2012 BMW 128i Track Review - As Fast As My 2022 BRZ?
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2023
- ~250hp at the crank, naturally aspirated, FR, lightweight, manual, 2+2 coupe with simple track mods. Sounds like my BRZ doesn't it?
128i Mod List:
***Correction: Car should weigh around 3000 lbs (not 3200 as stated in the video) with 250-260hp at the crank.
- Performance Gearing LSD with 3.64 final drive
- Turner Motorsport solid aluminum RSFB (Rear Subframe bushings)
- TC Kline SA coilovers
- 1M/M3 F/R control arms and trailing arms
- ECS Tuning F/R sway bars 28mm front and 15mm rear
- adjustable drop links
- BMW 135i 6 piston front brakes (Brembo), DS2500 pads
- BMW 328i rear brake calipers, DS2500 pads
- Turner silicone intake boot
- charcoal filter delete
- K&N panel filter
- 18” Apex EC7, 17” D Force
- Kumho V730 235 front, 255 rear
- Braille battery
- rear seat delete
- BMS cowl filters
- Corbeau FX1 Pro driver side
- Stage FP stage 1 tune
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Email me if you'd like me to review your car: zygrene@gmail.com - Авто та транспорт
It turned no being a cooling issue. It turned out to be a faulty VANOS solenoid on bank 1. After I replaced it, I ran it at Sonoma for 4 full sessions without issues. Yay! So happy.
We plan to shoot another video at Laguna Seca late Oct. That will be a fun video.
The answer is "No, it is slower by 3-4 seconds".
Had a black manual 128 for about a month a couple years ago. Sold it and immediately bought a black 135 with the n55 and dct. Found an lsd for 400 bucks and tons of lightly used aftermarket parts for cheap. At 160k miles now and while it's been needy it's tons of fun on the street and at events. I've been lucky enough to spend lots of time in a 718 GT4 and not to discount the cayman (as it is certainly superior in every way), the 135's torque, layout and small wheelbase make it on average more fun on the street than the GT4. With the GT4 it's always a blue balls experience waiting for the next time you can wind it out. The 1 series is edgier and more accessible and I love it for that.
I sold my black 128i msport manual to a guy who sold it to buy a 135i n55 dct after, are you in texas lol?
Nice vid. I can really get a sense of just how fast you’re traveling. Track days must be intense!
I would have been pleasantly surprised if this was quicker than the BRZ. My daily is an E90 328i and it's a ton of fun on the street/in canyons. Handles great, decent power, smooth engine. Throttle response and pedal spacing makes heel-toe tough, but that's what I have my S2000 for.
The E82 coupe is definitely a sleeper pick for someone that wants a somewhat cheap and fun RWD sports car. It's a fairly reliable powertrain.
Been seriously considering getting one of these to be a trackable daily. Love that these cars are like VAG cars in that you can just pull parts from other models to improve it, plus there's the benefit of getting things from FCP with the warranty
edit: bit unfortunate about the cooling issue though, im sure the owner will get it sorted out. I can only imagine how bad it must be with the 135 😅
Checkout Peter Nelson’s series about maintaining and tracking his 128i on The Drive. He’s in Southern California, hasn’t had any issues with overheating, and seems to be running his engine mostly stock.
Hey dude. So I have a 128 and I am planning to make it a track rat. Oil cooler is needed. On those hot summer days anyways. You need the n54/55 oil filter housing which allows you to get the oil cooler feed lines. Then your choice of oil cooler. The n55/55 oil coolers are ok but depending where you are it may still overheat. I went and got aftermarket CSF oil cooler. Everything I listed can all be found at a junk yard. Was quoted from some guy who parts out bmws near me and said 500 for oil filter housing, oil cooler lines and n54/55 oil cooler. I said screw that. Oil filter housing was 20 bucks. I also bought the oil cooler lines and oil cooler (I chose to do aftermarket after seeing the oem stuff that it isn’t that great). Regardless, I paid a total of 75 bucks all in which honestly isn’t that bad. Still haven’t put it on yet as it’s winter and I’m to lazy lol. These cars tho are super fun to drive. Even tho they are open diff they will still do 2 wheel burnouts and get sideways with the e-lsd (not a true lsd but you can get away with it). Also like you said lifetime warranty anything. Anything you break or use up send it back. Brake pads are done? Send it back LOL. Cheers
OMG this makes me soo happy to actually track my 128i
Also considering converting an e87 into a track car. Thanks for the video!
Bought a stock one (partly because your videos) to replace my NB as a dd. Impressions are, great place to be in, looks nice, really needs to be modded give it that edge. Great car though
Well said. Definitely needs mods.
I’d take the Beemer over the Suba just for that engine note. Awesome sound
Subi’s blow up a lot too. Fast chassis though
I have a street/track 128 (tc klines, 3.73 lsd, camber, stock interior). I drove a stock GR86 and immediately knew the 86 would be faster with similar mods. The new twins are impressive.
Throttle - I actually think my throttle feel is sharper and quicker than a stock gr86. I’d look at the tune on that 128.
Rotation - I run a 255/40/17 square setup and let’s just say I have to lower my front temps and keep my rear’s fairly high to rotate in autocross type settings.
nice vid!…did ur bud ever switch to a squared setup? does he have socials to see how his project is coming along? 🍺🙏🏽
It would of have been of interest to know what Litco's best time was.
Welcome to the check-engine light, limp mode world of BMW and I'm surprised that only the front tires fell off during your session🤣.
I believe he was around 1.5-2 seconds slower than me
Zygrene! You should review a BMW Z3 in either base form or M or Roadster
I was looking into getting one of these or the 328i but man the cost of doing the diff alone kind of put me off, 3400 in parts from what I have seen. I do love BMWs NA in line 6s though they sound so good.
legit a modern version of the E36 M3 in terms of power, size, and simplicity
It looks like this car doesn’t have the 3 stage intake manifold swap and tune. I think that would get the power closer inline w the BRZ.
I have an e92 328i with similar mods that is now strictly a daily driver. I've always wanted an N52 128i manual but they are extremely rare.
The throttle response is the one thing that also I dislike about this car. There is a separate throttle mapping when the clutch is depressed making it rev slowly (feels like it's pulling timing heavily). I think a tune can fix that but the aftermarket is so small for this platform. The dual mass flywheel is also something every owner should address; they all fail before the clutch does and make a bunch of squeaking sounds when driving slowly. Many people swap to a single flywheel when they replace their clutch.
Other than that, this car is dead-reliable if you keep up with the maintenance.
Performance-wise the new gr86 is faster in every way. It's not even close but you are getting a bargain deal. A better comparison would be gen 1 frs/brz.
N52B30 is a very nice engine. Motor wise not a lot of options but check out what you can do and make of it with what is available.
N52 has great throttle response. I have an e92 M3 and the response feels the same or better on my BPC tuned 328i. Valvetronic is superior to ITB’s although you really can’t beat the sound and top end power of the S65.
Maybe I missed it but did you instal hydrolic steering? I believe the coupes only come with elecronic power steering….
What are the spring rates on the TCKs?
Is there something done exhaust wise ?
@zygrene do you know if this 128i has any auxiliary oil coolers? Either air or liquid heat exchanger type?
Unsure. Hopefully the owner will chime in here.
That #44 FL5 looks familiar :)
It was not a good day for the FL5...
Excellent!
Really loved my 128i and the only car I regret selling. Looking forward to getting into another E82 chassiss ASAP.
DUDE SAME
I’ll be selling my manual 2012 128i LCI here soon. Rare car-slicktop/no idrive (single hump)/manual sport seats. 132k and clean title if anybody is interested
how much and how close are you to texas
It’s just so hard to justify getting a 128i post covid. I would love to get one if they were $5-7k but for a clean non clapped sub 100k manual, but today post covid it’s $12-15k. When you can buy a well maintained n54/n55 135i for $15-16k. Hard to justify in my opinion
idk what the owners plans are for the car but theres still a lot of weight left to pull from that car it looks like.
It's sitting at around 3000 lbs. I mistakenly wrote 3200 lbs in the caption.
You have to try a 3.0si z4 coupe as the ultimate BMW NA track car (yes, faster than the E46 M3). It's just under 3000lbs and has 30hp more power than this 128i. With lightweight bucket seats, it's 2900lbs.
Wouldn’t a Z4M coupe perform even better?
@@IS300Spartan The Z4M coupe is 3250 lbs, which is 250lbs heavier than the 3.0si coupe. If the track is more open, then the Z4M coupe is faster. If it's very tight, then lighter 3.0si has the upper hand. Their nurburgring times are quite similar.
Faster than E46 M3? That's surprising. I'd love to review one.
@@beauwulf just swap in a 330i intake manifold to get up to 255 crank hp on the 128i. I have been looking for a 128i in manual n52 but haven't seen one for 2-3 years in california. They all have the n51 which has lower CR and extra emissions equipment
The chassis is also at least 2x stiffer than an E46. Not the suspension/springs. The structure. And lightweight. They're the two greatest driver's BMWs from this century, bar none.
N51 or N52?
Gotta get rid of that heavy ass glass.
As a e90 328i owner who tracks, I have a couple of comments:
- the staggered setup here is the main reason you have so much understeer in the video which is losing a loooot of time
- the car needs the 3 stage intake manifold or n54 intake manifold to make the 250-260 crank he is claiming
- the limp mode is the brake overheat protection that needs to be coded out (not oil temp related)
People need to do research online before going for the "track mods" everybody thinks is necessary. The stock calipers/rotors with good pads can easily handle hard track use. For reference, I run ~1:05 around LRP on 300tw and sub 1 min in my e92 m3 with 200tw.
It’s an N51. It has the 3 stage intake manifold, an aFe intake, and a StageFP tune. The tune was designed to use catless headers. Due to bi-annual California smog. OEM exhaust manifolds were on this car when this video was shot. The AA catless headers are in the car now. It definitely improved the throttle response and picked up ~10hp. We’ll do a Laguna Seca video end of Oct. can’t wait to see if it’s as fast as the BRZ.
Yep, coding out the brake overheat protection is pretty much step one with these cars on the track. What a stupid feature!
I already did that. I also installed an LSD. Zygrene did a track video with the LSD but unfortunately the vanos solenoid was giving out after a few laps.
@@litkochan8021 nice! What lsd did you go with? I’m looking into getting one. Seems like your run of bad luck continues but the n51/52 should be very solid. Beyond vc gasket and oil pan gasket, my n52 hasn’t set a foot wrong
@@Efficient659 a custom built 5 clutch plate, 30/60 ramp rate, 1.5 way 3.64 final ratio built by Performance Gearings. I’m still retraining myself in track driving with this unit. If I were to do it again, i would have kept the stock ratio and give up a little acceleration. More shifting needed depending on the track.
First
Congratulations
since im not getting a brz until subaru fix these Rtv issues, im still looking for something fun for my g37 replacement.
Leaning towards 370z over first gen brz
A 370 with suspension/tires and oil cooler would be great