330 CI enhancement (highly reccomended)

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wood1

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330ci torque improvement

I bought a new e46 330ci sport may 2005. When i received the car, i was dissapointed by the performance. It had a low 231BHP and 0-62 was 6.4 seconds. I researched into various upgrades and mods without having to install a turbo or supercharger (cost was far too high and was better value to buy an M3).

I recently had a Milltek sports exhaust fitted, along with a K&N air filter. To compliment the performance parts, i had the engine remapped to make everything work in harmony. It did.

The performance improvement is substantial. See below for test times and results of race between enhanced 330 ci and M3 e46 convertible.

The car now has a confirmed 281 BHP. It has so much more torque than standard and will leave a normal 330ci sport standing.

The engine sound is beautiful with the new air filter and especially the Milltek exhaust. You can hear the 6 cylinder block purr and roar when floored. Fuel consumption was surprisingly good too (providing you dont hit the gas too hard!)

The whole project cost me just £1,200. This included the exhaust, induction kit, the remapping software and labour. www.torquingbhp.co.uk.

0-62 = 5.4
The race between the m3 and my 330 ci was from 0-95 MPH. From standing i had the edge and pulled away from the M3 (which was in sport mode) very slowly. My adrenalin was at its max. Once we hit 70MPH, this is where the M3 engine really showed its true colours. He over took and pulled away gradually faster and faster.

I was not disappointed whatsoever, in fact, very satisfied to sit my car do so well against an M3.

Note: i have 1 no claims bonus, and the mods increased my premium for the year by £70.





[whip]
 
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William330

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wood1 said:
330ci torque improvement

I bought a new e46 330ci sport may 2005. When i received the car, i was dissapointed by the performance.
Click to expand...

You bought a new 330, even though you felt it had "poor
performance"?

The 330 torque is stellar -- probably its best performance
attribute.

Looks like your first (and probably last) post to this forum
is yet another 'buy this great product' SPAM.
 
nunya53

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wood1 said:
330ci torque improvement

The car now has a confirmed 281 BHP. It has so much more torque than standard and will leave a normal 330ci sport standing.

[whip]
Click to expand...
I'd like to know how an exhaust, software and K&N filter got you up to 281 BHP, not that I'm doubting you...

Even if your car was a ZHP, it would only have 235 HP from the factory, and those mods would be hard pressed to add 46 HP.

And with a 1.70 exchange rate, at £1,200 it is over $2,000 U.S.....

Got a dyno sheet?

Jerry
 
Kirby

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I'm thinking this is spam, but the claim is so outrageous, I think we should keep this here for debate, unless Tom disagrees.

50 hp with K&N, sport exhaust and software remap? BAHahahahaha prove it.

The web site says they only offer a 10% - 15% gain for remap. I don't buy that at all for a late model 3 series, but OK, I'll give you the benefit.

Roughly you claim:
Remap - 23hp
Exhaust - 10hp (MANY reliable comparisons show 10 hp is about the best exhaust can do)
K&N - 17hp

No Way Dude!! You can slice and dice the numbers any way you want, this claim is crap.
 
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wood1

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is not spam. the exhaust and the air filter fitted as standard will certainly add power. however Torquing BHP have written mapping software especially for the exhaust and air filter. The average remap of 12.5% will increase the BHP by 29BHP, the exhaust and air filter combined add another 17 BHP. without the specific remap software, we are probably looking at less.

The BMW 3litre engine is a very good piece of engineering. Unfortunately, its been seriously downgraded for ecological reasons and also to put it into a relevant performance ranking between other models. These simple mods to it will basically unlock some of its potential.

In terms of proving it, well I can only really do it myself. I suggest you talk to your local specialist about their opinions on what I'm claiming.
 
Militant-Grunt

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nunya53 said:
I'd like to know how an exhaust, software and K&N filter got you up to 281 BHP, not that I'm doubting you...

Even if your car was a ZHP, it would only have 235 HP from the factory, and those mods would be hard pressed to add 46 HP.

And with a 1.70 exchange rate, at £1,200 it is over $2,000 U.S.....

Got a dyno sheet?

Jerry
Click to expand...
[duh] Let us see dyno!
 
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wood1

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i dont have a dyno sheet for it. I should request one i suppose. Not sure if they have one to offer.

I am just very happy with the results.
 
adrean8j

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Well I have a 2.5L I6 in a 5er....I have a sport exhaust (Remus Romulus), I have a BMC Carbon Dynamic Airbox, and chip-tuning by DIGIT-POWER(www.digit-power.de)(i have seen them tuning multiple Ferraris, Z8's, M3's, Maserati's, Porsches for the most part) and I only gained roughly 10-15hp(BHP for my car is ~170 but this model is notorious for a variation of different hp levels....).....It wasnt until a CAMSHAFT change/replacement that I got HP gains of around 45hp....so from 170 up to 215(dyno confirmed and I have the printout to prove it).......that much of a gain doesnt happen with just exhaust, K&N, and chiptuning....maybe they did something else to your car that you dont know about(trying to give you the benefit of the doubt....) How do you know that your car has a "confirmed" 281hp without a dyno? Maybe they just gave you some lip service to make you happy....you car could still only be 231-240hp......
 
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wood1

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hmmm maybe so. i should get the Dyno sheet. However, the torque is significantly better than before. It really drives well by comparison. Of this i have no doubt. The M3 owner i raced was shocked by the 0-100kph acceleration. The tuning company have done this mod many times before on my model and so did not provide me with a dyno test sheet for my car.

But you are all right, i need to provide a Dyno to show the imrpovement. Will see what i can do!! [driving2] [driving2]
 
Section_8

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Speak to our local specialist about what you're claiming? We are the local specialists!! [:D]

Impossible bub, sorry... I call BS without a Dyno sheet.. (Or likely, they fed you some lip service and you're biting, I hate to say) You're talking more gains then people get doing all the bolt-ons POSSIBLE on a 3series, and not just 'bolting it on' but also remapping the ECU for specific mods, as well as CONTINUAL dynoing to 'tune' the modifications done.

Sorry I do know our cars well, claims of 50hp gains or more for bolt-ons on a 330 is outrageous - it is possible but that includes alot of other stuff done.. (pullies, maybe even new cams to boot).. Those are conservative SC or Turbo # gains your saying you are getting from bolt-ons.

Hate to say it, Dyno or SPAM.. Are 'they' telling you it's got 281 BHP now? How are they doing that w/o a Dyno? Whats it's 0-100 time, and what does it pull the 1/4th in? For the amount you paid, I'd want a sheet from them detailing those things - that's the only real way of knowing what it really can put out number-wise.

ECU+intake+exhaust <SC or Turbo ???
 
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wood1

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so what do you say are the max bhp improvements i can get from exhaust+air filter + ecu? because the transformation in terms of acceleration is substantial. Its a different car, completely. What would you expect to see if you were to carry out the work yourselves? you are not the only local specialists by the way!

[kick]
 
Kirby

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7 - 10 hp max for the exhaust. Check out the web sites on some of the best exhausts on the market (SuperSprint, UUC Motorwerks, etc.) They prove WITH DYNO that their products get 7 - 12 hp gain max on an M3. You WILL NOT get that much on a 330.

5 - 6 hp max for the K&N.

5 - 7 hp max for DME reprogramming. Check out this 330 dyno curve on a Conforti DME remap, one of the best software guys in the world. He gets 5 - 7 hp over stock with software remap. also notice to get 20 hp, he put a new intake on the car. Not a K&N air box but an INTAKE MANIFOLD.

And keep in mind that these improvements are not fully additive. You CAN'T just add up the numbers of the individual items and claim that total gain, the law of diminishing returns applies.

Bottom line - I'll give you 15 - 22 hp MAX for all of the mods. Yes you can feel it, but the "BUTT DYNO" tends to exagerate the gains.


 
adrean8j

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wood1 said:
so what do you say are the max bhp improvements i can get from exhaust+air filter + ecu? because the transformation in terms of acceleration is substantial. Its a different car, completely. What would you expect to see if you were to carry out the work yourselves? you are not the only local specialists by the way!

[kick]
Click to expand...
You know what...I just thought about it and I have an idea of what has possibly happened.....because it happened to me "pre"-camshaft change.

Most of the time when the ECU is remapped on bimmers the only way to get any noticeable change is to remap the power range in each gear....bimmers have a tendency to have a very flat power line, meaning it is roughly the same amount of ponies throughout the everyday driveable powerband. When the ECU is remapped they usually give you more torque in the lower gears while you have a "longer" 4th and 5th gear. My car was the same way when i got my chip put in at first....not necessarily more power but it "showed" up sooner in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear.....hence the "remapping" of the ECU...this could give the false impression that the car has more HP when in fact overall it does not.....you gearheads out there can probably explain it better than me.....now WOOD1 this does not in anyway vindicate you since you gave HP numbers out. If you had written on that if "feels" like I have more HP we would have went easy on you...but one thing you must learn about this board-and almost any other automotive board for that matter-is that when you give out hard #'s we will dissect it and debunk it to make sure any claim holds water......
 
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wood1

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Understood. He did mention that the remapping effected the gears in terms of getting more out of them. Also flat spots were reduced allowing the car to pull to the top of the gear a lot quicker. The remap also apparently is designed to make the car run much better on higher octane fuel such as 97 or the new 99 octane.

In terms of the figures, this is what i was told. I am relatively new to all of this stuff. I am becomming more aware of how it works. Interesting regarding the above comments though. Thank you all for your knowledgeable notes on what it could be that makes my car move so much better.

Either way, if 20 BHP can feel so much better (not forgetting the gearing issues it may have done some magic too), I am happy. I think that £1,200 was not a bad investment into the machine. A lot of other companies would have charged me this for the MIlltek exhaust alone. The be all and end all of the matter is however that the car now drives like 3litre Beema should do. I can move in higher gears without the worry of stalling. not that i do this through bad driving, but as an example of the driveability of the car.

Do any of you agree that the mods I did were worth while? Especially without installing any serious equipment like turbo or s'charger?

Tell me more...........
 
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wood1

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also, what would a sports camshaft do to the car in terms of improvements? And does anyone know what else can be done cost effectively?
 
Section_8

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Wood1 certainly don't take all the razzing personally, we're the worst sorta gearheads - we know our cars and care! [:)]

Alot of things can be done that don't even change your HP numbers, but make you faster, or 'seem' faster. A differential change is the poor man's turbo.. With good shifting techniques, more 'time' can be gained by this change than most of the bolt-ons you can slap under the hood.
 
adrean8j

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Well to be honest I think 1200pounds or $2000 to be a little bit high for those three mods you did. I paid roughly 500euro for my exhaust, another 350 for the ECU remap, and around 200euros for the CAI. The cams cost 400euros each(without labor) so I got everything done for around 1850euro before labor. After labor I would say around 2100-2200euros.......see why I think that was a little high?
As far as the mods being worthwhile you hear many, many different things from many different people. Some will say that an CAI or K&N filter arent really worth it, some will say that another type of exhaust system would have gotten you more HP, some will say get JimConforti software or any of many others(SuperChips for example). Bottom line is do YOU think it was worth it, because at the end of the day it is your dollar..errrr....pound.

Try here to attach a picture: http://www.bmwboard.com/forum/faq.php?s=&do=search&q=posting+pictures&match=any&titlesonly=0

or just upload it to the gallery and then link it using the html
 
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