While the car is now making almost 100 more WHP than stock consistently I still want more and unfortunately I believe it's going to start coming in small bits and pieces from here on. In looking at logs, I noticed that my requested load and actual load were not that far apart in the lower RPM areas. Where the request was 190 at 3,500 RPM for example, the data logs showed an actual load of around 183. However as the car went past 5,000 RPM and the request was for 187.8 at 5,225 RPM for example, the log was only reporting an actual load of 155.6. At the same RPM I noticed that my requested absolute boost was 31.04 psia, while the log was only reporting 28.46 psia actual. Continuing on across this particular log I started looking at waste gate duty cycles and noticed that my base WGDC was reported as 30% and my actual WGDC after PID correction was 37%. This seemed like a good place to go looking for the boost that seemed to be missing, so back into AccessTUNER I went. Under the WGDC tables there is one in particular called WGDC Ceiling Adder. This table contains values based on MAF requested that the PID system (Proportional Integral Derivative control loop feedback) uses as max values to add to the base WGDC when additional boost is needed because the car is not hitting requested boost targets. In the 1200kgh column was sitting a “7.” The same number I found as a common addition to my reported base WGDC where the car was significantly under requested boost. I simply bumped this up to 15 and went logging again. The results were not impressive, but at least they are positive.

E50 REV 3 65 degrees ambient vs. E50 REV 5 65 degrees ambient

Actual boost is now closer to requested boost (within 1 psi) and I’m no longer seeing the PID max out the WGDC Airflow adder. I’ve given it the latitude to add 15% duty cycle and it seems to be keeping in the 12 – 13% range in the high load/high RPM areas now. Despite this, actual load is still lagging behind requested load in these areas more than I would like to see, so I will be looking into the base WGDC table as well as the WGDC Adder (Airflow) and Boost limit multiplier tables to hopefully dial in a bit more boost and hopefully get closer to load targets in the upper RPMs, but before I do that I think it’s time to look at how the factory air box is performing and what kind of changes we might see by replacing it with an aftermarket intake system.

 

Toluene

 

Why?

It's a toxic chemical that I cannot dispense directly from a gas pump like I can with ethanol and ethanol is superior in every imagineable way. 20 years ago toluene may have been an okay way to make poor man's high-octane fuel. Today, there is ZERO reason to use it.
If you don't have access to E85, then methanol injection (as simple as windshield wiper fluid) is still vastly superior to a home-brew toluene mix.

 

Time for some bolt-ons, fmic and ***less DP's. Dci's also if you haven't done it yet. On stock turbos being FBO with just a E30 mix you should be a little north of 400 whp.

 

I'm old school. I put in one quart of toluene with 92 octane in my built '92 T66 MR2T and in my '95 T78 2jzgte powered SC300 to reduce detonation and it worked great and toluene is cheaper than race gas.

 

E85 is less expensive than even regular gasoline. In the Midwest I've seen it as cheap as $2.40 per gallon recently. It was $3.69 per gallon when I filled up here two days ago. When big turbo cars are tuned on it, it typically produces more power than Q116 race gas. No amount of toluene is going to do that when mixed with 92 octane.
All the big forced induction cars from Subies and EVOs to Fords and GM LS power plants run E85 these days. The benefits of ethanol are going to far exceed the benefits of toluene, while costing less and being easier to dispense.


By the way, you would need to be using a lot more than a quart of toluene to a tank of gas to make any difference. Toluene is around 115 octane. If you put a gallon of it to ten gallons of 92 octane, you would only have 94 octane fuel. From what I recall, most people mixed in ratios of around 20% to 30% at the most. Best case scenario here is that you would be seeing just a little better than 100 octane starting with 92 octane and using a 30% mix. Just for reference, E30 tunes the same or a little better than 100 octane race gas. The E50 I'm using tunes like 108 - 110 octane race gas.

 

Donations for all of those parts gladly accepted Seriously though, I've got a baby due any day now and Winter is coming, so this is going to come to a halt very soon. When Spring comes around I will probably be looking at replacing some hard parts. For now, I'm going to see how far I can take the car on the stock FMIC and downpipes. I'm sticking with the E50 mix for now and may even be upping it. My LPFP has bottomed out at 64psi so far and I'm consistently surpassing 350awhp and 420 ft./lbs. now. Stick with me - you'll see this going up a bit more soon.


Did you tune your car or farm it out?

 

There is a group of us that use the ATR to make custom maps for our cars. I understand the basics and what everything means. However the other guys I know are some real geniuses with the ATR. For the past year the map I'm running has me at a E40-E35 mixture good for a little over 400 whp. Best part is the map is very stable, no boost oscillations, timing drops or fuel starvation issues.

 

UPS and USPS have been regualry dropping boxes off at my door step. USPS dropped these off last week:


I'm hoping to takle these today.

UPS dropped off this one a few weeks back. I picked it up from forum member Glockz:


Any guesses what power gains if any I see by replacing the factory air box with these?

The box is what it says it is, but he threw in a little extra:


In preperation of the matte black kidneys, I decided to get rid of the silver trim in the lower bumper area.




And it received a little PlastiDip love:


Lower trim reinstalled. New matte black kidney on right and OEM grill on left.


Done:


I think this is a nice subtle improvement that gives the car a slightly more sporty and aggressive look.

While I was working at the front, the headlights received some love. 50/50 shot, where you can see the haziness on the right where it has not been polished.


Most recently, all four doors received some polishing love. Here is a 50/50 shot before and after of the driver's side rear door. Notice the difference in clarity?



I've been pounding out map revisions and doing testing with the intakes. More coming soon.

 

It’s time to test out the factory air box, but before I show the results of that, I want to recap the progress that has been made so far.

• Stock: Cobb AccessPORT loaded onto the car with factory IJEOS calibration
• Cobb AccessPORT Stage I Aggressive off-the-shelf map
• Stage I Aggressive OTS map with Fuel scalars adjusted to compensate for E50
• Stage I Aggressive OTS map with timing from Cobb’s OTS E30 Race map.
• As above with changes to CAT table to reduce aggressiveness of timing reductions in high temps
• As above with alterations to fuel table to lean AFRs through most of the power band.
• As above with requested load bumped to 190 throughout the mid-RPM band. REV 1
• As above, but requested load bumped to 190 in lower-RPM regions as well. REV 2
• As above, but spool mode lowered to 2,400RPM. REV 3
• As above, but WGDC Ceiling adder raised from 7 to 8 at far right of table to confirm this is where the system was limiting WGDC after PID. REV 4
• As above, but WGDC ceiling adder changed from 8 to 15. REV 5
• As above, but Base WGDC increased at high load areas in attempt for more boost. No change. REV 6
• As above, but with base WGDC tweaked further. Very little change. REV 7
• As above, but timing lowered in 2,500 – 3,500 RPM area due to consistent timing drops. Very little effect on power in this area. REV 8.

With all of that, REV 8 is where I stopped to do intake testing. As you can see below, map revision 8 is making a bit less power than the previous REV 5, albeit the temps were slightly higher when testing REV 8. This lack of or backwards progress is what prompted me to halt map development and focus on the intake. While I was increasing WGDC, there was no change or even a drop in boost and power as temps got warmer. Based on my previous N54 experience, I suspected the intake might be at least a partial cause in this lack of forward progress.


E50 Stage I REV 5 65 degrees ambient vs. E50 Stage I REV 8 70 degrees ambient

REV 8 will become the baseline for intake testing. All intake testing was performed on the same day in the same ambient temperature to minimize variables. My first test involved a completely stock intake with a clean BMW paper filter element.

E50 Stage I REV 8 70 degrees ambient

The next step was to make the stock intake system as good as it could be. I did this by removing the stock paper filter element and running without a filter. Do not do this! I did it only for testing purposes on one short data log pull. What I’m showing here is going to be the BEST case scenario if you replace your stock filter element with a high-flow version from K&N etc.
As you can see, the difference is minimal and only above ~5,200 RPM. Peak power is up 4 AWHP, with gains up to 7 AWHP around 6,000 RPM.

E50 Stage I REV 8 70degrees ambient vs. E50 Stage I REV 8 stock air box no filter 70 degrees ambient

If I had scoops to do testing with, I certainly would have, however my belief is that they are of very little benefit. Based on the design of the factory intake system, the biggest restriction I see is lack of area for air to flow into the inlet tubes after being filtered and secondarily, the small size of the main intake that brings fresh air into the box. If anyone wanted to see testing done on the stock box with scoops, I’d be happy to oblige, provided you send the scoops for testing.
When I first started down the path of tuning this car, I knew sooner or later I would need to upgrade the intake path. On my previous car, I had great results with the very simple BMS dual cone intake setup. On this new car I wanted something that didn’t look like two open-element filters just sitting in my engine bay. My first thought was going the route of stock air box modification ala Mr.5, but I noticed that the power steering reservoir was in the way unlike on E90 cars. I believe this “Mr.5” setup works so well because it overcomes the two limitations I listed above.
Unable to easily modify the factory box, I sat out to find a more visually appealing option than DCIs, which led me to either the AFE or Injen options. Truth be told I would have preferred the AFE Stage II system as it has shorter piping and resides in the same spot as the factory box, however a deal came along on this used Injen setup when no used AFEs were available, making my choice easy.

As you can see below, the Injen intake makes power consistently across most of the power band starting just beyond 3,000 RPM and maintaining that advantage all the way to 6,500 RPM, with the biggest gains coming between 4,400 RPM and 6,000 RPM. Peak power is up 14 AWHP over a stock box/filter and 10 AWHP against a filter-less air box. There are spots where the Injen intake is showing as much as a 16 AWHP advantage over the stock intake/filter setup and as much as a 21 ft. lbs torque advantage.


E50 REV8 70 degrees ambient vs. E50 REV8 70 degrees ambient no filter vs. E50 REV8 70 degrees ambient with Injen intake.

As of today I have the following time and money into making this car go faster in a straight line:
-Used Cobb AccessPORT V2 for the N54: $500.00.
-Used Injen intake system: $200.00
-Approximately 8 hours of my time spent modifying maps and data logging.
Results so far: +112WHP Peak gains and +157 lbs./ft. WTQ Peak gains.

Stock 75 degrees ambient vs. E50 REV 8 70 degrees ambient with Injen intake