VF supercharger installed

[steve0suprem0]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/steve0suprem0/DSC00076.jpg

it's not the fastest thing in town (i'm looking at you, jon) but it's certainly a lot more fun to drive if i want it to be.

only preoblems were the belt being too short, and the dipstuick tube not fitting. so i cut the tube, welded the supercharger drain into the old tube, and got a shorter belt. routed it different than they said to, but everything's turning the right direction...

busted the tensioner for my ac belt tho. anybody got one lying around?

to read about my run in with the law, check out my thread at bf.c:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=764503

meh, screw it, i'll just cut and paste it here:

so get this! last night, not 6 hours after i get everything buttoned down and truly finished, i'm takin a buddy for a ride. maybe a mile and a half, around a couple blocks. i get it up to maybe 65 in a 40 zone. turn right and here's officer motorcycle guy on my ass pulling me over. gets up to my window and here's what happens:

"how's it goin?" (that's him)
"feelin' pretty stupid..." (that's me)
"yeah, i bet... hey who does your work?" (asking about my tattoos)
"miracle mike, at inkworks is where most of it's from"
"oh yeah, i've heard of him" (he starts to walk away and returns)
"oh, another thing, is your blinkers are white"
"really? they're smoked. should be yellow"
"yeah, but they're white. crazy bavarians" (returns to bike with registration)
now at this point i'm very sad. i knew i was speeding, and i so wanted to say something like i'm sorry i was just breaking in the new blower. that woulda been retarded. anyways, he comes back.
"hey, what model is this? 540?"
"no sir, plain-jane 525"
"no ****?" (i'm pretty sure he winked at me here)
"now, i'm gonna ticket ya for the blinkers. it's a fixit ticket, sixty days, just flag one of us down, and that's it. but dude i'm sorry i gotta give you this. that other thing, it never happened" (he called me DUDE!at this point i'm so ecstatic i almost peed)
"hey man, i understand, blah blah blah"
"yeah, it's a ******** thing, but i gotta have had a reason to pull you over, man. have a good night."
"i really appreciate this, you too. and if you ever stop by mike's, tell him i sent ya. he's a good buddy."
"really? cool." he kinda ponders for a second, and says, "gimme back that ticket. i didn't see a thing. just get it fixed. this was all a figment of your imagination."
and after liberal thanks, i was on my way, and minding the speed limit.

HOW COOL IS THAT???

[CharlesAFerg]

May I ask what kind of artwork you've got on your (arm?)?

Also, the clear blinkers, no yellow (or yellow painted with silver) bulbs?

I have never run into an officer like that, ever.

[Dr. evil]

So you used the E 36 VF system?

[steve0suprem0]

the normally amber part is smoked, from um nitza. but they show up clear. woulda thought the smoked plastic would show up at least kinda tinted... i'll get yellow bulbs this weekend.

let's see. on my inner forearm, i've got a church key (bottle opener) with the words "key to my heart", above that is a german flag and vw wolfsburg shield, and on the other side is a p-38 lightning over the american flag. inner bicep is a blue heart with the words always for you on a banner, front of bicep above the crook of my elbow is a skull with red wings, a halo and a straight razor behind it, and outer bicep has bettie paige riding a bomb. this is my right arm.

left arm has an alpha/omega i drew, and in old english the letters DNR (do not resuscitate). inner bicep is another blue heart witht he words forever yours. it's not as full as my right arm since i'm planning a sleeve with angels and demons at war. if there's any more interest, i'll take pics, but that's WAY off topic.

and yeah, cops usually aren't like... real people? ya know? this guy was pretty cool. i'd drink a beer with the guuy.

[steve0suprem0]

So you used the E 36 VF system?

sure did. here's an email i sent to them:

okay, first i gotta apologize for lying to gary and telling him i traded the 5 for a 3 series. i can't say i feel too terrible about it, but i did lie to the guy about it.

anyway, i put the e36 m50 (with vanos, no ews, no traction control, dme ends in 413) kit on my e34 525. it worked out pretty damn well. the only problems i ran into were the dipstick tube and the belt.

the dipstick tube didn't fit in the oil pan and the bracket at the same time. so i hacked up that and my stock one and welded that together. the drain tube went the exact opposite direction as the bracket, if you're interested. super easy. i did have to grind the little fins off my dipstick to get it to go all the way down, but i didn't think that was too big a deal. probably cause i'm not the world's greatest welder.

also, the belt needed to be about 2-3 inches longer to be routed the way it was in the picture. i ended up routing it another direction and shortening it by two inches. works great. i was a little concerned that the blower pulley stuck out about 1/16 of an inch further past the bracket than any of the other pulleys, but it's staying on. if you want pics of the belt, i'd be happy to send them.

as far as the instructions went, everything was pretty much the same, except i didn't remove my bumper, and my charcoal canister didn't need to be moved. also, i had an extra wire on my maf harness. then again, so did my buddy's e36 with the exact same engine. so i called and that was cleared up real nice and easy. the resistor goes on the gray/yellow wire.

the ducting actually turned out pretty well, too. filter's down in the bumper right under the headlight. i'll fab up a cover sometime to prevent it from getting wet. not a huge danger herein fresno.

i did all this up in reno at my buddy's house, and was pretty disappointed with the gains at first. when i got back down to sea level, i realized my mistake. i'm sure it's just as powerful as advertized. in fact, on the way back, over donner pass and down into the central valley, i managed to pull off 36.2 mpg! that's at 75 in fifth, about 3100 rpms if i remember correctly. i was getting 28 mpg before. in town, or anytime i let my foot get into it, it's a different story, naturally.

so the moral of the story is: it wouldn't be too hard to adapt the system for the 5 series, there's even some interest at the bimmerforums.com... anyways, i'm very happy with the product and the service i've recieved, and i really appreciate all the help i got from gary and the other guys, whose names i can't remember.