[sirdaft1]

**CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW BUILD THREAD ON SIRDAFT1'S FULL BLOWN 335i TRACK CAR BUILD!**

(And sorry for the broken links below, it's too much effort to go back through and re-link each photo - thanks Photobucket! That said, the new build will be far more extensively documented than this one )

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SOME SAD NEWS 2/8/2017:
It pains me to say this, but the 335 is gone. I've been in touch offline with a number of you, but for those that I haven't yet spoken to; she was involved in an fender bender a few weeks ago and insurance has decided to total her out. I'm ok, everyone involved was ok and the damage really wasn't all that bad, but for a 155k mile, 10 year old BMW, it doesn't take much to write it off as a total loss.

That said, I was extremely fortunate on my payout given the level of extensive modification done to her. And because of the strong payout, the buy back price just didn't make any financial sense (yup, farewell MMP3 turbos, AD-E 1000hp FMIC, LSD, and everything else that I've spent the past three years perfecting ). I started a "spare parts thread" thread here for the remaining spares I still have in my garage - 18" Avant Garde M359's w/ PSS's, VRSF 7" FMIC, Alpina flashed 6AT, etc. And now after going through the insurance process with my heavily modified 335, there were some really important things I did that helped me get the most from my payout - so I'll attempt to start another thread on that topic.

Going forward, I refused to let all of my knowledge about this platform go to waste. Irionically my wife and I have been searching for a larger vehicle that can haul around my son in and that can tow the e30 track car around with. So last week we picked up an absolutely gorgeous fully loaded 2012 E70 LCI X5 35i Sport/Premium with 20" 214's/Conti DWS06's, paddle shifters and the N55 engine. While it is nowhere close to the power of the 335, I LOVE the feel. It's a larger, classier version of the 335 that can tow 6,000lbs. And while it's no N54, the N55 has plenty of tuning capability and it will be only a matter of time until it has an MHD tune, goes FBO and maybe even gets an upgraded Pure S2 turbo .

Despite the change, I'll still be hanging around on these forums (a bit more on the x5 section). Who knows, maybe I'll be back in the market for a fully upgraded 335 in the future!

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ORIGINAL THREAD:
Much of this build can be seen on my IG as well: DaftPhotog

Here is how she looked as of 12/21/2016::








Most recent dyno run (514whp/498wtq)

THE BEGINNING OF THE BUILD (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER)
And here is how she started out when I picked her up in 2013. 100% bone stock. I drove from Chicago out to Ohio to pick it up and drove her back that same day.




Once she came home, it was doing preventative maintenance on the usual suspects...
New injectors
Walnut blast
Boost solenoids
Spark plugs

Pre and post walnut blast. Just a small difference.



And then the mod bug bit me. It's been non-stop, but this is the current mod list (as of 11/26/2016)

Engine
MMP Stage 3 Turbos
MMP Silicone Inlets
MMP/eFab Motorsports Prototype SS Outlets
DCI
VRSF CP
Forge DV's
AD Engineering 1000hp FMIC
AR Design DP's
Stage 2 LPFP
Retrofitted oil cooler housing (since early '07 model)
Evolution Racewerks Competition Dual Oil Cooler

Handling
M-Factory LSD
Koni Yellows
Eibach Pro's
M3 Front Control Arms
Whiteline Rear SF Bushings
Removed front camber pin, now running -1.7*
255 front/275 rear Michelin PSS's

Cosmetic
LCI Hood
LCI M-Sport Bumper
LCI Xenon AHL's
HPB 160W AE's
AK Front Splitter
Black LCI Grills
3.5" Dual Wall SS Exhaust Tips
M3 Sideskirts
Shadowline trim
18" Staggered Avant Garde M359 wheels + 255/275 Michelin PSS'a (summer)
18" Squared Alzor CSL Reps + 225 Blizzaks (winter)


Since I was going to track her, she desperately needed some help cooling the oil. Being an early '07 model we had to retrofit an OC housing and we installed a massive single Setrab 625 oil cooler.


Unfortunately the single OC wasn't keeping temps down enough at the track, so we installed ER Competition Dual Oil Coolers, along with CP, Forge DV's, VRSF 7" FMIC & BMS DP's




To accomodate the flow for the OC's, we removed the fog lights/grills from the sides on the stock bumper.


Then we got rid of the nasty white inner tails and I wrote up a DIY.



She needed some new wheels so we tried 19" Style 230's.


The 30 series sidewall on the 230's made me cringe every time I went over a bump in the road. So we got rid of them and went with some staggered 18" Avant Garde M359's w/ NT05's. The ride was much better and I no longer had to change my pantalones everytime I hit a bump in the road


Added BMW Performance splitters to the front bumper and decided it was time for a few photoshoots:

In the driveway @ sunset.


Downtown Chicago:


With a good buddies Evolve S/C E39 M5


With dbworld4k & jlombar5


Installed dual wall angle cut SS exhaust tips


jlombar5 laid down a pair of rubber marks at our meetup ^^^^, and convinced me that I needed to go LSD. So... I ordered up an M-Factory LSD and had some fun! (in Mexico of course)

Took her to the track for some more fun w/ the new LSD (Blackhawk Farms Raceway). She was a beast for being a 3,700lb 4 door sedan!

Sunbathing at Blackhawk Farms Raceway after a perfect and exhausting track day.


Painted and installed M3 sideskirts. Gave some really nice much needed contrast!


Decided that the front end could use a refresh as well, so we sourced an LCI M-Sport bumper locally along with an LCI hood. The swap underway...


Ugly mode just before the painters at A&L work their magic...


I just got her back a few days ago and forgot to give the painters the lower grill that goes in front of the FMIC. I planned on running with the grill, but I've had more thumbs ups from strangers in the past two days than I have in the two years I've had the car. One guy was walking across in front of me, pointed at the FMIC with a grin on his face and gave me the thumbs up. I just might keep it as it is

Here's how she sits as of 11/9/2015


And because I'm a sucker for B&W pics...


11/15/2015 Update
Brushed aluminum wrapped trim! The wife got in and first comment... "Your car feels brand new". It really updated the nasty burl wood trim.


11/29/2015 Update
New LCI AHL Xenons and carbon fiber splitters installed, along with the missing lower grill in front of the FMIC. I'm split on the grill... I like keeping it stealth, but the exposed FMIC also looks pretty BA. Regardless... The LCI M-Sport front end conversion is complete!


12/14/2015 Update
While driving with my wife and our 3 week old son last night, some guy in an SUV railed the back of my car at 40ish~ mph. We were at a dead stop in bumper to bumper traffic on I-290 coming out of Chicago. Police came and wrote up the report and the other driver is completely at fault.

We wound up going into the hospital- most importantly for our little dude and he checked out alright. They wound up doing some CAT scans and X-rays on me and my wife since both of our necks and mid backs were sore. Fortunately everything came back ok, but we're both feeling a bit sore today.

Now it's on to the car. No airbags went off but the extent of the damage was a bit more than I initially thought. Bumper, trunk, pass quarter panel, etc. My fingers are crossed that it's not a total loss. I had already been gathering parts to complete an LCI M-Sport/CSL rear conversion. Best case scenario is that the car is repairable and we can complete that conversion.





2/10/2016 Update
Long awaited update!! After going back and forth with the other guys insurance for a few weeks following the accident, they finally gave the approval to repair her. Two month later and I finally drove over to A&L to pick her up tonight. Wow. I cannot express how happy and impressed I am with Anthony and his guys over at A&L Autobody. Absolutely top notch. They literally worked miracles as all body panels are straight and she looks brand new with the new tasteful upgrades- LCI CSL trunk, LCI tails, and M-Sport rear bumper. :-)

Now it's just time for some new inlets, outlets and turbos



Here is how she sits as of 3/20/2016, new booty and all :-)








Had some fun with light painting. Note to self, clean car before light painting again. It shows EVERY piece of dirt and dead bug! lol

6/6/16 Update - Blown MFactory LSD
Out of the blue while reversing, it sounded like I was pushing a cinder block with my diff, until the car wouldn't move anymore. I pulled the car forward, no noise. And then reversed it again and everything seemed normal. Over the next few days when backing out of my garage, the rear end of my car was making a terrible binding noise and would suddenly not move anymore. Long story short, I brought her in to Mike at German Autowerks and he pulled the MFactory LSD and said it sounded like a maraca. He pulled the diff cover and this is what he found inside...



5 of the 9 bolts had sheared in half and the binding was due to the bolts getting stuck in the ring and pinion! (Its the bolts in the lower left pic)


Can't tell you how lucky I feel that they didn't bind up while I was going 75mph on the expressway with my wife and kiddo in the car. I reached out to MFactory and they said that they have never seen this with the 335's before; only on their early LSD's for the e46 m3. Needless to say they had us ship the full pumpkin back for a rebuild/inspection and they're covering the rebuild/replacement, but unfortunately not the labor

I can't speak highly enough of their customer service. It's been absolutely top notch. And they even offered a pretty great discount on their upgraded sport axles though. Ohh temptation...

6/19/2016 Update
She's back and has a brand new MFactory LSD installed. Thanks to MFactory for their phenomenal customer service. On the ride home she officially rolled 150k miles. I do believe they call that just getting started.




7/19/2016 Update - "Big Twin"
It's official. The 335 has upgraded MMP Stage 3 twins on order. I could not be more excited. The plan is to run it on a custom pump 93 octane tune for daily driving and hopefully land somewhere around the 500whp mark. And then consider turning it up little by little with more fueling and e85. I'm just excited to get rid of the rattling and inconsistent/sticking wastegates on the stockers. I'll keep everyone posted after they arrive and get installed. Thinking I may give her the nickname "Big Twin" going forward

Here are a few pics of the turbos being assembled (thanks MM Performance !)





Mine are the top pair :-)



And one sunset shot from tonight (taken with my iPhone)


7/27/2016 Update - Turbo Install Has Begun!
My MMP Stage 3's have arrived and they look incredible next to the stockers. They legitimately look like jewelry because of how pristine and shiny they are. Did a photoshoot of them for MMP #drools

Side by side - Stg 3's on left, stock snails on right






11/26/2016 Update - 514whp/498wtq Dyno Run
Turbos have now been installed for 3k-ish miles and I LOVE THEM. The sound is intoxicating and they pull unlike anything I've ever been in before. Here's a 514whp/498wtq dyno run with only a stage 2 LPFP and an e40 blend. This was only an initial e40 tune and we suspect that we should see some gains when we run again.

12/15/2016 Update - Skunkworks

Just got the car back from Eric at E-Fab. We've been working on a little behind the scenes skunkworks. With these massive MMP Stage 3's, my 7" VRSF Intercooler was quickly heatsoaking during single gear pulls. Well... IAT problems no more. Now installed is the AD Engineering 1000hp FMIC. I don't plan on nearing that HP limit, but given that I frequently track her (we're talking about the real mans track- the road course ) we don't ever want to have IAT issues again. From a few back to back highway pulls tonight, I didn't notice any additional lag due to the massive IC core size . Logs to follow. That said, fair warning for those ordering from Andy at AD-E. While he may be an extremely talented fabricator, I couldn't be less impressed with him as a businessman. Terrible communication, blown deadlines, shipping to wrong address. Absolutely unacceptable. Especially at this price point. That said, once it arrived, the welds and build quality were 10/10.

YUUUUUGE


And now onto the skunkworks :-) we now have he first prototype set of custom fabbed hard piped outlets for the MMP Stage 3's. There have been some posts about silicone outlet failures due to the insane turbo side engine temps and constant expansion/contraction of the outlets. I've had my own concerns about running straight silicone in general on that side of the engine bay. And while straight silicone may work just fine for occasional highway pulls, I wanted to run a motorsports worthy version of outlets that would take any kind of abuse you can throw at them without having reliability concerns. Huge props to Eric at eFab for working his magic :-) sounds like these outlets might be available in the future depending upon demand. A few pics...



Installed


12/17/2016 - Winter mode


12/21/2016 - Blizzard Photoshoot
It was probably 3* and whiteout conditions. Figured, what better time for a photoshoot??





Yup. It's an obsession

[dbworld4k]

Great build! I'm super jealous of your dual OCs!

[bimmette]

Beautiful progression and pics!

[koches]

If I had a 335, this would be the one. E90, sgm, perfection.

[chris b.]

Nice!!

- How many miles were on it in the picture before you did the carbon blast?
- What did you do for plumbing when adding the oil coolers?

[sirdaft1]

Originally Posted by dbworld4k

Great build! I'm super jealous of your dual OCs!

Thanks bro! They're amazing. Highly recommended if you track it (road course, probably not needed for straight line)

Originally Posted by bimmette

Beautiful progression and pics!

Thanks! :-)

Originally Posted by koches

If I had a 335, this would be the one. E90, sgm, perfection.

Thank you sir

Originally Posted by chris b.

Nice!!

- How many miles were on it in the picture before you did the carbon blast?
- What did you do for plumbing when adding the oil coolers?

- Picked her up w/ close to 125k and if I had to guess, I don't think the PO ever walnut blasted her.

- Everything needed for the OC's came in the Evolution Racewerks kit. Think of it as one big loop. One hose goes from the oil filter housing to OC #1. OC #1 is then connected to OC #2 (hose fits under the car behind the FMIC). Then OC #2 routes back to the oil filter housing.

[jlombar5]

she got a reallll nice mouth on her now.

[NYBulldog]

Very nicely setup. Looks great.

[sirdaft1]

Originally Posted by jlombar5

she got a reallll nice mouth on her now.

You sure do gots a pretty mouth lol

Originally Posted by NYBulldog

Very nicely setup. Looks great.

Thanks! Much appreciated!

[Game]

Awesome build.

[uber]

Great looking LCI conversion!!

[scotty_miller]

I love watching builds like this

[terryd5150]

Excellent thread.

[BrandJas18]

Very Clean, well done sir.

[G_OFF5280]

That track video has had me drooling for months!! Keep it up man, this is a true testament to new n54 owners!

[sirdaft1]

Originally Posted by Game

Awesome build.

Thank you sir! You can't have the only clean looking e9x in Chicago!

Originally Posted by uber

Great looking LCI conversion!!

Thanks! Just waiting on the headlights to finish her off up front

Originally Posted by scotty_miller

I love watching builds like this

Originally Posted by terryd5150

Excellent thread.

Thanks brother!

Originally Posted by BrandJas18

Very Clean, well done sir.

Much appreciated

Originally Posted by G_OFF5280

That track video has had me drooling for months!! Keep it up man, this is a true testament to new n54 owners!

Thanks man! We could definitely use some more N54 representation at the track. And they car be properly quick cars with some tinkering

[jlombar5]

Originally Posted by G_OFF5280

That track video has had me drooling for months!! Keep it up man, this is a true testament to new n54 owners!

truthhhh

[jauloz]

perfect example of OEM+

[LsuGeaux]

Nicely done.

[sirdaft1]

Wish I would have gotten a few before pics of the nasty wood grain trim, but we officially said goodbye to it tonight! Spent 2-3 hours wrapping it in brushed aluminum vinyl and it looks like a completely different interior! 100x cleaner!

[SGM330]

Nice!! I have full LCI M tech conversion on my 330, SGM too. Might be selling the car though..

[Dlasko71]

Originally Posted by sirdaft1

Wish I would have gotten a few before pics of the nasty wood grain trim, but we officially said goodbye to it tonight! Spent 2-3 hours wrapping it in brushed aluminum vinyl and it looks like a completely different interior! 100x cleaner!

NEED to do this!! the wood grain is just terrible.