WIBIMMERS

Jdesign said:

Chris Welter said:

I have been thinking about that a lot recently and have been trying to come up with a solution. I thought about wrapping the headers since they are stainless but don't really want to deal with stressing the materials out with excessive heat and cracking them. It is looking like ceramic coating will be the best option but I've had crap luck with that in the past and it is rare it stays nice for long. Time will tell, might run them unfinished and insulate everything around them.. Hood louvers may be warranted..

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Heat wrap will give you better fuel consumption, better turbo spool and wont heat everything in the engine bay to a million degrees. Make sure you get a good brand and soak it in water before you apply it. There is a lot of opinions about wrap on the internet, but if done right it makes a drastic difference. The stuff doesn't exist because it doesn't work. The only way I could see a manifold cracking would be due to weight and vibration without being properly supported. Ceramic coating is nice and I have had it on non-turbo manifolds before(mostly hondas) and it seemed to hold up fine. My issue with it is cost and effectiveness. Besides that though it also looks better than a mummy wrapped manifold.

I suppose you are probably correct. I need to take the application into context too. This is strictly a street/strip car. My initial reservation about wrap was it was bad because they material cannot vent the heat that it absorbs and heat cycles badly causing expansion and contraction problems and cracking as well as becoming brittle because of the temps. However this being a street/strip car and not a dedicated track car, it will be hard pressed to run hard enough for long enough to cause a problem. What brands do you recommend? Reccomended process or tips?

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patsbimmer1 said:

Chris Welter said:

I have been thinking about that a lot recently and have been trying to come up with a solution. I thought about wrapping the headers since they are stainless but don't really want to deal with stressing the materials out with excessive heat and cracking them. It is looking like ceramic coating will be the best option but I've had crap luck with that in the past and it is rare it stays nice for long. Time will tell, might run them unfinished and insulate everything around them.. Hood louvers may be warranted..

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I think coatings and reflective tape are usually the most popular options.  Louvers are an option but I know off the shelf options aren't always effective due to pressure variances caused by air flow over the hood/under the body compared to under the hood.  I remember a trick from my 240sx days was to shim the hood so it lifted the rear of the hood up an inch or so to increase airflow under hood.  I know I had read a pretty in depth article about why this worked with data from thermocouples to support it.  I can't find it right now but i'll keep looking.

I would be interested to read that article if you do find it. I know that with the N54 if you removed the Ecu cover and that shelf that goes over the engine the amount of heat/air that poured out onto the windshield was unreal. Provided rain or washing the car at that point was prohibited but for hot weather and drag racing it worked out well. A good thing though is the wiring and all the heat sensitive components are away from the pipes for the most part now. BMW left the steering shaft hole for the right hand drive cars in the left hand drive chassis and installed insulated plug, that plug gave me a hole to run my Dominator wiring, it was almost meant to be..

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patsbimmer1 said:

Awesome! Managing underhood temps looks like it's going to be your biggest enemy here.  I hope I get to see see this thing running one day!

I have been thinking about that a lot recently and have been trying to come up with a solution. I thought about wrapping the headers since they are stainless but don't really want to deal with stressing the materials out with excessive heat and cracking them. It is looking like ceramic coating will be the best option but I've had crap luck with that in the past and it is rare it stays nice for long. Time will tell, might run them unfinished and insulate everything around them.. Hood louvers may be warranted..

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Snap said:

Nice update! 

Access to the front of the engine looks improved over the I6 (obviously), Is there anything that is going to be a royal PITA to work on with this setup that will require pulling the engine, that normally wouldn't (spark plug access etc.)

It really depends on how the exhaust and turbos all work out. The motor plate has been sheared and I can actually remove the plugs from the front of the engine (reach between the plate and the manifold to access them fairly easy). Compared to a C5 there is a lot of room and I could pull the intake manifold off or change oil or map sensors with engine in the car. The car being a prior Xi has a different front subframe that if the car is lifted there is HUGE access with the skid plate off. As of now I can't see a reason to pull the engine for anything really. It is truly impressive how it fit in there.

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i_love_cars said:

awesome progress. It looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel now. Seems pretty plausible that this car will be running well before summer is done?

That is the plan, I'd like to get it on the track at least once before it gets cold. The engine is almost there, just gotta get the trans and shift linkage in and get the d/s made. The exhaust can be really easy for the time being to just get it to run. Main obstacle with the turbos will be that radiator fan, but I have a few ideas to eliminate that issue.

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Here's another shot as of recent.. Dominator is installed and wiring is ran. Put the front on to figure out the cooling and the turbo/exhaust situation.

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Looks fun man! Can tell though at upper rpm those turbos are struggling a bit..

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Overall progress of fitting motor and getting correct fitting headers. Motor cleaned in the pics and reassembled with new gaskets ect. Powder coated valve covers for a hint of color and a ls1 water pump. Now to just get it final mounted on the motor plates with the c5 corvette racing alternator and we are in business.

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So yet another update. I got the motor to fit into the car and the second set of headers are installed (first set were too long). Motor is in with a motor plate and I spent a good amount of time freshening up gaskets and cleaning the test engine. I have learned you really have to wanna go fast to attempt to do this kind of swap. Engine is almost in completely and wiring will be fairly quick thanks to my Dominator harnesses and a spreadsheet I made of all the wires I need to modify for the oem harness. Going to make the tach and oem gauges work for the most part until I'm ready to drop the 7" Holley display in. Now some update pix.

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For now just stock LS1 stuff for cars on the 5.3..

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Big hold ups right now are mechanical fuel pump surge system (jc43089 helped me through this one), stock LS intake and water pump, alternator mounting, and other small items besides the Ecu. I am heading over to get my oil pan setup today, so there is still progress.

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I am really hoping to make a couple passes on the 4L80e and the stock N/A 5.3 in the spring to set a baseline against my stock N54 timeslips. The turbo setup will come later as I have to select the turbos so I only buy one set and be done with it. The general idea right now for the engine is run the 5.3 and get some base times and tunes down so if I blow it up I'm out $500 instead of the new motor (which I'm having tuned). The other thing is the new motor will be $$$$ so it will buy me some fun drive time until I get the funds together to buy it. The initial power goal (hence bigger cube motor) is 1200 whp but we'll see how everything pans out as I don't plan on spinning it past 6500. Gotta make it worth the swap as the N54 is a powerful motor to replace . Transmission will have a HD2 shift kit in it soon and will be upgraded to a Jake's performance level 5 when the new motor is ready. As for rear end, I already plan on shredding it so I've ran up some plans to beef up my subframe and control arms and also install a 9" ford DSS IRS conversion kit. Again reasoning is I want to maintain BMW designed suspension just stronger.

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A little back to back comparison from a friend's top mount N54 and my LS swapped car. Note the LS is running a truck water pump so the car version is a good amount shorter.. either way if you use the front of the strut tower in comparison to where it sits on the motors you get a good idea..

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Now that just need my Holley dominator Ecu, dash and other goodies to show up and a lot more work and it should drive n/a!!

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My 335Xi is no longer a 335Xi. It's a LS swapped e92 with a 4L80E transmission and is rwd ONLY. I decided on motor plates and pulled all the stops on going fast. The engine is a 5.3 iron block that is my "test" engine, you know one I won't feel bad about flogging until it blows. The new engine that will replace it will be a 427 cubic inch dart LS next block with two big snails hanging off of it. Also for interested parties, swapping out to kirkey racing seats and removing all other seats/ deadener in this car will save you in the neighborhood of 400lbs (my current configuration)..yes I actually weighed it all. New engine sits 7" further back in he chassis and driveline sits 2" lower. And I have the interior electronics working without canbus issues.

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Well time for an update. Per the last bit of this thread it has entirely derailed and the project has changed directions. What I'm about to show you will piss off the masses and set this car into the first of its generation.

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suspenceful said:

patsbimmer1 said:

I took down a 450whp 06 Mustang GT from a 60 roll not too long ago.  My n54 just pulls really strong, I don't know if I have a freak one or what but it's something else!

I'd love to line up. I have no problem taking down 500-600whp cars. I've never lost to another N54 and I've raced a handful. Not doubting yours, but I'd love to find out!

I'm wondering why you were running e50 on a e85 tune, has me a bit confused as your effective octane is low (below 60% e). Either way it shows the weight difference of the 2 cars. In my mind the hexon turbo car should have won but I have no idea what fueling his map was set up from. Timing adds power, but too low octane and high timing means you'll meet a rod on the ground soon.

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patsbimmer1 said:

Snap said:

I guess this means patsbimmer has the fastest n54 in the state now

It's gotta be up there.  I've taken down some serious players.

I'm not doubting quickness but turbocripple has a wicked 135i. Twin turbo auto that ran 10.8 in the quarter. A lot of bigger power cars showing up recently, ironically a lot of blown motor too. Some guys even 2! Of course I think some of it has to do with new tuners to the platform and people really pushing things. Some of it is junkyard 30K $600 engines that pop because they've been sitting since 2008 without running then people drop them in a car and expect 600rwhp. A lot of companies are coming out of the woodwork for N54 so building the motor is looking much cheaper. Heck I even saw 30% bench flow improvements with a ported head someone was doing (pretty much a m54 head flow now [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] ).

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