[J0hnct78]

Hello, I am new to your group and also to BMW ownership.

A couple of months ago I bought a 2007 335i E93 6-speed manual with 106k. All stock except it had a dinian tune done to it. Everything seemed fine but it had a minor misfire issue when cold so I took it to the dealership to have it checked out. The dealership said it wasn't the injectors... but recommended the walnut blast. They also gave me a list of their issues such as: oil filter housing gasket leak, tension arm bushing, leaking front strut, and leaking oil pan gasket.

Then a week later the hose that goes to the radiator reserve tank busted, spraying coolant all over. I replaced the tank hose, and the upper radiator hose because I broke the little plastic fitting. No big deal, but the belt started squeaking and I found a lot of dried oil on the front of engine.

So I ordered the walnut blasting kit, the oil filter and cooler gasket kit and the front serpentine belt with pullies/tensioner kit from ECS Tuning.

My idea was that I'd do all of these things at once, clean the front of the engine and if it takes a few weekends I don't care because I have a spare Toyota to drive. I don't know if my hands are just not as good anymore, or if I was rushing because my back hurt like hell, or if the plastic is just brittle, but I ended up breaking the little vacuum line nipple on the intake manifold and the tabs for the heater on the rear inlet.

I'm thinking I can fix the intake manifold somehow by drilling and then tapping in a new line for the vacuum. I saw I could buy a used one for around $90 though. I would like to get an actual nice aluminum one but they look to be around $800 and I think they are really meant for doing methanol injection (something I don't understand)

The rear inlet should be operating with a vacuum so I think if I put the heater back in I could just use some tape and maybe a hose clamp to act as a strap and I bet it would function. But after market inlets are cheap, so I watched some YouTube videos (vehicular DIY) and installing the rear inlet seems horrible. Like you have to remove the downpipes. So now I'm thinking if I remove the Downpipes, why don't I install some cat-less 3" downpipes. But I think I saw I'd have to do some sort of cat-less down pipe fix. And everything starts to snowball.

Sorry for the long story, but I wanted to give background before I ask advice. So here are my questions, please:

Has anyone had to fix the vacuum line nipple on the intake manifold after snapping it off? And how did you fix it?

If I did just strap the heater on the rear inlet to make it work, do you think it would cause any major issues?

If I buy the VSRF inlets should I go with factory location? Do you think the non-factory location are easier to install? And why are they black, i wanted them to be some cool color?

I believe I read to do mods in the following order: intercooler, downpipes, inlets. Do I need to upgrade the intercooler to see gains from inlets and downpipes.

Will the dinian tune adapt to the mods? Or do I need to get one of those jb4 things?

Would cat-less downpipes just turn on the check engine light or put the car into limp mode?

I'm in Corvallis Oregon so the is no emissions testing.

Any easy mods I'm overlooking?

In the future I'd also be interested in an lsd conversion, that is if I can get through this mess...

Sorry for the long newbie first post.

Thank you,
John

[Emilime75]

LOL...not laughing at you, but with you, these things do tend to snowball sometimes.

There's a lot in your post to answer, but you'll need to do a lot more research.

I doubt your Dinan tune will be able to compensate for catless down pipes, so you'll need a tune if you go that route. JB4, I believe, no longer masks the CEL, but it's still a worth while product to look into. Most will tell you to go MHD, which will mask the CEL. Pros and cons of masking CEL are that the light won't be on, but neither will it come on if there is something wrong with the car. On the flip side, if your CEL is already on due to catless, then there's no additional warning of other issues, anyway. Having no emissions testing in your area is a major pro as you won't have to deal with that. The DP fix is meant to only be run for a short time and to get through an emissions test, not long term at all.

Forget about aftermarket inlets at this stage and stock turbos.

Intercooler is recommended even on stock cars. Factory part is small and inefficient. Upgrade won't provide any "gains", but will allow to maximize potential and keep it consistent as opposed to issues and performance loss due to high IATs and heat soak.

Easy/cheap mod is DCI. How effective it is is debatable, but it provides an intake sound many like, including myself.

Replacing the stock plastic charge pipe with an aluminum one is highly recommended. No performance gains, but stock plastic ones "explode" and potentially leave you stranded. Haven't read of any additional damage caused by this, but when mine went, a chunk of plastic got wedged under the throttle plate, meaning some it could have been ingested by the intake and into the valves/cylinders, theoretically. With charge pipe choices come diverter valve and blow off valve choices, you could go either way and you'll have to research what you want on that one.

Be careful with your serpentine belt, tensioner, idler and fluid leaks around those areas, including the OFHG. A serpentine belt that breaks or slips off the pulleys can easily be sucked up by the crank pulley, destroy your front main seal and be ingested into the engine causing all sorts of serious and expensive problems. There is a plate available that bolts in between the block and crank pulley, preventing the belt from damaging the seal and getting sucked into the engine, I forget who makes/sells it.

DCI, intercooler, charge pipe, downpipes and tune are what's considered FBO(full bolt on). Most start with DCI and end at FBO. Beyond that, you can do exhaust mods with no real performance advantage, just a different(louder) sound and less weight compared to stock. The golf tee mod is something else you can research. This can be done with an actual golf tee, or by unplugging the exhaust valve actuator in the trunk. Beyond that there's is upgraded turbos or single, e85, meth injection, additional fuel supply... LSD is nice.

For your actual issues, I'm not sure. Others have added vac ports to their manifolds, so I think your fix sounds reasonable.

I don't know what the "heater on the rear inlet" is. In theory, like you said, the inlet should be under vacuum so it shouldn't take much to hold it down. The only caveat being that if there is a leak, you'll be sucking in unfiltered air.

All of the above was thrown together quickly, so there are many details left out. Point is, research, research, research...then research some more. These cars are fun with a lot of potential, but they do come with their own challenges, sometimes a lot of them. For replacement parts, if you plan on keeping this car for a while, I'd suggest getting everything from FCPEuro.

[dpaul]

Originally Posted by Emilime75

LOL...not laughing at you, but with you, these things do tend to snowball sometimes.

There's a lot in your post to answer, but you'll need to do a lot more research.

I doubt your Dinan tune will be able to compensate for catless down pipes, so you'll need a tune if you go that route. JB4, I believe, no longer masks the CEL, but it's still a worth while product to look into. Most will tell you to go MHD, which will mask the CEL. Pros and cons of masking CEL are that the light won't be on, but neither will it come on if there is something wrong with the car. On the flip side, if your CEL is already on due to catless, then there's no additional warning of other issues, anyway. Having no emissions testing in your area is a major pro as you won't have to deal with that. The DP fix is meant to only be run for a short time and to get through an emissions test, not long term at all.

Forget about aftermarket inlets at this stage and stock turbos.

Intercooler is recommended even on stock cars. Factory part is small and inefficient. Upgrade won't provide any "gains", but will allow to maximize potential and keep it consistent as opposed to issues and performance loss due to high IATs and heat soak.

Easy/cheap mod is DCI. How effective it is is debatable, but it provides an intake sound many like, including myself.

Replacing the stock plastic charge pipe with an aluminum one is highly recommended. No performance gains, but stock plastic ones "explode" and potentially leave you stranded. Haven't read of any additional damage caused by this, but when mine went, a chunk of plastic got wedged under the throttle plate, meaning some it could have been ingested by the intake and into the valves/cylinders, theoretically. With charge pipe choices come diverter valve and blow off valve choices, you could go either way and you'll have to research what you want on that one.

Be careful with your serpentine belt, tensioner, idler and fluid leaks around those areas, including the OFHG. A serpentine belt that breaks or slips off the pulleys can easily be sucked up by the crank pulley, destroy your front main seal and be ingested into the engine causing all sorts of serious and expensive problems. There is a plate available that bolts in between the block and crank pulley, preventing the belt from damaging the seal and getting sucked into the engine, I forget who makes/sells it.

DCI, intercooler, charge pipe, downpipes and tune are what's considered FBO(full bolt on). Most start with DCI and end at FBO. Beyond that, you can do exhaust mods with no real performance advantage, just a different(louder) sound and less weight compared to stock. The golf tee mod is something else you can research. This can be done with an actual golf tee, or by unplugging the exhaust valve actuator in the trunk. Beyond that there's is upgraded turbos or single, e85, meth injection, additional fuel supply... LSD is nice.

For your actual issues, I'm not sure. Others have added vac ports to their manifolds, so I think your fix sounds reasonable.

I don't know what the "heater on the rear inlet" is. In theory, like you said, the inlet should be under vacuum so it shouldn't take much to hold it down. The only caveat being that if there is a leak, you'll be sucking in unfiltered air.

All of the above was thrown together quickly, so there are many details left out. Point is, research, research, research...then research some more. These cars are fun with a lot of potential, but they do come with their own challenges, sometimes a lot of them. For replacement parts, if you plan on keeping this car for a while, I'd suggest getting everything from FCPEuro.

OP - Just a couple of points for clarification:

Heater on the rear inlet is so that water vapor exiting the PCV system doesn't freeze and cause a block to venting. Just tape that on and forget about it.

As for the vacuum nipple, as Emilime75 indicates, many have purposefully removed it and replaced it with a larger diameter metal fitting for performance reasons (to improve operation of diverter or blow-off valves). So don't worry about that.

Finally, when MHD "masks" the CEL, it is only masking the CEL for catalyst efficiency. You don't need to be concerned that you are missing a report for something essential to the general health of the car. In fact, the DME still reads the downstream O2 sensors and uses that information to calibrate the upstream ones. You'll eventually get a different CEL if they fail to function.

[iqraceworks]

One thing I would suggest would be to start doing some research, watching YouTube videos, and learn how to wrench on the car without having to take it to the dealer every time you have an issue. These cars will absolutely break you if you can't do your own repairs. Also, get some diagnostic software (ProTools app or INPA or any of the other ones) so you can scan for fault codes.

As far as your missfire issues goes......if you can find out which cylinder is reporting the missfire, I would swap the coils around and see if the problem stays in the same cylinder...or follows the coil. Probably a bad coil.

These cars have a lot of good things going for them....but they are not worth the money or hassle if you can't do your own maintenance and repairs.