Bimster530i

So here's the mod saga for the benefit of other early E60 owners and potential owners...bought this CPO '04 530i daily driver a couple years ago. Good styling, value, proven M54B30 powerplant etc. Used the one remaining CPO month to get some important issues taken care of by the dealer and it's been perfect ever since. Well, almost perfect...

Shift ergonomics were not ideal. The tall shift lever and long throw didn't ever feel quite right. A shorter and heavier sport shift knob from Turner Motorsports really corrected those issues.

As somewhat of a manual shift fanatic I also love what shorter gearing did for my modified Z4 and wanted to try that along with a limited slip differential for better all year off-the-line acceleration, so I asked Jim Blanton at Performance Gearing to build me a LSD with 3.46 gears and that has been a fantastic performance improvement with no negative affect on fuel economy. On dry pavement I can bury the accelerator in the more aggressive 1st gear without any wheel slip or computer interference, or start off the line easily in 2nd in commuter traffic for less shifting and good fuel economy. Lots of benefits through the other gears as well.

Then I started to just want more reserve power. Boredom factor? Dunno. Anyhow, I knew ESS makes a reputable twin screw supercharger kit for the '04-'05 530i, but it's pretty expensive. So, I looked at just upgrading to a later model/lower mileage M5, 550i or 535iX and was surprised at how much higher the total costs would be in each case (like around +$15,000/yr for an '07 M5). Viola, an economic rationalization for my toy upgrade! Plus, with the 530i's lighter curb weight, LSD, and gears it should be able to easily out-accelerate the 535iX or 550i as well as the new "Fxx" versions.

Well, it was professionally installed last week at ind-Distribution (nice job!) and with the way ESS does their tunes it really works well with the shorter gears and LSD. Gobs of power in reserve but normal driveability in congested traffic. It's pretty impressive and I'm not even pushing it yet.

nyceric03

Videos and 0-60 times? and how much more horsepower did the supercharger give you?

Bimster530i

Still in my 200 mi. <5k rpm break-in period, so no performance results yet...just driving impressions. ESS claims 343hp. 3.46 gears adds 18%. Curb weight is another factor much lower (3472 lb.) than 535iX, 550i or M5 so that has to be taken into account too (power/weight ratio).

kane1111

total cost of upgrade!

Bimster530i

Right around $10k total including S/C, diff, labor, etc.

pukka

adds 18% what?

Bimster530i

Changing the differential gear ratio multiplies the wheel torque by [new ratio/old ratio] or in this case by 3.46/2.93 or 1.18 ... ie. this gear ratio change takes whatever torque is produced at the crank and increases the torque that's delivered to the wheels through the drive train by 18% in each gear. A car with an engine producing 343hp will accelerate like it had 343hp X 1.18 or 405hp with this modification.

pukka

Power at the drive wheels is always equal to engine power less mechanical losses regardless of any gearing between the engine and drive wheels. To clarify - running numerically higher gears does makes your car run through its tranny geaqr and hit its redline quicker, but it won't be any faster nor will it be more powerful.

Bimster530i

Correct...that it won't actually be more powerful. Horsepower equals Torque times RPM divided by 5252. The drive train just uses gears to trade output Torque with RPM at the same Horsepower. However, Torque is basically twisting Force, and Acceleration equals Force divided by Mass. Since the mass of the car doesn't change, acceleration is directly proportional to output torque. Higher torque at the drive axle will accelerate the vehicle faster. As an extreme example, flooring a car in 1st gear at 2k rpm will pin you back in your seat. Floor the same car in 6th gear at 2k and you will hardly feel the acceleration because it's only about 1/5th as strong. In other words, all I was saying was that changing the differential ratio has the same effect on acceleration as a proportional increase in power would with the original gear ratio.

Isaiah_Charles

Pics or ban !













Kidding sounds like a fun ride