M54 Madness, the remix

[hoveringuy]

Pacific. At the Ridge this weekend :)

[2mAn]

First HPDE a few weeks ago. Engine was great; pulls hard where it needs to and keeps up with plenty of "M" badges. I had a blast and have a long way to grow my abilities to match the car.

Pacific Raceways or the Ridge?

Ive been day-dreaming how my car would be with a M54 motor... Miss that torque

[hoveringuy]

First HPDE a few weeks ago. Engine was great; pulls hard where it needs to and keeps up with plenty of "M" badges. I had a blast and have a long way to grow my abilities to match the car.

[hoveringuy]

Steve

How are you finding the engine response as a daily driver?

Do you miss the torque in the lower/mid revs?

It's good as a DD, but the old motor was definitely better for torque off the line. That said, I'm very happy with this engine. Makes plenty more power once the tach starts moving. Plus, I'll eventually regain some torque when I switch my exhaust manifold to headers.

This motor is civilized enough that my 16 y/o is learning to drive it and now prefers it to my Tacoma for his trips around town, imagine that, LOL....

[mike25]

Real Life Driving

Steve

How are you finding the engine response as a daily driver?

Do you miss the torque in the lower/mid revs?

[mike25]

It would be interesting to see what the DISA inlet manifold would offer with your Shricks.
Would it be best of both worlds - good top end and plenty of low torque........ or would it kill the benefit of the shricks?

[TheAxiom]

yeah but he has schricks :)

and it's just the peak number that's higher - everything below 4k is lower.

Still a great accomplishment, basically +40whp with cams and a tune.

We (the N52) guys almost had Schricks. I hate it when you're right about things - cams did this M54 wonders.

[nando]

yeah but he has schricks :)

and it's just the peak number that's higher - everything below 4k is lower.

Still a great accomplishment, basically +40whp with cams and a tune.

[TheAxiom]

are you using the OBD1 intake or the Disa intake? Disa makes a big difference in low-end torque.

Power is about equivalent to an N52 with headers/tune (but less low end torque). I think there might be something to the comment about ignition knock at higher RPM, the graph is fairly wavy. It might even gain some power with less ignition.

I wish I could have made it out Thursday while you were at CC but I just couldn't leave work - too much going on at the moment..

The torque (besides the low end) is pretty damn high - higher than an N52!

[nando]

are you using the OBD1 intake or the Disa intake? Disa makes a big difference in low-end torque.

Power is about equivalent to an N52 with headers/tune (but less low end torque). I think there might be something to the comment about ignition knock at higher RPM, the graph is fairly wavy. It might even gain some power with less ignition.

I wish I could have made it out Thursday while you were at CC but I just couldn't leave work - too much going on at the moment..

[hoveringuy]

This is about what a stock M54 looks like. While I make way more power over 4000, I've actually lost torque and power below that. I'm down 35 ft-lbs from my previous motor where I was well over 200 torques at 3000.

The old motor felt more like a V-8.

A good header would probably restore about 15-20 torques where I need it, the OBD2 manifold isn't bad but it isn't great.

[CorvallisBMW]

Considering the car was rated at 225 crank hp stock, I'd say 237whp is damned impressive :up:

[mike25]

Collector is too close to the headers, causes exhaust gas reversion. Super healthy and awesome numbers, some of the best I've seen from a stock cam M54.

Cams are not stock, but the figures are very impressive.

Steve posted previously:
"The intake is a Schrick 264 degree/10.5mm. Stock was 240/9.7

The exhaust is a Shrek cam. 254 degree/9.7mm. Stock was 244/9.0"



Steve
Do you have a bone stock M54B30 dyno to show the gains made against a stock engine and ECU?

[TheAxiom]

Collector is too close to the headers, causes exhaust gas reversion. Super healthy and awesome numbers, some of the best I've seen from a stock cam M54.

[Jaker]

That is rather nice, and that 20-25ft/lb bump in the 4,000-5,000 range must be very nice. According to my tuner, that raggedness in the curve on the top end is usually the DME fighting knock/detonation. Keep going! It's looking really healthy.