N54 Vaporware - A recount of failed and forgotten product launches

doublespaces

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I got to thinking earlier about some products that were teased, suggested and even shown off over the years and never turned into a commercial product, immediately failed or never got any market traction. I can remember a few of them, but certainly you guys can help add to this list. I've done this before with turbo kits but I'll try to include everything I can remember off the top of my head. Also, if some of these are actually being sold, please forgive me but last I recall they were essentially dead.

Turbo Kits:

VIP Tuning - The first single turbo kit installed on a running car
turboupgrade5-jpg.jpg


ar design - An ex employee who went to start his own downpipe business (BB Fabrication) sent me this photo. I waited until ar design mentioned they were working on a kit and then I posted this photograph:
photo-3-jpg.jpg


Horse Power Freaks take on the N54 before they went under:
hpf335iturbomanifold10-1-jpg.jpg


This was a one-off job for a guy named ScrotchieMcBoogerBalls who later changed his name to 'Unfor'. Fabrication was done by CPE I think:
img_3313-1-1-jpg.jpg


You'll notice that all of these turbo kits have the same core problem, they did not separate the primary O2's and it wasn't until FFTEC in conjunction with Vishnu tuning that this problem was solved.

Intake Manifolds:.

Evolution Raceworks - Nick Lakind (Nlakind) had the only manifold I'm aware of and had the car featured on superstreet. I think the funniest part about that superstreet pic is the battery post cover is not on lol: http://www.superstreetonline.com/features/eurp-1001-2007-bmw-335i-3-series-e90/
CIMG5512b.JPG
CIMG5513b.JPG
31454136.jpg


HPF:
HPFN54intakeModel1-1.jpg
HPFN54intakeRapid1-1.jpg
HPFN54intakeRapid2-1.jpg


Other:

I won't even get into the HPFP discussion one because there were a lot of false claims mixed in here, but I think the one most people will remember is the CPE HPFP solution which never came after waiting many, many years. It wasn't until the VTT shotgun was released that an actual DI upgrade was available and of course the Helix brought with it the tuning tables.



CatCams - Did these come out?

ASR Engineering twin upgrades - Does anyone remember how stoked we were to have turbos that could challenge an M5? Back then it was said pushing turbos past this point would result in large scale turbo failures... I guess we kept pushing anyway. Unfortunately this company got mixed up in a lot of non-delivery issues at the time, but it seems they are doing better with their new KRATOS product on the S55 platform.

ar design radiator - Is this a product? Last time I checked it didn't fit very well, it was ambitious and interesting however:
1572379499218.png
1572379506130.png


Undercover - They paved the way for ProEFI on the N54 but got stuck on the Direct Injection calibration values. They mentioned it would cost a large sum of money, somewhere around 15-20k to have that developed and abandonned the project. They got their car running with a ProEFI 128 I think, using PI only and nitrous.

Speaking of which, I talked to ProEFI a few weeks ago, they said they are actually working on the N54 project again, so Syvecs will have company.

Feel free to add what you remember!
 
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doublespaces

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doublespaces

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Oh, the CPE Standback piggyback tune. They seemed to have some pretty cool stuff going on. CPE sure is on this list a lot.
 

langsbr

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I don't know if it was teased in pics, but it was mentioned at least once and then nada - VTT Ball bearing CHRA GCs

And just cause I got Jokes - MMP announced some MMP 1Ks that have yet to be released :p
 

Rob09msport

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I don't know if it was teased in pics, but it was mentioned at least once and then nada - VTT Ball bearing CHRA GCs

And just cause I got Jokes - MMP announced some MMP 1Ks that have yet to be released :p
Wish forum member would rock stage 3s from vtt cause that is the only real stage 3. If I was competitive I would definitely have me some gtx love
 
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doublespaces

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Wish forum member would rock stage 3s from vtt cause that is the only real stage 3. If I was competitive I would definitely have me some gtx love

I'm still hopeful @Chris@VargasTurboTech will do something with it. The problem is the extra hardware is pricey. That is why I'm disappointed the CPE stuff never came out, you'd think a cast kit would eventually have the biggest capability to become affordable once costs had been recouped.
 
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Wish forum member would rock stage 3s from vtt cause that is the only real stage 3. If I was competitive I would definitely have me some gtx love

There are a few of them out in the wild, and of course it's now on the shop car.

I'm still hopeful @Chris@VargasTurboTech will do something with it. The problem is the extra hardware is pricey. That is why I'm disappointed the CPE stuff never came out, you'd think a cast kit would eventually have the biggest capability to become affordable once costs had been recouped.

It's not easy to do, it's clearly a great idea (genuine Garrett? Hell yeah!), very expensive to actually build and of course the turbos are pricey. As the platform ages it's less and less viable IMO, but still awesome. We should have some fun with ours soon at one of the 1/2 mile events.

VTT bottom mount twin scroll log single kit.

We didn't get much interest in a single for the N54's. Could still do.
 
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Oct 24, 2016
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I don't know if it was teased in pics, but it was mentioned at least once and then nada - VTT Ball bearing CHRA GCs

No that happened -we couldn't get them to live. Tony scattered about a million of them all over the place. Didn't last one pass on the dyno, best version may have lasted a couple passes. Could probably make it happen in that envelope if you really restricted power output (read that; shaft speed).... but what for? We gave 'em a good go. Solid idea, wrong envelope.
 
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Milan

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Don't think successfully launched intentionally garbage hardware belongs on this list though, right?

I don't think they were successfully launched, you are thinking of the 550 and 600. I'm not 100% sure if the 700s made it to production before Hexon disappeared, but I do know there are a couple sets out there.
 
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scrllock

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hpfpupgrade.com, all the dual hpfp projects, xdi's n54 hpfp. lots of announced stuff that has never materialized.

I'd add spool's public tables and billet vacuum pump casing to that list:innocent:

and of course in N55 world, VTT's kit, pure stage 3, mhd's e-series ff.
 

scrllock

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Didn't M18? And twisted, though it sounded like he was more focused on the later n55s now. I thought you had one too, but I wasn't sure if that was related to what M18 had teased. And I'm not aware of XDI selling their n54/early n55 pump yet. Link?
 
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