Meet the new shop car...

The BMW M140i, the "MLite".... it took all of 10 mins to decide to buy this very interesting car, seeing as we sell a ton of B58 products and I enjoy racing (in Mexico) it was the obvious choice, in fairness, I couldn't actually afford a Supra right out the gates and the F90 M5 is a dream for now seeing as we've just moved to the UK and setting up home and shop in the middle of a pandemic is not the easiest of missions.

But, back to the car, so having a fair bit of experience in BMW tuning and modding, it's fair to say that I was quite pleased to get into an M140i, as the tuning potential of the standard motor has already become legendary in it's own right, the main attributing factor to this status is the closed deck block and forged crankshaft, this means the motor will take ridiculous amounts of boost from the outset. Our particular baby M is the lightest model available on the market, something that I think I actually regret a little because this car is very limited in the space department and being over 6ft tall any hope of having a rear passenger present in the car is diminished in seconds once I get comfy in the drivers seat. The bare spec sheet on the car makes for very short reading as it doesn't even have PDC or cruise control, but it did fit the very "specific" criteria - 2 doors, automatic gearbox, grey or black colour and low mileage.

If you've ever driven a BMW with the ZF8 auto box, then you will understand the potential for this car, in it's lightest trim coupled with the B58 engine, it is a recipe for an intercontinental missile.

We have already installed and tested our own Osprey Performance parts on the car in way of a downpipe and intake kit and loaded an MHD stage 2 map which gave us 417hp 630nm on regular pump fuel, all we need to do is get some Dragy tests done now and then we will have enough of a base to move onto the next step which will be a meth kit and ethanol map. Ultimately I would like to develop our own aftermarket turbo setup on this platform like we did on the N55 and N54 cars in the past but I will have to see how the stock internals hold up with the Pure800 turbo that is planned for future install, either the internals will need to be upgraded before we can use the maximum potential of that turbo or that turbo will run out of puff, either way, if I develop a RHD kit for the B58 it will need to exceed 750hp on pump fuel.

I am definitely looking forward to the first car meet once lockdown regulations ease. Hopefully the MLite will be a lot further along by then and we can enjoy Mexico together.