Project: Sleeper wagon

buy my Supersprint cats/X-pipe/center resonator

Originally Posted by lab rat

Small update.
Came up with a plan to make the E-flash tool work (it's not working because my DME was reflashed with 330 tune and the VIN was not programmed). I will get the car reflashed back to stock (indy shop with Autologic), then use the E-flash to load a custom tune for the 85mm pulley. Once we get that running then we'll try to go back to 83mm.
Interesting thing I learned from this - ESS says the car would drive even with the stock tune as long as I'll keep it under 40% throttle. I'll test it tomorrow.

Subframe reinforcement kit ordered (HPF). The spare engine in the garage is collecting dust. I don't feel like dropping another 10K into the low compression engine right now but who knows ...

Edit: Interesting. The car runs just fine with the stock tune.

i am running 02 sims too but but kept my o2 installed so I can prevent the "heater" error codes

Stu - yeah I thought about that but they are kinda pricey. What advantage would I get over two Magnaflow cats (about $800 installed)? Would it even work wit non-M exhaust? Why are you selling them, what do you run?

Betty - I have done the same. Kept all 4 sensors. There are 4 wires going into each sensor. I only cut one wire per o2 sensor - the signal wire, connected it to the o2sim output.
I really don't understand why I ended up with heater codes.

Screw it, I'm tired of the smell (the car also runs a bit rich so it stinks even more). I'm putting cats in.

It is non-M - it was on my ZHP - install is really easy - bolt up. The advantage would be the x-pipe for scavenge and the high flow resonator - great mellow deep sound (depending on your rear muffler)

I am selling the zhp and I reinstalled the oem zhp exhaust - no reason to give the exhaust away - it wasnt increasing the price of the car to the person buying the car

PM about price

Ok, Supersprint it is. Thanks Stu!

I think I'm getting somewhere with the cold start issue. It looks like my SAP doesn't run at all (but no codes).

Originally Posted by 330i ZHP

It is non-M - it was on my ZHP - install is really easy - bolt up. The advantage would be the x-pipe for scavenge and the high flow resonator - great mellow deep sound (depending on your rear muffler)

I am selling the zhp and I reinstalled the oem zhp exhaust - no reason to give the exhaust away - it wasnt increasing the price of the car to the person buying the car

PM about price

Great exhaust setup! Ran the same setup on my car! You won't be disappointed!

thanks Brian - mike is definitely getting a GREAT deal - this setup was $$

but it is going from one great car to another - so I am happy

I was going to try to sort out the sound of the car next. So this will be killing two birds with one rock.
I'll try it with the stock 325 muffler but I think the baffles are rusting out.
I'm gonna look into getting a ZHP muffler or some other quiet option.

Next plans:
Fix the cold start issue.
Try to find the reason for intermittent pinging.
Upgrade speakers, probably including a spare wheel sub.
Wrap the silver window trim black to finish the panda theme.

Wish list: (dreams that might turn into plans)
Build the low compression engine.
Respray non matching front fenders.
Retrofit heated seats (that won't be fun).
Replace some worn out interior pieces (maybe colour match the silver trim AW).
Get better gauges (probably mirror mounted).
Make a propper showroom forum post
Take the car to local dragstrip and spank some Hondas.

it sounds GREAT with ZHP muffler

Zzzzzzz

excited to see what happens next

Cats are in.
The good - no more smell. It sounds sweet!
The bad - the o2 sensors don't have enough clearance and also the cables are not long enough. So some more homework

Talked to the guy from the shop about pinging. He gave me some ideas and a quote for meth kit
It seems to be pretty common issue in Vancouver - sea level, cold and really dense air.

Pics of the exhaust tomorrow. Thanks again Stu.

There are tricks to get the cables down there - they WILL reach.

first, pull the 2ndary wires out of the rear engine loom (going from drivers side to passenger) and then route those two wire bundles down the drivers side of the trans.

You will likely even find the proper plastic clips attached to the body for supporting and mounting the wires (at least it was that way on my wagon and sedan)

As some of you know I have been fighting with pinging since I built my car. The problem is I bought used engine and never ran it without the compressor.
I tried different ESS tunes, lowered the boost with 85mm pulley, tried octane booster but the engine would ping when going from cruising to boost and also under heavy load in higher RPMs.
I suspect the used engine had previous problems resulting in screwed up valve timing or higher than normal compression ratio (typical for overheated engines with repaired heads).

I gave up troubleshooting for few months to let the bank account recover

Round two:
bought a tank of race gas ($20 per gallon of unleaded 104).
For the first time the car runs right.

From here the plan is to verify the bottom end is ok with compression and leakdown test.
If that's ok I'll check the valve timing.
Next step will be all sensors (O2, temperature, MAF) and valves (ICV, TB ...)

I expect that will solve the problem.
If not I'll look into meth/water AFTER the compressor.

On the CSLs, what size/width, etc...? Spacers? Great look.

Originally Posted by lab rat

As some of you know I have been fighting with pinging since I built my car. The problem is I bought used engine and never ran it without the compressor.
I tried different ESS tunes, lowered the boost with 85mm pulley, tried octane booster but the engine would ping when going from cruising to boost and also under heavy load in higher RPMs.
I suspect the used engine had previous problems resulting in screwed up valve timing or higher than normal compression ratio (typical for overheated engines with repaired heads).

I gave up troubleshooting for few months to let the bank account recover

Round two:
bought a tank of race gas ($20 per gallon of unleaded 104).
For the first time the car runs right.

From here the plan is to verify the bottom end is ok with compression and leakdown test.
If that's ok I'll check the valve timing.
Next step will be all sensors (O2, temperature, MAF) and valves (ICV, TB ...)

I expect that will solve the problem.
If not I'll look into meth/water AFTER the compressor.

I found mine wsa in the wiring from the MAF to the DME - it was losing load and causing to run just lean enough to ping but not throw lean codes of 171 and 174

Originally Posted by terzinator

On the CSLs, what size/width, etc...? Spacers? Great look.

It really does look perfect

Originally Posted by terzinator

On the CSLs, what size/width, etc...? Spacers? Great look.

VMR VB3. 18x8.5 ET40 and 18x9.5 ET45 no spacers. Tires are 225/35 and 255/30.
10mm spacer would probably fit on all corners for more aggressive look but I wanted the car to look as close to stock as possible.

Stu - thanks for the troubleshooting tips. How the heck did you find that? Some tool reading the MAF output?

Originally Posted by lab rat

VMR VB3. 18x8.5 ET40 and 18x9.5 ET45 no spacers. Tires are 225/35 and 255/30.
10mm spacer would probably fit on all corners for more aggressive look but I wanted the car to look as close to stock as possible.

Really looks great. No rubbing? Did you have to roll the fenders or whatever it is? The stance looks just perfect. (And I hate the too-low look.)

No rubbing with these tires, fenders are not rolled. These are pretty conservative offsets.
Tourings typically sit quite a bit lower in the back compared to the front. I don't like that. Coilovers make it easy to fix.

Compared to stock sport suspension: