Journey to single turbo

Every owner of a Bmw n54 will know that changing the turbos on theses cars is a real PITA. So 3 years ago I decided it was time for me to journey into the single turbo arena.

It started with me acquiring a PTE 6262 and Precison 46mm wastegate. A good point to note is that prior to this point I was already FBO.

Together with a very good friend of mines we built the very first top mount manifold this country has seen for the N54 platform.
the challenge was not only the steering column but positioning of the wastegate and inclusion of the downpipes.



with the manifold requiring some slight modifications as it was built remotely we eventually managed to get it into the car:smilebounce: and start the process of assembling the car


once everything was installed and the car started I encountered every issue every single turbo person goes through
02 sensor issues
water pump failure
coil pack issues
leaks
heat
and so forth.....

the build stopped here for a while but there was always plans to go bigger...

one of them was auxiliary feeling, so I fabricated my own auxiliary fuel rail

Together with this a fuel it stage 3 pump and 1000cc injectors. to control this system I used the BMS PI controller.
this caused major issues in terms of torque that the car was producing and no clutch could hold the torque.

back to the drawing board for me...

TBC

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with the ultimate goal of chasing down horse power I need a solution for the clutch and quickly..so I fabricated my own flywheel as well as purchased a tipple pack clutch...this was now the ultimate in street car clutches. for some reason my gears felt so much more direct and together with a short shifter kit, I could finally put the power down smoothly

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Having the confidence now to put the power down i decided to take to the track...I failed with the new setup on so many occasion including the first ever BMWFanatics race day. Even though i had all the power in the world, parts would fail around the motor such as injectors and coils and so forth. So it was a back and forth to every race event till eventually i managed to get it right. 


Smashed the n54 1km record by running a speed of 275kmph and at the next event 270.9kmph. In the racing world thats called backing your speed up however the car still had its small issues here and there

I've been waiting for you to finally return and start documenting this build. Glad to have you back. Best of luck bro.

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So all of this what i mentioned took place over the last 2 years. Having pushed the boundaries of what i thought was possible and what wasn't i have so many people to thank but that i will leave for last. For now a decision needed to made, do i forge the motor? and the answer to that was a simple YES.
So the parts list for 2017 was as follows:
1. Corrello rods
2. JE pistons
3. Precision race coils
4. TFT charge pipe

During 2017, #3 rod decided to take the journey into the world and leave the confinements of its environment :dunnoanymore:
So this meant that the build now entered into the more technical world of engine building and boy oh boy did i enjoy it.

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first up was the block..got it all cleaned up and insert3d these bad boys into the motor..what a learning curve for me this was..understanding the fundamentals of the motor really made everything worth while.

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so while the motor was out of the car I decided to clean up the engine bay and do some tucking of all the unwanted wires as well

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that been said waiting for parts to arrive is sometime a stress so while i was waiting for parts to arrive i decided to wrap the car and build a roll cage at the same time

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the time came to install the motor and couples with that a new PTE 6466.

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arp head studs followed suit together with oem head gasket

interesting, love it.

raise: raise:

bybyM3 said:

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the time came to install the motor and couples with that a new PTE 6466.

Click to expand...

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Stunning car with a featherlight clutch

Well done on the build.

Awesome thread. So glad you documenting this build. Well done Afzil raise::bravo:

This is so damn interesting, I do not undeerstand half the shi*t however this thread is helping me put the pieces together!

Thanks bud! love to see more!

Peter@AEW said:

bybyM3 said:

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the time came to install the motor and couples with that a new PTE 6466.

Click to expand...

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Stunning car with a featherlight clutch

Well done on the build.

Click to expand...

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I managed to find a solution and it lied in the release bering for this setup, its no more drivable but i guess its still a leg workout none the less

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The build on the engine was no joke. Because BMW uses aluminium bolts on everything they become one time use only and every bolt needed to be replaced. The rod failure on these motors are very common however guys just don't speak about them. This is an example of the rod that went on my car

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After having completed majority of the engine myself, i decided to let a professional do the cam timing for me. At the time my bigger cams where not ready and the waiting period for the cams was approximately 3 months and i couldn't wait any longer and wanted the car to be up and running ASAP. So sitting at home is a complete titanium valve train waiting to be installed.

However what could be done was done to the head except for porting and polishing as that will be done once the oversized valves are fitted to the head.

As a precautionary measure i decided to add an additional oil catch can to the car. This meant that i no longer required the internal PCV valve that is known to fail rather my new setup will contain an external system. This system is very similar to what is ran on the 2jz motors.

With majority of the motor almost complete my attention than focused on the new plumbing that i acquired as well as the new turbo setup that was going onto the car

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As you will notice there is no coil packs on the car, the reason being is that these bad boys where up next.

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Brilliant work so far! :bravo:

Beautiful build. Great attention to detail

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Very awesome build :thumbs: keep up the good work

Damn thats nice work right there

Geez!! raise: this is level 10000000000, Awesome build bru :bravo:

Nice!

It is nice to see people building BMW‘s like this in sunny old SA.


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great stuff!

Well Fkin Done Bru!!!

Epic, I need to see you and this monster soon.

Very very nice build man. I have seen this in the metal and it is Neat! this guy doesn't stuff around!

raise::thumbs:

Thats dedication and hard work. Respect :thumbs: