BMW guys on FerrariChat?

New to BMW and picked up a 2008 525xi daily driver with 57k single owner miles meticulously maintained. Black Sapphire and Natural Brown, N54 motor, HPFP and water pump replaced that drives and glides. Sport, Premium, and Cold weather packages.
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Nope, you have the normally aspirated N52B30 motor unless someone did a swap. N54 is twin turbo. Still, they are awesome cars. I have put 50k in 2.5 years on my 535i, spent way too much money in fixing it, but it is a beast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_N52#N52B30

If you don't have parking sensors, getting the bimmernav back up camera is one of the best things I have done to my car. $1k installed at a shop, worth it.

FYI, washer pumps fail often, and to get to it you remove the front driver's wheel liner. I am on my third.

 

Sorry, 535xi it is indeed the N54. Typo, can't go back to correct it.

 

Got a 428xi a couple of weeks ago.

Nothing sexy, but if it is reliable it will be a nice car for a couple of years before handing down to my daughter when she turns 16.

 

Sunny, it's been a while! Waterpumps, HPFP, injectors, wastegate rattle are the main issues. The car, stock, reacts well to a light tune, easily 40-60hp and 60-80tq on pure stock parts. I am going to do a dyno runs with it next week.

It is a neat car. She'll be happy with it as a first car.

 

Thanks Tim! My mechanic has two and convinced me to go Stage 1 with intakes, charge pipe, and flash. I don't think I want to go the JB4 route but I know it's there.

It's like a modern day Supra motor. Forged internals, takes well to boost, decent on fuel. I don't have the later iDrive which is disappointing, but I couldn't pass it up.

I have the Bamboo Anthracite but thinking of switching it out with my mechanic for the Light Poplar. The darker wood with his black interior and the additional contrast for my lighter interior will look sharp.

 

Cold air intakes are bogus. I have DCIs and if you see the forums, nobody has seen any benefits, just sound. I have turbosmart BOVs on an ER chargepipe for sound. The pipe does not need to be changed, only if the plastic is old and brittle.

Down pipes without cats in non-smog states are awesome, and a JB4/Cobb/MHD are more flexible than a tune and cheaper.

 

Great advice! I wouldn't mind downpipes and being in a smog free area (outside Denver) is a consideration. That with a tune will likely be the most efficient gains. I do like how tomb quiet it is.

 

Oooh, nice. We picked up our 2008 535xi at the beginning of 2013 with about the same mileage. It now has 144K. Gotta love those sport seats. Hubby's thinking of getting a newer one, but they unfortunately don't make the manual transmission with awd any more.

Ours had been a CPO and had gotten two brand new turbos before we bought it. Then we had a coil pack go, and the HPFP went out at around 110K - BMW covers this as a warranty item until 120K / 10 years from the in-service date, I believe.

 

Very nice! I am a big fan of the seats and the 20-way adjustment. Water pump and HPFP have already been replaced. No wastegate rattle at all here, quiet as a church mouse. Grandma certainly didn't abuse the turbos!

 

The new Z4 was just revealed in Monterey. I think it looks incredible! The only thing I'd do without are the buttresses behind driver & passenger seats, which I always think look fussy, and don't make the car a true roadster. But I'd say the chances of them being gone by the time the car reaches production are high. Anyway I like how it looks. The world needs as many front engined RWD 2 seat roadsters as it can get! Plus, it's going to have a manual option, they say....
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That looks so aggressive, I'm a huge fan.

 

I have been waiting for the Z4 to get a new treatment. that nose is very sexy, and the m packages a year in will be terrific

 

Shared platform with the new Supra, which is rumored to be DCT only and will only be available in hardtop.

The front of that is very aggressive. I like it. It needs to be Sakhir Orange! Oh baby.

 

I want it in that yellow!

 

JB4+cable, intakes, charge pipe+BPV, catless downpipes+fooler, plugs, coils, and VANOS solenoids for the N54 to be delivered next week. Retaining stock exhaust for a quiet, aggressive note. Setting the boost cut at 14psi to start and see how trims and timing actually perform. For daily that lives mostly under 4K RPM it will be a gentle cruiser, with a little extra.

 

Mixed feelings on this. I have to see the production car to make a conclusion.

 

Results? My altitude baseline dyno will be done next week and then the mods and dyno a couple weeks after that.

 

I really like the bmw z4 concept. My worry is that the production car will not look like that at all. I hope I am wrong. Love this design.

Robb

 

I have the wastegate rattle i need to fix :/

 

Not good. Pure Turbo replacements are all the rage and well priced. The JB4 allows you to control wg actuation to raise or lower RPM to mask the rattle. It sucks these are integrated into the turbo.

 

The wastegate rattle is not fixed when the flap is unevenly seated just through software. I have thought about the pure turbos, it might be worth the $2500 to do them.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Not a Ferrari owner yet but in a few years that should change.. here is my 195k mile 98 328i 5 speed sedan toy. Lightly modified with M3 3.38 lsd diff, intake, exhaust, comforti tune, staggered M3 contour wheels, H&R sport Springs, Koni shocks, rouge engineering rtab’s and trans mounts, M3 3 spoke steering wheel, bavaudio speaker upgrade, cross drilled and slotted rotors, porterfield R4S pads, reinforced subframe mounts and rear sway reinforcements. Still have other mods planned but with 3 year old twins time is not on my side.

 

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This is my daily driver - 2016 X5M. My previous one was an M5. I absolutely love the interior quality of M cars.

 

Just pulled my M3 out of the warehouse this weekend to drive it some (98 E36 sedan, MT)--still love the car.