N54 exhaust camshaft upgrade

[mattg]

Aftermarket camshaft options are super expensive, looking at the flow and cam lift it's clear that the exhaust cam is the restriction. This becomes more of a restriction with higher boost and more flow into the head.

To get more flow out of the engine a larger exhaust cam was installed giving more lift and duration. Camshaft was installed simply by locking the intake cam at TDC and upgraded exhaust cam was fitted.

Vanos tables changed and additional fuel added to the fuel scaler.

Results
Car previously Dynoed at 570whp with upgraded hybrid turbos on pump gas and 1000cc of water meth.
Driving impressions so far boost comes on stronger and pulls all the way to rev limit.
The logs show the fuel pressure has been reduced showing that the car flows more air. Based on logs so far with just a vanos and fuel change a gain of 25hp. More testing to come!

If anyone is interested in doing this upgrade I will be offering the cam and vanos changes you will need to make. $200 USD delivered worldwide.

 

[Hydra Performance]

Stock exhaust lift is 9.7mm not 8.7mm

 

[mattg]

On the exhaust cam I checked the difference photos below of 1.2mm increase this was then multiplied by the rocker ratio. 1.2mm increase on the camshaft x rocker ratio gives 2.2mm additional valve lift.

I checked the intake cam, lift less base circle it was bigger than the exhaust cam.

 

[wheela]

On the exhaust cam I checked the difference of 1.2mm this was then multiplied by the rocker ratio. 1.2mm increase on the camshaft x rocker ratio gives 2.2mm additional valve lift.

I checked the intake cam, lift less base circle it was bigger than the exhaust cam.

I'm a little confused, are you saying the stock exhaust valve lift on the n54 isn't 9.7mm as indicated in the BMW tech doc?

 

[mattg]

I'm a little confused, are you saying the stock exhaust valve lift on the n54 isn't 9.7mm as indicated in the BMW tech doc?

You can see the upgraded cam is larger, maybe I'm better off just posting Dyno results. I can post up some measurements of both the exhaust cams and factory intake cam and you can be the judge.

There is such mixed information on these engines, even a few different numbers for the rocker ratio.

Will update the original post as I get more information

 

[wheela]

You can see the upgraded cam is larger, maybe I'm better off just posting Dyno results. I can post up some measurements of both the exhaust cams and factory intake cam and you can be the judge.

There is such mixed information on these engines, even a few different numbers for the rocker ratio.

Will update the original post as I get more information

Yeah, more details would be helpful. I think most understand gains can be had with better cams, but it's not really clear in this thread what your cam is?

Until this thread, I don't recall coming across any conflicting information about n54 exhaust cam lift?

I'm not a cam designer by any stretch, but I do know the kinematics of the valve train is highly complex, and forces on components can increase/decrease drastically with small cam profile changes. It would be easy to start mechanically overloading components in the valve train, or trigger some follower float if one doesn't know precisely what they're doing. This is why good aftermarket cams are expensive; there is a lot of expertise involved to do it right. Before putting different cams in my engine, I'd want to be extremely confident that said cam was properly designed, and proven to not adversely impact reliability of the engine. I'm not saying that yours isn't properly designed, but more details and data would definately be helpful

 

[wheela]

It would also be intersting to see datazap or embedded spoolstreet logs of the actual logs you took, as well as data on if/how your power changed with just your vanos changes and the stock cam, so we can get some visibility into that interaction between the vanos changes and the different cam profile

 

[mattg]

I'm a little confused, are you saying the stock exhaust valve lift on the n54 isn't 9.7mm as indicated in the BMW tech doc?

If you look at the image it shows the hot side is to scale and seems about 1mm lower Vs cold side

 

[mikeseli]

On the exhaust cam I checked the difference photos below of 1.2mm increase this was then multiplied by the rocker ratio. 1.2mm increase on the camshaft x rocker ratio gives 2.2mm additional valve lift.

I checked the intake cam, lift less base circle it was bigger than the exhaust cam.

The N54 cam lift, not the valve lift on the intake side is 5.82mm and for the exhaust it is at 5.80mm. Multiplying the rocker ratio gives valve lift.

 

[EPOXY54]

Aftermarket camshaft options are super expensive, looking at the flow and cam lift it's clear that the exhaust cam is the restriction. This becomes more of a restriction with higher boost and more flow into the head.

View attachment 109638

To get more flow out of the engine a larger exhaust cam was installed giving more lift and duration. Camshaft was installed simply by locking the intake cam at TDC and upgraded exhaust cam was fitted.

Vanos tables changed and additional fuel added to the fuel scaler.

Results
Car previously Dynoed at 570whp with upgraded hybrid turbos on pump gas and 1000cc of water meth.
Driving impressions so far boost comes on stronger and pulls all the way to rev limit.
The logs show the fuel pressure has been reduced showing that the car flows more air. Based on logs so far with just a vanos and fuel change a gain of 25hp. More testing to come!

View attachment 109639

If anyone is interested in doing this upgrade I will be offering the cam and vanos changes you will need to make. $200 USD delivered worldwide.

Hey Mattg,

How can I contact you? Thanks

 

[mattg]

Hey Mattg,

How can I contact you? Thanks

Sure we message already on messenger

FYI We Dynoed the car at 570 then 595whp by virtual after cam unfortunately the night before real Dyno we lost compression. Pulling engine apart found we cracked a ring lan.

 

[Maroon_e90]

are you saying youre charging 200$ for a new exhaust cam? What are you selling?

 

[Peter55]

Something doesn't adds up here, even catcams says that stock N54 exhaust cam lift is 9.7mm.
Also when Hydra Performance says it's true no more confirmation is needed.
I've quickly checked and N52 have different rocker arms - so this upgraded cam could be N52 ex cam or N53 intake cam
N52 cam has little bigger base diameter, so after grinding it'll also offer bigger lift.

 

[mikeseli]

On the exhaust cam I checked the difference photos below of 1.2mm increase this was then multiplied by the rocker ratio. 1.2mm increase on the camshaft x rocker ratio gives 2.2mm additional valve lift.

I checked the intake cam, lift less base circle it was bigger than the exhaust cam.

The N54 intake cam is 47.3mm based on how you’re measuring (base circle + cam lift).

The N54 exhaust cam is 41.3mm as you show in your photo. This is what I also measured.

Where did you get this N5X intake cam at 42.4mm? This is not a N54 intake cam nor a N53 intake cam. Unless… this is a regrinded cam with a different cam profile which brought it down to 42.4mm.

 

[Peter55]

The N54 intake cam is 47.3mm based on how you’re measuring (base circle + cam lift).

The N54 exhaust cam is 41.3mm as you show in your photo. This is what I also measured.

Where did you get this N5X intake cam at 42.4mm? This is not a N54 intake cam nor a N53 intake cam. Unless… this is a regrinded cam with a different cam profile which brought it down to 42.4mm.

It could be N52, it has different rocker arms, so final lift is calculated by different factor. Or regrinded N52, it has bigger base circle than N54