[Jake_Petersen_E91]

I have a 2007 BMW 328i wagon with 140k miles on it. I've put roughly 2500 into the car including maintenance and upgrades. I thought that I'd start a thread that will include the things that I've done and, from now on detailed videos on how to do these things. I'll post later tonight.

6/4/2018

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

As of today, 06/04/2018 I have done the following mods:
Cosmetic:
Black Kidney Grill
M3 Style Front Bumper (BavarianAuto)
LED License Plate Lights
R8 Style Dual Halo LED Projector Headlights (Spec-D Tuning)
Opt 7 Wheel Well Lights (Used in the interior)
Performance:
Injen Ram Air Intake
MagnaFlow Performance Muffler (In place of rearmost muffler)

If you're looking into any of these things let me know and I'll tell you everything I can about whatever it may be.

[simplesilver]

Is the cold air intake inhaling warm air from the radiator?

[ryan stewart]

Lol, there is no such thing as a cold air intake, you just lose some power for louder engine.

I'm glad those headlights are on your car, woof.

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Originally Posted by simplesilver

Is the cold air intake inhaling warm air from the radiator?

I was under the impression that's what the product was called but, it's a ram intake instead. Also, it does take in colder air, believe it or not. When the stock air box is on the air intake temperature ranges from 115 to about 150. However, according to DashCommand (An app for your phone) Once I put the Injen intake on, it was no longer that high of a temperature, in fact, while driving the temperature of the air the car is taking in is usually within 10 degrees of the outside temperature. So, I'll fix that in the upgrade list. Also, not that this really does much but there is a heat shield that somewhat blocks off that radiator and engine block heat.

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

Lol, there is no such thing as a cold air intake, you just lose some power for louder engine.

I'm glad those headlights are on your car, woof.

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

Lol, there is no such thing as a cold air intake, you just lose some power for louder engine.

I'm glad those headlights are on your car, woof.

I did not realize that it was a Ram Air Intake I thought it was called Cold Air Intake, obviously I was wrong. Also you say that there's no gains? I felt a snappier throttle with some cool noise. According to Injen it will add something like 11.9hp how much I trust that I don't really know but, it's gotta be adding something, right? And I am sensing some slight sarcasm in the headlights comment, lol. The reason I ended up with those lights is because the main thing I was looking for in a light was the halos. These had the halos and the angel eyes, or whatever they're called and they were some of the few options I could find at the time.

[banglenot]

Looking forward to the mechanical repairs and updates you've done. Bringing an '07 E91, 104K, up to date and curious what you've found at 140K.

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Originally Posted by banglenot

Looking forward to the mechanical repairs and updates you've done. Bringing an '07 E91, 104K, up to date and curious what you've found at 140K.

Definitely. I'll post later tonight a couple things I've run into and done. Also if you're interested in performance I got some parts I just installed. I'll include that in the later post.

[K9Leader]

Here is my 2010 328xi. I got it four months ago with 119k on it. I've put 3K since. It is my daily driver.



Mods:
Carbon fiber kidney grills
Carbon fiber exhaust tips
ASA AR1 18" wheels
Michelin 225/40R-18 PRIMACY MXM4 ZP
Acer Racing Titanium lug bolts
Canvasback cargo liner with side pieces (dog-hauling car)
Kuda mounting base (for GPS)
Leather cover for front passenger door grab handle (tacky feel and bits coming off)
Mewant steering wheel cover
DEPO Smoke Fender Side Marker Lights
Carly App and OBD wireless connector
BMW thermoplastic floor liners, front and rear
Mud guards - front and rear. Yes, I know, purists are going to flame me but this is a daily driver that does see a lot of dirt and gravel roads (dog-hauling car).
Vinyl wrapped Burlwood trim (3 times!) - in process of pulling it all off and giving Plasti Dip a try.

Maintenance
B4 struts/shocks front and rear
Front brakes - BMW rotors, Textar pads
Stainless steel brake lines
Oil filter housing gasket
Water hose block connector - replaced plastic with aluminum
Valvetronic motor gasket
Spark plugs & coils
Air filter and charcoal delete

I still need to address the oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, and differential seals. I would also like to do the three-stage intake manifold and, perhaps, an upgraded intake.













My Corvette was feeling neglected so it threw a CEL right before time for state inspection - rear knock sensor was not sending - so it got some attention, too (pull intake and tighten/torque - either worked its way loose after I changed it in December or I forgot to torque it down or I didn't torque it enough - Doh!).

K9Leader

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Hey there K9Leader! Awesome to see another BMW Wagon, not many of them around me or that I see often. Anyways,about the 3 Stage Intake Manifold and the Intake, I would recommend doing them. The intake is a nice simple job, as I'm sure you know and can run you anywhere between $50-$350. I went the more expensive route because I believe "You get what you pay for." and got the Injen one. I would recommend it, looks cool, sounds cool (I hear a slurping noise) and it puts a little pep in your car's step. And the Intake Manifold, I just did one less than a week ago and I'm happy with it! I ran it for about a day without a tune on it and, after the car adjusted for about 50 miles it was a nice upgrade claiming to add as much as 20-30hp, not sure I believe that entirely. Also, if you're going to do the Manifold you should put the Active Autowerke tune on your list as well. Again, it's not cheap but, it will make more power out of the mods you have also taking out that pedal lag!! Finally, addressing that valve cover gasket, I did mine last summer and it took me with the help of another person about a day to do it because, of course things would break or get lost so, having a hardware store close by was helpful.

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Originally Posted by K9Leader

Here is my 2010 328xi. I got it four months ago with 119k on it. I've put 3K since. It is my daily driver.



Mods:
Carbon fiber kidney grills
Carbon fiber exhaust tips
ASA AR1 18" wheels
Michelin 225/40R-18 PRIMACY MXM4 ZP
Acer Racing Titanium lug bolts
Canvasback cargo liner with side pieces (dog-hauling car)
Kuda mounting base (for GPS)
Leather cover for front passenger door grab handle (tacky feel and bits coming off)
Mewant steering wheel cover
DEPO Smoke Fender Side Marker Lights
Carly App and OBD wireless connector
BMW thermoplastic floor liners, front and rear
Mud guards - front and rear. Yes, I know, purists are going to flame me but this is a daily driver that does see a lot of dirt and gravel roads (dog-hauling car).
Vinyl wrapped Burlwood trim (3 times!) - in process of pulling it all off and giving Plasti Dip a try.

Maintenance
B4 struts/shocks front and rear
Front brakes - BMW rotors, Textar pads
Stainless steel brake lines
Oil filter housing gasket
Water hose block connector - replaced plastic with aluminum
Valvetronic motor gasket
Spark plugs & coils
Air filter and charcoal delete

I still need to address the oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, and differential seals. I would also like to do the three-stage intake manifold and, perhaps, an upgraded intake.













My Corvette was feeling neglected so it threw a CEL right before time for state inspection - rear knock sensor was not sending - so it got some attention, too (pull intake and tighten/torque - either worked its way loose after I changed it in December or I forgot to torque it down or I didn't torque it enough - Doh!).

K9Leader

Love the red interior and, those are some pretty sweet wheels on there!

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

As of 6/16/18

Tonight I am making another post about my wagon because on Monday of this week I spent about $1200 in parts, mostly performance. I invested in the 3 Stage Intake Manifold off of the BMW 330i. Installation for this took about a day, a skilled mechanic could probably do it in a matter of 3hrs. Depends if things go wrong (Broken clips, missing bolts etc.) With installing this i have noticed quite the gain in power! Most of this new found power was found in the higher RPMs. From some of the reading I've done, it seems to me that the Intake Manifold in the 328 from factory is mostly for low end torque roughly 1-2.5k RPMs (I assume) where as the 330i's intake manifold is build more for general performance. Correct me if I'm wrong but, I don't think that there is any difference in the intake runners length or width but, just an added DISA valve. What the DISA valves do is direct the air into the cylinders that need it. So, by adding another one the engine can run more efficiently on the air that it's given. Finally, talking money. For me, I bought the Intake Manifold used. To buy a brand new one is about $1200 give or take some depending on the site and shipping. So I purchased a used one from another forum member for $390 done deal, shipped directly to my house. If you're interested in that I can point you in his direction.

Onto the fun part! The tuning process. So, I chose the Active Autowerke tune which, depending on how you do it will cost you anywhere from $459-$784. This is defiantly something I would recommend if you do the Intake Manifold because they will not only tune your car for the intake manifold but also if you tell them the other performance mods like an intake for example, they will also take that into account when specializing the tune for your car. Once I got the Simon 3 cable it took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to read out my ECU. Once I did that, I sent the file to Active Autowerke and about two hours later, I got a response with a modified tune! It only took about fifteen minutes to install the tune from my laptop compared to the hour and fifteen it took to read out the ECU.

Anyways, that's all for now! Next on the list (about 4-5 weeks from now) Active Autowerke Headers along with a newly modified tune! Again, any questions or comments, please feel free to post!

[K9Leader]

Originally Posted by Jake_Petersen_E91

Love the red interior and, those are some pretty sweet wheels on there!

Yes, I like the red trim. The black-and-red carbon fiber was not quite what I was looking for - the red was too orange and too much grey in the black. It was, however, the best vinyl of any I've worked with - I was able to get it around all of the corners and curves without any blemishes, folds, or creases.

The red that is on there was very difficult to work with and does have several imperfections that will drive me crazy if I keep it on. I do have two sets of trim so I am going to do one set in Plasti Dip that is almost the same darkish red metallic while keeping this set intact in case I want to go back to it (although I would probably redo it to try to get better results). I've already experimented with the Plasti Dip on one piece - first attempt was terrible - too much texture and very tacky, rubbery feeling. Second attempt was much better - I did nice wet coats and it was much smoother and much less tacky/sticky. After the first attempt I decided not to use the glossifier which I understand makes the rubbery feel worse. Also, the base coat has a satin finish that I prefer. Also used some Dip Coat to treat it and it is now almost as smooth as the vinyl. I'm waiting for the special nozzles from DipYourCar.com that smooths things out even more. Should get all that done next week.

The car came with the 16" wheels, which I actually really liked the style but they were . . . well, too small:


The tires were going to need replacing by next winter and I figured I would get 17" or 18" wheels then. I had put these wheels in 17" on my son's Mazda 6 last year for his birthday and really liked them - I love the "mesh" or "Y-spoke" design. But these wheels in the 18" size were ridiculously inexpensive - Tire Rack is closing out the 18" size - and they were cheaper than the 17s. Of course, the traditional BMW brake dust makes keeping them clean a challenge.

I will probably wait until next summer for the intake and air intake - just had to replace my house central air unit (old one was only five years old!) and do need to address the oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket and differential seals first.

So, yeah, welcome to the E91 club. Do we have a secret handshake? Or maybe a special wave (like with my 'Vette)?

K9Leader

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Originally Posted by K9Leader

Yes, I like the red trim. The black-and-red carbon fiber was not quite what I was looking for - the red was too orange and too much grey in the black. It was, however, the best vinyl of any I've worked with - I was able to get it around all of the corners and curves without any blemishes, folds, or creases.

The red that is on there was very difficult to work with and does have several imperfections that will drive me crazy if I keep it on. I do have two sets of trim so I am going to do one set in Plasti Dip that is almost the same darkish red metallic while keeping this set intact in case I want to go back to it (although I would probably redo it to try to get better results). I've already experimented with the Plasti Dip on one piece - first attempt was terrible - too much texture and very tacky, rubbery feeling. Second attempt was much better - I did nice wet coats and it was much smoother and much less tacky/sticky. After the first attempt I decided not to use the glossifier which I understand makes the rubbery feel worse. Also, the base coat has a satin finish that I prefer. Also used some Dip Coat to treat it and it is now almost as smooth as the vinyl. I'm waiting for the special nozzles from DipYourCar.com that smooths things out even more. Should get all that done next week.

The car came with the 16" wheels, which I actually really liked the style but they were . . . well, too small:


The tires were going to need replacing by next winter and I figured I would get 17" or 18" wheels then. I had put these wheels in 17" on my son's Mazda 6 last year for his birthday and really liked them - I love the "mesh" or "Y-spoke" design. But these wheels in the 18" size were ridiculously inexpensive - Tire Rack is closing out the 18" size - and they were cheaper than the 17s. Of course, the traditional BMW brake dust makes keeping them clean a challenge.

I will probably wait until next summer for the intake and air intake - just had to replace my house central air unit (old one was only five years old!) and do need to address the oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket and differential seals first.

So, yeah, welcome to the E91 club. Do we have a secret handshake? Or maybe a special wave (like with my 'Vette)?

K9Leader

I was curious how that would've look in person, pictures don't show those little imperfections. Anyways, wheels are on my list too! Keep me posted on what you end up doing because, honestly, I'm looking for some ideas. I think you will be be able to manage the valve cover gasket, if I can do it as an experienced kid you got it!

Regarding the secret handshake and wave, I wish we had one! LOL

[E90CPhT]

Man, wagons are so cool, lol.

[ryan stewart]

Originally Posted by Jake_Petersen_E91

I did not realize that it was a Ram Air Intake I thought it was called Cold Air Intake, obviously I was wrong. Also you say that there's no gains? I felt a snappier throttle with some cool noise. According to Injen it will add something like 11.9hp how much I trust that I don't really know but, it's gotta be adding something, right? And I am sensing some slight sarcasm in the headlights comment, lol. The reason I ended up with those lights is because the main thing I was looking for in a light was the halos. These had the halos and the angel eyes, or whatever they're called and they were some of the few options I could find at the time.

Lights are really, really busy.

There isnt a cold air or likely ram air intake system without cutting holes in the hood because, if you have looked at the stock system, it has a plenum that routes ALL THE WAY over the rad and into the kidney grille. Its basically pulling from OUTSIDE the car, which is as cold as you are going to get. Look at one of the most powerful cars on the market, the Dodge Demon. What did they do? Put the filter in a box up front and then removed a headlike and ran a plenum to it as an intake. Just like our cars (but everything is just bigger).

The thing you have is pulling in air from behind the radiator, ac evap, and radiating off of that hot ass engine right next to it. Its a HOT air intake. Not ram air either. All it really serves to achieve is to effectively SHORTEN the intake. Makes it louder. Might help the engine rev up a tiny, tiny bit but youre not really going to see any power gains and if you did see a few HP gains yould have lost that (or more) in torque.

[ryan stewart]

So getting one of those cargo liners. My car is also a dog hauler, and mulch hauler, and camping crap hauler, and beach crap hauler, etc.

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

Lights are really, really busy.

There isnt a cold air or likely ram air intake system without cutting holes in the hood because, if you have looked at the stock system, it has a plenum that routes ALL THE WAY over the rad and into the kidney grille. Its basically pulling from OUTSIDE the car, which is as cold as you are going to get. Look at one of the most powerful cars on the market, the Dodge Demon. What did they do? Put the filter in a box up front and then removed a headlike and ran a plenum to it as an intake. Just like our cars (but everything is just bigger).

The thing you have is pulling in air from behind the radiator, ac evap, and radiating off of that hot ass engine right next to it. Its a HOT air intake. Not ram air either. All it really serves to achieve is to effectively SHORTEN the intake. Makes it louder. Might help the engine rev up a tiny, tiny bit but youre not really going to see any power gains and if you did see a few HP gains yould have lost that (or more) in torque.

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

Lights are really, really busy.

There isnt a cold air or likely ram air intake system without cutting holes in the hood because, if you have looked at the stock system, it has a plenum that routes ALL THE WAY over the rad and into the kidney grille. Its basically pulling from OUTSIDE the car, which is as cold as you are going to get. Look at one of the most powerful cars on the market, the Dodge Demon. What did they do? Put the filter in a box up front and then removed a headlike and ran a plenum to it as an intake. Just like our cars (but everything is just bigger).

The thing you have is pulling in air from behind the radiator, ac evap, and radiating off of that hot ass engine right next to it. Its a HOT air intake. Not ram air either. All it really serves to achieve is to effectively SHORTEN the intake. Makes it louder. Might help the engine rev up a tiny, tiny bit but youre not really going to see any power gains and if you did see a few HP gains yould have lost that (or more) in torque.

To be honest with you Ryan, I don't know all the science and stuff behind it. I appreciate the explanation but, I'm just putting up what the Injen website says. And, like I said, it does pull in cooler air than the stock air box according to my OBD2 readings

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Recently bought some Active Autowerke headers and installed them. I didn't make a video but it was easy and I'll explain in a post later tonight. I am very happy with the results. I will post a vid of what it sounds like though.

[K9Leader]

Update on the interior trim: The Plasti Dip was okay but too delicate and ripped in a couple of places when I removed the main dash piece to run a hardwire for the GPS. I bit the bullet and decided to paint. I went with a GM color - Dark Garnet Red Metallic:















We'll see how it holds up. I like it - gives a touch of color without being too much contrast.

K9Leader

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Originally Posted by K9Leader

Update on the interior trim: The Plasti Dip was okay but too delicate and ripped in a couple of places when I removed the main dash piece to run a hardwire for the GPS. I bit the bullet and decided to paint. I went with a GM color - Dark Garnet Red Metallic:















We'll see how it holds up. I like it - gives a touch of color without being too much contrast.

K9Leader

That's sweet, man! I'm thinking of doing carbon fiber.

[K9Leader]

My original idea was a black and red carbon fiber vinyl, mostly black with just enough red to give a maroonish tint, but I haven't been able to find just the right pattern. Doing it in real carbon fiber would be cool but too expensive and, again, finding just the right color/tint would be difficult.

I will be holding off on any mods to the E91 for a while as my '99 Corvette's transmission just went belly up. Happened on a trip in upstate New York - car is still there and I have to go up and tow it back next week, then get it into a shop for new transmission. So, my car budget is shot for a long, long time.