensitive components are away from the pipes for the most part now. BMW left the steering shaft hole for the right hand drive cars in the left hand drive chassis and installed insulated plug, that plug gave me a hole to run my Dominator wiring, it was almost meant to be.. 😂
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I think coatings and reflective tape are usually the most popular options.  Louvers are an option but I know off the shelf options aren't always effective due to pressure variances caused by air flow over the hood/under the body compared to under the hood.  I remember a trick from my 240sx days was to shim the hood so it lifted the rear of the hood up an inch or so to increase airflow under hood.  I know I had read a pretty in depth article about why this worked with data from thermocouples to support it.  I can't find it right now but i'll keep looking.

Whenever I do ceramic coating, I top coat them with high temp spray paint so that a) it protects the ceramic and b ) its quickly and easily touched up when it does get scratched.

It really depends on how the exhaust and turbos all work out. The motor plate has been sheared and I can actually remove the plugs from the front of the engine (reach between the plate and the manifold to access them fairly easy). Compared to a C5 there is a lot of room and I could pull the intake manifold off or change oil or map sensors with engine in the car. The car being a prior Xi has a different front subframe that if the car is lifted there is HUGE access with the skid plate off. As of now I can't see a reason to pull the engine for anything really. It is truly impressive how it fit in there.
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awesome progress. It looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel now. Seems pretty plausible that this car will be running well before summer is done?

Nice update! 
Access to the front of the engine looks improved over the I6 (obviously), Is there anything that is going to be a royal PITA to work on with this setup that will require pulling the engine, that normally wouldn't (spark plug access etc.)

Awesome! Managing underhood temps looks like it's going to be your biggest enemy here.  I hope I get to see see this thing running one day!

Here's another shot as of recent.. Dominator is installed and wiring is ran. Put the front on to figure out the cooling and the turbo/exhaust situation.
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Overall progress of fitting motor and getting correct fitting headers. Motor cleaned in the pics and reassembled with new gaskets ect. Powder coated valve covers for a hint of color and a ls1 water pump. Now to just get it final mounted on the motor plates with the c5 corvette racing alternator and we are in business.
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Here's another shot as of recent.. Dominator is installed and wiring is ran. Put the front on to figure out the cooling and the turbo/exhaust situation.
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Looks fun man! Can tell though at upper rpm those turbos are struggling a bit..
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Overall progress of fitting motor and getting correct fitting headers. Motor cleaned in the pics and reassembled with new gaskets ect. Powder coated valve covers for a hint of color and a ls1 water pump. Now to just get it final mounted on the motor plates with the c5 corvette racing alternator and we are in business.
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Overall progress of fitting motor and getting correct fitting headers. Motor cleaned in the pics and reassembled with new gaskets ect. Powder coated valve covers for a hint of color and a ls1 water pump. Now to just get it final mounted on the motor plates with the c5 corvette racing alternator and we are in business.
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Winter is coming. Stupid Wisconsin. Car is going down for hibernation today. See you all next year.

My 335Xi is no longer a 335Xi. It's a LS swapped e92 with a 4L80E transmission and is rwd ONLY. I decided on motor plates and pulled all the stops on going fast. The engine is a 5.3 iron block that is my "test" engine, you know one I won't feel bad about flogging until it blows. The new engine that will replace it will be a 427 cubic inch dart LS next block with two big snails hanging off of it. Also for interested parties, swapping out to kirkey racing seats and removing all other seats/ deadener in this car will save you in the neighborhood of 400lbs (my current configuration)..yes I actually weighed it all. New engine sits 7" further back in he chassis and driveline sits 2" lower. And I have the interior electronics working without canbus issues.
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My 335Xi is no longer a 335Xi. It's a LS swapped e92 with a 4L80E transmission and is rwd ONLY. I decided on motor plates and pulled all the stops on going fast. The engine is a 5.3 iron block that is my "test" engine, you know one I won't feel bad about flogging until it blows. The new engine that will replace it will be a 427 cubic inch dart LS next block with two big snails hanging off of it. Also for interested parties, swapping out to kirkey racing seats and removing all other seats/ deadener in this car will save you in the neighborhood of 400lbs (my current configuration)..yes I actually weighed it all. New engine sits 7" further back in he chassis and driveline sits 2" lower. And I have the interior electronics working without canbus issues.
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Wow that tucks in there great!  Good work.

Well I didn't expect that. 

If only the original owner could see what it has become.

Chris is crazy...  We worked together in Dubuque and he knew I was into BMWs so he calls me after seeing this car at the local Toyota dealer and said something like "it looks cool are they pretty good cars?"  I said yea they are nice and decently reliable.  Now here we are...

The difference in weight between the e90 and a 135i is only about 200lbs~ give or take.  Not that much to make a substantial difference in performance.  If my memory serves me right the train of thought was usually .1 sec for every 100lbs in a 1/4 mile.  Not nearly enough to explain how a claimed 600whp car lost to a 450whp~ car.
Not that Jake's car isn't fast but something is fishy with that e90.

definitely gotta sell my 135. I think I may be too fragile to handle the intensity of the street racing scene and potential youtube shame.