[Sparky68]

Picked up the 335i today and although it is a very lovely drive, handles quite well and can munch through the miles with ease it's not exactly as i'd like.

Background to this is as follows.

I had a e46 330 Vert which sadly got mullered by a Spanish lorry driver



Needed a car fairly quick as i have a 80 mile commute a day so bought this



It started life as a unabused example which didnt last long! Ended up as a 320bhp brute!

Moving swiftly on to my issue. The 335i does not feel anywhere near what i was expecting [ i know, different cars different platforms but im sure you know what i mean]. So this brings me to the JB4. Seems to be a almost perfect solution for me and should bring more of the Focus "anger" tied in with the crushing reliability of the BMW.

Does anyone running a JB4 get what i mean? Does the JB4 give you that thump in the back that im looking for? Or is my 335i sick in someway?

Sorry for the long drawn out post but it is something i am really keen to find answers for.

Thanks in advance.

[GOTMH8N]

My JB4 and cone intakes put down 320whp on a low reading dyno. It's a huge difference over stock. Plus you can run a lil e85 and make another 30whp

[Sparky68]

Originally Posted by GOTMH8N

My JB4 and cone intakes put down 320whp on a low reading dyno. It's a huge difference over stock. Plus you can run a lil e85 and make another 30whp

Sounds more like what i am after. Watched the fitting video, seems quite straight forward. Do you have any other mods? Exhaust etc?

[GOTMH8N]

Originally Posted by Sparky68

Sounds more like what i am after. Watched the fitting video, seems quite straight forward. Do you have any other mods? Exhaust etc?

Nope lol completely stock other than jB4 and cone filters. Down Pipes are a really good mod to consider for better sound and more power

[Sparky68]

Im betting you guys get a lot more choice of pipes in the States.

[phil200tdi]

I have jb4, ar design down pipes, ets intercooler and a meth kit. 410bhp without meth about 450bhp with..

Plenty of others in uk with similar mods.

[Sparky68]

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

I have jb4, ar design down pipes, ets intercooler and a meth kit. 410bhp without meth about 450bhp with..

Plenty of others in uk with similar mods.

Sounds nice. Not to far from my work place. Did you fit the JB4 yourself, do you have any issues with BMW servicing?

[phil200tdi]

Yep fitting jb4 is easy.

Now use independents for servicing/repairs. Tune only you would be fine to service/warranty with dealers..

[Sparky68]

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

Yep fitting jb4 is easy.

Now use independents for servicing/repairs. Tune only you would be fine to service/warranty with dealers..

That's what i wanted to hear. thanks Phil.

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by Sparky68

Moving swiftly on to my issue. The 335i does not feel anywhere near what i was expecting [ i know, different cars different platforms but im sure you know what i mean]. So this brings me to the JB4. Seems to be a almost perfect solution for me and should bring more of the Focus "anger" tied in with the crushing reliability of the BMW.

Thanks in advance.

What do you find missing from the stock 335? Remember BMW tuned the car to feel like a NA engine, having never driven a turbo car before my 335 I have to say I find the engine behaviour in the 335 very similar to my previous cars.

The JB4 is a great tune and easy to install, I'm sure you love it (it does add a noticeable kick)!! I'm running mine with some hifo cats/intercooler and have to say the car on the most aggressive map (map 5) feels too fast for public roads, I potter around on the most conservative power map (map 1) .

As for "Crushing reliability of the BMW"....Plenty of people on here will tell you not to run a 335 without a BMW warranty due to Fuel pump/injector/wastegate problems on top of the random steering rack lock/DSC failures that seem to affect alot of E90/92 BMWs

[phil200tdi]

After replacing my turbos yesterday, I'd add my name to that list!

[gangzoom]

Sorry to hear about your turbos phil? What happened? How long did it take to replace/source them? Did new OEM turbos come with the newer wastegate arms?

I'm asking so many questions because in the back of my mind I'm pretty sure at some-point I'll have to do the same with my car..luckily the garage that did most of my mods have done turbos on a 330d before so have some experience, just trying to work out how much to put aside for the worst case scenario .

[Guvernator]

A stock 335i isn't a slow car by any means to be honest and I doubt even a tuned Focus RS would show it a clean pair of heals, however it doesn't feel as fast as it is for several reasons.

The engine has been tuned to behave more like an NA so you don't get the wait wait kick in the back that you do from other turbo cars, it also has a tonne of sound deadening and is more refined than most turbo cars so it doesn't feel that fast. Lastly it's quite a heavy beast, even more so in E93 guise which again blunts the kick in the back feeling.

However a JB4 will transform the car and give you that feeling of riding on a surge of turbo boost that I suspect you are after.

[E60525d]

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

I have jb4, ar design down pipes, ets intercooler and a meth kit. 410bhp without meth about 450bhp with..

Plenty of others in uk with similar mods.

What sort of torque figure is yours running at? Any dyno charts?

[doughboy]

OP - a standard 335i is meant to be fairly subtle in its nature, no lag, very smooth linear delivery, its meant to feel like a NA motor, that's the whole point of the standard N54. A 335i is pretty heavy too.

Even tuned its still very linear and can be driven round very steadily (my missus hasn't noticed any difference from standard)


...But JB4 FTW!

Dynos shown for older JB3, but similar results to JB4 flat out. I queried the figures as they seemed very high, but it was a freezing morning and the dyno operator was using a 18% transmission loss dyno setting, which might explain the high figures?

This was on the old JB3 map 7 which was too much without an intercooler, even at the 5degC air temp on the day (freezing morning) the intake temp was right up at the end of each pull.

More like 400bhp with the more sensible map5 (i.e. same as JB4 map 5)

450ft/lb (616Nm) torque is more than a C63AMG V8!

[J44KPR]

my old car had 200bhp, this has it just after 2500rpm haha!
cannot wait for my remap!

[Greg330]

I've had my reservations about plug in remaps but everything I've read about JB4 has been positive!

Its on my to do list and the more dyno graphs i see the more excited i get.....

I'm also looking forward to having a rematch with my friends M3 CS!

[J44KPR]

has anyone had a plug in and ECU reprogram ?
so can compare?

[phil200tdi]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

Sorry to hear about your turbos phil? What happened? How long did it take to replace/source them? Did new OEM turbos come with the newer wastegate arms?

I'm asking so many questions because in the back of my mind I'm pretty sure at some-point I'll have to do the same with my car..luckily the garage that did most of my mods have done turbos on a 330d before so have some experience, just trying to work out how much to put aside for the worst case scenario .

Took 8hrs labour to replace in total.

Darren Woods is 165 miles each way from me but they have done numerous 335i turbo replacements and can do it without removing the engine. I asked them to check the wastegates but to get some oem turbos in on sale or return just in case. Unfortunately as i suspected I needed new ones...

While tempting, I expect hybrid turbos would have cost an extra £1k+ which I wasn't prepared to drop right now. Car has 91k miles.

The turbos are the most recent version, the part numbers are not even on realoem yet.

I really can't recommend DW highly enough if you need a turbo replacement/upgrade.

[gangzoom]

Thanks for the info, hopefully wouldn't need to call on DW for a while yet. My car is still under 40k and I do less than 5k a year. Your car must feel like new after the new turbos...

[phil200tdi]

Feels much stronger that's for sure!

Letting the turbos bed in before upping the boost..

[zltm089]

Plus one on what others have said OP.

About the reliability issues...I wouldn't touch an n54 without bmw warranty....but up to you...