Why not also look into the OG M2? It has the N55 but is upgraded with forged internals and makes more power than the non-M versions. Also comes with LSD out of the box. Not sure what the tuning ability of it is but it's pretty awesome out of the box. Also has a usable back seat.

 

^ good suggestion, and the OG M2’s back seats are roomier than on the bigger newer M2.

 

I considered an M2 but ... way too much money for me right now.

I want something paid off / problematic .

Also considering a 135i and making a poor man's 1M.

 

The cheapest and best way to get a 1M clone is to get an OG M2 haha.

The OG is way cheaper than the comp models, I think it's like half the price or more.

Edit: Scratch that. Those fuckers are still going for like $35k+!!! Even older ones with miles lol. I did not see that coming...

 

N54 E30 swap

 

$10-12k 135i, 1.5k LSD, t00ning, suspension refresh & tires ... poor mans 1M .

 

I wasn't a fan of the OG 1er for a while, but it's grown on me.
The Clownshoe [Z3M] still not so much

 

Cool? Yes.

Ugly? Also, yes.

 

Make sure you factor in the wide boi hips and front fenders to get those big tires on there.

 

Amazon special over fenders, deck screws, Linglong tires on XXRs.

Got it.

 

Closed on my house yesterday and we get the keys on 5/14 .. everything worked out exactly as we expected which is pretty wild



We moved 20 minutes further East than where we're at now in a much more family friendly neighborhood - living next to college kids gets really old after 12 years .

We are also 2 houses down from my sister in law, 2 blocks from school, 1 block from the park, and only 10 minutes from the everything else.
We have a tad more land than we did before (.31 acres, 2 parcels of land) but the house is located on the most northern part of the lot which means, much bigger front yard, pool, and there's a detached garage - As of now, house doesn't need much other than paint / minor repairs but as you can see, the detached garage needs a decent amount of work to refresh.

Right off the bat, it will need:

- 40ft retaining wall behind the garage to address apparent drainage issues
- Siding replacement / wood rot fixes
- Install garage door opener / replace and/or repair garage door

Eventually, it will need:

- New driveway
- New sidewalk
- New roof

More pics to come but, I hope to fill the garage with the Cayenne and my next project car - highly considering a N54 135i and/or 335i.

Exciting times.

 

Had to read the whole post after seeing the picture.

'Closed on our house' posts photo of garage

There's a house around the corner from us that's on the market. Photos pretty much make it look like a garage with a bedroom attached. If it weren't insanely overpriced [no longer has an MLS listing that I can see] it'd make a neat shop-in-disguise.

Found an old listing for it:
IIRC: It was listed for 300k :crazy & dropped down to just over 200k still
Doesn't say what it actually sold for.


 

Fine fine, here's the front & backyard ... happy now?!

I love a project and this house will turn out nice - my first house made a pretty radical transformation and this one will likely get the same treatment .

 

 

Sweeet! Congrats! Sounds like the move was win all the way around! You moving yourself or hiring movers?

 

Movers for bigger stuff but moving boxes by ourselves - that small utility trailer will come in clutch for sure.

 

Looks awesome! Congrats on the new house!

 

Congrats Tyler! Hope to see it during our annual meet up in August

 

Checking out this hunk of junk this week.

2007 335i with all the Dinan goodies including upgraded sway bars, Dinan Stage 3 tune, exhaust, adjustable Koni suspension, 335IS Front & Rear bumpers, facelift headlights & taillights, Dinan forged wheels, brand new Contential DWS tires, and even has Quaife LSD

2 owner car - apparently, first owner was Steve Dinan. Not really buying it for the history but, it's condition is unreal .. interior looks brand new and the mileage is very low (75k).

Price for a 335 is high but, I'm working on a cash negotiation. Hope it works out as it's 10 miles from me.






2nd option is - I'm also eyeing a 135i in Houston which has a excellent spec but, I just cannot bring myself to buy a car sight unseen which has bounced between a few auctions in the last year or so - also, a little rusty.

My heart wants a 135i, my brain wants the 335i.

 

Having not really been into the BMW scene before, I've been doing a lot of research on the N54 platform and I think I'm sold.

The tuning (MHD) for the N54 has come a long way - on the fly flashes via ODB2 adapter and you can pretty much customize your off the shelf tune how you want.

N54 motor is notoriously problematic but, shares a lot of the same parallels as the 2.7T - maintenance maintenance maintenance.

They're known for taking power pretty well - there's an Ethanol station a half mile from my house and you know I will be exploring E40-E50 blends .

I'm excited for the house but I can't not be excited for starting on a new platform as well.

 

I'm no BMW-boi, but if you need eyes on it, depending on where in Houston [N side ], I could maybe take a look at it for you.

 

Genuinely appreciate the offer - the dealer is on the south east side of Houston.

34 miles from Spring, TX.

I respect your time and wouldn't want to burden you with this .

 

Go with your heart. We all know it'll work out better that way.

 

Even if it's at a sketchy small car lot?

I swear, there are no reasonably priced "clean" manual N54 135s out there - it's crazy.

 

If you're not in a hurry then wait it out.

There's this one on CaB:
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/30D...a16&ref=lr_1_1

Keep an eye on the auction sites, that's where I'd go for a car like that.

 

Not really wanting an N55 (2009+) and you know me, I'm far from patient.

The N54 is a more problematic engine but has more tuning potential - I'm the source of my own problem .. too specific.

 

Go for that 335i. The 1 is fun, but you won't feel like you're missing out with that 3. You may be surprised with just how agile it is.

 

I guess it all depends on how far you want to take it. If you intend to drop 1000hp into a 1 series then I think you'll have much bigger problems than tuning potential lol.

The 1 (and 2 for that matter) series is a light weight, short wheel base go kart. You definitely don't need a lot of power to pucker your butt hole, don't ask how I know. The M2C has 405hp bone stock and it's incredibly fast if you want to push it, even the M2CS only goes up to like 440hp mostly because of the platform limitations and both of those are considerably heavier than the 135i.

I guess my point is that I wouldn't put too much on the "tunability" for a car like this as you'll run into a lot of other limitations (brakes, suspension, tire width, cooling...my god the cooling, etc) with the platform really fast. The 1 and 2 series cars with the bigger motors are tiny, incredibly tail happy rocket ships out of the box. I'd try one out before you have the same mentality that you had with the S4

Edit: You want to be patient with a car like this. Getting a well cared for example is going to be worth your time vs a potential time bomb. Especially considering the level of bush league tuning that some of these cars have gone through over the years.

 

Timing depending, could make that trek. Guessing Baytown/Pasadena area?

 

Near Pecan park.

I'll let you know via PM - I'm checking out that 335 today and it may not be necessary.

Thank you!

 

30 min from my office, an hour from home.
PM me if you're leaning that way & we can see if I can work something out.

 

Only a piece of shit would do this to a friend.

Congrats on the house upgrade and the 335. Don't be cheap with yourself...bigger car, owned by Dinan himself.
That's the move IMO.

 

Congrats man! The house looks awesome, and now you have a pool. Also, I heard you like dog beds on top of dog beds.

 

The 335 sounds like the play for now. Even if you move on from it in just 2 years. Seems really nice and sorted so you shouldn't have any problem. (I likely just jinxed you now though)

 

Should be easy after VAG life

 

Welp, I drove the 335i and overall I really liked the car and has a lot of potential but their asking price is high considering it's mechanical condition. Paint & interior condition is phenomenal though, which IMO, is most important to me - every panel was straight, all factory paint, no accidents, everything on the exterior was pretty much mint.

Car has been in storage for roughly 3 months but started right up, no codes, no weird valvetrain noise and no wastegate rattle - so far so good.

Suspension felt great with no knocking sounds or anything. I could tell it could need a power steering top off and it had a pretty noticeable valve cover leak. Otherwise, car tracked straight and didn't really have any weird vibrations.

Not like it matters too much but, car felt insanely slow for "Stage 3" - the Stage term is silly but, the car felt like it made maybe 300whp and down on power for having power adders - likely needs some work to address that.

I'll likely put in an offer but I don't expect them to like it .

 

Feeling down on power is a concern but at the same time I am sure a lot of things off the bat will feel down on power from what you are coming from. I assume no chance they tuned out present codes from showing that you would be concerned about with it feeling down on power based on how it ran otherwise?

You never know unless you ask on the price. They might not be happy, but it might help find a potential middle ground. Hey, the worst they can say is no, and you keep looking. Goodluck.

 

If it's running Dinan software you aren't even cracking 400hp at "stage 3" so unsurprising that it didn't feel as fast as you'd expect.

https://www.dinancars.com/products/s...sgkc0bJEkNJbgM

 

Guy texted back "we're too far apart on price" - not surprising

Cool car but it is not worth $18k (mind you, he originally listed it at 30k ).

So, Houston 135i is back in the crosshairs - I got a lot of underbody pics / videos of the car running - body is clean.

@00TL-P3.2 - appreciate your initial offer -my buddy (who's 5 minutes away) is going to check it out for me on Friday.

Who knows, maybe this is fate.

 

Good luck!
If you come out this way to pick it up, let me know.