M54. Let the foolishness begin.

[hoveringuy]

Was you intake air temperature changed?
When we making a dyno measurement after several runs the intake air warm up that much we lost 5-7% power. Try to put a pipe to the intake air to keep in constant temperature.

Hmmm... that's a really good point. After the first two runs it was starting to get warm. I can see how the intake air was +20 F warmer and that could easily explain the 5-8 hp I lost on the subsequent runs.

The O2 sensor was switched after the first two non-VANOS runs because it wasn't working correctly, so I don't have a good comparison of VANOS/non-VANOS A/F ratios.

[hoveringuy]

I got some great information from BMW Northwest today that may prove very helpful. Off a running M54 they pulled this data:

Intake.... 119 degrees
Exhaust (-)105 degrees

My figures look like this

Intake.. 253 degrees
Exhaust 113 degrees



edit: after measuring a car directly I have actual data with my measurements. The only way I can use the factory data is to use my newly-found offsets of 130 and 140 degrees. That accounts for differences between the missing tooth and TDC and cam lobe center and the trigger wheel for each cam.

Adding 130 to BMW's 119 gives 249 degrees, which means my intake is retarded by 14 degrees.

subtracting 140 from minus 105 gives 115, which means my exhaust is advanced 2 degrees. (-105 is also 255)

I'll need to measure another car to verify the offsets.

[mooseheadm5]

Glad you found that. I didn't get any info from the places I checked. So now will you advance both cams?

[CorvallisBMW]

I got some great information from BMW Northwest today that may prove very helpful. Off a running M54 they pulled this data:

Intake.... 119 degrees
Exhaust (-)105 degrees

My figures look like this

Intake.. 253 degrees
Exhaust 113 degrees

Didn't make much sense to me until I realized that I'm measuring ATDC and BMW is BTDC.

Converted to BTDC it looks like this

.......Intake Exhaust
Me ...+107 ..(-)113
BMW +119 ..(-)105

So, assuming our measurements are similar I am around 10 crank degrees retarded on both cams. This may explain why retarding the exhaust cam didn't do anything but lose power for me! (and why advancing both would gain around 15 :D)

Good to hear! I'm anxiously awaiting some hp numbers once you get the cams figured out.

[hoveringuy]

Glad you found that. I didn't get any info from the places I checked. So now will you advance both cams?

These figures are assuming that I measure mine the exact same way.

However, I have several facts that seem to support the same conclusion:

(1) when I originally had the car running with on/off intake VANOS only the power didn't drop off as much as I thought it would with the full advance at higher rpms.

(2) exhaust retard had a completely negative effect.

(3) the BMW data

I'm not sure how I can advance the cams just a few degrees without completely retiming them. ideas? BTW, the above data is measured in crank degrees so my cam is only 5 degrees off.

I would also like to connect my circuit to a stock e46 to measure the same thing with my parameters. I'm looking for someone local now.

[mooseheadm5]

I wonder if the exhaust retard is more for emissions than for power. Having not gotten into an M54 yet, I don't know if you can easily advance the cam, but you can on an M52, so I would think you should be able to.

[hoveringuy]

Compression and plugs

I ran a comression test this afternoon out of curiosity. Warm motor. I could possibly have gotten higher readings with the throttle open but it's a valid comparison from cylinder to cylinder which is what I wanted.

#1 200
#2 199
#3 196
#4 188
#5 194
#6 200

#4 will get daily beatings until its performance improves.

I don't see any problems here.

Looking at the spark plugs, they are all very consistent but on the lean side. Yes, I know they're not the correct plugs.

[jrdeamicis]

Good to hear you got the date you want.

Damn that #4 cylinder!

[digger]

What is the intake advance during cranking? This can have a big effect on psi readings.....

[hoveringuy]

What is the intake advance during cranking? This can have a big effect on psi readings.....

Intake advance should be 0. That's the biggest reason I was doing it... if my static timing is way off it could show up in the compression numbers.

[weaksauce]

if managed to read thru this entire thread now and my eyes are bleeding because I could not stop reading.

I have a motor (actually a whole car) from a 1999 E46 328i. the motor still has the CPS mounting tab on the front. I am starting to have bad thoughts about my M30 swapped 91........ It needs a new motor anyways.

[hoveringuy]

I finally managed to connect my controller to an unmolested stock M54 to take some readings. It's the only way to get apples-to-apples data to compare with mine.

I found that my intake cam is retarded 14 crank degrees compared to stock and my exhaust advanced 2 crank degrees. So, while my exhaust is really close my intake is in a permanent state of retardation

14 degrees is quite a bit. It 'splains why it was reacting so strongly to intake advance and why it has liked so much of it. Probably means it was losing power at higher rpms because I'm programming out the intake advance. I need 14 degrees just to be where I'm supposed to be.

This also means I have found the magic conversion factor between my measurements and BMW's... 130 degrees for the intake and 140 degrees for the exhaust.

edited: I've had it backwardss.... my intake is retarded, not advanced. The sample motor was at 249 crank degrees, I'm at 263. That means I'm 14 degrees retarded on the intake. It means I'm retarded. I was tired.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Something good is gonna happen...

[PiercedE30]

Have you thought about getting the W.A.R. chip and tuning the car yourself?

[hoveringuy]

Have you thought about getting the W.A.R. chip and tuning the car yourself?

I did see the pre-release specs on the W.A.R. chip and it looks really cool. Has it been released? I need to get all the basic mechanical groundwork done before I can chip tune. If the intake is advanced 14 degrees no amount of chip tuning would fix that.

It actually runs really, really well right now with a stock Dinan S50 chip. I'm a little disappointed because I'm sure I'll lose some of my kick-ass low-rpm torque by correcting the intake, but if I can get it to scream more at the top end and bring the exhaust VANOS into play it'll be worth it. At that point it will be ready for chip tuning!