Mods for a 3 litre 6cylinder engine

[rex7_vtec]

ok here is a list of power mods you can probably try for your engine:

UUC underdrive pullies $400
gruppe M Ram-air charger $1000
zhp cams $1800
remus or ss exhaust $1100
ecu chip or piggyback $700-1000
electric fan $800

light mods like voltage stabiliser $200, ecotek or venturi $220, iridium plugs $90, grounding $100.

you should be able to break 250bhp easy with these mods. easy sub 7 century sprint. and if you prepare everything, you can get all of the above done in a day. u might be able to push 260bhp if everything is done correctly.

stroking, out-boring, FI, nos will set you back at the garage for a week. cost of first 3 will be probably $8k to 15k. if you FI you should be able to get 350bhp, higher bhp than the m3.

you better give me a taxi ride when everything's done ok.

Woah wicked!!!! Errmmm 1 silly question... If I change cams, will the high rev sound like a VTEC engine? Sounding like errm.. pooooooPAARRRRRR
If it can make a sound like that, I'm definitely going for the cams!!!

 

[rex7_vtec]

Re: Mods for a 3 litre 6cylinder engine

Haha.. charming? No lah.. Then you must be wrong. I probably look like a school kid with glasses! :laughlik: :laughlik: :laughlik:

Hmm..me always in and about taka leh. Dont know if it was my car you saw. If its facelifted cab in steel blue with grey seats and AC kit and rims then should be loh. If you see huge stickers at the side, chances are it would be me. (That's new tho, so if you caught me sometime back then probably no stickers yet..)

How come you didnt come meet-up?
:wavey:

Now I remember!! I did recall seeing AC stickers on your car!! NICE!!

I could'nt make it for the meetup dude... Would there be anymore coming up soon?

 

[rex7_vtec]

hi rex, "bolt-on" chips would be the Superchips, hiop, etc..
it just replaces your stcok eprom.

other chips include the piggybacks which are wired onto the stock ecu and then programmed to cheat the ecu for more juice.

i did a small write up on chips with some of my own experiences and pics here, just check it out:
http://www.bmw-sg.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=373&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=45


look for piggyboyz[b/] on the forum. he might be interested in chips for his M54 2.5 325i soon.
he should've done some research.

in brief, later engine like the M50-M54 with more advanced ecus are pretty optimized already and you wouldn't really gain much.

so, other mods come into play like the exhaust and intake. and since you're pretty interested in cams and headers, that should put some smile on your face.

prolly give you like 10-15rwhp?

Hehehe I'm actually an avid fan on the VTEC motors... Especially the high you get when the VTEC kicks in... Ooh the adrenalin rush . I'm not exactly sure how the Vanos in a BMW works...but I do hope its something similar to the VTEC engagement process...

 

[SMYUEN]

Re: Mods for a 3 litre 6cylinder engine

Haha.. charming? No lah.. Then you must be wrong. I probably look like a school kid with glasses! :laughlik: :laughlik: :laughlik:

Hmm..me always in and about taka leh. Dont know if it was my car you saw. If its facelifted cab in steel blue with grey seats and AC kit and rims then should be loh. If you see huge stickers at the side, chances are it would be me. (That's new tho, so if you caught me sometime back then probably no stickers yet..)

How come you didnt come meet-up?
:wavey:

Haha thanks!

Unfortunately I noticed my (L) side ones look "slanted"..going to get it fixed. Me perfectionist lah!

Now I remember!! I did recall seeing AC stickers on your car!! NICE!!

I could'nt make it for the meetup dude... Would there be anymore coming up soon?

 

[SMYUEN]

Re: Mods for a 3 litre 6cylinder engine

Haha.. charming? No lah.. Then you must be wrong. I probably look like a school kid with glasses! :laughlik: :laughlik: :laughlik:

Hmm..me always in and about taka leh. Dont know if it was my car you saw. If its facelifted cab in steel blue with grey seats and AC kit and rims then should be loh. If you see huge stickers at the side, chances are it would be me. (That's new tho, so if you caught me sometime back then probably no stickers yet..)

How come you didnt come meet-up?
:wavey:

Now I remember!! I did recall seeing AC stickers on your car!! NICE!!

I could'nt make it for the meetup dude... Would there be anymore coming up soon?

Haha thanks!

Unfortunately I noticed my (L) side ones look "slanted"..going to get it fixed. Me perfectionist lah!

We meetup last sunday of the month leh. You could join us for malacca drive this sunday?

 

[Racebred]

i strongly believe that chip upgrade is used as a compliment to a mod, and not an end by itself. If you have done changes to your intake and exhaust and other stuff, getting a dynoed piggyback to finetune what you have and optimise these mods. like what tom has said, our modern engines are pretty well-tuned already, albeit still with a little more safety margin towards reliability since some ppl will not pump proper petrol or service their cars regularly.

as for the cams, no you will not get the vtec roar coz we dont change to a more aggressive profile cams at the vtec changeover point unlike the vtec engines. what we get, ironically, is a very slight power dip at 4500rpm when the VANOS comes in. On smaller engines like the 2.2L, it is more apparently felt. Sometimes you can feel it in the 3.0L too. All these are also translated on the dyno graph, where you can see a slight dip of power. But after that the power curve continues to rise steadily till redline.

What you do get, instead is a tiny bit rougher engine at low rev, a slight loss in power, but a good surge from mid range all till redline.

If one does go for FI, then it's also prudent to get bigger injectors and get the fuelling maps right

 

[rex7_vtec]

Re: Mods for a 3 litre 6cylinder engine

Haha thanks!

Unfortunately I noticed my (L) side ones look "slanted"..going to get it fixed. Me perfectionist lah!

We meetup last sunday of the month leh. You could join us for malacca drive this sunday?

Woah!! That would be nice!! But unfortunately I promised to give my mum and grandfather a ride to church this Sunday...

 

[rex7_vtec]

as for the cams, no you will not get the vtec roar coz we dont change to a more aggressive profile cams at the vtec changeover point unlike the vtec engines. what we get, ironically, is a very slight power dip at 4500rpm when the VANOS comes in.

In that case, is it wise then to fit in a pair of camshafts? Is it very necessary to fit in a programmable ECU?

 

[Racebred]

for the 3.0L, yes you can go for cams. you do not have to worry about loss of low end (<2000rpm) torque coz the 3.0L has tremendous torque to begin with. In fact the torque curve isnt really a "curve". 80-100% of the 300Nm is available right from the low till mid range, and tapers off a little bit at the top. So I believe you can gain much from a cam change.

If you are certain you will not go for FI in the future, go invest in a set of cams. Whether you want to go 264 deg, 272, or even 290+ degree, depends on how much emphasis you want to place on your top end. You can explore Schrick cams. I'm not sure if Hi-op has cams for the M54 or not.

If not, then there's only one safe cams upgrade, which is "FI-friendly". and that is the zhp cams. There's not much changes to the intake cams, and most of the changes come from the exhaust cams. The lift is greater, but duration has lesser changes. Overlap stays about the same thus it stays FI-friendly.

So in short, if you want high-end power, go for cams. I'm thinking, but dont quote me on that, that the most aggressive of cams can give you about 10-20bhp easy. Pls go and try and give us your feedback

best of all, it's undetectable, and you'll never get caught for this mod.

 

[rex7_vtec]

Pls go and try and give us your feedback

best of all, it's undetectable, and you'll never get caught for this mod.

Hahahaha I love those words!!!! However if i go for big cams, I will need a tuner on the spot, correct? Or is there like a camshaft kit where by the sprockets, valve springs, camshafts and ECU come as the lot?

 

[Racebred]

i think u can just buy these 2 sticks of cams and plug and play. other mods may help but this can be a standalone mod. takes only 1 day to do. nothing else to tune. but you must at least get a workshop with proper cam phasing equipment. If not, all the money spent on the cams will come to naught due to less-than-precise siting of the cams.

however i have heard that BMW designs the cams to lock and sit in perfectly, and that using the vanos tool, the cams can sit in perfectly. i wonder if that's true? anyone?

rex7, if along with this mod, you go on to enhance your intake and exhaust, like CAI, headers and mufflers, then do a piggyback dynoed chip, i reckon you may gain 20-35bhp.

 

[Tom]

cams alone would not yield much of a gain.
you'll just be burning moe fuel with higher lift cams and shifting your powerband further.

i would advise you to go from basic and then all-out for maximum enjoyment and gains.

practical from:
-intake
-exhaust system
-extractors
-cams
-chipping
-transmission software upgrade

should shave off 1+secs off the century sprint

 

[rex7_vtec]

Woah!! Its just like modding a Vtec engine... If I strengthen the internals, i.e. nitrating and balancing the crankshaft, lighter conrods and high comp pistons do you think it would be advisable?

 

[Shaun]

cams alone would not yield much of a gain.
you'll just be burning moe fuel with higher lift cams and shifting your powerband further.

i would advise you to go from basic and then all-out for maximum enjoyment and gains.

practical from:
-intake
-exhaust system
-extractors
-cams
-chipping
-transmission software upgrade

should shave off 1+secs off the century sprint

Agree on the progression of mods, but believe that an increase in lift within the same duration and phasing will mainly shift the majority of the torque curve upward (increasing overall power), rather than moving the torque band around like in retarding or advancing phase or changing duration.

Rex7vtec, all those things are pretty extreme for the newer BMWs. The new gen BMW motors don't have a lot of support for them. Far less than Honda or Mazda rotaries..so things could and probably will get expensive. I'm not sure hat you want to make a racing machine out of a BMW because there are cheaper platforms to work off. But I don't know.. maybe you have the money to do it. Don't get me wrong, not trying to discourage anyone... a highly tuned NA E46 would be very nice to see.. esp in Singapore, but it's going to take lots of time and effort to do it and you'll have to know some really competent people who have the same vision as you or it will not be good in the end.

If you want substantial power increases I would suggest FI or displacement bump. High state of tune NAs are the costliest to create and wear out alot faster.

 

[Racebred]

For the benefit of those wishing to do a cam mod, pls remember to chip up your car and optimise your AFR.

 

[rex7_vtec]

Has anyone bought anything from this website before? Seems like they have tons of parts!!!

www.ca-automotive.co.uk

Plus they have the Lambo doors I've been so desperately looking for!!

 

[albundy]

Well, if you are looking for more hp and torque, stroke the engine as "nothing replaces cubic capacity"
I know its illegal in fine fine Singapore but there are plenty of workshop that is able to do so across the bridge!
Rgds

 

[E46]

zero.

Not really. LTA had authorised cars to be turbo charged.

But you gotta be patient with a deep pocket.

1) You need to write in to LTA requesting to TC your car with a reason.
(Eg. To beat that freaking STI driver who smoked me on CTE !@#%)

2) You require a letter from either PML or BMW HQ to write a letter stating your car xxxi is safe to be turbocharged.

3) You require a blueprint on how the mech is gonna fix the TC into the car.

4) Many inspections are required to be done prior fixing the TC and after fixing. (You gotta pay for all that)

5) Upon LTA being convinced, they will issue a cert stating your car is being authorised for TC.

But lets face facts ... first of all, upon submiting your request to LTA, it'll take them 6 months or more to reply because thats what happened to my friend.

Second, after buying the TC, with all the inspections, letter from BMW and the blueprint, if LTA isn't satisfied that your car is safe to be TC, you'll realised you spent all that money and effort on inspections, drafting of blueprint and time.

So thats it risk you gotta take lah.

My question is, if say a particular make of car is approved for TC. Does that mean we can use the same blueprint and workshop and submit TC request ?

 

[Racebred]

step 2 is never going to happen

 

[E46]

step 2 is never going to happen

No harm writing in. But do take note that I'm not sure whether to write to PML or BMW in germany. Coz this is technical stuff and PML wouldn't have a clue I believe.

Besides ... if you TC your car, its no longer under warranty hence safe them money. haha