[jzx_andy]

Hey all, been around for a short while. Loving my car and the community so here's some history on my car life and my slow move toward a 335i.

Back in 2010 - 2011 I went through an interesting car purchasing experience. I was looking for a pristine JZX100 Toyota Chaser/Mark II. I've always been a fan of classy cars with turbo straight 6's that can fly under the radar.

I used Iron Chef to find a tidy JZX100 for me in Japan. For those of you that have been through this process, this basically means at least a grade 3 vehicle at an auction house. My advice - don't ever go through Kristian or ICI if you know what you want. Long story short, he tried to sue me for mistakes he made, ended up losing at trial and I had my brokers fee refunded in full. It was a helpful experience for me, as I was still a teenager and had just started my law studies around that time.

In the meantime I ended up settling on a local CL9 Accord Euro as it became clear that the odds of finding a clean JZX100 were stacked up against me, even for local and interstate options.

I owned the Accord for roughly 8 years and did silly things to it. Bone stock other than suspension, sound system, kit and wheels. Looked sick but I went too silly with it - the Honda was a nice, reliable daily and I turned it into a weekender. I was very lucky to not be defected as it was literally 2.5" from the deck.



Always had a keen interest in the E9x 335i since they first came out. Seriously considered one in 2014 - 2015, but prices were a tad silly for a tuner car and tuning options still seemed quite limited at the time (especially compared to the Japanese aftermarket scene).

Decided in late-2017 that I'd buy one as prices were starting to drop hard and the cars were at the age and level of depreciation where tidy examples were relatively easy to come across.

Bought a 2008 Alpine White E92 on 13 April 2018 with the intention of making it a fun weekender.

It had 129,000km on the clock, M-Sport and Individual sound system options, a fairly good service history, MHD stage 1+ tune, angel eyes, catch can, front lip, rear diffuser and quad tips. Best of all, it has 0 wastegate rattle!!!





It didn't take long for me to start playing with the car.


12 May 2018 - removed rear M badge and tinted parts of the tail lights



24 May 2018 - wrapped interior trims



29 June 2018 - fitted BMS DCI

28 July 2018 - fitted 6000k low beams to match the aftermarket angel eyes



29 August 2018 - fitted a new upper radiator hose, Aliexpress DP's and inlets, Precision Raceworks stage 2+ LPFP. One of my Aliexpress DP's was defective and needed some fabwork to fit properly. Inlets were fine but still a PITA to install like any other inlets lol. Didn't want to spend much on twin turbo bits as my long term goal is to have an N54 that sounds half decent - single turbo and external gate is the only way to achieve this.




13 September 2018 - replaced post-cat O2 sensors.

22 September 2018 - fitted VRSF 7" HD FMIC and flashed the MHD Stage 2+ E50 tune.




1 October 2018 - flashed xHP Stage 3 TCU tune

20 November 2018 - fitted M style custom floormats (thanks @R32GOJIRA !)

30 December 2018 (136,000km) - changed the oil filter housing gasket, coolant vent hose, oil cooler housing gasket, serpentine belt, pulleys, tensioner, plugs and fitted Precision Raceworks coils. Also changed the oil.



How the car currently sits:



CURRENT STATE OF VEHICLE (AS OF JUNE 2022):

Chassis
• Brake calipers painted in BMW Le Mans Blue
• AKG adjustable front endlinks
• Turner Motorsports rear shifter carrier bushings
• UUC delrin front shifter carrier bushings
• Rogue Engineering transmission mounts
• ST XTA coilovers
• BMW E9x M3 / E82 1M front control arms and rear guide rods
• Manzo adjustable rear toe arms
• Manzo rear camber arms
• Monroe rear shock mounts
• ECS Tuning slotted and drilled brake rotors
• ECS Tuning wheel stud kit
• Akebono ceramic brake pads allround
• Genuine Yokohama Advan RSII wheels (18x9.5 +22 and 18x10.5 +25)
• Yokohama Advan V105 Tyres (245/40/18 and 265/35/18)
• BMW E9x M3 / E82 1M front strut brace assembly
• Revshift 80A poly engine mounts

Interior/Exterior
• E92 M3 widebody front end conversion (OEM carbon crash bars, ducts, panels etc)
• BMW CIC Navigation retrofit
• BMW combox retrofit
• BMW Apps retrofit
• Carplay and Android auto unit
• Genuine BMW E46 ZHP shift knob
• Genuine BMW Performance alcantara shift boot
• Retrimmed flat bottom M Sport steering wheel by Royal Steering Wheel UK
• Customised cluster with white LED’s and E9x M3 variable redline
• Alcantara handbrake boot
• Aluminium pedal covers
• Custom floormats
• Genuine E92 M3 side mirrors (power folding, electric adjustable and auto dimming)
• Genuine BMW Performance E9x M3 / E82 1M carbon fiber mirror caps
• Genuine 335is front bumper air ducts
• Bavgruppe V3 angel eye rings
• Bavgruppe LED front indicator bulbs
• Morimoto 6500k low beam bulbs
• ZKW-R low beam projector lense upgrades
• New genuine headlight lenses
• Depo LCI style tail lights and LED reverse bulbs
• Genuine Seibon E92 M3 carbon fiber front lip
• BMW Performance style quad tip carbon fiber rear diffuser
• Quad exhaust tips
• BMS cabin air filters
• Hydra Performance cabin air filter covers
• Trimmed cowl
• HT black Painted throttle body
• Mashimarho CF headlight caps
• Flow Design rear bumper spats
• KAP Industries fire extinguisher mount
• Dechromed front and rear roundels
• F82 M4 front seats
• E92 M3 rear seats, rear centre console, centre console lid and door cards
• LCI headlight switch and IHKA panel
• AGT Styling carbon fiber alternator cover
• BMW Performance E92 M3 Competition CF spoiler

Engine/Drivetrain
• Precision Raceworks stage 2 LPFP (Walbro 450 fuel pump)
• NXM B58 ignition coil kit
• BMS port injection manifold with Bosch 750cc injectors and Precision Raceworks
port injection fuel line
• Burger Motorsports N54 Dual Cone Intake kit
• High side catchcan and RB PCV valve
• China catless N54 downpipes
• China stock location N54 inlets
• Mosselman oil cooler thermostat
• VAC Motorsports sump baffle
• Turner Motorsports aluminium relocated coolant expansion tank kit
• CSF upgraded aluminium radiator
• VRSF 7” High Density option intercooler
• VRSF chargepipe and BOV delete
• N20 TMAP sensor
• Motiv Motorsports flex fuel module
• Motiv Motorsports E85 compatible fuel lines from fuel filter to HPFP
• Genuine Continental/GM ethanol sensor
• MHD with Stage 2, Ethanol, Flex Fuel, Monitor and Flasher licenses
• Genuine BMW 335is auxiliary radiator
• Genuine BMW 335is front bumper air ducts
• 6 speed manual conversion
• Xtreme twin plate organic clutch kit with single mass flywheel (rated to 1200nm)
• VAC Motorsports / ATI high performance harmonic damper
• Customised 10AN braided brake booster vacuum line
• Clutch delay valve delete

To be done:
• Hybrid E92 M3 / Msport rear widebody conversion
• JMC tuning GTX3582r single turbo kit
• F87 M2C OEM brake retrofit
• Precision Raceworks stage 3 LPFP (dual Walbro 450 fuel pumps)
• Turner Motorsports cowl delete kit
• VTT external PCV kit with dual catch cans and custom AN fittings and AN lines
• GAS M3/1M monoball kit
• Lemforder ball joints for rear trailing arms and rear M3 arms
• Private Label Manufacturing billet rear subframe bushings
• BMW e9X M3 and F30 differential bushings
• Stoptech stainless steel braided brake lines
• E9x M3 DCT differential, axles and driveshaft
• Respray in BMW Individual Suzuka Grey
• Climate comfort windscreen retrofit
• E92 MF CF side skirt extensions
• New front lip to suit E9x M3
• PPF/coating

[Brule]

Nice clean car.
Good taste removing M badge.

[ipdaily]

Nice car. Pretty surprised at the fiasco with ICI - I thought they were supposed to be the best in the import business? I've never used them but came close several times.

[Socket]

Nice car and nice write up.... watching with interest

[DR-JEKL]

Wow never heard a bad report regarding Kristian at Iron Chef, must be the typical internet hype when you hear the guy is the best in the business!

Nice ride mate, AW always looks fantastic!

[Trev88]

Love your headlights colour!!

[jzx_andy]

28/1/19 - fitted fresh jack points and superglued those rubber jack pad adapters on

Deleted foglights and fitted 335is air ducts

[R32GOJIRA]

Looking good mate

[jzx_andy]

26/2/19 got some new parts:

Akebono front and rear ceramic brake pads
Nolathane rear subframe bushings
Monroe rear upper strut mounts (FCP stocks them FYI!)

Have an issue with my fuel level sensor that caused the car to die a couple of weeks ago due to no fuel (despite reading ~10% fuel level). I thought it was the HPFP as the car was throwing the usual hpfp/misfire codes, but I added a jerry can of fuel in the car and it fired up and drove as normal without any codes.

Grabbing some Index 12 injectors and replacement primary O2 sensors ASAP as they haven't been done. Gotta love the reliability anxiety that comes with owning an N54. Doesn't stop me from driving it hard and enjoying it though!!!

[Socket]

Originally Posted by jzx_andy

26/2/19 got some new parts:

Akebono front and rear ceramic brake pads
Nolathane rear subframe bushings
Monroe rear upper strut mounts (FCP stocks them FYI!)

Have an issue with my fuel level sensor that caused the car to die a couple of weeks ago due to no fuel (despite reading ~10% fuel level). I thought it was the HPFP as the car was throwing the usual hpfp/misfire codes, but I added a jerry can of fuel in the car and it fired up and drove as normal without any codes.

Grabbing some Index 12 injectors and replacement primary O2 sensors ASAP as they haven't been done. Gotta love the reliability anxiety that comes with owning an N54. Doesn't stop me from driving it hard and enjoying it though!!!

Nice progress mate

[Antho86]

Front end looks mint with that cooler

[Hoper]

Nice one Andy, I really like the mods list and maintenance list as well

[jzx_andy]

Progress is slow.

Since my last post here I've fitted the front coilovers, M3 front control arms, M3 rear control arms and rear toe arms. Rear coils, subframe bushings and tranny mounts are waiting to go in.

I've also picked up some more parts and ticked some items off the list:

- Primary o2 sensors (Normally you should buy one Bosch 17098 and one Bosch 17099 sensor, but after reading that the only differences between the two is wire length and colour, I figured I may aswell save myself some money by getting two 17098 sensors, since they are a fair bit cheaper for some reason).
- Index 12 injectors
- Stoptech SS braided lines
- 335is auxillary radiator + fittings

I intend to setup the aux rad as a tranny cooler given the car won't see much (or any) track use. I know it's not the best atf cooler out there but I figured that i want OEM fitment for my passenger side 335is duct, so may aswell grab the rad and use it to help cool the tranny.

Pics will come once the sussy is sorted, but here is a quick pic of the car sitting on front coilovers. I'm yet to fully dial in my final preferred height for the stockies.



edit: typos

[Aus335iguy]

Did you get to the bottom of your fuel issue? do you regularly run your tank low ?

[jzx_andy]

Originally Posted by Aus335iguy

Did you get to the bottom of your fuel issue? do you regularly run your tank low ?

I think it's a bucket or fuel level sensor issue, I had an incident where the car ran out of fuel despite reading ~10 % fuel. Currently avoiding getting the tank to upper or lower fuel level extremities as a bandaid fix, but I'll have a look at it all when I pull the bucket out to add a second Walbro 450 in!

[jzx_andy]

Finished up the suspension and got the height dialled in, just over 1 finger gap all round. Decided I'd skip on installing the poly subframe bushings for now (since I'm still running on shitty ass harsh Bridgestone RFT's). Going to enjoy the car for a bit before I get stuck into her again!

Have ordered the motiv mhd flex fuel kit (along with some other cosmetic bits and bobs) so that's going to be a nice thing to have. Also had a pair of Revshift 80A engine mounts come through the mail the other week. Will keep you guys posted with progress but for now I'm stoked with how she looks!





EDIT: resized all the photos in this thread to a more acceptable size. I'm so sorry you guys had to scroll thru the massive images I posted hahahah! If anyone knows whether there's a command that we can use in here which automatically generates resized images, let me know, I'm using the old [*img] tags.

[Brule]

You definitely have a solid base of parts on it.

Looking good.

Are you going to take it to roll racing over there?
Would be good to see it racing some jdm and Ls cars.

[jzx_andy]

Originally Posted by Brule

You definitely have a solid base of parts on it.

Looking good.

Are you going to take it to roll racing over there?
Would be good to see it racing some jdm and Ls cars.

Other than a few cheeky runs while on cruises I haven't taken her out much! Have had runs with a ~500whp SC'ed LS1 and a bunch of JDM and Barra stuff, N54 holds up surprisingly well (haven't lost a run yet, closest roll ons have been that SC'ed LS1 and a tuned Golf R).

Definitely want to get out there at drags and the odd roll racing event though!

[Brule]

Lucky to get a win on a barra!

Aleays good going past a noisy v8

[Ramo335i]

Sits really well man! looking good!

[jzx_andy]

Originally Posted by Ramo335i

Sits really well man! looking good!

Thanks man, you need to get on the MHD bandwagon

[jkoning]

Looks great! really helps me decipher between which mods to do first. Also the white looks amazing