M54. Let the foolishness begin.

[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]

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.

[digger]

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

[jrdeamicis]

Good to hear you got the date you want.

Damn that #4 cylinder!

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[mooseheadm5]

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

[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.

[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.

[himizoli]

.....I can't explain the difference in peak power between the two, because the cams and DISA are the same after around 5500 rpm....

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.

[himizoli]

Really nice job!
What was the change in A/F when you variate the Vanos?

Good point.. here's a stock 330 with ZHP cams which is supposed to have at least 10 more HP. Both on Dynojets so it's a good comparison. Some interesting parallels going on... looks like I have better low end torque.

[hoveringuy]

got a plot of a stock M54 with stock electronics for comparison?

Good point.. here's a stock 330 with ZHP cams which is supposed to have at least 10 more HP. Both on Dynojets so it's a good comparison. Some interesting parallels going on... looks like I have better low end torque.

[digger]

Attached is the plot of two runs, the first without any electronic magic, no DISA, no variable anything. All motor. Kinda weak down low but it does fine for peak power.

The second plot has variable intake timing and DISA. Intake peaks at +20 degrees advance at 2000 rpm and then slowly tapers down to nothing by 5700 rpm. Torque continues to build to a peak at 3300 rpm where the DISA switches to the short runners and then drops and never really recovers. Max difference is an additional 40 ft-lbs and 25 hp at 3300 rpm!

I can be a little more aggressive on intake advance, probably holding it to max until 3500 before reducing it. DISA also works extremely well and I will hold that in resonance until 4000 rpm from now on. I'm amazed at how much it drops when it switches. I can't explain the difference in peak power between the two, because the cams and DISA are the same after around 5500 rpm,

Max wheel horsepower of 190 here equates pretty well to M54 rated power of 225-230hp at 5900 rpm. I'm working on a TRM chip, I'll physically advance my timing on both cams by around 5 degrees and upgrade the e36 muffler. Retarding the exhaust cam 12 degrees lost me around 16hp across the board, so those changes should come close to netting me 250.

got a plot of a stock M54 with stock electronics for comparison?