Tuning on a College Budget

After four years of searching the wait is now over. DDM Tuning has offered an E36 M3 bumper for $112.25. I would definitely recommend checking out their website (click here to learn more). And I, needless to say, am jumping on the bandwagon for this one. Plus, I found out that I can replace my non-M3 front bumper and also get an M3 rear bumper for a better price than just to replace my front bumper with an aftermarket 3-series one. This will transform the exterior of my car from a 3-series to a Boston green M3. While I was at it I am replacing the fog lights and adding Lamin-X to insure that they will be around for longer. My brother is up-dating his headlights on his estoril M3. This means he is adding DEPO brand glass headlights, with 6000K HID's and installing angel eyes. He will also use yellow Lamin-X on the fog lights to turn them into French fogs. I can't wait. The shipping arrival of the bumpers is March 31.

Club Stickers are in Coming Soon!

I have been tossing the idea around for a while. I think we should get some stickers made up soon. I have a design company, Whitefield Design, produce them. I need your input to know what design or opinions your all have. Thanks Here are some ideas that i threw together on photoshop.

The newest bimmer to join the stable...

We are excited to announce the addition of the newest BMW to the Koontz stable. Christopher purchased a 1999 BMW M3 in Pheonix, Az. The current odometer reading is 97,124.

2008 BMW 335i: Test Drive

The verdict...

• Flat out fast!
• Quick tight shifting
• Seats that hug
• More than enough bang for the buck, but not on a college student salary.
  

My wife came home from work and lured me to BMW of Pleasant Grove. She claimed that she saw a 2002tii sitting in the lot. We hopped in the trusty 325is in search of the mystery 2002. It was inka orange, but was barely distinguishable under the three or four inches of snow and dirt. It looked like it had been sitting there for some time. There were rust spots and an overall hue of untidiness. My wife said, "From the freeway it looked cool. But, when we got closer it looked like there were five smokers in there at one time." Well, we had to make the most of our Friday night out. We decided to take a stroll through the showroom after I had sufficiently started to salivate as we cruised through the dealership parking lot. In the showroom were a brand new M5 and M6. Plus a 335i. I made the mistake of asking, "What would a guy like me have to do to drive a car like that?" The salesman asked, "2-door or 4-door." "Two door!" I was pickin' up what he was laying down. I have never driven a car that fast.

The twin-turbo in-line six was more than I could have imagined. I pulled through traffic with a prerogative of its own. The manual six speed was oh-so smooth. The entered the freeway in second passing the ongoing traffic, and hit 110 mph in fourth gear. The salesman tried to egg me on. But, I knew that was too rich for my blood, still with an additional two gears to chew up the road. The 2005 M3 Competition Package, with a 0-60 ph time of 5.5 secs would still be in the rear view mirror of this monster, which touts an impressive 4.8 sec 0-60 time. After driving this can I do not doubt it. I couldn't help but smile.

Love this picture... inspiration for my car

This is an 1995 Boston Green M3 owned by a member on bimmerforums.com named "seeyalaterrr." I hope you like it as much as I do. This is what mine will sort of look like in the future. Mine will not have the splitters on the front bumper and the vented hood, but will have angel eyes and black roof.

The inspiration for Kyle and his Dakar 1997 M3

Kyle recently found this clip on YouTube.com and is going to adapt some of the modifications to his 1997 M3. I will use the idea of black vinyl across the roof of my 325is and only hope that someday mine will look as good as DarksideE36's M3. I hope you enjoy...

Euro-Spec FTW!!

I guess that I should post that I purchased some things from a BMW tuner company called Euro-Spec. In my pursuit to modify the exterior of my car I have been looking around for the best places to purchase the M3 components that will--for the most part--be direct bolt-ons for my car, a common Boston Green E36 325is. I have searched in vain for years now trying to grab the best deals that have come along on the internet. I have scavenged across acres and acres of alvage yards, and have daily RSS feeds and rituals when I log on to the internet. It seems as though the good deals always fly just in front of you, out of your reach. I started off my modding with a set of glass headlights. They were a definite improvement from the faded, yellowing plastic US spec ones. although I bought a pair that was used, when down the road I finally purchased a pair from üm•nitza.com, complete with angel eyes, HID's, and Lamin-X was I finally content. I discovered that I should probably pass my well developed habits of buying junk and hoping that I could fix it up to "make it work." I abandoned the search for "minor oxidation" glass lensed mirrors, and "slightly damaged" side skirts going second hand. The best deals that I found were offered through Euro-Spec. I could purchase the side skirts complete with all the mounting and installation pieces. Their customer service was great and I was able to pick the side skirts and mirrors up directly from their warehouses for a reduced rate. Thanks for the help!

New Bumper: the controversy and anticipation...

Just recently my brother found me an E36 M3 bumper on craigslist.org. It was in great condition, a replica from a reputable company and ready for paint and installation. This would go perfect with the powered M3 mirrors and "twisty" side skirts that I had recently purchased from Euro-Spec in California. If I had this bumper, the skirts, the mirrors, a tint, and a motorsport flag in black my car would look seriously nice. Now all I was in need of was the finely tuned exhaust and to place my extra set of HID's in the fog lights. Everything was going according to plan. The only problem... it was in Everett, Washington. Being in Utah has it's perks, a college education, the snow, and friendly atmosphere, but it also has it's downsides; the snow, and slow craigslist following. I contacted the seller and we settled on an agreeable price. My friend, who attends a community college about five minutes away, was to pick the bumper up. The plan did not work as I had anticipated this Tuesday, because my friend was concerned that the bumper would fly out of the back of his truck on the highway. So I called and reconfirmed the deal and said that it was on for Saturday. Just this morning my brother was searching around craigslist again and found a new listing from the same seller asking for more money?? What's the deal? I thought we had an agreement? There's craigslist for you. Now I am working on getting it all straightened out.

***Update***
The guy burned me. I guess I'll wait for another one to come along. But, my wife was pretty upset at the guy too. This made me feel a lot better, she is starting to catch the bimmer fever too.

Wasatch BMWs Unite!

We decided to get together the other night. I had a ton of fun. My brother, who was sitting on the fence as to whether or not he was going to get a bimmer made up his mind. There were only a couple of us, noted it was all put together on such short notice. Here are a couple of pictures that we took.

Rear Headrest Retro-fit DIY

I have been itching to do something new to my car, but maintain the clean look and German sophistication of my BMW. I wanted to start with something small. As I was surfing the web I came across a post about rear headrests that were standard on many of the later E36 models. This was not an option that was given on my year 325is. I found a smokin' deal on a set of headrests and decided to tackle this project.


1. Fold down (or remove) the folding seats. Remove the side bolster with a strong tug at the top. Carefully remove both C pillar trim covers; remember to disconnect the light wiring.

2. To remove the black trim that lines the top of the trunk opening you need to remove the four black plugs. This was the most time consuming part. i would suggest buying four new ones from BMW. Otherwise, I used a couple forks, quarters-as wedges- and a pair of pliers to remove them without sufficient damage.

3. I removed the two speaker grills, and third-brake light cover to give me more handles when I removed the rear parcel.

4. Carefully slide out the rear parcel, pulling straight out. This is what it looks like upside-down when it is out.















You will see these four of these imprints on the back of the rear parcel.















I used a utility knife to cut out the holes for the trim pieces.















When I got them in I realized how faded and nasty the real parcel was. (this has one side with the post trims and one side without)
















5. When you replace the rear parcel back into the car make sure that the four little edges on the rear of the rear parcel slip back into their place. Then, with the speaker grills out place the posts into the their slots and slip the spring washers into place by lifting up the parcel to gain acccess. This is where they go.










6. Slap on the headrests, and halfway there.

7. Return all the parts back in the reverse order.

Rear Headrest Retro-fit (cont.)

Here is the small list of things that are required to make this happen...

These are all things that I have extra. They are available, email jeremykoontz@gmail.com for more information.


4 covers that go around the headrest posts in the rear parcel. (Part numbers; Schwarz, 52 20 8 135 923; Grau, 52 20 8 190 349; Beige, 52 20 8 190 350; Klassischrot, 52 20 8 190 351; Tuerkis, 52 50 8 190 352; Blauviolett, 52 20 8 190 353; Safrangelb, 52 20 8 190 354)

4 spring washers that secure the post below the rear parcel. (Part number 52 10 928 809)







4 rear headrest posts, two left and two right. (Part numbers; left, 52 20 1 977 897; and right, 52 20 1 977 898)






The most important part, two headrests.

BMW's were meant for driving... but not in the snow!

So I risked my life the other day to make sure that my girlfriend got home safe. Here is the aftermath of Ol' Man Winter's wrath. By the way, the tires spin really well on the ice.

How to Winterize your BMW

It's starting to get pretty cold here in Provo, nothing to be too concerned about. But, for those of you that are out there where the temperatures are dropping rapidly, I thought you might like this information. I did a quick search on Bimmerforums and found these helpful tips. It should help anyone who wants to winterize their BMW(s).


1. Change the oil and filter.
2. Change antifreeze (if older than 2 years).
3. Change brake fluid (if older than 2 years).
4. Change transmission and differential oil (if older than 2 years).
5. Fill the gas tank to between 3/4 and full, adding the appropriate amount of Stabil fuel stabilizer.
6. Thoroughly wash the car and hit it with a spray detailer.
7. Thouroughly clean the interior.
8. Park in the garage on top of a sheet of plastic that is as big as the car's "footprint".
9. Place a mesh bag containing several mothballs under the hood on top of the intake manifold to repel rodents.
10. Place a mesh bag containing several mothballs in the trunk to repel rodents.
11. Place a mesh bag containing several mothballs on the floor inside to repel rodents.
12. Place a package of moisture absorber (desiccant) inside the car. You can get this from www.eastwoodco.com for about $15.
13. Plug the exaust pipes with a rag and cover the openings with a piece of fiberglass window screen.
14. Remove the battery and store it in a warm and dry place. Don't store the battery sitting directly on a concrete floor, it will ruin the battery. I place mine in my basement on top of a couple thicknesses of cardboard.
15. Connect a 'battery tender' trickle charger to the battery to maintain its charge.
16. Cover with a fitted car cover.

New M3 E92 re-engineered from 333hp to 400hp

The much anticipated E92 M3 is slated to arrive in early 2007 with a 2006 Frankfurt debut and the cabriolet will have a Geneva 2006 debut with sales beginning in summer 2007.

The M3 coupé may feature a 6-series like glasshouse with the possibility of a new distinct interior. The front will sport an aggresive yet subtle bumper while the rear will display quad exhausts like the new M5/M6.

This M will be powered by a completely new lightweight V8 producing around 400hp, similar to that of its bigger brother the M5. It will utilize the latest dual-VANOS variable valve timing system. There is speculation that with the new engine building technology and lightweight materials the engine should weith about the same as the current E46 3.2 liter 6 cylinger, but with an alarming amount of power. As for the transmission, SMG will come standard, but a seven speed transmission will also be available.

Club Alumni Returns for Parents Weekend

Brigham Young University hosted the 2006 Parent's Weekend. Many club alumni were able to attend. Some traveled from as far as Washington state to reminise their college yester-year. Responses from different alumni parents interviewed validate that the weekend was a hit! It was all wrapped up wonderfully as the BYU Cougar Football team crushed SDSU 41-17. Again, current members would like to thank those that came out and participated.

BYU BMW Club University Website in Progress

Brigham Young University offers all of its full-time students webspace to start their own websites. Earlier last year, as the BYU BMW Club was still in its infancy, I started to structure a site. Check out the 'official' Club website at webpub.byu.net/jkoontz.