Obioban's 2005 IR/IR Coupe

[Obioban]

Quieting things down a bit. Went from vibratech to new stock engine mounts and ground control race to csl sways.



Went with the turner adjustable end links because they use the same (sealed) ball joints that bmw does on their links-- so should be quiet for a long time!



Also split a wideband 02 with some of my friends that can integrate with BMWlogger for road tuning.



I also in the final stages of preperation/part collection for the carbon fiber roof project. I'm kind of scared for that one :-/

[Obioban]

Phil, who took and is editing these photos for me, claims this is one of the worst he's editing so far from the shoot (he's been torturing me with teasers as he edits them, so I haven't seen much more than this :banghead: )


























































































































Some random extra stuff:














This cracks me up for some reason... :rofl3:









I promised Ian laser sharks for more excitement...







Thanks for looking. Happy Birthday Ian! :happybirthday:




.

[Obioban]

Fits over the m5 and m3's bbk, same rolling diameter as the m5 and m3 rears (so won't fuck up the LSD), fits on the hubs of all three cars (with a hub centric ring on the e91 and e46). Pulled a BMW trunk jack and wrench out of my dad's car last year before he traded it in. Going to throw it in the trunk whenever going on a long trip in whatever car we're going in.

Surprisingly excited

[Obioban]

Today's update...

Was hunting for a proper length 32mm socket for the chain tensioner, and stumbled upon this at pep boys. Seemed more specific than my general use assembly lube I was going to use, so I got it.



Removed some cams







Moved the cam position sensor thing over. That thing is on there TIGHT!



Lubed up and reinstalled the cams. Also used the APR/TT cam bolts, even though they're probably completely unnecessary.

[Obioban]

Cams time

Got most of the disassembly done, hoping to get her back together tomorrow night.

[Obioban]

Saw this today as I drove past BMW of South Hampton, and had to pull in...

[Obioban]

Over the winter I traded RG63's with another member for anthracite. I'm so very pleased with how it goes with the IR-- very much more what I imagined when I ordered the hyper black than I ended up getting!

[Obioban]

Happy new wheel day! Every car got wheels they've never run before.

e46 got a set of anthracite RG-63's that I traded my hyperblack RG-63's for over the winter. Much better match for IR, imo!



e91 got a set of 17" BBS SR's. They look AWESOME now (way better than in this pic), but are going to look even better next week when we take it off the non sport suspension:



e39 got a set of 18" BBS RG-Rs in silver. Never seen silver RG-Rs before, the color goes quite nicely with Le Mans blue, I think!



... all cars need washes. It's been winter, what can I say :clueless:

Could have also used a non phone camera and non rainy day, but.. reh. arrot:

[Obioban]

Goodbye hyper black RAC RG63's



Hello anthracite RAC RG63's



(Traded last night)

[Obioban]

Yesterday I converted my fan setup from the stock aux/clutched fan to a Z4M inspired SPAL electronic puller fan setup (16" medium depth). Because fan capability is reduced, I retained the stock fan shroud to make the most of my SPAL fan. Side note, fans are only really used when sitting in traffic or for the AC compressor, so cooling capacity at speed should not be changed by the project.

I'm using the factory aux fan controller to control the SPAL speed. Because it's now the only fan (instead of an aux fan), I'm changing the ecu fan control values to that of the Z4M (which also only has an electronic puller fan).

Project goals, from most important to least:
longer water pump service life (as no fan/clutch wearing the bearing)
no more fan/fan clutch replacements
decreased weight
remaining weight moved inboard
decreased parasitic loss on the engine

Some pics...

Front bumper and ducting removed so I could pull the factory aux fan:



Factory aux fan controller, which I added a plug to to connect to the SPAL fan:



SPAL fan mounted on the factory shroud. I wanted it easy to remove and to not damage the radiator. This way it removed with the shroud, and just adds one plug. I reused the hardware from my trunk decontenting project (added loctite and the silver bits aren't visible once installed:





And installed. These two black bolts are all you can see once it's in, and they get further hidden by the air duct that goes on top:



From the other side:







Saw my dealer taking this down and snagged it.




A friend of mine just made this video from my bachelor party. Pretty awesome, IMO!

CNF GoKart 082413 - YouTube

[Obioban]

Hard core modding time, sticker on.



A forum member just sent me this. Apparently QUANTUM44 is using my car to sell their wheels. :roll:

Not a bad photoshop at least :P



https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...ze=2000%2C1333


Just discovered the code feature, as seen at 2:00 in this video:

BMW Auxiliary Ventilation and Code Feature - YouTube

Makes me feel like this

trimmed on Vimeo

Want to figure out how to retrofit it to the e46...

[Obioban]

So, the CSL thread inspired me to get off my ass and finish this project. I changed to this sub:



Which only weights 4 lbs.

To get it to fit into the stealthbox housing, I had to grind ~.5cm of metal off the outside of the speaker, ~.5cm of material off the inside of the stealthbox, and make new mounting holes inside the stealthbox, but it all worked out.

Amazingly, it actually make more bass than my previous setup :clueless:

Expected this to be a 1 hour project, ended up being more like a 6 hour project. Still, car is lighter, so I can't complain!




Got my 3rd OEM CSL piece. Yet another that nobody will ever see/realize isn't stock :roll:



Looks strangely like a flute :hmm:

Oh happy day. Back in CSL airbox sound bliss

The Evolve build quality is ABSURDLY better than the VAC box. This thing feels stiffer than stock and may even fit better than the stock plastic box. Everything is just flawless. I am so very, very pleased arrot:



Seeing how the CSL vacuum rail is going to mount up. I'm SO excited to get rid of that ugly eye sore sensor they added mid 2005 on top of the engine!



Everything must come off!





Box in place....









Ducting on....

Still to go...

CSL "BMW M Power" Sticker needs to be installed.

Wire up a harness from the MAP sensor to the ECU.

enable CSL cluster oil level display using NCS expert.

Get ecu back with CSL software loaded on it, pull stock CSL file, send to evolve.

Get back modified CSL file, flash onto car. Data log, send results to evolve, get retune.

Rinse, cycle repeat until data log based tuning is optimized

take to dyno, dyno tune.

arrot: arrot: arrot:

So excited to be back in airbox! And it feels sooooooo much better made than the last one.

[Obioban]

Can't wait for these

Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 Porsche 911 GT3 - YouTube

And PF-11s


Brake light flashing on full ABS stop added

Abs braking flash - YouTube

With the HK sub removed, the oem BMW grocery hooks were eating into trunk functionality (they were the limiting factor on the trunk opening).

So, my first VAG product:






Status update: married



Pic with close friends that I've met through the car-- half are M3f members.

:hattip:

iPhone photo from M3f member CMT, more professional version (slr, wedding protographer) to come.

[Obioban]

Day 1.



My car is looking really old compared to this pic

My splitters were already in bad shape after seven years of use, but a racoon recently finished one off. So, replaced at last!







In 2-3 weeks, should have some free time to do the Besian stuff. Super excited!





I also learned how to make stuff out of carbon fiber recently. What an enormous pain in the ass. I had all sorts of projects I was contemplating doing, but having done it once... not sure I'll ever be able to get motivated to do it again. Ug ug ug :banghead:







Valve train looking healthy at 135,000 miles. Today is besian vanos fix install day!



Couple panorama shots from bimmerfest this weekend. LOTS of cars!





And, this amused me. Everyone ignoring an MP4-12C because there was a TMS e92 M3 next to it.



Had a couple projects I took care of yesterday.

First up, replaced the fuel pump regulator. Nicely resolved a starting issue I was having (engine took extra cranks before starting up).

Next, found a hole in my chassis that the JVT headers had made, long ago when I had them. So, ground that down with the angle grinder, prepped it, POR-15ed it, and put new chassis coat on. Forgot to take an after pic :roll:. Should be locked down from rust again, though...



Next up, did vibratech engine mounts. Huge difference, way more than I expected. Entire front end of the car feels much more planted, and no noticeable NHV increase vs my 38,000 mile e9X M3 engine mounts. I'm very pleased with how these came out!




I went to also do the vibratech trans brace/mounts...



But sadly they don't clear the SS V1 stepped catted section 1:

SS v1 section 1 vs vibratech trans mount - YouTube

So... that came back out. Hoping vibratech makes a version that does clear, and every better if they make it in aluminum for extra lightness!

For now, however, I'll remain with the stock brace with RE mounts.

I went to a test drive event at my BMW dealer yesterday to drive all sorts of different cars (new BMWs and their competitors).

While I was there, I hoped in the show room to grab a bottle of water and some cookies. I overheard three different people ask the sales people how much my car cost, didn't hear anyone ask about the cars they were actually trying to sell.

Test drove some modern BMWs, disliked them all, left.

Stopped at the post office to mail some packages. Came out and two people were taking pictures of my car.

Solid day. Modern BMW. :facepalm:

[Obioban]

Unlike most stereo projects, the focus of mine was not particularly to improve sound quality (though that should be a nice perk of it). My goals were as follows:
1) Increase trunk space
2) Reduce the total weight of the car
3) lower the COG
4) recover some 50/50 weight distribution

To do this, I did a number of things...
-I cut the total number of speakers in the car from 12 to 7 (removed all rear speakers and HK subs)
-I used lighter speakers than stock in each application (used polk speakers, which use rare earth magnets for the same pull strength at less weight)
-I relocated all of the heavier electronics to the far back of the trunk floor
-I switched to the non nav/cd changer trunk liner
-I switched from the dual HK subs to a single 8" free air sub in a stealth box
-I added an Alpine PXA-H100 sound processor, which the intravee tricks the nav into thinking is an OEM DSP sound processor for full control through the factory MKIV UI
-light weight amps (2.7 lbs each)

Hard to explain with words. Here's some pics. Starting with the cliff notes,
Before (sadly I forgot to take a pic before I pulled the trunk liner or of the HK subs in the center middle of the trunk:



After (note that while the stealthbox is larger than the OE HK box, it's in a useless spot above the shock tower instead of dead center in the most useful spot in the trunk):



Ignore the shock adjustment hole :P



And now for some pics of the process along the way...

Parts in a pile waiting to go in:



Stock electronics in the nav/cd changer harness:



And in the new, smaller bracket:



All the trunk mounted modules:



Intravee breakout box on top of Alpine HD radio on top of OEM bluetooth:



Intravee on top, with the serial port left open for future firmware updates



Bluetooth antenna on the friendly side of the metal wall :roll:



Trimmed down the door to fit the new, deeper, 6.5" Polk speaker and padded the borders to keep rattles at bay and make a nice seal:



Polk speaker in boom mat, being trimmed to fit:



Result:



And bolted down:



Stock HK out:



Wiring up the new tweeters:



Heat shrink:



Result:



Foamed up:



Added a plug to make the doors easy to install/remove in the future:



Floor modules in their final location:



Whipping up a wiring harness to extend the nav plugs so they can be mounted under the trunk floor:



Heat shrunk:



Had to dremel the top and bottom of the plastic off the DVD drive to make it fit under the trunk floor:



Was amused to notice that the MKIV display is made by alpine. All alpine system



While the car away apart, took out the center console buttons and mailed them to terra to have the seat heater temps turned up. Always annoyed that they weren't warmer, like non M e46s :banghead:



Used to have fairly heavy speakers mounted on the center of the headliner for the CB and scanner. Now using light weight speakers behind the rear door cards instead. Reduced weight, lowered COG, and better back seat head room



Levitating photoelectric license plate cover :roll:



Crossovers with wires bundled in factory fabric tape:



Wiring ugliness mid project:



Cleaned up and bundled:



Noticed the right side of my brake pedal is wearing out. Too much heel toe :raspberry: