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  #1  
Old 07-27-2021, 03:47 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: West Linn, OR
Posts: 1
Kevinjbonn is on a distinguished road
Just joined the E70 family, need help, BMW mods have advanced in my absence a lot!





Hey there my new E70 family! I need some suggestions on a few things, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you all and hopefully being able to contribute quite a bit to this community. Let me give you a bit of background. Skip to the 🚀 emoji if the background bores you for my e70 mods questions. But basically, if you're down to read it, I'm looking for help spending my money! Haha. Keep in mind I'm a Real Estate Agent so I'm driving 500 miles per week minimum.
Sometimes 1000. So practicality and comfort are sort of important.

My dad bought an e30 convertible when I was 7 and he and I were instantly smitten. I had a BMW hat that he got me then that I wore until I was like 13 every single day. All my best memories from childhood are riding in that car with him, him letting me sit on his lap and steer, and eventually learning to drive a manual on it.

When I turned 15 he got an 2003 325xi and a 2003 Z4 (which we picked up in SC at the factory, they somehow let my 15 year old punk rock self do driving school in a car alone, and then I got to take turns driving it back home to Oregon with just a learner's permit) and gave me the e30. I did a bunch of mods but the reliability of it started to tank. So we got me an e36 328. That car also was unreliable and I managed to trade it for a 98 Z3 which I did a bunch of mods on but it suffered badly from that issue where the subframe in the trunk separated and that was impossible to repair.

So I went all in on a 95 Dinan M3 with very high miles which I drove the wheels off of from the summer before college til a year after I graduated. Around this time I may have gotten a roundel tattooed on my arm. The M3 was awesome and I hated to part with it, but it was toast at 250k miles. I got so good at repairs on those e36/e46 based models that I could change a thermostat or radiator in a dark parking lot. You name it, I repaired it or modded it. I went through a very boring lemon of an e60 525 that I had to sell for parts a few years ago. I also took over the car payments on an epic 2006 X3 M sport with a 6 speed manual that my mom bought new.

Funny how all the cars we got new didn't have issues ever. But that X3 was destroyed by a drunk driver tragically. Ever since I was stuck with a depressing and bland 2014 Jetta SE out of necessity which finally blew its engine about a month ago and I was super glad to be done with it. I was finally at a place in life where I could afford a nice BMW again, but I needed one in a hurry.

The dealership that sold me the Jetta owed me a big favor so I had 7 BMW's on their lot to choose from. After scoring them all based on features, reliability, and looks, I found that this 2013 X5 35i was the best. I spent at least 6 hours on their lot inspecting it myself, and found all the records online showing it was serviced at BMW of Eugene and two other dealers in New York and Colorado. It was flawless and needed nothing but a couple trim pieces replaced. Literally no issues. Except that it got crap gas mileage (15.6mpg was the average after a week of city and highway). Also a gravel truck destroyed the windshield (but paid for a replacement) and the sunroof deflector thingy snapped and jammed open (just removed it entirely and am either going to JB weld it back together or get a new one. No biggie) in the first 24 hours. Otherwise, it is FLAWLESS for 62k miles. I should add that my step mom had a 2009 X5 3.0d that burned to the frame for unknown reasons. Terrifying and could have killed her, but she still rooted for the E70 when I asked her. She and my dad took a generous settlement from insurance and BMW directly and replaced it with an i3.



🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀

Thanks for getting this far. So far I've added black out F style grills, some silly race car tow eyes, messed around with Bimmercode, replaced the air filter with a K&N drop in panel filter, and swapped the plugs which were pretty old for the fancy laser iridium ones. The coils were in fantastic shape so I left them for now. I also just used MHD tuning to clear the adaptations and go to Stage 1 with 93 Octane, the oem burble, and flap always open in sport mode. It's definitely faster and the average MPG shot up to 22.1 from that. Awesome results!

I'm looking for suggestions on a module or screen replacement that might keep the iDrive menu but let me use Android Auto, since Google maps and the voice to text engine from Samsung kicks the crap out of OEM BMW. It would be awesome if I could connect with MHD through it, and if I could use it for dash cam functionality. I know those are probably extreme asks, but I've seen things like them, so maybe you guys have good experience with one or another?

Also, there are far too many choices for replacement charge pipes and intercoolers, which are clearly my next step if I want to go to stage 2 with MHD. Which ones should I avoid, which ones deliver, and which ones are too over priced to be worth their cost? Are cold air intakes on the N55 worth doing? I notice they seem rare and the factory box seems to be designed exactly how I had wished they were back in the e36 days. But any suggestions there would be awesome.

I'm looking at adding a lip spoiler to the trunk/tailgate, and some diffusers along the front and rear. But I also want to get the carbon fiber style exhaust tips. I just can't find any for this car. Anyone had any that worked well for them? At some point I wanted to go with a deeper, less restrictive, but not too loud exhaust. I already did straight pipes once in my life. I don't need to do that again. What have you got?

Any coil packs I should specifically replace with when these need it? I've heard so many opinions and seen so many options. What about suspension? I've heard the airbags go bad a lot, but these are great. When I hit a twisty country road for the first time, I was astonished that this tank reminded me so much of an e46. I was going to leave it alone for now because it handles fantastic, but are there any setups that are great for daily use but still pretty sporty? Are strut braces or roll bars worth a look?

Last but not least I'm intending to black this whole thing out outside, and I've got all the parts for that on the way. Minus wheels, those are for later. But I'm trying to find a way to have interior trim custom printed that can go over the wood grain. Wood is nice, but I'm feeling inspired by comparing this thing to a space ship a lot, and deciding to do an interior theme based on the Voyager 1 artwork. It's a little out there, but it will we awesome if I can get someone to print it for me!

So thanks for reading this far if you did, and any suggestions are greatly appreciated.




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  #2  
Old 07-27-2021, 10:46 AM
andrewwynn's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Racine, WI
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andrewwynn will become famous soon enough
Just joined the E70 family, need help, BMW mods have advanced in my absence a lot!

N55 are known to ingest the serpentine belt if it derails. If I owned one I would get the protective shield. Also I see a bunch of "broken link" for what appear to be photos but no photos in your post.
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