N55 PURE Stage2

[i_love_cars]

Looks like N55 is finally getting traction with a legit turbo solution. If anyone were ever curious about what is happening to my car over next winter, this would be it - I'm just waiting for a while to see if people start reporting blown engines from the fact that N55 doesn't have a forged rotating assembly. Pretty good initial results, though. Terry @ BMS put down 536 whp and there is room for more boost still. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovh0knAqUzs

[jc43089]

That is pretty intense.  The only competition was the other BMW.

[B C]

Tuning thread? Let me get my brass knuckles.

[patsbimmer1]

There are wants and needs... this falls under the needs category!

[i_love_cars]

yeah, with Spring nearly here, I am tempted to order it right now, but I still feel like I should wait to see how the engine stands up to the abuse once early adopters have driven for a while with it.

I sense a new clutch as well. Winter 2015 has a lot of potential.

[Bobdudeman1988]

We can only hope the early n55 isnt as weak say an n20 bending rods at 300ft lbs.

The n54 is such a great motor. The n55 was supposed to be cheaper in cost. Im sure after time this turbo will make it apparent . If there is any

[i_love_cars]

Bobdudeman1988 said:

We can only hope the early n55 isnt as weak say an n20 bending rods at 300ft lbs.

The n54 is such a great motor. The n55 was supposed to be cheaper in cost. Im sure after time this turbo will make it apparent . If there is any

Yup, that's my expectation which is why I'm going to wait to see what kind of problems people start reporting over the next year or so. There are a lot of people having this stage 2 turbo made right now and an even bigger waiting list, so I'm expecting there will be some decent sampling going on over the next year. 

The N54 was just so overbuilt for what it is, but if you want known reliable quantities of high power it's the only way to go for these cars. 

The N55 puts down 300 wtq in stock form, and as you know torque runs pretty high on these with the stock turbos and tuning - most people tuned are going to be seeing 375-425 wtq. That said, I think it's well beyond N20. It's been around long enough now to show it can handle your typical FBO setup, which isn't really surprising....however....FBO is child's play compared to a turbo upgrade that's pumping out 150+ more hp than most people see on FBO N55s. I refuse to be the guinea pig on a car without a properly forged rotating assembly for something like that    Then again if my only goal was to go as fast as possible in a straight line I would drive a car that I could slap an LSx motor into, not an N5x. 

I'm more track-oriented but I think it would still be fun to romp around with 500 whp. I'm just waiting for the youtube videos of people blowing up on these Stage 2 turbos

[patsbimmer1]

Going fast in a straight line is cool and all but turning is better. I went out for a cruise through kettle moraine on Saturday with a buddy in his 375whp/385tq 06 mustang and as much as he can take me in a straight line I just killed him in the corners. Not 24hrs later I got a text from him asking about track set ups for his mustang.

[Bobdudeman1988]

The n55 isnt as weak as an n20 thats for sure. It just goes to show that bmw is figuring out that they made them to strong for stock power. Hence why they pulled the forged rotating assembly out. But the n55 is a torque monster. Lots of people running pure turbos and nothing bad yet. Id say its looking great

[i_love_cars]

Let's hope so. The N54 is a monster but as the N54 cars get older/fewer on the road, if they can nail down good aftermarket turbo solutions for the N55 it will create a pretty big additional market of cars for people to buy if they want to go fast and run on the N5x platform. 

I'm still definitely going to wait and see over the next 9 months. If all goes well, I'll just cross my fingers that bonus is good this year and I can jump onboard - the turbo is only 2500 bucks which is pretty manageable, but also need to throw in several hundred for a new LPFP, meth kit, and a new clutch. Luckily there is an E85 gas station in Oconomowoc about 7 minutes from my house. otherwise it would be impossible where I live, unless I don't run E85. but then I can't run as strong of a tune and semi-defeats the purpose of upgrading the turbo.