M54 Madness, the remix

[nando]

Looks like MM is on to something with their cams - sweet!

[hoveringuy]

Amazing! That's one of the strongest NA three-liters I've ever seen. Probably 310 at the crank and a strong torque curve, too.

Your build needs to be cloned. Props!

[craz azn]

Man, that's friggin' amazing! I'll PM you to avoid cluttering up this thread.

[Jaker]

Metric Mechanic Rally cams, 11.5:1 comp on 94 octane, Bosch 413 DME tweaked with TunerPro by Zack from www.22rpd.com.

[craz azn]

^ Nice! What cams? Compression ratio? Standalone or stock ECU+tune?

[Jaker]

Not an M54. 3.0 M52 aluminum single Vanos build:

[digger]

i've seen 350whp and 250lb-ft from an M54, which is basically same as a FBO s54

[nando]

The new ones will have small tube stepped longer primaries. I originally went with the shorties because the car is an autocross car and I value area to the left of the dyno sheet over the right. Didn't stop me from getting 270whp and 240 ft/lbs of torque though.

270whp and 240 ft/lbs of torque from an M54? I don't believe that, but I'd love to see the dyno sheets to prove me wrong. :)

[digger]

The new ones will have small tube stepped longer primaries. I originally went with the shorties because the car is an autocross car and I value area to the left of the dyno sheet over the right. Didn't stop me from getting 270whp and 240 ft/lbs of torque though.

shorty headers dont make more bottom end than a long tube header when implemented correctly.

Most shorty headers are shorter enough to be never in tune as you dont reach an rpm high enough or if they are intune it is at a higher harmonic and provides a weaker response to that of a header sized correclty, they are mostly just a high flow manifold that sometimes look pretty.

[Jaker]

As long as the primary tube sizes aren't too large, it should work. By why shorties over long tubes?

The new ones will have small tube stepped longer primaries. I originally went with the shorties because the car is an autocross car and I value area to the left of the dyno sheet over the right. Didn't stop me from getting 270whp and 240 ft/lbs of torque though.

[TheAxiom]

are there no longer tube options?

He had Euro SS replicas from the looks of it - they were never meant for the small M54 exhaust port. But there are plenty of long tube options, specifically from Bimmer brakes. The problem with the OEM manifolds is scavaging, which they don't do too much of. They are better than what he had before, but a set of long tubes would work better - or even something like the AA track pipe would work better. I saw a dyno of one posted by James Clay of Bimmerworld where his trackpipe gained something like 10whp over the whole range.

I'm going from the Raceland shorties with a custom made merge into a single 3" exhaust on my 3.0 build to a custom made Burns collector header. We'll see how big of a difference it makes. I'm hoping for at least 10whp with a healthy boost in midrange torque.

As long as the primary tube sizes aren't too large, it should work. By why shorties over long tubes?

[Jaker]

I'm going from the Raceland shorties with a custom made merge into a single 3" exhaust on my 3.0 build to a custom made Burns collector header. We'll see how big of a difference it makes. I'm hoping for at least 10whp with a healthy boost in midrange torque.

[digger]

I think he meant the original exhaust was compromised in so many ways, and he's right.

The OBD2 headers aren't the best, but they're not bad, either. The car is much more fun to drive, at least. it's actually a blast and much more fun to wind-out than it ever was.

I'll take it back offline this week to do the cam timing and VANOS seals, plus alternator bearings and some other little things.

The exhaust upgrade path is TMS shorty headers or similar. Now that I have the stock headers lots of things will fit.

are there no longer tube options?

[MrBurgundy]

Awesome build.

curious to see what this thing puts out once everything is sorted.

Sub'd

[hoveringuy]

I think he meant the original exhaust was compromised in so many ways, and he's right.

The OBD2 headers aren't the best, but they're not bad, either. The car is much more fun to drive, at least. it's actually a blast and much more fun to wind-out than it ever was.

I'll take it back offline this week to do the cam timing and VANOS seals, plus alternator bearings and some other little things.

The exhaust upgrade path is TMS shorty headers or similar. Now that I have the stock headers lots of things will fit.