The journey of one man and his Mule(s)

[Magic Beans]

Good to hear from you, Michael

I wondered how you'd get on with the Supra. No matter what happened with it you were always going to end up in profit. Which is that great aspect of buying good older cars at the right time

How did you get on with the M3? I had one on my candidate list, which I'll get on to shortly

Mule VIII has been a dream to own and live with. Never missed a beat, despite being used less and less frequently. Other that preventative maintenance I've not really had to do much to it. That's one of the reasons I've not been updating the thread really. That and being kinda tied up with getting married and all manner of other things.

One thing I did sort was the handbrake, as it was a bit flacid and had more worried it would be picked up on the MOT After doing a bit of research I didn't to check the cable tension first, because the lever max pretty much maxed out travel wise.

Up he went



Off with the covers, had at it with a couple of spanners and adjusted to suit.



Tested and sorted

That's about all I have to show really, it's been almost too easy to maintain.

So, onto your question... would I sell it...? Well, given my recent purchase and the fact it spends most of its time tucked up in the garage, I might be swayed. Drop me a PM and we'll see if we can work something out

[Magic Beans]

So... there is other news... there's a Mule IX

For the last far too many years my daily has been my company car. The most recent being the 120D M Sport, which has been a great little thing. However, the issue with it being a company car is that I can't meddle with it. Well, maybe a cheeky tuning box but nothing I'd really want to be doing. Factor in the ever increasing taxation of company motors and it becomes less and less desirable. That and a few other recent changes made me decide it's time for a change. The car would be handed back (which took some negotiating with HR), in favour of the car allowance.

So the search for my own daily began. As did the usual insane levels of thinking, reading, searching and calculating. So much so as I suspect the recent heatwave was caused by the excess heat from my brain going round and round 24/7

Eventually the massive list was refined, refined some more and the final decision made. With a bit of prompting by Pete and Ben . A call later, a contract signed, it was then a matter of waiting until I could collect....

Finally, last Friday, that happened! So, meet Mule IX. The first daily Mule I've had and the start of potentially many more.







I'll go into more detail about the drive etc later, along with a raft of photos and videos (standard ). Sufficed to say though it's an awesome machine!

50p says you're now thinking "so what are ya going to do to it, Phil?". Well, as you'd expect, I have a bit of a list I'll do a show and tell on them as when I do them. One I've already done though and it just needed the following items.



No, it's not a joke, honest I'll explain:


Ok, so these exhausts all have a valve in them, that opens and closes essentially half the exhaust depending what mode you're in. In Sport and Sport+ modes it's open, meaning you get full shout, pops and bangs. However, drop to Comfort mode etc it closes and the world becomes a very quiet place.

What this mod entails is getting the engine warm, switching to Sport, so the flap opens, then disconnecting the valve control plug in the exhaust. That way no matter what mode you're in it's always full noise.

The balloon and ties are just to cover the plug and connector, keeping them clean and dry for the future.

This is the result:



The stock exhaust is pretty quiet, even in the Sport modes etc. This will keep me going until I swap for the M Performance exhaust.

I'll be doing a couple of other bits this weekend, before the bigger stuff starts...

[pistol pete]

Loverly new car Phil..

I had nothing to do with it

Can't wait to catch up for some hoonage

[muckyman]

Nice M235i - I believe they can be easily tuned to get much more out of them than factory.
The M3 I got is an event every time I go in it. The 4.0 V8 really is a glorious engine, plus mine is a hard top convertible with manual gearbox so for me all the right boxes were ticked. The one thing I don't like (personal taste) is the power delivery. Unlike most V8s, this revs to over 8k and to get the most out of the power band you need to really take it up there. I personally prefer more of the power down low as its silly speeds to get the best out of it.
Anyhow, its an itch thats been scratched, its now time to move on.
Won't make any money on this one though as I bought at market price and then spent on it (preventative mechanical maintenence rather than issues, and I'm rather pedantic about my cars being 'just so').
So, if anyone is in the market for a really good M3, drop me a line (and I'll do an exceptional deal with you Phil, with the Mule as part ex)

[Magic Beans]

Unless it's less than 5 years old it's a no-go from me I'm afraid. The car allowance policy dictates that cars can't be more than 5 years old at any point

I'll await your PM

[rossonza]

bloody lovely motor that

[Magic Beans]

She's good fun, Ross Thirsty though!

I got hold of a BMW coding solution yesterday, which allows you to enable/disable/modify various settings for the car which are normally hidden or disabled. Really neat little set-up. We didn't have long with it yesterday but I managed to do several things such as:

* Enable Video In Motion
* Enable video playback via USB
* Enable extended codec package
* Enable acoustic lock/unlock confirmation
* Modify the power display colour, from orange to red
* Modify the iDrive splash screen video

As well as a bunch of other things. I'll do a more comprehensive list when my own ODB reader and software arrive, hopefully next week.

Here's a video to give you an idea of how it all works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9lp4_yk3v8

I think I'll do some of my own once it arrives. There's not really any good quality and detailed tutorials etc out there, so it's an opportunity to fix that

Mule IX has a play mate. A very good friend of mine has bought himself a CLA45 and it's a monster of a thing! Very shouty and very AMG, as you'd expect. Grabbed a few shots from the other day, before we lost the daylight.









Planning on doing a better shoot with them both at some point in the future, time and weather permitting. Although, I'll likely do more videos than anything, as these things are all about the noise

[Magic Beans]

Today I learnt how to rap. Sorry, wrap, not the gangsta type!

I like monochrome interior finishes but didn't want to simply swap the trim for the gloss black plastic versions. It would have been easier to do so but gloss plastic would have scratched so easily it would have made my eyes itch. This way if it does mark I can simply replace the vinyl, which is more durable anyway.

Armed with some gloss black 3M vinyl, a craft knife, Adrienne's hair dryer and the knowledge gleaned from watching a YouTube video, I set about covering the brushed aluminium interior pieces.



The current trim finish.







Let the removal begin! Lovely weather...



Wiped over with an alcohol wipe and left to dry





Ok, let's do this



First one done! Not too difficult to do really. Fiddly at times but you quickly get the hang of how to manipulate the vinyl.



Second one done. Much easier this time, as I trimmed the backing and stuck it in sections. Removes the risk associated with having a big sticky piece of vinyl in your hand, which we know loves to find anything messy or dusty..





Installed back into the car. Kinda difficult to get a clean shot of the finish, due to the reflections etc.







Really pleased with the finish! Came out exactly as I'd hoped. Especially after wiping them down and applying a coat of wax polish

Only managed (read could be bothered to) do the handles today, I'll do the rest tomorrow or in the week. I suspect the iDrive piece will be fun to do...

[Madabout]

Looks better. Used to have a 3 series with that silver finish but latter type have that black finish and always thought it looked better.

[pistol pete]

Ill be coming up soon and expecting a ride in both the beasts.. Let Chris know ill be coming!

[rossonza]

unsure how bad car crime is near you, but consider something like autowatch ghost/pandora for that if you can. made me want one now

[Magic Beans]

Looks better. Used to have a 3 series with that silver finish but latter type have that black finish and always thought it looked better.

How did you find it to live with long term. Did it mark easily and need constant cleaning?

Ill be coming up soon and expecting a ride in both the beasts.. Let Chris know ill be coming!

He's eagerly awaiting your visit I guess I'd be happy enough to see you too

unsure how bad car crime is near you, but consider something like autowatch ghost/pandora for that if you can. made me want one now

Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look I've been looking into making a little Faraday caged box with the keys to live in. It's always a good opportunity to make a thing too

You've got an MR2 to finish first, before you go looking at anything else

[Magic Beans]

Sunday became a visit to Santa Pod, to watch the Euro Finals, so the wrapping had to wait an extra day. I needed my annual fix of top fuel!

Cracked on with doing the next piece last night. This time is was the tunnel/iDrive piece, which I'd not been looking forward to...

The removal process is basically a matter of pulling upwards from the arm rest end, lifting as you go towards the dash end. After that you undo the torx screws and place the iDrive controls to one side.





Cleaned and degreased



Here we go...



About 50 minutes later this was the result





Gloss black is a pain to photograph. Especially at night and on a black backdrop!

Fitted it this morning, once it was light!





I'm so pleased with the results. The camera never does it justice but it's exactly the look I wanted

This also arrived today







Didn't really do much dabbling with it today, as most was done last week. Good to have though, especially when I tap into the Expert mode and really start to fettle. Here's an example of the kind of things you have to work with:



Right, time to wrap the last two main pieces

[Ben]

I'm pretty sure my M5 has the same brushed silver trim. After 17 years and a hundred-and-mumblemumble thousand miles it's probably the cleanest bit of the car

Best get that exhaust sorted though, otherwise our noise-off will be a tad one-sided

[muckyman]

I'll await your PM

Lol, well my M3 is now advertised on PistonHeads and various other forums so I may be in touch soon.......

[pistol pete]

Best get that exhaust sorted though, otherwise our noise-off will be a tad one-sided

you are missing one....

[Ben]

Best get that exhaust sorted though, otherwise our noise-off will be a tad one-sided

you are missing one....

No I wasn't. I can take both of you

[pistol pete]

maybe... doubtful... even then..only if its not broken... or rusted into the corner

[Magic Beans]

Two I6's vs one V8 Yeah, you'd still win on noise.

Rest assured discussions about extra shoutiness are under way

[Magic Beans]

I'll await your PM

Lol, well my M3 is now advertised on PistonHeads and various other forums so I may be in touch soon.......

No rush. It's sitting there quietly appreciating