Baby BMW Forum banner

Jonwilli's BMW E81 130i

100K views 481 replies 53 participants last post by  jonwilli 
#1 ·
I've been using this forum along with 1Addicts since before I bought my 1er. I only officially joined this forum about 6 months ago and since then only posted a few bits and pieces. I thought it was about time I put a build thread up for my car. Unfortunately I haven't got any photos from when I first bought the car but will try to illustrate the story the best I can.

The criteria I was looking for when I originally bought my 130 was I wanted a small, quick, fun car that was relatively practical and refined. I live in Devon and surf so the car had to be able to take 2 or 3 surfboards without a roof rack and be fun to drive on the country lanes and coastal roads which are narrow and windy. I was therefore looking at S3's, R32's, 130i's and even considered the Subaru Sti hatchback. The purchase of the 130i came down to a fairly snap decision...I took an E87 pre face lift 130 for a test drive and as soon as I heard the engine note, especially at full revs I had to have one! It also appealed that the 130 was relatively unknown and you didn't see many about. The E87 I test drove was slightly overpriced and the garage wouldn't haggle so I walked away. In the few weeks it took to find the E81 I bought, the garage with the E87 had reconsidered my offer for their 130i and called me to see if I still wanted it. I didn't take it up as the E81 I had found had my perfect spec, very low mileage, AUC, 3 door, cruise control, heated seats and not much else. The original spec was as follows:

E81 (3 door) 130i M Sport in Le Mans Blue
6 speed manual
Black heated leather (non-electric memory seats)
Cruise control
Adaptive Zenons
208M alloys with Dunlop run flats
Business head unit
Front and rear park distance control
Auto AC
Sun protection glass

I have had my 130i for 3 1/2 years now (so lots of catching up for this build thread!), bought it in January 2012 with 14,000miles on the clock as a BMW used approved car from Buchanan's on the Isle of Man. It was up for £16k but a neighbour in the trade got it direct for me at trade price for £14k with the BMW warranty. At present it has only done 32.5k miles as I commute to work by bike and try to only use the 1er if the journey is long enough to get the oil up to operating temps (I am really anal about this!).

Like most people I didn't plan on doing too many mods, it just happened! For the first 4 or 5 months I kept the car standard to learn how it felt and sounded and just get used to it. My original plan was to only use BMW Performance mods so that if I came to sell the car the mods didn't deter a buyer or a BMW dealer. So in summer 2012 to improve the aural pleasure of the car I bought the BMW Performance air intake, BMW Performance back box and then got DMS to remap the car. All three are great mods for the 130i:

DMS remap
The DMS map gets rid of the flat spot in the revs at about 4 to 4.5k revs and gives the engine more low to mid range torque. There is an increase in upper end power but it is not a night and day difference (DMS claims 294bhp and 255lb/ft). I would recommend a remap to anyone with a 130i even if the gains on paper don't look all that, it does help the drivability of the car. I have never had any issues with the DMS map and they were really good to deal with, however, they are almost double the price of most remaps. I have never driven another 130 or one with another remap so can't say if the extra for DMS is worth it or not.

Air Intake
This is a pretty expensive mod for the gains I think. It looks great in the engine bay with the carbon duct and does sound slightly better than the standard intake. I fitted the intake a month or two before the back box and remap and never really felt much change in the way the engine drove. I think if I had the choice again I would just buy the BMWP filter and fit it to the standard air box. I think this would get 90% of the improvement with 1/5 of the cost.

BMWP back box
This is again a mod I would highly recommend. The BMWP back box stainless steel tips look so much better and the sound is subtly improved over the standard back box. This sound improves over about 1k to 2k miles to give a deeper, richer exhaust note that adds to the drama on a drive. There is slightly more drone at 70mph in 6th but not enough to detract from the benefit during A and B road driving. I think that any performance gains are so negligible that it is not possible to notice (the back box was fitted a few weeks before the remap).



Unfortunately by researching about the BMWP intake and BMWP back box on this forum, other bits and pieces had taken my fancy. I think this is probably where things went downhill for my wallet! This seems like a pretty common story with BabyBMW members!

By the end of summer 2012 I ended up buying BMWP dark line rear light clusters, BMWP black grilles, BMWP 313 18" alloys and a BMWP short shift kit (only the lever and used the original M Sport knob and gaiter). I loved the improved look of the BMWP grilles and darklines against the Le Mans Blue paint and the 313 wheels with the diamond cut faces look a lot more like the alloys fitted to M cars. I also prefer the feel of the short shift kit when you are out for a proper drive and you're changing up and down the gears a lot.

Those were the last mods I purchased until 2014, two years later. However, the modifying bug had bitten and also the lust for more POWER! The reason no more mods were purchased was twofold, one I was looking to buy a house and secondly I was considering selling up the 130 for a car that didn't need to be modded to get the power/handling I was looking for.

I therefore went and test drove an E92 M3, E46 M3, E82 DCT 135i and Z4 M Coupe. I must admit I liked all of them in different ways, but not more than the 130 and a big part of me didn't want to part with my E81 as it had gotten under my skin. I didn't think either of the other cars gave as much of a step up in performance as I was expecting and knowing my 130s history and how well it had been looked after made it hard to justify selling it. All the cars on my short list were also coupes which would have been a big compromise for my lifestyle, I could get surfboards in them but it would be a struggle. If I bought a Z4 M Coupe I would also have had to buy a daily driver which adds to the comparative running cost. Most of the mods I had done to my 130 I would want to replicate on the new car which would add to the cost. I decided I was better off putting the £10+k I would have spent to change my car, to modify my 130's handling and power. By modifying my car I could also spread the cost over time which would help with buying a house! I also thought it would be nice to have a car that is relatively rare and a model (130 or 1er hatchback) that is not often modified. From the start I wanted an OEM+ look and only wanted to change parts for OEM quality or better. I wanted to make all changes one at a time so that I could make up my own mind as to how they affect the performance and look of the car. I enjoy the researching of parts and the practical learning you get from modding that you'd never get from a standard car. I think it also makes you connect and know your car better. These are some of the reasons are I am not too worried about the fact modding makes little financial sense if you were to sell up!!

At the end of 2012 I had seen an article in Total BMW where Regal Autosport in Southampton had customised an E46 330i Vortech supercharger kit to run on a BMW Z4 3.0si with the N52 engine. The kit was pushing out 390bhp (without headers). I contacted them for a quote to fit this kit to my car. The price was reasonable but soon after I started discussions I found a house to buy, I had to spend my spare funds on a house deposit and various white goods!! Whilst in talks with Regal they mentioned that in order to make the SC kit more efficient and have less issues they would recommend fitting sports cats at the same time. Apparently OEM cats in the headers don't take long to disintegrate from the additional heat and air flow. It seems this is fairly common with most of the aftermarket supercharger kits but not mentioned on AA, ESS, VF etc websites! My shopping list had grown to include suspension set up, diff, brakes, headers/cats and an SC kit!

Z4 N52 Dyno - stock car had Remus cat back exhaust hence 275bhp base power:



At the start of 2014 in order to keep tinkering I replaced the Business head unit with a Professional head unit from a facelift 3 series which had the inbuilt Bluetooth, DAB, USB and AUX. I didn't want the hassle and added weight of retro fitting the MULF unit in the boot with the older units so this was an unplanned find on eBay I jumped at! With the new HU I had to replace the roof aerial with a DAB and FM aerial so chose a Kinetic DAB stubby aerial. The whole retro fit was pretty easy, the hardest part being the Kinetic aerial didn't have a FAKRA connector on it!



At the start of 2014 I had to replace the rear Dunlop run flats so decided to change all four corners to 18" Continental Super Sport 5s 225 fronts and 255 rears. What an improvement! I had been reading for ages what an improvement non run flats were on all BMWs but couldn't bring myself to replace the tyres until the run flats had worn out! With the non run flats there is no crashing over pot holes and lumps in the road, and tramlining is massively reduced. I would seriously recommend anyone to change to non run flats if they haven't already, car ride and traction is improved and best of all they are cheaper…win, win!! Changing the dampers and springs helps the ride but I would have thought would be pointless without changing the tyres. I think the non run flats probably had as much impact on the road handling in 80% of cicumstances as the Birds B1 kit did.

Before I increased the power of the car I wanted to make sure that the chassis could handle it. I decided to get the full Birds B1 kit fitted to the car, dampers, springs, ARBs and Quaife. I looked at other options including coil overs, M3 ARBs and Wavetrac diffs. I didn't want to reduce the ride height of the car so coil overs weren't necessary. What swayed my decision was the emphatic reviews on here and reviews of Birds products in the press, including the 130 kit in BMW Car ( " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ). I also think that a kit specifically designed for a car and its weight must be better than other aftermarket options. From my own experience of tuning various mountain bike suspension set ups I completely agree with Birds philosophy; 'Show me an adjustable suspension, and I'll show you one hundred ways of getting it wrong'. I was wary of the Wavetrac diff as its less proven in the UK, the design would appear to need more maintenance and only in certain situations would its design be better than a Quaife. The fact that Quaife are British, come with a lifetime warranty, fitted to Ford RS models and you generally never hear a bad word against them made my mind up.

Birds B1
I would say anyone who has bought a 130 or a 1er and plans on keeping it for a few years should get this kit fitted as soon as they pick the car up! This really is how the car should have come from the factory. It may seem expensive but if you spread the cost over a few years of ownership it isn't that much. As you've probably already read it massively reduces the traction control interfering and improves compliance. It isn't soft, the car still corners flat, it is just that it follows the road contours better. The Quaife really helps put the power down! I think a lot of people think LSDs are for painting 11's on the road, but to do that you really have to provoke it! The LSD just allows you to put ALL of the engines power to the tarmac. The drive home from Birds I went over Exmoor. There are several very steep hair pin bends that used to cause the car all sorts of problems, with the Quaife I could keep my foot to the carpet in second and it accelerated all the way through them with minimal wheel slip…a night a day difference to OEM!! When I got the car back from Birds I also fitted an Ultra Racing strut brace. I chose the Ultra brace as it is the only once that is fully welded and can therefore transfer moments from tower to tower. Whether it adds anything to the handling at 'spirited' driving speeds is open for debate. It looks good though and every little helps!

After the B1 kit and whilst saving for manifolds and cats I was given BMWP aluminium pedals from my girlfriend. These look good but also help heal and toeing. As the rubber is only on the top of the pedal it is easier to slide the side of your foot off the pedal and the raised height of the brake pedal over the accelerator seems to make it easier on slower corners when you are not braking and reving so hard. Again I would recommend, they improve how tactile the car is, it's not just an aesthetic improvement like I often thought they were!

Through the rest of 2014 I was saving and buying exhaust bits and pieces and at the end of summer 2014 bought the ARMA Rotrex supercharger kit. A controversial choice but the only off the shelf kit at the time. ARMA were offering a sale at the time I bought it so the hardware was cheaper than Regal had quoted with a non FMIC Vortech kit. Since ARMA had started using Rotrex superchargers I was not worried about reliability of the turbine which they'd suffered from in the past (Evolve use Rotrex turbines in their kits). Even the original ARMA kit which received criticism on the forums had been hugely praised by BMW Car and BMW Performance when they had driven the original prototype car in Taiwan. The ARMA kit only runs at 7psi which is the same as the Vortech unit that Regal used in their Z4 kit which has had no reliability issues.



In October 2014 I got Jack at Royal Steering Wheels to retrim the steering wheel, instrument binnacle, arm rest, gear gaiter and hand brake gaiter in black alcantara with silver/light grey stitching. I chose not to have M coloured stitching as my car isn't and never will be an M car so would rather keep it individual and OEM+. I also changed the original M Sport gear knob for a Clubsport knob as I have never liked the angular shape of the standard M Sport knob and think the Clubsport knob, although fairly old is a really nice shape. Again a minor mod but it really lifts the interior and gives it a bit more of a special feel. After a hesitant start with the Alcantara steering wheel I love it now. I always liked the look, I just found the way it felt a little weird having been used to leather steering wheels. Now I am used to it I love the fact that it isn't cold in the winter and doesn't get sweaty and slippery in the summer!





This summer, having bought all of the exhaust components over a 9 month period, I got them fitted. I had bought Supersprint sports cats, Supersprint unresonated centre section and ARMA headers. The ARMA headers I had got coated in Zircotec ceramic coating. ARMA were the only people offering off the shelf RHD headers and having contacted Evolve, Supersprint and other custom exhaust manufacturers I could tell there was no appetite in the UK to make a custom RHD header for the 130 and some of the quotes were insane…£3+k just for the headers! Anyhow having received the ARMA headers I would say the quality of the welds and design seems as good and maybe even better than that of the Supersprint items I bought. I think people in the BMW modified world are very snobbish when it comes to new manufacturers in the market or parts from outside Europe or the USA. I had the headers Zircotec coated to reduce engine bay temps once the supercharger is fitted. I thought this would help the longevity of any parts near the manifolds and may reduce the need for oil coolers or upgraded radiators in the future. My original plan was to fit the headers and Supersprint parts to the BMWP back box….however this changed when the garage I'd entrusted the work to f*cked the job up ( " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ). Anyhow it all got resolved after a lot of stress and hassle. I therefore bought a Supersprint back box to replace the BMWP back box so that the connection between the mids and back box was plug and play. According to the garage the headers, cats and mid section all fitted easily. The time consuming work was extending the O2/Lambda sensors.

ARMA Zircotec coated headers, Supersprint cats, unresonated centre section and back box
All parts have been fitted to the car for a couple of months now. Running an NA set up the sound is different to the OEM exhaust and BMWP back box. In my opinion it is better but the difference is subtle, not massively different even with non resonated mid section. I think the car feels like it is keener to rev, especially towards the top end and the exhaust note above 4k revs is very good! I (think) there is more power available, from the butt dyno I reckon it must be 10bhp plus at the top end. It will be interesting when I get the SC fitted and the car is dynoed whether this is the case. I am really enjoying the car with this exhaust set up but I wouldn't recommend it if you're not planning to supercharge, it is very expensive bhp/£!! The Supersprint back box tips look even better than the BMWP back box tips in my opinion. I weighed the full OEM exhaust and the Supersprint/ARMA set up….32.5kg versus 30.9kg, not sure how aftermarket manufacturers claim savings of 25kgs on M3/M5 exhausts?! Even made of titanium you couldn't get half of those reductions on a 130 exhaust. I know the M3 exhausts on the E92 have twin pipes and twin silencers but 25kgs seems very optimistic (anyone have an answer?). Most of the savings in my set up were from the back box. Even though the rest of the Supersprint exhaust is a better quality stainless steel to OEM the diameter of the tubing is increased offsetting some of the weight reductions from the better material.









Next mod was to fit bigger brakes! I decided not to go the BMWP brake route as I didn't think they would give that much of an upgrade over the 130's single piston callipers. I toyed with Stoptech 6 piston fronts and 4 piston rears but eventually bought WP 6 piston and 4 piston callipers with 360mm vented and drilled discs. I went with the WP set up as a couple of guys in BMW Performance magazine have been tracking them on an E46 M3 and a converted/custom E36 touring M3. Both the guys are really happy with the performance and look of the kits. I bought them in November 2014 when there was a Black Friday sale knocking 25% off them which made them significantly cheaper than an equivalent Stoptech kit! The kit comes with the rotors, callipers, braided brake lines and all mounting components. For information the full OEM 130 set up weighs 49.5kgs the WP kit with 360mm rotors and 6 piston callipers only weighs 46kgs. I fitted the kit with some Motul RBF 600 racing brake fluid and also converted the wheel nuts to studs and fitted 15mm front spacers and 18mm rear spacers. I changed to studs for practicality rather than aesthetics, as there is so little space between the disc and wheel I was worried I would damage the alloys changing the wheels without the studs!! I don't really have a preference either way over the OEM nuts or the studs. I know stud conversions are a bit of a Marmite choice for some people.

WP Big brake kit
The kit has been on the car a month or two. I have not really used them in anger so can not comment too much on the performance (I will update this once I have more of an opinion). The kit fitted onto the car with no hassles, plug and play. This was the first 130i kit WP had made as the hatch isn't available in North America. WP therefore had to obtain the 130 rear hubs and handbrake shoes to make a custom rear hat for me. Again the rears fitted perfectly first time and the handbrake still works as it should which seems to be one of the issues with a lot of BBKs. I have had some issues with WP customer service but will not add any more comments to this until it is resolved. The WP team are really nice guys to deal with but everything takes an age to happen!!

Fronts


Rears




CDV delete and gearbox oil change
At the same time I changed the brakes I also did the CDV delete, changed the gearbox oil to Red Line MTL 75W-80 and fitted a clutch stop. Although the car had only done 32k miles this has made a massive improvement to the gear change. I bought the oil and brake fluid from Opie Oils who were super helpful. They actually thought the Red Line MTL might be a bit too viscous and could make cold gear changes heavier, this has not happened. With the SSK the gear change is now smooth rather than notchy, how often do you hear a statement like that about a 1 series manual box!

As another little project this summer I replaced the cheap, standard mid range speakers and added the Hi-Fi tweeters. The sound is improved and the tweeters look quite good but I don't think it is worth the money for the improvement. I bought all new parts from BM Mini Parts and it was £250 with VAT and postage…I think I'd rather have the windows down and listen to the Supersprint exhaust! No regrets as it's good to experience yourself and be able to make up your own mind.



The last little mod has been to add a BMW Aero spoiler, another subtle addition but one that I think improves the look of the hatchback. I think it is a pity though that BMW did not design these spoilers so they fit a little more flush to the roof line but I guess this is only something a few people will notice.

So next on the list….
I have the supercharger booked in to be fitted at Regal in the second week in August!! I am having the Rotrex kit fitted and then a custom map rather than using the ARMA piggy back ECU. I have also asked Regal to upgrade any parts they think can be improved upon such as the injectors to get the most reliable, smooth power as possible. I am not looking for crazy numbers, I would rather reliability but I am hoping the kit with the headers will give at least 380bhp which is far more than you can really use on the street!

Then E9* M3 front and rear arms, upgraded trailing arms and rear camber arm with Powerflex black rear subframe and diff bushes with a full M3/1M alignment.

Finally BMWP aero front bumper with Kerscher carbon splitter and side skirts…
With that I hope I will have as close to my take on an OEM+ 130/1M hatch….let me know of any other mods you think I should consider…I would like BMWP Recaros but think they are too expensive for 20kg weight loss and a bit more support but they do look lovely :)

Photos of the car summer 2015:









Dirty engine bay!!


I got the Apex wheels fitted on Wednesday 27th Jan. Took a photo yesterday, not the best photo as its pretty dark and wet but that isn't going to change for the foreseeable future!! So what do people think compared to the 313's? I really like them but still getting used to them. I love the 313s and how minimal the design is. You could really see into them and see the with of the wheel which I thought look really aggressive. These wheels are an inch wider front and rear but yet from the side look narrower. The 255 rear Conti's actually looked slightly stretched on them! I think I will have to go up to a 235 front and at least a 265 at the rear when I next replace the tyres. They are a few kgs lighter a wheel though and give about 10mm extra clearance for the brake discs and callipers.

Also fitted the Revshift gearbox mounts, from the short drive I have done since they were fitted they seem to have given the gearbox a very precise feeling with no additional vibration or noise in the cabin. Although the Revshift mounts only 80a hardness they feel a lot stiffer than the OEM mounts that came off. The OEM felt very soft, I could twist them in my hands! Imagine the twist induced on hard acceleration or fast, tight cornering!

 
See less See more
20
#127 ·
markhurley said:

Dunno if this firm are anygood but I don't think that's a bad price ?
Emerald are good bits of kit for simple instalations, but something like a 1series where everything is integrated into factory ecy/dme via canbus I don't think it would work without ripping everything out and full rewire, even then not sure it would have enough processing power.

This integration of all parts of car is what makes fitting any standalone ecu very tricky, I think there are some out there but probably not been fitted to a 130i before, trying to adapt the stock setup to cope with boost is easiest option just not many done it.

Ian
 
#128 ·

This is OEM ECU. and internals.
I looked at standalone ECUs for a while and there are non that have been tried and proven with the N52. Most that are used on other modern BMWs and made to work with the OEM traction control and electrics cost £'000s, Then you need to get then tuned for you which isn't cheap. As Tyrant said OEM ECU is the only reasonably priced way to go. I think the Siemens ECUs on the N52 are pretty powerful its just that they haven't been properly cracked due to the low numbers fitted to cars.
 
#131 ·
OK I have updated some of the photos onto Flickr so they should be visible now.

Another little update, as the Vectra is going to lose its MOT shortly I have bought Cupsters old E87 off my girlfriend and she is getting an R56 Cooper S. As a result I bought these :):



Always loved the Type 3's and found these on eBay.de. I may have to fit some 255's on the rear if I want to swap them out onto the E81. I will keep the 208m's to run as winters on the E87.

I will add a thread for the E87 at some point as I will do some mods here and there :). Will keep it NA and the mods relatively cheap. First off all I will fit DAB to the Professional Nav, sort the rear window spray (I think the pump is blocked as the motor is fine :() and fit cruise control. After that it may well be hand me downs from the E81. I'd love to try some Ohlins in the future so maybe the B1 kit will end up on the E87. A heated leather retro fit would be nice but only if I can get them cheap. The plastic leather is quite useful for a daily as it is so hard wearing.
 
#132 ·
Great choice of wheel. No bias...

Can you explain what you mean by DAB for the Professional unit?
 
#136 ·
I have finally finished wiring up the BOV controller! It took a lot longer than expected as the car is on the drive so have had to wait for dry weekends and then work around other commitments. Hardest part was finding how to get the wire through the bulkhead, as always very easy once you know how! So the BOV controller is wired up to the fly by wire accelerator. As you release the pedal and the voltage drops the controller opens a solenoid in the engine bay and the boost pressure (rather than vacuum) opens the bypass valve relieving the pressure.
 
#137 ·
Oh blinking hell, all this reading is making me want to keep my car! Wow! Credit to you Jon, those mods are epic, seriously! Where are you based? You mention Exmoor, do you mean the A39? Lovely piece of road and love those hairpins! Such a steep incline going up Porlock Hill? Mind you, when I drove down there I had run flats on at the time so couldn't get the best out of the road. I did a loop down to Woolacombe and then back up the A361 towards Tiverton, M5.

You want to get yourself up to Santa Pod when the car is all finished! I reckon you will give the Jap cars a run for their money!

By the way, you got any performance parts for sale?
 
#138 ·
G1NGE said:
Oh blinking hell, all this reading is making me want to keep my car! Wow! Credit to you Jon, those mods are epic, seriously! Where are you based? You mention Exmoor, do you mean the A39? Lovely piece of road and love those hairpins! Such a steep incline going up Porlock Hill? Mind you, when I drove down there I had run flats on at the time so couldn't get the best out of the road. I did a loop down to Woolacombe and then back up the A361 towards Tiverton, M5.

You want to get yourself up to Santa Pod when the car is all finished! I reckon you will give the Jap cars a run for their money!

By the way, you got any performance parts for sale?
Hi Ginge, yeah I am Barnstaple based so often drive the A39, it is a great road! Also the Atlantic Highway towards Bude is great outside summer with the caravans! Lots of fun roads down here although there seem to be more and more potholes which means you need to know the roads pretty well! The 1er if perfect as it isn't too big to thread down the small B roads with some pace.

No performance parts for sale at the moment, just old OEM parts.
 
#139 ·
markhurley said:
If it's an Alpha N tune why do you need the map sensor?
I was alway led to believe Alpha N works off of angle not vacuum like a map sensor?

How much was the kit originally? I was tempted by it but don't fancy going through all the hassle that you have.

Bet you can't wait to get it sorted now
Just want to drop in and comment on the Alpha N tune.
Before I decided to install the ESS kit one of my prime concern is the Alpha N tune that it uses, according to common knowledge there will be two problems;
1) At low throttle angle position it car will run unstable as the map cannot account for small % changes, car will run very rough on traffic or react poorly for any minute throttle adjustment,
2) Up hill will be a big problem as a fix map cannot account for extra engine load.

I went ahead and did the whole thing anyway and although I cannot speak on the technical side of things due to my lack of knowledge, what I find out is;
1) The engine idles and go through traffic (650rpm ~ 4000rpm) very stably. If I didn't tell you you won't believe the car is not stock.

2) I just don't find any problem going up hill? Not what I can feel anyway.
I love going uphill in this quiet mountain, the power delivery is very consistent and a good bit more power than N/A trim.
 
#141 ·
Kubricks said:
I went ahead and did the whole thing anyway and although I cannot speak on the technical side of things due to my lack of knowledge, what I find out is;
1) The engine idles and go through traffic (650rpm ~ 4000rpm) very stably. If I didn't tell you you won't believe the car is not stock.

2) I just don't find any problem going up hill? Not what I can feel anyway.
I love going uphill in this quiet mountain, the power delivery is very consistent and a good bit more power than N/A trim.
Cheers for posting that :). Did I see on Bimmerpost that you are running a BPC tune? The US guys are raving about the BPC N52 tunes, they really seem to know their stuff on this ECU and engine. Looking forward to getting the tune on and fine tuning. Hopefully with the intercooler, bypass valve and larger injectors it will be running some great numbers with a NA feel.

I am also thinking of fitting MILV's to my E87 and supercharged E81 in the future to see what they add :). Probably wait a little, do the M3 suspension parts to the E81 and maybe trial MILVs and BPC tune on the E87 which will stay NA as it is a daily.
 
#143 ·
Kubricks said:
2) I just don't find any problem going up hill? Not what I can feel anyway.
I love going uphill in this quiet mountain, the power delivery is very consistent and a good bit more power than N/A trim.
Impressive. Impressed after seeing this, really.

Are you running the setup you say in your signature? Which tyres?
Birds B1 Suspension set | Vorshlag camber plate | Quaife Limited slip differential | M3 Chassis parts

And the most important, you have good hands :D .
 
#144 ·
I am not running anything from BPC, it's a custom tune from local dyno using AEM software.

With your Rotrex there is a lot more room to play with, I guess a higher boost with intercooler should be great!
I am tempted to run a smaller pulley (120mm to 115~110mm) to increase boost in midrange and try a waste gate of sort to reduce boost at redline, that way I can have more midrange plus some protection at high rev.

As for the MILV from E90post, I must admit I do not fully understand it, will probably do some study first.

supercati said:
Are you running the setup you say in your signature? Which tyres?
Birds B1 Suspension set | Vorshlag camber plate | Quaife Limited slip differential | M3 Chassis parts
Thanks!
It is running 235/40/18 Dunlop Z3 F&R with all the mods I have listed out. 3 degree front camber helps a ton, the car has a great base chassis anyway. :D
 
#145 ·
Kubricks said:
With your Rotrex there is a lot more room to play with, I guess a higher boost with intercooler should be great!
I am tempted to run a smaller pulley (120mm to 115~110mm) to increase boost in midrange and try a waste gate of sort to reduce boost at redline, that way I can have more midrange plus some protection at high rev.
Yeah I have just ordered a 80mm pulley to fit today. Current pulley is 100mm and meant to run about 7psi (but never checked). My calculations this will give me just under 9psi at a slightly raised redline of 7,000rpm. With the C38 Rotrex unit I have this will be the max rpm for the supercharger axle (12,000rpm).

Whilst I was researching the reduced pulley size I noticed that there are hardly any supercharger applications running more than 9psi which I think is probably about the max you can get with a reasonable size turbine at normal engine revs.

With a poor tune and 7psi I have a dyno from Surrey Rolling Road (conservative Dyno Dynamics) showing 355hp at 6,600rpm. I am hoping with Bob's magic, a couple more psi and more efficient intercooler I will have a 'real' 400hp at the crank. Without getting the larger C38 unit (which will cost a fortune) I think that will be the max power I can make. To make more I think it would have to be a turbo which I don't want. I think 400hp with chassis mods will be perfect in the 1er, especially as the E81 is about 130kgs or so lighter than 1M/M2.

Does your tune allow heal and toe? I heard ESS Alpha N tune did not? Apparently an easy fix once you know how.

The MILV's open the intake valves higher allowing more air into the engine. It only increase power and torque in the second half of the rev range but adds 10 to 15hp to an NA car. I think BPC have also been playing with the MILVs on a N55 engine and have seen even better gains with the forced induction.
 
#146 ·
jonwilli said:
Whoa that's a lot of power! Nice to know the N52 can comfortably take 7psi at 355hp, my original concern on the engine's internal strength seems redundant.

The ESS Alpha N does not allow for H&T which makes the car essentially undrivable. My garage fiddle with the brake signal and ended up solving the problem but how they did it I have no idea. All I know is they did a lot of testing. The custom tune was done after I solve the brake/throttle problem.
 
#147 ·
Kubricks said:
Whoa that's a lot of power! Nice to know the N52 can comfortably take 7psi at 355hp, my original concern on the engine's internal strength seems redundant.
The BPC turbo is being tracked on stock internals and ECU with just over 500hp for nearly a year (I think 11psi boost). So far no issues. If the internals can survive the boost from a turbo boost from a supercharger shouldn't be a problem. There's a guy called Digidom on Bimmerpost who has had a home made turbo on his 328i for several years with no issues other than having to upgrade the auto slushbox to an N54 manual.
 
#148 ·
I would personally wait to fit that Pulley Jon and get it running nicely on current setup, more boost means more work to get it right and as you cant easily control the boost on a supercharger (only bleeding it off) unlike a turbo it can make more problems than its worth, I found this when I built my supercharged MX5 and got greedy for most boost, sure I made more power/torque but also lot more heat which was a struggle to manage especially without a proper standalone ecu setup.

Going to be a monster when its done :D

Ian
 
#149 ·
jonwilli said:
I also fitted an Ultra Racing strut brace. I chose the Ultra brace as it is the only once that is fully welded and can therefore transfer moments from tower to tower.
Hiya! Do you remember if the Ultra Racing strut brace had elongated holes like the strut towers, that allow for the camber pin mod?
I'm setting my car up for track days, and even with camber plates I need as much camber as possible!!

(Sorry for the change of topic haha)

Cheers!
 
#150 ·
tree233 said:
Hiya! Do you remember if the Ultra Racing strut brace had elongated holes like the strut towers, that allow for the camber pin mod?
I'm setting my car up for track days, and even with camber plates I need as much camber as possible!!

(Sorry for the change of topic haha)

Cheers!
I'm pretty sure it does
 
Top