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Chris Welter

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Posts posted by Chris Welter

  1. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    I have been thinking about that a lot recently and have been trying to come up with a solution. I thought about wrapping the headers since they are stainless but don't really want to deal with stressing the materials out with excessive heat and cracking them. It is looking like ceramic coating will be the best option but I've had crap luck with that in the past and it is rare it stays nice for long. Time will tell, might run them unfinished and insulate everything around them.. Hood louvers may be warranted..

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    Heat wrap will give you better fuel consumption, better turbo spool and wont heat everything in the engine bay to a million degrees. Make sure you get a good brand and soak it in water before you apply it. There is a lot of opinions about wrap on the internet, but if done right it makes a drastic difference. The stuff doesn't exist because it doesn't work. The only way I could see a manifold cracking would be due to weight and vibration without being properly supported. Ceramic coating is nice and I have had it on non-turbo manifolds before(mostly hondas) and it seemed to hold up fine. My issue with it is cost and effectiveness. Besides that though it also looks better than a mummy wrapped manifold.

    563477d1438405692-post-pics-your-v8-rx7-lsx7bay.jpg

    I suppose you are probably correct. I need to take the application into context too. This is strictly a street/strip car. My initial reservation about wrap was it was bad because they material cannot vent the heat that it absorbs and heat cycles badly causing expansion and contraction problems and cracking as well as becoming brittle because of the temps. However this being a street/strip car and not a dedicated track car, it will be hard pressed to run hard enough for long enough to cause a problem. What brands do you recommend? Reccomended process or tips?

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  2. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    I have been thinking about that a lot recently and have been trying to come up with a solution. I thought about wrapping the headers since they are stainless but don't really want to deal with stressing the materials out with excessive heat and cracking them. It is looking like ceramic coating will be the best option but I've had crap luck with that in the past and it is rare it stays nice for long. Time will tell, might run them unfinished and insulate everything around them.. Hood louvers may be warranted..

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    I think coatings and reflective tape are usually the most popular options.  Louvers are an option but I know off the shelf options aren't always effective due to pressure variances caused by air flow over the hood/under the body compared to under the hood.  I remember a trick from my 240sx days was to shim the hood so it lifted the rear of the hood up an inch or so to increase airflow under hood.  I know I had read a pretty in depth article about why this worked with data from thermocouples to support it.  I can't find it right now but i'll keep looking.

    I would be interested to read that article if you do find it. I know that with the N54 if you removed the Ecu cover and that shelf that goes over the engine the amount of heat/air that poured out onto the windshield was unreal. Provided rain or washing the car at that point was prohibited but for hot weather and drag racing it worked out well. A good thing though is the wiring and all the heat sensitive components are away from the pipes for the most part now. BMW left the steering shaft hole for the right hand drive cars in the left hand drive chassis and installed insulated plug, that plug gave me a hole to run my Dominator wiring, it was almost meant to be.. 😂

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  3. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    Awesome! Managing underhood temps looks like it's going to be your biggest enemy here.  I hope I get to see see this thing running one day!

    I have been thinking about that a lot recently and have been trying to come up with a solution. I thought about wrapping the headers since they are stainless but don't really want to deal with stressing the materials out with excessive heat and cracking them. It is looking like ceramic coating will be the best option but I've had crap luck with that in the past and it is rare it stays nice for long. Time will tell, might run them unfinished and insulate everything around them.. Hood louvers may be warranted..

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  4. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    Nice update! 

    Access to the front of the engine looks improved over the I6 (obviously), Is there anything that is going to be a royal PITA to work on with this setup that will require pulling the engine, that normally wouldn't (spark plug access etc.)

    It really depends on how the exhaust and turbos all work out. The motor plate has been sheared and I can actually remove the plugs from the front of the engine (reach between the plate and the manifold to access them fairly easy). Compared to a C5 there is a lot of room and I could pull the intake manifold off or change oil or map sensors with engine in the car. The car being a prior Xi has a different front subframe that if the car is lifted there is HUGE access with the skid plate off. As of now I can't see a reason to pull the engine for anything really. It is truly impressive how it fit in there.

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  5. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    awesome progress. It looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel now. Seems pretty plausible that this car will be running well before summer is done?

    That is the plan, I'd like to get it on the track at least once before it gets cold. The engine is almost there, just gotta get the trans and shift linkage in and get the d/s made. The exhaust can be really easy for the time being to just get it to run. Main obstacle with the turbos will be that radiator fan, but I have a few ideas to eliminate that issue.

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  8. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    Overall progress of fitting motor and getting correct fitting headers. Motor cleaned in the pics and reassembled with new gaskets ect. Powder coated valve covers for a hint of color and a ls1 water pump. Now to just get it final mounted on the motor plates with the c5 corvette racing alternator and we are in business. e765b360dad257827ebc6d15aff8d367.jpg49d1e65d53639b88dc537e001c819cd6.jpgd5e12afdae0e29767a8955c9a8bc05cc.jpg44944a8cd159828ad328473b6d94bf2a.jpgb361c7f164b0bb2511a7693ca5b56a6d.jpg7f985d1f83c907b6bfd9420584a22779.jpgef70078c2ceaba57a31cf07cdf3f0576.jpge18d9ce6de607577f11320c61e440768.jpgd4e4745d9c41b893b9b4c699c732f684.jpg504fd17ca610e30ef49f931376473272.jpg

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  9. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    So yet another update. I got the motor to fit into the car and the second set of headers are installed (first set were too long). Motor is in with a motor plate and I spent a good amount of time freshening up gaskets and cleaning the test engine. I have learned you really have to wanna go fast to attempt to do this kind of swap. Engine is almost in completely and wiring will be fairly quick thanks to my Dominator harnesses and a spreadsheet I made of all the wires I need to modify for the oem harness. Going to make the tach and oem gauges work for the most part until I'm ready to drop the 7" Holley display in. Now some update pix.

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  12. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    I am really hoping to make a couple passes on the 4L80e and the stock N/A 5.3 in the spring to set a baseline against my stock N54 timeslips. The turbo setup will come later as I have to select the turbos so I only buy one set and be done with it. The general idea right now for the engine is run the 5.3 and get some base times and tunes down so if I blow it up I'm out $500 instead of the new motor (which I'm having tuned). The other thing is the new motor will be $$$$ so it will buy me some fun drive time until I get the funds together to buy it. The initial power goal (hence bigger cube motor) is 1200 whp but we'll see how everything pans out as I don't plan on spinning it past 6500. Gotta make it worth the swap as the N54 is a powerful motor to replace 😜. Transmission will have a HD2 shift kit in it soon and will be upgraded to a Jake's performance level 5 when the new motor is ready. As for rear end, I already plan on shredding it so I've ran up some plans to beef up my subframe and control arms and also install a 9" ford DSS IRS conversion kit. Again reasoning is I want to maintain BMW designed suspension just stronger.

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  15. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    My 335Xi is no longer a 335Xi. It's a LS swapped e92 with a 4L80E transmission and is rwd ONLY. I decided on motor plates and pulled all the stops on going fast. The engine is a 5.3 iron block that is my "test" engine, you know one I won't feel bad about flogging until it blows. The new engine that will replace it will be a 427 cubic inch dart LS next block with two big snails hanging off of it. Also for interested parties, swapping out to kirkey racing seats and removing all other seats/ deadener in this car will save you in the neighborhood of 400lbs (my current configuration)..yes I actually weighed it all. New engine sits 7" further back in he chassis and driveline sits 2" lower. And I have the interior electronics working without canbus issues.

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  19. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    I took down a 450whp 06 Mustang GT from a 60 roll not too long ago.  My n54 just pulls really strong, I don't know if I have a freak one or what but it's something else!

    I'd love to line up. I have no problem taking down 500-600whp cars. I've never lost to another N54 and I've raced a handful. Not doubting yours, but I'd love to find out!

     

     

    I'm wondering why you were running e50 on a e85 tune, has me a bit confused as your effective octane is low (below 60% e). Either way it shows the weight difference of the 2 cars. In my mind the hexon turbo car should have won but I have no idea what fueling his map was set up from. Timing adds power, but too low octane and high timing means you'll meet a rod on the ground soon.

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  20. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    I guess this means patsbimmer has the fastest n54 in the state now

    It's gotta be up there.  I've taken down some serious players.

    I'm not doubting quickness but turbocripple has a wicked 135i. Twin turbo auto that ran 10.8 in the quarter. A lot of bigger power cars showing up recently, ironically a lot of blown motor too. Some guys even 2! Of course I think some of it has to do with new tuners to the platform and people really pushing things. Some of it is junkyard 30K $600 engines that pop because they've been sitting since 2008 without running then people drop them in a car and expect 600rwhp. A lot of companies are coming out of the woodwork for N54 so building the motor is looking much cheaper. Heck I even saw 30% bench flow improvements with a ported head someone was doing (pretty much a m54 head flow now [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] ).

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  23. My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

    in Members BMWs

    Posted

    The plan is to show the world that I am crazy...lol  My end goal is 4 digits at the rear wheels, 1200 long term.  The proposed powerplant is a Iron block 6.0L LS stroker motor with big ole turbo on it...lol.. Of course some internal work will be done but that is in the details ;)  Ive figured out how to make the car play nicely (keeping factory locks and HVAC and radio and power options)  and am working out fueling and getting the rest of the gauges to work, shouldn't be too hard.  Heck I was even debating trying to put together a kit for those out there who feel like they wanna get a little bit bonkers with their rides.  This being said, I just posted a bunch of my parts up for sale, so if you are N54 powered and you are looking for a serious kick in the pants that wont kill your wallet, check it out and please tell the other guys!  The sale of my parts starts the funding for the new engine.  If you see anything you want message me, and for my local WI bimmers guys we can maybe work out not having to ship things which saves everyone more $$!  Price for the kit without shipping is $3800 which makes me want to cry considering what I paid for it last year.  A couple people have already approached me asking why.. My answers, first was why not, and second is for the power goal I am looking for at this point it is more cost effective this way.  I am not saying the N54 is not capable of it, as I truly believe it is, just more frustrated at high end tuning options from the ECU side of things.  Its really hard to justify a $5300 computer to hopefully break 1000whp when the LS platform has more proven controllers to do just that for $1200.. With all that being said, i am not going to even attempt to ruin the handling of the car, its the one thing I greatly love and the reason I will swap before switching cars.

    But one thing is for sure,

    This car has definitely done one thing for me, make me addicted to power!
    P.S. John, its still not fast ;)

     

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