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The official E9x OT thread!

2M views 4K replies 138 participants last post by  i🫶myN54 
#1 ·
Many of you have asked for it... so here it is.

While this is OT, all of the rules still apply. Keep in mind that personal attacks an NSFW material will get posters in hot water.

Enjoy.

- Mike
 
#4,036 ·
Geez, the F30, etc. forum are all in a 'huff' that the Buick Regal was rated above the BMW 3-series in CR's latest car report. A lot of 'flaming' going on, but nobody bothered to do their homework.

Kat was right about the 'demographics' in there.

CR evaluated 270 cars. Aside from their No. 1 rated 'E' car...an $80K+ Teslas, who do you suppose was the No. 2 rated car?

BMW of course...the M235i (it's almost a 3-series :bigpimp:).

When I pointed this out to them they calmed down quite a bit. :D

I can see myself in a M235I after my current lease is over. :thumbup:
 
#4,037 ·
LOL. But even if you move to the M235I, you will still have to play with your old friends over here......:grouphug:
 
#4,049 ·
The two things that have impressed me the most are how good the M Adaptive suspension is and how good the DCT is in fully automatic mode. It is virtually indistinguishable from the Steptronic in terms of smooth shifts and smooth take offs.

After having an adjustable suspension in the 750 I knew that I would never buy another car without that feature.

On Saturday I will wax it and install aluminum pedals but other than that it will remain stock.

CA
 
#4,050 ·
Something in my house is emitting a half-second "beeeeep!" about once every 10-15 minutes. It's maddening because it's not long enough or frequent enough to localize the source. The smoke detectors are line-powered so that's not it.

Suggestions?
 
#4,051 ·
Dead battery for the alarm system?

At our house, the alarm system has a battery back-up for power failures, when the battery dies, or gets very low, we get an audible warning somewhat like what you describe.
 
#4,060 · (Edited)
I have not measured it myself but it is approximately 25' shorter than the aforementioned ketch. Sorry, DSX, you can only have the cook & bottle washer job if you can fit the galley in the trunk. (It does have fold-down seats to make it easy to serve passengers in the main cabin.)

Black Sapphire Metallic over Natural Brown leather, 5 speed manual, heated seats, sport package, Harmon Kardon CD audio ... pretty darn close to how I'd equip the thing if I could buy it new. Black was far from my first paint choice (one is enough, TYVM) and I am not overly fond of the wheels (someone decided to fit Z4 wheels...:rolleyes:). Still, I am not quite stupid and/or fussy enough to pass on something this good simply because it is not red or blue: 2003 and only 53,000 miles!

It is due for an oil change (to which I will add plugs & filters, just because), is missing the front belly pan under the engine and the PPI reported a wheel bearing that has plans to retire soon. That's the whole list. Compared to 95% of the optimistically-priced train wrecks I've seen in the past two years, this was a bloody unicorn! :yikes:
 

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#4,061 ·
I have not measured it myself but it is approximately 25' shorter than the aforementioned ketch. 2003 and only 53,000 miles!

It is due for an oil change (to which I will add plugs & filters, just because), is missing the front belly pan under the engine and the PPI reported a wheel bearing that has plans to retire soon. That's the whole list. Compared to 95% of the optimistically-priced train wrecks I've seen in the past two years, this was a bloody unicorn! :yikes:
Ah, the infamous E46 Unicorn you have been chasing. Congrats!!

Only 53K? That is amazing! What a find...:thumbup::clap:
 
#4,074 ·
I finally got the E46 cleaned up--photos over here in the E46 forum.
 
#4,075 ·
Zeichen,

Looks like she cleaned up well! Noticed the center armrest isn't quite matching. Leather type? If the E46 had Dakota leather I have the perfect replacement for you....
 
#4,082 · (Edited)
Why am I awake and posting at nearly 3:30am local time? I'll tell you why: Because I'm cranky. Why am I cranky?

Because it's 82°F or higher and stifling throughout most of the house.
Because the central A/C decided to take the day off.
Because we discovered said failure too late to attempt any repair before leaving for an all-day-into-night family event.
Because upon returning home around 11:00pm, then vainly attempting to tolerate this for another hour, I grabbed some tools and decided to at least determine whether I need to make a service call, or could maybe find blessed relief by standing at the doors of Home Depot when it opens in the morning.
Because I had a moment of false hope upon discovering no power at the air handler or condensate pump, on their dedicated circuit.
Because said hope was dashed when swapping said circuit's hot conductor to another, known-good 20A breaker did not fix the problem.
Because I then determined that while I have 120VAC on that conductor where it leaves the main panel, I have ZERO volts on it where the cable emerges from the walls in the basement.

And as far as I know, that is an (originally :tsk:) uninterrupted run of Romex from the panel to the air handler.
And that means that somewhere, in the inaccessible part of that thirty-odd-foot run, there is now a break in the hot conductor that, when it failed sometime yesterday, managed to (a) not trip the breaker and (b) thankfully, not set fire to my house.

ARE.
YOU.
F^(#ING.
KIDDING.
ME.​

Well, on the plus side, I will have a temporary repair and functioning A/C by 7:00am--Home Depot opens at six. But I am really not looking forward to the amount of drywall I have to rip open just to find the route of this freaking cable, let alone replace it.

And that's why I'm cranky. :mad:
 
#4,083 ·
Why am I awake and posting at nearly 3:30am local time? I'll tell you why: Because I'm cranky. Why am I cranky?

Because it's 82°F or higher and stifling throughout most of the house.
Because the central A/C decided to take the day off.
Because we discovered said failure too late to attempt any repair before leaving for an all-day-into-night family event.
Because upon returning home around 11:00pm, then vainly attempting to tolerate this for another hour, I grabbed some tools and decided to at least determine whether I need to make a service call, or could maybe find blessed relief by standing at the doors of Home Depot when it opens in the morning.
Because I had a moment of false hope upon discovering no power at the air handler or condensate pump, on their dedicated circuit.
Because said hope was dashed when swapping said circuit's hot conductor to another, known-good 20A breaker did not fix the problem.
Because I then determined that while I have 120VAC on that conductor where it leaves the main panel, I have ZERO volts on it where the cable emerges from the walls in the basement.

And as far as I know, that is an (originally :tsk:) uninterrupted run of Romex from the panel to the air handler.
And that means that somewhere, in the inaccessible part of that thirty-odd-foot run, there is now a break in the hot conductor that, when it failed sometime yesterday, managed to (a) not trip the breaker and (b) thankfully, not set fire to my house.
ARE.
YOU.
F^(#ING.
KIDDING.
ME.
Well, on the plus side, I will have a temporary repair and functioning A/C by 7:00am--Home Depot opens at six. But I am really not looking forward to the amount of drywall I have to rip open just to find the route of this freaking cable, let alone replace it.

And that's why I'm cranky. :mad:
I feel your pain. Can you just dead end both ends of that circuit and run a new wire? It's 12-2 Romex with ground I assume? Or armored 12-2? Your air handler is in the basement where the panel is?
Unless a squirrel committed suicide inside your wall I can't imagine what could have interrupted one side of a 120V circuit. The condenser circuit would be 220V (240V) but I guess you're at least lucky it was the 120 branch.
There should be 120 on the black circuit, but white is the neutral and should show 0 when jumpered to ground. What do you have?
 
#4,085 ·
Green Tree Asphalt Vehicle Sign

I see that Zeichen has paid his dues for teasing us this past weekend! :)
All kidding aside, I'm sorry to read about your AC troubles. I must admit that electrical issues/troubleshooting is way over my head. Hopefully the picture coupled with a jolt of positive energy sent your way, pun intended, will cheer you up now that your troubles are behind you.
 
#4,089 ·
I just popped in here to take a break from the 'what color car should I buy' posts...oil change, and ubiquitous runflat posts. My head is about to explode.

BTW...if bemo and DSX are listening, would cranberry painted shutters look good on a beige house? Just askin.
 
#4,090 · (Edited)
I just popped in here to take a break from the 'what color car should I buy' posts...oil change, and ubiquitous runflat posts. My head is about to explode.

BTW...if bemo and DSX are listening, would cranberry painted shutters look good on a beige house? Just askin.
At last, a question for which "Search" isn't going to reveal 20 answers. Although here in New England cranberry shutters on a beige house is considered classic style, I am afraid that in CA it just won't fly. Especially if the house is stucco and surrounded by palm trees. May I suggest that if you're feeling a little nostalgic for a touch of home you just run your furnace from October until April. That should cure you.

(Yesterday I visited some friends in Plymouth. We went down to the harbor and bought 10 lobsters from a fisherman who had just docked. All were 1 1/2 to 2 pounders. Boiled all 10, made lobster bisque with a couple, and served the rest piled high on a platter with drawn butter, corn on the cob -finally in season- potato salad and a couple Sam Adams'. Homemade strawberry rhubarb pie with Dunkin's home brewed coffee for dessert. Life is good. Feeling nostalgic now?)
 
#4,103 ·
I just saw Christoph Waltz in a pathetic Clash of Clans commercial. Somebody get this man a decent movie to be in...STAT!
 
#4,104 ·
The OEM performance exhaust is braking in nicely, burbles better and better each day. Sounds better than new fart can M3.
I called to inquire about couple of Lime Rock Edition M3 but the asking prices are insanely high.

Happy St. Valentine's to everyone.
 
#4,105 · (Edited)
The OEM performance exhaust is braking in nicely, burbles better and better each day.
Hooray for burbles! :thumbup:

Happiness is casually passing legions of AWD whatevers in this morning's mess...in a 12-year-old RWD Bimmer on (new-ish, to be fair) all-season tires. No excitement, no rush, no problem...Tip o' the hat to all my driving instructors. :bigpimp:

The head-shaker for the day was watching a Jeep Cherokee (?) come bombing up in my rear-view on the Interstate, pull out and pass me at about +10mph and then brake rather abruptly, when he finally--at a distance of two car lengths--noticed he was about to blow by the State Trooper I was tailing. Then he slo-o-o-owly tucks in between us like nothing happened. :rofl: My bet is that he avoided an awkward conversation only because the trooper didn't want to snarl traffic by pulling the clown over for minor idiocy. (Yes, it's OK to pass a cruiser in NJ, but doing it at ten-over in foul weather ain't smart.)

(Why is my own AWD E90 with winter boots parked in the garage today? Because I just had it hand-washed, haven't waxed it yet and I'm not gonna cover the dang thing in salt again until I do! Plus, in general, the only dicey parts of my commute are the first five miles and the last half-mile...enough time to figure out whether I'd be a fool to not turn back, switch rides and accept the mess.)
 
#4,106 ·
I'm not gonna lie, I'm jealous of anyone who has this exhaust. I just can't see that particular expense at this time when my car is screaming for Koni FSD's and a charge pipe. :)
 
#4,111 ·
I live in this wonderful NE state of the Emperor; New York (where guns and "individual thought" are bad but large bloated gov't regulations & subsidies are good). One of those bloatings is the emissions testing which unfortunately doesn't LEGALLY allow us to put in a down-pipe. I mention this as I see your location is the High Desert of the even stricter Republic of California & I was going to get Active Autowerke's full exhaust, charge pipe & air filter. Then get catalytic down-pipes from Cobb. (I'm still under warranty and didn't want a tune kit yet).

Upon speaking to Rob at Active of my plans, he mentioned that the catted DP's don't work "properly" (read that as it will pop the CE light and you'll fail emissions) and w/o having the tune installed, the charge pipe would be a waste of money as there won't be more pressure on them than stock already. This is a guy telling me not to buy a product of his for my own benefit!!!

So in closing....unless you've done a tune, you don't need to waste your money on a charge pipe. But you could improve the bling of your unseen engine compartment with one if you so choose! :dunno:
 
#4,107 ·
I just bought a 2009 E93 and my mechanic talked me into installing GIAC software. He also installed (at cost) a Dinan FMIC and oil cooler that someone else ordered, but never came back for it. I also had Koni FSDs installed. It's amazingly quick and agile, but now I'm addicted and want more. What should I do next? What "Stage" is this considered? From what I've been reading, this is only Stage 1. Is Stage 2 a high performance exhaust and tweak the software to accommodate it? Lots of the posts I've read say you're paying for the Dinan name when purchasing their products. It looks like Cobb makes a good product and I'm leaning in that direction. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 
#4,108 ·
You're off to a good start. There are other great tunes out there for less money than Cobb, although the Cobb tune is not bad. JB4 has different maps for whatever mods you add. There is also a new tune called MHD which you install and tweak from your phone that a lot of people are raving about. If you already have a Dinan flash, you may have to remove it before doing another tune.
 
#4,124 ·
There are a lot of opinions on here about Dinan tunes, most negative. Do some Google searches on available 335 tunes before you pull the trigger.
I'm biased towards the JB4, because I have it, and love it. $500, plug and play, and it is infinitely adjustable as you add more mods. :)
 
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