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      09-27-2006, 09:09 PM   #1
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Thumbs up Take 3: Vishnu 335i coupe Tuning Update

Those who have been following our progress over the last couple of weeks probably know where we last left off. The last we left off, we control over spark timing, boost control, and some marginal control over fuel. As of last night, we got FULL control over fuel. So, as it stands, we have control over everything we ever wanted to get in control of

For those who are haven't been following our progress, here's a little synopsis along with a bunch of dyno graphs.

Two weeks ago, we purchased and drove home in our brand new 335i Coupe (space grey, red interior, 6sp manual). After 75 miles of break in (lol), we brought it to Modacar in Livermore, CA. Although we have a fancy AWD Dyno Dynamics dyno, most people are more familiar with Dynojet readings than anything else. However, Modacar's dyno does read lower than other Dynojets. Running our normal 91oct gas (the best we get in CA unfortunately), our car put down a repeatable 276-277whp and 287-288lb-ft of torque. On other dynojets, the car would probably have put down around 285whp and 295lb-ft of torque (as measured by Automobile magazine, for instance). But since this is the dyno we are using, we're going to stick with these numbers. Just as long as we don't move around from dyno to dyno, all this numbers are perfectly valid and useful for comparing against one and another. Also, all runs were done in 4th and taken right up to fuel cut (~7000rpm)

Stock Run:


After baselining the car, we started our tuning process. We opted to use a slightly modified version of our Xede computer. It is similar to the unit we use for Evos except that it need to read a different crank trigger (60-2 vs 4 teeth) and a T-MAP sensor (0-5 analog voltage vs. Freq wave in Hz). There were also some other sensor differences but we could adjust for that in the Xede software. The first thing we got in control of was ignition timing. We experimented with a lot of different approaches. We found that we could add in timing during cruise to improve fuel economy as well as reduce oil temps. Partial throttle torque was also improved. The next thing we got in control of was calculated load. This had an effect on the boost curve and some secondary effects on fueling. Not nearly enough control as we were looking to eventually get but good enough for an initial stab at tuning. And the results were reasonably good given our inability to control fuel properly.

Results (stock vs. 1st attempt):


So what is exactly wrong with the fuel curve? Check out this Air/Fuel chart:


First of all, feel free to ignore the first 1000rpm of the AFR trace. Tailpipe sniffing widebands suffer from a time delay especially at low engine speeds when exhaust velocity/volume is too low for them to get an accurate reading of what is happening at that exact time. But even looking above 3000rpm, we saw AFRs as lean as 15.5:1. And this under full boost! Lean to say the least. At higher engine speeds, AFR worked its way back into the nice and rich side of things. But the AFR in the midrange was odd. Odd enough to make me look for air pumps which would explain the lean readings. I didn't find any. Obviously BMW tuned this car this way for a reason. Probably for fuel economy and certainly for emissions. Does it compromise power and safety? We won’t know for sure until we try something else, no? More on that later on. In our first tuning attempt, we made very very little change to AFR. If anything, our tuning resulting in it being slightly richer at high rpm ("tuned" is the green line, stock is the blue line). But with AFR so lean in the midrange, we really wanted to get full control over fueling ASAP. But at this stage, all most of our gains came from tweaking the timing curve, bumping up boost by ~1psi and eliminating much of the high rpm boost taper. And the results were ok. With this half assed toon...er tune, we picked up over 32whp at peak and a whopping 70whp at 7000rpm.

That was last week. This week, we made some really good progress. Not only did we get full control over boost but we also got every last bit of control of fueling. Yay! This means that we can try all sorts of fuel/timing/boost combinations to see which ones work the best (makes good power with good repeatability, low temps and sufficient knock resistance.) Another thing we did was made a cat-back exhaust system for it. Nothing fancy. Just a one-off prototype that we pieced together with 2.5" crushed bent piping and standard magnaflow mufflers. It replaces the exhaust just after the downpipes. The two factory cats in the downpipe are still in place. But the secondary cats, along with a bunch of bendy exhaust tubing, was all replaced. If we can make good power with this quickie exhaust, we should do really well with a production version offering larger volume mufflers, mandrel bends, etc,. In a way, I wish I had waited to put on the exhaust later and just re-dynoed the car with just our new-found fuel and boost control. But I didn't. So shoot me. We could always stick the stock exhaust back on next week and dyno it again. But hey, I was impatient for a fast car that actually sounded fast

With all the engine controls we ever wanted and a new exhaust, the car picked up good power. We limited boost to 11psi for now since we are still running our 91oct pump gas. But with proper boost control now in our pocket (and a 3rd boost control solenoid under the hood being controlled by the Xede), we had a rock solid boost curve with 11psi at 2500rpm, holding flat until 6000rpm and then gently dropping off to 10psi by 7000rpm. Before, during our "first attempt", it would bounce around a little bit +/- 1psi.

New Results
Stock vs. Xede Tuned and cat-back exhaust
91oct


Even compared to our "first attempt", our second attempt with exhaust stacks up well:


However, the biggest improvement we were able to get was with respect to Air/Fuel ratio. Here's an AFR graph comparing a stock car making 277whp to our tuned car making 332whp (green curve):


Yes, the tuned run is running over 2 FULL points richer in the midrange than the stock run! In fact, it substantially richer than the stock run everywhere except 6000rpm where we were able to sneak a bit more power out by running a little leaner than stock.

Still, by virtue of the new fuel mapping, it's reasonable to say that the tuned car is running more knock-free, safer and cooler than the stock car. All while making a boat load more power and torque. All in all, we're pretty happy with the car. It is fast as hell and now sounds nice as well. In first gear, we get virtually no traction at full throttle. In second gear, the car is capable of spinning its wheels as well if the road gets even slightly bumpy. If you drive with the traction control on (yuck), you see that light flash on and off all throughout the first 3 gears

So how much power is left in there? Well, it's clear that we are limited by our 91oct gas. With every 0.5 degrees of timing I sneaked in, the car would pick up a few horsepower. So with better gas, we'll see more power. And with race gas, I'm sure we'll see big gains. But on 93 octane, I'd expect to see another 10whp. We'll probably pick up some more power if we were to eliminate the factory cats in the downpipes. But that would have an big impact on emissions which is something we want to avoid at this point. There are still a few things we want to try out. There's still more power to be had with our current set-up. But for now, I'm just going to beat the tar out of the car and put it through its paces. One step at a time.

There were some people videotaping today’s dyno session. I’ll try to get a hold of some of that video and post it up. Next week, we're going to bring out our video camera and do some on-the-road acceleration test, pitting our tuned 335i against our 100% stock Porsche 996 and our 100% stock Evo IX. Should be fun!

Stay tuned...

Cheers,
Shiv
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      09-27-2006, 09:15 PM   #2
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Very impressive so far.
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      09-27-2006, 09:15 PM   #3
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all i can say is wow

and im hoping you guys market that tuning, im sure as hell interested!
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      09-27-2006, 09:25 PM   #4
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Consistency

Hi guys,
Just one last bit of info. When evaluating a tun of a car, one of the most important things is consistency. Being able to back up your run, over and over again, means A LOT. It means that the car isn't protesting the way it is running. The knock sensors aren't intervening. The fuel trims arean't sliding around. And everything (intercooler, radiator, charge pipes, etc,. are up to normal temp (not artifically cold). We NEVER show a single-run dyno graph. Simply because it doesn't mean anything anything more than the car made that power once, under one particular condition. While its temping to post an extra strong "hail Mary" run after a loong cool down, with a little extra boost, running a little leaner, etc,., we'd much rather show something that is repeatable and safe. For example, here are the last four runs we made before leaving the dyno today:



Cheers,
shiv

Last edited by OpenFlash; 09-28-2006 at 01:29 AM..
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      09-27-2006, 09:26 PM   #5
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awsome.....cant wait for 400 hp!!!
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      09-27-2006, 09:28 PM   #6
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2006 330i  [0.00]
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now I'm REALLY jealous of the 335....

oh well...i'll just have to love my 330 for a while
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      09-27-2006, 09:28 PM   #7
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holy cow.

332whp? already getting into V8 M3 territory. All this is done with just ECU tuning? Any aftermarket mods on the car? intake system? exhaust? piping?
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      09-27-2006, 09:30 PM   #8
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Shiv, great job I'm looking forward to seeing the video and more results.
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      09-27-2006, 09:30 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lux.sh
holy cow.

332whp? already getting into V8 M3 territory. All this is done with just ECU tuning? Any aftermarket mods on the car? intake system? exhaust? piping?
"Another thing we did was made a cat-back exhaust system for it. Nothing fancy. Just a one-off prototype that we pieced together with 2.5" crushed bent piping and standard magnaflow mufflers. It replaces the exhaust just after the downpipes. The two factory cats in the downpipe are still in place. But the secondary cats, along with a bunch of bendy exhaust tubing, was all replaced. If we can make good power with this quickie exhaust, we should do really well with a production version offering larger volume mufflers, mandrel bends, etc,. In a way, I wish I had waited to put on the exhaust later and just re-dynoed the car with just our new-found fuel and boost control. But I didn't. So shoot me. We could always stick the stock exhaust back on next week and dyno it again. But hey, I was impatient for a fast car that actually sounded fast"


Last edited by OpenFlash; 09-27-2006 at 10:11 PM..
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      09-27-2006, 09:34 PM   #10
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I wonder how much load the bottom end is designed to handle?
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      09-27-2006, 09:37 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shiv@vishnu
"Another thing we did was made a cat-back exhaust system for it. Nothing fancy. Just a one-off prototype that we pieced together with 2.5" crushed bent piping and standard magnaflow mufflers. It replaces the exhaust just after the downpipes. The two factory cats in the downpipe are still in place. But the secondary cats, along with a bunch of bendy exhaust tubing, was all replaced. If we can make good power with this quickie exhaust, we should do really well with a production version offering larger volume mufflers, mandrel bends, etc,. In a way, I wish I had waited to put on the exhaust later and just re-dynoed the car with just our new-found fuel and boost control. But I didn't. So shoot me. We could always stick the stock exhaust back on next week and dyno it again. But hey, I was impatient for a fast car that actually sounded fast"
ecu tuning and catback exhaust.. 332whp?
this is too good to be true. I need to get myself a 335 ASAP...

How reliable would this car be with that much more extra power? Im sure internal work on the engine won't be necessary yet, but what about the tranny? Would they hold up fine? 6MT or 6AT?
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      09-27-2006, 09:50 PM   #12
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Race gas FTW! We're gonna need a bigger clutch
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      09-27-2006, 09:56 PM   #13
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hot damn. Looks like you have all the bases covered, good work!

I cant wait till the e92 arrives.. this waiting process is killing me. Iwant to just pick up the space grays sitting in the lots....

Those are the exact numbers I was hoping for
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      09-27-2006, 10:02 PM   #14
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Anyone know what this translates into at the crank. I'm pretty sure Automobile magazine estimated a 20% loss to the wheels based on a comparison with the 330i they dynoed. If thats right, we are already looking at 400+hp

Though I am not sure this is accurate or really care that much since hp gains are hp gains, but it would help gauge differences from the new M3.
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      09-27-2006, 10:02 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lux.sh
ecu tuning and catback exhaust.. 332whp?
And that is on the Modacar dyno which reads low. Expect other dynojets to show 340-350whp.

Quote:
How reliable would this car be with that much more extra power? Im sure internal work on the engine won't be necessary yet, but what about the tranny? Would they hold up fine? 6MT or 6AT?
I don't expect their to be any issues at this point. Drivetrain or otherwise. I can't imagine BMW not overbuliding their transmission and engine. Especially on a car that makes 300lb-fts of torque at 1800rpm. No signs of clutch slippage yet either. But then again, I'm not dumping the clutch at every stoplight.

-shiv
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      09-27-2006, 10:05 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anidjare
Anyone know what this translates into at the crank. I'm pretty sure Automobile magazine estimated a 20% loss to the wheels based on a comparison with the 330i they dynoed. If thats right, we are already looking at 400+hp
I really don't like playing the crank hp game. Because in doing so, we make too many assumptions. But if I had to take a somewhat conservative guess, I'd say the car has 375bhp. Others with more.. ahem... optimistic wheel-to-crank conversion methods can easily come up with 400bhp. But I wouldn't want to challenge any Porsche 996tt just yet

-shiv
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      09-27-2006, 10:09 PM   #17
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sick. just sick.
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      09-27-2006, 10:11 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shiv@vishnu
I really don't like playing the crank hp game. Because in doing so, we make too many assumptions. But if I had to take a somewhat conservative guess, I'd say the car has 375bhp. Others with more.. ahem... optimistic wheel-to-crank conversion methods can easily come up with 400bhp. But I wouldn't want to challenge any Porsche 996tt just yet

-shiv
Point well taken.

Either way, put me on the list once this goes public. I am sure it will be as long a waiting list as getting the car in the first place.
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      09-27-2006, 10:14 PM   #19
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Hehe, this is what i was waiting for. I knew this thing had great potential and who better than Shiv to exploit it, awsome job man. That is a lot of hp coming out just for a retune and cat-back, but then again the evo9 impressed us this much as well. Hopefully for us here back east (93 available), you can get 350 whp with this set up! I can't wait for you to do a race gas tune, that is where this thing is going to shine. The funniest part is that I'll probably have the exede and exhaust before my car is here, damn waiting!!!!

Oh yeah and please post videos of the runs, I would love to hear the prototype cat-back. I am wondering if you can hear the turbos at this point.
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      09-27-2006, 10:16 PM   #20
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cant wait to see vid!
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      09-27-2006, 10:17 PM   #21
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Thanks so much for taking the time do these write ups - tuning looks awesome!!!
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      09-27-2006, 10:20 PM   #22
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Solid work. Keep posting.
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