M54. Let the foolishness begin.

[kariotahi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30t3C7YB73Y

One of the runs

[hoveringuy]

You're power curve looks much different without VANOS and DISA, but 250 torque... holly sh!t.

Great job!

[kariotahi]

Thanks Steve, yeah all the power is at the top end, but that's where it will live as a race car, it's got a M3 6 speed box so should be good.

[hoveringuy]

After the last several dynos the motor just seems tapped-out and won't gain more with tuning. So, until I find an S54 I have cams on order.

Stock M54 cams are intake 240/9.7 exhaust 244/9.0
ZHP cams are 248/10.0 248/10.0

They are supposed to be good for 10hp/8tq. With my mods I'm hoping for closer to 15.

Only $299 for the whole kit at ECS tuning.

[CorvallisBMW]

Nice! That's a heck of a deal for cams. This is making we want an m54 so bad!!

[Wh33lhop]

Yeah I was thinking such a mild cam wouldn't be worth it, but for $300 there's no reason not to.

Very interested to see the results; Steve, I really like that you're spending the time and effort to document all of these results step-by-step and share the dynos--it makes for a much more interesting read (and given what you've done so far, that says a lot). Hopefully I'll catch you at the next picnic, last time I was super bummed I didn't get a chance to take the M54 E30 for a spin! :(

[Lawson509]

Just ran across this thread. Awesome work being done. With all the effort put into the custom tuning and modifying of all the sensors, wouldn't it have been easier to get the EWS to work and keep the dual vanos rather than going OBDI? I am doing my own M52TUB28 swap and keeping the OBDII and EWS systems. Even giving it traction control.

Glad to hear there are others out there working with the newer motors!
Good luck

[hoveringuy]

Just ran across this thread. Awesome work being done. With all the effort put into the custom tuning and modifying of all the sensors, wouldn't it have been easier to get the EWS to work and keep the dual vanos rather than going OBDI? I am doing my own M52TUB28 swap and keeping the OBDII and EWS systems. Even giving it traction control.

Glad to hear there are others out there working with the newer motors!
Good luck

I looked at it the other way, it was easier for me to keep dual VANOS by going OBD1 and not dealing with EWS. (plus it's easier to tune now and I don't worry about emissions lights, etc.)

All sensors are stock sensors, except I've added OBD1 knock sensors, the e30 cluster temp sensor and an M44 crank sensor.

[hoveringuy]

ZHP cams

ZHP cams are installed.

Ran into a small snag when THREE of the cam tray studs didn't hold torque on re-installation, they each had a shuffle pin associated with it. I had to pull the cams back out and helicoil. No bigee.

I'm getting really good at installing cams and timing the dual VANOS!

Car pulls noticeably harder after 4000rpm. For $299 these are a bargain.

dyno sometime soon.

[e46s54dr]

ZHP cams are installed.

Ran into a small snag when THREE of the cam tray studs didn't hold torque on re-installation, they each had a shuffle pin associated with it. I had to pull the cams back out and helicoil. No bigee.

I'm getting really good at installing cams and timing the dual VANOS!

Car pulls noticeably harder after 4000rpm. For $299 these are a bargain.

dyno sometime soon.

That's a beyond awesome deal. I still can't believe that it's only 299 for a set of cams, valve cover gasket, and spark plug gaskets.:p

[hoveringuy]

M54 injectors/injector flow

While I had the cams out I took the opportunity to send my injectors off to Witchhunter Performance. They had 100,000 miles on them and although I run a bottle of Techron through the tank occasionally, I had no idea how dirty they were. Mailed them on Monday, back on Friday.

I also found very little data on how much they flow, I have seen everything from 21 to 30.5 lbs. 320cc, etc.

Result: They were acceptably clean to start and they flow 24 lbs, best that I can tell.


These are Siemens DEKA injectors.
(BMW part#: 13537546245 Siemens part#: 1439800).

For reference, M50/S50 are 17lbs and M52/S52 are 21.5lbs.

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this data!

[Leo_328i]

Nice work mate. This is truly an inspiring build.

Can't wait to see you do an S54 or N52, I reckon the latter would be a more interesting swap as in the near future, these motors will be unbelievably common as they have been chucked into almost every single BMW series made from 2006 onwards.

Really interesting to see the effects of the variable inlet and exhaust cams, DISA, larger throttle body, etc.

Good on ya mate! :)

[Leo_328i]

Nice work mate. This is truly an inspiring build.

Can't wait to see you do an S54 or N52, I reckon the latter would be a more interesting swap as in the near future, these motors will be unbelievably common as they have been chucked into almost every single BMW series made from 2006 onwards.

Really interesting to see the effects of the variable inlet and exhaust cams, DISA, larger throttle body, etc.

Good on ya mate! :)

[328ijunkie]

Very interesting!

[hoveringuy]

ZHP cam gains

I never did post the ZHP cam dyno...

First I will say the car feels quicker. The exhaust note has more bark to it and even my nephew said the car sounds different.

I was expecting slightly more out of the dyno, but it has the exact same tune as before and there's probably new gains to be found with tuning.

Also, I clearly have something going on at 6200 rpm. Most likely in the ECU since I have both cams pegged against the stops at that point.

This is on the same dyno, stock cams vs ZHP cams. I had a few runs with more power or more torque, but this was the best comparison.



Just for fun, I took the rear muffler off (dynomax turbo) leaving just the Borla center muffler: