Matt’s (non-Clio but still really good!) Car Fun

I'm interested to read your review on the GT1s Matt, they've been designed with Black Art Design, a few mates ran and rated the MeisterR Zeta-CRD on their track MK1 and MK2 MX5s, so the GT1s should be amazing.

Can’t wait to find out! I’m expecting great things! :grin:
Like your friends, I have nothing but praise for the Zeta and CRD coilovers they make, I have Zeta Pros on the red mk1 and CRD+ on the white one!

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The camber adjustment is a massive plus too as camber plates are rather costly for these current gen BMWs and I’m hopeful a couple of degrees will really improve the car!

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The other big piece of the jigsaw is now in hand, a Quaife diff to make it a proper drivers car!

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Chosen over the Drexler-made M Performance item purely on availability and cost, there appears to be nothing to choose between them.
It should feel very similar to the ‘Torsen’ diffs fitted to MX5s that I’m so used to.

I had hoped to swap to a shorter final drive at the same time as the ATB installation, however I’ve found no one outside of Spain (!) that has the know how to code the car properly once installed. Having driven the car more, I’m also wondering how beneficial the shorter FD would be. With 8 cogs to choose from, things are fairly tight as they are!!

Anyhow, diff goes in and suspension goes on next sunday, I’m hoping for one hell of a transformation!!
 
As ever lots going on, a more interesting update on the 1 series to follow as I’ve been busy with that.

In the meantime though, sadly the M4 came to the end of its 6 month lease... What to replace it with? We had thought about a ludicrous X5 M, but that worked out at nearly £200pm more than the 4, 540i would tick a lot of boxes but lacking some of the specialness. M2 Competition would be very interesting but not available with the same lease structure.

So we’ve been incredibly original and replaced it with an all but identical car!
We both simply loved the last one and so we’re delighted to have another the same!

Only differences are HUD on this one, I had dismissed is as a gimmick previously but after a single journey with it I’m a convert.
This one has also got the height of luxury, a heated steering wheel!! You can probably guess that’s more for my partner than me but I’m sure I’ll appreciate it on frosty mornings!!

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Ooh, and not an option I chose but a model revision, turns out they now have a jazzy red starter button!! Must be a race car!

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For anyone still interested, progress with the 140 has been slower than I’d hoped. I’ve had some teething issues with the GT1 coilovers, so they’ve been on and off the car a few times and are now back with Meister R to be respecified.

I had a Quaife ‘LSD’ fitted which was sorely missed beforehand and feels just lovely. I actually prefer the feel of this diff to the high-tech electronically controlled LSD in the M4 and in wet, greasy conditions the 1er is an absolute hoot!! [emoji51]

Whilst the coilovers are off, I’ve found some other bits that should improve the drive. At the front M4 lower control arms will give me more caster, a little more camber and a more direct feel with more performance orientated bushes. And at the rear there’s an underbody brace omitted from the later cars with the revised suspension, that I can add to tie all the bits together a little better.

Under the bonnet I removed the JB4 tuning box, as I didn’t like the power delivery and hated the loud cold start, here’s a write up on what’s been done in its place...

...Yesterday was fun!

I took the car to The Performance Centre in Sunderland for fitting of the BCS 100 cell sports cat in place of the ER decat and a remap.

One of the main factors in getting this done was the cold start noise, I just couldn’t live with it and felt like a right twit every time I started the car! [emoji85]

They would be able to turn off the cold start feature and the introduction of the cat would hopefully add a bit more subtlety to the exhaust the rest of the time.

Oh and of course, who doesn’t like the sound of power levels similar to those BMW claim for the M4 CP!! [emoji23]

My brother Dan came with me, which made the 7 hour round trip more of a day out and certainly made passing time in the reception/waiting area much easier!

So first up the chaps at TPC fitted the cat, for which there were some minor hurdles to overcome (not due to the BCS design, just older bits that didn’t want to come undone and a bolt that broke), and were kind enough to loosen and realign the BCS mid pipe whilst they were at it, as I had noticed the occasional knock from it.

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A baseline run then followed on the dyno, producing 362bhp (standard with sports cat) and a lovely fat, flat power curve. My guess would have been a touch higher with the decat in place, it really did feel strong compared to other mx40is, but then 362bhp is plenty so that might just have been a butt dyno calibration problem!!

Then on with the remapping, these cars seem to be a little problematic on the dyno and make the process a little painful for the operator, but the chaps stuck with it and spent a good chunk of time getting the map just right.

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By the time they had finished, my car was the most powerful ‘stage 2’ mx40i that they’ve seen, a reflection I think of choosing a good quality sports cat, and I can’t help but think the lack of restriction in the mid-pipe will have also helped. Of course it might well just be typical dyno/car/day variances and in reality it will likely perform very similarly to other stage 2 cars.

So the big numbers at the top...

459 bhp and 609 nm (450 lbft)

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First impressions in looking at the graph were that the torque curve looked very driveable, I had stressed to the guys that this was a priority and that I didn’t like the delivery of the JB4.

The serious increase in power at the top also looked amazing, reminding me of the difference between graphs I’ve seen for the M2C and M4CP, where the former was sandbagged and dulled down.

Then there were the numbers... I still can’t quite get my head around the fact that an M140i, BMWs affordable, practical, hot hatch with nothing more than a sports cat, ‘cheap’ mid-pipe and a remap, can make nigh on 460bhp. They claim 340bhp from the factory. 460bhp!!!...

I was quite obviously delighted with what I saw on the dyno and the chaps at TPC were excellent.
One small grievance however, was that I felt the price for the remap was miss sold to me, my understanding, through miscommunication perhaps, was that the total cost to me for the mapping would be £329. However once there, that price didn’t include the cold start delete, for which they wanted another £50. I made my case, shared the messages I had exchanged and explained my disgruntlement, but there was no offer to meet in the middle. A small issue, but I wasn’t pleased.
In balance I should add that the chaps went out of their way to sort the decat/cat swap and realign the mid-pipe, so my overall experience was a good one. [emoji106]

Onto the important stuff now, how does it drive...
The answer is resoundingly very, very well! The huge majority of the 150 mile trip back home yesterday was cruising along and it actually does that better now, with Eco Pro being less arduous as the car accelerates with a little less throttle input, which can annoy most in EP. Fuel economy is unchanged when doing the cruising along bit.

The conditions yesterday really weren’t conducive to testing a 450bhp+ rwd car, but first impressions of opening it up are that the delivery is just brilliant. It doesn’t feel any more out to get you than it did without a map, and actually feels closer to the S55 engine in its linearity, despite not having the immediacy in responsiveness.

It sits in quite stark contrast to the JB4, which just felt ludicrous and so difficult to manage in map 3. That felt like it was all about a ridiculous shove when first coming on boost, whereas the car now feels like it’s all about getting the power down and providing sensational propulsion at the top of the revs.
I can’t wait to drive it in the dry!!!

Despite the driveability, it also highlights the fact that the chassis is even more out of its depth!!! Those chassis mods and setup can’t come soon enough!

Ooh and the shitty cold start is gone forever! Enough to make me fall in love with the car alone... I can now start the car in Tesco car park without hiding behind the dash!! [emoji23]




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Pretty astonishing figures mate. Will be amazing in the dry

Seems like a bit of a muscle car at the minute though especially regarding possible trackdays. Very much looking forward to seeing how the suspension mods go. If you can harness that power then I’ll be in the queue for one!!

Good luck
 
You might find with my experience with the BMW race bikes is that to modify the factory ECU the BMW 1000RR you can buy a what they call a race calibration which is basically unlocking the idiot and emission controls like traction etc. and even as we are the official BMW race team we have to pay to access the BMW servers so much an hour or day rate etc. now the official BMW factory support engineers can unlock the bikes standalone but if it is not done through BMWs servers if the bike goes to a dealer the server will re-flash the bike into locked mode again so my guess the £50 charge might have something to do with that the other thing would be that if the car ever goes near a dealer and with all the emission scandals they might without knowing as part of the diagnostic box connection rewrite the map but unlikely I'm sure you might find the difficulty on the rollers might have been the emissions dodging systems that other manufacturers say don't exist as the rear wheels are doing over 100MPH and the front ones aren't well the car isn't pulling a wheelie so it knows what's going on.
 
Pretty astonishing figures mate. Will be amazing in the dry

Seems like a bit of a muscle car at the minute though especially regarding possible trackdays. Very much looking forward to seeing how the suspension mods go. If you can harness that power then I’ll be in the queue for one!!

Good luck

Muscle car is right, or at least certainly was with the JB4!

It actually has decent grip levels, but the power is pretty absurd, especially paired with the tightly stacked cogs and immediate shifts.

In terms of moving it towards being more of a driver’s car and something that can be properly enjoyed at the track, I’m convinced the key lies in giving it the front end grip it needs. That’s what is most apparent if you drive the little M back to back with its big brother, the M4 has the precise, direct and confidence inspiring front end that you crave in the 1er.

To achieve this I’ve got the coilovers and LCAs mentioned (the MRs have adjustable camber plates too which should help further), as well as a plan to stuff as much rubber in the front arches as possible!! [emoji23]

Between the front shocks and arch lips there really is less room than you’d anticipate on a car of this size, but lots of research, measuring and mocking up has me with a setup I think will work with a minor arch roll.

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I found some genuine BMW wheels with the right width and offset at the rear and have bought two pairs of rears to create an 8.5” square setup (as standard they’re 7.5/8” and 225/245mm tyres). Shod in 255/35/18 AD08Rs this should really increase the front grip levels, especially with proper -ve camber getting the whole tyre working. [emoji106]

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Just mocked up in that pic as the rest of the suspension bits aren’t yet in place, but I’m hopeful that all the changes together will transform the chassis. [emoji1696]


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You might find with my experience with the BMW race bikes is that to modify the factory ECU the BMW 1000RR you can buy a what they call a race calibration which is basically unlocking the idiot and emission controls like traction etc. and even as we are the official BMW race team we have to pay to access the BMW servers so much an hour or day rate etc. now the official BMW factory support engineers can unlock the bikes standalone but if it is not done through BMWs servers if the bike goes to a dealer the server will re-flash the bike into locked mode again so my guess the £50 charge might have something to do with that the other thing would be that if the car ever goes near a dealer and with all the emission scandals they might without knowing as part of the diagnostic box connection rewrite the map but unlikely I'm sure you might find the difficulty on the rollers might have been the emissions dodging systems that other manufacturers say don't exist as the rear wheels are doing over 100MPH and the front ones aren't well the car isn't pulling a wheelie so it knows what's going on.

Thanks for the info mate, I’m sure there’s plenty of crossover between the bike and car world, especially when it comes to emissions related fudgery!!

There are plenty of reports of cars coming back from their services with different engine and gear maps and having lost their pops from the exhaust. The most recent cars (and indeed our M4) also have an additional PPF filter which has honestly and unfortunately ruined the noise of these cars.

Fortunately my brother works for BMW, so he can press home the message that under no circumstances should the software be changed without clear approval from me. Either that or I could choose to keep it out of the main dealer network and use an independent instead.

In the worst case the company that mapped the car will rewrite the map FOC should the dealer inadvertently remove it. [emoji106]


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Wow that’s one hell of an impressive power and torque jump from fairly some simple changes. When I had mine (fully standard) the thought of it being slow never entered my mind but yours must be insane!
 
Wow that’s one hell of an impressive power and torque jump from fairly some simple changes. When I had mine (fully standard) the thought of it being slow never entered my mind but yours must be insane!

You’re so right Peter, they don’t need to be any faster at all, this is a case of me being an idiot and justifying it ‘since it’s so easy’ and ‘because I don’t like the cold start’! [emoji23]

So far as 450bhp+ in something ultimately not much different to a 116d goes, it makes pretty good use of the power. Hopefully by the time I’m done with it, the chassis will come close to matching the power!! [emoji1696]


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You’re so right Peter, they don’t need to be any faster at all, this is a case of me being an idiot and justifying it ‘since it’s so easy’ and ‘because I don’t like the cold start’! [emoji23]

So far as 450bhp+ in something ultimately not much different to a 116d goes, it makes pretty good use of the power. Hopefully by the time I’m done with it, the chassis will come close to matching the power!! [emoji1696]


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Nothing idiotic about it - who’d say no to more power haha! I can understand what you mean about the cold start thing though, I bet it was even worse with the few changes you’d made.
 
Right an overdue update on the 140...

Before the trackday I took the car to a local garage for a brake fluid change and extra oil change.
I asked them to get a BMW oil filter in for me, but they weren’t able to, so changed the oil without filter and did the brake fluid free of charge, which was very generous indeed. Oil used was Fuchs/Silkolene fully synthetic and brake fluid Castrol SRF for anyone interested.

It has been a bit of a rough time for me, with a long term relationship break up, so I didn’t feel like making a vid of our exploits at Blyton. I did pop the GoPro in for a couple of sessions, but the genuine BMW Mount shook horribly and the footage is terrible. Doh!.. Anyhow... [emoji1745]‍[emoji3603]

Blyton Park // 30.12.18

The morning was wet and cold, but it was utterly lovely getting in a luxurious modern car with normal seats and seatbelts to drive to the track!

First session out I left the the stability in the Dynamic setting to try and see where the systems were interfering and get a feel for the grip levels as I used to do in the Clio 200.

Given it was wearing well-worn MPSSs, it was very fast indeed, though the traction control was doing A LOT of work and it felt like the stability was also making many small adjustment. Driving at what was a pace clearly faster than my talent without the systems permitted, I got spat out of Bishops into a 720* spin that frankly scared me a bit!

I’ve done a lot of trackdays in rwd cars and so generally have a good idea of what the car’s doing underneath me, but on this occasion there was no indication that it was going nor any hope of catching it... [emoji848]

I spent the next session in the passenger seat imploring Dan (brother) to go steady and pondering my drive. I concluded that I needed to trust my driving ability, switch everything off and start off slowly.

With this done, the pace was slower (my right foot just can’t do what a modern TCS can!!), but I felt so much happier behind the wheel and that I could trust what the car was going to do. Unfortunately the spin had dented my confidence a bit, so I don’t think I really made the most of the slippery conditions, but I learnt something valuable nonetheless!

In the afternoon the track dried out and the 140 really came into its own. The fears I quietly harboured in the morning that in mapping the car I’d made it worse, were roundly dismissed as the extra grunt made it simply epic!!

The chassis was quite obviously not (nor should it be) at home on the track, but I was still able to thoroughly enjoy the car and the Quaife diff came into its own. I was also seriously impressed by the pace of the standard sized MPSS tyres, despite being past their best.

Unfortunately the Stoptech Sport pads just couldn’t quite take the abuse and though they never faded dramatically, didn’t inspire confidence or provide consistency. I should point out that Blyton is extremely hard on brakes and of course concede that asking a relatively mild pad to cope with 450bhp and 1700kg is bordering on madness!!

The afternoon was terrific fun and the car, faintly ridiculous for a standardish hot hatch! One thing I noticed was just how willing people are to move aside for a relatively posh and powerful ‘new’ car and how eager the marshalls were with the blue flags!! [emoji23]

In terms of pace, I had a quick glance at the shaky session I recorded and could see a 1:14 2up on a not quite clear lap, which is rather promising for future pace and quicker than I expected!

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———————

With my change in circumstances I’ve been around the houses with what I’m going to do with the cars, but have settled on keeping the 140 and enjoying it as I had planned to do. [emoji4]

Since the trackday I’ve fitted the Michelin Cross Climate+ winter tyres, which make things rather interesting with 450bhp, though they’re a nicer feeling tyre than a full winter IMO.

I’ve spoken to Jerrick at Meister R and the coilovers are ready to be sent back to me, so I’m keen to get them fitted again and hope that the initial teething problems are gone.

I’m looking forward the giving this little monster the chassis and grip to go with all that silly power!! [emoji48]
 
Following this with interest Matt. Hope you get the chassis improvements you’re after.
 
Sorry to hear about the change in circumstances mate but I hope it’s all for the best.

The car sounds and looks a real beast.. next time your at a Blyton give me a shout as it’s only 30mins away from me!
 
Cheers gents and will do Mr Beans, only thing that puts me off Blyton is just how hard the place is on brakes!!


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Couple more chassis bits from the BMW parts bin:

Firstly a rear underbody brace from the m135i that they seemingly dropped when they revised the rear suspension. A popular mod on these and folk report the rear end feeling better tied down once installed.

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And I’ve mentioned these before, but they’re now in hand. M4 Lower Control Arms for increased camber and caster and a more performance orientated bush.

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If you look closely on them you can even see where the //M marking has been removed, as I bought them direct from Lemforder who supply BMW, rather than paying M-car tax! [emoji23]


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Found a couple of hours yesterday with dry weather and got the front coilovers fitted (again)...

Most importantly, the rattle has gone! :fest:

Equally importantly, they feel excellent! :fest:

With the changes made, the car rides better than standard with the shocks in about the bottom ten clicks, whilst possessing notably more grip and smoothing out the bigger bumps. The damping feels much more premium and IMO is a step up from something like a Koni Sport, which is EXACTLY what I’d hoped for! :smiley:

The changes made retained the 7kg front springs despite my suggestion to soften and to be honest it feels like that was the right decision. The front end, which I think is the 140s big weakness, feels much more controlled and responsive, especially when on the brakes and turning in, when I thought it suffered most.

I haven’t got the rears on yet so can’t be too conclusive, but it feels very promising and I can’t wait to get the rears on. Hopefully the hassle and frustration will all be worth it soon!

A quick word on the noise level, it has increased a little, perhaps less so with the rubber isolators and there’s a little typical ‘camber plate’ noise, but this is minimal and perfectly acceptable.

If only there were more hours of sunlight to get the rears fitted!!


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A vid comparing the two BMs for anyone interested. The M4 goes back very soon, not to be replaced, so I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to own one and drive it how the //M guys intended! [emoji51]



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