N54

NEW N54 HP WORLD RECORD: 725WHP 609WTQ – VTT VTX-R63 Twin Turbo Kit – BMW 335i

Sharing the final set of our tuning results from our custom tuning work with the Vargas Turbocharger Technologies in California. Here’s Tony Vargas’ (owner of VTT) online posting/review of our final results with the second to largest of the turbo options in the VTT kit, twin GTX2863R.

To put these numbers into perspective, with approximately 15-18% drivetrain losses this kit is making 850-885HP at the crank/motor with stock N54 engine internals!

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Tony Vargas’ review and comments:

Well, we accomplished what we set out to do. When D and I first started this tuning, he actually threw a number out there and said I think 720 is a good number to shoot for a goal for proof of concept. I agreed and we set out to make it happen. Over the last month or so with a few set backs we got it done. This power was made with very conservative timing and there is MUCH more power to be had with a few taps on the keyboard on D’s end. When we hit 725 today, me the OP, and D all decided we got what we came for and to let the production kits in whose ever hand they may be go about pushing it any further. So the kit will come off this week to start production and I move into the N55 and other things I am working on. Thanks everyone for the continued support. If the other guys comes back with a higher graph, we honestly don’t care. They are now on their 2nd production revision which looks to include a new manifold and a new turbo. If our kit was at that point I would sure hope to be making more than the kit that is in prototype stage and has now seen a dyno 3 times. Big thanks to PTF, COBB, and my brother Dave for the patience. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Specs:
Full Pro tune done by the guys at Pro Tuning Freaks, using the COBB flash tuning system
ERC 109 unleaded race gas for an added safety net (obviously we didn’t need the extra octane, as we stopped once we hit our goal)
+meth for cooling, we had plenty of fuel and could have most likely done a pull with it off and netted similar results since we were running 109
Smoothing in both 0-5
4th gear – Speed and RPM shown

Customer Review: BMW 335XI (N54) – Incredible gains with E50 – Intake and our custom tuning – Gains of 133awhp/168awtq from stock

Sharing another customer review. This time from an almost stock BMW 335XI running an E50 octane blend (50% ethanol 50% 93 octane gas).

The only modification to the car is an AFE Dual Cone Intake and our custom tuning.

Thank you @vwgrk for giving us the opportunity.

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I recently went to a dyno to see what my PTF E50 / 93 octane map is putting to the ground on my manual transmission 335xi. The only other modification is an AFE DCI. The plugs are new and I was walnut shelled a few months ago. The results are 413 whp & 448 wtq. This is massively impressive to me given the relatively huge delta over both stock (from what I gather, 280 whp/wtq on P&L Motorsports’ AWD dyno in Franklin Park, IL) and the 93 aggressive OTS Cobb map (356 whp & 389 wtq). As the below graph shows, a peak number comparison is just part of the story. The delta in the meat of the power curve is quite good.

Tuning with PTF was a good experience. I would encourage those on the fence to pull the trigger because it is of great value, especially for those on ethanol blends like me. PTF is very responsive and was willing to make small customizations to suit my preferences in throttle feel and high-end timing. He took the time to answer all of my questions, which was valuable to an inquisitive person like me. Doing runs in 3rd gear and emailing them to PTF is pretty easy and you can take your time doing it. I started in September and didn’t finish until December (holidays, business travel, having to get a DCI and getting married interfered with my tuning schedule). This flexibility was a huge plus.

The map is smooth in all situations and drives predictably. From the graph, one can easily see why people say not to take 3rd gear and higher up to redline- the power falls off fast. Also, PTF was able to get rid of the 3rd to 4th gear shift knock / timing pulling. In fact, this was the reason I first reached out to PTF.

Before I am asked, the dyno operator, sadly, did not log the runs properly, so I do not have the logs of these runs. So, do I earn my FlexFuel badge yet? Front-door parking for me at Whole Foods from now on!

Blue is the PTF map and red is the Cobb Stg 1 aggressive map. Green was a failed attempt to show what a stock map with a DCI would do (not like I could drain the fuel tank, so it had to be a custom map). Boost was a pound or so too high and I didn’t feel like monkeying around with it since the curve looked within expectations. Each run posted is the best of three with similar cool down times in between. IATs were similar between runs and higher than I’d like. Intercooler upgrades are key on this platform.

Customer Review: Aquamist HFS-4, Howerton 2.2gal tank, Dual Cone Intake and PTF Pro Tune – BMW 335i

We’re pleased to share another great review from Derek (@redlineryder), a recent tuning customer of ours. Thanks Derek for sharing your experience and best of luck with your N54 ;)

======== Derek’s review ======== Source: BimmerBoost.com

My car before the install was 100% stock with a Cobb PTF 94 octane tune. I’m still under extended warranty so this setup was perfect and made good power. It’s crazy how just changing the software can wake this car up. However, like so many of you already know, it’s never enough and I wanted more.

I didn’t want to install catless downpipes or an aftermarket intercooler because of possible hassle from the dealer, I figure they will see removing of emissions equipment worse than some funny lines going into the charge pipe

I ordered the following:
– Aquamist HFS-4
– Howerton Engineering 2.2 gal. tank enclosure
– (2) Aquamist adapters for silicone/rubber hose
– HP Autowerks silicone meth elbow
– BMS DCI

ProTUNING Freaks are local to me and were nice enough to tackle the lengthy install. I wanted the install to be clean and PTF kept me updated throughout the day. I dropped the car off early Saturday morning and came by early evening to see it finished. We hit the road for some tuning afterwards. It was a long day and I appreciate the work they did, it turned out great.

I haven’t had a chance to dyno it yet since I’m on snow tires but plan to see what it puts down once the summers are on. I can say that the meth + DCI has smoothed out the power band and now it pulls well past 5,000 rpm whereas before it felt like it was falling flat on it’s face, it also sounds alot better with the added timing

I’ve had the setup running for just over a month now and wanted to wait before doing a review. No regrets, the install is clean and runs flawlessly. The failsafe is cool and turning the gauge off acts like a quick valet mode. I also ordered some black wire cover to put over the meth lines in the engine bay to make it look cleaner.

Disregard the grim in the pictures, we Canadians are subjected to alot of $#@! on our roads.

I plan to install some M3 rear suspension bits next, aftermarket clutch then DP/intercooler and retune.

PTF N54 Pro Tune with 50/50 (Boost Juice) Meth – single 1.0mm nozzle, full boltons – delta of +153whp +171wtq over stock

Quick update from yesterday.

AR Catted Dp’s
Aquamist HFS-4 System w/ One 1mm nozzle 50/50 boost juice from snow performance
K&N Intake (soon to be bms dci)
ER Charge Pipe w/ Forge Diverter Valves
ETS 5″ FMIC
BMW Performance exhaust (with secondary cats in place)
PTF ProTune

Bone stock baseline showed 264whp/268wtq same day same dyno. Thought I’d throw this up as it was one of the only cars we tuned on a 50/50 meth mixture (usually do north of 80-100% meth mix) and just a SINGLE 1.0mm nozzle. With more meth and/or higher meth concentration more is available through timing. A nice DCI would help another 10-15whp at peak as well but we’re very pleased with a pretty kick ass delta of +153whp +171wtq over stock

Cobb AccessTUNER Race (ATR) Tuning Tips – Requested Load vs Actual Load

Tuning the N54 is now completely possible thanks to www.cobbtuning.com and their Cobb AP handheld. Their OTS (Off-the-Shelf) maps are a great start for your N54 powered BMW car. With the release of AccessTUNER Race you can now custom tune your car to perform like it never has before. Some other tuning platforms give you tables or sliding scales to modify, but Cobb has taken it to another level giving you access to over 70 tables in the DME. These tables will allow you to make the power you have been craving.

The Cobb AP uses load targets to control boost. This may be new to some of you who have either never tuned a car in the past, have tuned but only with hardware that utilizes boost targeting systems, or have dabbled but still struggling to feel comfortable changing how your car is controlled. If you fall into any of these categories or just want a refresher – here comes Load Tuning for boost 101.

A hot topic on the forums has been people noticing that their Actual Loads do not hit their Requested Loads. Common sense tells us that we are requesting a value so the car should be able to hit that value. It is not that straight forward. Cobb has done a lot of the work for us and set up a very safe and reliable situation for us to tune our cars and not have to worry about over-boosting or damaging components.

This is what the main load table looks like:

I have entered 190 as the load target throughout my RPM range and tapered it off slightly up top as the turbos simply leave their efficiency range. When I flash this table to the car and go log I see that my Actual Load never really hits 190. I spool up and peak at about 182 and then it drops and holds in the mid 170s. The reason for this is that the car is referencing many different limit tables, WGDCtables, PID settings, etc. This is NORMAL. The car will run the minimum boost to hit the Requested Load based on all of the calculations and limiting tables / “nannies”. The stock WGDC tables are setup to run our stock turbos to the limits of their efficient range so you can make a lot of power without changing the boost control setup (i.e. I am not hitting my Requested Load but my car is running strong and doing exactly what it should).

One of the things that comes to mind at this point is “How do I know that my car is doing what it is supposed to?” When I log I monitor many different things. To make sure that I am running the boost I want to run I log Boost Req Abs and Boost Mean Abs. These two parameters are the boost the car is requesting and the boost your car is making. The values are in addition to standard atmospheric pressure of 14.7psi. When you see the car requesting 32.97 in a log that is really only requesting that the car generate (as a reading on your boost gauge) 18.27psi and NOT 32.97psi. If you track what the car is requesting and what the car is actually making you should expect to see that the values are very close. In the lower to middle range of the RPMs you will see that they are very close and as you reach the upper RPMS (depending on how much boost you are requesting) the difference may be slightly larger. We expect that the small stock turbos will taper off a bit in the upper RPMS and if you are requesting too much there may be more of a variance in actual vs requested. If you have large differences in these two values after fully spooling you may have a small leak somewhere.

There is significantly more you can do with the boost tables through ATR, however for stock turbos following what I have discussed here is a great start and more than enough to get you on the path to trapping in the high 117+range (with the required supporting mods). You will need more than just a strong load curve to get there but this a great start to reaching your goals.

You guys can always reach me here or on the forums. For now – open up ATR and get started!! If you need help or want a tune you know how to reach us.

BMW N54 Cylinder Head Upgrade – Part 2

Most recent update from the machine shop. Here are the stock N54 cylinder head numbers followed by numbers with only work in the bowl, and then additional work with larger exhaust valves. Numbers are VERY exciting. There is 35+% more flow on the intake side and 13.5% on the exhaust side.

Shop is working with Ferrea to get custom +1mm oversized Super Alloy valves capable of supporting sustained high temperatures on the exhaust side. One of my stock exhaust valves has been shipped out along with the spring and retainer and we are expecting word from Ferrea on the recommended way to go this week.

BMW N54 Cylinder Head Upgrade – Part 1

I still just can’t get enough of the N54 even after 4 years with this car. It sucked not having seen the end of the E92Fan N54 engine build on e90post from a year or two ago. I truly enjoyed everything he was doing but we were never updated on what happened with the engine/car and how it ran after the build for reasons discussed before (owner was too busy getting his restaurant business to work out).

A couple days ago I decided to dive into the incredible N54 jewel under the hood of every 335 and see what this unbreakable beast is all about with my own two eyes, live, after 125,000km of beating, of which the last 40,000km were with RB turbos with the procede, jb4, cobb, combinations of tunes, over 100 gallons of methanol/water/washer fluid, race gas, 4 clutches (stock, cm, act, hpf now), 4 sets of plugs, injector and HPFP recall, year long cylinder 5 misfires, earlier smoking issues, and most of all: oil consumption that was having me add 1L of oil every 1500km (without any noticeable major smoke) and apparent traces of coolant that were found in the Used Oil Analysis reports by Blackstone Labs posted on here in the past while. These traces of coolant had me thinking my head gasket may have a tiny crack in it but I was very doubtful and contributed it to either meth/water injection or oil/coolant mixing elsewhere where they were in close proximity.

Now, this car was DRIVEN! This motor has seen over 150 dragstrip passes. It has seen literally hundreds of 3rd, 4th gear pulls, close to 200 dyno pulls, at least 50-60 60-130mph runs, countless datalogs. Its looked the devil in the face, SPIT in between its horns and came right back up

To make the long story short, engine is shockingly CLEAN. Truly pristine condition everywhere. We started by dropping the turbos. Then down came the oil pan. Then, valve cover. No oil sludge anywhere from the timing chain to the cam bearings to the under side of the valve cover. Clean!

Then came the vanos and timing sprockets and timing chain. Out came both the cams. Looking at them made me think I was looking at something that was literally just off the machine shop floor. I couldn’t believe how smooth everything was still after 125,000km of daily hard driving and abuse.

Next up was removing the head. It came off without a fight. Head gasket, a 3 piece multi layer design, perfect. Not a single issue, I could almost put it right back in of course not but I was just pleasantly surprised as I had tiny doubts about it.

Now come the pistons and this just took my breath away. Every single piston had literally no heavy carbon deposits on it after this much time. The piston tops were basically just darker but again, clean! No visible damage anywhere. Cylinder walls had absolutely no grooves or damage of any kind. To the touch they were as if I was touching bottom of a smooth porcelain dinner plate.

The bottoms of intake and exhaust valves on the front cylinders did have a bit of carbon buildup. Cylinder 2 did have a leaky fuel injector that was fixed under warranty a long time ago and may have contributed to it. But this is also nothing major at all. However, it might explain why I was getting cyl2 and cyl5 to act up sometimes with timing corrections while other cylinders were quiet.

The ONLY noticeable issue, if I can call it that which I found, was that the injector 6 looks to have not been sealing properly. When we took it out and had a look inside the injector holes, injector 6 hole had some discolouration coming down the hole. This can be indicative that cyl6 didn’t have full compression for some time and was robbing the engine of some power.

But that’s it folks. I am pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Here’s some pics I could capture as we were pulling things off last night. They’re off my Galaxy Nexus phone so don’t mind the quality. Phone died just before we lifted the head off so more pics of the bottom of the head, head gasket and pistons will come shortly.

If anyone would like to see closeups of anything, measurements of anything, let me know. Head is off to the machine shop to see what it flows stock and what can be done to enhance its performance further.

BMW N54 PROTUNINGFREAKS Blog is Live!

You are probably visiting our site looking for advice on your BMW N54. Here at PTF we have been involved with the N54 engine tuning scene since its inception in 2006 and still enjoy every second of it. We started as enthusiasts learning about the platform, tuning, modifying and racing it while always striving for more!

We have decided to share our knowledge and experience with anyone looking for anything from FREE advice on their datalogs to paid services such as easy and convenient email (remote) tuning, dyno tuning as well road/track testing and tuning. Our datalog review and overall tuning advice are something we are proud to offer to all N54 enthusiasts around the globe. See the list of our products and services below for more information on our current offerings.

Thank you for visiting our blog and we look forward to posting regular updates about the stuff we learn, already know or are investigating with this truly amazing motor.

Cheers from PTF!

proTUNING Freaks