[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by Ajowhan

I dont have a before after picture of the stance. Good idea though, I will take a picture next time. 0.3 degree are so small though that it isn't noticeable to me in person.

Got it. I'm super curious to see others cars on lowering springs since I'm about to do that to my car.

[designatedposter]

Originally Posted by Ajowhan

Did an alignment for after the dinan spring install.

New camber is -1.1 and -1.2 front.
-1.9 rear

Previous camber alignment on stock suspension is

-0.8 and -1.1 front
-1.6 and -1.5 rear

what was the alignment after spring install, but before the 'correction'

[Vwang]

I started doing some aesthetic mods recently and they've really brought the look of the car alive. I loved how it looked stock but i really love how it looks now too. My passenger side mirror did take a casualty though(,:

[ZHP to B58]

Ordered....

1. ZF8 filter/pan and Liqui-Moly ATF
2. Liqui-Moly ATF additive
3. Liqui-Moly oil and filter
4. Pre-cat oxygen sensor
5. Pump to do job #1

Just hit 70k miles. Last two oil analyses to Blackstone Labs ended with perfect results, so now it's time for the ZF8 to be sampled.

[designatedposter]

Originally Posted by ZHP to B58

Ordered....

1. ZF8 filter/pan and Liqui-Moly ATF
2. Liqui-Moly ATF additive
3. Liqui-Moly oil and filter
4. Pre-cat oxygen sensor
5. Pump to do job #1

Just hit 70k miles. Last two oil analyses to Blackstone Labs ended with perfect results, so now it's time for the ZF8 to be sampled.

you diagnose the pre-cat o2 sensor as faulty?

[ZHP to B58]

Originally Posted by designatedposter

you diagnose the pre-cat o2 sensor as faulty?

I did not. Just a hunch that it's time, given that it's seen >20k miles without a cat and occasionally with aggressive burbles back then.

Post-cat has a 90-degree angled spacer.

[Kemps2Fast]

Weekly wash and early morning drives.

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by ZHP to B58

Ordered....

1. ZF8 filter/pan and Liqui-Moly ATF
2. Liqui-Moly ATF additive
3. Liqui-Moly oil and filter
4. Pre-cat oxygen sensor
5. Pump to do job #1

Just hit 70k miles. Last two oil analyses to Blackstone Labs ended with perfect results, so now it's time for the ZF8 to be sampled.

I'm curious with how your trans service will go and if you experience any whining sounds after the service. I now have whining sometimes (vast majority from 1st gear) post transmission service. Sounds a little like a supercharger. The shop who did the work looked everything over, re-changed the fluid, etc. They were able to replicate the noise but had no answer as to why and said there were zero issues with the transmission.

[Rich.Wolfson]

Originally Posted by JMcLellan

I'm curious with how your trans service will go and if you experience any whining sounds after the service. I now have whining sometimes (vast majority from 1st gear) post transmission service. Sounds a little like a supercharger. The shop who did the work looked everything over, re-changed the fluid, etc. They were able to replicate the noise but had no answer as to why and said there were zero issues with the transmission.

The procedure for the ZF service is very specific. The procedure calls for three steps: (1) cold fill without engine running (2) start the engine and fill transmission at 30-40 C degrees (3) shift to R, to D, to 1 (hood for 10 seconds), to 2 (hood for 10 seconds), put the trans in P rev engine to 2000RPM for 30 seconds, then wait for 40-50 C degrees and then do a final fill.

There are some videos out there. The one from FCP is good. I tried hard to do it right and I had no issues afterwards at all.

///Rich

[Ajowhan]

Originally Posted by designatedposter

what was the alignment after spring install, but before the 'correction'

Great question. I was told it was very off, but I did not get a chance to snap a picture as I was in the car when they took the before correction measurement.

The steering feels a lot smoother right after alignment on low speed.

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by Rich.Wolfson

The procedure for the ZF service is very specific. The procedure calls for three steps: (1) cold fill without engine running (2) start the engine and fill transmission at 30-40 C degrees (3) shift to R, to D, to 1 (hood for 10 seconds), to 2 (hood for 10 seconds), put the trans in P rev engine to 2000RPM for 30 seconds, then wait for 40-50 C degrees and then do a final fill.

There are some videos out there. The one from FCP is good. I tried hard to do it right and I had no issues afterwards at all.

///Rich

I think the shop followed this process as they did mention wanting the car early in the day so it had time to cool down prior to service. And they mentioned having lots of experience with the ZF service.

At this point I don't know if I should care or not. Upon inspection they found no issues and the car drives and shifts great with a few hundred miles post-service. Then looking at other forum postings, where people have claimed there is a whining noise with their ZF, I have not seen anyone say there is an actual issue after taking the car to the dealer or other shop for inspection. Maybe some of them just whine?

[JMcLellan]

Recently came across this gas station that is about 15 minutes from my house. This place is a tuner's wet dream!! Perfect for my fill ups where I do 4 to 5 gallons of E85 then the rest 93 octane. Haven't tried the E30 blend yet.

Also, got a car wash, mist and shined, cleaned the wheels, and shined up the tires.

[mb67]

Ordered replacement set of Michelin PS4S tires.

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by JMcLellan

Recently came across this gas station that is about 15 minutes from my house. This place is a tuner's wet dream!! Perfect for my fill ups where I do 4 to 5 gallons of E85 then the rest 93 octane. Haven't tried the E30 blend yet.

Also, got a car wash, mist and shined, cleaned the wheels, and shined up the tires.

I'm not very knowledgeable about tuning, but interested to know why you would want any ethanol fuels at all in your car?

[jv92red]

Originally Posted by Sportstick

I'm not very knowledgeable about tuning, but interested to know why you would want any ethanol fuels at all in your car?

In my lawn lower and gas trimmer, ethanol = bad. ANY mix. I run canned unleaded fuel without any ethanol in both because the carbs in both have parts that over time degrade using Unleaded with ethanol. This isn't the case in modern cars. Modern cars fuel systems are designed to run on an ethanol mix.

You already run 10% ethanol in your car now with Unleaded fuel = E10. Unleaded fuel has had ethanol mixed into it since the early to mid 90's I believe. Some countries now run a minimum ethanol content in their fuel of E20-E25 standard (Brazil?)

In a nutshell the higher the E mix/content in your fuel, the higher your effective octane level. The 91-octane unleaded fuel in CA and in the SW is not what most other states get with their 92 and 93 unleaded available at their pumps. This is where we can up our octane level to help with timing advance to obtain more power but keep in mind your Stoich AFR will be off since your car's DME doesn't know you're running more E than 10% and it needs to be tuned to account for it.

Downsides?
Other than having to tune for it downside to running more ethanol would be that your gas mileage will suffer some. Ethanol contains about 30 percent less energy per unit volume than gasoline. So when you tune for it part of the tuning process will require more fuel volume. And our fuel pumps aren't designed to run such high volumes through it when tuned so this is why many get a TU pump to run E30-E40 mixes in our B58.

Another downside is the few who run high ethanol mixes tend to have some cold start issues when it's very cold out. The motor turns over more before it starts. Not a big issue really, just an annoyance.

And there aren't very many stations around depending on where you live. I live in North OC and there are three stations within a few miles of my house so not an issue for me.

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by Sportstick

I'm not very knowledgeable about tuning, but interested to know why you would want any ethanol fuels at all in your car?

The other poster, Jv92Red, summed it up pretty good. My main thing is the lift in octane from ethanal allowing for a more aggressive tune. I also purchased and installed the TU high pressure fuel pump (from the 2nd gen B58 motors) to better support the ethanol blend I like. With the weather getting colder here in MN I will be shifting to 93 octane only and detuning the car until spring.

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by jv92red

This is where we can up our octane level to help with timing advance to obtain more power but keep in mind your Stoich AFR will be off since your car's DME doesn't know you're running more E than 10% and it needs to be tuned to account for it.

Your comment here made me curious. I'm running the MHD flash tune and when I run the 4 to 5 gallons of ethanol in my tank I select either the Stage 2+ 93 or 95 octane maps; i don't select the E40 map that is available. Partly because I don't want any more power and mainly because I don't have an ethanol sensor to confirm being at E40. I'm essentially just supplementing the ethanol to raise the octane to avoid timing corrections since the 93 octane in my area isn't that great.

Do you think that the AFR in my logs is misrepresented since I'm not using the ethanol maps?

[designatedposter]

Originally Posted by JMcLellan

Your comment here made me curious. I'm running the MHD flash tune and when I run the 4 to 5 gallons of ethanol in my tank I select either the Stage 2+ 93 or 95 octane maps; i don't select the E40 map that is available. Partly because I don't want any more power and mainly because I don't have an ethanol sensor to confirm being at E40. I'm essentially just supplementing the ethanol to raise the octane to avoid timing corrections since the 93 octane in my area isn't that great.

Do you think that the AFR in my logs is misrepresented since I'm not using the ethanol maps?

yes, AFR is misrepresented, but what you're doing is running richer than needed for that fuel blend (using a tune meant for gas). i've noticed that the bm3 OTS maps for ethanol blends target a leaner fuel mixture as compared to the gasoline maps, so what you're currently doing is just running richer than you need.

one thing to look out for is your fuel trim. check out the STFT (short term fuel trim). the car DME can only adjust up to +/- 30 percent, so if you exceed that, then you're not getting the targeted amount of fuel (for the tune's AFR). this is important because ethanol is less power dense than gas, so you need more ethanol than gas per unit of energy. in other words, if you're maxing out the fuel trim, then you could be in a position where the DME wants 'x' amount of fuel to hit the target AFR, but can only give 'y' amount (y is less than x). THEN, you could be running a lean condition (as compared to the target AFR).

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by designatedposter

yes, AFR is misrepresented, but what you're doing is running richer than needed for that fuel blend (using a tune meant for gas). i've noticed that the bm3 OTS maps for ethanol blends target a leaner fuel mixture as compared to the gasoline maps, so what you're currently doing is just running richer than you need.

one thing to look out for is your fuel trim. check out the STFT (short term fuel trim). the car DME can only adjust up to +/- 30 percent, so if you exceed that, then you're not getting the targeted amount of fuel (for the tune's AFR). this is important because ethanol is less power dense than gas, so you need more ethanol than gas per unit of energy. in other words, if you're maxing out the fuel trim, then you could be in a position where the DME wants 'x' amount of fuel to hit the target AFR, but can only give 'y' amount (y is less than x). THEN, you could be running a lean condition (as compared to the target AFR).

That makes sense. My trims were maxing out when I had the stock fuel pump and using the JB4 with an E15 blend. Then I switched to the TU pump when i moved to MHD. The maxing out was the ethanol and the stock pump, not a JB4 issue.

Here is a recent log. Do you want to take a look and provide an opinion? The STFT ranges from 5 to 9 during the pull. Not sure what to make of that.

https://datazap.me/u/jmclellan/pulls...a=3-6-16-18-26

[designatedposter]

Originally Posted by JMcLellan

That makes sense. My trims were maxing out when I had the stock fuel pump and using the JB4 with an E15 blend. Then I switched to the TU pump when i moved to MHD. The maxing out was the ethanol and the stock pump, not a JB4 issue.

Here is a recent log. Do you want to take a look and provide an opinion? The STFT ranges from 5 to 9 during the pull. Not sure what to make of that.

https://datazap.me/u/jmclellan/pulls...a=3-6-16-18-26

i'll preface that my experience is with BM3 logs for n55 motor (m235i).

speaking just about fueling and the fact that you're using a few gallons of ethanol while running a gasoline tune, you're STFT is very much acceptable.

now, if i were to compare to BM3 n55 93oct tunes, i'd say that you have more boost, more advanced timing, and a leaner AFR. all of this doesn't mean much since we're on different engines.

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by designatedposter

i'll preface that my experience is with BM3 logs for n55 motor (m235i).

speaking just about fueling and the fact that you're using a few gallons of ethanol while running a gasoline tune, you're STFT is very much acceptable.

now, if i were to compare to BM3 n55 93oct tunes, i'd say that you have more boost, more advanced timing, and a leaner AFR. all of this doesn't mean much since we're on different engines.

Got it and thanks for taking a look!

[RyanGphoto]

Hey Everyone.. new member..


I own the 2016 blue 228 vert. Has 44,000miles. Pretty base model. No heated seats or steering wheel, hifi audio, base suspension, no xenon. Bought in February 2022.. I put a ton of miles on my cars and now if I trade it in I'll lose a bunch on what I owe on it vs my trade in value on the silver one

I'm looking at this 2016 m235.. xenon lights, anthracite roof, Harmon kardon, heated seats and steering wheel, m suspension...etc, 15,500miles.

I would have to come up with $9,000 to buy out my car.

Do you guy guys thinks it's worth it? (I know, only I know., but would you do it?)

I can totally justify it to myself on one hand and then the frugal person in me doesn't want to spend the $9000 to get another car.. but I CAN afford it...but do I want to???

Anyone have any thoughts?