[Stück]

First off a big shout out for Mike at Extreme Powerhouse whom supplied the goods and got them to me quick!

The good stuff:



First thing first I got the car up in the air and ready to work on. Everything else looked perfect, as well it should having just ticked over 20k miles.




As I drove the car a solid 20 miles from my house to the shop I decided to tackle the intercooler first after dropping the under panels. That cat is piping hot!

Look at how whimpy the factory unit looks next to the Wagner.





Installation was a breeze. Fit and finish were great, it slid right up into position with almost no fuss. A tight fit no doubt, but a well engineered one.

Now moving on to the downpipe, we see here the stock catted down pipe which has cooled a bit and is tolerable to be in contact with briefly lol.



Factory downpipe removed



Clolseup of the exhaust housing, wastegate and turbo exducer, everything looks mint.



Factory above ER.



ER installed on the car.



I haven't had a chance yet to look at IAT logs to see how much lower they are but you can imagine its going to be a pretty bid difference.

The turbo spools quicker now, and you can hear it a whole lot more. With the windows up its nary a bit louder, but with the windows down it sounds delicious as the turbo spools and screams.

I'm getting a nice exhaust pop on WOT 1st to 2nd upshifts now too.

[gabypr]

Very nice pics. I have been considering these mods specially the wagner intercooler which looks insane compared to the stock one. Temps here in PR are hot and the intercooler should be a nice mod to consider. It should provide me some nice hp's.The ER downpipe is catted or catless? Thats the ER short downpipe? Let us know if you get fumes with the windows down and how much.

Also thanks for the exhaust housing pic, havent seen one.

[gabypr]

Btw do you have the stock diverter? Have you considered the gofastbits one?

[Stück]

The Evolution Racewerks downpipe is catless, the bulge is a flex section. I went with the "I don't know" option on length, which seems to fit perfect.

In didn't notice any fumes in the car what so ever on the way home and I spent most of the trip with the windows down to enjoy the new sounds coming from the turbo. Even sitting at red lights for awhile I didn't notice any smell.

I had the car idling for awhile after I backed it off the lift and out of the shop, and I walked up to it from the rear to leave. I did notice the smell then, but it wasn't a big deal.

I'll be getting the GFB DV+ unit soon. It will be going in with the Pure Stage 2 turbo upgrade. I've been talking with Pure for awhile now and decided this week to make it happen. I have a complete core unit I'm sending them next week so I don't have any down time.

[gabypr]

Originally Posted by Stück

The Evolution Racewerks downpipe is catless, the bulge is a flex section. I went with the "I don't know" option on length, which seems to fit perfect.

In didn't notice any fumes in the car what so ever on the way home and I spent most of the trip with the windows down to enjoy the new sounds coming from the turbo. Even sitting at red lights for awhile I didn't notice any smell.

I had the car idling for awhile after I backed it off the lift and out of the shop, and I walked up to it from the rear to leave. I did notice the smell then, but it wasn't a big deal.

I'll be getting the GFB DV+ unit soon. It will be going in with the Pure Stage 2 turbo upgrade. I've been talking with Pure for awhile now and decided this week to make it happen. I have a complete core unit I'm sending them next week so I don't have any down time.

Very nice man. I saw that you have an AFE intake any hp gains from it? Better throttle response? Did you felt any gains with the chargepipe when you installed it? FTP is the one that provides the boost pipe also?

[Stück]

I installed the AFE intake and the charge pipe at the same time as the Mission Performance Stage 1 tune, which is stated to be good for gains of +45whp and +148wtq.

Its impossible to say what if any gains were from the bolt ons vs. the tune, you better believe the tune is the lions share of any gains though.

Yes FTP makes a matching boost pipe but I'm undecided if its worth the effort to install.

[gabypr]

Originally Posted by Stück

I installed the AFE intake and the charge pipe at the same time as the Mission Performance Stage 1 tune, which is stated to be good for gains of +45whp and +148wtq.

Its impossible to say what if any gains were from the bolt ons vs. the tune, you better believe the tune is the lions share of any gains though.

Yes FTP makes a matching boost pipe but I'm undecided if its worth the effort to install.

So you have the mission performance tune which I have heard a lot of good things. Right now I have a Racechip Ultimate but these re-flashes are more consistent and even provide better power along other things. I noticed that your car is 2014 which should be under warranty. Do you have the m-boot option within the tune? How are you going to deal with the warranty?

Now that you are considering going to the stage 2 are you also considering a fuel update such as those from fuel-it? Any other considerations to proper maximize the bigger turbo?

[Stück]

My warranty is not intact as my car was purchased damaged at auction, it was previously totaled by USAA. I repaired the car myself: http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1264793

The M-Boot option is a no brainer if you have the slightest inkling you'll want to upgrade later. Since the DME will otherwise have to be mailed out again. An average shop would charge 3 hours to R&R the DME as the intake manifold has to come off. An experienced hand can do the job in about an hour. Mission Performance install: http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1301245

If I want to see the full capability of the Pure Stage 2 turbo yes I will have to up my fueling, not just a upgraded in tank LPFP like the one Fuel-It makes, but also some sort of port injection.

I don't think auxiliary fueling is something I'm really looking for right now. I'll likely ask Alex to tune within the headroom of the HPFP, which would likely be 20psi or so through redline. The Pure Stg2 will hold that no problem, its good through 26-28psi.

Regardless a Fuel-It LPFP will likely be required to make sure enough volume is fed to the HPFP to meet my goals. I'm sitting with E40 in the tank right now and the AFR's, high pressure rail look great.

Fuel-It offers 2 different auxiliary fueling kits, but as said I don't think I'm going to tune that nutzo.

Throttle fogger: http://www.fuel-it.biz/n55-f-series-...y-injection-1/
Port injection: http://www.fuel-it.biz/f-series-port-injection-1/

Without upgrading my fueling maximum power is likely in the neighborhood of 400-450whp, and 500wtq. The turbo itself is adequate to push 530whp/500wtq.

[gabypr]

Thanks again for your valuable input. What about the transmission or engine components such as pistons, rods, etc. Do you think that a stage 2 could break one of these components or our engines can tolerate over 400 hp/tq range? Have you considered opening/porting the intake manifold?

[Stück]

As far as the engine goes, I haven't heard of any failures of the N55 at these sort of power levels provided there was a solid tune in place. I've seen some JB4 related failures as this tuning platform allows a misguided end user full control over critical running variables and you can quite easily grenade your engine is you insist on changing things you shouldn't.

The 8HP45 transmission is already at its nominally rated torque capacity as fitted from the factory according to ZF, 420NM (310ft.lb) input torque. Its widely accepted it is perfectly happy taking considerably more. Alex at Mission Performance limits the AT tunes to 425rwtq. Assuming a sensible 12% drivetrain loss that is about 476 torque at the crank.

Bmw doubles has a 6MT car, and with his acceptance of risk Alex pushed the Stage 2 tune on his car to a ball busting 505wtq. At this point the factory clutch disc does slip as its far outside its engineered torque holding capacity.

Now, that said.... the 6HP21 used in the N54 x35i cars has plenty of people rolling around at 500+wheel torque without any major failures. I intended, perhaps at my own peril, to see how far the 8HP45 can be push on input torque before it starts to slip or otherwise bug out.

The intake manifold is glass fiber reinforced plastic. There is nothing one can do to modify it, and I don't see it as a restriction anyway. The design is amicable.

[PJinCA]

stuck, your mods are exactly what I am looking to do. my worry is, and has been, the transmission, is your car an auto or manual? if auto, any plans for that? I am hoping one of us finds a solution. I was talking to a buddy and he mods cars in his shop for a living, this is what he's seen on cars with similar up grades:
550 trans blown approaching 600 whp
m5 having trans issues near 700+ hp
I do worry our zf boxes can't handle that much for long

[Stück]

My car is automatic, 8HP45.

The only documented problem I have been able to find is trans slippage on upshifts on WOT pulls. This is just the clutches slipping. I've seen it stated that lifting between gears negates the slippage. This can likely be alleviated by careful boost manipulation on upshifts to soften the driveline shock if its an issue.

Plenty of 8HP45 F40 335i and F32 435i guys are running around with the Pure Stage 2 turbo without a problem.

[gabypr]

I have been considering a ER catted downpipe to avoid excessive sound around my car. I dont know how much sound emits a catted downpipe. Does a catted downpipe would restrict airflow for lets say a stage 1. If I install a catted downpipe and still I dont like the sound can I still a resonator to reduce further the sound?

[Stück]

Swapping out the factory catalyst for a catted aftermarket downpipe is a waste of time and money IMO. Either go with a catless downpipe or leave the factory unit in place.

F10 N55 cars have a resonator about half way down the car. I think the new setup sounds great. Not a whole lot of tonal shift, its just a bit louder and the turbo spooling is what you really hear.

[DigitalNav]

How much louder is the car with the downpipe?

Im really curious to hear about the PURE turbo as thats what i wanted to do next.

[gabypr]

Originally Posted by DigitalNav

How much louder is the car with the downpipe?

Im really curious to hear about the PURE turbo as thats what i wanted to do next.

I would also like to hear the PURE turbo sound.

Which are the requirements to run a mission performance stage 2?

[lsturbointeg]

you got to be the first with the Wagner Intercooler! earlier in the year i wanted to do this upgrade but no one could officially say it bolts right up with no modifications. yours is a 535i correct?

[DigitalNav]

whats the benefit of running such a large intercooler?

[gabypr]

Originally Posted by DigitalNav

whats the benefit of running such a large intercooler?

Air temp drop. It helps to eliminate heat soak and provides more airflow. If you compare the wagner vs the stock one you can easily tell that will provide better functionality.

[DigitalNav]

How much more power increase would I see running larger intecooler with RaceChip?

[gabypr]

Originally Posted by DigitalNav

How much more power increase would I see running larger intecooler with RaceChip?

I dont have one yet, but I have read that between 10 to 20hp and around 30tq. Could be wrong.

[Stück]

The car really isn't that much louder, as said with the windows up its hardly noticeable. All you hear is the whistle of the turbo spooling, and you can actually hear the waste gate cycling.

Windows down its a real nice sound, but again not too loud.

Intercooler was a very straight forward install. It is a TIGHT fit, but it slides right into place without much fuss. The hardest part is working the boost pipe clamps loose and backing them off the stock intercooler. I would be less concerned with "power gains" from an intercooler, and more with keeping the IAT as low as possible. After just one 2-3 gear pull the stock intercooler allows IAT to rise 60-80F above ambient. 10-15F above ambient is ideal! A large intercooler will drop temps faster after a pull, keep them lower during pulls, and cool the intake charge further when just cruising so it starts out lower to begin with.

I put together a short video for you guys.