I picked up a couple more cosmetic parts for my BMW 335i just recently. A set of paint matched Alpine White front reflectors that replace the stock amber colored reflectors and some OEM BMW gloss black grills. The install of the reflectors was a bit tricky since you have to peel off the old reflectors from their double sided tape on the inside of the fender. I ended up pulling off the wheel well splash guard to make things easier and used a wood chisel to slowly pry them off. Be sure not to twist the blade when prying the reflectors off because if you do, it will bubble the outside of the fender. The instructions (from JleviSW) say to use a flat head screw-driver but that will very easily damage the outside of the fender if you twist or pry with a small blade like that.
The BMW performance gloss grills were a snap to install. Simply remove the 4 hex screws that hold the bumper on the top, reach behind the bumper, and pop off the snap tabs one by one until you can pull out the grill. Snap the new ones in then re-install the 4 screws and you are done. A few pictures below and more notations on the picture site:
I picked up some Burger Motorsports dual cone intakes (BMS DCI) recently and got them installed today. The install process was pretty simple and did not take that long at all. Just simply followed the instructions on the BMS Installation page. I snapped some installation pictures of the BMS DCI install process with a few of them below.
I have been looking off and on for a new car for the past year or so. Originally I was aiming for a c6 Corvette and keeping it as a 3rd car strictly for fun. As time passed and I had time to think about things, having 3 cars in the family was not the best idea. Mostly because we don’t have the space. I began looking at BMW’s, at first the 1 series cars, but soon realized 2 doors wouldn’t not cut it if I had to haul kids around. Next up on the list, 3 series sedans with slush boxes and manual paddles, kid friendly yet still fun in sport mode. I have been watching the used and dealer market for the past 6 months or so, waiting for something to show up that had what I wanted. I was about ready to give up until next summer when I saw a 2009 335xi that was fully loaded, had the M-sport package (rare!) and the exact color combo I wanted. I was saddened that when I talked to the seller it was pending sale During the same time-frame I was also looking at a couple other 335i’s that did not have navigation and no M-sport (but basic Sport package). I was really close to buying a monaco blue 2007 335i when I got an email from the seller of the 335xi of my dreams, saying the car was back on the market! I talked to the buyer and found out the car had some Dinan modifications done to it as well, I went to look at is asap. This car was exactly what I wanted in a BMW; Alpine White, Premium pkg, Cold weather pkg, M-Sport pkg, Navigation, black leather interior, it was perfect. In addition, the seller added some great modifications including BBS 19″ RGR wheels, Dinan stage 2 engine/boost and suspension upgrades, Dinan exhaust, and Dinan upgraded oil cooler. All things that I would have done to a stock BMW 335. I jumped on the opportunity, after test driving it and having it inspected at my local BMW dealer, and I am loving it. This car is amazing! Enough talk, onto the pictures, you can see them all in my BMW 335xi album.
The Denver Auto Show recently passed through again for 2011. I have quite a few pictures of various cars and trucks that were pretty cool. There was an amazingly painted Chevy Camaro in a military theme, very cool!
Well, the 30th anniversary Super Chevy Show was this past weekend at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, CO. I took some time Saturday with my son Caleb to check out the car show and some of the qualifying action. There were some very nice cars at the car show ranging from old to new. Some of the highlights being an amazingly restored C1 Corvette, custom painted gray/white/orange Camaro, a Corvette ZR1, and a plethora of custom painted Corvettes. A full list of pictures can be found here at Super Chevy Show 2010 pictures. Below you can find a few teaser pictures along with a short video!
So, I have been battling boost control issues for a few months now. After my hatch back was tuned last November it ran great for a while. Then, gradually I started having issues with the electronic boost control that is managed by my Hondata s300. The initial symptom was the car hitting boost cut instead of the boost stopping at 20psi and holding like it should. If I went full throttle the turbo would just spool to the moon and never stop, very annoying. I was able to “fix” it briefly by lowering my boost solenoid duty cycle in the Hondata Smanager software but it did not last long. Gradually it would go bad again and not hold boost, once again shooting straight to boost cut and the wastegate would never open. After much troubleshooting and testing that did not get me anywhere, I decided to try a brand new boost solenoid from Hondata. After I put in the new solenoid everything worked perfectly fine again! So, on the surface it seemed that my old boost solenoid just went bad or maybe got damaged from heat. Well, not so fast, as my over boosting problem returned only a couple weeks after I had the new solenoid. Back to the drawing board…again after more testing and troubleshooting I did not get anywhere. Luckily I got a tip from a member of d-series.org about a possibility that the filter on the front of the solenoid could be getting clogged up and not releasing air fast enough. This filtered port on the solenoid regulates the air pressure in the top chamber of the wastegate, and if it gets clogged up it cannot release air pressure fast enough causing too much air to get stuck in that top chamber. What happens then is the wastegate never opens, and magically you have no more boost control and will over boost. So, with that tip, I unscrewed the filter cap on my solenoid, said a prayer, and took off driving again. Much to my amazement, the boost control was working again, yay! So after weeks of fighting my boost control issues, and 2 solenoids later, the problem was solved by simply taking off the solenoid filter. Why both my filters got clogged up so quickly I’m not quite sure, although they seem pretty restrictive to begin with, I guess it doesn’t take much to make them worthless.
So, cliffnotes…if you’re having over boosting issues and nothing else has changed in your mechanical or software environment on your car. Then don’t forget to check those stupid filters on the solenoid! You don’t even have to put them there in the first place if you want to avoid it all together.
I got down to Colorado Springs to see my old friend Jeremy of http://serviontuning.com Servion Tuning this past weekend. Everything went great for the tuning session and he was able to get some great power out of the car on 20psi of boost. We stopped there to avoid risking damage to the engine since the cylinder head is stock still. Once I upgrade the valvetrain and cam we will retune and take it even higher! Check out the youtube video of the dyno pull here!
So, some months have passed and recently I have done some changes and fixes to my Civic hatch. After driving it for a while I felt like the turbo I had was a bit too large for the application, with the power coming on really late in the power band. I opted for a Bullseye Power t3/t04e 50 trim with a .55a/r turbine to replace my MasterPower turbo. This turbo spools a good bit sooner and faster as well. I have not driven it that hard being that my tune is off now but I was able to get a good idea of how it performs. My old Greddy bov also blew it’s diaphram and was leaking bad at the mounting flange, so I decided to upgrade and replace that with a new Tial Q bov. A new catch can was also installed recently. Finally, my boost solenoid is also about to get installed so I’ll have boost control. Plan is to get more tuning on high boost settings in 2 weeks. Stay tuned!
My Civic hatchback is back on the road, after a fresh tune on e85 and ~7psi of boost. It made really good power, 215whp/175ft.lb. torque, but it does not come on until real late in the rpm range. Looks like the turbo is a little too big for the setup. But, I am going to wait and see how it looks on higher boost settings. If it doesn’t turn out the way I like I will probably change to a different turbo and get re-tuned. Overall though I am enjoying the car, it still has some minor issues that need to be fixed but I at least have it back on the road.
Turbo installation is underway, but not before I had to deal with some other problems. I had to start the weekend (last week) by dropping the transmission to replace the main seal that was leaking. What a pain, twice now I have pulled and re-installed a transmission by myself, without proper tools or lifts/jacks. DUMB! Anyways, to the turbo install, I got the fuel system done. New in-tank Walbro pump and some RC1000cc injectors, along with a new liquid filled fuel pressure gauge. After that I got to installing the manifold, wastegate, and downpipe. Here I ran into some more issues related to fitment with the wastegate and downpipe. I’m working on getting those fixed up so for the mean time here are a few pics of the progress so far.
During the same time-frame I was also looking at a couple other 335i’s that did not have navigation and no M-sport (but basic Sport package). I was really close to buying a monaco blue 2007 335i when I got an email from the seller of the 335xi of my dreams, saying the car was back on the market! I talked to the buyer and found out the car had some Dinan modifications done to it as well, I went to look at is asap. This car was exactly what I wanted in a BMW; Alpine White, Premium pkg, Cold weather pkg, M-Sport pkg, Navigation, black leather interior, it was perfect. In addition, the seller added some great modifications including BBS 19″ RGR wheels, Dinan stage 2 engine/boost and suspension upgrades, Dinan exhaust, and Dinan upgraded oil cooler. All things that I would have done to a stock BMW 335. I jumped on the opportunity, after test driving it and having it inspected at my local BMW dealer, and I am loving it. This car is amazing! Enough talk, onto the pictures, you can see them all in my 
