Southern BM-Thoughts from behind the walls.

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Comment by Andrew Brien on July 5, 2009 at 4:31am

We have become dealers for ATE Performance brake packages for Melbourne Australia. This gives us a great opportunity to supply our clients with what is essentially a factory upgrade as ATE supply most of the standards brakes on BMW cars. ATE have Power pads and Power disks that are designed for spirited road use and moderate track use. I have used them for some time on my Race car and have found them to be reliable over the long term.

Southern BM have been doing a lot of 135i and 335i work and many modifications of these cars. We are currently doing a run of 335i's and the latest one recieved catless downpipes, forge divertor valves, Eisenmann rear muffler, Hamann diffuser, Active Autowerke tune, O2 sims, and a Quaife LSD conversion.

Comment by Andrew Brien on May 31, 2009 at 5:31am

Well we lashed out and bought one of our customers 135i. We had done so much work to this car and the owner decided to move on as soon as we were done. He loved the process so much he has decided to upgrade to an M3 and will start a new project with me.

The car has a few modifications that i have done
The following is the current list of performance modifications this car has:

Active Autowerke Active Processor with R3DPI tune
*Riss Racing Stage 1 intake and Stage 2 scoops, plenum
*Riss Racing RHD catless downpipes
*C-pe Catted mid pipes
*Dixis Titanium Rear muffler
*Forge Divertor valves
*Spearco intercooler
*Quaife 3.46 LSD conversion
*Forgeline Wheels, 255/35/18 and 275/35/18 Yokohama Advan Sports
*AST Vorshlag coil over and shocker kit
*BMW Performance Rotors
*BMW Performance Grills, Carbon Mirror Covers, Carbon Rear Spoiler, Carbon Rear Diffuser
*Year of the one Stop start button
*BMW Carbon Interior Trim kit
*BMW Performance Steering Wheel
*Window Tint
*BMW Performance Short Shift kit
*Riss Racing Oil catch can
*Modified CDV
*Sprint Booster
*Auxillary oil cooler kit
*M3 E92 Front castor rod arms and lower control arms
*Rear subframe M3 E92 bushes
*Rear M3 E92 upper trailing arms, both sets

I went on a drive with the BMWCCV today. It was really a great day.
Went for a drive up the black spur today with the BMWCCV and some of the guys on M3Post. It was good to put a face to the usernames...and get some time behind the wheel.

The day started off foggy but we got there early with a coffee to ease into it. Cars turned up quick quickly and before we new it we were off.

This car has serious power, i new it was quick but even with the 275's you lose traction constantly which is not so great when you are heading towards the spur. It actually feels edgy or like as you accelerate the car cannot put down the power. I really need to spend some quality time adjusting the suspension, i will definately raise it and want to change the settings. I need to feel comfortable because as you accelerate now combined with the traction loss you get the uneasy feeling and it doesn't inspire confidence into the corners.

As much as i have driven this car locally previously, while doing the stages of work, there is nothing like 'driving' it for extended periods of time to see what needs attention and improvement.

Besides what i felt was a poor suspension set up you cannot go past the power this thing has, just incredible how this car pulls up hills and pulls and accelerates. Put it this way i was never wanting more all day and i have never felt that before in any car. Definately brought a smile to the dial.

I'll be doing a small talk on 135i's tomorrow night at the BMWCCV meeting if anyone is interested, turn up and say Hi
Andrew

Comment by Andrew Brien on May 24, 2009 at 2:23am

Does BMW have any allegaince to any brake manufacturer?

This week i found myself doing Front and Rear Rotors, pads and sensor on an E90 320i. The rear calipers were made by TRW, the pads by Textar, the front calipers were ATE and the pads Textar. It made me wonder as the 135i i had on one of the other hoists runs Brembo's all around. I wondered if BMW has any allegiance or if it was sent out to tender for the highest bidder?

My website www.eisenmann.com.au is live now and i keep adding to it as necessary. It is a simple website but simple sometimes works. We had a delivery this week of Eisenmann mufflers from Germany and all sold on the day of delivery, mmm, note to self, buy more stock....

We are gearing up for our next race day. We are off the Sandown race track and are preparing to take many customers with us. I sent out a newsletter to everyone on my newsletter email list and have had a fantestic response. We will be unveiling our newest exclusive dealership for Melbourne in a pretty big way for us, so hopefully we can get it all bedded down before then.

F1 on tonight, i hope Webber does well, i'll be up late watching it in bed so i will be bleary eyed for Monday work but it will be worth it. If it rains Webber should do well, he has in the past there.

Stay Safe on the roads.

Andrew

Comment by Andrew Brien on May 17, 2009 at 6:05am

Today we went to the BMW Car Club Victoria show of excellence. The day showed signs of bad weather coming and looked to be a threat all day, but luckily it stayed away. This day was in conjunction with the Mercedes Benz concourse and there were many other brands there as well, Porsche, Volvo, etc etc.

The BMW arena had 2002's, E21's E30's including an E30 M3 (very rare here in Melbourne) E23's, E24's, E28's, E31's, E32's, E34's, E38's including an L7, An E92 M3 and a Z4M. It was a great turn out and i think the organisers would have been quite happy with it as well.

It was a great family day out today for me and mine. The kids even had a face painting!

Stay safe.
Andrew

Comment by Andrew Brien on May 7, 2009 at 7:45am

We went racing at the weekend at Phillip Island race track. I took the car out myself this time and we also had the company of a few customers as well which is always nice. It really is satisfying to see the customer track times come down as the cars get better and the drivers get better...and the bragging stories. It reall y brings us closer together and a bond that becomes freinds instead of just business/customer realationship.

I had a strange misfire in the car while it was cold, so while i was getting up to speed and remembering the track again, the car started to get better on its own...gotta love that.

In the afternoon the car was fine so i had no excuses, and comparing to last time we now have coil overs in the car and a LSD, a underbody x brace and strut braces, lightweight flywheel and M3 clutch. I managed to get my fastest time at the end of the day which was quite faster than any time i have done before at the track ever, by some 4 seconds. It probably helps i'm learning to drive as well...hahaha

Work so so hectic it is really hard to manage now. Constant BMW electrical issues are driving me crazy, it is strange how the business has transformed and how your BMW mechanical business has gone towards constant uploading of programs, replacing control units, steering angle sensors, gateway modules with CIP programming ...arrrrghhhh, we come from the times when we were doing cambelts and adjusting timing with distributors, days long gone.

Comment by Andrew Brien on April 21, 2009 at 7:20am

Ok back into it took some time, catching up with our overseas suppliers has been an interesting experience. I was unable to be reached while i was in New Zealand and it is amazing how quickly things move in the BMW performance field while your away. A lot has been happening in the E9x M3 range and the Supercharger kits are coming thick and fast....Cool times ahead.

The most recent E46 M3 that we completed ran at Easternats, a Performance car expo in South Eastern Melbourne and all went well over the 4 day event, photos and video to come.

We are currently doing an E30 M3 Right hand drive conversion and as this is not a car delivered localy to us here in Australia it makes it harder to source parts required for this conversion, especially to the level this customer would like. We have a new windscreen and mouldings that have arrived and are currently on the look out for a new carpet. It is an interesting little project and something i have not done before.

Today i fitted catless downpipes to a 35DCT and that was interesting, the DCT is truely amazing, i really am enjoying driving this car, the more time i spend in it the more i like it. I will be fitting an intercooler and a tune this week so i'll have more details soon

Stay safe
Andrew

Comment by Andrew Brien on April 5, 2009 at 4:02am

Hi all,

I have been over in New Zealand for a few weeks and just returned to check up on things before i get into it this week. We, as a family had a great time, it was very nice to get away from it all, and smell the trees for a while.

Happy Easter everybody.

Andrew

Comment by Andrew Brien on March 8, 2009 at 1:51am

We finished converting a 323ci E46 from Automatic to Manual this week. It was interesting project to take on, something a little different. We also changed out the Steering wheel from a standard item to a M Sport wheel. We also changed all the interior trim components to a different style in Aluminium style. The car recieved new A post trims as they we a little tired, quite dirty actually. The rear lower control arms were replaced as they had been bent while being towed at some stage in its life, the oil level sensor, oil and filter, thermostat, wipers were all replaced. Needless to say this car has been transformed, it is something the owner is very excited about, so makes it exciting for everybody involved.

I also had a 135i in, The sedona red car we modified last year, i changed the map in the Active Processor to take into considersation the modifications we have done to the car, the owner rang me today Sunday afternoon, from Tasmania as he took the ferry across to do some track days down there, he cannot believe the car and how it behaves now, he left a message 5 minutes long on my voice mail singing the praises of the work done. We also fitted some track pads to it and he had track tyres installed so overall the car is way faster than any time previously he has had the car. Great week for customer feedback, the owner of the M3 we supercharged wrote up a testimonial for me as well. Fantastic! :)

Comment by Andrew Brien on March 3, 2009 at 5:07pm

Strange world we live in, The state police sent the whole state a text message warning of the bushfire danger and high wind warnings......how times change

Comment by Andrew Brien on March 1, 2009 at 2:37am

We just installed an Active Autowerke Supercharger kit with Methanol water injection to a BMW M3 E46 this week. The results are truely amazing, it made 295 rear wheel kilowatts after the installation with a gain of 110 rear wheel kilowatts over standard. I uploaded photos every night so the owner could keep track of our progress, you can view some of the photos here or SBM 18 on www.southernbm.com.au/gallery.

On a side note The weather has finally cooled down.....

Be safe everyone

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