Turbo Install

[bjl4776]

Just got my M50 525i back from the exhaust shop. The turbo is intalled and pulling hard. I havent gotten it to a dyno, but the power increase is amazing. It pulls from 60-80 as fast in 5th gear as it did in 3rd gear before the install. I'll have pictures as soon as the battery on the camera charges. Specs on the install are as follows:
Borgwarner T3/T04E turbo
TSI exhaust manifold
Tial style external wastegate
Adjustable FPR
30lb Injectors
Manual boost controller
Boost and A/F guage
A lot of custom exhause and intake work.
SMT-6 and Water/Alcohol Injection are on their way
Not gonna run an intercooler cause there isn't enough room but the water injection will do the same trick. It doesn't knock as is so it will just be gravy and peace of mind. Oh, and im pullin about 10psi of boost.

[Anton CH.]

How much did the total come out to?

[Jon K]

Just got my M50 525i back from the exhaust shop. The turbo is intalled and pulling hard. I havent gotten it to a dyno, but the power increase is amazing. It pulls from 60-80 as fast in 5th gear as it did in 3rd gear before the install. I'll have pictures as soon as the battery on the camera charges. Specs on the install are as follows:
Borgwarner T3/T04E turbo
TSI exhaust manifold
Tial style external wastegate
Adjustable FPR
30lb Injectors
Manual boost controller
Boost and A/F guage
A lot of custom exhause and intake work.
SMT-6 and Water/Alcohol Injection are on their way
Not gonna run an intercooler cause there isn't enough room but the water injection will do the same trick. It doesn't knock as is so it will just be gravy and peace of mind. Oh, and im pullin about 10psi of boost.

May be going the same route in the near future... I've got two T-25GT ball bearings, a 6x15" Spearco, HKS manual boost controller... i just need manifolds...

[RobPatt]

was this a package? How much boost? How many miles on your car? Auto or stick? What was the bill? I've got the TU, totally stock save the EAT. -Rob.


Just got my M50 525i back from the exhaust shop. The turbo is intalled and pulling hard. I havent gotten it to a dyno, but the power increase is amazing. It pulls from 60-80 as fast in 5th gear as it did in 3rd gear before the install. I'll have pictures as soon as the battery on the camera charges. Specs on the install are as follows:
Borgwarner T3/T04E turbo
TSI exhaust manifold
Tial style external wastegate
Adjustable FPR
30lb Injectors
Manual boost controller
Boost and A/F guage
A lot of custom exhause and intake work.
SMT-6 and Water/Alcohol Injection are on their way
Not gonna run an intercooler cause there isn't enough room but the water injection will do the same trick. It doesn't knock as is so it will just be gravy and peace of mind. Oh, and im pullin about 10psi of boost.

[bjl4776]

Running about 10psi right now, but i still have some tuning to do on. Its a 5speed with the stock clutch on it and it doesn't slip at all. Car has almost 200k miles on it, i know its alot, but compression is good on all cylinders and maybe burns half a quart every 7500 miles. Total cost came out to be between 2000-2500. Not a package either, pieced it together, it took awhile but it was alot cheaper than any kits i found.

[Torque]

sweet. i definitely can't wait to see some numbers.

[Anton CH.]

It looks pretty good! I definetly would like to see more pictures and a dyno print out. Do you experience any pinging without an intercooler at 10psi?

[mrbmw1]

I have been debating this for over a year on my 540iA spoke with Pat P in Ft Lauderdale about it we never got together on it. drop the entire how to for us it looks awesome

[bjl4776]

I had slight pinging at about 4500 rpm with the stock injectors but it stopped as soon as i put the 30lb injectors in. I just got all the pieces as i mentioned above. The real magic was at the exhaust shop. I was originally planning to install everything but the piping but mike at the shop said it wouldn't be too much more if he did everything. The only thing that was tricky was trying to get oil to the turbo. The threads on the oil pressure sensor are metric 12x1.50 and they don't make metric pipe fittings that i could find and i didn't feel like bustin out $100 for JD oil distribution block, so mike maid it using an old vw lug stud, and some standard pipe fitings. But as far as the intake and exhaust piping goes, he had to angle off the extension from the manifold so the turbo wouldn't rub the fender. Then He had to bend the a/c lines toward the engine so he could fit a pipe behind them withought having to make all kinds of ugly curves to get it down. He cut the stock exhaust right before the cat were it converges into one. The intake piping was pretty simple, he originally wanted to drill through the frame like i was going to put in an intercooler but there isn't enough room to put one down there with the stock bumber anyway, so he just want across the top and used the lift point on the motor as a bracket. The stock airbox came off and it goes straight to the MAF. The wastegate was placed underneath the exhaust manifold by cutting a hole in the extension from the manifold to the turbo and then welding a downpipe on. Then from the wastegate he dumped it back into the exhaust. BOV was simple also, he cut a hole in the intake manifold before the MAF welded a small pipe to it, and then used rubber hose and clamps to fit it. The vacuum line T's into the FPR line cause it gives you the most vacuum when the throttle plate is closed. Lines for the wastegate and boost guage are directly off of the compressor housing on the turbo. The A/F guage was soldered into the signal wire from the O2 sensor Inside of the connector to the DME. Power for the guages is wired into the headlight switch. The guages are mounted on a universal A- Pillar mount for now until i get the money for the VDO mount by the shifter. Oh, and the only other thing was the FPR, which was pretty simple, take the old one out, put a block plate in its place, mount the new one, and connect the fuel and vacuum lines. Here are a couple more pictures ill try to get underneath the car to take pictures later today.

[bjl4776]

more pictures

[bjl4776]

Only got one problem starting to arise. The MAF needs to be moved to infront of the turbo. It was running fine at first, but now that it has been on there for a little while the MAF is gettin confused and throwing out a check engine and is settin me limp mode as soon as it see's the boost. Apparently the MAF isn't good under boost because it is made to measure actual are flow, and the the boosted air is a more dense than atmospheric air, causes a mixed up signal. Easy enough fix, just have to get a 3" pipe to take the place of the MAF, and then extend the wires on the MAF to reach the other side of the engine

[mrbmw1]

I have to buy another car 1st b4 i start on this project where are you located this is a must see & get to a dyno quick need #'s

[bjl4776]

Im located in CT, i don't know when ill be able to get a dyno run in, im really busy these days.

[Vegas Nite Owl]

Where can have this turbo modification done here in Las vegas, NV??

[Bellicose Right Winger]

Fascinating project. Thanks for the update. A few observations from my vantage point.
I'm not sure moving MAF is the solution. 10 psi boost is approx (10+14.7)/14.7 or 70% more air then stock. Mass air flow is the same on inlet and outlet of turbo. If you're exceeding the capacity of the MAF with present location, you will exceed it when you move it to turbo inlet. The lower air density at turbo inlet will result in higher air velocities and consequently higher pressure drops which will tend to reduce boost.

I wonder if the turbo is heating air to too high a temp for the MAF. MAF works by using inlet air to cool hot film sensor. If air temp is too hot, particularly at high boost conditions, MAF certainly will be confused. Moving MAF will help in this case.

Moving the MAF to turbo inlet is going to create other problems due to locaton if BOV. The BOV will now be dumping air that was previously measured by MAF. This will richen mixture when BOV is relieving and DME will never know how much air is going to engine.

Do you know which code(s) are set when CEL comes on? 1215 MAF? 1222 Rich/Lean Limit?

Paul Shovestul




Only got one problem starting to arise. The MAF needs to be moved to infront of the turbo. It was running fine at first, but now that it has been on there for a little while the MAF is gettin confused and throwing out a check engine and is settin me limp mode as soon as it see's the boost. Apparently the MAF isn't good under boost because it is made to measure actual are flow, and the the boosted air is a more dense than atmospheric air, causes a mixed up signal. Easy enough fix, just have to get a 3" pipe to take the place of the MAF, and then extend the wires on the MAF to reach the other side of the engine