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My 130i E81 LSE (from Barcelona)

6K views 47 replies 13 participants last post by  pem10 
#1 ·
I'm going to start a thread for my current BMW 130i E81 :). I will update with everything related to the car.

BMW 1 Series E81 - 130i - December 2008 (manufactured 2007)
LHD as I am from Barcelona
Exterior: Limited Sport Edition: Carbonschwarz Metallic + Styling 216
Interior: full brown Terra Leather from my previous 130i
140.000km (January 201:cool2:.

Mods:
- Tempomat retrofit
- CDV Delete
- Complete HiFi retrofit + HiFi coding
- Auto Dimming rear view mirror retrofit
- Footwell lights
- 135i muffler + mid resonator delete
- BMWP Sort Shift Kit + 1M gear knob & boot

Coding:
Panic Alarm + US Alarmtyp
Parked car ventilation
US Sidemarkers
Digital speed on kombi + tempomat speed
Angel Eyes more bright

Future mods:

- LSD
- Bilstein B12
- M3 LCA
- Whiteline inserts
- H&R ARB
- Stainless Steel Brake Lines

- CCC / CIC / NBT retrofit
- Door puddle lights
- Electric folding mirrors
- BMWP Front Bumper
- BMWP Side skirts


Photos:

This are the photos the previous owner sent to me before purchasing.
Car was ok, 1 owner, all service in BMW, but some scratches on the bumpers and on left side. Wheels need to be painted, because I guess someone just cleaned them with something EXTREMLY corrosive and paint is a mess :x
Interior was more or less ok... steering wheel and gear knob not so good









First thing to do, cleaning, and swaped from my previous 130i: full interior Terra leather, steering wheel, gear knob, handbrake.




Since I had everything removed, was the perfect opportunity to retrofit the complete HiFi I purchased some time ago. This mean almost complete new wiring, original Amp, and all the new speakers, including the "rare" rear side trunk HiFi moulding, tweeters and subs. I coded the car for the HiFi option.
Sound improving is notorious... but is easy when stock system is a complete crap :D.





I LOVE how brown leather looks, it's just superb. :D
 
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#28 ·
walkie86 said:
Lovely photos! Your car looks at home in the snow :)
Not as good as yours! :D
It's always fn to drive in the snow, I wish we had more here during all the winter :lol2:
 
#30 ·
Did a few things this past month :)

BMW Performance Short **** kit: gear knob + gear boot/gaiter + shorter leveler (all the kit).



Service:
- Oil and oil filter change in BMW Service (because I wanted to keep the stamp on the book...). Motul XCess 5W40
- Spark plugs, coils, cabin filter, air filter (K&N) (did it all myslef). Useful info on how to to that (, , ).
I know coils are not necessary to change but... they're almost 150.000, won't be bad replacing them :)



Winter is over...


And now 4x Michelin Pilot Sport 4 225/40R18 all around.
 
#33 ·
BMWBrad said:
How are you finding the PS4's, and the square set up?
I'm currently running Gy Assym2 in 225/245 but will be switching to PS4 in either 225 or 235 rear.
Really impressed, very happy :) they're really good tyres. Very good peformance in dry situations, plus they seem to be also very good in the wet, altough I just did normal driving in the rain these past week.

About the setup, 225 square: I read about this before, here on the forum, and I saw it was recommended. I feel the car very "neutral", balanced.
Plus, tyres in 225 are cheaper than 235 or 245.

I had on my previous 130i 225 square Asym2, and I remember they were also very good, but I would say the PS4 are better.
I was thinking also on Asymmetric 3, but "tyre wall" is softer on the Asy3 compared to the PS4, and that's a big point for the PS4 considering our car was developed to have RFT (and I don't have inserts on the rear bushings yet).

Ezzra said:
Love this thread.

Love your car.

Love the photos.

:)
Thanks Ezzra! :) Will try to keep it up!
 
#34 ·
PS4's in a square setup sounds good then
Regarding the rear inserts, I've just removed them because I was fed up with the extra NVH they make.
I can feel a little extra flop on my soft GY asym2 tyres, but hopefully the PS4s will sharpen it up a little.
 
#35 ·
I did like 1500-2000km this easter holidays, I went to Midi-Pyrenees.


I bought a couple of small things:
-Rear right trunk side compartment for the emergeny kit :D.


- 1M E82 genuine gear knob and gaiter. It comes everything together, and the stitching is "orange"... but looks like brown... so perfect match for my brown Terra leather! :cool2: Did it yesterday, so let's see how it feels. Before / After:






And couple of days ago I coded the Angel Eyes to be a little bit brighter as DRL and to be as close as DRL bright when parking lights or low beams are ON.
 
#38 ·
I need to update my beloved car thread! :)

Mods done during this time:
- Footwell lights
- 135i muffler + mid resonator delete

And I painted the diffuser to black.











I will try to do a decent video of the exhaust, it just sounds perfect. Perfect tone, perfect volume. Not noisy at low rpm/speed, and no drone!
 
#39 ·
BMWBrad said:
Nice updates mate.
How does the 1m gearknob feel with the Short Shift kit?
Sorry to answer you now after this time, didn't saw your message...

In my opinion, perfect. Not notchy, precise, direct, little bit "hard" but not excessive.
BMW Performance gearknob it's too short, and not so ergonomic.

Perfect mod it's M5 gear knob, same as this one, but with light :D .
 
#41 ·
BMWBrad said:
Have you wired the gear knob up to light up?
Nope, this had no light, it's from E82 1M.
The gear knob from the M5 it's the same but with light :)
 
#42 ·
Yesterday I sold my beloved 130i. :(

I'm sad, because it's been so far the best car I've owned. It's a fantastic car, almost perfect, with a superb engine. And mine was in good condition and had a good spec...

I will miss it, for sure. But I'm sure something as good as the 130i will come in the future :D
 
#47 ·
Fastasbmw said:
:eek2: .. bet that was hard..

After all that work... such a nice car as well..

:(
holland130i said:
Wow... shocked!!

Going for a 135i now?..

:bigsmile:

Mark.
Ezzra said:
No, no, no! :(
Yes, it was hard decission, but I had to chose between invest 3-4k€ (LSD, B12, M3 bits...), or save the money, take the very good offer, and think to go another step ahead :D.
I also have at home some things I didn't install: BMWP front bumper and side skirts, complete alcantara mouldings, BMWP carbon mirror caps...

I'm not considering a 135i Mark (I'd rather prefer an M135i + ZF:cool2:... my goal is a 987, Boxster S or Cayman S :)
 
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