Fastwagob48 - From zero to hero

Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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Hi,

beeing around for a year now I decide to do my first thread. I had a N54 E91 wagon for 7 years and sold it last september :-( It was bone stock when I bought it. Sold it FBO with TTE550 hybrid´s and meth tuned by V8bait (the greatest guy i met for a long time). The car was my dreamcar. I was almost about to cry when i saw it driving away... However, things changed fast and I was lucky in a very desperate time (i had a bad divorce... but thats a different story). I met my future car - and thats where the story starts now :)

Its a 2019 F31 320i B48 melbourne red with 31k miles on it. My first impression was "Dude, u serious". The car felt like it was not moving even when i was on WOT. The 184hp felt really terrible. I had doubt buying this car. But as it was a real steal and i knew the potential of the B48´s. I decide to give it a try. The second day it was already flashed with a Stage1 from MG Flasher. It felt like the power was doubled. I did a dyno run with perfexpert (mobile app) and it shows some 278hp and 365NM (both flywheel). I know thats not really the exact numbers, but lets take it as a reference point for now.

The only thing i was not happy is the low rpm behaviour of the small 4 cyl engine. The transmission is shifting gears way too early if you ask me. The car was kinda shaking on high gears in low rpm´s. However, I knew the Stage 1 was only the beginning so i decide to wait flashing the transmission with XHP. Meanwhile the Downpipe was in progress. The OEM cat was cut off and replaced with a EU6 300cpsi cat. It took me 10 days to get it back from the shop, but man it was like christmas for me when it arrived :) Installed the DP and flashed Stage 2 MG Flasher together with XHP Stage 3. Also i did a bargain on a K&N replacement filter which i bought "used" on amazon. It came in a pristine condition, only the box was slightly damaged. Managed to get a charge pipe, inlet pipe and a full exhaust system with the GPF removed and the Resonator deleted as well. Yea... i was really on fire getting some nice parts for the new car :cool:

The car is now what it is supposed to be as a modern 2.0 turbo twin scroll motor. I was not able to do a perfexpert dyno run with all the mods, but the numbers shown in the logs are 319hp and 418NM fly. I ll post the dyno numbers once available. By the way, i saw a back to back dyno from a B48 Stage1 where only the Filter was replaced. It showed a gain of 15HP (from paper to K&N drop in). Sure, there may be some adaption by the DME later on and it may drop a bit - i dont know. But the fact the gains were there is just impressive from only a drop in.

Last but not least, i also bought a snow performance stage 2 meth kit... yea, it is what it is. I love cars and i love to mod them. And knowing of the advantages meth gave my N54 it was a must have on the B48. I just did not manage to install it. Hope i can complete it the next two or three weeks. Cant wait to see it take off - he he he. Bezos, if you need a Rocket to the moon, drop a comment here.

The XHP Stage 3 changed the 8hp quite a bit. To be honest, i was very pleased with the factory setup. The shifts were fast and it never was "a bad thing" in any situation. But with the XHP Stuff the shifts are like DCT shifts (and the limiters were removed which was the main reason i flashed XHP). Low throttle shifts are smooth as butter. WOT shifts are hard and fast as fuxx. Still, it did not change the low rpm shaking on high gears... it s much better with all the mods, but not gone. Most improvement was the high flow cat and the GPF delete for the shaking. Maybe XHP can fix it with a special setup for the small 4 bangers. Just let them rev higher a bit and shift later. 500 rpm´s should be just fine to fix the small problem.
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doublespaces

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Oct 18, 2016
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Welcome back with the new ride! B48's are starting to pick up some steam, I'm interested to see where they go. Do you have a Dragy?
 

Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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Ok, got my Meth kit installed yesterday. Installation was straight forward. 4 cables and 2 lines :cool: . I was excited on my first pull today as i was expecting the Meth to clean up my timing and to zero the corrections i had.

Car is a FBO B48 with a high flow 300 cspi cat, inlet and outlet pipe, k&n drop in, GPF delete and a mgflasher stage 2 98 octane (EU). Using 100 octane fuel...

Here s a graph before (100 oct gas only):

no meth.jpeg


I was surprised a bit with the timing corrections i had as its a 98 oct map filled with 100 oct gas. I was able to do 11 degrees max with some corrections as you can see... however - here is what the meth does:

meth.jpeg


It maxed out the timing and i had zero corrections. Peak timing with the 98 oct is 13,5 degrees from 6.000 rpm to redline. Peak boost was 20,5 PSI climbing to redline. Log shows 324HP and 436NM as max (lets just take it as a reference). Comparing to the run without meth it added 5HP and 20NM roughly.

WMI mixture is 35% Ethanol (99%)/65% distilled water.
Guess its time to try the 102 octane map :cool:

EDIT: Pics attached. Need to build a bracket for the gauge... so install is not 100% finished yet.

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20210803_193953.jpg
 
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Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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Ok, short update on how things are working out. MG Flasher released a new Version recently, they added a 100 octane map. Flashed the new map the very next minute after release :) I also changed my Meth Nozzle from size 5 (375ml) to size 4 (225ml). AFR was dipping too much when Meth kicks in (although i had the pump running at 70% only). The 100 Oct Map is now pushing the ignition timing to 15 degrees from 6.000 rpm to redline. Boost must have been lowered a bit as peak bost is somewhere around 19,5 PSI now. Running 100 oct fuel of course... I would say the car pulls harder with the new map. The peak power numbers shown on the graph (only for reference) remain the same between the old 98 oct and the new 100 oct map. Looks like they lowered boost and raised ignition timing... sounds plausible to me for a high compression engine. Whats your thoughts, gents?

100oct.PNG


What i discovered while changing the nozzles was, that there is already some corrosion going on on the mesh filter (actually on the screw for the filter) at the back of the nozzle. I have had it installed for like 2 months only. Anybody using the snow performance nozzles with a long term experience? Just curious how they look like after a year or two? Never heard anything about that they are supposed to be changed after a time.

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Also i installed some sweet looking shift paddles... :cool:

20210921_123800.jpg
 

Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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While doing some maintenance on my car i saw 3 screw holes on the outside of the lower section of the air filter box. It was clear the holes are there to hold a heat shield... but there was no heat shield. After a quick research it turns out that the B58´s do have a heat shield and the B48´s do not. As I was not able to find the correct part number (not even sure if they sell only the heat shield) I decide to do one on my own :) Here are some pic´s
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Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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Today i tried the OTS 102 oct map. The difference is "only" 0,5° of ignition advance accross the whole rpm range. Car was filled up with 100 oct. Shell v power. Water/Meth mix is at around 40/60

Still, no corrections so far...

20220205_161043.jpg

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Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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Ok, chasing a small issue with my B48. When i am in sport mode and going like 20% on throttle, letting off and going again on throttle i can feel like the car missfires/surging/bucking. I am chasing this phenomenom for like 9 months already. It is hard to replicate as it does not happen that often. Lucky i was able to record it, here it is:

3385c579-6f25-4ae3-a67f-5636c50af18e.jpg

1, Red line: AFR, you can see how it is falling from like 14,7 to 12 almost instantly when going off throttle
2, Blue line: Missfire on Cyl 4 (its only on cyl 4... the others are fine)
3, Yellow line: RPM´s. You can see the dip when going off throttle, and the zig zag following when going on throttle.

My thoughts: Either its a leaking injector on cyl 4 which is causing the AFR´s to drop after going off throttle... or its the Water / Meth mixture still beeing injected for a second after going off throttle, staying in the charge pipe pre-throttle and beeing sucked in after going on throttle again causing AFR to drop... But i doubt its the WMI theory as throttle never closes to like 100%, right? Also in such a case, car should missfire on several cylinders, and not only on number 4...

Plugs (NGK) are kinda fresh, only 12k miles on it. Injectors and Coils never been changed, 50k miles on the car since May 2019. As i have no issues with missfires whatsoever, i doubt its the plugs and coils. WOT logs are as clean as they can be.

What do you think?

PS: Please, can somebody explain how to upload a log file to spoolstreet.
 

Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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I just got these from Extreme Power House (you guys are great).... :smirk:

20220512_103500.jpg


I do not expect to gain anything with them (just like the look and doing my maintenance), but i will let you know if it kinda helps with my issue i am chasing right now...
 
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Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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Getting closer to the solution. Before installing the fresh injectors and before installing the new coils i decide to do the spark plugs first. Just because i want to know what exactly the problem is.

Even though they are almost new (12k miles) i swapped them and threw some new NGK´s in. At the same time i bend them down a bit to like 0.23. Just in case its the OEM gap which is causing missfires. By the way, the OEM gap did vary between 0.30 and 0.29 on my plugs (old and new).

Here is how they look like after 12k on 100oct and WMI:

20220517_121345.jpg


I could have put them back in as they look like new. :) Plug Nr. 3 (from left to right) was the plug from Cyl 4. It was the one with the "most" carbon build up.

Here a pic of the top of the piston:
20220517_114258.jpg


They all look the same. Quite clean for 50k miles.

With the new plugs installed, the "old" coil packs switched (4 to 3 and 2 to 1) i did a new log... but the result was the same. Still the same missfire on Cyl 4. It got a bit better as i think the smaller plug gap helped a bit with ignition of the low AFR. Problem not solved, but at least it did not move with the coils.

Some conclusion: There is no significant benefit to gap the plugs for a Stage 2 car like mine. Even with WMI it never was an issue to run the OEM gap. BUT, make sure the gaps are even on each plug. The OEM plugs came with a different gap each... Of what i have heard/read, the OEM gap should be at around 0.26 to 0.28. There is also no downside for me with the smaller gap right now. Maybe the cold start idle is a bit more rough, but i am not sure about that.
 

Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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Injectors installed. Here is how they look after 50k miles:
20220531_094544.jpg


1,2,3,4 from left to right. As you can see, Nr. 2 was wet and Nr. 4 was the one with the most carbon build up. Here some closer pics...

Cyl. 4:
20220531_094705.jpg


Cyl. 2:
20220531_094620.jpg


As for the special tool you need... Here is how you do it without it:

20220531_094032.jpg


I know, you can roast me for that, but it worked. :cool: Basically all you need to do is just pull the rail from above and pry it from the front where the Sensor is with a crowbar. The rail will pop out with the injectors pretty easy, you do not have to apply much pressure. Once the front is loose, you have to use the crowbar then from the back of the rail, but thats self explaining i guess...

So really no special tools needed here. Only thing is when you put the new injectors back on the rail, you have to make sure for the gap (see pic below) - as there is a special spacer tool, which i did not had.

20220531_101439.jpg

The gap has to be at 8,5mm. I meassured them all accordingly, but to be honest i do not think you need to be that precise here. Just hand tight (with your hands, no tools) the injector screws and you will have the same gap as well.

*Few things i want to highlight.*
You do not need to code EU6 injectors (B Series Engines), just reset the adaptions for the injectors once installed (i did the reset with ISTA).
You can change the injectors yourself, thats not a big deal if you are common with mehanics (if you can change plugs, you can do the injectors as well).
The car has 50k miles and the injectors look very bad. To me its a must to change them at around 50k miles! Besides the surging/bucking on the highway (as i mentioned above) the car did not show any sign of the injectors beeing that bad. Nr. 2. was def. leaking (i did expect Nr. 4 to leak, but however... in a bad shape as well)

At the same time i did replace the cylinder head expansion hose, as there is a pending recall on that for my car. Latest part number is 17129845173. The "old" hose is now 3 years old and it was still good (i could not even break the hose couplers with my hands). IMO you do not have to change the hose until your car have not reached 4-5 years. The swap is pretty straight forward...

I ll be back with some logs from the Autobahn as soon as possible. So far car is running fine and strong.
 
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wheela

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Jun 4, 2021
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Injectors installed. Here is how they look after 50k miles:
View attachment 69055

1,2,3,4 from left to right. As you can see, Nr. 2 was wet and Nr. 4 was the one with the most carbon build up. Here some closer pics...

Cyl. 4:
View attachment 69056

Cyl. 2:
View attachment 69059

As for the special tool you need... Here is how you do it without it:

View attachment 69060

I know, you can roast me for that, but it worked. :cool: Basically all you need to do is just pull the rail from above and pry it from the front where the Sensor is with a crowbar. The rail will pop out with the injectors pretty easy, you do not have to apply much pressure. Once the front is loose, you have to use the crowbar then from the back of the rail, but thats self explaining i guess...

So really no special tools needed here. Only thing is when you put the new injectors back on the rail, you have to make sure for the gap (see pic below) - as there is a special spacer tool, which i did not had.

View attachment 69061
The gap has to be at 8,5mm. I meassured them all accordingly, but to be honest i do not think you need to be that precise here. Just hand tight (with your hands, no tools) the injector screws and you will have the same gap as well.

*Few things i want to highlight.*
You do not need to code EU6 injectors (B Series Engines), just reset the adaptions for the injectors once installed (i did the reset with ISTA).
You can change the injectors yourself, thats not a big deal if you are common with mehanics (if you can change plugs, you can do the injectors as well).
The car has 50k miles and the injectors look very bad. To me its a must to change them at around 50k miles! Besides the surging/bucking on the highway (as i mentioned above) the car did not show any sign of the injectors beeing that bad. Nr. 2. was def. leaking (i did expect Nr. 4 to leak, but however... in a bad shape as well)

At the same time i did replace the cylinder head expansion hose, as there is a pending recall on that for my car. Latest part number is 17129845173. The "old" hose is now 3 years old and it was still good (i could not even break the hose couplers with my hands). IMO you do not have to change the hose until your car have not reached 4-5 years. The swap is pretty straight forward...

I ll be back with some logs from the Autobahn as soon as possible. So far car is running fine and strong.
Were you having any issues with corrections on any cylinders, or just misfires on #4?
 

Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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No. All the WOT logs look the same. No corrections whatsoever. I have been on the dyno with the injectors only a few weeks ago

EDIT: Yes, Misfire on Cyl 4 on slight throttle after decel.
 
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Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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I have not been able to solve my bucking/surging issue so far. Injectors did smooth the bucking a bit, but it did not solve the issue itself. With the Meth switched on, the bucking/surging is much more noticeable than with the Meth switched off... Its still there - but you can barely feel it.

I am down to the point that i think i have combustion quenching issues... but i am not sure why. It appears only in high gear low RPM (at around 2-2.5k rpm) at part throttle situation. Running a small 225ml meth nozzle and 60/40 Meth/Water mixture. Starting to inject at 10 PSI, full at 18 PSI.

BUT, If i switch the Meth injection off, i can still feel it. Its not that bad, but there.

Here a pic of the graph with meth switched on:
image (1).png


Here a pic with the meth switched off:
image.png


The RED Line is the RPM signal. You can see how i let off for a second (red line goes down) and then get back on... as i get back on the pedal you can see how it does a zig zag (thats the issue, bucking/surging). With the meth switched on it does it very bad (Pic 1, Mark 1 and 2... after Mark 1 it starts to missfire on cyl 4).

Its not the Injectors, its not the plugs, its not the coils... Contacted MG Flasher Support and still waiting.

Any advice from you guys on this?
 

Slowagon54

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Aug 21, 2020
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Its a TM400 (Turbomarkt Germany) Turbo which i just received. Larger billet aluminium 6+6 compressor wheel and a 9 blade turbine wheel. Cant wait to throw it in... Will take some time as I am quite busy right now :-/
 
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wheela

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Jun 4, 2021
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2015 e84 X1 35i Msport
Its a TM400 (Turbomarkt Germany) Turbo which i just received. Larger billet aluminium 6+6 compressor wheel and a 9 blade turbine wheel. Cant wait to throw it in... Will take some time as I am quite busy right now :-/
Awesome, excited to see how it works out for you!
 
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